The Church of Eleven22 - The Scandal of Grace: Tetelestai - Wk 2

Episode Date: February 25, 2024

We don't understand the scandal of grace because we don't understand our own sinfulness. - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to coe22.com

Amen and amen. If you got your Bibles, and I hope you do. We're going to be in Luke chapter 23. Grab it, go there. We are in week two of this series that we're calling Tettelistai, which means it is finished. And what we're doing is walking through the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross on our way to celebrating resurrection weekend. And part of the reason we're doing this is we're in the middle of this 10-10 life journey. Last year we focused on abundant life.

This year we were focusing on eternal life. what eternal life means. And eternal life is not just what happens to you when you die. Eternal life is the moment that you surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And I just want to share with you so that we could celebrate last weekend at all of our locations and online. We had 119 people experience eternal life for the very first time. Amen.

Amen. So Luke 23 is where we're going to pick it up. We're picking up right where we left off last week. And you remember what Jesus said last week because you remember everything I preach on every single week, I know that to be true. The first thing that Jesus says on the cross we studied last week, he's beaten, he's flog, he's crucified, and he pushes up on his nail, pierced feet, and he says these words, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

And now it's going to go from them to a hymn. It's going to get very, very personal. And I don't typically do it this way, but I want you to see these three things as we go through this text of the second thing that Jesus has. the king is going to have a conversation with a criminal on the cross. There's three things I want us to pay attention to. The attitude of the criminals, the posture of the criminals. Secondly, the scandalous grace of Jesus Christ, because that's what it is.

It's scandalous. And then thirdly, the promise of Jesus that we can be assured of our salvation. Here's the text. Luke 2335 says, and the people stood by watching, but the ruler scoffed at him, saying he saves others, let him save him. himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one. And the soldiers also mocked him coming up and offering him sour wine, saying, if you are the king of the Jews and save yourself, there was also an inscription over him,

this is the king of the Jews. And 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 since we 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 into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, the second thing he says on the cross is this, truly, I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise.

The first thing I want to look at is the attitude or the posture of the two criminals in the way they come to Jesus. Verse 39. Again, it says, one of the criminals, that's a pretty good translation in the ESV. If you grew up in Sunday school, you know these guys that's the thief on the cross, right? Thief is not necessarily a great translation. They didn't just steal a thing or two. They were like true insurrectionists. They were trying to overthrow the Roman government.

They had killed people. They had beaten people and robbed from them. There were probably people in the crowd that were their victims. There was probably three of them on trial that day. Barabbas was probably a part of this group. And somehow Barabbas goes free and an innocent man goes through the cross. These are domestic terrorists is what they are. Bad dudes.

And one of the criminals who were hanged, the Bible says, railed at him. Literally in Greek, that word means blasphemed. When you say untrue things about God, you blasted. theme God. That's what he's doing. And he railed at him saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. Now, at this point in the sermon, there's not one person that is identifying themselves with the criminal. But let me ask you, how do you come to God? What's your posture before God? The reality of it is is that most of us in the room come to God with this kind of posture. We come with demands. We come with commands. We come saying, if you are who you say you are, then why don't

you do what I want you to do. You ever had anybody say this? Like anybody I mean you? How could a good God allow whatever it is the thing that you wish you wouldn't allow? That we come with a posture saying, God, prove yourself. Or this happens a lot these days. When there's something in the Bible that is opposed to something that you like, and you will hear people say, well, the God I believe in would never fill into blank. And I'm like, you're absolutely right. Because the Bible, the the God that you believe in, you just made up in your own mind, in your own image, and what you're actually worshipping is you. But the sovereign king of the universe doesn't take a vote.

He does what he wants with who he wants whenever he wants. And it's always good and right and just every single time. Some people will say, well, my Jesus, look, you don't get your own Jesus. There's just one Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible. And oftentimes, we come to him with our demands. Have you ever had a prayer not go the way you wanted it to go? and you beg God to answer the prayer the way you want it to go. Listen, man, I get it.

Me too. I mean, there are times I'm like, God, you don't even have to figure this one out. I've got it figured out for you. Here's the play. Just run my play. He'll heal them. Why won't you heal them? I'll preach about it.

I'll point to you. One time in Copernium, you're just cruising through and somebody touches it. You didn't even know it. Who touched me? I felt power leave. How are you going to heal her on accident? Let's do this one on purpose. He doesn't answer your prayer?

