Luke 23:26-43 · The Crucifixion
Turning Doubt Inside Out
Luke 23:39-43
Sermon
by James Merritt
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His name is Ben Davis: 18 years old, 6 ft. 3 in. tall, 195 lbs. Davis is a very special young man. He was named the USA Today Baseball Player of the Year. By all accounts, he has a tremendous future ahead of him. This 18 year old phenom signed with the San Diego Padres right out of high school for a $1.3 million bonus. He has been called the best high school catcher in twenty years; the best since long time Atlanta Brave, Dale Murphy, in 1974. He has been labeled a "Can't Miss Prospect." He is absolutely certain he will play in the big leagues. But when asked his greatest fear, he said: "That I might not make it to heaven."

Ben Davis has a problem. It is obvious that he believes in heaven. It is obvious that he wants to go to heaven. It is obvious that he hopes to go to heaven. But it is also obvious that the health of his faith has been infected with the virus of doubt.

I have met very few Christians who have never doubted their salvation. One woman boasted to Dwight L. Moody: "Mr. Moody, I have been saved for twenty years, and I have never had a single doubt." Moody replied: "Madam, I doubt that you're saved. That would be like somebody saying, ‘We've been married fifty years and never had an argument!' I doubt if they have ever been married."

You would think that Baptists, who believe so strongly in eternal security, who believe "once saved, always saved", would never doubt. Yet, I have known even shouting Baptists who are sometimes doubting Baptists. Someone has said that the difference between a Methodist and a Baptist is the Methodist knows he's got religion, but he's afraid he's going to lose it; a Baptist knows he can't lose it, but he's afraid he hasn't got it.

I've met a lot of Baptists and a lot of Christians who remind me of the old backwoods mountaineer who lived way back up in the hills of West Virginia. A census taker knocked on the door of his rundown shack. He came to the door and asked the man what he wanted.

The census taker said: "The President has sent us out across the country to find out how many people live in the United States." The old hillbilly said: "Well, I'm sorry you came all the way out here to ask me, because I ain't got the faintest idea." This world, and our churches, are full of people who really don't have the faintest idea at times whether they are saved or not.

The Bible teaches three things about salvation. First of all, you can be saved. Secondly, you can know that you're saved. Thirdly, you can be sure that you will never lose your salvation. Your joy, as a Christian, will be directly proportional to your assurance that you are a Christian.

If you're ever in an airport, observe the difference between passengers who hold confirmed tickets for a flight, and those who are flying standby. The ones with confirmed tickets are reading newspapers, talking, or sleeping. The ones on standby hang around the ticket counter, walk back and forth, and keep checking nervously to see if they are going to make the flight. The difference is: One has a confirmed seat on the flight, and he knows he's going to get on the plane, and the other person is not sure.

As presumptuous as it may sound, I'm going to show you how you can know for sure that you are saved, and you have a home reserved for you in heaven. I heard about a little boy who was asked by Billy Graham how to find the post office. When the little boy told him, Dr. Graham thanked him and said: "If you'll come to the Convention Center this evening, you can hear me tell people how to get to heaven."

The boy said: "I don't think I'll be there, you don't even know your way to the post office."[1]

Well, I may not know my way to the post office, but I can tell you how to get to heaven. I want to help many of you turn your doubt inside out.

But before I do, let me warn you of something. There are two types of assurance: There is, first of all, undeserved assurance. Some people have assurance who have no right to it. The old Negro spiritual put it well: "Everybody talkin' about heaven ain't goin' there." I know there are people who sit in our pews every Sunday, and they are sure they are going to heaven. They're going to be in for an eternal surprise, for Jesus said: "Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven."

I want to deal with what I call undermined assurance. There are some people who are saved, but they are basing their assurance on the wrong reason, and they are filled with doubt.

The second statement that Jesus made on the cross was to a convicted felon, and this statement settles, once and for all, three truths: Anyone that wants to be saved can be saved; it is never too late for anyone to be saved at any place or any time; anyone who is saved, should know that they are saved.

