nineteen seventy four, I fell on a patch of ice on a bank parking lot and broke my right ankle in three places with a bone dislocation as well. I'm just a little curious if that gadget, that detector would pick up the steel screw in my ankle. It probably would. Rather interesting that it would pick up the nails in the floor from below the carpet and so forth, and there's even a detector that's far more reliable than this one. Of course, we've been reminded of the Holy Spirit that convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment to come, but one thing is certain, we cannot in any way hide anything from the Lord. All things are naked and opened under the eyes of him with whom we have to do. We're all sinners, we all need the Savior, and we want to look at a particular sinner this evening in our second of the sayings from the cross. I would mention to you too that, and my wife will attest to this as well, I really strive to close on time, so that as you come, say, this week, starting tomorrow evening and whatever evenings you're able to be here, I promise you that I'll do my best to let you out right on time. I may need a few minutes extra, I don't know, because I've never put these together, but that very last evening, we're going to be looking at two of the sayings of our Lord from the cross, the word of triumph, and then the word of commitment. So there's a lot to pack in in that particular hour, but more of that later as we attempt to do that. We live in a day when the old expression is everyone is so busy, and frankly, there aren't many assemblies left that I find having a series of meetings. I think that's rather sad, but that's the way it is. My next series of meetings, and it won't be for a whole week, will be, Lord willing, next week at Sunbury, but then it'll be a while. It'll be the middle of June, way up in Bancroft, Ontario, that I have a series of meetings scheduled there that will carry me through most of the week. But this is the exception rather than the rule, and I think it says something about our day and age, our busyness, and maybe one of the reasons why there is a lack among God's people today in regard to knowing the word and applying it to life and having that focus and emphasis and priority as far as the Lord and his word and the fellowship of his people, and then, of course, the spreading of the gospel to reach souls for Jesus Christ. There aren't many places today, not many assemblies that have a series of meetings for the gospel. And I realize things have changed, times have changed, but the Lord doesn't change. And I think of one assembly in Windsor, Ontario, Oakwood Bible Chapel. They have a series of teaching meetings each year, and they also have a series of gospel meetings. And God has honored this, and it's a large assembly today. It started out small many long years ago, but it's a very large assembly today, and many, many of the folk that are in fellowship there have been saved as a result of special meetings, getting people out under the sound of the word, which is a hard thing to do today, but again, I think the best method is that one-on-one, as we are in the world, the marketplace of life, to witness to others concerning the Lord Jesus. Well, let's look at the circumstance that we have in Luke chapter twenty three. Luke chapter twenty three. m And I'd like to begin again, as I did this morning, at verse thirty three, and then we'll skip down to verse thirty nine. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, that is the Lord Jesus, and the malefactors, the robbers, the criminals that were crucified with Christ, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then down to verse thirty nine: and one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for re- we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. It's from noon till three o'clock, and the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent or torn in the midst. May the Lord bless very specially the reading of his word to us. We have what I've called the word of salvation. I suppose others have called it that as well. But the two thieves crucified on either side of Christ were probably associated with Barnabas in his ill-fated insurrection. Guilty not only of robbery, but undoubtedly murder as well. They were, in the eyes of some, in that day, dying, I suppose, for what others, or some with them, considered a good cause. Remarkably, a change came over one of these robbers, one of these malefactors. And in the final hours of his life, he was wondrously changed, converted, saved, born again. G. Campbell Morgan was a well-known preacher of a past generation. I remember my father and mother telling me that when they were fairly young, they heard G. Campbell Morgan in New York City, went especially to hear him preach. I have a number of his books, and I'm sure some of you here this evening are familiar with this prince of preachers of the past and his writings as well. He said this, there are senses in which it seems to me the story of the faith of the dying malefactor is the most remarkable in all the ministry of Jesus Christ. I do not know, he said, any manifestation of faith quite so wonderful. I think we can concur in that statement by G. Campbell Morgan. Circumstances that surround some conversions are more remarkable than others, and yet even the least dramatic conversion is a miracle and contains what is marvelous and miraculous. Nevertheless, it would be difficult, I think, to find in scripture a more