Luke chapter 23, Jerry Seagull and Joe Shoster met in high school.
! They began creating a science fiction character and drawing him into comic strips and hoping to get them in papers.
! And then in 1938, after five years of working on the idea, with little success in publishing it,
they sold all the rights to their work for $130.
Now that's almost $2,900 in today's dollars.
Their character was Superman.
A forerunner of DC Comics bought it and the rest is history.
The Superman franchise has made $27 billion worldwide.
And the first comic book that was sold last year, the first Superman comic book was sold last year for $6 million.
After being sold three years earlier for $2.5 million.
If you are a Seagull or a Shoster in this place, I am sorry to tell you about the fortune that you missed out on.
The men missed an underestimated their potential and missed a golden opportunity.
And I don't want you to miss your chance.
I want to show you this morning about one man who just had a few minutes more to take advantage of the greatest opportunity that he possibly could.
And he didn't miss it.
And it made an eternal difference.
Luke chapter 23 tells us that Pilate delivered Jesus over to the will of the people.
The mob mentality led to kill him.
And they led him away to be crucified.
And then Luke chapter 23 verse 32 says this.
Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him.
And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him.
And the criminals on his right and on his left.
And Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
And they cast lots to divide his garments.
And the people stood by watching.
But the rulers scoffed at him saying, he saved others, let him save himself.
If he is the Christ of God, his chosen one.
The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.
There was also an inscription over him, this is the king of the Jews.
One of the criminals who were hanging rail at him and saying, are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us.
But the other one 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.
For this man has done nothing wrong.
And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
And he said, Jesus said to him, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
In the very next verses, it speaks of Jesus' death.
The Gospel of John tells us that the other men died shortly thereafter.
They wanted to make sure that all three men were dead before the sun went down because that would start the Sabbath.
And no one was to be hanging there when the Sabbath started.
And so the soldiers would break legs to get them dead by dark before the Sabbath started.
When they got to Jesus, he was already dead.
And then they thrust a spear through his chest cavity and into his heart to make sure he was dead.
And just like that, they were dead.
Jesus did not deserve to go to the cross.
In one way, it was not his cross to die on.
It was intended for Barabbas, a notorious criminal who had stirred up an insurrection,
who had robbed folks, possibly even killed folks.
It is often thought that he was a gang leader, a gang leader with two sidekicks.
The two sidekicks would be on the crosses beside Jesus,
with the intent being that Barabbas' cross would be the center cross.
Christ literally died on the cross intended for Barabbas after Pilate traded off Barabbas for Jesus.
However, in an even greater way, it was the cross of Christ.
Before the time existed, the cross of Christ was coming.
It would have to, due to the sin of humans and the redeeming grace of God.
He died so that we don't have to.
He died in our place.
He is the only one that could.
He was virgin born of the Spirit of God,
not born of the same sin state that we are in.
He stayed sinless throughout his life.
He is the only one that could perfectly fulfill the law.
The only way that a sinful humanity had hoped to coming back to God
was through a sacrificial atonement.
Somebody had to bridge the gap, and only Christ could do it,
and thank God that he did.
While he died, most jeered.
Some sneered.
But at least one's life was changed.
There's evidence that possibly more than that.
But it was the dying thief hanging on the cross next to Christ that was changed.
When one spoke harshly to him, another asked him for help.
And when he did, help came.
Jesus said, he said,
Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
And God answered his prayer.
Jesus answered it immediately.
The thief on the cross died that day with the promise of two certainties.
And I want you to know something this morning.
Those two certainties are open to all of us as well.
There are two realities that can be absolute certainties for us.
The first one is the certainty of salvation.
There's no need for you today to be uncertain about salvation in Christ.
I want you to be clear.
Our lives can be changed.
How does that happen?
Well, it's a three-step process.
One, it's by our confession, the confession of our need.
This repentant thief knew his sin was leading to death.
He told the other criminal while he was on the cross,
we deserve what we're getting, but not him.
In a day when people want to excuse away their sin,
when people want to ignore their sin,
when people want to justify their sin,
we need to understand that your sin,
that my sin, that our wrongdoing will forever condemn us
and separate us from God.
We don't have to stay that way.
If we refuse to admit that we have a problem,
when God has shown us that we are separated from him
and what has separated us from him,
we will never receive help for our eternal problem.
It begins with a confession.
You got to confess that you've got a need.
It continues by our change in our heart and life.
One must turn from his or her sin to be saved.
And whereas one criminal ridiculed Christ,
the other repentant one said to Christ, please.
And salvation came when he acknowledged Christ for who he is.
The third process of that is by calling upon him for salvation.
And he saw the innocence of Christ.
He saw the lordship of Christ.
Christ, I want you to hear me this morning.
