[0:00] Let us turn back to the chapter that we read, and especially looking at verse 41 in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 23, verse 41.
[0:18] And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.
[0:32] Especially these words at the end of this verse. This man has done nothing wrong. And in looking at these words, this man has done nothing wrong.
[0:55] This is a brief account that Luke is giving to us of one incident on the cross.
[1:06] And yet, even in this brief account, it gives us a picture of why Jesus was willing to give himself over to this forum of death.
[1:26] What we have here is not a failed Messiah, but a Messiah whose power is not diminished in any way by his sufferings.
[1:46] This is the promised one of God. And the events leading up to the cross, along with the cross itself, reveals to us that this passion is found in exactly the very place God wants him to be.
[2:13] The Romans lifted him up on a cross for one reason. And that is, that he would reveal to the Jews, Here is your king.
[2:37] That's the inscription that was written above. And the king, here is the king of the Jews. And that's why the Romans lifted him up.
[2:47] That was one of the reasons why they lifted him up on a cross. Here is your king. Behold him now. Is he not a failure? Is he not an imposter?
[3:01] And is he not receiving exactly what any rebel who would come to threaten Caesar's rule receives?
[3:16] And they placed him between two thieves. With Rome making the declaration to Israel, This is the sort of man that you're supposed to be king is.
[3:37] In other words, he is no better than any, than the two thieves on either side of him. The truth of the matter is, the truth of the matter is, That the Romans never crucified thieves.
[3:59] The Romans only crucified rebels, Who had shown by their action, That they were a threat to Caesar's rule.
[4:12] That they were a threat to Caesar's rule. Now in Palestine, In Palestine, in Jesus' day, There were many, Who were of, The view, That, They had, To get rid, Of Rome's dominion.
[4:34] That they had to free, Israel, From Rome's dominion. And in having that desire, Where they were held bent on using, Any, Means, At their disposal, To get rid of this, So called, Heathen rule.
[4:58] In order, That God's land, And God's people, Would be restored, To their former, Glory. They didn't think anything, Of using acts of violence, Murder, Or as we, Call it today, Acts of terrorism, To free Israel, From, The yoke, Of Rome.
[5:26] To free Israel, From the Roman, Yoke. They were prepared, To use, Any means, To free Israel, From the Roman, Yoke.
[5:40] And nailing, Jesus, Nailing, Jesus, To the cross, Was simply, A declaration, By Rome, That here, Was a failed, Rebel, That here, Was nothing, But a failed, Rebel, Whose rebellion, Is now at an end.
[6:01] But the irony, Here is, The irony, Here is, That Rome, Wanted to put Jesus, To death, For this, Simple reason, That he was, According to them, A false king, Who made himself, Out to be, God's messiah, Who had come, Into this world, To overthrow, Caesar.
[6:32] And because, They saw him, As a threat, To the empire, And a threat, To Caesar's rule, He had to be, Got rid of. The Jews, On the other hand, Wanted to put him, To death, Because he was, None of these things.
[6:51] He was, None of these things. The Jews, Were of the opinion, That once, The promised one, Would come, That he would come, To conquer, And free Israel, From, Roman rule, And restore Israel, Back to the glory, That she once knew, Under the rule, Of David, And Solomon.
[7:18] And when the Jews, Subtly realized, That Jesus, Had no desire, Whatsoever, For such a venture, Then they came, To the conclusion, That this man, Was useless, In relation, To the Jewish cause.
[7:42] And not only that, But he was deriding them, For their traditions, He was challenging, Their traditions, And challenging, Their interpretation, Of God's word.
[7:58] And so, This man was useless, To the Jewish cause, He had to be, He had to be, Done away with. And if you remember, If you remember, When Pilate, Came out to them, And said, That he was finding, No fault in them.
[8:17] And, Their reply, Was crucifier. We are no king, They said, But Caesar. We don't want, To be under, On this man, Setting himself up, As a king.