amazing account of personal salvation than this one. So let's probe what we have here and the words that have been recorded for us. First of all, I think of this malefactor's, this thief's protest. According to Matthew's and Mark's account, both of the malefactors, both of the thieves crucified with Christ, joined the passersby, the chief priests, scribes, and elders in their taunts and mockery of the Savior. They were both involved in this. Matthew tells us in Matthew twenty seven forty four that the thieves cast the same in his, that is the Lord's, teeth, while Mark records, and they that were crucified with him reviled him. That's Mark fifteen verse thirty two. Certainly it was a heinous thing to hurl abusive and vile insults against the Lord Jesus. Nevertheless, man's heart hasn't really changed, has it? The attitude and animosity of these two thieves against the Savior simply revealed the enmity of the human heart against the Son of God, even to this very day. I do not go to a factory, or in the past do not represent one that goes into the marketplace with a job of one sort, a profession of one sort or another, but I do get among people, and I'm around different ones from time to time in the marketplace of life, and it bothers me no end. And especially today, have you ever heard so much in the way of the Lord's name being taken in vain when it comes to television, radio, the media, people that you hear around you. And there's one man, I won't mention his name, I marvel that he's allowed to be on the radio with the blasphemies and innuendos and so forth that he comes forth with on a network program, taking the name of the Lord in vain, hurling, as it were, invectives and words that are tantamount to blasphemy against the Lord Jesus Christ. I've often wondered too, as I hear this expression time and again, I know people do it as a habit, but they're still accountable for it. We hear it so often, and it bothers me. In fact, it makes me angry, and I can say righteously angry because it has nothing to do, in one sense, with myself, but it's against my Lord. And people constantly say, and hardly a day goes by but what you would hear it, either by means of media or someone around you, oh my God. I often wonder why not, oh my Zoroaster, or oh my Mohammed, or oh my Confucius. No. Oh my God, and I wonder about people. I remember sitting next to a man on a flight, we're talking about taking a jet trip, but this happened to be a prop plane. This man got on board, and he almost didn't make the flight. He just got in, and the door was closed, and away we went out of O'Hare International Airport. As he was sitting next to me, he seemed to be in some turmoil, and I got in conversation with him a little bit, and almost every other word out of his mouth was a curse word and using the name of the Lord in vain. I spoke to him about it. It tempered the atmosphere, and it enabled me to witness to him concerning the Lord. I had some written material with me. He took everything that I had, and he virtually thanked me for speaking to him and, as it were, calling checkmate in relation to how he used the name of the Lord in vain. I've never seen him since. I can only hope and pray, as I prayed for that man, that the testimony given and the written ministry, the written tracts left with him, might have spoken to him by the Spirit of God and convicted him of his sin and brought him to Christ, but this is something that even to this very day goes on from day to day, as we know, increasingly so. Suddenly, however, as we go back to our passage, this malefactor evidenced a remarkable change in his attitude, having initially protested against the Savior, having initially reviled the Savior with the other malefactor and all the others that were near the cross, he now registers this protest against his fellow thief. So from his protest against the Savior, I find his protest against this fellow malefactor and his perception. Let's look at it. I don't know, I can't prove this, but I wonder if this malefactor had heard of the Lord Jesus in a past context. Whatever the case may have been, while hanging on the cross, he had heard the Lord Jesus. As I mentioned this morning, the verb said is in a tense that tells us he was praying this, and evidently several times, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. So he had heard that, probably several times. Furthermore, there was the witness of the superscription written over Christ in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. And as you put the gospel accounts together that record something of this superscription, you find that the entire superscription is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Something of the message of the gospel was communicated by this title. Think of the name Jesus. Jesus is the name that was given to our Lord at his birth. It's that name that speaks salvation to us. We have Joshua in the Hebrew, Jesus in the Greek, and it's the sweetest name on earth, isn't it? He's our savior. