Please turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 23 page 922 on the P Bible
Welcome you to this Monday Thursday service Monday Thursday has An observed for centuries by the Christian Church Monday is the Latin word for commandment and We remember the new commandment that Christ gave his disciples in the upper room in John chapter 13 So Monday Thursday is literally new commandment Thursday and it's the new commandment to love each other Tonight we're going to look at the love of Jesus Christ Shown to us in the cross Luke 23 beginning in verse 39
One of the criminals who hung their 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 Let's pray Lord Jesus
over 2000 years ago you were In an upper room of a building a real place
You were celebrating the last suffer with your disciples and we thank you We praise you That as you broke the bread and as you gave the cup You were doing it for us Lord that you would drink the bitter cup of the wrath of God for us because you loved us and that as you prayed for us You prayed for your disciples And you prayed for those who would come after You prayed for me You prayed for each of the people that trust in you
Baffles our minds you became obedient The death Because you so loved us father
So Lord we ask that you would be present with us We ask that you would fill this place We ask that you would hold us by your power and captivate us by the love of Jesus
bless us now Christ namely pray
See us Lewis talked about the love of God the cross of Jesus Now read a quote from CS Lewis to start our sermon tonight
God who needs nothing loves into existence Holy superfluous creatures in order that he may love and perfect them He creates the universe already for seeing or should we say seeing there are no tenses in God He is seeing the buzzing cloud of flies about the cross
The flayed back press against the uneven stake The nails driven through the Meseal nerves the repeated Incipient suffocation as the body droops the repeated torture of back and arms at his Time after time for the breath's sake hitched up If I might dare the biological image God is a host Who deliberately creates his own parasites Lewis says Causes us To be that we may exploit and take advantage of him Here is love This cross is the diagram of love
The inventor of all loves Is before you tonight On the cross It is appropriate that we stop tonight And we consider the love of Jesus And that's all that you don't hear just from another person another richy session sermon But you consider the love of Jesus Christ for his own
Well, look at two things From this passage tonight First God is love Secondly God wants to be with us God is love and he wants to be with us
God is love Is seen most clearly In this conversation that Jesus Christ is having as he is grasp is gasping for his dying breath
To this criminal God's love is most fully Displayed and most clearly seen in Jesus Christ Speaking to this criminal. I know it's a bold statement
This guy tested the grace of God to the limits
This kind of makes me cringe here
Surely he's asking too much Surely this is going to be the question This is going to be the question where Jesus finally says okay, that's enough. No way I'm sorry. You don't you don't qualify He's like that friend that is always asking a little bit too much Asking for a little bit too big a favor Always had out of friend like that growing up He's never afraid to ask for anything Can we come over and swim at your pool? No, don't ask that Can can can I borrow your car? Don't ask that and this man on this cross Is testing the boundaries of the generosity of God? Do you see that? Who is this guy That is being shown the love of God. Who is he?
He's a loser He is a criminal in fact the word here for criminal Because I did a little study on it The word here for criminal is literally this one who customarily does wrong
He is the kind of person that spent his life in trouble Who knows what he did to be crucified? We don't know
It was really bad He was the kind of God that was in and out of institutions always running from the law always in trouble From his earliest days he is a criminal. He is marked criminal This guy is the lowest of the low that's who this guy is I want you to think of the biggest failure maybe someone in your family the greatest black sheep The biggest loser that you know in East Memphis the person who has gone to jail or almost gone to jail I want you to picture that person in your mind and then I want you to send him to death row And that is the guy who's talking to Jesus
We have no record of him doing anything good We don't have any record of him doing anything at all really but we definitely don't have a record of anything good And we are told we are we're intended to understand that this man had done nothing good Just like the other criminal he's just like the other criminal
