This Day You Will Be with Me in Paradise

By Dr. Harry Reeder III

Well, it truly is a great privilege to be back with you. Would you take your Bibles and turn with me to Luke chapter 23? Luke 23. What a great study. And honestly, what a great concept — to band together with other churches and believers in these days of preparation for the celebration of Holy Week, not too far hence.

While you’re turning there, thank you again for the opportunity to be with you. I was trying to think of something—visiting preachers often try a little humor to establish some connection, since we don’t get the time with you that your pastor does. And some of you know I had the opportunity to follow Frank Barker, so let me give you a Frank Barker story. It even moves us toward our subject.

Now, I don’t know whether this is true or not—you can’t always trust Frank—but here’s how the story goes. A fellow was sitting at dinner with three friends. He turned to them and said, “Men, if you were to die and were lying in the coffin, what would you want people to say when they walked by and looked at you before the service?”

One man said, “Well, I’d like them to say, ‘He was a great family man.’”

Another said, “I’d like them to say, ‘Here lies a man of integrity who kept his word.’”

The third man said, “I’d like them to come by, look in, and say, ‘Look—I think he’s still moving.’”

Some of y’all will have to think about that for a minute. It’s a little humorous, but it does move us toward our text.

Because here we’re looking at a dying thief—a man who, in just a few short hours, will go through an agonizing death. And the Lord has allowed us, in this one text of Scripture, to see what the power of God’s grace can do. Death—an enemy we avoid at all costs—is actually turned into this man’s friend, his promotion. It is an amazing thing that stands before us.

Let me give you one that’s not humorous. I don’t know whether this one is true either, but when I served at Christ Covenant, we had a wonderful missionary agency down the road called JARS, with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Many of them came to our congregation. I had the privilege of talking with one fellow who shared this story.

A lady called her pastor in before she died. She planned her whole funeral with him—no fear at all. At the end she said, “Pastor, I know you usually keep the coffin lid shut, but I’m asking you to keep it open for me.”

He said, “Ma’am, I don’t normally do that. It’s not very conducive to preaching with the lid open.”

She said, “I’m asking you to do it. And one more thing: make sure everyone walks by my coffin before they sit down. And make sure that in my left hand is a Bible, and in my right hand is a fork.”

He said, “Ma’am, you’re going to have to explain this. I think I understand the Bible, but the fork is getting complicated.”

She said, “When they come by, you tell them to look at my left hand. God’s Word brought me to Jesus Christ, and I lived my life on God’s Word, and I have no regrets. Make sure you tell them that.”

He said, “I figured that part. But help me with the fork.”

She said, “Isn’t fellowship around tables wonderful—in the homes of believers, with your family? My favorite moment is when the hostess comes by, picks up the plates, and says, ‘Save your fork,’ because I know the best is yet to come. So you tell them: I saved my fork, because the best is yet to come.”

“Today… today you shall be with me in paradise.”

Let’s read the text—Luke chapter 23. Let me ask you to back up from what’s in your bulletin to verse 32.

Two others also, who were with, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with him, and when they came to the place called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left, but Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing, and they cast lots, dividing up his garments among themselves, and the people stood by, looking on, and even the rulers were sneering at him, saying, 'They saved others, let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, His chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up to him, offering him sour wine, and saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. Now, there was also an inscription above him. This is the King of the Jews. One of the criminals who were hanged, who were hanged there, was hurling abuse at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other answered, 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 you shall be with me in paradise.

I have to tell you, I’m a historian. I love history—love to read it, love to go to the places where it happened. In about three weeks I’m taking about a hundred people on another trip to Israel. Someone said, “You’re going over there with all that’s going on?” Well, if you’re waiting for peace in Israel to go, you’ll have to wait for the new Israel and the new Jerusalem. So I’m going right on over there. I’m looking forward to standing in the places where these things happened—where the skull was, where Golgotha was. This actually happened in space, time, and history almost 2,000 years ago.

This man—we don’t know his name—was assured of the pardon found in Jesus Christ and was ushered into eternity that very day. You are reading something that happened to a real man, in a real moment, under the real grace of God.

