00:00:00.000 - 00:00:41.000

[silence] [music] The Man Who Came Last, a message by Dr. Bruce W. Thielman. [music]

00:00:41.000 - 00:01:04.000

Let us give reverent attention to the reading of God's Word, as it is recorded in the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 23, beginning the reading at the verse numbered 32. "Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.

00:01:04.000 - 00:01:25.000

And when they came to the place which is called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' And they cast lots to divide his garments.

00:01:25.000 - 00:01:46.000

And the people stood by watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, 'He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one.' The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar and saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.'

00:01:46.000 - 00:02:05.000

There was also an inscription over him, 'This is the King of the Jews.' One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, 'Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.' But the other rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not fear God,

00:02:05.000 - 00:02:24.000

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, 'Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power.'

00:02:24.000 - 00:03:03.000

And Jesus said to him, 'Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.' And may the same God who inspired these words incline our hearts to their understanding. Will you pray with me? In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

00:03:03.000 - 00:03:37.000

Jesus said, 'Whosoever cometh to me, I shall in no wise cast out.' Tonight I would ask you to think with me about the man who came to Jesus last. Tonight I ask you to come with me to the cross, to Golgotha, to Calvary, to that place where death was, and yet where new life began.

00:03:37.000 - 00:04:00.000

For it's here, on this green hill far away, that we meet the man who came last, a man on a cross, a dying thief. You know his story, how he was crucified with Jesus and a fellow outlaw. At first the two of them, the outlaws, both cursed Jesus.

00:04:00.000 - 00:04:24.000

Matthew is very specific about that. They both hurled words of cruelty and rebuke at the Son of God who was being killed between them. If this was all, of course, if the curses were all, well then that would be the end of it. After all, the conversation of thieves is not generally ground for theological reflection.

00:04:24.000 - 00:04:42.000

But there was more, for one of the thieves was changed. One of the thieves came to Christ in repentance and in faith. Speaking first to his companion in crime, he said, 'Do you not fear God, since you are under the same condemnation?

00:04:42.000 - 00:05:02.000

And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. But this man, he has done nothing wrong.' And then, twisting his head against the rude boards in order to be able better to see Jesus, he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power.'

00:05:02.000 - 00:05:25.000

And Jesus answered, 'Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.' And in a matter of minutes, they were both dead. The thief then was the man who came last. But Jesus' answer was always the same.

00:05:25.000 - 00:05:56.000

To the first and to the last he said, 'Whosoever cometh to me, I shall in no wise cast out. Truly I say to you, this very day you shall be with me in paradise.' I want us to focus for a few minutes now upon what happened in this thief. And I would like to think of what happened to him in terms of the Apostle Paul's great definition of belief.

00:05:56.000 - 00:06:19.000

It's recorded for us in the 20th chapter of the book of Acts. There at the 21st verse, Paul is recorded as describing belief to a group of listening church elders. He describes belief in terms of his own experience. He says, and he announces here twin truths, he says,

00:06:19.000 - 00:06:47.000

'Belief is repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.' And I want to say right now that I know of no one who better exemplifies these words, 'repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.' I know of no one who better represents these words than the man who came last.

00:06:47.000 - 00:07:02.000

Think first of his repentance. This thief was the last to come and the last you'd expect to come. Let's not romanticize him. Many have tried to do this. They tried to make him into other than he was.

00:07:02.000 - 00:07:17.000

Legends have grown up about him. Without exception, they humanize him, they soften him. It is said, for example, that when the Holy Family was fleeing into Egypt, certainly a short time after Jesus' birth,

00:07:17.000 - 00:07:39.000

that the family was saved from a group of robbers by the son of the robber chieftain. They evidently, at least as the legend goes, were released and spared from death by the pleading of the robber chieftain's boy. And supposedly, as the Holy Family turned to leave,

00:07:39.000 - 00:08:02.000

the boy said to the infant in Mary the mother's arms, 'If ever there comes a time when I am in need of thy mercy, forget not this hour.' And according to this legend, it is this boy thief who grows up to be the thief on the cross beside Jesus. It's a rather beautiful tale. One could wish it to be true,

00:08:02.000 - 00:08:20.000

a dramatic debt repaid on the cross, but it is made of the stuff of legends. It is not true. The language of the scriptures is quite specific. This man on the cross was not a romantic figure.