[8:33] We are no king. They hated Caesar. They hated the Romans. But yet, They wanted this man, To be put, To death.
[8:44] They wanted this man, To be put to death. And then we come, Then we come, To some, Other, Another problem, That this man was posing.
[8:56] On the night, That he was betrayed, He said, That he would be numbered, Amongst, The transgressors. And even his family, His disciples, Those who are close to, Would have been wondering, About these words, Numbered amongst, The transgressors, But Jesus was simply, Pointing out, That this was the way, This was the very way, That things, Would be for him.
[9:32] And this was the very way, That things would be for him. Now, Now, When he, When he, When he said, When he spoke these words, He was quoting from Isaiah, Chapter 53, He was identifying himself, With a suffering servant, That would bear, The sins, Of the many.
[9:52] And when you and I, Look, At Jesus's life, As it's brought before us, By the gospels, We find Jesus, In the company, Very often, Of a people, That the religious rulers, Of the day, Classed, As tax collectors, And sinners.
[10:16] They were, A people of low esteem, A despised, Rubble, Whom the so-called, Crime of the society, Of the day, Would not be seen dead, In their company.
[10:38] They wouldn't be seen dead, In their company. And we find this, Dying rebel, Saying about this, Jesus, This man, Has done nothing wrong.
[10:59] This man, Has done nothing wrong. We are deserving, He said, Of what, Is happening to us.
[11:10] We deserve it. And if you look at this man, At this particular moment, You might think that he is deserving, Of it as well. But, This man, Has done, Nothing, Wrong.
[11:26] This man, Has done nothing wrong. How, Would this rebel, Know, That he had done nothing wrong?
[11:37] Well, There is something strange, Happening, Here, At this particular moment. The first strange thing, That we must take note of, Is that, Here is this passion, Here is this passion, Lifted up on a cross, And even in the midst, Of a suffering, He is revealing himself, As the savior, Of rebels and outcasts.
[12:04] Outcasts. That is what the two, Who were on either side of him were. Rebels and outcasts. That is what we are, Ourselves. When we are contrary, To the word of God, When we refuse, To acknowledge God's existence, When we refuse, To believe, In his word, We are rebelling, Against God, We are outcasts, We are cast, Out of the garden, Out of paradise, The moment we sinned.
[12:38] That is what we are, And here, Here we find the promised one. Here we find the promised one, The king who has come, To sympathize, With lost causes, The king, Who has come to stand, Beside, The rejected, Of the world.
[12:56] And what do we find, This rebel beside him, And say, Lord remember me, When you come into your kingdom, That is the other strange thing, That we find to happen here, Here he is, This rebel dying, And this person beside him, Is dying as well, And these words, Come forth from his lips, Lord, He said, Remember me, When you come into your kingdom, The Holy Spirit is at work, There is no doubt, There is no doubt, That this rebel, Would have heard about Jesus, Because Jesus at this time, Would have been at the centre, Of all the gossip, That was going on in Palestine, And both of these rebels, Would have heard much about him, As we say today, Jesus was the talk, Of the steaming, At this particular moment, But,
[13:58] He would have heard, By word, He would have heard, By word of lips, About this Jesus, But what we find here is, He, He is not, He had not only heard about him, In that way, But he is now recognising him, As a king, The Holy Spirit, This is the second strange thing here, The Holy Spirit is at work, In the life of this man, And he is revealing to him, That this Jesus, This dying man, Beside him on the cross, Is a king, And that this king, Has a kingdom, And he is certainly seeing, This king as his only hope, He is dying, This time in this world, Is not going to be long, Why should he ask this king, To remember him, When he would come into his kingdom, Because he was seeing,
[15:01] He was seeing, That this king, Could save him, From an eternal death, From an eternal death, This king was dying, The rebel was dying, So it is not strange, That he uttered these words, Remember me, When you come into your kingdom, And the reply he got, Is as glorious, As the one, Who uttered that reply, Today Jesus says, You will be with me, In paradise, Today, You will be with me, In paradise,
