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Forgiven at the Foot of the Cross (Luke 23) · Prodigal Hope

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SPEAKER_00: Luke 23 is such a fascinating scene.
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SPEAKER_00: It is one of the most powerful moments, of course.
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It comes in the midst of Luke's version or Luke's account of
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Jesus' crucifixion.
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SPEAKER_00: And I want to draw your attention to some of these words here tonight,
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SPEAKER_00: words that are uttered by the Lord himself on the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: You know,
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SPEAKER_00: for ages,
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SPEAKER_00: for centuries,
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SPEAKER_00: for years,
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SPEAKER_00: for countless decades,
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SPEAKER_00: the church of God,
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SPEAKER_00: the church by and large,
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has always rallied around those words that you're going to find
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in John chapter 19.
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SPEAKER_00: Those words, it is finished.
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SPEAKER_00: And rightly so.
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SPEAKER_00: Those are words that we should champion.
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SPEAKER_00: Words that we should always have in our ears.
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SPEAKER_00: Because our hope is.
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SPEAKER_00: Of redemption, our hope of eternal life is certainly a done deal.
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SPEAKER_00: It's finished.
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SPEAKER_00: It's complete.
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SPEAKER_00: And we can know that it is finished.
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SPEAKER_00: And we can know that our hope of eternal life, it's secure in Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: It's finished in him.
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SPEAKER_00: We don't need to add anything from us.
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We don't need to try to force anything that we can do or
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accomplish into that equation at all.
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SPEAKER_00: But even still,
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I think some of the words that Luke records here in his gospel
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are some of the most
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SPEAKER_00: life-giving words that we find in all of Scripture.
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SPEAKER_00: Of course, this is the scene of Jesus' crucifixion.
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SPEAKER_00: A site that we're probably very familiar with.
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SPEAKER_00: You've probably heard innumerable sermons of Jesus on the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: Especially as we're approaching Easter.
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SPEAKER_00: Hopefully I'm not stealing any of Kenny's thunder.
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SPEAKER_00: We're familiar with this moment.
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SPEAKER_00: But I think that sometimes does us a disservice.
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SPEAKER_00: That old saying is often true.
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SPEAKER_00: Familiarity sometimes does breed contempt.
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And we're hearing the same old story about the same old details
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and what we've
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SPEAKER_00: heard countless umpteen times.
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SPEAKER_00: That can sometimes make us tend to gloss over some of the details.
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SPEAKER_00: Gloss over some of the things that we've just heard so many times.
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SPEAKER_00: But we shouldn't of course.
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SPEAKER_00: This is the story of Jesus on the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: This is the scene of Calvary.
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SPEAKER_00: And yet sometimes I feel like we approach it that way.
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SPEAKER_00: Man we know how this story ends.
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SPEAKER_00: But even so.
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SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean we shouldn't be surprised along the way.
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SPEAKER_00: It's sort of like a movie you've seen a hundred times.
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SPEAKER_00: You know all of the different scenes.
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SPEAKER_00: You know all the different plot points.
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SPEAKER_00: But sometimes you still have to kind of force yourself to be surprised.
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SPEAKER_00: In other words, I think we should stop for a minute.
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SPEAKER_00: Stop and consider what occurs in this moment.
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SPEAKER_00: And actually allow ourselves to be caught off guard.
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SPEAKER_00: Especially by how Luke records the scene of Jesus' crucifixion.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at Luke 23 and look at verse number 32.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at what he says here.
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And there were also two other malefactors,
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criminals,
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led with him to be put to death.
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And when they were come to the place,
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which is called Calvary,
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there they crucified him.
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SPEAKER_00: And the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other...
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SPEAKER_00: On the left,
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SPEAKER_00: the words here,
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SPEAKER_00: if you kind of read them and read them a couple of times,
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SPEAKER_00: the words are just going to kind of be matter of fact.
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SPEAKER_00: These are facts that Luke is recording for us.
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SPEAKER_00: There's not a lot of gloss.
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There's not a lot of detail other than just the bare facts,
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not a lot of dramatic pauses.
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SPEAKER_00: There's no real flair.
