Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 7 MAY 2023 pm

LUKE 23 VERSES 39 - 43

Over the past week I have been listening to people interviewed on the Mall in London.  They were asked why they came.  Some said it was for the atmosphere, others said they wanted to get as close as possible to see the King as he passed by.  It took me back to Isaiah chapter 6 when Isaiah came into the temple.  King Uzziah had died and Isaiah sees something he had never seen before.  He saw the Lord high and lifted up.  He realised that he was a man with unclean lips.  I thought of the words in chapter 6 verse 5 "for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts."  Simeon in the temple when Jesus was presented said "now lettest thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word." (Luke 2 verse 29)  Simeon was ready and willing to step out into eternity.  Here we see this man on the cross beside the Lord.  What a look he had.  You and I, we might look at our lives and compare them with others.  We know we should not compare our lives with anyone else's but the person we want to compare our lives with tonight is Christ.

Here was a man who was seeing now the results of his life.  He had been judged and condemned - verse 41.  He acknowledged that he had listened to those who nailed Christ to the cross.  He had heard the Roman soldiers laugh and mock and jeer as they put Jesus on that cross, as they drew lots for his garment.  He had heard the High Priest conclude that Jesus was an imposter.  This thief rebuked the other thief when he said "we are here because of what we have done but this man has done nothing amiss."  Life had caught up with him.  The sentence had fallen on him.  This is a man who had got caught up with the wrong crowd, perhaps coaxed into things.  We don't know more than the fact he was there as a result of his life.  "Sin will take you farther than you want to go.  Slowly, but wholly, taking control, Sin will leave you longer than you want to stay, Sin will cost you more that you want to pay."  Sin will result in separation from God.  Achan in the battle of Jericho was told not to take any of the spoils from the battle of Jericho but when he saw the silver, the gold, the Babylonish garment he just had to have them.  One by one the people were singled out until he was found to be the culprit.  Your sins will find you out.  Moses made the decision one day to no longer be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.  He left behind a life of absolute luxury - why - to become associated with the people of God.  He knew the life in the palace would only last for a season and he would rather enjoy the afflictions of God.  Sin lasts for a season and the result is death.

The thief is hanging on the cross listening to the other thief and others.  He was turning his attention to the Lord.  He was now looking outward to the Lord.  The Holy Spirit begins to take a dealing with us as we come into his presence.  God is turning a spotlight on our lives.  The reality was setting in for this man.  Death was coming.  The wages of sin is death.  There is a physical death, a spiritual death but also an eternal death.  Spirilltual death is when we are cut off, separated from God.  If you die in that position it wcoculd be eternal death.  Somehow we cannot grasp that.  It means to close our eyes in this world, to step out into eternity, to be lost.  Hebrews 9 verse 27 "it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment."  The reality - an appointment is made for you and I.  It is made by the hands of God.  We don't know when it will be fulfilled.  Abraham speaking to Isaac said "behold now I am old and I know not the day of my death."  He couldn't cancel it.  Paul said "for I am now ready to be offered, the day of my departure is at hand."  That is the reality.  Balaam was called on by the King of Moab to curse the people coming from Egypt into the Promised Land.  The King was concerned that if this people settled he would be destroyed.  Balaam said in Numbers 23 verse 10 "let me die the death of the righteous."  He knew that life would end "and let my last end be like his."  We have to live the life of the righteous, we need to come to the Lord, repenting of our sin, trust in Christ who died to take away our sins.  Romans 5 verse 19 "for as by one man's disobedience many wer made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."  There is only one way to be made righteous - through the blood of Christ.  You have to come tonight, make your way to Calvary, acknowledge what he has done.  The pain, separation he bore on that cross - all for you and I.  Balaam had a great hunger in his soul.  When this man looked at the righteous he knew something about them was different.  The Philippian jailer knew that same thought too.  He looked at the righteous and wanted to die that death.

Not only pondering the results and reality but the reasoning he was now making.  Verse 40.  Before this he was like the other thief and the crowd, calling out to the Lord.  Something happened to him.  Reality began to hit him.  He knew the results of a sinful life.  He was now beginning to reason within himself.  He was beginning to ask himself where would he spend eternity?  Maybe he had never heard these things before.  Maybe he had heard of Christ's ministry to the crowd one day.  Now he is face to face with eternity.  He is about to step out into God's eternity knowing within himself this life is not the end.  There is something more than this.  A heaven to gain and a hell to shun.  He realised he had sinned and he was suffering the just reward for his sins.  This man beside him had done nothing amiss.  "Does thou not fear God?"    He is beginning to see Christ as the King of a kingdom.  He is wondering where this kingdom begins.

Notice the request he makes.  "Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."  Like the prodigal son after wasting his life he sees the results of his wasting.  He is sitting watching the pigs eat and asks himself "if I was to arise and go back to my fathers house, even if he gave me only a servants position I would be better off."  He goes to his father and tells him "I have sinned against you, please accept me as your servant."  When Jesus passed by Bartimaeus he cried out and Jesus asked him what he wanted him to do for him.  He replied "that I might receive my sight".  A simple request - is that your request for salvation?

 The reassurance this man will seek.  Verse 43.  Look what he said to this poor lost sinner, a man about to go out into eternity - "today thou shalt be with me in paradise."  That man was saved just as he closed his eyes in death.  Don't leave it too long, too late to get saved, to come to Christ, to make it up with the Lord.  Jesus gave this man reassurance and it is yours for the taking tonight too.