00:08:20.000 - 00:08:43.000

He was a hood, a back alley killer. Nothing more than that. And his coming to Christ in repentance and belief is forever proof of the fact that God can send the light of faith into the very darkest of hearts.

00:08:43.000 - 00:09:02.000

How did the Holy Spirit win his way into the life of this man? I don't know for sure. Perhaps it was the agony of his dying. I have known those who in the awesome pain which sometimes comes before death have found faith.

00:09:02.000 - 00:09:20.000

I've sat beside those who when every breath was to them an awful hurt, still spent those last breaths on a newfound faith. I've seen that happen. That might have been what was happening here. In the midst of the hell of his dying, he found heaven.

00:09:20.000 - 00:09:41.000

That could be. Or maybe it was memory that turned the key. The work at the Montreal Neurological Institute under Dr. Penfield and his associates applies here. They found that the human brain forgets nothing. Everything that we have ever experienced is recorded there

00:09:41.000 - 00:10:07.000

as on some super sensitive and never failing tape recorder. And they've gone on to point out that in extreme situations, something can trip the mind as it were, turn it on so that the whole tape of memory unreels in very unusual ways. You've heard some people say when they were facing death that their whole life flashed before their eyes.

00:10:07.000 - 00:10:25.000

Well, that might be very true. It may very well be that memories are instantly recalled under the psychological pressure of the moment of impending death. And maybe that's what happened to this thief. Suddenly he remembered all the prayers he's heard at his mother's knee

00:10:25.000 - 00:10:51.000

or all of the religious teachings which were given to him by his devoutly Jewish father in the early days of his life. And as he was dying, all of the hopes of his yesterdays were re-emphasized and re-experienced by him. This might have been what made the difference in him. Or maybe it was the spectacle of the loving sacrifice of Jesus.

00:10:51.000 - 00:11:12.000

Maybe this was it. Seeing someone suffer for another person does strange things to you, if you have any sensitivity at all. He saw Jesus dying and somehow sensed the innocence that was in him. We know this because his words were that Jesus had done nothing wrong.

00:11:12.000 - 00:11:44.000

And yet he sees Jesus suffering and dying, and this could have been enough. I remember how Einstein commented on the love of Christians during the Nazi persecution of the Jews. He saw Christians suffer, when if they would have been silenced, they would have been saved. And he said of this, "No argument for Christian faith ever moved me as much as the suffering love of Christians did."

00:11:44.000 - 00:12:03.000

Or maybe similar mechanisms were at work in this theme. The Holy Spirit, you see, often moves through the love that's seen in the servants of God. It could have been this. Or it could have been the sheer, unadulterated courage of the Christ.

00:12:03.000 - 00:12:25.000

Once I sat in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland, I was looking at Salvatore Dali's great painting, Christ of St. John of the Cross, a representation, a magnificent representation, of a very strong, suffering, silent Jesus. And as I sat there and looked at the painting, hundreds of people passed by,

00:12:25.000 - 00:12:49.000

old and young, very young, the rich, the poor, the learned, and the ignorant, char women with totes, gentlemen in morning coats, international students, local people. Multitudes went by, hurrying in and out, or here or there, within that great gallery. But every one of them, every one of them without exception, stopped before this picture

00:12:49.000 - 00:13:13.000

and became stilled in the presence of this representation of the strong, silent, suffering Jesus. Their voices would drop to whispers. Well, maybe this man who was dying, this thief, maybe he'd always hoped that when his moment to die came,

00:13:13.000 - 00:13:27.000

that he would be able to face death with courage. And it hadn't worked out this way, because instead of showing courage, he had railed on Jesus and rebuked the others. He'd been crying out like some kind of cornered animal.

00:13:27.000 - 00:13:52.000

And then he looks and sees Jesus, and he sees in Jesus the courage and the strength and the suffering silence which he would like to have in himself but didn't have. And it could have been this spectacle of the Savior's great heart's strength that opened him to the wooing of the Spirit.

00:13:52.000 - 00:14:11.000

Or maybe it was the first words that he heard Jesus say. Perhaps the cruel words died on his own lips when he heard prayers come from the lips of Christ. He saw the Savior's lips move. He probably could just barely hear the words that were prayed.

