"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
Review: Luke 23:39-43
When does a person go to heaven? 2 Cor 5:8 | Phil 1:23
What is heaven like? 2 Cor 12:4 | Matt 22:12-14 | Rev 19:7 | Rev 21:2
How do I have assurance that I'm going to heaven?
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Open up your Bibles to Luke 23.
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Luke 23.
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After he was beaten, before he was crucified, Jesus was mocked.
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You can read about this in Matthew 27 and verse 27.
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They put a robe on Jesus and they took thorns and twisted them into a shape of a crown and jammed it into his scalp.
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They put a reed in his hand as a mock scepter and they spit on him.
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And they slapped him around.
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They mocked him.
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And you would have thought, you would have hoped that This kind of mocking would have stopped as he was nailed to the cross.
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But Luke 23:35-38 says that the mocking did not stop.
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The rulers and the soldiers mocked Christ in this way, "If you are the Christ, if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.
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I thought you were supposed to be something special.
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Look at him.
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"Save yourself, King!" But the horrifying thing, even more horrifying thing, is the mocking didn't even stop there.
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As we said, Jesus was crucified between two criminals.
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Robbers, as they're called in Matthew 27.44.
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And in that same verse, Matthew 27.44, get this.
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It says that the people that were crucified alongside Jesus were reviling Him as well.
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Think about that.
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These two criminals on either side of Jesus, the Bible says they were reviling Him in the same way.
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"Save yourself! Come on, Messiah! Aren't you the King?
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Save us! Save yourself! What are you doing?
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"What are you waiting for? I thought you were going to do something!" Look at Luke 23.39.
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It says, "One of the criminals, who were hanged" - meaning on the cross - "railed at him, saying, 'Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!'" Then, then something very profound happens.
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Look at verses 40 and 41.
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It says, "But the other rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
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And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds.
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But this man has done nothing wrong." Wait, what just happened?
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A miracle.
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That's what just happened.
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Hatred took a U-turn.
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And we see that one of the criminals, again according to the Bible, who was just making fun of Jesus, who was just mocking Him, who was just in on the joke. One of them turns to, "What are you doing?" Wholesale change of his heart. He acknowledges his sin. Did you see that? Like, "We're getting what we deserve!" He acknowledges Christ's Christ's sinlessness. He hasn't done anything wrong. He went from reviling Christ to, "How in the world can anybody revile Him?" How did God get this guy's attention? That's a question I've been wrestling with all week. How did God get this guy's attention? I have to wonder if maybe when Jesus was crying out, remember we talked about this last week, the first thing Jesus said when He was on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know I have to wonder if those words were sort of resonating in his heart and mind.
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"This is the guy we're making fun of? This is the guy we're insulting?" Whatever the case, God showed up in that man's heart in that moment.
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Look at what he says in verse 42.
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He turns from rebuking the fellow criminal.
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He turns to Jesus, verse 42, and he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Now this statement tells us that this man was Jewish, with some Jewish theology knowledge, Because that statement was very specific and biblical.
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"Remember me when you come into your kingdom." That's a very Jewish expression.
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What he was saying was an acknowledgement that Jesus is the promised Christ.
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That's exactly what he's saying.
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What did the criminal know about Jesus before this moment?
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I have to wonder, do you think at some point in Jesus' ministry, this criminal might have seen Jesus?
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Do you think at some point he might have heard Jesus' teaching?
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Did he somehow find out what happened to Jesus at His trial?
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I don't know the answer to any of those questions, but I know what he knows in this moment here.
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He knows three things.
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First of all, he knows that Jesus is righteous.
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Secondly, he knows that I am not.
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Thirdly, he knows I need to call on Jesus.
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And Jesus responds to this man's request with one incredible statement.
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And here it is, this is the second word from the cross.
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The second thing the Bible records that Jesus said while he suffered, look at verse 43, And he said to him, 'Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.'" Do you realize in one sentence, Jesus tells us everything we need to know about heaven?
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You realize in one sentence, Jesus answers every question about heaven.
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And I want us to just look at some of these questions that commonly come up about heaven, And we're going to see that Jesus answered them right here.
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You ready?
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Here's a common question about heaven.
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Is heaven real?
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Is it real?
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Well Jesus answered that when he said, "Truly I say to you." Now that was an expression, "Truly I say to you." That was like saying, "Take this to the bank." That was a phrase of emphasis.
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It was sort of a highlighter for verbal communication.
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It just cracks me up.
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There's some scholars, and I use that word loosely, that have looked at this and have said, "Well, you know, in that moment as Jesus was suffering, he didn't have the ability to properly communicate all of the theology about what happens after you die.
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So Jesus was sort of placating this man, not really giving him exact information, but Jesus couldn't get into all of the..." Some people believe that, and I know for a fact that that's not true.
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Why?
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Because Jesus said, "Truly I say to you..." That's how I...
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Jesus was saying, "You need to listen to this.
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What I'm about to tell you, you need to pay close attention." Jesus says, "Heaven is real, and we're heading there." So is heaven real?
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Yeah, that question's been answered.
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Another question, I get asked this question all the time.
