This morning, I invite you to turn with me to Luke 23, Luke chapter 23, as we begin our reading at verse 26 through verse 43, portion for our consideration being verses 32 and 33, as well as verses 39 through 43, a particular portion of the account of our Lord's crucifixion. Luke chapter 23, beginning at verse 26, as we give our attention to the Word of God. As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and waited for him. Jesus turned and said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us. For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, He saved others. Let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One. The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was a written notice above him which read, This is the King of the Jews. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him. Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other criminal rebuked him. Don't you fear God, he said, since you are under the same sentence. We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. Beloved in Christ the Lord, we are reminded from time to time that there are only two kinds of people in the world. Of course, society has many classifications of people. They say there are many kinds and they're classified either by skin color or ethnic background or maybe political affiliation. Maybe by occupation or height or weight or wealth or any other way to classify them. But there are only two kinds. And actually, these two kinds come from one kind, don't they? Paul says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Yet from this one common group of sinners, there are those who reject the cross of Jesus, and there are those who believe the cross. That is, they believe the Christ of the cross. And these two kinds of people were represented on Calvary. These two kinds were found on that hill called Calvary on either side of Jesus. And as we consider the saving death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross in the company of these two criminals, we have the fulfillment of prophecy, don't we? Where better place to turn, especially at this time of year, as we think about Good Friday and Easter approaching into Isaiah chapter 53. Verse 12 says, for I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors. And at the Last Supper, Jesus applied these very words to himself. He says, as we find in Luke 22, verse 37, it is written, and Jesus says, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Beloved Jesus Christ, very God of very God, in order to accomplish for you and me that which we could not accomplish, He was numbered with the transgressors. And as we consider this Word of God this morning, and as we, as it were, look back at the three crosses on Calvary that day, we can't help but to notice with regard to our Lord, the cross placed, the cross rejected, and the cross believed. In that familiar hymn he could have called 10,000 angels we sing, but he died alone for you and me. Now we know that in the ultimate spiritual sense that's true, the fact that he took upon himself the curse of God against your sin and mine and suffered the wrath and punishment of God, the hellish agony. Indeed, he died alone. But humanly speaking, to the visible eye on that day, he had company. He was not alone. And the two criminals represent the different effects the cross of Christ would have on mankind. Now both criminals were guilty before God, but as Paul makes clear in 2 Corinthians 2 verses 15 and 16, the gospel of Jesus affects both those being saved and those who are perishing. Paul says, to the one, we are the smell of death. To the other, the fragrance of life. And he also says in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Now boys and girls, you've heard from a young age already, three were crucified that day. But only one cross makes the difference. And we need to notice where that cross was placed. Verse 33 says, When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him along with the criminals, one on His right and the other on His left. And John in his Gospel account gets even a little bit more pointed when he says one on each side and Jesus in the middle. He makes no mistake about that. After being formally tried and condemned as a criminal, which of course, as we said last week, was all completely unjust, this form of death, namely crucifixion, we might say was like a huge spotlight on the fact that he died as an evildoer. And not only was Jesus numbered with the lowest of criminals, but being in the middle, being on the cross, in the center, he was treated like the prince of the worst. Isaiah made it clear in Isaiah chapter 53 that the Messiah would not deliver his people by some worldly pomp and splendor, but by enduring the punishment due for their sins. And beloved, what a wonderful demonstration of Christ's love for us, that in order to give us, you and me, rights as sons and daughters, as children of God, he permitted himself to be classified as one of the wicked, as the prince of the wicked, in a sense. And when you stop to think about it, sad as it is, it makes sense that he should have center stage on that place called the skull that day. You see, humanly speaking, the wickedness of man not only wanted the Savior to be treated as the prince of the worst, but also to suffer, to the fullest extent possible, until he was completely destroyed. Because there is no hatred deeper, there is no hatred more radical than the hatred of the sinful flesh against Christ. The truth is, he is good, but man is evil. He is light, but man is lost in darkness. He is righteousness over against a world that lies in the darkness of sin and shame. He is the revelation of the living God. God Himself, but man is the enemy of God. And beloved, because all of that is true, He condemns the evil world of its pride and lusts. He exposes the deadness of sin and promises life and glory, but only by way of His righteousness. He offers no hope to those who love darkness rather than light. In fact, instead, He promises them eternal death. He is the most radical, severe, uncompromising, and intolerant preacher that ever preached to man. Of