00:14:11.000 - 00:14:27.000

And he was astonished when he heard the prayer, because it wasn't a prayer for himself or a prayer for vengeance on his enemies. Jesus was not praying for the ruin of Rome. And if the thief would have been able to pray, that's probably the kind of prayer that he would have prayed,

00:14:27.000 - 00:14:48.000

and I imagine that he recognized that. But instead of this, he hears Christ pray, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And recognized in that moment that Christ was praying for him, for but minutes before he had been hurling words of unkindness at Jesus.

00:14:48.000 - 00:15:13.000

There's an old book called The Silence of Dean Maitland, and in it, the story of a dean who sins and then commits other sins to cover up what he's done. And then worst of all, he allows an innocent man to bear the guilt which was his and to go to jail for it. And all kinds of trouble descends upon the dean because of what he has done,

00:15:13.000 - 00:15:36.000

business trouble and personal trouble, and his whole life turns into a wilderness, and still he does not repent. He says, "I cannot, I will not, I dare not, and I must not repent." And then one day, he gets a letter from the man who was suffering in jail in his place,

00:15:36.000 - 00:16:01.000

and it was a letter of forgiveness. And it breaks Dean Maitland's heart so that he says in the story, "God called to me through many years by many judgments, but I repented not until I was forgiven." This could be it.

00:16:01.000 - 00:16:34.000

When he heard Christ pray for forgiveness on all, including himself, for he had cursed Christ, this might have driven the wedge into his, until then, stony, stony heart. The master's courage, his suffering love, his forgiveness, well, I don't know what it was, I only know this, and I say this out of all of the years of my ministry, more than two decades now,

00:16:34.000 - 00:17:00.000

I know that the character of Jesus itself acts as the great searcher of men's hearts. It melts men's hearts as nothing else I know. Let me put this very simply, without any subtlety, without any finesse. You know the story of the prodigal son, and you recall how when he was lost in sin,

00:17:00.000 - 00:17:17.000

gone off into the far country and wasted his substance and riotous living, the time finally comes when he is reduced to living with swine. He eats with them. Now suppose that in this scene with the swine,

00:17:17.000 - 00:17:47.000

at the moment when he comes to the great moment of reversal in his life and begins to turn back toward home again, suppose that at that moment he had soliloquized in this fashion, suppose speaking to the swine he had said, "Swine, as you are, I once was. Eons ago I passed through the swine stage, now I am a man, but I see my origin in you.

00:17:47.000 - 00:18:08.000

My mind, my thought, my purposes, my hopes, my dreams, my despairs, they all come ultimately through you and like beasts. In your brain is the beginning of mine. In your ugly shape is the outline of my own form and body.

00:18:08.000 - 00:18:30.000

In your dull, stupid, brutish gaze, I see the reflection of my own personality." Suppose that the prodigal had said words like that. Would he have been helped? Would he have been helped by looking at the swine, thinking about the swine, focusing upon the swine? No.

00:18:31.000 - 00:19:09.000

[silence] [silence] He wouldn't have been helped him at all. Jesus says that what happened to the young man as he sits amongst the swine is this.

00:19:09.000 - 00:19:21.000

He came to himself. He did not look down at the swine. He looked up toward all the possibilities which were his. He remembered himself to be a child of his father.

00:19:21.000 - 00:19:46.000

He recalled the love and the hope and the possibilities and potentials which God had put in him. And when he saw himself in terms of his divine, immortal, God-gifted self, it was when he saw that he could be all of the things that God had promised him, it was then that he arose and went to his father and said,

00:19:46.000 - 00:19:59.000

"I have sinned and I am no more worthy to be called thy son." It was then that life turned around for him. Not when he looked back. Not when he looked down. Not when he looked ahead. When he looked up.

00:19:59.000 - 00:20:15.000

It was just so with this thief. When he saw Jesus for what Jesus was, when he saw the courage in the man and the love in the man and the strength and the compassion, I don't know exactly what it was, but when he saw everything that the character of Christ was,

00:20:15.000 - 00:20:32.000

and then when he saw himself in the light of that, Jesus representing what he could have been, and then looking at himself in terms of that, and realizing that he too could be a child of God and with Christ and like Christ,

00:20:32.000 - 00:20:55.000

it was then, and it was only then, that he repented. And the words came hard, but they came. "I am justly condemned. I receive the due reward for my deeds. Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power."

