For the One Without Hope

[0:00] Music Faith family, I love to hear you sing.

[0:23] I just absolutely love to hear you sing, whether it's there on the front row or the few moments in the back, listening to the people of God, raise their voices to God, and declare how great He is.

[0:37] It is beautiful. It's so beautiful. So thank you for your worship tonight. If you've got a Bible, make your way to Luke 23. Luke 23 is where we're going to be this evening.

[0:48] We are continuing in our series called For the One. We've been in this now for several weeks. I hope you're enjoying this series. It's a series that's really focused specifically about our culture here at Faith Family.

[1:02] It's a series about the radical grace of Jesus. It's based off a parable that Jesus tells in Luke 15. You remember we started the series off this way. A parable about a shepherd that is willing to leave the 99 and go after what?

[1:18] The one. And he finds that one, and he puts that one on his shoulders, and goes back and rejoices and celebrates because the lost sheep is found.

[1:29] And Jesus says there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 righteous persons that think they're okay.

[1:41] Jesus' ministry was all about the one. That one person that no one else would go after. The one person that everyone else rejected. And we've tried to put a face to that one, that one lost sheep.

[1:56] Faces like Peter who denied Jesus publicly, failed Jesus in that one moment, that one shining moment.

[2:07] And Jesus goes after him, restores him, and is going to use him for his kingdom. Or the prostitute in Simon the Pharisee's home who is weeping at Jesus' feet.

[2:20] And Jesus looks at this one that everybody else in the room is judging, looking down their nose at, and Jesus says, you're forgiven. Your sins are forgiven.

[2:31] Or do you remember what Jesus did with his first round draft pick in the disciples' draft? He chose Matthew, a tax collector.

[2:42] Like one of the most hated people in society. And yet Jesus, intentionally to show us what the kingdom of God is about, chooses someone no one else would.

[2:54] This is the heart of God. This is the ministry of Jesus. This is the kingdom of our God. It's the one lost sheep who needs to find home. And Jesus goes after them.

[3:07] He's like the father and the prodigal son that is waiting to greet the one. Well, that's the sermon before the sermon, right? That's the last several weeks.

[3:17] But I want to show you another face to this after the one that Jesus' ministry is about. And it's found here in Luke chapter 23. I love this passage.

[3:28] Luke 23 and verse 32. If you're able to stand, please do so as we honor the reading of God's Word. Luke chapter 23 and verse 32.

[3:41] Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that was called the skull, they were crucified with him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

[4:00] 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.

[4:14] But the rulers scoffed at him saying, Hey, he saved others. Let him save himself. If he's the Christ of God, his chosen one, the soldiers also mocked him coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, If you're the king of the Jews, save yourself.

[4:34] 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?

[4:45] 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.

[5:07] And he said to Jesus, Remember me. I can't even hardly read it without tears. Remember me when you come into your kingdom.

[5:20] And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, Today you will be with me in paradise. This is God's word.

[5:31] Let's pray. Let's pray. God help us tonight to understand your word. Help me teach it faithfully. I pray that you would speak through me. Help us again and again and again To catch the glimpse of what the kingdom is about.

[5:46] To really see the heart of God. And the grace of our Lord Jesus As he's hanging on a cross. I can't do anything of any eternal significance in this moment.

[5:59] But God, you can and you do. So please come talk to us. In Jesus' name we pray. And God's people said, Amen. You can be seated. Have you ever been in a situation Where you were certain you'd never get out?

[6:17] I mean, this was it. You were finished. You were all out of hope. That's exactly the situation that Ryan Osman found himself in.

[6:28] He and his girlfriend Jessica. They decided one day that they would leave their place in Mesa, Arizona And they would go up to Utah And they would hike Zion National Park.

[6:39] Now Jessica had never been on a very adventurous hike before And so they decided they would do something challenging, Do something adventurous. They would hike the 10 mile trail known as the subway.