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SPEAKER_00: Luke,
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SPEAKER_00: as he's recording here,
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SPEAKER_00: this account,
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SPEAKER_00: especially as you keep going,
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SPEAKER_00: but especially these couple of lines,
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SPEAKER_00: they seem to just be all of these facts that are given to us.
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SPEAKER_00: It almost sounds like a surgeon,
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SPEAKER_00: sort of giving a sort of post-operative report,
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SPEAKER_00: which may or may not hint at what Luke's job was.
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SPEAKER_00: Of course, we know that Luke may have been a physician, a doctor.
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SPEAKER_00: But I also think it's how we should consider this scene.
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SPEAKER_00: The scene of Jesus nailed to a cross.
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SPEAKER_00: The scene which is so full of carnage and blood and splinters.
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SPEAKER_00: There's really no need to delve into all of that.
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SPEAKER_00: To delve into all of those gory and brutal details of the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: Because...
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SPEAKER_00: Especially because any human description of the cross,
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SPEAKER_00: any rendition of the cross's brutality,
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SPEAKER_00: it just wouldn't go far enough.
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SPEAKER_00: It just wouldn't go far enough.
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If Luke and the other gospel writers were to indulge in some
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sort of minute by
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SPEAKER_00: minute sort of detailing of all of the minute sufferings,
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SPEAKER_00: Of Christ as he's nailed to that tree.
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SPEAKER_00: It wouldn't go far enough.
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SPEAKER_00: It would actually I think do us a disfavor.
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SPEAKER_00: If they were to really go all the way.
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SPEAKER_00: Why?
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Well because it would limit our understanding of Jesus' pain
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and suffering and shame.
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SPEAKER_00: Just to what they could remember.
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SPEAKER_00: You're only understanding it through their recollections of it.
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SPEAKER_00: But actually,
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SPEAKER_00: by not recording all of those gruesome details,
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SPEAKER_00: we're kind of left to humbly imagine,
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SPEAKER_00: if you will,
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SPEAKER_00: and humbly contemplate just how horrific this moment really was,
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SPEAKER_00: just how horrific this scene was,
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SPEAKER_00: which is sometimes worse.
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SPEAKER_00: It's like those movies where they don't show you the things off screen.
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SPEAKER_00: It actually makes it a little bit scarier.
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SPEAKER_00: It's actually worse when you don't see it.
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The closest we ever get to some of the details of this scene of
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Jesus' crucifixion
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SPEAKER_00: actually come from Isaiah chapter 52.
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SPEAKER_00: Where the prophet Isaiah,
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SPEAKER_00: he tells us that the face of the Lord's servant,
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SPEAKER_00: who we would know as Jesus of course.
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But the face of the suffering servant,
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he says,
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was so marred,
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so disfigured.
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SPEAKER_00: That he barely resembled a person.
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SPEAKER_00: The words literally read,
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 52,
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SPEAKER_00: 14,
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SPEAKER_00: that his visage was so marred more than any other man in his form,
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SPEAKER_00: more than the sons of men.
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SPEAKER_00: Again,
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SPEAKER_00: in other words,
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SPEAKER_00: whenever we see the cross portrayed in any sort of media,
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SPEAKER_00: art or picture books or television or what have you,
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SPEAKER_00: whenever you see it portrayed,
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SPEAKER_00: it's never accurate all the way.
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Because to be crucified,
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essentially meant to be subjected to an elongated death.
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SPEAKER_00: Your death is just being prolonged.
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SPEAKER_00: It's being extended.
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SPEAKER_00: And indeed,
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SPEAKER_00: if you do some research on crucifixions,
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SPEAKER_00: you will find that every historian agrees that this was the most supreme,
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SPEAKER_00: most vicious,
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SPEAKER_00: and most cruel form of punishment ever devised.
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SPEAKER_00: Let alone whatever anyone could ever endure.
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These horrid events that would go into crucifixions,
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they would last for hours or even days.
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As the one who is being nailed there,
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their anguish would be purposely drawn out.
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SPEAKER_00: It would be on purpose that it would be prolonged and extended.