00:20:55.000 - 00:21:11.000

Those three sentences. But those three sentences contain all there is to genuine repentance. First of all, the recognition of one's own sin. He said, "I am justly condemned."

00:21:11.000 - 00:21:25.000

But that's not enough. It's not enough just to recognize that you are a sinner. There are some who recognize their sin and boast of it, who become very arrogant and defiant about their own evil.

00:21:25.000 - 00:21:48.000

There has to be more to it than simply the recognition of sin in the light. So we go on to the second sentence, which expresses sorrow over one's sin. He says, "I am receiving the due reward, what I deserve, for my sin." But again, sorrow and the recognition of just punishment, this is not enough.

00:21:48.000 - 00:22:03.000

Sorrow can lead only to remorse and to despair and to nothing more than that. It can lead to feeling sorry for yourself and to nothing beyond that. And this in itself is not sufficient. You have to go on to that third sentence.

00:22:03.000 - 00:22:25.000

There must be an abandonment of the sin. There must be the pledging of a new allegiance. There must be a disowning of what is ugly and the claiming of the beautiful. The thief says, "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power.

00:22:25.000 - 00:22:45.000

Jesus, make me as one of your servants. Jesus, claim me." Now this in itself, if it stood alone, would be insufficient. There are some, you see, who abandon their sin only for prudential and for safety reasons,

00:22:45.000 - 00:23:07.000

for fear of being caught. But the thief goes beyond that. He abandons his sin and claims a new commitment, offers himself to his new king, Jesus. You see, all three aspects are necessary in order to make repentance what repentance is to be.

00:23:07.000 - 00:23:24.000

Repentance is recognizing your sin, being sorry before God for it, and turning your back on it in obedient love. It's to do as the man who came last did. "I am justly condemned. I am properly punished.

00:23:24.000 - 00:23:47.000

Take me as your subject, my Lord and my King." Repentance is an act of knowing and an act of feeling and an act of willing. It's becoming aware of the ugliness that is in you. I become aware of this in myself in moments of suddenness,

00:23:47.000 - 00:24:10.000

in the facing of those sudden challenges which sometimes come, and suddenly there boils up within me something that I'd like to deny and say wasn't there. "Oh, I control it." This hatred or envy or jealousy or resentment or greed or lust, I cover it over immediately.

00:24:10.000 - 00:24:39.000

I successfully repress it, and sometimes I even manage to convert it into some positive attitude or effort. But for a moment, for a moment I've seen down into the very center of my own nature. I face the truth about myself, the fires that are burning in there. And I might discipline myself and tame myself and train myself and control myself

00:24:39.000 - 00:25:07.000

so that I'll always be very decent and correct. But I know what my first feelings are. Those involuntary spurts of genuine inner desire, I know what they are. And when I face God and at the same time know what is in me,

00:25:07.000 - 00:25:25.000

when I recognize that he wants in me a heart that is totally pure and desires which are fresh as the driven snow, when he wants me to be full of love and openness and without any ugliness at all, when I know what he wants and I know what is,

00:25:25.000 - 00:25:55.000

then I know there are worlds between these two attitudes. Like the young Isaiah, "I fall on my knees in the presence of God and I say, 'O Lord, I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.'" Now here you see is the recognition of sin and sorrow for it.

00:25:55.000 - 00:26:17.000

But these things in themselves are not enough, not yet enough. I digress for a moment to make this point. A young man called me yesterday and he wanted me to go and look at a cemetery with him. We both find cemeteries interesting,

00:26:17.000 - 00:26:35.000

but I couldn't go because I was gathering my thoughts for these minutes with you. So I returned to my desk with thoughts of how pleasant it would be to go walking on a sunny green grove on such a beautiful autumn afternoon. And I also thought to myself of how sad it was that churches

00:26:35.000 - 00:26:55.000

no longer are surrounded with cemeteries like they used to be, only the older churches are. And as I sat at my desk and mulled over that thought, I suddenly recognized that it was altogether untrue, that in fact I had never been in a church or in a chapel that was not surrounded by a cemetery.