Never went to church camp. He was never in a small group
He never walked the aisle raised his hand with his head bowed and his eyes closed
It wasn't circumcised and he is with Jesus right now
Do you understand that? He is in paradise with Jesus right this very second Seeing things and he has seen things for two thousand years. This guy's a heaven veteran
He's right there with Moses and Elijah and your grandma that made the oatmeal cookies This dude he is there with CS Lewis the most quoted person in evangelicalism
John Calvin and Fanny cross me. He is there with the saints folks He is there with the Hall of Fame the greatest loser the lifetime criminal. I want you to get this in your mind He is in heaven right now with Jesus Christ the second person the Trinity who is seated at the right hand of God the Father That's where this man is this loser
Because God is love you just thought God was love and what does this guy say look at verse 39 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 You're under the same sentence We are punished justly for we're getting what our deeds deserve it this man has done nothing wrong And then he said Jesus Remember me When you come into your kingdom The first thing this guy sees and is that he has a problem he realizes He realizes That he is going to hell Is that the most that's the most unPC 21st century thing I could possibly say He realizes he realizes that he is suffering his punishment justly He realizes that he deserves absolutely nothing
He realizes that he is dying at the hands of the state because he has done a lot of bad stuff Most of which they don't know about probably
That's the first step in seeing Jesus Christ and knowing that God is love This has the Holy Spirit's fingerprints all over it the first step of seeing Jesus is seeing yourself as someone who is under the wrath of God without any hope at all
Justly deserving his displeasure as we say his displeasure in the vows his displeasure His holy justice
Then he sees Jesus And for the first time For the first time in this whole cross event Jesus Christ here's his name Not aren't you the Christ the king of the Jews You loser the first time Jesus actually hears his name and this man Nailed next to him on a cross looks at Jesus and says Jesus It caught caught Jesus here Jesus The name of Jesus means Yahweh says Jesus He had heard Jesus say surely he heard Jesus say Father forgive them They don't know what they're doing He realized that the person who had said Father forgive them was the same man who had been beaten Spit upon Nailed to a tree Made fun of mocked and so he sees Jesus And he realizes That guy can save me If the guy that just asked for the forgiveness of his enemies As their spit was running down his face and the blood was flowing from his body If that guy asked for forgiveness Father forgive them they don't know what they're doing this criminal Do you see what happened this criminal looks up and says you know what That's the hero That's the hero Jesus Remember me when you come into your kingdom. That's it. That's all he said
That's why Luke records this story because it's written so that the reader will understand how to be saved the criminal reveals two things Jesus is outrageously gracious and that he is the king
And so what this criminal does do you want to know what this criminal does
This criminal entrusts his eternal Damned soul to the savior king It just gives it all just take it
It doesn't make any promises It doesn't do anything he doesn't even go to seminary
Every time I talk to people about Understanding who Jesus is and they feel like any kind of join the ministry He'd go to seminary then I'll really earn my salvation. I'll pay God back I'll be a Presbyterian. He never leads anyone to Christ He just says save your king Remember me Hey over here. Remember me Remember me when you get into your kingdom
The one who prays to his father and prays for his own killers You see what this man is saying This guy will receive me I have not the slightest prayer of going to heaven this guy This guy will receive me and Lucas recording this story to you wherever you are in your life No matter what you've done. No matter how good. No matter how bad This story is recorded for you and for me this guy will receive you You know those ads when they tell him to bring your clunker To the car lot You don't really believe him Right Bring whatever it is do trade it in bring your clunker. I don't care if you have to bring it on the back of another truck Bring your clunker bring your piece of junk in no matter what and you see people actually bringing their piece of junk in
Bring the piece of junk of your life into Jesus. I promise you he will receive it How do I know because he saved a death row criminal who never led a Bible study?
