Thursday, March 28

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Thursday 

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.  And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.  And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.  And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”  The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”   - Luke 23:32-43

There are three dying men in this passage.  Each one of them has something to say and each one of them has something to teach us.  Three Lessons from Three Dying Men.  The first dying man is the first criminal on the cross (23:39).  Essentially, he says to Jesus, “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be the One?  Do something!  Prove it!”  (And save me too, while you’re at it.)

The lesson we learn from the first dying man is:  The Easiest Mistake to Make

Clearly this guy misses who Jesus is.  But before we are too hard on him, I want to show how easy and common this mistake is to make.  People make this same mistake all of the time in our own world/culture today.

Two basic reasons:  The first reason he misses who Jesus really is: the influence of the crowd.  Luke tells us that the crowds, the Jewish leaders, and the Roman soldiers were all mocking Jesus. In a sense, this dying criminal is just following the crowd in terms of how he responds to Jesus.  He is just going along with popular opinion.

Things really haven’t changed all that much in our day.  People (all kinds) are still mocking and misunderstanding Jesus.  Conspiracy theories abound.  New ideas and revelations about who Jesus really was keep popping up (not really new at all).  The prevailing opinion about Jesus in our culture, is that the Jesus of the New Testament Gospels is not real, not authentic, can’t be trusted.

Irony: to be a Bible believing Christian today is actually to be a radically independent thinker!  It’s much easier just to go along with the opinion(s) of the crowd.

The second reason this man missed Jesus was because He had the wrong criteria.  Jesus failed his personal authenticity test.  What was his test?  “Help me!” (23:39) “Get me out of this!  Do what I want, meet my needs, and then I will believe.”

I hear this kind of thing from people all of the time.  I prayed:  it didn’t work, Jesus didn’t answer, etc.  We all have our little tests for Jesus (even subconsciously).  Instead of examining the evidence, reading the Scriptures, considering the truth claims, we say, “I hurt and He hasn’t come through for me, so I don’t believe.”  We all want a Jesus that conforms to our image, to our ideas of how He should act and how our lives should go.  We don’t come to God and say, “Here’s how I’ll know that you are real…”  This is no test for God.  You don’t even want a God (not really).  You want a divine and all-powerful personal assistant.

Think about it.  What you are saying is that you want a God that is great enough to answer all your prayers and meet all your needs, but He can’t be any smarter than you; He can’t be any bigger than your ideas.  But this is not the God of the Bible and it is not the Christ of the cross.  You see how easy it is to miss Jesus??  Going with the crowd…wrong criteria (me test).  If the first dying man shows us how people miss Jesus, the second dying man shows us how to find Him.

The lesson of the second dying man is:  The hardest realization to come to 
Notice – dying man #1 & #2 are in exactly the same situation.  (23:40-41). Both men need help/saving.  Both turn to Jesus, but that is where the similarity ends.

The first dying man sees Jesus as a means to his end.  The second dying man sees Jesus as an end Himself.  There is a world of difference!  This is one of the greatest tests of genuine faith.  Do you want Jesus for what He can give you?  Or do want Jesus for who He is?  All kinds of people turn to God in their need, but it doesn’t last or they don’t change.

The first dying man says, “I’ll be with you if you get me out of this trouble.”  The second dying man says, “I’ll stick with the trouble if you will be with me.”

Notice the second dying man does not ask to come off of the cross!?  He realized that what he needed was not primarily a change in circumstances, but a change at his center.  Instead of asking God for the life we want, we need to make God our life!

“We are getting what we deserve.  But this man has done nothing wrong.”  This is an incredible statement!  Frankly is an offensive statement to many in our culture.  Most people live believing (if not saying) that they deserve better.  Life is not fair. I didn’t ask for this.  I’m a pretty good person, I’ve followed the rules.  I’ve been faithful.  I’ve sacrificed, etc.  So God owes me.  But this man says I am right where I deserve to be.  This is just and fair.

Arthur Pink excerpt (p. 43): “Before any sinner can be saved, he must come to the place of realized weakness.  This is what the conversation of the dying thief shows us.  What could he do?  He could not walk in the paths of righteousness, for there was a nail through either foot.  He could not perform any good works, for there was a nail through either hand. He could not turn over a new leaf and live a better life, for he was dying.  And, my reader, those hand of yours that are so swift to run in the way of legal obedience, must be nailed to the Cross.  The sinner has to be cut off from his own workings and be made willing to be saved by Christ.  A realization of your sinful condition, of your lost condition, of your helpless condition, is nothing more or less than old-fashioned conviction of sin, and this is the sole prerequisite for coming to Christ for salvation, for Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

Jeff Frazier