The Thief Who Found Paradise

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SUNDAY 5 OCTOBER 2025 pm - PASTOR HENRY CASKEY

LUKE 23 VERSES 32 TO 43

Luke records for us this wonderful account of the conversion of this old thief. The day of life was far spent for this thief. Here he was hanging on the cross of Calvary. The day of his life was ebbing to a close. Very soon he would close his eyes in death. Very soon he would step out into God's eternity. Not one of us know tonight what day we will step out into God's eternity. And thank God tonight this is a preparation time for that great day. God is giving us the opportunity to step out into his eternity knowing full well and knowing with all assurance that we're saved by God's grace and heaven will be our eternal home forever and forever. This is a scene that has been recorded for us away back by the prophet Isaiah some maybe six or 700 years even before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah in that chapter 53 reveals to us where the Lord Jesus Christ dies and he reveals to us why he died. You see, Isaiah tells us where he died. Verse 9 "And he made his grave with the wicked." And he was numbered with the transgressors. He was numbered there with the two thieves, one on side. But then Isaiah also tells us why he died. Verse 12 tells us that "he bare the sin of many and he made intercession for the transgressors." In verse number 6 it tells us that the Lord "laid on him the iniquity of us all." There was the Lord Jesus Christ hanging upon the cross of Calvary and God laid every sin upon him and in his own body. He took your sins and my sins. He made those sins his very own and he bore the burden to Calvary. Why, what a task God did for us then. Of course that's the why. But what a tremendous scene. And that's what we want to spend just a few moments thinking about. Let's look for a few moments in the life of this man, this old thief who was nailed to that cross as a diehard sinner. But before he closed his eyes in death, he knew with all assurance that he was stepping out into God's eternity. It took but a few words. It took but a few seconds. And tonight this could be the evening that would change your direction and destiny for all eternity.

The first we want to think about was the ascent this man gives to the crowd. Where is he? He's hanging on the cross within sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go back an hour or two and see the scene that was in Pilate's Judgment Hall. We see the abuse that the Lord Jesus Christ had taken there. We see the ridicule that was made towards him. We see how he was how he was beaten. How he was spat upon. How those soldiers reached forth and plucked the very hairs from his face. How he was ladened with a robe and a crown of thorns placed upon his head. How he was beaten. How a cross was laid upon his shoulder. And how he was made to carry that cross to that hill called Calvary. And then as he's raised up between heaven and earth and every joint in his body pulled out of place on either side, those 2 thieves were there. And this man was giving his ascent with the other thief and with the crowd. You see, this was a worldly, ungodly man. He had lived his life up to this point in rebellion and a rejection of the things of God. Matthew and Mark describes these 2 men who were being crucified as thieves. That's the title that was given to these 2 men. The Lord Jesus Christ took your sin and my sin. And there he would take your place and my place on that middle cross between 2 thieves. These 2 men, they lived dishonest lives. They helped themselves with no thought of anyone else. They lived their lives just as they pleased and they served themselves. And yet in the dying moments of one man's life, in the dying seconds of one man's life, he reaches out to the Lord Jesus Christ and he calls upon him. Maybe tonight you could call out and your life would be changed for all eternity. These 2 men lived their lives as the apostle Paul described there in the book of Ephesians. Here's what he said "Where in time past we walked according to the course of this world." These 2 men were walking according to the course of this world. They were helping themselves as they went through this old world. But there was one dictator that they had, perhaps one that they didn't even realize. And here's what it says about them. "According to the prince of the power of the air" that was our course in this life. We were blinded by the God of this world. You and I can be saved by the grace of God. There was a time whenever we were blinded by the god of this world. Just as these men, we followed the course of this old world. "And the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Then Paul makes this claim "among whom also we all had our conversation in times past." We all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. This man Paul he was such a religious young man. He crossed every t and dotted every i in the religious society of that particular day. He gives his testimony there in the book of Philippians. And what does he say about himself? He says there that he was circumcised the eighth day according to the Jewish tradition. He was of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee. But he wasn't saved. You and I can be many a thing tonight. We can be deeply religious. Maybe you have already been at your church service this morning. And maybe you even sat at the Lord's table this morning but if you are not saved, you are not on your way to heaven and home. You are lost and lost for all eternity. Here he was a thief and assenting with the crowd right down from the cross. All the people around the cross that day were ridiculing the Saviour. They were telling him to come down from the cross. "If you are the Christ, if you are the Son of God come down from the cross. Save yourself. Save us." The thieves were saying. And the 2 thieves were joining in with the crowd. What a scene that must have been on that particular occasion. As he chanted, as he ridiculed, as he spoke those awful things about Christ. Maybe tonight you and I would run with the crowd. Here was a man who assented with the crowd. He was happy enough to go with the crowd for a little time during that day. Poor old Pilate. He was the same. Now Jesus was brought down before him. And Pilate was given that great privilege of standing before the Lord Jesus Christ. He could have let the Lord Jesus Christ be released but he couldn't do it. He looked at the crowd and went with the crowd. Pilate said "I find no fault in this man." He looks under the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ. He looks to crowd and he says "You have asked me to examine this man and I have examined him, I find no fault in this man. I can let him go." And my the crowd chanted. And then he says "well then, what shall I do?" Here's a man who's looking to the crowd to know what to do. Maybe you are looking to the crowd tonight to see what decision you must make about the Lord Jesus Christ. The crowd tells Pilate "crucify him". And Pilate called for that basin of water and he washed his hands. He couldn't make up his mind. He was assented to by the crowd on that occasion. 