[16:03] He leaves this world, Saved, From that eternal death, That, He was wishing, He'd be saved, From, That he was wishing, He'd be saved from, Today, You will be with me, In paradise, Well, Does this not, Sum up Jesus' life, Up until this, Very point, Up until this, Very point, Why on earth, Did this man, Mix with tax collectors, And sinners, Why would he bother, With this dying rebel beside him, Well, he mixed with tax collectors, And sinners,
[17:04] Because, They were the very ones, Who were aware, Of their need, Of a physician, The religious rulers, Of the day, And others, Within Israel, Thought they were whole, And that they had no need, Of the great physician, And that is what separates us, That is what makes, The dividing line, Between, Those, Who come to Christ, And those who do not, It is only, When one is aware, Of one's need, As a lost sinner, As this dying rebel, Was, That we will,
[18:05] Come to Christ, And say, Lord, Remember me, Lord, Tongue, On me, On me, And as long, As you think, That you are whole, And you have no need, To other great physician, You will remain, Where you are, Like the Pharisees, And the scribes, And the Sadducees, Did, All they wanted to do, Was put this man to death, Crucify him, Crucify him, When you see, The religious, Rulers, Thought they were whole, The question for you,
[19:08] This evening is, Where are you? Which side, Of the dividing line, Are you on? Are you seeing, You need, Of this great physician, To make you whole, Or do you think, That you are, Whole as it is?
[19:31] You see, Many people, Many people, Will look at other people, Many people, Will look at other people, And they will point, The finger at them, And say, That person needs, To be converted, That person, Needs Christ, And the thing is, That you might find, The people, That you are pointing, Their finger at, Being converted, While they remain, Unconverted, Why?
[20:08] Because they think, They are whole, They have no need, Of a savior, And they will look, At Jesus Christ, And they will tell, Well yes, Christ died, For sinners, Sinners need Christ, But I don't, I don't, Why should I?
[20:33] I am whole, I am whole, There is nothing wrong, With me, And you see, Jesus, Went about, Doing miracles, He went about, Doing miracles, It would have been, A question to, It would have been, A question to many, Why he was keeping, The company he was keeping, Why?
[21:05] He was mixing, If this was the true Messiah, Why was he mixing, With tax collectors, And sinners? Well he was, The scripture, Makes that clear to us, The son of man, Had come to seek, And to save the lost, And we find him, Going about, Healing, And doing miracles, And he is, Healing and doing, These miracles, Through his world, And through other means, Yes, But nine times, Out of ten, The world, Is always present, The lepers, Come to him, For cleansing, And he lays his hands, Upon them, Now, Leprosy, In Jesus' day, And the sort of leprosy, It was, It was a contagious, Disease, Nobody, Laid their hands,
[22:05] Upon a leper, But Jesus lays his hands, On them, Without taking, Their disease, To himself, And instead of taking, The disease to himself, He cleanses them, With these worlds, Be, You, Clean, Be clean, And they were cleansed, We find the centurion, Coming to him, The servant was sick, And Jesus says to, Jesus prepares, To go to where the servant was, And the centurion says to Jesus, Don't bother, You don't need to, Just utter the words, Just utter the words, You don't need to bother, To go where my servant is, Sick, And Jesus uttered,
[23:05] To the necessary words, The centurion went back, To his servant, Found him healed, And he inquired, When, He was healed, And it was, Exactly at the very hour, That Jesus, Had spoken, The necessary words, Matthew, And Zacchaeus, Two tax collectors, Confessed to be saved, By Jesus, Why were tax collectors, Despised, They were swindlers, They were fraudsters, They were traitors, To the Jewish cause, They were in the pay, Of the Roman authorities, And how did they know, They were saved by Jesus, Because they were transformed, Their lives, Were transformed, From being covetous,
[24:09] And greedy, They became, Saved people, And remember, What Zacchaeus said, After he was saved, I will give double, He said, I will give double back, To those, I have robbed, The salvation, That Jesus brought to him, Changed him, From being a greedy, So and so, To being a generous, Individual, And that's why, The tax collectors, Were looked down upon, They were traitors, Fraudsters, Swindlers, In the pay, Of the Roman authorities, They lived a life, Of crookedness, And greed, On the life, Of crookedness, The life, That Matthew, And Zacchaeus, Lived, Was transformed, By, The salvation,