We're going to look, first of all, at what the sinner said to the Savior; then we're going to look at what the Savior said to the sinner; and then we're going to look at the result of their conversation.

I. The Sinner's Reason For Doubt

The sinner makes one statement. It really is in the form of a prayer. He says: "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." (v.42) This thief saw something in the last minutes of his life that, had he not seen it, would have doomed his soul forever. He saw his sinfulness.

He realized that it was his sin that had nailed himself to the cross; but more than that, he realized it was his sin that had nailed Jesus to the cross. The reason why this thief was saved is because he finally realized he was lost.

Here was a man who had probably broken every commandment many times over. Matthew tells us in his gospel that these men were robbers. The word robber means "one who robs openly with violence." In other words, these men were not just petty thieves and pickpockets. They were armed robbers, cutthroats who would kill their mother for a dollar.

They were thugs. A hundred years ago they would have been called outlaws; fifty years they would have been called gangsters; thirty years ago they would have been called mobsters; today they would be called terrorists.

I want to remind you that this thief, who was wonderfully saved, was not so sympathetic to Jesus at first. Matthew tells us that he, too, was singing in the choir of the critics as they mocked and ridiculed the Lord Jesus Christ.

Likewise the chief priests, also mocking with the scribes and elders, said,

He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.

He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.'

Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing. (Mt. 27:41-44)

At first he, too, mocked the Lord Jesus. He, too, ridiculed the Lord Jesus. He, too, scorned the Lord Jesus. He, too, cursed the Lord Jesus. But a tremendous transformation took place. Condemnation turned into adoration, derision turned into devotion, laughter turned into love, ridicule turned into reverence.

He makes a one sentence request of Jesus, and he begins by calling him "Lord." That was not only a statement of confidence, it was a statement of courage. Do you realize at that moment this thief was the only person in the world that was willing to call him "Lord?"

I believe the moment he called Jesus "Lord" he was saved. For the Scripture says: "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit." (I Cor. 12:3) If that thief had died, the moment he said "Lord" he would have gone to heaven. I believe he was saved at the exact moment he confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, for the Bible says: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Rom. 10:13)

He then makes a simple request: "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." That may be the most amazing example of faith found in the Word of God.

Jesus never looked less like a king than he did at this moment. His throne was a cross. His diadem was a crown of thorns. His scepter was a bloody spike. His court was a mob of mockers. Yet, this dying thief, seeing through the eyes of faith, recognized this suffering Savior as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Here was a man who had lived in sin and wickedness and rebellion all of his life. In fact, just moments before, as we have already learned, he had been ridiculing and blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ. But now he makes a simple request: "Lord, remember me." This thief realized that he was dying in his sin, but that Jesus was dying for his sins.

II. The Savior's Reply To Doubt

Above the cackle of the crowd, Jesus hears the cry of the criminal. Immediately, Jesus answers this man's prayer and makes a reservation for him in heaven. Now this is the only person in the Bible ever saved at the last moment. This is the only deathbed repentance recorded in the Bible. It is the only case of a person being saved literally in the last moments of his life. As someone has observed, there is one case that none might despair, but only one that none might presume.

Jesus says to this man: "Today, you will be with Me in Paradise." Now this man had never been christened, confirmed, dedicated, or baptized. He never went to church, never took the Lord's Supper, never put a dime in the offering plate. He was not saved by good works, because he didn't have any. All he had was a Savior's grace, and a sinner's faith.

This thief is the classic illustration of two of the greatest verses in the Bible: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Salvation is not in the merit of man, it is in the mercy of God. It is not in the goodness of man, it is in the grace of God. It is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty. That is God's equation for salvation. When you take a guilty sinner and link that guilty sinner to a gracious Savior, by the chain of faith, the result is salvation for the sinner, and glory to the Savior.

I did something that interested me. I took a stopwatch and timed how long it would take to make these two statements. This sinner's prayer takes less than four seconds. Jesus' reply takes less than six seconds. So in less than ten seconds, this man went from being a criminal to a Christian. You say, "that is impossible." With God, all things are possible. If God can say, "Let there be light" and turn on every sun, every moon, and every star in the universe, then He can say "today" and a sinner can be saved.