Do you see how outrageous this love is? Are you not gripped? Why did it? Folks, I'm afraid that we're going to be shocked by who's in paradise and who's not I think we're going to be shocked Jesus said I'll tell you the truth When my dad said I'll tell you the truth It's good. I did a listen at that point When Jesus Christ says I tell you the truth That means shut your mouths And open your ears. I tell you the truth Today You will be with me in paradise
you criminal We'll be with me That's outrageous. That's outrageous
Because this is supposed to be shocking because there's no way that this guy should be in heaven I know we've made him into a Sunday school figure But folks, this guy was an absolute filthy, stinking, miserable criminal There's no way that we should expect this guy to be in heaven. You're supposed to be shocked by this
Not a good guy But Richie, no, not a good guy Not good The experience of seeing this man in heaven will be like the people seeing me at the grizzlies games sitting On the floor And yes, this occurred Someone invited me to go to a grizzlies game And I obliged. I had no idea where the seats were And I was basically sitting on the court Yes front row and when I sat down These are rock star seats by the way I sat down and it was before I'd sat down and it was maybe a split second That my phone began to explode with text messages Because surrounding the stadium were all the other commoners
In the cheap seats Seeing Richie's Sessions sitting in a rock star seat Hey, what are you doing out there? Ooh, big pastor Ooh, and it was hilarious It was absolutely hilarious that I was sitting in the rock star seat Because everyone knows that Richie Sessions doesn't sit in rock star seats Richie Sessions sits in the cheap seats, Richie Sessions belongs in the cheap seats And it was obviously there because there was an invitation Someone wanted me to sit in a rock star seat with them and it was really cool for a moment
Folks, eternal life is exactly the same way Take all your images of what it means to be in heaven and how do you get to heaven And I want you to put them outside and put them on wall not grow for a second Eternal life with Jesus is the same way. It is a totally hilarious gift I will say it again. Eternal life with Jesus is a totally hilarious gift
Everyone is in the rock star seat because the Son of God wanted you to be there And he brought you there and he sat you there and it is shocking and it is hilarious Yes, it is for losers. Let me say it again
We've made it too complicated. I have made it too complicated Jesus is showing us in this passage how absolutely free it is
And it reveals the clutter in our lives
The clutter of self-justification There's anyone in this room feel the need to prove themselves to the world Prove yourself to the to the watching world That you're enough that you have what it takes Folks much of ministry and much of the good work that we do we do out of guilt and self-justification Thinking somehow some way God will look upon us with mercy folks You're in the good seat because Jesus wants you there. You will never Ever be able to afford heaven
But God look I'm really sincere How many of you are obsessed with your jobs and with winning why Why do you think some of you are constantly at war with people that you work with and people that are in your life Why do you know one of the reasons you're constantly a war with those people is because you're trying to win You're trying to self-justify who you are folks if you look at this story today That will absolutely end the world of self-justification that you live in It's a joke. It's hilarious You know why we're ridiculous and so loved
You know always make jokes about those magazines that Have the shots of the people at the end of the cool parties There's one magazine that Laura and I get and some Mississippi kind of magazine and you look in the back And always three or four pages are just really cool parties that you weren't invited to and everyone smiling because they're so thrilled that you couldn't make it We're just so thrilled that you weren't able to be invited to this party. I'm so sorry And it it always makes me feel like a loser. It's it's abuse. It's abuse. I opened it up and it's abuse Not that I wanted to go to a party and drink that drink that that nasty champagne in the plastic cup But there I am seeing you're a loser. You're not invited to this party
I think some of us live our entire lives under that pressure Folks the party picks of heaven and who is invited is going to be amazing Mary Magdalene at the party there she is Possessed by a legion of demons a complete outcast a total complete wreck of a person delivered by Jesus Christ. She's the party pick. She was invited
about this one the prostitute The the life-long prostitute that cried at the feet of Jesus pouring out her tears washing his feet with her hair and with her tears And with this expensive perfume washing she's at the party she's at the party pick
How about this Peter the fisherman betrayer Paul the Christian killer
This guy on the cross and we have to call him this guy because we don't know his name This guy here's my point God is love and it changes everything about us
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus teaches us the same point that this passage does Chances are if you've spent most of your life looking down on other people You run the risk of spending eternity looking up at them
Don't miss this folks. Don't miss this East Memphis Don't miss it because we think we're too good. Don't miss this Don't miss it because you have something to prove Don't miss this love Traded all in traded all in folks God is love and God wants to be with us is our second point Good verse 43 when Jesus answered him he said I tell you the truth Today you will be with me in paradise First thing I want to say about this Paradise that word paradise. It's a word means literally garden