[25:09] That Jesus brought to them, Then you have the woman, With the issue of her blood, She had tried, Goodness knows, How many doctors, To cure herself, None of them, Could do it, She heard about Jesus, And then she thought, Well, If I can only get near him, If I can only touch him, I might be healed, And she pushes herself, Through the throng, That was surrounding Jesus, Touched the hem of her, Tame of his garment, And she was healed, Jesus felt power, Going out of her, And he says, Who touched me, And the woman, Confesses, And what does he say to her, Your faith, Has made you whole, These left the lepers, Are outcasts,
[26:09] They couldn't, Live amongst, Society, They had to be, Put outside, Of the city or town, In a camp by themselves, They were outcasts, Diseased, The woman, With the issue of blood, Was the same, Another outcast, Pushed away, By society, They, Didn't want, Her disease, Was contagious, As well, Every, Every plate, That she ate, From every cup, That she drank, From had to be scowled, And scowled, Thoroughly, Before anybody else, Could drink of it, And then you have, The tax collectors, Matthew and Zacchaeus, Swindlers,
[27:12] Fraudsters, Saved by Jesus, What do we find, What do they show us, What do they show us, That he had come, To save, The outcasts, Of this world, Those who were looked down upon, Those who were despised, But there was two, There's two things, That we have to, That we have to, Be wary, There's two things, That we ought to note here, And that is, That in salvation, There is the power of Jesus, Plus the faith, Of those, Who were healed, Look at the centurion, Sermon was sick, Says to Jesus,
[28:15] All you have got to do, Is out of the words, And what did Jesus say, I have not found, Such faith in Israel, The lepers came to him, Because they believed, That this man was different, They believed, That he could do for them, What nobody else, Had done for them, The woman with the issue of blood, Was the same, Woman your faith, Has made you whole, There has to be, Whose power, And our faith, Whose power, And our faith, And all of these, Miracles of healing, What were they?
[28:59] Well, They were nothing, But snapshots, Of what the cross, Was all about, Of what the cross, Was all about, He was revealing, In doing these, Healing miracles, He was revealing, That he had come, For the unclean, He had come, For the impure, He had come, For the unholy, He had come, For the outcast, And he had come, For the downthroden, We don't like, To hear, That we are unclean, That we are impure, That we are unholy, That we are, Outcasts, That we are downthroden, But that's what we are, Each and every one of us, Unclean, Impure, And holy, And outcast, Because of our sin, Downthroden,
[30:02] Because the great, And the good of our day, As far as, They are concerned, We are only a number, On a tax forum, That's all, That's all, And these are the sort of people, That Jesus, Has come for, He identifies himself, With the despised, And with the rejected, This man, Has done nothing wrong, Well for crying out loud, If this man has done nothing wrong, Why do we find him, Hanging on a cross, What on earth is he doing, Hanging on a cross, Surely nobody, Nobody is nailed to a cross, Except people, Who have done something wrong, And why do we find,
[31:06] This man, Hanging on a cross, Because of this, This is the very place, This is exactly the place, That was reserved, For this man, From all eternity, This cross, On Golgotha, Outside of the walls, Of the holy city, Was the very place, That was reserved for him, From all eternity, And he knew it, When he came into this world, My hour, Has not yet come, He was in the very place, That God, Wanted him to be, And after all, Must he not, Must he not, Be doing his father's business, Taking, Or bringing, The love of God, To a needy world, For God,
[32:08] So loved the world, That he gave his, Only begotten son, That, That whosoever, Would believe in him, Would not perish, But have everlasting life, And if you go back, To Abraham, When he offered up Isaac, And Abraham, Was holding up the knife, To plunge it, Into his son, A voice came, From heaven, Lay not your hand, On the lad, And yet here, We find the son of God, On a cross, And are we hearing a voice, Coming from heaven, Saying, Hold back the sword, Do not let it, Touch him, No, Heaven is silent,
[33:15] For he who spared, Not his own son, But delivered him up, For us all, How with him, Shall he not freely, Give us all things, Give us all things, This was the place, That was reserved for him, And he is numbered, Amongst the transgressors, Why?