No one would have given this thief a prayer to go to heaven. Yet, in the end a prayer is all he had, and in the end a prayer is all it took. This man had breakfast on earth with the devil, and supper in heaven with the Lord. One of my favorite songs is "To God Be the Glory," and I especially love that second stanza:

Perfect redemption, the purchase of blood!
To ev'ry believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.[2]

In just one act of faith, with just three words, "Lord, remember me," this thief went from prison, to punishment, to pardon, to paradise.

This message is in the context of a series I have entitled: "Famous Last Words." I believe the greatest preacher who ever lived since the Apostle Paul, was Charles Spurgeon. His last words before he died were these: "Jesus died for me." I believe those may have been the last words of that thief before he closed his eyes on earth and opened them in heaven.

III. The Savior's Remedy For Doubt

Now how does this conversation help us to turn doubt inside out? Well, notice carefully again what Jesus said to this man: "And Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you." The word assuredly is the Greek word Amen. It is a word of affirmation, a word that guarantees the truth of what is being said.

This thief only had one basis of assurance that he was going to heaven, and that was the Word of the Savior.

The only way that thief had of being sure he was going to heaven was because Jesus said that he would. I want to say to you that the only way you and I can know for sure that we are going to heaven is what God says in his word: "These things I have written unto you that you might know that you have eternal life." (I Jn. 5:13)

One of two things is true: Either that thief is in heaven, or Jesus lied. If Jesus lied, then not only is that thief not going to heaven, none of us are going to heaven.

You may be saying, "Are you telling me that the only assurance that I can have that I will go to heaven when I die is the Word of God? In reality, I am saying more than that. Not only is the Word of God all we have, the Word of God is all we need. If God says it, that settles it, and we ought to believe it.

The first Christian song I ever learned was "Jesus Loves Me! This I Know." How do I know that Jesus loves me? There's only one way I can know it. "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." I like to insert a word and give you a brand new song. "Jesus saved me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." The only assurance anyone has, or anyone needs that they are going to heaven, is the Word of God.

One of the all-time Christian classics is John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Every Christian should read that great novel. If you've read it, you remember that Christian and Hopeful fall asleep in a field belonging to the giant called Despair. The giant finds them and takes them into Doubting Castle, where he puts them in a dark and stinking dungeon without food or water. On his wife's advice, the giant first beats them mercilessly and then suggests that they commit suicide. After the giant leaves, the two companions discuss what they should do.

Finally, Christian remembers the key in his pocket. He says: "I have a key in my bosom called Promise that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle. Sure enough it opened all the doors in the castle, even the gate. Bunyan writes: "Then they went on and came to the King's Highway again."

Whenever you are detoured by doubt from the King's Highway and wander into Doubting Castle, you take the key of the promise of the Word of God, and it will unlock any door in that castle and put you on the King's Highway once again.

I want you to listen to a verse of Scripture, and then I want to tell you a story. Titus 1:2 speaks of the "hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." One of my favorite actors was Steve McQueen. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He was only 50 years of age. Steve McQueen, by all accounts, had lived the life of a Hollywood reprobate.

But God got his attention with his cancer. He began to search for the assurance of eternal life, and the certainty that he was going to heaven. He trusted the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior, but he could not get over his past, and he was struggling with doubt. He was fortunate to receive permission to have a few moments with Billy Graham at the Los Angeles airport. Dr. Graham stepped off the curb and sat in McQueen's limousine.

Steve McQueen shared with Billy Graham his faith in Christ. But he asked Dr. Graham this question: "How can I really be sure that I'm going to heaven?" Billy Graham said: "Because in Titus 1:2 God said that heaven is a promise and that He cannot lie." When Steve McQueen was found dead in his bed, his Bible was open and his finger was on Titus 1:2. Just like that thief, he died with one hope of eternal life, the promise of God.

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.  


 [1] John Maxwell, Developing the Leader Within You, pp. 7-8.

 [2] To God Be the Glory, by Fanny Crosby

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., Collected Sermons, by James Merritt