It's another word for heaven the dwelling place of God The eternal home of the righteous is what this word means when Jesus says it The same word you used by Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 when he was called up to paradise He heard inexpressible things things that man is not permitted to tell the Greek translation of this word In the Old Testament is used in Genesis to talk about the garden of Eden What Jesus is describing here with the word paradise this is the way it is supposed to be God and man together in the garden
And paradise what you really want
And just stop for a second just think about your life Isn't paradise what you deep what you really really desire Why do you think we all flock to the Gulf Coast I think about this I've been to destined I was even in the womb I was in destined
But all these people we make all we make we make our way down We make our way down so many of us make our way down some of you go to Gulf shores And I don't really know what that's about But we all go to destined The people go down here and you go down to destined and you just stop at the beach and we just look at it
And then people build buildings just miles and miles of just buildings and condos and just more and more and each side So there's more people can just look at it And you know what it is There's something about the emerald water There's something about the white sand Because paradise is calling to us And then paradise is ruined in destined when there's a plane that flies by Offering free drinks at cash macoules
We know it's just fleeting because there's something in you that wants peace and rest That's what we go and just stare at the water There's something in your soul that wants to rest In paradise And Jesus looks at this cremable this loser And he said buddy today with me in paradise
You so don't deserve this
But God is love And he wants to be with us Most important part of this sentence is not just paradise It's Jesus saying today you will be with me Paradise is being with Jesus
Jesus is the goal To be with Jesus is to be home You know that's what it's like with your family or those people that you love that are so familiar When you see those faces and those people Those people are home Those relationships are home You know I remember being away you know when you're gone on a long trip And then you come back and your your house has that smell the session smell And it's not a bad smell But everyone has their family house smell their family looks a certain way And that's what it means to be with those people to be around those people and to be together with them And Jesus Christ is saying paradise is you and me together where I am You have paradise these people have missed it these three years paradise is with me And folks we are looking for paradise all over the place and Jesus Christ is saying to us tonight I am paradise But finally let me close with this God wants to be with us and that's why Jesus came to this world This was his passion This was the plan from the start God takes pleasure in being with us
I want you to hear that I want to say that again
God takes pleasure in being with his children
Today you will be with me and paradise Jesus says this with deep passion You will be with me This is authentic God
If you're wondering what God is like What does God like he's like this
His dying words are this Today you will be with me and paradise that is why I came to this world Is so that I could show that I am the way back home
This is the portrait of God Close with these questions. Are you growing in your love for God
Father Son and Holy Spirit Or should I say are you growing in your understanding of his love for you
If you don't see anything tonight, I want you to get this The absolute eternal pleasure that the God of the universe takes in his children We cannot miss that. We cannot miss that Jesus scrubbing the feet of his disciples Jesus praying for his disciples. Jesus praying for us Jesus going through the garden of the kesemite Jesus being beaten Jesus being portrayed Jesus being nailed to a cross. Jesus dying Jesus doing this because he's saying I love you I love you. I love you. Can you get it through your thick head? I love you. I love you
My dad Is a greasy breakfast five-star chef Old school black skillet He is a genius when it comes to butter and grits and cheese and sausage. He's a maestro
He's he's a passion to make the perfect perfect breakfast when we come home I'm telling you it's it's it's over the line And you do bring the roll-aids if you're ever there
He goes out and he buys just the right stuff and he talks about it. He'll text me about it With a sparkle in his eyes or which I get this kind of sausage. It's just real special It's a special. He's the only in Arkansas. I can get that excited about sausage
And the day begins with the sound of fat popping goodness
And this is what he says the whole time working up to it You're going to love this and he can't wait Because you better eat it But in this simple pleasure, I see the love of my dad For his children He's making it and he fixes it for us and then you just steps there and he goes you're going to love this You love it, don't you? You're going to love this Mm-hmm I'm not going to love it in about an hour
indigestion He watches it with sheer joy because it pleases him folks. That is a funny version of the delight the sheer delight God has for his children And the paradise he's prepared for them And what he's gone through to prepare every single step of salvation from the very beginning to the very end And I'm telling you the Christ crucified and the criminal dying it is God telling us folks You're gonna love this God loves us and he wants to be with us now Go and show Memphis that kind of love
Father you do love us you do love us It's so hard to believe because we if we're honest with ourselves are Unlovable and we're trying to earn your love and it's a joke and we're tired of trying to do it And so Lord we come to you now as we come to this table and we ask that you'd feed us by your spirit In Jesus name. Amen