There is a story of a wealthy farmer way back in the great Ulster Revival of 1859. That man sat in the gospel meetings and was awakened to the need of his soul. He realised that he needed to be saved. He realised he couldn't save himself. But he had an old uncle. And this old uncle had promised him a farm of land. He knew the situation with this young man, that he was thinking about getting saved. And the old uncle said to the young man "If you get saved, you can say farewell to the farm. I am not leaving my farm of land to a man that would go down that line." And the young man assented to him. He sat on in the gospel meetings, feeling the great need of being saved and giving his heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ and he got up night after night and he walked out of those meetings. Many years later he was lying upon his deathbed. A young man, a neighbour of his that had known him quite well, used to frequently visit him. He sat beside him night after night, pleading with him to get saved. And as he lay on his deathbed on one particular occasion the very final night that the young man sat with him, turned around to that young man and he said "I'm sorry." He said "I made a very bad deal. I made a very bad bargain in the 1859 revival. I chose a farm of land over the Lord Jesus Christ." Isn't that what Jesus says "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" You see the reality tonight and this old thief came to that situation. The reality tonight is this that there is a soul within this bosom of mine and that bosom of yours that one day whenever you close your eyes and death that's not the end of the soul. The body will go to the grave but the soul goes out unto God's eternity. And the bible tells me there are but 2 places in eternity. The bible says there's a heaven to gain and there's a hell to shun. We thank God tonight that Jesus Christ came to pay that price. 

The acknowledgement that he came to. You see what a change that came about in this man's life just in those remaining moments. The whole scene changed. The 2 thieves on either side are ranting and ridiculing and criticizing the Lord Jesus Christ. They are joining in with the crowd that is sitting around the foot of the cross. But what a change came over one man, one thief on the cross. He looks to the other thief and he says "Listen, will you hold your peace? will you be quiet? We indeed justly we receive the due reward of our deeds." "But this man has done nothing amiss." He says "we are here because of what we have done. We are here because we are dying for our sins, but not this man. This man has done nothing amiss." That is one of the greatest statements in all of scripture. The insight that this man go as he closed his eyes in death. His whole life was beginning to flash before him. This man is now gripped by the fear of God. That's a tremendous thing. You see, there is no fear of God today. But this man was gripped with the fear of God. The very thought of stepping out into God's eternity without him. This man realizes now that there is a God and that he must stand before him. That's a tremendous truth to me that each and every one of us will stand before the God of heaven and we must answer the question, what have we done with Jesus Christ? Every one of us will stand there. This man realizes that he's on the cross because of the wrongs that he has done. He realizes now that he is a sinner and that death is not the end. He realizes as he looks to Jesus there is something different about this man on the middle cross. Isn't that a wonderful realization? Isn't that a wonderful acknowledgement? There is a God in haven who loves us. The bible makes it so very, very clear that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. God is looking down upon a world that is lost in sin and he loves that world. He loves you and he loves me so much that he would take the very best of heaven, Jesus Christ, his only son and he would send him down to the sin cursed world to die on the cross of Calvary. He must suffer, he must bleed and he must die. That is how much God loves you. That is how much he loves me. We could never ever comprehend it. we can never ever think about it. The love that God had for us. The love that drew salvations plan and the grace that brought it down to man and the gulf that God span at that place called Calvary. All the acknowledgement that this man comes to this evening. He looks at the Lord Jesus Christ and says "this man has done nothing of this." He realizes that Jesus is king of another domain. He realizes now in these fleeting moments that Jesus is stepping out into another kingdom and he is the king of that kingdom. He says "Lord remember me."