You see, part of the reason the people there had a hard time believing that Jesus was the king, he don't look like a king right now, does he? Nobody in their mind could get their mind around the reality that the Messiah, the son of God, would be dying on a cross. They're saying, prove yourself. Now, ironically, when the criminal says, are you not the Christ save yourself and save us, this was ironic. This was his method of saving us.

and if he would have saved himself in that moment, then none of us get saved. You see, let me just encourage you. One thief comes with an attitude, and one comes with an attitude of humility. And God has not lost control. If you look at your circumstances and they seem like they're completely out of control, can you imagine what the people at the foot of the cross must have thought what in the world is going on, the son of God is nailed to a tree. God, have you completely lost control?

And little do they know that God we lean in and be like, no, no, no, no, no. This has been the preordained plan from before the beginning of time, and I've still got the whole world in our hand. What am I doing? I'm redeeming the world. Just give me three days. It'll make some sense. This is what's happening at the cross. So one criminal rails at him, verse 40, but there's another guy.

But the other rebuked him. saying, do you not fear God since you were under the same sentence of condemnation? Now, what's interesting, if you read Matthew's account, we find out that at like 9 o'clock in the morning, when they first get crucified, this thief on the cross was also railing at Jesus. But something while he is on the cross happens and he has a change of heart and literally a change of mind, which is what the Greek word for repentance means. and he goes from blasting Jesus and blaspheming Jesus to blessing Jesus. Well, what happened?

Maybe. Maybe he was there at the trial when Pilate says, I find no fault in this man. Maybe he was there at the trial when his friend Barabbas, who he was a criminal with, gets set free. And for sure, he's there when Jesus pushes up on his nail-pierced feet and says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. and he began to think what kind of man is this that would forgive the people that are nailing him to this tree? And then maybe he begins to think, can I be one of them? I mean, I know I hadn't done anything to deserve it, but can I be one of them?

And he has this change of heart, this change of mind. And so he yells back to his friend, do you not fear God? Listen, the moment you begin to be wooed towards God and see him for who he really is, it often begins with the fear of God since you were under the same sentence of condemnation. So let me ask you, how do you come to the Lord? One man comes with his own agenda and one comes in complete humility.

And I'm just telling you, the longer that we are in church, we can begin to think that we bring some merit to the equation and that God owes us what we're asking him. So Jesus tells a parable about this. He's really good at that. Luke chapter 18. verse 9. And here's what's great about this parable. We don't give this often. Luke is going to tell you

what the parable means before he tells you the parable, just for those of us that went to public school so we can pick up on it and understand what it means. And here's what he says. And he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Now you ought to go, ouch. But the moment you look at that and be like, I need to send this one to my mother-in-law. then you are thinking too highly of yourself and you're treating others with contempt and we all have a tendency to do this. We don't know it, but we all...

So whatever cable news that you subscribe to because you know there's no free press anymore, it's all paid for, I hope you know that, okay? And so whatever it is, and they paint that group of people that is supposed to be our enemy or your enemy, and you're like, I cannot believe those people.

They would... That is who he's talking to. Which is the person sitting in the seat with you right now. You understand what I'm saying? We all have a tendency to think too highly of ourselves and to look down our nose that other people would contempt. And Jesus says this, here's the parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. You remember how atrocious tax collectors are. Talked about it last week. In the Pharisee, the religious person, standing by himself, prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like other men.

extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. Can you imagine being at Wednesday prayer and the person behind you is praying against you? And then look what it does. He gives his resume. I fast twice a week. I give ties to all, I give ties of all that I get. Now, that is not a prayer. That is an ode to self.

He did say, dear God at the beginning and then all he did is talk about him. I, I, I, I, I, I, I. Well, there's another prayer. Verse 13, but the tax collector, standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but he beat his breath saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. God, I don't want your justice. I don't want what's fair. God, be merciful to me a sinner.

Jesus' commentary, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exhausts himself will be humbled. And don't think for a minute that he's not talking about me and you. I'm going to test it pretty hard later in the sermon. But one who humbles himself will be exhumble. exhausted, what will be exalted. You see, one criminal, though he's guilty, he comes with his own agenda. The other comes in humility.

