With Me Today

Today is the second Sunday of the season in the Church calendar called ‘Lent.’  Many Christians observe this time as one in which we focus our thoughts on Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself as our substitutionary atonement for our sins. During Lent, as I said last week, many Christians take opportunity to reflect more particularly on questions such as “Who am I? Why am I here on planet earth? Why did Jesus die for me? How can I grow in my love and devotion to my Savior?”

I am focusing our attention this season on the last words of Jesus as He hung dying on that cross. Last week we looked at one of those words – statements, actually – “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”

The last words a person speaks when they know they’re dying give us important insights into their hearts. As we saw last week, some take their last breaths fully blind and deaf to the utter terror that awaits them in only a few moments. Others are fully conscious of the terror that awaits them. And others – others who know Jesus as their Lord and Savior – others take their last breaths with joyous expectation of meeting Him face to face.

The last words of Jesus also give us insight – insight into His heart as He awaited His own physical death. We find seven of those last words – statements, actually, in the four gospels:

1. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 2. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 3. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 4. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!"

5. "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!"  6. "I thirst.” 7. "It is finished."

Last week I focused our attention on His cry: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Today we turn our attention to another of His last words. It was what the Lord said to the so-called, ‘Good Thief”: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

I suspect most of us know the backstory to the Lord’s promise to the thief dying on a cross next to Him. The gospel writers tell us Jesus was crucified with two thieves, one on either side of Him.  Here is the context to the passage in Luke’s gospel: (Luke 23:39-42) “One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today ou shall be with Me in Paradise.”(Luke 23:39-42)

So, let’s now begin our examination of this promise to the ‘Good Thief”, and I will parse His promise into three parts: First, I want us to look at the word, “Today.”

There is not even a hint of suggestion by the Lord about what is called by ‘soul sleep’ – a somewhat modern teaching by those who are ignorant of the entirety of God's word. That enormously erroneous theology states that the soul cannot exist apart from the body, and therefore when the body dies, the soul remains with the body until the general resurrection. If that be the case, then the word ‘Today’ spoken by Jesus to the thief was a lie.

No – when the Lord Jesus told that thief, ‘Today,’ He meant ‘today.’ He meant that before the sun set over Calvary’s Mountain, he’d be standing in the very presence of His new Lord because he had repented of his sins and confessed Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords.

But – that was then and this is now. This is 2024. What can ‘today’ mean for you and me sitting in this sanctuary? I’ll gladly tell you: This promise of ‘Today” is a great message of hope for those in hospice – AND for those families left behind by a deceased loved one who died in Christ, having repented of their sins and who obediently followed Christ to the best of their human frailties.

And surely, the promise of ‘Today” is a great message of hope for ourselves when we lie dying in a hospice bed, because we have Jesus’ promise that when we take our last breath, our very next breath will be in the holy and glorious presence of Jesus.

Consider St Stephen for a moment – the first Christian martyr. As he was about to be stoned for his faith in Christ, Luke tells us: (Acs 7:55ff) “But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him . . . and [Stephen] said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”  Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.”

Or please remember what St Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth. I’ve cited this passage many times, and I encourage you to commit it to memory, as well: (2 Corinthians 5:1,6-8) “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens . . .   Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”

The apostle Paul, being taught by the Holy Spirit Himself, believed that Jesus’ promise to the penitent thief applies to every Christian, EVEN to himself – a remarkable and instructive thing, considering what we know of Paul’s murderous persecution of Christians before that Damascus Road experience. And what he learned from the Spirit regarding his sins and God's mercy – the SAME applies to you and me, of which we must be continually reminded: (1 Timothy 1:15-16) “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

Jesus told the Thief, ‘Today.” But now let’s move a bit further into that text. The Lord continued: “Today YOU will be with Me.”

That’s our second word for today’s message: Jesus said to the thief, “YOU” will be with Me in Paradise.”

Think with me for a moment what we know about this man hanging next to Jesus on his own cross. And in thinking of him, I hope we can understand how this text applies to us in this sanctuary.

You will please remember what the ‘good’ thief said to his criminal partner crucified on the other side of Jesus: (Luke 23:40-41) “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And when the Thief turned and said: “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42) – well, we know what the Lord told the penitent thief: “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Let’s pause a moment. Of what were YOU guilty in your past? Adultery? Fornication? Abortion? Lies? Blasphemies? Drug abuse? Self-Idolatry? Murder? The list is nearly endless and each one by itself was more than sufficient to send you to the eternal Lake of Fire.