You’re studying what we call the seven words or seven statements of Christ. You’ve already covered the first one: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” In that glorious word we see God’s commitment to common grace—His patience even toward those who are, at that very moment, putting to death the Son of God.

But now we move from common grace to redeeming grace. Not the general plea—“Father, be patient with these rebels”—but the specific, electing, converting, transforming grace that touches this one man.

If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, there’s coming a day when you’ll meet this man. It won’t be hard to find each other. The Bible says we’ll live on the street of gold—not streets, but street—so even I won’t get lost. I’ll meet him. He’s there because Jesus Himself gave him the word of pardon: “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

This man moved in a moment from hopelessness to eternal life, from helplessness to the power of God carrying him into eternity. He had no hope—and then he had a sure hope, because he had the blessed hope, Jesus Christ.

“Truly”—amen—“I say to you…”

And you’ll notice something: when a preacher gets something right, even in a Presbyterian church, somebody might say “amen.” They won’t say it loud. They may just nod their head. That’s the Presbyterian amen.

That’s about as good as we can get. But you know, you’ll notice something: when truth is spoken—when you hear it—do you say amen? And amen means what? “So be it forever.” Right? Amen. Amen. Just checking to see if you’re there.

When Jesus said amens, you’ll notice something in the Gospels: He didn’t put them after what He said. He put them before what He said. You and I have to wait to hear the truth before we can say amen to it. We have to hear it, weigh it, see if it lines up with God’s Word. But when Jesus spoke, He could say “Amen” at the beginning, because what He was about to say was God’s Word—and God’s Word will be fulfilled.

This man—amen. “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” A man with no hope now has a sure hope, because he has the hope, and that hope is Jesus Christ.

Now, take a look with me at this man in his context. Let me sum up what we’re seeing in this historical moment with two simple statements.

First, you’re looking at a man who, by God’s grace, saw his true condition.

Second, you’re looking at a man who, by that same grace, saw the sufficiency of the Savior.

He saw the truth about himself, and he saw the truth about Christ.

So what was this man’s true condition? We don’t have to guess. He tells us biographically in the Scriptures. He is the living illustration of what the Bible says: all have sinned. This man is a sinner. He stands rightly under God’s judgment. He is hopeless because of his sin record. He is helpless because of his sin nature. And even on the precipice of eternity, he is still sinning against the living God.

Let me show you his condition in three ways.

First, by what he’s called.

Your New American Standard calls him a criminal. The King James calls him a malefactor. I used to love that word. Malefactor comes from two Latin words: mal—evil; and facere—to do. A malefactor is an evil-doer. What kind of evil? Well, the Bible tells you: he’s a thief, a robber.

But I’m going to suggest the Bible is being kind. I think he’s worse than a thief or a robber. Why? Because he’s being put to death. Neither Hebrew law nor Roman law executed thieves. They wanted thieves alive so they could pay restitution. So why is this man being crucified?

My guess—and it’s only a guess—is that he’s connected to another man who was just released. Anybody remember his name? Barabbas. My guess is this man wasn’t just a thief. He was a murderer. He has violated the law of God up and down—he hates God, he covets, he steals, he destroys. He is a sinner by every measure.

Second, he is a blasphemer in the very face of God.

Sometimes I wonder why we struggle to sense the holy—that the Holy One is among us when we gather. There ought to be joy, yes, but also reverence. And here, on this hill, there has never been a greater manifestation of God’s Shekinah glory than the 33 years God walked this earth in the flesh.

This is Jesus Christ—the radiance of the Father’s glory, full of grace and truth. And what does this man do? He mocks Him.

Luke tells us what grace did in this man’s heart. But Matthew and Mark tell us what he was doing before grace touched him. Matthew 27 says both robbers were insulting Him. Before this man was changed, he was right there with the soldiers, the priests, the crowds—mocking the Son of God.

Same heart as ours, folks. Same sinful heart. That’s why we don’t need a patch-up job. We don’t need a little spiritual assistance. We need to be born again.

Third, because of all this, he stands under God’s just condemnation.

The wages of sin is death. This man isn’t just hanging between heaven and earth—he is hanging over the precipice of eternity, guilty, with no hope.