Every single one of us line up between one of these two criminals on the left and the right of Jesus. What is your posture towards the Lord? Secondly, I want to look at the scandalous nature of the grace of Jesus. verse 40 again it says 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 the moment god begins to open your eyes to the reality of the good news of the gospel of jesus christ the moment god begins to regenerate your heart and tear out that heart of stone and give you his heart two things will simultaneously happen you will become you will become you will become painfully aware of two realities that already existed, you just weren't fully aware. And the more and more you know God, the more and the more you are aware of these realities. And the first is often the sinfulness of your own heart.

When you hear the gospel and you see God for who he is, you don't go, yeah, but I'm a pretty good God. And oh, oh, what a wretched man I am. You and I begin to realize that there's a real problem. We don't simply break the laws of God. We break our own laws. We lie to ourselves. We make promises that we can't keep.

We are jealous of people that we're supposed to love. That we mistreat people that share our last names. That we break promises all the time. And we begin to look at ourselves and say, what a wretched man I am. I am a crooked and depraved wretch. And it's actually worse than I think. And the problem is, deep down in my heart, there is a problem.

simultaneously, the more you get to know God, the more you know about his perfection and his holiness and his justice and his lavish love and his excellency and that he's set apart from us and the gap keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. You think, what am I going to do about this? You see, every religion on the planet agrees with this. We are here and God is there. Everybody agrees on that one. every other religion says so here's the formula to get from here to there the uniqueness of the gospel is that god came to get us because we can't get across the chasm

and as the chasm between the holiness of god and the sinfulness of me grows bigger and bigger and bigger in my understanding the only thing that can fill that ever-growing chasm is the cross of jesus christ that he is hanging on this is what this man begins to realize for the very first time and so he looks at it and he goes I'm getting what I deserve and this man has done nothing wrong. So what am I going to do? There's nothing I can do to get from here to there. And so he very simply asked Jesus for a favor. When you ask somebody for a favor, they don't owe you.

Hey, will you do something for me that I didn't earn? that's what a favor is. And here's his simple request. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. What is he confessing? I have done nothing to deserve this. But I believe what Pilate wrote over your head that you are the king and that you have a kingdom. Nobody gets out of this one alive.

Nobody gets out of crucifixion alive. And yet somehow this man believes that whatever Jesus is doing on the cross, dying, And then three days later, he will be resurrected. Somehow that counts for him. And so he says, I need a favor. Will you do for me what I cannot do for myself? And here's, this is pretty cool. This prayer request is answered 100% of the time.

For all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. And he asked for this favor. All right, I'm reading through Charles' devotional book. I hope you are too. But this week I cheated. I was in an airport somewhere. Where's I at? Oklahoma City.

on Thursday and I was working on this sermon. I'd much rather write sermons in tree stands, not airports. So I had to cheat. And so I went to the table of content and I said, surely Charles has said something about the thief on the cross, okay? So don't cheat and read ahead, but on day 32, you're going to be blown away, okay? Trust me. Talking about this conversation on the cross, he says this,

Somewhere in those six hours on that Friday, our thief watches the redemption of mankind unfold. Under a darkened sky listening to Jesus, gurgle and suffocate, under the weight of his and you're and my sin, the light bulb is turned on. The blindfold is removed. With only a few breaths remaining in Jesus' body, the thief watches Jesus, lifted up, drawing all men unto himself, literally. He is watching Jesus pay for sin, all sin, throughout all eternity. past, present, future. For all mankind, billions of slates wiped clean before his eyes. Propitiation, debt ledgers paid in full, making Jesus both just and the justifier.

Can one sentence turn an entire life around? Can one statement alter eternity? According to Jesus? Yes. Jesus, when you come into your kingdom, it's a beautiful confession, a beautiful surrender. and eternal salvation. It's called grace. It's called grace.

And just quite honestly, we don't get grace. We don't get grace. We don't really get grace. I mean, we kind of know what the word means. When we think about grace, we think about when Nana asked the blessing for dinner, you know, hey, we say grace. We know the song Amazing Grace. It's a great song, but we use the word amazing too much.

Right? Especially you're like millennial girls. Everything's amazing. Everything's not amazing. Like those pants are not amazing. That's not what that means. Save it for like something that's actually amazing, which is the grace of God, okay? And you watch yourself how many times today you're like, oh, this is amazing. All just like, stop. But we don't get the grace of Jesus. We get it theoretically, but practically in our own lives we don't get it.

And a part of the reason we don't understand the grace of God or get the grace of God is because we don't understand our own sinfulness. We actually believe that we bring merit to the equation. We're like, I know it wasn't perfect, but, you know, I mean, he saved me by his grace, but he got a pretty good deal because look at me. I mean, I'm here at church. Like, we think we think we're pretty good. And if God's judging on a curve, you know, we're at least better than our roommate.