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And there were many within imperial Rome itself who had prided
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themselves on sort
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SPEAKER_00: of perfecting what went into some of these events.
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How to really exacerbate all of the torture and all of the
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cruelty of that moment.
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SPEAKER_00: Every aspect of it.
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SPEAKER_00: Every aspect of a crucifixion was designed to bring utmost shame,
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SPEAKER_00: utmost disgrace and humiliation on the one being crucified.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what the whole thing was about.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is why, by the way, Roman crosses were often low to the ground.
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SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you see those paintings of ones that are super high,
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SPEAKER_00: really,
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SPEAKER_00: really high up in the air.
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SPEAKER_00: Actually, that's not historically accurate.
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SPEAKER_00: They were only a few feet off the ground.
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Because they wanted to put the excruciating agony of a
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crucifixion painfully close,
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SPEAKER_00: as painfully close as possible.
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SPEAKER_00: Almost to where you couldn't escape it.
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SPEAKER_00: They would put those who were being crucified on the thoroughfare,
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SPEAKER_00: going into the main drag,
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SPEAKER_00: so that everyone had to see it.
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SPEAKER_00: Everyone had to pass by.
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SPEAKER_00: Everyone had to see those who were being crucified.
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SPEAKER_00: You couldn't avoid it.
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SPEAKER_00: You couldn't sort of divert your eyes.
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SPEAKER_00: You couldn't sort of take your eyes away from it.
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SPEAKER_00: You had to notice it.
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SPEAKER_00: Those bloody bodies...
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would serve as very disturbing reminders of precisely what Rome
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was capable of.
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SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what they were meant to do.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what Rome was able to do.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what you will get if you try to resist Rome's authority.
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SPEAKER_00: And every...
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SPEAKER_00: Which way then,
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SPEAKER_00: the crucifixion of God's son here,
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SPEAKER_00: as we're reading it in Luke 23,
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SPEAKER_00: is the ultimate example.
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SPEAKER_00: Of course,
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SPEAKER_00: you perhaps know this,
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it's the ultimate example of the very best being substituted
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for the very worst.
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SPEAKER_00: The worst of the worst.
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God's son,
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holy in every single which way,
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is there dying the death of a criminal.
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SPEAKER_00: Think about it again.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at those words.
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SPEAKER_00: Verse 32.
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SPEAKER_00: And there were also two other malefactors,
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SPEAKER_00: criminals,
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SPEAKER_00: led with him,
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SPEAKER_00: with Jesus,
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SPEAKER_00: to be put to death.
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And when they were come to the place,
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which is called Calvary,
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there they crucified him.
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SPEAKER_00: There they crucified who?
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: And don't just stop there.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the Son of God.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the second person of the Trinity.
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SPEAKER_00: In the place of a common criminal.
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SPEAKER_00: Dying a common criminal's death.
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SPEAKER_00: Look, keep reading.
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SPEAKER_00: Crucified him.
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SPEAKER_00: And the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 39.
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SPEAKER_00: And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying,
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SPEAKER_00: If thou be Christ,
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SPEAKER_00: save thyself and us.
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SPEAKER_00: These malefactors, these criminals on either side of Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: showing the depths to which Jesus went.
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SPEAKER_00: He went all that way.
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SPEAKER_00: You see,
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SPEAKER_00: by pinning Jesus to a cross,
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SPEAKER_00: in between two other criminals,
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SPEAKER_00: Pilate,
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SPEAKER_00: Pontius Pilate,
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SPEAKER_00: a very misunderstood man in a lot of ways,
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SPEAKER_00: he was making a very bold political statement.
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You see,
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although the mob,
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of course,
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they were the mob right before this scene.
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SPEAKER_00: They're saying crucifying.
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SPEAKER_00: They're trying to get Jesus out of their hair, so to speak.
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They want nothing to do with Jesus of Nazareth and his claims
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to being the Messiah.
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SPEAKER_00: Pilate is seizing this as an opportunity.
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SPEAKER_00: He's an opportunist in a lot of ways.
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SPEAKER_00: And he's seizing this moment to really stick it to the Jews.