But then—by the hand of God’s grace—this man sees the sufficiency of the Savior.

Go back to Luke 23. Somewhere in these hours, this robber who was mocking Jesus undergoes a complete change.

Listen to him:

“Do you not even fear God… we are receiving what we deserve… but this man has done nothing wrong… Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom.”

He sees his condition. He sees Christ’s innocence. He sees Christ’s kingship. And he cries out—not to Pilate, not to Herod, not to the priests, not to the crowd—but to one Person: Jesus.

“Remember me.”

How did he get there? If you don’t get anything else today, get this.

He got there the same way anyone gets there—unless God intervenes in some extraordinary way.

The Word of God, in the hands of the Spirit of God, brought this man to the Son of God.

That’s how it always happens.

This is speculation, but he was probably a Jew. He likely knew some of Jesus’ claims. He got swept up in the crowd, his sinful heart joined the mockery, and then—suddenly—he comes to a different position. He rebukes the other criminal. He confesses his guilt. He calls on Jesus.

How did that happen?

The Word of God came to his heart by the Spirit of God.

You say, “Well now, when did Jesus speak to him?” I don’t know whether Jesus spoke to him directly or not, so I can’t speculate there. But I do know this: there were plenty of other people around him declaring the truth of God’s Word—even in their mockery.

Go check the five groups hurling abuse: the criminals, the people, the rulers, the soldiers, and the priests. That’s a great study—we don’t have time for it tonight—but go catalog their blasphemies. Here’s what you’ll find: Son of God, King of the Jews, Messiah, Anointed One, Favored of God. They even throw back at Him His own words: “If You can save others, save Yourself.”

And here’s what encourages me: if God can save a dying thief in a moment, using people who are quoting the truth of God’s Word in blasphemy, then what might He do with the stumbling efforts of a poor preacher trying to be faithful?

A guy asked me once, “Harry, how do you feel after Sundays?” I said, “Like resigning. Like turning back whatever paycheck they gave me. Like quitting.” People ask, “Do you listen to your sermons?” Never. Most discouraging thing I could do. Folks come up and say, “I heard you this morning on the radio—what did you think?” I say, “I didn’t even know it was on.” They ask, “You don’t listen to your own program?” No. That’s the last thing I’m listening to in the morning. I cut on Steve Brown.

But here’s what I love: if God can save a dying thief with blasphemers accidentally preaching the truth, then He can use you and me. Remember that the next time you go out on an evangelism visit. As Mr. Booth of the Salvation Army said, we’re just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

We ought to be the best witnesses we can be, but praise God—it’s not in you. It’s in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God. Even blasphemers quoting it were used to convert this thief.

Now, I do believe the demeanor and deportment of the Savior drew this man as well. What a sweet, sweet Savior. But it was the Word of God, in the hands of the Spirit of God, that went to the mind and heart of this man.

And please—your pastor said it earlier—do not allow this pulpit to drift. Personalities differ, styles differ, but don’t ever let this pulpit leave the exposition of Scripture to the minds and hearts of God’s people. You can’t know the Savior until you know about the Savior. You can’t have a sound life without sound doctrine. And sound doctrine must always be addressed to both mind and heart. That’s what happened to this man. Transforming grace came because his mind and heart were addressed.

Here we have the Reformation cry in living color. Have you ever seen a clearer example of our watchword? Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

How did this man get saved? He’s a thief, a murderer, a blasphemer. He stands under condemnation. He has nothing to commend him to God.

How did he get saved?

By grace alone.

How did he get saved?

By faith alone.

In whom?

In Christ alone.

The Word of God, by the Spirit of God, took hold of this man’s mind and heart and sent him to the Son of God for salvation. And this man—hanging on a cross, suspended under judgment—moves from condemnation to eternal life by calling upon that Savior. He becomes the living illustration of Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Now let me give you a few thoughts for personal application—just some things that jump out of the text and I want to throw at you.

First, Scripture reminds us that all are sinners and stand rightly under God’s condemnation. This man is you. Two thousand years ago, men had God where they could lay hands on Him—and they crucified Him. Romans, criminals, priests, crowds. And apart from God’s grace, you and I would have done the same. In fact, we might have led the pack unless God restrained us.