[6:50] Several hours later and about four miles in, They came upon what looked like this small pond That was between them and the rest of the trail.

[7:03] There was no way to get around And so Jessica decided that she'd go first And she'd start wading through this little pond To see how deep it was. Well, as she began to get out into this little pond, She immediately sunk And she could feel her feet on a sandy bottom And her legs began to sink.

[7:25] Ryan quickly grabbed Jessica by the shoulders Pulled her out The problem was he ended up falling in And was even more stuck And then that's when he realized This was no small pond This was quicksand.

[7:40] Jessica began to scoop the sand As fast as she could to help Ryan get out But it was filling back up As fast as she could remove it And finally Ryan just said, Don't bother.

[7:53] You're wasting your energy. By now Ryan was completely stuck. They couldn't call for help Because the closest reception Was all the way back at the beginning of the trail.

[8:03] Jessica is scared to death. She begins to panic. And they knew the only way That they would have any hope of getting out Was she was going to have to leave. And find her way back And try to find someone That could come and rescue.

[8:16] So she left. And Ryan was all alone. He said he could feel his upper body Slipping backwards into the quicksand.

[8:28] Hours passed. There was no sign of Jessica. He was exhausted. And he was afraid. Night kept passing.

[8:40] He kept slowly sinking. And his hope Was fading. This is what he said. Listen. Quote. I started to think about What I could do to die faster.

[8:57] With time running out And Ryan certain That he would die in that pit. He noticed a small beam of light Off in the distance.

[9:08] It was a flashlight. He yelled for help. And soon there arrived Rescue personnel That Jessica was able to find. That they put together A pulley system And was able to Slowly get Ryan out.

[9:23] They took him Where they gave him cover Overnight And kept him there For several hours Until a helicopter Could arrive the next day Ryan survived. But listen fate family Listen, listen, listen For twelve hours He was convinced he wouldn't.

[9:43] Have you ever been there? Have you ever been In a situation Where you thought There was no way out? You were stuck You were trapped It was finished It was hopeless You weren't stuck In quicksand But you were stuck In a relationship Convinced it would never change.

[10:05] You were stuck In a dead end job Feeling completely Out of options. You were stuck In the hospital And the doctors Have given you Very little optimism.

[10:18] You're stuck In a cycle of addiction Certain that you will Never be able To break out of this. This is all You will ever know Stuck In a mental struggle Of depression And anxiety Feeling like This will never be lifted It will never go away.

[10:36] You have At some point Felt hopeless. Stuck In life Like there was no way out Lacking Any confidence Of a promising future.

[10:51] Amen? You've been there. We've all been there. And if you know What that feeling is like And I want you to Tap into that emotion To go back To that place In your mind.

[11:03] If you know That feeling You know exactly How two men In this passage Feel. They are hopeless. They are desperate.

[11:14] They are convinced There is no way out. Why? Because they have been Sentenced To death By Roman Execution Roman Crucifixion I don't know If you know much About Roman execution There ain't no way out.

[11:30] This is it. No one survives this. It's over. Death is a certain thing. There is no rope That might break. There is no bullet That might miss.

[11:41] You are nailed To a tree Surrounded by Roman guards. And in this Hopeless situation In this No way out of this There is one Who finds Hope.

[11:59] Let's look at it. Luke 23 Verse 32 Two others Who were what Faith family? Criminals. Were led away To be put to death With Jesus.

[12:11] And when they came To the place That's called the skull That is Golgotha They were crucified There they crucified him And the what? Criminals One on his right And the other On his left Now look at verse 39 One of the criminals Who were hanged Railed at Jesus Saying Are you not The Christ?