If that old boy would have known in his heart
but never acknowledged with his life,
he would have spent eternity in hell.
Knowing's not enough.
But thank God he didn't do that.
He acknowledged the state of his circumstances
and he called upon the Lord.
If you have a familiarity with Christ today,
but you've never truly submitted your life to Christ,
Christ, I want you to know that familiarity is not enough.
An old preacher was talking to a lady one time
that knew little about salvation.
And he asked her,
do you know that God has set a definite date for your salvation?
And she looked surprised at him and said,
no, I didn't know that.
Well, he has.
And he asked her, he said,
if I show you that he has,
will you keep that engagement with him?
She looked at him seriously and said,
yes, I would.
He said, all right, then here it is.
Behold, now is the favorable time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation.
My friend, the promise of salvation is that
when you turn to him,
you will be with him both here and forever.
And the difference in the saved and the unsaved
and the difference in the forgiven and the unforgiven
is that the unbeliever
and the believer and the unbeliever
is that the believer
has received the forgiveness
and the grace and the mercy of God
by their personal surrender.
And my friend,
that's the only hope that we have.
Once we have that through Christ,
we ought to be different.
We ought to be changed.
And there's times when we don't look that much different.
The apostle Paul said,
the things I want to do
is the things sometimes I don't do.
And the things that I wish I didn't do
are the very things that I do.
Sometimes there's a struggle in that.
But the reality is the power of the Holy Spirit
of God within us
teaches us to lean upon God daily
as he leads us.
And we get better at that with time.
We ought to if it's real.
Each day that we live,
we ought to get better at it.
So come to Christ.
Drop what you're doing and come.
Confess your sin.
Turn to him.
Call upon him.
That is exactly how
the thief in his final moments
was saved.
And that's how any of us are saved.
That is our hope.
It is the certainty of salvation.
But there's another certainty here
and that's the certainty of heaven.
Jesus said,
today you will be with me in paradise.
In other words,
life continues.
My friend,
this is not all there is.
1 Corinthians 15, 9 says,
if in Christ we have hope in this life only,
we are of all pity,
of all people,
most to be pitied.
This is not all there is.
Leave this life without Christ
and you'll have hell to pay.
You leave it knowing Christ
and you'll be changed forever.
All of that,
we don't quite understand.
It's a little bit beyond us.
However,
we can know the assurance of the change.
1 Corinthians 15 puts it this way
in verse 50.
He said,
I tell you brothers,
flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God,
nor does the perishable
inherit the imperishable.
For this perishable body
must put on the imperishable
and this mortal body
must put on immortality.
When the perishable
puts on the imperishable
and the mortal puts on immortality,
then death is swallowed up in victory.
In other words,
in Christ,
death has lost its sting.
Life in Christ
is real.
Life after death
is as real
as the empty tomb
in Jerusalem
where they laid the body of Jesus
but it lays no longer.
Thank God,
it's empty.
I've been there.
He's gone
and he lives.
And that's why we celebrate today.
We celebrate because he lives
and because he lives,
we too may live.
The certainty of salvation
means that life continues.
It also means
that we can be with him forever.
Scripture promises us
the unchallenged presence of God.
The greatest news of this passage is
today you shall be with me
in paradise.
People have wondered,
theologians have struggled
over what paradise means there.
Where's paradise?
Well,
the word comes from a Greek
transliteration of a Persian word
that speaks of the king's garden.
And the king's garden
in that atmosphere
is somewhere
where nobody could go
unless they were invited
into this gated garden.
That reminds me
of the Garden of Eden
before there was sin
and they walked with God
in the cool of the day.
So where is this paradise
and what is it?
Well, let me tell you
what really matters.
Scripture says,
today you will be with me
in paradise.
You see, I believe paradise
is heaven under construction.
And what I mean by that
is not that they're up there
building golden mansions.
I'm not talking about
building construction.
No, heaven will not be complete
until all God's family
is there.
Once you've lost loved ones here,
there'll never be a time
on this earth
when all your family
will be back together again
unless they know Jesus
and then you can be with them
in glory
if you
are in Christ.
Then we'll be together
in the presence of God
with no enemy chasing us down
and no temptation
whispering in our ear
and no human frailty
hampering our fellowship.
We'll be there
together
in the unchallenged presence
of God.
What's heaven like?
Scripture tells us
a bunch about it
but how do you
explain
an eternal place
in temporal words?
How do you describe
the divine
to the human?
How do you describe
the infinite
to the finite?
I'm convinced
it's all watered down words
to try to satisfy
some of our questions.
But in reality
it's so beyond
our concepts.
I like what the old doctor
said to his patient.
It was in a day
when doctors
made house calls
and he had made
a house call
and there was a man there
who was very sick
and he said
Doc
what's heaven
going to be like?
