A Changed Heart
Series: “face to Face”
Sunday sermon / July 15th
Intro: the man we are looking into today isn’t even named in Scripture. He came face to Face with Jesus in the most horrible way. They were crucified together. And actually there were three men crucified that day.
The Old Testament prophecy told of these two,
Isaiah 53:10 KJV “…he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
All four Gospels include something about these two other men. Matthew and Mark record almost identical details:
Text: Mark 15:28 /
Matthew 27:38 “Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. 39And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." 41So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42"He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ’I am the Son of God.’" 44And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
Text: We’ll look at a detail only John includes at the end of the message but first let’s look at Luke 23.
He includes something unique to the other accounts:
Luke 23:39-43 “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" 40But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." 42And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
Matthew and Mark both record the same message, the two thieves reviled Jesus.
Luke says something different. He says that one of the men cursed and jeered him, while the other defended and pleaded for mercy from Jesus.
As I believe the Scriptures are inspired and “God breathed.” Therefore, they are completely accurate both doctrinally and historically.
I believe we are seeing the before and after snap shots of a man transformed by a face to Face with Jesus.
Luke records yet another amazing story of the workings of God’s grace.
What did this man see or hear that so quickly and dramatically changed his heart?
Before we consider what changed the one, let’s consider who these guys were:
I. Lost, Condemned and minutes away from eternity
a. According to society, they were beyond hope
i. Even though the Roman government was ruled by a Dictator King who claimed to be god. They had a fairly developed form of government.
ii. In fact, much of today’s law is based on the Roman law.
iii. These two thieves would have had a trial, with witnesses and their conviction and sentencing was done orderly and according to Law.
But, in 1787, a group of well-known and powerful Philadelphians (called the Philadelphia Society) convened in the home of Benjamin Franklin. Dr. Benjamin Rush spoke on the Society’s goal, to see the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania set the international standard in prison design. He proposed a radical idea: to build a true penitentiary, a prison designed to create genuine regret and penitence in the criminal’s heart. Not simply to contain criminals. The concept grew from Enlightenment thinking, but no government had successfully carried out such a program.
Eastern State Penitentiary opened in 1829 and broke sharply with the prisons of its day, abandoning corporal punishment and ill treatment. This massive new structure, became one of the most expensive American buildings of its day and soon the most famous prison in the world.
Each prisoner had his or her own private cell, centrally heated, with running water, a flush toilet, and a skylight. Adjacent to the cell was a private outdoor exercise yard contained by a ten-foot wall. This was in an age when the White House, with its new occupant Andrew Jackson, had no running water and was heated with coal-burning stoves.
The Penitentiary would not simply punish, but move the criminal toward spiritual reflection and change. But the proponents of the system believed strongly that the criminals, exposed, in silence, to thoughts of their behavior and the ugliness of their crimes, would become genuinely penitent. Thus the new word, penitentiary.
iv. Penitence wasn’t the goal this day, execution was.
They weren’t just some petty pick pockets. They weren’t stealing bread to feed their starving children. They were violent men. They were hijackers of freedom. They were “muggers” guilty of armed robbery.
b. They were real people, with real lives
i. Jesus once told a story that contained a couple of guys very similar to these two.
Luke 10:30 “Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.”
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was noted at the time of our Lord as the roughest, rockiest, most robber-infested road in the world. It was the most dangerous and most undesirable route any one could travel in the land of the Jews.
• It’s possible that these men Jesus now hung between were partners
• It’s possible they used the road between Jerusalem and Jericho as the lair.
• Remember back two weeks when we looked at Zachaeus coming face to Face with Jesus? Zachaeus lived in Jericho. When Jesus took time out from his trip to visit Zachaeus, he was on his way to Jerusalem. Meaning Jesus had just walked this road.
• It’s possible they were “working” the day Jesus and his disciples and the crowds following them walked this road.
• It’s possible that with the flood of travelers with Jesus these two men were flushed out and arrested on account of Jesus.