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save the people from their sins. I know it may seem a bit trite, but somehow I still remember it from the time I was a youngster, and that is the little acrostic JES. Jesus exactly suits us sinners. He's the Savior, and he's the only Savior. He said in John's gospel, John fourteen six, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And then we find that Nazareth was a despised and rejected place. Speaks to us, doesn't it, of the humility of our Savior. Born, of course, in Bethlehem, but living those years of preparation in the despised place called Nazareth. And then the king of the Jews. I wonder what went through the mind of this malefactor as he undoubtedly thought about these words. These words revealed that Jesus is the Savior who has a kingdom. Evidently, it was communicated to this malefactor by the Spirit of God that there was a kingdom to come associated with this one who was dying on that center cross. So suddenly, amidst the gloom, tragedy, and mockery of this awesome scene, the voice of this thief was heard across the body of Jesus to the other thief, and in rebuke asked, dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation, seeing that you're in the same judgment? I just interject and pause. I again don't take for granted that everyone here is necessarily a true believer. We're glad for the young people here this evening. I sat in a gospel tent meeting as a boy, eight years of age, north of Toronto, in a little area called Foxmead, near Orillia, Ontario, eighty miles north of Toronto. And I had heard the gospel from the time I could remember, but it was in that meeting that the gospel was preached. And I remember that hymn, When the roll is called up yonder. And in view of what was preached that evening, along with that hymn, I was convicted of the fact that I was a lamb, a sheep that had gone astray, and that I needed the Savior as my Savior, that he took my sins upon himself on the cross, that he shed his blood for me. And that evening I received in simple faith as a child the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. One thing that seemed to possess me was the fact that if I should die, would I go to heaven? And I knew I wouldn't at that particular time, before I had received the Savior. I knew mom and dad would go to heaven, and my brother had recently been saved, and I wanted to be saved. And so I mention this because perhaps there's some boy or girl here this evening, and you're not saved, but you're seven, eight, nine, ten years old, I don't know, but you need to be saved, and it would be a wonderful thing if you got saved this evening, and you can be saved. Having confessed his sins, this malefactor acknowledged the s- sinlessness of the Lord Jesus when he said, this man has done nothing amiss. And I think of our Savior, the sinless Savior that we have as attested to in Scripture. I'm reminded of Paul's words in two Corinthians five twenty one: God hath made him to be sin for us, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We find in First John three five that in him is no sin. And then we're reminded too in First Peter, chapter two— what a wonderful Christological statement we have there concerning our Lord in First Peter chapter two, beginning at verse twenty two— who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. So here is this wonderful Savior, the only Savior of sinners, who knew no sin, and he did no sin, and in him was no sin, yet he was made that sin offering for you and for me. He bare our sins, as Peter tells us, in his own body on the tree. I'm indebted to one of the old time writers. A lot of brethren don't seem to like him too much because of his strong Calvinism, but I've been blessed by the writings of Arthur W. Pink, and I thought of him coming to York, and I have thought of him today because he used to live in York for a number of years. He made his home in this city. I have a biography of this dear man, and as I recall, it shows a picture of the house. I couldn't tell you where it is here in York, but where he lived during the time that he was here. But anyway, Arthur W. Pink wrote this in regard to the spotlessness of Jesus Christ. Especially is this scene, he says, toward the end. Judas was moved to say, I have betrayed innocent blood. Pilate testified, I find no fault in him. Pilate's wife said, have nothing to do with this just man. And now that he hung on the cross, God opened the eyes of this malefactor to see the faultlessness of his beloved son, and opened his lips so that he bore witness to Christ's excellency. This man hath done nothing amiss. Let's look at the third thing we have here. We've noted his protest along with the other malefactor and the others that reviled the Savior, mocked him, taunted him, but then the protest against his fellow when he perceived that this was no mere man. This was Jesus, the Savior, the King of the Jews. Let's look at his petition in verse forty two. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. There are several things we can come up with in regard to this particular statement. I would just mention them briefly. First of all, he owned Christ's lordship. And so this, to me at least, as I take the word here in its full value, full weight, he was confessing that Jesus Christ was no mere man. He was confessing the deity of the Son of God. Jesus is Lord. God manifested in flesh. Don't ask me to explain it. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in flesh. So Christ's deity, the fact that Jesus is God, was confessed by this man. Lord, remember me. And so we have Christ's saviorhood involved in this statement. Remember me. Of what use would it have been to ask the Lord to remember him if he had not believed that Jesus Christ is Savior, the Savior, and able to save? And then another thing, as we ponder this word kingdom, there's so much involved in this expression of kingdom as we think of the kingdom of God, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And this certainly would token, first of all, Christ's resurrection. He looked beyond death, which was imminent for all three of these that were crucified. But there was the uniqueness of the Savior. Resurrection is tokened by this statement, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, and then second coming. And we believe that, first of all, the Lord Jesus is going to come to the air for his saints, and then after the tribulation period, he's going to come with his saints to planet Earth again, to do what? To establish his kingdom in power and glory, in relation to that thousand-year millennial reign that is to come. Well, then finally, we have the Lord's promise in verse forty three: Verily, I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. I don't know just what this dying malefactor perceived, what he understood of our Lord's words, but in the full light of the New Testament, the revelation that the Lord has given us, we can understand several things from this statement. I think, first of all, of the word verily. The thought is of a truth. Here's something you can bank your soul on. In John's gospel, we have that which is unique twenty five times over. We have a double verily statement, and so often in the gospel of John, we have those statements of our Lord, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Here, of course, Luke just records the one verily, but that's sufficient of a truth, surely I say unto thee. This reveals to me something of the power and authority of our Lord to save, even right there on the cross as he carried out God's plan of redemption for sinners in the shedding of his blood, his death to atone for our sins. And then another thing, salvation is immediate with no period of probation or purgatory. The only purgatory I know of in scripture is the fact that there on the cross, as Hebrews would remind us in Hebrews chapter one verse three, the Lord Jesus purged our sins by virtue of his precious blood shed for us on the cross. And then, how good to know that the moment a believer dies, his soul and spirit go to be with Christ. Today thou shalt be with me. I think of Paul's words, familiar words, you don't need to turn there, but those words in his joy letter, Philippians chapter one verse twenty three, tells us that it is far better. In fact, there are Greek particles used there, which we can literally lay out. Paul was saying it is very much by far better to go to be with Christ than even our highest spiritual state down here. I sometimes wonder whether we really take those words in and really believe them. Our natural instinct, our chief instinct, is to preserve life, and we'll do just about anything to preserve life. And yet Paul says, far better, very much by far better to go to be with Christ, provided, of course, first of all, that you're in Christ, that he's your savior, that you've trusted him, and you know, come what may, that if death overtakes you, you'll go to be with the savior. And then this would communicate to me that there's no such thing as soul sleep. There are those around today in the various groups, cults, isms, whatever, that teach soul sleep. That when a person dies, there's no consciousness until resurrection. I don't believe that, and I don't know how one can come to that conclusion in the light of Philippians one twenty three and other related scriptures, including this one. When the Lord said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Our friends, the SDAs, Seventh-day Adventists, teach soul sleep. Nearly as I can remember, they're the one large group over the world, and no less so in America, that put forth this teaching of soul sleep, and I suppose there are others as well. And then another thing. Water baptism is not essential to salvation. There are always those, like the Judaizers of old, that want to add something to the finished work of Christ. I remember preaching on the street corner in days gone by with a few friends of mine in Gainesville, Texas. And it's a stronghold, that city back then was a stronghold of people who believed that water baptism is essential to salvation. Happily, many people in that day, going back to my earlier days, stopped and listened, and I remember one man in particular who wanted to argue about this matter of baptism being essential to salvation, and I tried in my simple way to even direct him to this malefactor who had no chance whatsoever for baptism or anything else, and yet the Lord said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And his reply, his retort was, well, this was a special incident, this was a special case in relation to his co-crucifixion with the Lord Jesus. But if the Lord had to make a special case in regard to this man, then he'd have to make a special case in regard to everyone. No, you can't add anything to the finished work of Christ, as we shall see in that cry of victory that we're going to look at in John nineteen thirty in a subsequent evening. It is finished, and we need to certainly proclaim the fact that there's nothing that a sinner can do. All the doing has been done. There was no one good enough to pay the price of sin. Only Christ could unlock the gates of heaven and let us in. What is essential is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and receive him in simple faith as your savior. And then we have the word paradise here, which refers to heaven. The Lord just simply could have said, today thou shalt be with me in heaven. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people, and the word paradise occurs just three times in scripture. It occurs here and in two Corinthians twelve four when Paul had that out of body experience and he was taken up to the third heaven, that's another designation of heaven itself, paradise. It's where the Father is, where the holy angels dwell, where the Son of God is presently as our great high priest and advocate. And then in Revelation chapter twenty two, The forgiveness for which Christ prayed in verse thirty four of Luke twenty three was now extended to one repentant sinner, this dying malefactor. And as far as we know, he became the first fruits. This man became the first fruits of our Lord's intercessory prayer for sinners. Others may have been saved. I wonder about the centurion who stood by the cross, and of course he oversaw the Roman soldiers who crucified the Savior, and his confession was, truly, this was the Son of God. We can't be certain that he was saved, but he may have been one that day, in addition to this malefactor and others that were brought to know the Lord. I think of William Cooper's hymn, sometimes called William Cowper, but I was corrected by an English teacher some years ago in Canada, who had been an English major, and she said, Mr. Rainey, I know this is the way most people pronounce his name, William Cowper, but actually it should be pronounced Cooper, and I've never forgotten that, so I can stand to be corrected, believe me. But William Cooper lived from seventeen thirty one to eighteen hundred, and he wrote a classic hymn, and part of the words of that hymn are, the dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day, referring to the blood of Christ. Hymn writers take certain liberties. There's no literal fountain of the blood of Christ. That hymn starts, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Well, we know that he's referring to the blood, the precious blood, the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus. That dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. One has outlined this whole section in terms of the dying thief's salvation, which was wholly by grace, certain and secure, personal, present, centered in Christ, and glorious. Well, I hope that the Lord has brought some things before you that have been reminders and perhaps something fresh from what we've looked at. And above all, if you don't know the Savior, that you might come to know him. And if you do know him, that we might have a deeper and fuller appreciation of who he is, what he's done, what he's doing, and what he yet shall do. I'd like to have us sing in closing. We wouldn't be doing the right thing, I suppose, if we didn't, uh, sing that hymn, and I'm without a hymn book. One eighty six, the blue book, please. And by the way, it's nice to see a young man playing the piano and doing it so well. We appreciate your ministry in music. One eighty six— Pardon me, one eighty five. We just quoted these words. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Let's sing the second, third, and fourth. It's a short hymn, and then we'll just close in prayer. Second stanza. Day, and there may I, though mild as me, wash all my sins away. I too believe, I will believe that Jesus died for me, that on the cross he shed his blood from sin to set me free. Dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power. Let all around the church of God be safe to sin no more. I will believe, I will believe that Jesus died for me, that on the cross he said, come sit to set me free. There since my faith I saw the street like glowing moons of light. Rebuilding now I hit my feet and shall be till I die. I do believe, I Loving Father, we thank thee for thy grace that has gathered us together once again on a Lord's Day evening. We praise thee for thy word. We thank thee for Christian fellowship. We praise thee for the indwelling presence of thy Holy Spirit in the heart and life of every believer. And we thank thee for the ministry of the Spirit of God to show us more of the Lord Jesus, to guide us into all truth, yes, and to show us things to come. And we thank thee for that continuing ministry within us that he renders, and we're grateful. And most of all, we thank thee, our Father, for thine indescribable, yea, thine unspeakable gift, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Dismiss us now with thy blessing, and in this new week, grant that as we go forth in the name of the Lord Jesus, that as we have opportunity, we may be sowers of the good seed of thy word, that we may not just simply live the message, that's fundamental, that's key, but like the psalmist reminds us, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. And as we have opportunity to open our mouths, to speak a word in season and out of season, as the case may be, concerning our Savior and the need that sinners have of Him, that we may be faithful in laying hold of our opportunities to make Christ known. We pray our Father for the coming meetings throughout the week. May thy blessing be upon them, upon thy word, and upon each one here this evening. We pray, Father, that as we go forth in the name of the Lord Jesus, that we may do so with that consciousness of his spiritual presence with us and in us, and grant that we may in increasing measure have a desire to know him, to grow in his grace and knowledge, to know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. We ask these things to his glory with thanksgiving in his precious and worthy name. Amen.