It's not how it goes, man. We begin to think of ourselves too high. This is why we're so judgy. And we think too lowly of the love of God. We have no idea of His holiness and His love. We don't get grace. Again, we love it theoretically, but when it gets very, very practical, like tangible, hands-on, it gets tough. I'll give you an example.

I got this letter last year. I get letters from prison all the time. Not only our prison campuses, we have three prison campuses just because you're new to 1122. These are our brothers and sisters. And we worship with them every single week, and they are us. But also, there's this app, and prisoners all over the country have these tablets, but they can't get onto the internet, but they have an intranet, like a closed system. And one of the apps that they have is called Pando.

I don't know what it means, but the Church of 1122 services are on it. Last year, over 600 people surrendered to Christ in prisons watching us on the Pando. Okay, so we love you. So I get a lot of letters. And I read every one. I love it. And this is the letter. And I printed it out so I could highlight it and so I could increase the font, so don't judge me.

This thing's awesome. I just want you to hear it. It says, Pastor Jobie, my name is, and I'm not going to tell you her name because if I did, you start Googling it right now. That's what I did. As soon as I got it, I was this. Okay. So I'm going to call her T. And T, if you're watching, we love you.

She says, my name is. call her tea, and here's what she says, and we go to the same church. You know what that means? She pays attention. So if you're new here, here's the thing. If we see each other in public, I'd love for you to say, hey, just don't say, I go to your church, because it ain't my church. I mean, we all know it's Jesus' church. That's a little too Jesus juky for me, but we're all here together. You know, First Corinthians says it's one body with many parts, and so I just happen to be the mouth, I reckon, I got the mic, and we're all part of this thing together. So, say, we go to church together or we go to the same church. It also helps me identify if you actually come here and pay

attention. So that's just for me. So she says, my name is, and we go to the same church. Now I'm in Texas on death row. There's only seven women on death row in Texas. She says now I'm in Texas on death row, but I am a part of the 1122 family via video podcast on the Pando app and you are my pastor. She says, I know video viewing can be viewed as lazy, but please know if I could, I'd show up in my prison uniform, chains and all, guard team, and tow faithfully. You'd find me in the front row with my Bible ready to go. So if you come sit on the front row, you better bring your Bible. You understand? Then she says, I want to thank you. And she gives me way too much credit. I get no credit here. She says, thanks for preaching the gospel, thanks for the Pando app, all of that kind of stuff. She says, thanks for loving unconditionally and guiding those of us who were lost to our Savior Jesus Christ. And she says, praise God, the tomb is empty, and because of that, anything is possible. My redemption was possible.

I did not deserve Christ's forgiveness. Then for the next two pages, she does not make one excuse about the things that she has done. She talks about the demonic battles that she has been through. She talks about the incredible sorrow and remorse that she has for the pain that she has put other people through. She says she is the example of the first part of John 1010 that the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. She goes on to say, he died for me. And if he will do this for a dirty rag like me, I promise he will do this for anyone else. If Jesus isn't the answer to the human condition, there is no answer. And then based on the sermon that I preached last year, she

finishes it this way. We've got a lot of work to do, and I'm ready to go from a secret disciple to a known disciple like I was called to. This world doesn't get to tell me who I am, only Jesus gets to tell me who I am, and he said, I am his daughter. I'll be praying for you, your family and our church family, 1122. Amen? Praise God. Now, see, you love it right now, because it's all theory. When you get home and Google this, it's the most gruesome thing I've ever heard of or seen. I mean, there's a double homicide with a mom. And a baby who was in the womb and then wasn't in the womb after all the activities happened. It's not, I mean, and then, this is the scandalous nature of the grace of God.

Because when Jesus told this murderer on the cross next to him, oh, you're getting in, people are like, what? And you, especially mammas, and this is part of what makes you like mama bearing a good mama, you're going to, there's going to be a thing in here that's going to, your flesh is going to check against the scandalous nature of the, grace of God when you read the details of what happened or see it. There's videos everywhere about it. And what she did was so vile and so evil and so destructive and so sick and so unthinkable and so evil. And yet what Jesus did on the cross was so gracious and so loving and so full of mercy and so much more powerful than even the evil things that this woman did that the grace

of Jesus poured out with his blood can even wash away. these sins and it'll make your head explode. That's what the scandalous grace of Jesus is all about. You see, and see if you're watching, we love you. We love you. And you will be in heaven with all of us who believe. You see, Jesus teaches a parable on this. In Matthew chapter 20, he teaches this parable.