[12:33] Save yourself And us Now let's be honest This is a very strange thing To be saying To someone In your moment Of execution I mean You'd think You'd want To save Your breath Not mock Another person Who is dying In the same way You are Hurling insults At someone else But this thief Is only doing What everybody Else in the crowd Everybody else Around is doing Look at verse 35 And the people Stood by But the rulers Scoffed at Jesus Saying He saved others Let him save himself If he's the Christ That is the anointed one The Messiah of God His chosen one And the soldiers Also mocked him Coming up And offering him Sour wine Saying If you're the king Of the Jews Save yourself And so in other words Everybody in this moment Listen Everybody in this moment Wants Jesus To prove himself You say You're a king You don't look like one

[13:33] You say You're the chosen one Of God Does the Messiah Of God Die on a cross It's not the Messiah We were expecting Everybody's mocking him Everybody's laying it on Everybody wants him To prove himself And so is One of the criminals He's saying Now he's a little bit More desperate Than the The soldiers And the others around Why?

[13:59] Because he's hoping That Jesus might Get him off the cross Hey Save yourself And what? Us! You know While you're saving people We could use a little bit Of that too And so Jesus How about you Prove yourself And in doing so Get me out Of my situation You see This man has no way out He wants Jesus To be his way out But listen very closely Listen very closely It's not because He wants Jesus It's not because He cares Whether or not Jesus is actually The Messiah He just wants Off his cross He wants out Of his situation And I would submit That we do the same thing Listen to me Faith family Be real with us Often times In our hopelessness The only thing We really want Is our situation To change And if it doesn't appear That Jesus Is going to do The thing We want him to do Then what good

[14:59] Is Jesus? I mean if you're not Going to get me Off the cross What good are you? And you're clearly Not who you say you are Because things Are not going his way He mocks And questions Are you not The Christ?

[15:15] Again A king Has land And people And power You look like Anything but a king How in the world Could you be The one? It reminds me Of the Matrix Any Matrix fans In here?

[15:28] Remember in the Matrix There was a main character Neo Right? He's the main Central character And there was a prophecy About Neo And the prophecy Was that he was The one But there was a problem That occurred With the one When this happens Can't be Check him He's gone Goodbye Mr. Anderson Neo

[16:31] I'm not afraid anymore The Oracle told me That I would fall in love And that that man The man that I loved Would be the one So you see You can't be dead You can't be And all God's people said Gross Gross Gross But here's the whole point Of that clip You You can't be the one And be dead Because the one Doesn't die In other words How in the world Does Messiah die?

[17:13] How in the world Does the Son of God Die on a cross? You must not be The one We do this all the time In terms of expecting Jesus to prove himself This happened Just a few days ago How many of you remember The famous soccer player Who was Just a few days ago Was playing In her final soccer game And just a few plays Into the game She tore her Achilles Which by the way It seems like Everyone is doing These days Right?

[17:42] Kurt Cousins Aaron Rodgers Whatever right? Well she tears her Achilles She's not able to play The rest of her final game And did you hear What she said In the press Press conference afterwards Quote I'm not a religious person But if there was a God This is proof There isn't Because this is messed up Except she didn't say messed Alright?

[18:10] I cleaned it up for church Alright? If there was a God The fact that this happened to me Proves he isn't God In other words When life doesn't go your way When you're not getting down Off your cross When you're not getting out Of your situation God must not be God Which is just another way Of saying Do you know who God is?

[18:32] You Because the whole universe Must orbit around your life I mean if God Isn't doing What I want God to do He must not be God And I have put myself In the place of God That is exactly What this criminal is doing And Jesus Not only doesn't meet This man's criteria That his kings don't die Messiahs don't hang on a cross He also doesn't obey His commands In other words This criminal Asked Jesus to save him Save yourself And us And you would think Well isn't that the kind of prayer Jesus would want to answer?

