The following message was recorded at Covenant Presbyterian Church in O'Veto, Florida. Covenant Church is seeking to build a community of faith, hope, and love, committed to worship, nurture, and witness in the Northeast Orlando area. For more information, visit us on Sunday morning in O'Veto or any time online at cpconline.net. Scripture reading this morning is from the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 23, verses 32 through 43. Two others who were criminals were led away and 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's the Christ of God who's chosen one. The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 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 hanging 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 to 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. This is the word of the Lord. Today, yes, our attention will be on Luke chapter 23 this morning. Not long ago, I was in the market or in need of forgetting some new frames for my glasses. And I realized that it had been a while since I had an eye exam. So I thought this would be a good opportunity, a good time to get my eyes examined and see if maybe I need a stronger prescription. And all of you who have glasses know what that's like. So I made an appointment with the automatists at the place that I wanted to decide to get my new frames from. And so I went in there and the automatists told me to take my glasses off and to look at the eye chart and to read it. Well, without my glasses on, no matter how much I squint it and squeeze my eyes to try to look at that chart, everything was blurry. I couldn't read it. It was only when the automatists told me to sit down and to look through the faux rocker that I was able to then read the lines on the chart. I could pretty much read most, pretty much most of the lines on there, except of course, the little small ones at the bottom. But I could see clearly and turned out I didn't need a new prescription so that I could see more clearly. In chapter 23, we come to a very amazing event that happens. Luke preserves this event for us to see that there is a miraculous thing that happens here at Jesus' crucifixion. There's a man, a criminal who is nailed on the cross with Christ. And this criminal sees Jesus differently than he had before. You see the holy automatists, if you will, the Holy Spirit, sits this man down at the righteous faux rocker, if you will. And he starts to change the lenses and this man then sees Jesus differently than he did. So the day I want to look at this passage with the question in mind, what did this man see? What was it about Jesus that this man viewed him differently than he had before? First of all, the first point is that this man saw his sin. This man saw his sin. Now, we know here from Luke 32, it says two other criminals, two others who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. So we know this man was guilty because he was a criminal. As we know from Matthew's account in Matthew 27 and Mark 15, it specifically says that he was a robber. This man was a thief. Most likely he was the insurrectionist because during the time of Roman rule which this happened, that was a punishable offense for being crucified in that robbery. But also as we read on here, this man admits that he's guilty. He clearly says in verse 40, do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? Verse 41, for we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. This man has done nothing wrong. He admits that he's wrong. He admits that he's guilty. You see, this man has chosen a life of crime that has led him to nowhere but a continual life of self-dependence and rejection of Christ. This man was not only a criminal but he also was one who also mocked and scoffed and insulted Christ at this time. You see before his transformation, he was a rejector of Christ. In Matthew 27, I read this to you, verse 44 says, and when the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. He was reviling Christ in the same way as the scribes and the chief priests and the elders. Also in Mark 15, it says, in verse 32, those who were crucified with him also reviled him. So this man, when he's set upon the cross next to Christ, he too is rejecting Jesus verbally. He's already rejected Christ with this choice of life that has led him up to this point where he is getting, as he has already said himself, his just desserts. But this man, this criminal was also mocking Christ. He had chosen a life of crime which became his idol. This was the thing that had captivated his affections, being an insurrectionist, rebelling against authority. This is what he had chose to be the thing that captivated his imagination, that has stole his heart. What it is for you today. Just as this man saw his sin, we have to see our sin. We have to see what is it that has grabbed our affections. What is it that we have placed an idol? What is it that has caught our heart in our mind and our thinking? That we cling to it, depend upon it and self-depending upon Christ. This man's vision of Christ was impaired. He needed a prescription. He needed his vision to be repaired. And the same goes for us. We need to know what is it that has blurred our sight of Christ so that we can seek him with a pure and righteous heart and righteous mind. As I mentioned, this man admits his guilt. He sees his sin. He sees that he has a problem before he didn't. Remember he's mocking Christ. He's insulting him. He doesn't have anything to do with this man who claims to be the Messiah. This man who has been declared the King of the Jews, but because the Holy Automatress has caused this man to see that he has a problem that he can never face on his own. In Midland, Texas, there was a little girl named Jessica. And this little girl named Jessica had failed down in a bandit well shaft. This well shaft was 8 inches in diameter and 22 feet deep. Little Jessica was lost to her parents with no way on her own to get out. Rescue teams were sent to attempt to rescue this little girl who was helpless, who was trapped, who was lost from her parents to get her out of this well shaft. Initially, the rescues did not know that to get to this little girl, they would have to go through Lomestone. So as they're digging and drilling, the Lomestone is breaking and shipping away at the drill. But praise be to God after 15 hours or so. Someone finally got to Little Jessica. This story, this event, had captivated the whole nation as everybody was focused on Midland, Texas, and this little girl named Jessica, who was trapped. And after 15 hours or so, she was finally rescued. And the scene was called on national TV as all the major neighbors networks were focused in on this town and on this little girl. You see, in order for Jessica to be saved because she was