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Jesus answers it right here.
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When does a saved person go to heaven?
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When does a saved person go to heaven?
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You see, the Old Testament, all of the revelation that God had was not yet given.
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We live in a time in history after the Bible has been completed, but understand in the Old Testament, they didn't have all of the divine revelation that we have.
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Because of that, in Old Testament times, there was a lot of mystery surrounding death.
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That's why in the Old Testament you see the word "sheol." When you see that word in the Old Testament, that just means "the grave." And it carried this mystery to the Jews.
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They're like, "You die and you go to the grave and then, and then..." They had some ideas about what they thought happened.
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And one of the ideas - this is wrong - but one of the ideas that was carried through Jewish tradition was that when you die you just wait in the grave and then someday in a century and a couple millennia and a whatever someday the Messiah is going to set up his kingdom and then you're going to come out of the grave but in the meantime you're going to sleep in the grave and wait in the grave until the Messiah sets up his kingdom.
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Someday I hope to be with the Messiah." And that's really important to understand that wrong Jewish idea, because then you understand the impact this statement would have had on this criminal.
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When this criminal is like, "Remember me!" When you come into your kingdom, when you establish your kingdom, and he's thinking, "Remember me someday down the road, tens of thousands of years or whatever, when this happens, please Jesus, remember me!" And Jesus says, "Today." Today.
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When is this going to happen? When am I going to... today?
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So when does a saved person go to be with the Lord in heaven?
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The answer biblically is immediately upon death.
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I'm going to give you a couple of references to jot down.
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2 Corinthians 5.8, Paul says, "To be away from the body is to be home with the Lord." Philippians 1.23, Paul said, "He would rather depart," meaning die, "and be with Christ." So understand the Bible says, as a believer, you're in one of two places.
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You're either physically here on the earth, or when you die, you are with the Lord.
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And there are some churches, there are some religions that teach that when you die, you go to this place called purgatory.
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And in purgatory, it's this place of fire, and these fires burn off the remainder of your sin.
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And depending on how much sin you have to get burned off, that determines how much time you spend in purgatory.
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Meanwhile, the people on earth pay money for these special services, and we do these things to shorten the time that grandma's burning.
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And it's a blasphemous concept.
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But you know, if anyone, if anyone in history had some sin to burn off, it would have been this criminal, right?
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But what did Jesus say to him?
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"Today you're going to purgatory.
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"I've got good news for you. Today you're going to burn..." No, that's not what he said.
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He said, "Today, you will be with me." Paradise. Today, the second after we take our last breath here, we take our first in heaven.
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Today.
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I got a text, getting ready for church this morning, a friend of mine says, "My grandfather just passed away.
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He was a believer, he was ready to die, and I asked how his family was.
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And the family's good, he's been kind of anxious to go.
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And I just replied, "Well, he's having a good day today." Right? And he replied, "Amen." And we can say that based on the authority of God's Word.
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Today. Today, that man's in heaven.
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Here's another question about heaven. What is heaven like?
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What is heaven like?
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Jesus said, "Today you will be with me in paradise." That word "paradise" is actually a Persian word for "garden." Actually, Paul used it in 2 Corinthians 12.4 as well.
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It's a word that was just used as a euphemism for "heaven." I can't even begin to describe how awesome heaven is.
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I was working on a sermon this week, I'm like, "Oh, we're going to talk about heaven." And let me try to describe for this church how awesome heaven is, and I can't do it.
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I don't have enough time left in my life to describe to you how awesome it is going to be.
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They're like, "Well, we're paying you to study the Bible, so come up with something." Fair enough.
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There's a sustained metaphor to describe heaven that's throughout scripture.
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And it's a metaphor that really resonates with me because in my line of work, so to speak, it's something that I'm around a lot.
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And that metaphor is a wedding reception.
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Matthew 22. 1-14. Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven.
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He tells this parable.
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The Kingdom of Heaven is like this king who throws a wedding feast for his son.
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Revelation 19.7 talks about the eternal state being the marriage of the Lamb.
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Revelation 21.2 says the new Jerusalem is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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The Bible describes heaven like a wedding reception.
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Have you ever been to a wedding reception, show of hands?
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Who's been to a wedding reception?
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Okay, it looks like most of you have.
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What's a wedding reception?
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There's food and drink and there's dancing and games and laughing and in Pittsburgh we have a cookie table.
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Amen is right.
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And you know at a wedding reception, We're so happy for this couple and nobody's looking at their watch.
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Nobody's bored.
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Nobody's yawning.
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Nobody's like, "How much longer do we have to be here?" It is celebration!
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And that's a little glimpse of heaven.
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So I want you to think of the greatest wedding reception you've ever been to and multiply that times infinity. And that is a grain of sand on the beach compared to how awesome heaven is going to be. So what is heaven like? In this moment Jesus only used one word to describe it and that's paradise. The last question I want us to look at is how do I I have assurance I'm going there?" That's really the actually most important question, right?
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We can talk about how awesome it is and when people go there, but all of those questions don't matter if we don't know how to get there, right?
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And the answer is faith.