[19:16] Except that Jesus knows This man's heart This is one of those 9-1-1 prayers You know what I'm talking about? It's just I don't really care who you are Just get me out If you can do that That's all I am concerned about And Jesus All throughout the gospels We know We see his ability To discern The heart of someone When they are making a request For the right motivation And when they are simply Motivated by their own life Notice this on the screen Everyone Has a cross They want Jesus To remove them from I mean I'd believe If you just heal my cancer I would serve you I promise Jesus I would serve you If you would just answer my prayers In fact Don't raise your hand You don't have to say anything But I guarantee you With this many people here tonight There are some of you Bitter with Jesus Because he hasn't been The kind of savior You wanted him to be He hasn't answered your prayer The way you wanted it answered

[20:17] But the truth is this If you knew everything he knows You would have answered your prayer The exact same way he did That's why you have to trust him Not just use him As a get off the cross free Now contrast that criminal With the second thief The second criminal It's a very very different approach to Jesus But listen It didn't start that way At first The second criminal Approached Jesus The very same way The first criminal did Let me bring in Matthew here Matthew tells us In Matthew 27 Verse 44 This And the Say it Robbers Plural Were crucified with him Also reviled him In the same way Now let's listen to brother Mark Mark comes in And says Mark 15 32 Let the Christ The king of Israel Come down now from the cross

[21:17] That we may see and believe And those Plural Who were crucified with him Also reviled him So I take that to mean That this other criminal At the beginning of this whole ordeal Was saying what everybody else was saying But something changes Something changes Because look at what Luke says Happens later Verse 23 Or chapter 23 Verse 40 But the other So now we're talking about the second robber The second criminal Rebuked the first one Saying Do you not fear God?

[21:59] You're under the same sentence of condemnation And we Indeed Justly We're receiving The due reward Of our deeds Listen This Man Has done Nothing Wrong Now There's a different approach here That's happening with this criminal Than the first one It's a 180 degree turn From what he was doing To what he's now saying And so When I put these things together Text wise Like what Matthew and Mark and Luke tell us I'm asking Is there anything In the text That would help us understand The change Why Is this man approaching Jesus Differently now Than the first criminal And I think Based on the text There's something that happens Right before he says this That is Listen We're under the same sentence We're being crucified justly

[22:59] This man's done nothing wrong He heard something I think he heard something In the text He heard something That changed His entire perspective I think it's verse 34 And Jesus said Father Forgive them They know not What They do What?

[23:26] Who says that? That's not what We're praying We're praying Give me out Give me out Give me out Give me out He's praying Forgive them And I believe That upon Seeing And hearing The grace Of Jesus In those Words Father Forgive them Everything changes I think What happens Is the grace Of God Changes his heart Right there on a cross And I think There's three things That change In him As a result Of hearing The three words Father Forgive them Here's the first one His view Of self Changes His view

[24:27] Of self Changes That is Upon hearing Jesus Out of the words Father Forgive them This man Realizes Exactly Who he is And exactly What he's done Look at verse 41 Again Verse 41 Says We indeed Justly For we are Receiving the Due reward Of our Deeds In other words We're getting What we deserve This man Listen Listen Listen This man Is not asking To be removed From the cross Because he realizes He deserves The cross I'm where I should be I don't deserve To get off This cross I'm guilty I'm a sinner I've done it And so I am getting What I deserve He realizes That he has not Only sinned Against Rome He has sinned Against God Which means What?

[25:23] He actually Understands What most people Don't understand And that's The grace Of God Namely Listen I've said this A thousand times You only understand The grace of God When you realize You shouldn't Get it You should be On the cross You don't deserve Grace Because grace Isn't deserved It is a It is a A gift You don't deserve From a giver That doesn't have To give it And so he realizes Who he is Secondly I think his view Of Jesus Changes Upon hearing The words Father Forgive them Listen Listen I think That's what Makes the shift In this man's mind In this man's heart Where he realizes He is The Lamb of God Who has come To take away The sins of the world Look at verse 41b The second part So I've I'm justly I'm receiving

[26:24] The due reward Of our deeds But this man That is Jesus Has done Nothing Wrong Here's what I think Is going down here Is that he realizes Jesus is sinless He is the sinless Son of God And this Man this will preach Are you ready Okay This will preach Say preach preacher Here it is on the screen Here it is on the screen Listen This man realizes That Jesus doesn't Prove himself By coming off the cross Jesus is proving himself By staying on it Everybody else is saying If you want to prove Who you are What?