The story is told of a man looking in through a shop window on one occasion. And as he was looking in through the window, his gaze came upon a picture that was painted. It was a scene of Calvary. It was this scene of the Lord Jesus Christ and the 2 thieves. And the man gazed in upon it. And a wee boy came alongside him as he looking into it. And the wee boy says "sir do you know what is happening in that picture?" The man replies "I don't." Well he says, "Sir, the man in the middle cross is the Lord Jesus Christ. The 2 men on either side, that's the two thieves that the bible speaks about. It says the Lord Jesus Christ is God's son and he is dying on the cross for us. Just across the way there's a cave and that is where they laid him." And as the man listened to the wee boy explaining all this to him he turned away and walked down the street. There were tears in his eyes and the wee boy came running after him. "Sir that's not the full story. He rose again from the dead." 

That is the full story. That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that he was dead and buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. He did it for you and for me. We cannot be saved until we come to that place of acknowledgement. Until you and I realize that we are sinners, that God loves us, that he died and rose again you cannot be saved. 

Notice the appeal this man makes. All of this has gone through his mind. He is pondering it all in his mind. He says "I am in this position because of what I've done. I am in this position because of my birth. I was born in sin and shapen in iniquity." He goes on "I have lied. I have stolen. I have frauded. I have conned people out of money. I have done everything that was wrong. And now I am getting the full just reward of my life." Isn't that what the bible says? "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ." He was a man and he is ebbing out into eternity and he realizes that now. He makes this great appeal. But you know there was another young man in the bible and he makes an appeal but he wasn't coming near death. As a matter of fact, if we would like to say it in such a way he had all of his life before him. The bible explains him as being rich. The bible explains him as being young and a ruler. In the depths of his heart he realized that he wasn't saved. He came to the Lord and said "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He realized that he wasn't saved. He had a great position in life, had plenty of money but he was not saved. The appeal he made to the Lord Jesus was a simple one - "what must I do to be saved?" The Lord says "what about the commandments?" The young man replied "all these I have kept from my youth up." He was a religious young man, probably born into a good home but he knew he wasn't saved. And none of those commandments would ever get him into heaven. He had to come to Christ but when it came to that last step, he couldn't do it. He walked away. Here was a man hanging on this cross knowing that he was going out into eternity, he was just another breath away. He says "Lord remember me." 

The assurance that he got. Verse 43 "today thou shalt be with me in paradise." This man was dying. He was going out into eternity. And on this very same day he would be in paradise. Paul speaks about the great assurance of leaving this world trusting in Christ. He says it would be absent from the body and present with the Lord. And he says, you know, it would be far, far better. Does the church give that assurance? Not at all. Does my good works give that assurance? Not at all. Does sitting at the communion table give that assurance? It does not. But God gives us that assurance. The jailer went down to Paul and asks Paul "what must I do to be saved?" And Paul says "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." You may have a head belief tonight but I want you to see him as the sinless sacrifice for sin, for your sin and for my sin. He left heaven's glory, he stepped into this sin cursed world, he died upon an old rugged cross at Calvary, he was buried and on the third day he rose again. Do you believe it? Would you make him yours tonight? Would you trust him as your own personal Saviour?