Second Word On The
Cross
by Elizabeth Paturi on Good
Friday Service -
2004
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Luke 23:43- And Jesus said unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me
in paradise.
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As Christians we all want to hear
this same promise about our lives before leaving this
earth. Because we all want to go to heaven. And we all
want our eternal future to be secure with Jesus in
heaven. We cannot talk about Jesus and His second word
on the cross without talking about the two criminals
that were crucified on either side of Jesus that day.
The three crosses are the cross of rebellion (the first
thief), the cross of repentance (the second thief), and
the cross of Redemption (Jesus) in the middle.
The First Thief : In
Luke 23:39: And one of the malefactors which were hanged
railed on him saying, If Thou be Christ, save Thyself
and us. We can learn so much about this thief from just
that one sentence. Here we see that this criminal was
mocking Jesus…. Why? He did not believe that Jesus had
come to save him from sin and to give him eternal life.
If he had believed this, he too would have given his
life to Jesus like the second criminal. Also, he did not
believe that Jesus could help him in these last hours so
he joined the others in mocking Jesus. So, we see here
that he did not believe…. let’s see what happens to
those that are in unbelief.
Here we see that there are
consequences for unbelief.Because of unbelief, his
sinful nature continued until his death and he would die
in sin without redemption.
Due to unbelief, not only will he
die in his sins but also this thief will not have
everlasting life but only see the wrath of God. Now we
also see here that this first thief was only focused on
his life here on earth. In verse 39 he says, save
Thyself and us…he was looking for relief from his
earthly pain; worried about the flesh, and his temporary
pain and was only concerned about his life here on earth
but not about life after death.
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I John 2:15- Love not the world
neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world the love of the Father is not in him.
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Romans 8:8-So then they that are
in the flesh cannot please God.
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Romans 8:13-For if ye live after
the flesh, ye shall die…
Here we see that those whose focus
is on the things of the earth are still in sin, and like
this thief cannot please God because he loved the world,
and he will die in the flesh. I Cor15: 50- Now this I
say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption. We know that flesh and blood are things of
the temporary and whoever focuses on the things of the
flesh cannot inherit the things of the Spirit, just like
this thief who did not inherit the kingdom of God.
Lets
do a quick recap of the first criminal: Because
of unbelief: 1. Dies in sin 2. No eternal life 3. Only
see wrath of God
4. Focused on
physical self 5.Therefore he cannot inherit kingdom of
God.
The Second
Criminal:
Had a
change of heart in his last few hours. In the next few
verses we see how this sinner comes to Christ through
various steps of faith.
First step:
In verse 40: He rebuked the first
criminal for mocking Jesus. Proverbs 24:25-But to them
that rebuke him (the wicked) shall be delight, and a
good blessing shall come upon him. We see here that God
delighted in this thief because he rebuked evil or
wickedness, which was his very first step in coming to
Christ.
Second step:
In
verse 40: He said, “Dost not thou fear God?” Here we see
that this second criminal himself feared God. Matthew
10:28-And fear not them which kill the body, but are not
able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able
to destroy both body and soul in hell He was being
tortured by all these people yet in all this he knew
that he had to only fear Jesus who is in control of both
his body and soul and was able to destroy both in hell,
while man could only harm his temporary physical
body.
Third step: In verse 41: He said, And we
indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our
deeds. Here this criminal accepted that he was a sinner
and confessed of his sins. I John 1:9- if we confess of
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our
sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Isaiah
55:7- He will abundantly pardon. We know that God
forgave him of all his sins even in these last hours
because he believed
Fourth step:
In verse 41-He continued to say,
But this Man hath done nothing amiss. II Corinthians
5:21-For He hath made Him to be sin, who knew no sin. He
believed because he knew that Christ was sinless and
that is what makes Jesus different from other men.
Fifth
step:
In verse 42: He begins by calling
Jesus “LORD” Here we can see that his fifth step was
making Jesus Lord over his life that very same moment.
Sixth step:
In
verse 42:He continued to ask Jesus saying, “remember me
when Thou comest into Thy kingdom” Here, unlike the fist
criminal, this repentant criminal’s focus was on the
things of the eternal. He knew that he would die in the
next few hours and his life was almost over on this
earth for which he had no regard, but he was only
concerned about his eternal life after death. John 6:47:
Verily. Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me
hath everlasting life. Because he believed, he was
rewarded with everlasting life that very same day.
Lets do a quick recap of the second
thief:
He followed various steps
in his transformation from a sinner to a believer:
1. Rebuked evil
2. Feared God
3. Confessed his sins
4. Believed Christ is sinless
5. Made Jesus Lord over his life
6. Focused on the things of the
Spirit
And therefore Jesus gave
him the reward of everlasting
life
With the first thief we
talked about unbelief:
Hebrews 3:12- Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Here Paul is warning Christians, telling us to be careful, not to have unbelief in our hearts…which if we do, then we too are
like the first criminal who had an evil heart of unbelief and one that was far from the living God.
So, we as Christians also have to be careful of unbelief because it leads to death
With the second thief we
learned about being focused on the things of the
Spirit. Romans 8:5- For they that are after the
things of the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but
they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Just like this second criminal, we too have to put our
focus and concentrate on the things of the Spirit…and
only by doing so can we receive the things of the Spirit
and that of the eternal. When our minds are on spiritual
things and we focus on our lives after death…then we too
will be rewarded with the promise to join Jesus in
paradise just like this second thief. And our focus on
the things of the Spirit will lead us to eternal life.
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