There is no good thing within us.

I love to tease people with this. I’ll ask, “How are you doing?” They say, “Good.” First of all, that’s not good English. Second, it gives me an opening: “The Bible says there’s none good—no, not one. So how can you be good?” It’s my new evangelism explosion method.

The reason evil men are not as evil as they could be is because God’s common grace restrains them. And God’s redeeming grace saves some, who then become part of His restraining grace in the world.

This man shows us how evil we can be—lawbreakers, blasphemers—even in the face of God.

Second, salvation is only by the grace found in Jesus Christ, communicated in the Gospel. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.” To the Jew first—even if he’s a dying thief—and also to the Gentile, like the centurion who may well have been converted that day.

Let me give you one story. I was a brand-new preacher—had no business preaching. Seventeen people asked me to help them, and it grew to about a hundred. One dear saint said, “Pastor, my son is coming this Mother’s Day. Would you save him?” I said, “Ma’am, that’s a tall order. I don’t think I can do that.” She said, “Oh please, he doesn’t know the Lord.”

He was an All-American basketball player—University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Interesting guy. We were meeting in a home—no building yet. My pulpit was an old television. We figured if I wasn’t doing too well, we could just turn it on and find someone better. I stood behind that TV. It had tubes in it—some of you young folks don’t know about tubes—and those tubes would heat up. I had two tailors back then: Polly and Esther. And every time I preached behind that TV, those tubes cost me a pair of pants.

I’m standing behind that old television, preaching. He comes in just late enough to satisfy his mother on Mother’s Day. I’ll never forget it. He grabs one of the dining room chairs, turns it around backwards, straddles it, folds his arms on the back, and just stares me down.

I’ll be honest—I got excited. I started preaching right at him. Looking back, I don’t think I was in the power of the Holy Spirit at all. I think I was all in the flesh. He was staring at me, and I was preaching at him because he was staring at me.

And then I positioned myself so he had to walk right past me on the way out. He came by—he was about six four, so I had to look up at him—and he looked down at me and said, “Hey preacher. Heard about you. Thought I’d come today.” That was it. Out the door. Onto his Harley Davidson. Gone.

I got in the car and said to Cindy, “Honey, I don’t think we did too well with Miss Ruth’s son.” She said, “No, I don’t think so either.”

We ate lunch. I was about to fall asleep—as I normally do on Sunday afternoons—when I heard that Harley Davidson climbing the hill, screeching into my driveway, tearing across the yard, brakes slamming. I heard the kickstand go down. Heavy boots coming up the steps. Then pounding on the door.

I thought, “Well, maybe I was a little too much in the flesh. He’s come to finish me off.”

I opened the door, and there stood Randy—tears running down his face.

“Preacher,” he said, “I haven’t been able to let go of anything you said. I want to give my life to Jesus. Would you pray with me?”

If you had told me that was going to happen that Sunday afternoon—after the way he walked out—I would never have believed you. I wasn’t blaspheming, but I sure wasn’t preaching in the Spirit. But I know this: the gospel was articulated, and the gospel is the power of God. It laid hold of that young man and brought him into the kingdom.

Later, God gave him a godly wife, three fine children, and through his witness, his own father—after fifty five years of rebellion—came to Christ.

That’s the power of the gospel.

Listen to me: I’m all for creativity. I love visionary people. But the answer to revival in our churches and healing in our society is not our ingenuity, not our gimmicks, not our techniques. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ—loved, lived, shared, proclaimed. If it could reach a dying thief on the precipice of eternity, in the hardness of his heart, blaspheming the Son of God face to face, then it can take hold of any sinner.

Third, faith and repentance.

Faith and repentance are what join you to Jesus Christ. This man exhibited both. How do I know?

By faith he trusted Jesus: “Remember me.”

And he repented: “We are here justly… we are receiving what we deserve.”

He owns his sin. He confesses his sin. He confesses Christ as his only hope. That’s repentance: owning the sinfulness of sin, turning from it—not to “do better”—but to Jesus Christ, who washes us clean by His blood and clothes us in His righteousness.

Faith and repentance are Siamese twins. Wherever you find one, you find the other.