[27:05] Come down Get off the cross And this man realizes I believe by hearing Those words Father forgive them They know not what they do He realizes This man is Who this man Said he was He is the sinless Son of God Which means He is doing Exactly What God Has called him to do And he believes In who Jesus Is So he realizes Himself I deserve this He realizes Jesus He has done Nothing wrong He is the sinless Son of God And thirdly I think his view On life Changes His view On life Changes That is hearing Father forgive them He realizes This Listen What life Is ultimately About Oh tell me That this Isn't radically Different Than what the other Thief is saying Listen to verse 42 He says to Jesus Remember me Not

[28:06] Get me off this cross He says what Remember me When you Come into Your kingdom Oh that's different That's different Do you see the shift here Listen Listen Listen I think he wants Down off the cross As much as the next guy It's not like he's up there Saying all of a sudden This is fantastic Like somebody Bring me nachos And turn the game on Like this is Like I love my situation That's not what's happening here The shift That has taken place In his heart Is listen He's no longer in it For a temporary solution He's in it For an eternal savior Which means If I don't Get off This cross What really matters Is my eternity With God And that I Might be remembered In his kingdom

[29:07] This is shifted From Just get me out of hell Just get me out of my situation To the Seeing the beauty Of Jesus And what life Is all about Listen Notice this on the screen He's saying What I want more Than being off this cross Oh trust me I want to be off the cross But what I want More than being off the cross Is being in a kingdom I want to belong To the kingdom of God More Than temporary Relief He shifts To the greatest need That we all have And the greatest need We all have Is not physical It is spiritual It's not circumstantial It's spiritual It's not relational In terms of human beings It is spiritual It's like Do you remember The paralytic man Whose friends Brought him to Jesus And they couldn't get in And so they went up To the rooftop And they You know Tore open the roof And they lowered The man in Do you remember that story And do you remember That Jesus Looks at him And says Your sins

[30:08] Are forgiven And you could just Feel the awkwardness In the room That's great Jesus But that's not Why we're here Okay Thank you for the Forgiveness of sins We appreciate that But we'd kind of like Our friend to walk The whole reason We're here Is he can't walk And we know You perform miracles Would you help him walk And Jesus understands This greatest need That this man has As important it is I'm not downplaying Physical needs Physical needs Are extremely important We know this But it doesn't matter If you don't belong To the kingdom of God Temporary relief Is not what you need Eternal salvation is And that paralytic Got it Will The second Criminal Get it What do you What do you do With a man like this What do you do With a man like this

[31:08] Here's what I mean What do you do And I'm being real I'm being serious You know You know You know What I'm going after What do you do With a man like this Who has a criminal record A man who himself At one point Mocked Jesus A man who Openly admits He committed the crimes And a man who waits Until the very last Moment to ask for grace What do you do With a man like that He's a criminal Openly admits He's a criminal Mocks Jesus publicly With everybody else And waits Until the very last Second To try to get in What do you do With a man like that Here's how the world Would respond To a man like that The spouse would say I've given you Too many opportunities The coach might say I've already found Your replacement The religious would say You're no longer qualified The boss would say There's simply too much

[32:09] That showed up On your background report What Will Jesus say Here's What Jesus Will say Verse 43 Truly I say to you Today You'll be with me In paradise That's your savior That's your savior Going after the one In fact Is there a more Beautiful picture Of this As we've been talking About for several weeks Of the savior That's going after the one Than Luke chapter 23 Here is a criminal Who has mocked Jesus And openly admits His crimes And what does Jesus do Even in his dying moment He seeks after The lost sheep And he brings him home