00:26:55.000 - 00:27:17.000

You see, it came home to me that in a sense every place of worship has a cemetery coming right up to its very walls. A cemetery in which are buried the convictions and the divine impressions and the holy purposes and the desires which have been awakened within people

00:27:17.000 - 00:27:37.000

inside the walls of that sanctuary, but have died when those people have gone out of that sanctuary. And chief amongst these buried impulses, these desires that live for a moment and then perish within a few feet of the church door,

00:27:37.000 - 00:27:56.000

one of the chief amongst these is repentance. How many times have you sat in the context of worship in some church or chapel and someone has been speaking of repentance before God and you have had come to life within you a desire to go to God,

00:27:56.000 - 00:28:11.000

a desire to go to God on your knees and to ask forgiveness and to quit your sin, and your heart is touched. Maybe it's being touched in these very moments, as you hear me speak, as you sit in this place, or as you listen to this tape.

00:28:11.000 - 00:28:29.000

Maybe at these very moments the Holy Spirit is moving within you and your mind is convinced and you cry out with the thief, "I have sinned and I'm sorry." As far as it goes, that is good, but it has not yet gone far enough.

00:28:29.000 - 00:28:50.000

Beyond this, you see, there must be a conscious and deliberate abandonment of the sin and accepting of the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. And if you do not do this, then these attitudes die and are buried right where you're now sitting.

00:28:50.000 - 00:29:20.000

Please turn your cassette to the other side. The man who hit the Normandy beach on D-Day back in 1944, when the Allies invaded Europe. And by cruel accident, this man, as he threw himself upon the beach

00:29:20.000 - 00:29:47.000

to avoid the tremendous amount of shot and shrapnel in the air, somehow his fingers got caught in the tread of a large tank which was moving by. And the fingers were being crushed by the tread of the tank and his whole arm was being pulled slowly into those grinding gears.

00:29:47.000 - 00:30:06.000

And in order to save his life, what this man had to do was to take out his pistol and shoot off his own fingers one at a time. It was either this or be sucked into that machine which would crush from him every bit of life which was his.

00:30:06.000 - 00:30:28.000

Now, repentance is like that. It's cutting loose from that which kills your spirit. Repentance is saying yes, repentance is feeling yes, but repentance is doing. And it's lonely doing.

00:30:28.000 - 00:30:53.000

It's lonely doing because like dying, it's just between you and God. Being sorry before God is an act of solitariness. Making promises to God to be in obedience to him, that's something you do by yourself. Coming to him and experiencing his love and his pardon and his grace

00:30:53.000 - 00:31:14.000

and the incredible release which comes with his never failing forgiveness. Well, this comes when you walk that path to God's mercy which is so narrow that two people cannot walk on it abreast. Each comes alone as this man, this dying thief, this one who came last, came alone.

00:31:14.000 - 00:31:43.000

Sorry and not afraid to say it, asking for pardon and for a master to rule and to reign in his life. That's what repentance is. And I'd like to know, I ask those of you who are far wiser than myself, I ask some of you retired faculty members who are gray with many years and many holy thoughts,

00:31:43.000 - 00:32:09.000

or I say to some of my peers on the faculty or to some of you students who oft times humble me and amaze me with the depths of spirituality which are already yours, would one of you at least explain to me this, why it is that there are some who are not ashamed of sin but are ashamed to repent of sin.

00:32:09.000 - 00:32:47.000

Why is it that there are some who are not ashamed to do that of which they ought to be ashamed but they are ashamed to do that which is their duty and their only hope, to repent. Why doesn't the sight of the dying, loving, bravely suffering Christ melt the hearts of these people as it melted the heart of this man who came last, repenting and with faith in Jesus Christ.

00:32:47.000 - 00:33:15.000

Why? There's an old Turkish legend which says that each man has two angels, one angel sits on each shoulder and according to the story when a man does good, the angel on his right shoulder writes it in a book and then seals the book because what is so done is done forever.

00:33:15.000 - 00:33:44.000

And when a man does evil, the angel on the left shoulder writes it down but then he waits until midnight and if before that time the man bows his head and cries out, "Oh God I have sinned, forgive me, I ask your ordering of my life" and then begins again, if the man does that then the angel on the left shoulder erases what he has written.