Never the less, these two men hung on either side of Jesus, they faced their death together.
No one could care less if these robbers were penitent or not, they were going to die for their crimes.
With the exception of Jesus!!! Which is were the beauty of the story begins to unfold.
Some time during those 6 hours this man has a change of heart.
What changed this man?
II. He saw something he had never seen before:
a. Amazing Contrast
Picture the scene:
i. Here they were spewing hate. Cursing those who curse them. Spitting back, cursing back, insult for insult. Hatred upon hatred. Death on death, vile nature exposed, the inner lostness of humanity coming out in full view.
This was the heart of the Apostle Paul prior to his face to Face with Jesus:
Acts 9:1 “…Saul, still breathes threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord…”
We see it again in the end of the age:
Revelation 15:10-11 after the fifth bowl of wrath, “…People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.”
ii. We see this over and over again in our world today. Violence escalating more and more. Hatred spewing out. Everything from drive by shooting and muggings to genocide and terrorist.
iii. We will see more and more of these activities as we approach the time of Christ’s return.
iv. And sadly we see it in the church too.
We are known better for what we hate than for how we love!
v. But there is Jesus hanging between them.
1. Not cursing
2. Not spitting and fuming
3. Not retaliating
For one man, Jesus became a mirror. Jesus had shown him his own heart. As long as violence is met with more violence and there is no pause to consider our ways we will not see God.
This is why anger and rage are counter productive in relationships. This is why accusations never work. We go on the defensive when someone attacks us.
Jesus taught this man the true nature of violence, not by giving him more violence, but by showing him forgiveness, peace and accepting the blows.
By absorbing the blows and insults Jesus accomplished what three nails and two pieces of timber couldn’t, the man repents.
b. Amazing Grace and Love
i. But saying, “Father, forgive them.”
ii. Taking the time while ON THE CROSS to care for his mother.
iii. Taking time ON THE CROSS to show this poor, miserable, hopeless criminal the LOVE of GOD!
iv. Showing this man that it’s NEVER too late to repent. Never too late to get right with God! God had not given up on him!
v. It’s not too late UNTIL your die that is! And this guy’s time was approaching quickly.
vi.
c. His life as a whole
i. He was convicted of his sin and his heart was changed.
ii. He stopped cursing and started confessing.
Luke 23:40 "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong."
iii. He stopped reviling and started pleading,
Luke 23:42 “And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
iv. And that’s exactly what Jesus did
Seeing your dead end isn’t pleasant but God lives in reality. God is reality.
One of two men did face reality, he did open his heart, he did look Jesus in the eye and make it right.
And for that:
III. Jesus didn’t save him from the cross but he did save him from hell!
Luke 23:43 “And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."”
a. Besides Jesus, two men died that die.
b. Both of those men’s spirits are still in existence today. They have not ceased to be.
One man is 2000 years into an eternal sentence. He has not stopped cursing God, he has not stopped writhing in unimaginable pain, he has not stopped burning, he has not had even one drop of water to quench his thirst since the day he was nailed to His cross. He has not been able to shed the worms that continually eat him, but never complete their meal.
His soul has been burning with unquenchable fire for two thousand years and there is no end to his pain. He will never cease to bare his cross.
The other man is now 2000 years into his reward. He is in heaven. He too has continued to exist. He has not felt any pain, rejection, hunger or thirst for this entire time.
He will never again feel the pain of that cross. His anxiety is gone. He is loved, accepted, delivered, he is being eternally rewarded and blessed.
Conclusion:
At the beginning of my message I told you we’d also look at the detail that John includes.
John 19:31-33 “Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.”
We see that Jesus went on ahead of this man. He prepared a way and prepared a home for him.
He faced death first and removed death’s sting.
The other thief died all alone.
You may not have ever broken the laws of the State but, we are all criminals against God. His heart’s desire isn’t punishment and extermination but rather penitence.
And we choose.