And it comes right on the heel of Matthew chapter 19. And in Matthew 19, there's a rich young ruler. that's how if you're a Sunday school person, that's how you know him. A rich young ruler comes up to Jesus and he thinks a little too highly of himself. And he asks Jesus this question, what must I do to inherit eternal life? See how wrong the question is? Oh, you think it's up to you? You think the gift of God is something that can be earned?

What must I do? Well, it's the wrong question. The question is, what must be done for me to have eternal life? And so Jesus pokes on him, man. Oh, what must you do? Just obey all the commandments. And the guy goes, cool, I've done that. What else?

What? I have bade all of these since I was a boy. Have you heard the one on pride? Okay, don't worry about that one. And then Jesus goes, well, here's your problem, man. You just got one problem. That's all. You just got it.

There's just one thing. You love your money more than you love me. Now, Jesus wouldn't even actually. actually talking about money. It's about anything. The good news is that that statement only applies. So about 99% of us here in the room, so you can figure out who the one holy one is here.

And he says, so here's what you do. Just go sell everything, have, give it to the poor, and then come follow me. And the Bible says he goes away sad. And then Jesus looks at his disciples and says, man, it's tough for rich people to get to heaven. You hear that? It's tough for rich people to get to heaven.

He says nearly impossible. Why? because you know what you need to be saved? You need need need. You need to know that you need a savior. And when you're rich, when you've got everything going on, especially rich and religious, you don't think you have any needs. And so the disciples are all like, well, hold on one second.

We were brought up thinking that if you were rich, that's because you had the favor of the blessing of God. So they asked this question, so who can be saved? And Jesus says, well, anything is possible with God. And then Peter, this is hilarious to me if you get down to the bottom of 19, I mean, Peter begins to give a case of all the things that he has sacrificed in order to follow him to Jesus. He's like, what about me? I left my job, left my house, been following you, ain't got nowhere to sleep.

Hey, here's just a note to self. I would never bring up how much you have sacrificed to the Lord who sacrificed his life for you on the cross. That's just, maybe jot that down. So then Jesus says, okay, you're not getting it. Let me give you a parable. If you run a business, you're going to hate this. Ready? I don't have time to read it.

He says, there was a guy that owned a vineyard, and he starts hiring people to work into the vineyard. So it goes out early in the morning, right at the break of day. starts hiring a bunch of people. About every two hours, he just rides back down and hires more people, more people, more people. And then he hires one group of people in the 11th hour. They would work for 12 hours a day in the 11th hour. If you've ever heard the phrase the 11th hour, it comes from this parable. And so those dudes only work for an hour of the day.

They call break at the end of the day. The guy with the money handing out the paychecks says, all right, line up boys. But the people that got here last, the 11th hour guys, were going to pay you first. and they give him a full day's wage. And everybody in line's doing a little math, right? They're like, this is sweet, man. I'm going to get like triple time and a half. I've been here since daybreak.

And then the master hands them the same day's wage that he handed the guys that got their last. And the American comes out in them. That's not fair. Matthew 2011. And on receiving it, the payment, they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, these last worked only one hour,

and you have made them. equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. But he replied to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius that was the day's wage? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to the last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?

so the last will be first and the first will be last. And listen, if any of, if that begins to rub you the wrong way, it's because we begin to believe that we bring merit to our salvation. And we begin to begrudge the generosity of Jesus because he saved some of us early and he saved some of us late. It's crazy. I can't imagine the people that are standing there hearing that this guy on the cross who's a criminal gets saved and he didn't do anything to deserve it. He didn't do anything.

And they go, that's not fair. They're begrudging the generosity of God. And listen, don't act like it don't happen to you. Some of you got saved in VBS. You were good your whole life. Then we show these testimony videos of people that just train wreck their life and they get the same heaven you do and you're like, come on, man. VBS. And that, they have, they, they have. They These people partied in college. What you're actually saying is, I wanted to get drunk in college and still get to go to heaven. Man, not if you know Jesus, you wouldn't.

Not if you want to know Jesus. See, the grace of God does not free you too, see, and it frees you from sin. It frees you from the bondage of all the things that the enemy tries to tie you down with. So it won't ever look down your nose that the salvation or the grace received by anybody else and begrudge the generosity of God towards you.