[33:10] Today You'll be With me In paradise The sheep With a criminal Background record Who is nothing More than a reject To society I think this Is fantastic Is the one Who gets the kingdom Of God Let me say that again The sheep With a criminal Background record Who is nothing But a reject In society Is precisely the one Who gets the kingdom Of God When you look to Jesus Not as A way out But when you look to Jesus And see him In all his beauty And cry out to him For kingdom For Christ For hope And when Jesus Sees the genuineness Of that heart Of that longing He says You're going to be with me In paradise Has the grace of God

[34:12] Jesus has the grace of God To go after the one In a hopeless situation And listen faith family He does it It's one thing When he does it You know Beside a well It's one thing When he does it When he's having a meal With Simon the Pharisee In his home It's another thing To do it When Jesus Is gasping For his own breath Dying on a cross This is the grace Of God Now let me take Just a moment Let me take just a moment To unpack The meaning of this word Today And this phrase Today you'll be with me In paradise And we'll close with this So that is your 45 minute warning What's the meaning Of this phrase Today you'll be with me In paradise Because listen I've heard this Taught and misrepresented Not necessarily intentionally But in so many Bad ways What is Jesus offering And guaranteeing This criminal Well the word today

[35:13] Is not It really doesn't mean This very moment I think that's true Listen You're going to get The kingdom Right But when he says Today He's not He's not talking In terms of time He's actually Referring back to Because Jesus Does this frequently On the cross Is he quotes Old Testament Particularly Anybody want to guess Psalms And fulfills them So what psalm Is Jesus quoting And fulfilling When he says Today You'll be with me In paradise Listen to Psalm 118 Psalm 118 Beginning at verse 14 Psalm 118 Verse 14 You say the word Loudly in black The Lord is my strength And my song He has become my Glad songs of Are in the tents Of the righteous Now look at verse 21 I thank you That you have answered me And have become my

[36:15] The stone That the builders Rejected Has become the Cornerstone This is the Lord's Doing It's marvelous In our eyes Everybody You know this phrase Say it with me This is the day The Lord has made Let us rejoice And be glad In it In other words This is the day Is today Today Is the day Let us rejoice And be glad In it Everybody want to Sing the song This is I won't lead you Alright I'm a terrible singer Right You all know that Song as a kid This is the day This is the day That the Lord has made And we tend to Quote that psalm Like you know You walk out in January And it's negative 80 Close And you're like Hey Psalm 118 Says this is the day The Lord has made I got to rejoice Anyways No you don't You should never rejoice When it's negative 80 It's not what that psalm says The psalm is saying Now listen Listen I'm being sarcastic That's my spiritual gift Right The psalm is saying Today Is the day of salvation

[37:15] It's a salvation psalm That's why I had you say the word Salvation every time This Is the day What day Salvation day That the Lord has made In other words When Jesus says To this criminal Today He's saying Salvation Is now Today The day of salvation Is today And you Criminal You In your hopeless situation Today Is Your day Of salvation That's what today Means Now what does this Day of salvation Unpacking this phrase A little bit more Mean in its fullness I'm almost done Hang with me First Is it's a promise Of restoration Today That is This is the day The Lord has made The day of salvation Is here Today You will be with me In paradise Now what in the world Is paradise Paradise

[38:15] Is garden language You see this Specifically In Isaiah Where Isaiah Will use Garden imagery To describe The restoration Of God's people I'll give you one Out of Revelation 2 Verse 7 Notice it here He who has an ear Let him hear What the spirit Says to the churches To the one Who conquers I will grant To eat Of the tree Of life What language Is that That's Eden Language That's garden Language Which is In The Paradise Of God It's very similar To what Paul Would say If anyone Is in Christ They're a new Creation That new Creation work That God Has started And will complete At the consummation Of all things That has started In you In other words Let me just break it down In very simple terms Are you ready What Does Jesus Promise This man On the cross Who Who cries out For grace