And the doctor's dog
had followed him
to the man's house.
The dog was out
on the porch
and he was scratching
on the door
whimpering and whining
to get in
and the doctor said
do you hear that?
He said yeah.
He said that's my dog.
He's never been
inside your house.
He don't know
what's inside your house.
All he knows
is that the master
is there
and if the master's there
he wants to be there too.
It must be
okay.
Paradise
is where the Lord is.
What else really matters?
Knowing heaven
is real
means real life
continues.
We are with him
and also
and I want you
to get this
heaven
is immediate.
Jesus said
today
you shall be
with me
in paradise.
When we've surrendered
our lives
to Christ
and one day
we close our eyes
in death here
we open them
with Christ.
It's
instantaneous.
1 Corinthians 15
verse 52
says in a moment
in the twinkling
of an eye
we shall
be
changed.
The apostle Paul
tells us
to be absent
from the body
is to be present
with the Lord.
No delay
it's immediate.
The thief died
that day
so did the Lord
the thief
was instantly
in his presence
just like he promised
and that day
is coming
for all of us.
So I ask you
this morning
on Easter Sunday
morning
in your Easter best
let me ask you
are you ready?
Are you ready?
He died for us.
He met us
where we are.
He makes us
aware of our need
for him.
Listen
if there's
anything
in you
that pulls
toward wanting
to know more
of God
of wanting
to be in
relationship
with God
I want you
to know
you didn't
come up
with that
on your own.
You didn't
conjure that
up on your own.
I didn't
convince you
of that
on my own.
No my friend
the Holy Spirit
of God
is drawing
you to himself.
All you have
to do
is obediently
follow his
lead
and the reality
is our hope
is as real
as the empty
tomb that we
celebrate today
and thank God
for you
it's not
too late
if you're
sitting here
breathing this
morning
and if you're
not let your
neighbor know
but if you're
sitting here
breathing this
morning I want
you to know
it's not
too late.
I think about
what the old
boy said that
fell off the
horse.
He said
betwixt the
stirrup and
the ground
mercy I ask
mercy I found.
My friend
I don't know
what you've
fallen into
today
but I want
you to know
something
you can come
to Jesus.
He'll meet
you
where you
are.
He knows
your circumstances
better than
you do.
He knows
the things
you've done
that nobody
else knows
about but
you and
maybe you
even forgot.
He knows
it all
and yet he
loves you so
much that he
came and lived a
sinless life and
died a sinner's
death for your
sake and for
mine.
Thank God
three days later
he rose again to
remind us of the
eternal life that we
have because of what
he did on the
cross.
if you're here
this morning I
want you to know
it's by a divine
appointment.
If you've never
acknowledged the
Lord Jesus as your
personal Lord and
Savior I promise you
today he'll meet you
where you are.
He'll take you to
where he'd have you
to be.
All you have to do
is surrender your
life to him today.
Lord take me as I
am.
Forgive me of my
sins.
Come into my life
and change me from
this day forward
to live for you.
I'd love to guide
you in that.
In a moment after I
pray we're going to
stand and we're going
to sing but more
important than singing
I encourage you to be
obedient to God.
I'm available for you
to come.
Just tell me what God's
laid upon your heart.
Maybe you're here this
morning and you have
acknowledged the Lord
Jesus Christ but you've
never done that publicly.
It's a private matter
for you.
Jesus by his example
and by his commission
tells us that we need
to follow that with
believers baptism.
We're going to do
that in a couple of
weeks and I'd love to
guide you in that
process and so if you've
never done that I
encourage you to come.
Let's start that
conversation.
Or maybe you're here
and God's guiding you
to Pickens First
Baptist Church.
Man I thank God for
what God's doing in our
midst.
He's doing a wonderful
work.
He might be drawing you
to be a part of that
and if he is then I
encourage you to come.
I'd love to guide you
in what that means.
Guide you in that
process.
Or maybe you're here
and you got all that
down.
But there's just
stuff.
Stuff in your life that
you don't like to
acknowledge but today
the Holy Spirit of God
has spoke to you about
your circumstances and
you realize that today's
the day of decision.
This Easter day is a day
of new beginnings.
things.
It's time to renew.
It's time to be fresh
again with the Lord.
And I'm thankful that
you can do that in the
pew where you'll stand
in just a moment.
You can do it at this
altar or you can do it
with a pastor praying
for you.
I just encourage you
don't leave here until
you've done everything
that God would have you
to do.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
He'll take care of
everything else.
Just be obedient.
Heavenly Father I love
you and I thank you
for your love for us.
Lead us right now
dear God to follow you
with boldness, with
obedience dear God and
with courage oh God I
pray in Jesus precious
name.
Amen.