His grace is scandalous. It's scandalous. And the moment you begin to go, yeah, but what about, then you think we actually bring merit? And then the third thing that we see here is the promise of Jesus. For your theologians, we call this the assurance of your salvation. For you Baptist, it's the blessed assurance. That's just for you, Barry. Here's what he says.

The man just asked for a favor. Jesus, can you help me out? I haven't done anything to deserve it. I'm actually getting what I deserve. And you're an innocent man in the same predicament I am in. Will you remember me when you go before your father in your kingdom? And Jesus said to him, truly, I say to you. The reason I think Jesus has to say truly first is so you make sure this isn't a parable.

It's going to blow your mind. Truly, I say to you. Today you will be with me in paradise. And again, people are like, that's not fair. Listen, bro, you don't want fair. Fair leads all of us in a Christless eternity that we have earned. It is the abounding grace of God that we get to even know him. You know, some people may look at that and be like, well, where's the man's fruit?

He ain't got none. Let's see it. Can't go to a worship service, even if you did, can't raise his hands or stuck to the cross. Can't go to Bible study. Can't walk the aisle. Can't get baptized. he doesn't bring anything to his salvation except the sin that requires him to need the salvation,

just like me and you. You see, one of the questions that I'll get asked often is this, is can I lose my salvation? Or can a Christian lose their salvation? No. It's actually the wrong question. The right question is, can God lose one of his children? What do you think?

God can save you and then misplace you? or put his love on you and then take it away? Well, let's just see what the Bible says about it. See, in Romans chapter 4, verse 5, the Bible says, and to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith that's counted as unrighteous. That when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, are you ungodly? You were, and now he's going to count you as righteous.

Again, this brother never did a good work. He never went to class. He never went to church. He didn't go to Discover 1122. He didn't sponsor a kid. He did nothing. And he's guaranteed salvation. Jesus said, truly today you will be with me.

Don't you wish when you put your faith in Jesus, Jesus would just pop in and be like, truly, I tell you, you will be with me in paradise. See you there. And you'd be like, all right, sweet, I got it. I'm in. And he says, you will be with me. God with us. It's the story of the whole Bible.

Emmanuel. It's the story of the whole Bible. The garden. God. Out of a overflow of God's love for God's self, he creates images. bearers to be with them. That's what we were created for, to be in a, to be with God, to be in a relationship with him. He's our God where his children.

And then sin enters in it, fractures the whole thing. And he's the holy God so he can't put up with that kind of unholiness, that sinfulness, because he's perfectly just. And so he creates the tabernacle, the sacrificial system, so that blood would be shed for the covering of sin of God's people, so that through the Old Testament period, through the temple system, God could be with His people, God, with us. And then what are the Gospels? but the word becomes flesh and dwells among us and God was with us in the second person of the Trinity, God, the son, Jesus Christ.

And then Jesus says to prepare us for the church age, hey man, I'm out of here, but you're going to dig this, okay, because I'm going to send you a helperer. I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit, a comforter, the paraclete. And it's better because you're not just going to walk around next to God. The Spirit of God is going to dwell on the inside of every single person that puts their faith in Jesus Christ, God with us. And then one day he will return. And a trumpet will blast and the heavens will crack open, and he's coming back. Not all meek and mild like a baby in a manger. He's coming back swole with fire in his eyes and sword mouth and tats on his quads.

He's going to judge the quick and the dead. And for everyone who believes, he's going to take us from here to there. And forever and ever and ever, we will be in heaven, God, with us. And what makes heaven heaven ain't mansions and food and streets of gold. It's that we get him. this is what he came for. And he says, and truly, I tell you this day, you will be with me in Paradise for him.

So, this brother knows, do you know? Do you know? Do you know that you will be with him in Paradise forever? If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible says, truly, truly, I tell you, whenever you breathe your last year, you will be with him.

Here's what the Bible says about your salvation, the assurance of the promise of Jesus. Jesus. Romans chapter 835, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword or any other thing that you have done outside of the will of God? And then he answers it in 37. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else

in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Jesus' words, John 637, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day, for this is the will of him. my father that everyone who looks on the sun and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ? And I can assure you the will

of the Father is that you will be raised up on the last day. John 10, also the voice of Jesus. Verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. You can't even snatch you out of his hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. 1. John 5.13. John tells us why he's writing these books of the Bible.