[39:15] Okay Yes salvation But salvation That's Paradise Salvation What is paradise Salvation Ready New Life New Life We're going to start The reconstruction Program That God Is doing For all Of creation In your Life Right now Today You will be With me In the Paradise Of God He is giving This hopeless Man Brand New Life That's good News When you're Hopeless It's really Good news When you're Hopeless Not just Restoration But relationship Today You will Be What With Me With me Listen to me Faith family What makes Paradise A place Of restoration Is that That's where Jesus is Because he's The one that Makes all Things new Or say it This way Wherever Jesus is There is Paradise Paradise That's why He's able

[40:16] To say To the Lame Man Rise And walk He's Bringing Restoration Or to Lazarus Come forth And dead Comes to Live Because he's Speaking Restoration In And where Is that Restoration Found In A Relationship With Jesus Christ It's With me Today You're Going to Be With Me He Doesn't Say Today You're Going to Be In Paradise Because Paradise Isn't Paradise If you're Not With him Today You're Going to Be With me And then Lastly Restoration Relationship And finally Radical Grace Radical Grace Today You Who's The you A criminal A robber A thief A rebel Guess Who God Added In Luke 23 To The Kingdom Of God Alongside

[41:17] Tax Collectors Prostitutes And Deniers Of The Faith A Convicted Criminal On Death Row And That Is The Kingdom Of God And What It Should Tell You This Evening Faith Family Is What We Say All The Time There Is No One Outside The Reach Of God's Grace No One I Don't Care What's On Your Record I Don't Care What's In Your Background Jesus Goes After The One Do You Feel Stuck Hopeless Do You Feel Like Ryan Caught In The Quicksand Of Life Convinced It's Never Going To Change Then I Plead With You I Plead With You Today Look To The Savior Look To Him There On The Cross Not

[42:17] Because You Need A Way Out But Because You Need Him And If You Will Look To Him By Faith And Believe In Who He Is I Promise You This I Promise You No Matter What You've Done And No Matter How Hopeless Your Situation May Seem You Will Not Only Find Grace You Will Find Paradise And You Will Find The Kingdom Of God And How Do I Know You Will Find It Listen Because There's A Reason Jesus Didn't Come Down Off That Cross There's A Reason He Didn't Listen To The Request Of The Crowd There's A Reason Self Because He Was Going To Save You And All God's People Said Amen Let's Pray Let's Pray God We Can't Get Enough Of Learning About

[43:17] Your Grace From Your Word And I Feel Like Every Time We Work Through A Passage Like This And See Again And Again And Again A Glimpse Of The Kingdom Of God In The Ministry Of Jesus It's Like I Feel Like I Have To Unpack Years Of Religious Upbringing Where Everything Was Suit And Ties And Leather Bound Bibles And Look In Your Best When We Take A Really Close Look At The Ones That You Go After Because They Know They Know They're Sick So You Don't Have To Convince Them Of Their Need For A Physician Or Like This Man They Know They Know Why They're On The Cross And They Know They Don't Deserve To Come Off It So

[44:17] You Don't Have To Convince Them Of Their Need For Grace And We Just We Just See This Long Line Forming Of Tax Collectors And Fishermen Who Just Get it Wrong All The Time And Prostitutes Judged By The Pharisees And A Man On Death Row Literally Breathing His Last Breath And He Gets The Kingdom So I Pray Now As We Enter Into A Time Where We're Going To Reflect On The Cross We're Going To Go To The Cross In Our Minds As We Partake Of Communion That We Would See The Cross Not As A Way Out But We Would See There On The Cross The Beauty Of

[45:17] Our Savior And As Much As We Know We Need And Thankfully Get The Forgiveness Of Our Sins What We Need More Than Just The Forgiveness Of Sins Is We Need A Savior A Person We Need Christ And In Him Is The Greatest Treasure So Help Us In These Moments Now Lord As We Reflect On The Body And The Blood Sacrifice For Us That We Would Like That Second Thief See The Beauty Of Your Grace Experience The Depth Of Your Love And That We Would Rest In The Promise That We Will Be With You In Paradise Holy Spirit Guide Us Now As We Remember In Jesus Name Amen Nab