course, that causes difficulty for some, doesn't it? What? Jesus? Uncompromising? Intolerant? How can you say that? He's love. Indeed, beloved. But how is that love expressed? In the words of our Lord, go and sin no more. The darkness of wickedness must necessarily extinguish the light of truth and therefore the rejection of Christ had to end in trying to destroy Him. Yet it was God who ordained Jesus to be on the center cross so that He might redeem His people, and that includes us. The church, too, is a race of transgressors that needed to be redeemed. He needed to take our place in judgment. He was made the chief of transgressors in the place of those who were the chief of sinners. You see, each one of us, each and every one of us, must humbly identify with Paul. And we must see ourselves as Paul saw himself. As he says in 1 Timothy 1, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. I am the chief. And as we think on that center cross, we must see that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the eyes of men, to the bitter end, He was treated as the worst of the worst in the place of those who are brought to see by faith that they are the worst of sinners. But then we consider the other crosses that day, and we consider the men who occupied them, And we are to be reminded of what Paul says in Romans 9, verse 15, that the Lord said to Moses in Exodus 33, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. And as tragic as the events of the day of Christ's crucifixion were, yet what a beautiful scene we have before us, recorded in Scripture of predestination. Sadly, though, on the one hand, we see that the flesh rejects Christ no matter how terrible the circumstances. But on the other hand, we see a clear demonstration of the triumph of election and of the irresistible power of God's sovereign grace. But back to the first hand again, we need to notice the cross rejected. Verse 39, one of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him. Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us. Before we focus on this rejecter, we need to take a moment to think about the crowd. Now, boys and girls, the fact that the chief priests and the leaders and the people got their way, remember what they shouted, crucify! Crucify! Crucify Him! The fact that they got their way now to see Jesus painfully hanging on the cross, fastened to it by those deadly nails, you see, that wasn't enough for them. They got their way, but that wasn't enough. That didn't seem to calm the fury and the anger of their hatred against Him. It's as if as long as Jesus was still breathing and as long as He could still hear them, they were going to let Him have it. They mocked and they taunted Him. And as you think about the record of Scripture as we have it recorded in the four Gospel accounts, notice with their tongues how they reject Him. They reject Him as the Christ, as the servant of God, as the Son of God, as the builder of the temple, as the King of the Jews, as the chosen one. With their tongues, as He hung suspended between heaven and earth, they stripped Him of His true identity. You see, beloved, in their wicked minds, the cross was tangible proof. Boys and girls, that means proof that they could see, proof that they could feel. It was tangible proof that certainly, again, to them, he was not the Christ. He was only a deceiver. He was a pretender because if he were the Christ, then certainly he would save himself. And this one criminal, even he himself was rejected by society. He was being executed. Capital punishment. And as he hung on his cross, again, not by choice, he didn't say, well, I'll go there. No. As he hung there, not by choice, he too rejects Jesus. If anyone would have looked for some hope, you would think he would. He hurled insults at him. Aren't you the Christ? And we need to understand that the way that he asks this question, it expects a yes answer. Well, yes, you are the Christ. That's your claim. So save yourself, and while you're at it, save us. But you see, this criminal wasn't confessing that he actually believed that Jesus was the Christ. It's a little bit like when I critique my wife for something she may have done that was less than perfect, and no husband here would do that, actually. But if I were to critique my wife for something that she may have done that I thought was less than perfect. And she might respond, well, you think you're so perfect, aren't you? You're so perfect. Of course, she doesn't really believe that about me, but she's just saying that as we say tongue in cheek. This criminal was blaspheming Christ. He said Jesus was the Christ, but he in no way meant it. He in no way believed it. And he proves it by his wicked request. Save yourself and us. You see, this was a prayer of wicked unbelief. And this prayer, his prayer demonstrates the kind of salvation that he wanted. He wanted to be saved from that cross. But he was not sorry for his sins. He was in the very grasp of death, as the other criminal will remind him, he was getting what he deserved, he was facing damnation, but the judgment that he is under doesn't bother him. Just get me off this cross. At different times in my life, I remember especially when I was younger, maybe in my teenage years, I remember talking to people, maybe my own age, and I heard them callously say, well, if I died, I know that I'm going to hell. As if it didn't bother them. See, that kind of an attitude is proof that they don't really understand what's coming for them if they die to this life in unbelief. They don't understand that hell is not some party, but eternal damnation and punishment. And that, beloved, ought to make us terribly scared for them. That ought to make us desire to at least tell them there is hope. There is hope. This guy on the cross that day, He wasn't sorry that he had offended the living God. He just wants a Savior that on the one hand ignores the righteous requirements of God and on the other hand has the power to make Him, to enable Him to enjoy a life of sin without suffering its consequences, without receiving its wages. This criminal who rejects the cross of