[33:43] So that he will bring, These transgressors, With him, To glory, He was willing, To be made, To be made, To be made, To be made, For us, In order, That we would be made, The righteousness, Of God in him, For our sakes, He became poor, So that we, By his poverty, Would be enriched, In him, That we, By his poverty, Would be enriched, In him, Here, Is the one person, Who had done nothing wrong, No sin, Could be laid, To his charge, And we find him here, On a cross, Identifying himself, With sinners, Identifying himself, With sinners, We are rebellious, We are rebellious, We are covetous, Unloving, Ungodly,
[34:48] And undeserving, And he is willingly nailed, To the cross, As our substitute, Bearing our punishment, Dealing with our need, Dealing with our need, In order, Why?
[35:12] In order, For what? So that he could give, His righteousness, To us as a robe, And make us acceptable, In the presence, Of God the Father, This is our real king, And he is like no other king, Why?
[35:35] Because he wants nothing, But the best, For his people, Wants nothing, But the best, For his people, He did not come, As Israel desired, As Israel desired, He would, Coming with, Military weapons, Of war, To conquer, He came, To give himself, As a ransom, For the many, Because there was no other way, The just one, Would have to surrender, His life, If the unjust, Were ever going to be saved, The unjust, Were ever, Going to be saved, And he has come, To do for Israel, And the world, What Israel and the world, Could not do for themselves, But what we must realize,
[36:38] Here is that, As he was surrounded, In the cross, By Rome, By representatives, Of Rome, Representatives, Of Israel, Representatives, Of Greece, That is not, Rome is not the enemy, Greece is not the enemy, Israel is not the enemy, Then who is the enemy?
[37:04] Satan, Sin, And death, They are the unseen, Principalities and powers, They are the ones, Who enslave us, They are the ones, Who keep us blind, To the glory of Christ, Remember what Paul says, In Corinthians chapter 4, If our gospel, He said is hid, It is hidden, From them, Whose minds, Have been blinded, By the God of this world, And Satan, And Satan, Knew, That this man, Jesus Christ, Knew, What the real problem was, And Satan, Made every attempt, Made every effort, To distract Christ, From going to the cross, And then he finds,
[38:10] Christ setting his face, Towards Jerusalem, To deal, With the problem of mankind, And that was sin, That was sin, And once, He was lifted up, On the cross, He made every effort, To distract him, From finishing the work, Remember what Christ, Said to Peter, While he was on his way, To the cross, When Peter said, Be that far from you, Get thee behind me, Satan, And these people, Who were shouting, Mocking him, Saying, If you are the son of God, Come down from the cross, And save yourself, This was Satan again, If you are the son of God,
[39:16] Surely this should not be your place, But yet Christ, Through the once, And for all, Sacrifice of himself, Defeated, And conquered, Satan, Sin, And death, And if the son, If the son of God, Has set me and you free, Then we are free, Indeed, We are free, Indeed, And if you have not tasted, Of this freedom, That the son of God, Has purchased for his people, That this king, Has purchased for his people, Then may, May you one day, Taste of it, And rejoice, Along with the people of God, In providing,
[40:20] For us, Such a savior, Rejoice in God, In providing for us, Such a savior, May he bless to us, These few thoughts, Let us pray, Thank you, Bye be well.
[40:51] So,