certainly there, but now she was alive because somebody rescued her, somebody saved her. Similarly, every member of the human race is trapped. We have fallen into an abyss out of which we can never lift ourselves. You see, in order to get out of the hole that we're in, we need somebody to come down to where we are, what we've been trapped by sin. You see, we need somebody to drill a hole to where we are and thanks be to God that he has sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to enter the hole of our death. Jesus always trying to climb out of this hole with our good works, but we weren't getting anywhere. He saw our futile, immoral, and unguile attempts to get out of the hole that we were in. But he sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to enter the hole of our death, and he offered us deliverance from above. But he not only offered us deliverance from above, but he also offered us assurance, the same Jesus who saves, also assures. The first of all, this man has saw his sin. He's admitted to being a criminal. We see that he is Martin and Salted Christ. So these things, this lifestyle and also this rejection of Christ here at the cross at this point of death are indications that he indeed is a rejector of God. He wants to be autonomous from God. This man is in need of a new heart, a new record. As we read on in Luke, we see in verse 39 that one of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying, are you not the Christ save yourself in us, but the other rebuked him saying, do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. As we already read in verse 41, I'll read again for emphasis, 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. This man saw his need. You see, before he was looking at Christ and his vision was blurred. Before he was looking at Christ and his vision was impaired. But it took, as I mentioned before, that holy automatry is the Holy Spirit to sit him down and to show him that he needed a new prescription. He needed a new way of seeing Jesus. This man was crucified with Christ. He probably was nailed to a cross as well, his hands and his feet being pierced. Flawed and forced to carry his cross like Christ was because this was the normal pattern upon which the Romans made those who were crucified. The only difference, if we were walking there on that Friday, the only difference that we would have been able to distinguish who the Christ was is by the inscription above his cross was said, the king of the Jews. You see this man is knocking at the door and he turns and see Jesus as not one to be mocked, to be insulted, to reject once again. He sees his Savior. This man only sees his Savior, but he sees his Savior. He sees Jesus as the one who can answer the problem that he has, which is that he is apart from God. He sees Jesus as a solution to what he had been hungry for in life. You see, all that he had been doing up to this point wasn't satisfying exactly what he needed in life. He had guided him to a point of death, of punishment, of being apart from God, but the Holy Spirit causes this man to see Jesus in a different way. And I find it just absolutely phenomenal that this man, in a matter of, we don't know how long it was, but before this moment took place, when he first was getting put up on his cross next to Christ, we don't know where side he was on it. It doesn't really matter. The point is that this man saw his Savior. He saw Jesus as the one to deliver him out of the whole of death that he was in. He saw Jesus as the one to give him that when he was standing before God, he would no longer have a criminal record, but his record would be clean. That he would be one who rejoiced in Christ instead of being one who rejected and would live apart from him. I tell you this man saw his Savior, but this man not only saw his Savior, but he also saw his salvation. I think it's really interesting here that as we look at John 19 and I'll read this for you real quick. And it says in verse 30, John 1930, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Verse 31, since it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead and they did not break his legs. And this was to be a fulfillment of what we find in Acts of this 12 about the Passover lamb that his legs would not be broken. This man literally saw his salvation being accomplished. Christ died before he died because we see Christ's legs weren't broken. But this man was, he saw his Savior and he saw Christ as his salvation. He literally sees it accomplished. And this man, as I mentioned before, he gets assurance from Christ as we see at the end of our passage in Luke 23. That Christ grants him assurance that he indeed would be with him in paradise. Now one thing that I think is also very important as we look at this passage is that here this man is criminal. Now he's redeemed. But as he is here on this cross, I think we definitely have to ask the question, what is it he did see? Because before he was rejecting Christ, didn't see Christ as one to be embraced. In fact, he thought the way that he was seeing Christ previously before the Holy Spirit changed his sight. He was seeing Jesus the same way as everyone else who was mocking him. That's how his vision was impaired. But the Holy Spirit calls to him to see Jesus in a very different way, the way he was supposed to see, to see him clearly as the Son of God, as the Redeemer, as the one who is sent from God to take away the sense of the world. But where did this man see? Because this man has essentially nothing to gain from coming to Christ at this moment. We know that Christ himself is not going to come down from the cross. So this man's present circumstances will not be changed by accepting Christ as a Savior by saying that he indeed is the Messiah asking him to remember him in his kingdom. There's something that happened that caused this man to want to be a part of Christ, to want to be a part of his family, to want to be with Christ and paralyze. And it's the Holy Spirit changing his heart, changing his vision, to cause him to see that Christ is the one who indeed gives you assurance. Because yes, you know what? His present circumstances would not be changed. But the thing that he could see past that, because he could see past that, he could see that there was a hope to cling to. He could see that there was something greater beyond the cross. I think this man, this criminal, this now redeemed child of God, I think that he had indeed before this point of being crucified. I think he had heard people talking about who Christ was. I think he had heard Christ speaking. I think just knowing about God's kingdom that he had some previous knowledge about what this Christ, this Messiah was coming to do, what he promised. And this is so beautiful because, and I encourage you