Jesus and therefore Jesus Himself is proof that nothing in this life apart from God will persuade the sinful flesh to seek for and accept the Christ. Nothing. The only thing sufficient for that is God's grace. Not even the most severe circumstances will change a man and cause him to seek salvation only in the blood of Jesus. Sometimes we say that in order for one to change their ways, they must hit bottom. In fact, when someone has been caught up in something and does change, that's what we say, don't we? Well, they finally hit bottom. But it's more than that. Think about this criminal. This criminal had hit bottom by all human accounts. His punishment would end in death to this life, but he didn't get it. He didn't understand it. Hitting bottom means nothing apart from a change, apart from a transformation, apart from a transformed heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. This impenitent criminal is undeniable and without a doubt proof that mere man, apart from the intervention of our God, that mere man always rejects the Christ of Scripture. This guy saw no hope in this king of the Jews. He saw no hope in this one who prayed for his enemies. He saw no hope in this one who was meek and lowly and who was obviously overpowered by his enemies. This impenitent criminal hated this man in the middle. This criminal, along with the angry crowd, challenged Jesus to save himself from the cross, even as Jesus was saving others by the cross. And one of those others being saved by the cross was hanging on the other side of Jesus. And in this one, we see the cross believed, beginning at verse 40, but the other criminal rebuked him. Don't you fear God, he said. Since you are under the same sentence, we are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus answered him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. Now Matthew and Mark, in their accounts of this, say that the criminals, both of them, heaped insults on him. In other words, Matthew and Mark make no distinction between the two. but Luke, as we see, makes an amazing distinction between them. And we don't know exactly what happened. Some would say that, well, because Luke says this, then certainly Matthew and Mark couldn't have meant both, that they were speaking in some sort of a general way, but they didn't mean both. It's very possible that both indeed were hurling insults at him as this whole scene started. But at some point, this criminal was softened and his heart was changed. Again, we don't know, but maybe as he observed Christ passively suffer and not return insult for insult and evil for evil, but suffer willingly and even pray for forgiveness for those who crucified Him. Through all that, maybe the Holy Spirit was working through those things. But the attitude and the prayer of this second criminal is a picture of the wonder and the triumph of grace. That grace which alone can break through the darkness of the mind and through the rebellious will of the sinner. And if you think about it, this episode speaks out clearly against the idea of free will. That man of his own free will will look to the Lord Jesus Christ and believe on Him. if man has a free will, how do you explain the difference between these two criminals? After all, they were in the exact same situation. They were both suffering a just punishment for their crimes. The end was coming soon for both of them alike. All hope was gone. So if one were to find a little hope in this man in the middle, wouldn't the other one as well? But at the same token, on the other side of the spectrum, as far as the human eye sees, for both of them, it was clear to see that all hope was gone for this man in the middle. That was obvious. They could both clearly see that everything was against Christ. That His cause seemed lost. It should have been clear to both of them that there was nothing visible about Christ that should have given the repentant criminal hope any more than the impenitent one. Jesus was visibly in the power of his enemies, condemned as a criminal, about to die. Again, the fact that he couldn't come down proved it. He proved that he was a pretender. As well up to this point, as far as the scriptural record goes, Jesus had not even said one word to this second criminal. He didn't urge him to make some sort of a deathbed confession. All the penitent could see was a crucified Christ. His lost cause. Who was mocked and despised. Whose sheep were scattered. If anything, this guy was crazy. According to everyone else standing around. His attitude and his prayer can only be explained by God's sovereign, irresistible, electing grace. The Lord blessed him and not the other with a transformed heart and the eye of faith. And in the very clutches, in the very grasp of death, this criminal is transformed by the hand of God into both a devout worshiper of God and a distinguished teacher of faith and piety. He rebukes his fellow criminal, pointing out the foundation of man's wickedness, namely, a lack of true fear for God. A lack of true reverential fear. A lack of fear as well for the judgment of God. See, boys and girls, the first criminal, as it were, was giving a final fist shaking at God. Get me down from here if you can. The repentant criminal says, don't you fear God? Since you were under the same sentence? If you haven't noticed, your feet aren't touching the ground either. The end is coming for you. We're getting what we deserve. But this man, he is righteous. He is something different about him. He is all that he claimed to be. He is our only hope. Beloved, the impenitent criminal. The first one is proof that those who fearlessly reject Christ have no clue as hebrews 9 verse 27 says just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment the second the believing criminal prays in verse 42 jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom a beautiful prayer this is the prayer of a dying sinner to a dying savior and john calvin says of this criminal pointing out the seeming contradiction he says he adores christ as King while Christ is on the gallows. He celebrates His Christ's kingdom in the midst of shocking and