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The answer is faith.
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Now understand, listen, this criminal, put yourself back in the scene here, okay?
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between two criminals mocking him, the one God intervenes, he's rebuking the other one, he's crying out to Jesus, and Jesus says, "Today you'll be with me in paradise." Are you there? Are you there?
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In this moment, this criminal couldn't do any good works.
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This criminal could not get baptized.
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This criminal could not do anything to earn it.
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To say, "Thank you for that, Jesus.
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Now let me do something for you." He was in a position of complete dependence upon the Word of the Christ.
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Not only could he not do good, he had a life history of doing bad.
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Right?
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Here's this man nailed to his deathbed, can't do anything good to earn his way, but his track record, his rap sheet, says he's done nothing but bad.
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And I don't know the extent of it, but I do know this, the Bible doesn't even tell us the guy's name.
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The Bible only gives us a label for the guy, and it's criminal.
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That's pretty rough, right?
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Can you imagine?
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God's eternal Word records you in the account, and you're labeled.
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This guy was labeled. He's a criminal.
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The only thing he could do - listen to this church - the only thing that he could do, literally one thing he could do was to repent in his heart and mind.
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acknowledging his guilt and turning to Jesus.
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In that moment, that was literally the only thing this guy could do.
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To change his mind.
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Allowing God to change his heart.
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To say, "I was wrong and Jesus is right." And in doing that, in that very minute, he received the promise of heaven.
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When Jesus turned to him and said, "Truly, I say to you, today, you will be with me in paradise." So this criminal stands as the ultimate proof that salvation is purely and totally a gift from God.
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This is great encouragement, church, because like him, like this criminal, It doesn't matter what you've done.
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And like Him, it doesn't matter what you can do moving forward.
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The only thing that matters is what Christ has done on your behalf.
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Did you receive the gift of salvation?
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Did you receive that?
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There's only one type of person that receives the gift, by the way.
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And it's the person who knows they need it.
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Today, can you take an honest assessment of your life and say, "You know, I've been far from perfect.
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I've made a mess, but like that criminal, I see a sinless Savior who loves me and wants to forgive me." You can have the assurance of salvation today.
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What do I do?
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Well, look at the criminal.
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Cry out to Jesus.
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And then look at Jesus' response to the person who sincerely and humbly and honestly cries out to Jesus.
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Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
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I want you to bow your heads with me, please.
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I want you to bow your heads.
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Maybe there's somebody here, maybe there's a few somebodies here today that says, "You know, I don't know "if I've ever received that gift." Or, "You know, I've always thought "that I had to do things to make God happy, "or I had to earn my way." Or maybe there's somebody here saying, "I've done so many wrong things in my life," or, "Maybe I've done one thing that's so bad, I've often wondered if I can be forgiven.
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Like, I've done something so bad, nobody knows it, or I hope to heaven nobody finds out.
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It's so bad, I don't know if I can be forgiven.
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Maybe there's somebody like you like that this morning.
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And if that's you, I want you to look at this criminal.
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career robber, who apparently, his robbing was so bad that he was executed for it.
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I want you to look at him. And I want you to look at Jesus.
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And maybe you need to pray something like this.
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Maybe you need to pray something like, "God, you know, I'm like that criminal on the cross beside Your Son.
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And there have been so many times in my life that I have chosen to do the wrong thing." Is that you?
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"I have made so many stupid mistakes in my life.
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I have screwed my life up." Maybe there's somebody here today that feels that.
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That extreme.
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My sin has screwed my life completely up.
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I need and want to be forgiven of my sin.
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And like that criminal in this story, I'm crying out to Jesus right now.
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Is that you?
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Is that you this morning?
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Is there somebody here today that is rejoicing at seeing this story of this thief, this criminal, this robber.
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That the lights have finally come on for you that it's not about what you can do for God, it is about what God has done for you.
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And you need to get over yourself.
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How good you think you are, or how bad you think you are, and look at the sinless Son of God.
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Father, salvation is a work that only you can do.
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Boy, this account teaches that.
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Father, we see a story of a man who repented, not because a prophet showed up and preached at him, not because some rabbi came by and read a passage of Scripture to him.
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God, the only explanation for this passage, the only explanation for this criminal is that your Holy Spirit showed up in this man in a profound life-changing way that He went from insulting your son to crying out to your son for deliverance.
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God, I pray for anybody here this morning, maybe is in that same situation.
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Maybe there's somebody here today, God, I'm sure there is, there's somebody sitting here right now that's feeling it.
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I have messed things up so badly in my life.
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God, with You there is grace, and there is forgiveness, and there is restoration, and You are the God of the second chance.
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You are the God who says, "Yes, okay, You have done horrible things, but I've made provisions so that You can be forgiven and healed." We thank You God. We thank You God for the provision that You've made.
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In Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Luke 23:39-43
Read Matthew 27:44. Why do you think this one criminal stopped mocking Jesus and instead cry out to Jesus?
What questions about heaven were cleared up for you from Jesus' statement to this criminal (Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise)?
What does this account teach about how a person gets saved / receives salvation / gets right with God?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.