He says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Do you know? Do you know your own sonfulness? Do you know the holiness of God? Do you know there's a gap? And eternity-sized gap in the gospel, the cross of Jesus Christ, bridges that gap, and Jesus came on a rescue mission.

If you would put your faith in him, he'll snatch you up and take you, and this promise will be yours forever. You will be with me in paradise. You see, three men died that day on the cross. One man died in his sin. One man died for our sin, and one man died to his sin. And this man knew that the promise of Jesus was true. Today, you will be with me in paradise.

Do you know? I'm going to close with this illustration that I've shared one time before. It's not even my illustration. I think I did it like a year ago, but every 11 months, all illustrations become usable again, so get over. Amen, Frank. You know Amen, man. So he sent me this video about two years ago or something.

And I want you to look it up when you get home because this guy's whole story, but it's way better than mine. This guy named Alistair Begg. And so when you get home, YouTube, The Man on the Middle Cross, by Alistair Begg. And he's super awesome, okay? Now, one of the things you'll see when you Google him is he's in a little hot water right now because of his answer to a question. And even though I disagree with his answer to a question, I don't believe in the cancel culture. The only cancel culture I'm into is when Jesus died on the cross, he canceled my sin. and I'm a sinner that needs his, you know?

So I'm not going to throw out a lifetime of incredible gospel ministry because of this guy's one answer. Anyway, so he's also Scottish. So it's awesome. Sounds like braveheart's preaching the gospel to you. It's better. And because of where we live, when you hear his Scottish accent, you're going to automatically add 14 IQ points to what you're hearing.

And I know if you're not from here, especially all you Yankees that have moved to town, When you hear my accent, you deduct 22 points. I get it, I get it. Because the only time you heard people like me talking was on the weather channel when the tornadoes would come through. They're like, came out of nowhere and took my crass rolled it. You know, I get it. I understand it.

In fact, the first time I ever shared this, I shared it on Thursday night and said, all right, man, Alasturbeg, man on the Middle Cross. And I got all these texts. It was like, I didn't even know the Jeopardy guy was saved. I didn't say Alex Trebek. I said Alistrbeg. Alesterbeg. Okay.

So he's preaching at this Presbyterian Church, and you can tell us the Presbyterian Church, because everybody in the choir behind him is just, they're called the Frozen Chosen for a reason. I mean, they're predestined. They didn't have a choice, but if they are the elect, they should tell their face to act like a saved person. Because this dude is slinging fire. I mean, it's the best gospel sermon I've ever heard. It's called the power of the message of the cross is the whole thing. And he's talking about how the cross compels us and how you preach the cross to the

unbeliever. And then he gets to this section talking about that the Christian needs to preach the gospel to themselves every single day. Because if you don't, you begin to believe that you bring merit to the situation. And he says, if you do this, it'll lead to one or two extremes. One will be an arrogance because you think you've deserved it or it'll be complete despair because you can never live up to it. So you've got to preach the gospel to yourself every single day. And he says, So if you were to ask, be asked that spring break Daytona question, I think he says Fort Lauderdale. And he says, I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but back in the day, youth groups would go to beaches and just show up to strangers and they would walk up to strangers and say, if you were to die tonight. Which is a weird thing to say to a person you've met before, never met.

Like, is this a warning? What are we doing here? So, but whatever. But if you were faced with that question, if you were to die an eye and you're standing before the God and he said, why should I let you in my heaven? What would your response be? And then Alastair Begg says, if you answer in the first person, you've already gotten it wrong. Because I.

You're like the man praying because I have faith, because I believe, because I. No, no, no, no, no. You've got to start by answering you in the third person because he, he created me, and he drew me, and he died for me, and he called me. Because he. And then the example that he goes to is our guy here today, the thief on the cross. And Alistair Begg says, I can't wind to run into that guy when I get to heaven. He says, if everybody I want to meet, I want to go and I want to talk to him and I want to hear how it happened. I want to go and say, so how did it go for you?

Because you made it. If anybody made it, you made it. And you didn't know anything. You don't know anything about Bible study or doctrine. You never did anything. and yet here you are. And he says, I want to know how did this shake down for you. And then he begins to have a little leeway in his imagination.

The Bible doesn't exactly tell us how judgment day is going to be. But I don't know how it works. I mean, imagine you breathe your last year that thief on the cross is like, hey, can I get a favor? Jesus, will you remember me when you go before your father in your kingdom? And he says, truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. He breathes his last. And then the next time he inhales, he's like, in line for heaven.