worse than revolting abasement. He declares Him when dying to be the author of life. Beloved, what a picture of grace as God opens His eyes to behold life in death and exaltation in ruin, To see glory in shame, victory in destruction, to see a kingdom in the midst of bondage. And by faith, this humbled and repentant sinner commits himself and his salvation to the protection of Jesus, even while the Savior looked least like a Savior to the human eye. You see, he was no longer concerned about this life, and he wasn't concerned, like his fellow criminal, to be saved from this particular cross that day. but his desire, by God's grace, was for the life to come. His desire was to be cared for by the Savior after this cross had taken its toll and fulfilled its horrible task. Beloved, you and I do not know what this life might hold for us, what God has planned for us in this life, whether joy or sorrow, whether good times, whether bad times, but whatever this life may hold, is this your desire? That after this life has taken its toll, is it your desire to be cared for by the Savior? You see, right then and there on Calvary, God gave a beautiful demonstration of the sin that Christ came to atone for. This repentant criminal, we might say, was a trophy of victory given by the Father to the Son. And just as it appeared that the enemy was triumphant, with the powers of darkness having gained the victory, and as it appeared that Christ was defeated, this criminal saw the light of truth, and in that dark hour, he connected the kingdom of God and Christ with the cross. And what an answer to prayer. Jesus answered him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. This man could not have heard any more precious words than the words that came from the lips of the dying Savior. Now, practically speaking, that was an assurance that this painful crucifixion would not last three or four days. That could be the case. But what a promise that he would soon be delivered from his suffering unto glory with the Savior. Again, even before Jesus said, it is finished, God was giving proof of his saving grace in Jesus Christ. But this answer of Jesus is also to be for our comfort, that at death we are and that we will be in the presence of Him who said, I am going to my Father's house to prepare a place for you and I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? It's gone. It's wiped out by Christ for His people. Beloved, we see the exalted Christ by faith. We see Him who has ascended, who sits at the right hand of His Father, who rules and reigns even today, who will come again on the clouds of glory. We see by faith the one before whom indeed every knee will one day bow. We see Him by faith and therefore shame on us if our confession is not at least as strong and true as this repentant criminal who saw Him bloodied, beaten, fastened to that cross. Shame on us if we fail to fix our hope of life on His resurrection. Shame on us if our aim is not toward heaven where He has entered. And shame on us if we would rather enjoy the things that this world provides than to take up our cross and follow Him. The cross, again, as represented by these two criminals, has only two effects on mankind. Some reject it. It is foolishness to them. It is an embarrassment to them. And it will be the eternal death of them. But others, by God's grace, are brought to the light of the cross. And they glory in Christ's cross by the electing grace of God. And if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you understand, as we sometimes sing, for me, dear Jesus, was thine incarnation, thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation, thy death of anguish, and thy bitter passion. Why? For my salvation. If that's your humble confession, then rejoice in the Lord, that he did not leave you in darkness as he did the first criminal, but that he brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now we don't know, the scripture record does not tell us, but it's possible that the repentant criminal's rebuke of the impenitent criminal, which no doubt was heard, and his public profession of faith in the dying Savior, it might have brought on laughter and persecution from those standing around at the moment he said it. And why not? Because what he said and when he said it seemed utterly ridiculous. But he wasn't afraid to speak the truth. and beloved may we speak the truth in love may we be bold to speak about and tell of the cross of Jesus and of the saving grace of God knowing that all of life depends upon it as Dr. Bergsma fittingly reminded us last week we have a duty it is our duty as those called to be saints it is our duty not only to live the faith indeed to live it but to tell it to speak it to be ready and to desire to speak it may it be our desire as well our earnest desire that Christ remember us you see that is our comfort in life and in death as he was numbered with the transgressors and as he was dying for elect sinners in the repentant criminal the promise of God was already being fulfilled Isaiah 53 verse 10 says yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering he will see his offspring and prolong his days and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand the repentant criminal was one of Christ's offspring the visible first fruits of his atoning love and beloved what a beautiful picture that no matter how far one has fallen and even at the last breath of life when the father draws that one to his son Christ's answer is the same to all who repent and believe today you will be with me in paradise Amen shall we pray Father, as once again we are reminded of such a great salvation, we pray, O Lord, that by the sanctifying power and influence of Your Holy Spirit, we might understand more and more each day the greatness of it. That we might understand how far our Lord Jesus Christ was indeed humbled that we might be raised to the heights of glory. Father, may we rejoice in that great salvation. And again, give to us the opportunity and the courage to speak of such a great salvation, the gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake and in His name. Amen.