This is important: We need to spend time from time to time remembering who we were before Christ saved us and changed us. Why? Because only when we understand the DEPTH of our sins can we begin to understand the DEPTH of Christ’s love for us. Listen to what Jesus said earlier – and under different circumstances – to the self-righteous Pharisee in Luke 7: “Her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”  (Luke 7:47)

Until we recognize that we were HOPELESSLY wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked before we came to Christ – then Jesus

Promise to the Thief cannot impact us as greatly as it should – because the thief becomes only a distant character in the Bible and not representative of us.

At the beginning of today’s message, we sang once again that wonderful hymn written by John Newton. Some of you might not know his history. He was a degenerate, wretched, evil 18th century slave ship captain. His crews stuffed the holds of those ships with men, women, and children who had hardly enough room to sit amongst the filth and sewage and accompanying illness on his ships. And when some of his ‘cargo’ died, he had them tossed overboard to sharks. Dead slaves were simply the cost of doing business.

But – oh, don’t you love the ‘Buts’ of God's mercy? But when God got hold of the man, he genuinely repented and left his slave trading business. He soon became an Anglican pastor and fierce slavery abolitionist.

Newton is best known for his hymn that begins: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

The thief on that cross could have written those words of Amazing Grace. And so could I. And so could you. But if you don’t think you could, then you still don’t understand the depth of your sins – nor the depth of Christ’s love.

I need to start moving this message toward a close. Let’s now look at the next phrase of the Lord to the Thief: “You will be WITH ME . . . .”

Just like that thief, our future destiny is no longer determined by what we have done. Oh, we MUST understand that. The Christian’s destiny is not determined any longer by what kind of person we’ve been, by the sins we’ve committed, regardless of their evil or how often we committed them. No, no, no. Our destiny is no longer determined by what we’ve done. It is determined by what JESUS has done – AND how you and I respond to what He has done.

“You will be with Me.”

Some time ago, I read a poignant tale by American fiction writer, Madeline Le’Engle (d. 2007). The story was about her grandfather. He’d always been a strong, vibrant, robust man – until the dementia demon sank its talons into his memory and slowly reduced the nearly 100-year-old to a shadow of what he once was.

As her grandfather lay dying, he gripped her mother’s hand and asked, almost as a child might ask, “Who will go with me when I die?”

Those words haunt me whenever I think of them. There he was, a once powerful, ‘in-charge’ guy who had become like a small, frightened child. I know nothing of his position with Christ. I do not know if he ever humbled himself before the cross of Jesus. But if he had, Oh! What comfort someone could have given the frightened child inside the man.

Of course, men and women caught in the grip of dementia are not the only ones who lie on deathbeds, fearful that no one will go with them when they die. I know many healthy people who fear such a thing. And they have good reason to fear because they live lives without so much as a passing thought about eternity – nor do they care a smidgen that obedient faith in Jesus Christ is God's absolute and unyielding requirement for eternal life.

Jesus told the thief, “You will be with Me.” And those are the SAME words the Lord of Creation speaks to EVERY man and woman who has sought Christ’s forgiveness. “You WILL BE with ME.” It is for the Christian as David wrote: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me.”

Who will go with me when I die? The Christian can answer without a moment’s hesitation: Jesus will go with me, every step of my journey.

Back to the text: Jesus said, “You will be with Me.” And where would that be? He tells us: In Paradise.

Some believe Paradise is heaven itself. Others believe it is NOT exactly heaven, but it is nonetheless a place of unimaginable joy, peace, and beauty. It sounds as if Heaven and Paradise are synonymous. And they might be. But it is really beyond my purpose today to discuss the varying opinions as to the location of Paradise because, frankly, IT DOES NOT MATTER where Paradise is located. What DOES matter is that Jesus is there.

The Paradise promised to the Thief – AND to all who follow the thief in repentance and confession of Christ’s Lordship – that Paradise is where we will see Jesus face to face – not with the eyes of faith, but with our physical eyes. We will hear His voice with our physical ears, and we will feel His embrace with our physical skin.

Listen to this promise from the prophet Isaiah, “He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (Isaiah 25:8-9)

Who cares where Paradise is located? I don’t care because wherever it is, Jesus is there. No wonder St Paul told his readers in Thessalonica – AND his readers in Ashwood meadows – (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

“Comfort one another.”

The reason you and I who know Christ Jesus as our Savior and Lord –

And Don’t minimize the ‘Lord’ part –

Those who know Jesus as Savior and Lord have every good and perfect reason to comfort each other because, as we saw today in His promise to the dying penitent thief hanging next to Him – when we take our last breath – whether later today or sometime in the future – we have Christ’s unchangeable promise that on THAT day we WILL be with Him in Paradise.

With Him. And so shall we be forever with the Lord.

THAT is why we can comfort each other with those words of promise from the very lips of our Savior Jesus. Amen and amen.