And I don't know how it works. Nobody does. But, you know, maybe there's a reception desk and an angel. Like, can I get a name? Thief on the cross, okay? Hmm. We got a couple questions. What are you doing here?

And he's like, excuse me? Well, what are you doing here? He's like, I'm not totally sure. Now they're both unfounded. What do you mean? You're supposed to have an answer. the angel's like, let me get my supervisor. It goes like an archangel.

Hey, we need some help with this one. It's complicated. So Michael comes along. Can I help you? I don't know. What do you mean you don't know? This is important. This is glory.

This is the holy king of the universe. How about this? Let's just cover a couple of basic things. Could you tell me about the doctrine of salvation by faith alone because of grace alone and Christ alone? in Christ along. You guys like, do what? All right.

How about the doctrine of the authority, sufficiency, and inherency of the scripture? And he goes, I've never read it. What? Then by what means are you here? The man's answer would be the man on the middle cross said I could come. That's it, people.

That is the gospel. It's not by anything that I have done. I don't even know what you're saying right now. now, it's just the man on the middle cross. I ask him for a favor. And he said I could come. The first time I ever shared that, Jack Johnson sent me a text, not banana pancakes guy,

but there's a guy in our church named Jack Johnson. And he said, the only paperwork that matters on the day of judgment is not your resume, but the invitation of Jesus Christ. Do you realize that? Then for anyone who calls on the name of the Lord that you will be saved and anyone means anyone, no matter what campus you're sitting at

or maybe you're in a little watch party or maybe you're in Sarasota or maybe you're watching online or maybe you're listening to this six months for now or maybe you're on death row in Texas and this invitation is for you too if you would see God for who he is and see yourself for who you are

a sinner in need of a savior and you would say Jesus will you do me a favor Would you remember me when you go before your father in your kingdom? And you know what he will say to you every single time? Truly, I say to you, you will be with me in paradise. Listen, it's not easy to be a Christian. It seems to be getting harder, but it sure is simple to be saved. You just know, we are just like this criminal.

We all have a death sentence. And Jesus Christ is God's son, the perfect Savior. And if you believe, if you have faith that when he died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. When he pushed up on his nail-pierced feet, it says, It is finished that somehow your debt was paid for. Then the Bible says if you will confess him as Lord, you will be saved. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And so just like this man said yes to the invitation of Jesus 2,000 years ago, then you can say yes to that same invitation today. No matter what you've done or how long you've been in church or if this is your first time, that we all get in the same way and we all get the same heaven because what makes heaven heaven, heaven is Jesus. What you have to do is believe and confess. And so I want to give you the opportunity to call on the name of the Lord in this very moment right now. Would you bow your heads?

Would you close your eyes? And if you are ready to call on the name of the Lord, if you are ready to confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior for the very first time and believe, that when he died on the cross, somehow that counted for you. And you are ready to receive the promise that you will be with him in paradise forever. Then right now, right where you are, you can say it out loud if you want to. It won't bother me a bit. But to demonstrate your calling on the name of the Lord for your salvation,

would you lift your hand as high as you can in the air and say, Lord, here I am, save me. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. God, I thank you for salvation. God, I thank you for our dear sister in Texas death row. God, I pray that you would show up in a supernatural way in herself right now, that you would give her a peace that transcends all understanding. God, I pray for prisoners all over our country right now.

Because if you could save a convicted criminal who was living out his sentence, then God, if you did it 2,000 years ago, you can do it again today. And I pray that you would do it all over the country right now. And God, I thank you for every man, woman, every student through this ministry, that this day, that they are trusting you as their Savior. And God, I thank you for the promise that we could know, that we know, that we know. For all who believe on you for salvation, that we will be saved. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Church, did you please stand so that we could respond to the gospel? We're going to sing, and listen, man, don't you sing like that, Presby Church that beg was preaching at? you open your mouth, you tell your face. If you're saved, we're going to sing like save people. We're going to sing the gospel. And we're going to bring our ties and our offerings, our first and our best as an act of worship. And then what happens when we do that, God blesses it.

And we get to tell people not only all over the prisons in America, but all over the world that Jesus came on a rescue mission for them. And we're going to pray. And anybody, and everybody, which is every single one of us, that needs to be a rescue mission. the scandalous grace of Jesus Christ in our life, we should sprint down to this altar and get on our face and beat our chest and say, have mercy on me a sinner. Let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.