to read all the way through the gospel of Luke, because here you see that Luke is emphasizing that the kingdom of God is for all people, for those who are criminals. For those who have lived a life of immorality, for those who have been as this man, a thief who have been murderers, that the cross of Christ can do away with all of that record. There's nobody that Christ is not capable of saving. And so Christ gives this man the opportunity to respond to the gospel here at his point of death. This man decides because he cannot resist the compelling aroma of the beautiful Savior that this indeed is the one in whom I want to trust and be with. You see those who were mockers and scorn as of Christ, thought that putting the Savior on the cross was going to prevent him from doing anything else. The end of his miracles is the end of his ministry, but we ought not be surprised that here at the end where Jesus' death is taking place, he's nailed to a cross, he can't move, but yet we know that our Christ, the Son of God, is not bound by movement. You see, he's able to do this miraculous thing and that is to redeem this man, he's on the cross. Christ is gassing for breath, he's near the end here. This man as well is near the end of his life, but yet he comes to Christ. He comes to Christ, Christ is not bound by the cross and we see that through this story, we see that through this event. But we ought not be surprised because throughout Jesus' ministry you remember the story of the centurion who servant was suffering and Jesus said, let me come, let me come and heal your servant. And the centurion said, oh no, you don't need to come, you just say the word, just say the word and he will be made well. Jesus was astonished at this man's faith. Here at the cross we should be amazed at the redemptive power of Christ that cannot be bound by nails that cannot be bound by insults. It is Christ Jesus who has all power. If we want to go further than that, we know from John 1 that in the beginning was the word and the word with God and the word with God and the word became flesh. Christ was indeed creating the world, speaking for the thing is here when he speaks. He's given this man assurance of his salvation. Yes, yes, if you want to come to me you can. I will accept you, I will receive you no matter what your past has been. This man's life was a mess. This man's life was a mess. This man had a load of guilt but yet he turns with all that he can left in him. He turns and he looks at this savior and asks to be a part of his family to be in his kingdom. That's what that man saw. He saw the Messiah. He saw the new hope that was beyond the cross, his present circumstances. You see, Christ didn't promise this man that if you come to me, I want to take you down off the cross. And Christ doesn't promise you that if you come to him now, if you live for him, if you persevere in this life for him, that everything is going to be great. In fact, things may get worse before they get better, if better at all. Your life may be full of suffering and disappointments and hardships. So I can't promise you that following Christ and being with him this day until your death, the things will get better and be the way you want them to be. But the thing I can promise you, as Jesus promises this man, is that yes, you will be with me and the new heavens. Yes, I'll be with you. I'll never leave you nor forsake you presently. But the thing is, there's a new hope coming, beloved. There's a new hope coming that Christ is going to come and he's going to make all things new. As we see in Revelation, there'll be no more crying. There'll be no more suffering. There'll be no more pain. There'll be no more losing loved ones. There'll be no more sickness. There'll be no more poverty. There'll be no more mockery. There'll be no more isolation. There'll be no more brokenness. There'll be no more fear. There'll be no more anxiety. There'll be no more need to worry. Because Christ is the king. Christ is the Redeemer and He is promised that He will make all things new. That's the hope that we have because we know that Christ has promised this man that He will be with him and paradise. And that's the assurance we have that we persevere in the faith. And if we see Christ to be saving, we give our all to Him. Just as this man did, we see Christ for who He truly is, the beloved. When Christ comes to make all things new, all those things will be absent from our existence. And we indeed will live without Redeemer forever. That is what this man saw. He saw his sin. He saw his Savior. And he saw the new hope to come to the assurance of salvation. And beloved, this is what I command to you today. That you will see your sin where areas of your life that you have not been captivated by the beauty of Jesus and his sweet of Rome. That you have caused idolatry and other things to God to make sure your mind is just nature, emotions and your affection. Where you not following Christ as you ought to. I commend to you the repent of those things. But even the Redeemer, this man did. Let's follow his example and see the Savior as we ought to. One who can take away all of our guilt and our shame. Christ is not one who we should never, ever look upon who we cannot embrace and come to. And he indeed gives us assurance that we would indeed be with him if we persevere to the end. This guy for this story that we have that has found nowhere else is a wonderful story of the redemption that Christ has came to bring. And the beautiful hope that we can have with him. Because though our present circumstances may not change, we know that one day all things will be made new. That we can stand with Christ as new creatures in the new heavens and the new earth. A place empty of sand, something that we can even fathom. But it's a beautiful place that God has prepared for those who love him. So beloved in the Lord, should please purify me. Father in heaven, thank you for your wonderful words of life. Thank you for this wonderful miraculous event that I am convinced that you have here to captivate our imaginations, to snatch our affection and to draw us close to you, to see that this man who had nothing to essentially gain after living a life of rebellion against you. That you, Father, cause him to see his sand, to see his Savior and see his salvation. So praise be to God for redeeming this man that prays that we will look at our hearts, that we will see what is it that we have created as a barrier between us and yourself. And may your Spirit come and break those barriers down, give us new hearts, give us new minds that we may trust in you and follow you all of our days. O Lord, may we seek you while you can be found. Listen to the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit we pray, and let all guys people say, hey man.