00:33:44.000 - 00:34:25.000

And if the man does not repent, then at midnight this angel seals his book. And when he does, according to the legend, the angel on the man's right shoulder weeps. The Apostle Paul says that the beginning of belief is repentance toward God and we see what repentance is in the man who came last.

00:34:25.000 - 00:34:48.000

And we also see in him faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He stepped toward Jesus figuratively in faith. "Lord," he cried out, "remember me when you come in your kingly power." I never think of those words without remembering the upper room.

00:34:48.000 - 00:35:07.000

Do you recall how Jesus appeared first to all of the disciples except Thomas who was absent from their number and the disciples reported this to Thomas and Thomas said he would not believe until he was able to put his hands in the wounds of Jesus. So then Jesus appears to the twelve. Thomas is with them.

00:35:07.000 - 00:35:28.000

And when he makes this appearance he offers his wounds for Thomas to touch them and then Thomas believes but then also Jesus says, "Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe." Well this thief was one of those. What did he see?

00:35:29.000 - 00:35:49.000

He could not remember the words of the prophets of Israel. At best they would have been nothing more than a vague memory from his childhood. He never had the joy of hearing Jesus tell a parable. If he was ever in the crowds that followed Christ it was only to pick the pockets of those who were listening.

00:35:49.000 - 00:36:12.000

He never saw the resurrection, the risen Christ walking on the very earth in which he once was buried. This thief never heard some apostle preach radiant with the good news of the risen Jesus. The thief was never baptized. He never had the experience of sitting with others at the sacrament of Holy Communion.

00:36:12.000 - 00:36:41.000

All of the things which were aged to others in their faith he never knew. Yet he was the leader in that vast company who have come to Christ since the cross. I remember that Jesus said to the centurion who came to Jesus and asked that he heal his servant. I remember that Jesus said to that man, "Great is your faith."

00:36:42.000 - 00:37:09.000

And I remember when that foreign woman, the Syrophoenician woman came and pleaded with Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus said to that woman, "Great is thy faithfulness." And I remember when Christ said to that wounded woman who reached out and who touched the hem of his garment. Jesus said to her on seeing the confidence in him which was hers, "Woman, great is thy faithfulness."

00:37:10.000 - 00:37:33.000

And I recall just as you do that occasion when Jesus said to the woman who spent everything she had to purchase rare oil and then anointed his feet and wiped his feet with her hair. Jesus seeing this, the tenderness and the love which was in the woman, how she was offering herself to him in totality. He said to her, "Great is your faith."

00:37:33.000 - 00:38:05.000

But if Christ said that to these, how much more would he have been touched by the testimony of this thief? He must have been moved to the center of his spirit. When this thief, who didn't see anything but a strongly dying, strongly praying, strongly loving one being crucified, still called out, "Jesus, remember me."

00:38:05.000 - 00:38:29.000

Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that this is the only man in all of scripture who is recorded as calling Jesus by his first name? And the word Jesus means "savior." He cries out, "Savior!" I believe that when Jesus heard those words, the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled.

00:38:29.000 - 00:38:52.000

He saw of the travail of his soul and was satisfied. And all the thief asked was to be remembered. He didn't want any honors. He just wanted to be remembered by this one who was coming in kingly power. This complete confidence in Christ. The only throne he saw was a cross.

00:38:52.000 - 00:39:17.000

The only crown he saw was of thorns. The only scepter he saw was made of nails. The royal wardrobe which he saw was in the hands of Roman cropshooters. And yet, in spite of this appearance, in spite of this, he says, "My Lord, you are a king. And because you are a king, this is not the end for you.

00:39:17.000 - 00:39:37.000

Even a cross will not destroy or deter you. You will finish with it. It will not finish you. Victory will be yours. Kingly power will be yours. And in that moment, in the springtime of your soul, remember me." Notice the thief did not say, "Jesus, if you come."

00:39:37.000 - 00:39:54.000

He said, "Jesus, when you come in your kingly power." "Just think of me. Remember me." It's enough, you see, to be remembered by such a king. I say to you, this is the voice of magnificent faith.