Fourth, grace is never alone.

You’re saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone—but grace never leaves you alone. Grace takes you where you are, but it never leaves you where you are. Grace always leaves tracks.

Cindy and I sometimes go to Bald Head Island in North Carolina. You take a ferry over—no cars, just bikes and golf carts. When the ferry leaves Southport, it has to go slow because of the marinas. Signs everywhere: No wake. Because if you go fast, you leave a wake that damages the boats.

Here’s what I’m saying: when God’s Spirit moves on a man’s heart, it always leaves a wake. Always leaves tracks.

Let me be as pointed as I can:

No fruit, no root.

If there is a root of grace in your heart, there will be fruit in your life. Not perfect fruit. Not the same measure in every believer. Some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold. But there will be fruit.

Look at this man. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. He goes from blasphemer to worshiper, from mocker to confessor, from death to life. Even his mouth becomes evidence of a changed heart.

Now listen carefully: don’t walk out of here saying, “Well, if Jesus cleans you up, I need to clean up before I come to Jesus.” No. Fishermen don’t clean fish before they catch them. You clean them after. You come to Jesus as you are. He does the cleaning.

Finally, this is the one that gets down to it for me:

You and I have just read the only deathbed conversion in Scripture. One. Only one.

I think it was Bishop Ryle who said this—though I usually credit Augustine, Calvin, or Ryle for everything. He said:

There is one deathbed conversion so that you will not lose hope for your loved ones, even to their last breath.

But only one, so that you will not presume upon God and walk to the edge of death in arrogance.

Let me tell you the truth: by and large, men and women die the way they live. I’ve served Christ for almost thirty years. I’ve sat with many at the end. I’ve pled with them. I’ve talked with them. I’ve seen some come to Christ at the last moment—but not many. By and large, people die the way they live.

If you’re a Christian, you live—and die—this way…

Go study Hebrews 11. If you’re a Christian, how do you live? You live by faith. And what’s the message of Hebrews 11? They died how? In faith.

Live by faith. Die in faith.

For me to live is Christ—and I’ve got my fork. The best is yet to come. But here, thankfully, we see the grace of God breaking into the life of a hardened criminal, murderer, and blasphemer—even in his last breath. Oh, the hope that is there. And yet only one, so that we would not be presumptuous.

“Today you shall be with Me in paradise.”

Isn’t it amazing to know the day you’re going to die? I don’t know the day I’m going to die—not now. You don’t know yours. But we do know this: you and I have a day. “It is appointed unto men once to die, and then the judgment.”

That day—your day—will come.

Will you, like this thief, hear the Savior say, “This day you will be with Me in paradise”?

You say, “Pastor, I’ve secured that hope. By grace, through faith and repentance, I have embraced Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”

Then, my friends, I want you to leave here tonight and walk into your classroom, your team, your neighborhood, your office, your circles of recreation—and see what you’re really looking at: dying thieves who need the hope of the gospel. They have no other hope. But Jesus Christ is able. And as you look upon them, remember: such were you. But now you are cleansed by His blood, clothed in His righteousness, indwelt by His Spirit, and your citizenship is in heaven, from which you eagerly wait for your Savior—the name above all names, whereby we must be saved.

Let’s pray.

Father, thank You for our moments together in Your Word. Thank You for the privilege of gathering around that Word as we look toward that glorious week of celebration, as we behold the goodness of Your grace going to the cross for us—saving not only a dying thief, but saving men and women whom the Father has given to You, and You lose not one.

Father, to see this man saved reminds us that we must be saved in Christ. And so I ask: if there is anyone here who has never made that commitment to Christ, that this day they would see themselves—not hanging on a cross in need of temporal relief—but suspended under judgment between heaven and earth, and that they would flee to Jesus Christ to be gloriously redeemed for now and for eternity.

And Father, I ask for Your people: as they leave here, may this message, this truth, not be hoarded or hidden, but lived, shared, and proclaimed to all. And because You save sinners so gloriously, may You receive all the glory and honor and praise, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

This article is based upon a verbatim transcript of a sermon from Dr. Harry Reeder. It has been lightly edited in Copilot, as well as the theological staff at Third Millennium Ministries.