00:39:54.000 - 00:40:23.000

Notice this very carefully. There was great power gathered there on that spot that Friday afternoon. The temple merchants were there, their purses full and spilling over with the world's wealth. And the leading people of the church were there, those who claimed to have special access to God.

00:40:23.000 - 00:40:46.000

And the teachers of the people were there, arguing for their particular grasp of the truth. And the politicians were there, who claimed to have the power not only of knowing what, but knowing who. The soldiers were there, rattling dice in their brass helmets, military might in their calloused hands. And the common people were there.

00:40:46.000 - 00:41:06.000

The popularity of the crowd is always something powerful and not to be dismissed. All kinds of power was gathered there on that hill that afternoon. And the thief saw it as he hung from his bloody branch. But he scorned it all.

00:41:06.000 - 00:41:31.000

And it was to the praying, loving, suffering one that he turned. "Jesus, remember me." I say again, it was the voice of magnificent faith. Many years ago, Blondin, the Frenchman, claimed that he was the world's greatest tightrope artist, and I suppose he was.

00:41:32.000 - 00:41:55.000

He had all the ingredients, skill, nerves of steel, a flair for showmanship, a thirst for publicity, great courage. And all of this combined to prepare him for his greatest feat, which was to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope. The day was perfect. It was clear and crisp. There was very little wind. Thousands of people lined the shores.

00:41:55.000 - 00:42:16.000

And at 12 o'clock noon, he appeared on the Canadian side with balancing pole in hand. And without any hesitation, out he stepped onto the swaying cable. And below him was roaring, churning death. The crossing was very slow. He stopped several times to rest.

00:42:16.000 - 00:42:33.000

And the crowd was silent. They did not make a sound. Every eye was on him, this tiny speck of humanity battling fate. And finally he made it to the U.S. side. And those who were there wrote that you could actually hear the crowd sigh with relief.

00:42:33.000 - 00:42:55.000

But wait. He didn't even take a bow. He just turned around and stepped immediately out onto the cable again and started the return trip to Canada. And the crowd was quiet. But it cried out when the balancing pole slipped from his hands and fell, disappearing into the whirling white water.

00:42:56.000 - 00:43:11.000

And now he was out there with no balancing aid. Just his own weight and his own skill and his own courage. That was it. And halfway across he paused. And then he began to jump up and down on the rope.

00:43:11.000 - 00:43:23.000

And other stunts followed, one more death-defying than the other. The crowd was hoarse from their cheering. And their eyes watered with tears. And their palms were stinging.

00:43:23.000 - 00:43:45.000

And their backs ran with chill after chill. It was just one of the most spectacular things they had ever beheld. And at last he stepped ashore and the applause challenged even the roar of the falls. And Blondin paused and bowed.

00:43:45.000 - 00:44:10.000

And then he raised his hands for silence. And he cried out, "Do you believe that I am the aerialist without equal?" And the crowd roared back, "Yes!" Then Blondin cried, "Who will cross on my shoulders?"

00:44:10.000 - 00:44:26.000

And there was an embarrassed silence. Who? Who really believed? Who really believed enough to climb upon his shoulders? And then a teenage lad stepped forward, shyly but resolutely.

00:44:26.000 - 00:44:47.000

And there was a quick conversation. And then he mounted Blondin's shoulders. And the two, the two mind you, moving as one, stepped out onto the gently swinging cable. And the waters below roared as if doubly angry at this added insult to their power.

00:44:47.000 - 00:45:01.000

And the clouds of vapor swirled high into the air so that the cable became slippery. But on the two came. Suddenly there was a slip, a stagger, a faltering. And then, and then steadiness again.

00:45:01.000 - 00:45:17.000

Fifty feet to the shore, twenty-five feet, fifteen feet. And safety. And holding the young man still on his shoulders, Blondin addressed the crowd with these words,

00:45:17.000 - 00:45:43.000

"You all said you believed in me, but only this boy had real faith." To Blondin, you see, a faithful person was one who was prepared to accept the risks of action. And I think that's a good definition. I take it as it stands.

00:45:43.000 - 00:46:01.000

And I ask this question. Who, more than this one who came last, showed that kind of faith? All of the evidence was against it. All of the testimony of those who were assembled there was against it.

00:46:01.000 - 00:46:19.000

The flow of his own blood was weakening him and testified to the futility of his state. He knew that death would soon be his. And in the midst of that, he did the only thing that he could do. He could not move his hands.

00:46:19.000 - 00:46:30.000

He could not move his feet. But he publicly and openly moved his lips and moved his heart. What prayer did he pray? What commitment did he make?

00:46:30.000 - 00:46:40.000

With so few words left to him, what did he choose to say? Where did he focus his hope? Where did he direct his love? Where did he pledge himself?

00:46:40.000 - 00:47:14.000

In what direction did he invest everything he had to invest? It was toward Jesus. The voice of magnificent faith, he believed and was ready to accept the risk of action. The scriptures say that from the sixth to the ninth hours, there was a great darkness over Calvary.

00:47:14.000 - 00:47:41.000

But I believe that for Jesus and for this thief, there was light. For Jesus, there was the light of this man's repentance and faith. His turning away from his sin and his believing in Jesus. You know, at that moment, he was the only one on the face of the earth who really believed in Jesus.

00:47:41.000 - 00:47:56.000

All of the disciples had fled except John, who was with Mary at the foot of the cross. But those at the foot of the cross went sorrowing away. None of them said anything like, "When you come in your kingly power." They did not expect him to come again.

00:47:57.000 - 00:48:16.000

Only the thief expected that. Only one believed. And it must have gladdened the heart of the Savior to have had at least a congregation of one. And there was light too for the thief.

00:48:16.000 - 00:48:32.000

For his cry was immediately answered, "Truly this day, you will be with me in paradise." I don't know if the thief heard it all. The anesthesia of death was upon him. He might have missed most of it.

00:48:32.000 - 00:49:03.000

But I feel sure that he heard at least these words, "With me." And his repentance and his faith were enough to make those two words, "With me," the most important words to him in all the world, prompted by the love of Jesus, he was saved. And this same love now forgave him and took him home.

00:49:03.000 - 00:49:28.000

All the way home. He was the last man to come to Jesus, but the first man into paradise with Jesus. And so I believe it should have been. For David and Peter and Paul, any Christian, can speak of repentance and faith,

00:49:28.000 - 00:50:01.000

but no one can tell us more of these things than the man who came last. You know, by his investigations and calculations, the great Polish mathematician Copernicus revolutionized the thought of mankind about the universe. I wonder if you're aware of the fact that his famous treatise,

00:50:01.000 - 00:50:26.000

"The Revolution of the Heavenly Bodies," was printed just in time to be put into his arms as he lay dying in May of 1543. It is observed that he hardly took notice of the document when it was given to him. For you see, Copernicus did not primarily think of himself as an astronomer

00:50:26.000 - 00:50:45.000

or as a mathematician or as a scholar. He thought of himself as a sinner. And on that last day of his life, he gave himself to the composition of his epitaph, an epitaph which you can read today on his grave at Frauenburg.

00:50:45.000 - 00:51:07.000

This is what he wrote. "I do not seek a kindness equal to that given Paul, nor do I ask the grace granted to Peter. But that forgiveness which thou didst give to the thief,

00:51:07.000 - 00:51:34.000

that I earnestly pray." It's the epitaph and indeed the life creed for all the saints. For we begin where the thief began, with his sin. And we must turn to Jesus for help and healing, just as he did,

00:51:34.000 - 00:51:53.000

repenting, admitting our sin, sorrowing over it, and rejecting it as we claim him again and again as Lord. We must act on the basis of our faith, just as the thief did, offering ourselves to Christ in all the situations of life and of death,

00:51:53.000 - 00:52:19.000

accepting the risks of action. And if we do this, then we will know paradise, just as the thief did. And we will know it this very day, just as he did. For heaven begins the day we kneel before that King who says,

00:52:21.000 - 00:52:53.000

"Whosoever cometh to me, I shall in no wise cast out." Let us pray. O Lord, O Lord God our Father, help us to see this thief, and help us to see this Savior.

00:52:53.000 - 00:53:24.000

And as they met, may we meet with Jesus, and find through him, paradise. We pray it in his name, believing. Amen.

00:53:24.000 - 00:53:26.060

you