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SPEAKER_00: He really wants to stick it to them.
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SPEAKER_00: He wants to sort of slap them all in their faces in one fell swoop.
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SPEAKER_00: After all,
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SPEAKER_00: can you fathom something more demeaning,
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SPEAKER_00: more sort of humbling,
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SPEAKER_00: and more sort of offensive and scandalous?
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SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine a greater form of mockery?
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SPEAKER_00: Then seeing this person,
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SPEAKER_00: this teacher,
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SPEAKER_00: this rabbi,
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who in some corners of the regions is respected and regarded
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and followed.
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SPEAKER_00: This one who is,
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SPEAKER_00: there's some rumblings,
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SPEAKER_00: there's some rumors that he's the long promised Messiah.
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Can you imagine a crueler form of mockery than that person
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being stripped and
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pinned to a cross with every last piece and bit of human
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dignity also taken from
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SPEAKER_00: him?
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SPEAKER_00: No, in other words, this is exactly what Pilate wanted to happen.
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He wanted this to be a scene of absolute disgrace for everyone
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who was in vicinity.
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SPEAKER_00: And by crucifying Jesus between two thieves,
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SPEAKER_00: what Pilate is doing,
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SPEAKER_00: he's effectively sanctioning an act of Roman propaganda.
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SPEAKER_00: Behold your king, he's saying.
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SPEAKER_00: Naked and ashamed and like just any other old delinquent.
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SPEAKER_00: That's who you're going to serve?
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SPEAKER_00: This is Rome making a statement.
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SPEAKER_00: But what was meant as mockery, of course, as we know.
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What was meant as some sort of very searing,
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very personal point of ridicule.
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SPEAKER_00: Was actually a fulfillment of the word of God.
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SPEAKER_00: Because it's sort of like similar to the Pharisees.
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SPEAKER_00: Remember in the Gospel of Luke,
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SPEAKER_00: actually,
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SPEAKER_00: you don't have to turn there,
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SPEAKER_00: but Gospel of Luke chapter 7,
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SPEAKER_00: verse number 34.
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Remember that scene that the Pharisees actually sort of are
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trying to mock Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: And what do they mock him with?
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SPEAKER_00: Look at this man, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.
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SPEAKER_00: And Jesus would be like, yeah, that's the point.
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SPEAKER_00: Their mockery was actually a form of prophecy.
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SPEAKER_00: And the same is sort of true here.
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Because Pilate is mockingly hanging Jesus between two enemies
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of the state,
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if you will.
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SPEAKER_00: Which is actually a fulfillment of the words of the prophet Isaiah.
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SPEAKER_00: Go with me to Isaiah chapter 53.
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SPEAKER_00: Familiar passage, of course.
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 53 and look at verse number 12.
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SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 53, 12.
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SPEAKER_00: Notice what the prophet Isaiah says.
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SPEAKER_00: He says,
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SPEAKER_00: Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
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SPEAKER_00: and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
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SPEAKER_00: because he hath poured out his soul unto death.
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SPEAKER_00: And he was numbered with the transgressors.
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SPEAKER_00: Meaning he was treated as those who have transgressed.
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SPEAKER_00: He was put where they should have been put.
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SPEAKER_00: And he bare the sins of many.
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SPEAKER_00: And he made intercession for the transgressors.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what's happening in this precise moment.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus is being numbered with the transgressors.
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SPEAKER_00: He's being accounted as a malefactor.
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SPEAKER_00: He's being killed and crucified as a criminal.
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SPEAKER_00: This has been Jesus' mission from the very start.
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SPEAKER_00: As he says later on, or excuse me, not later on.
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SPEAKER_00: As he says earlier in Luke's gospel, Luke 19.10.
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SPEAKER_00: The Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what I've come to do.
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SPEAKER_00: This is what I've come to accomplish.
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SPEAKER_00: Matthew 9.13.
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SPEAKER_00: I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, he says.
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SPEAKER_00: And there's no better portrait.
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SPEAKER_00: Of what Jesus is saying here.
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SPEAKER_00: That he has come not to call the righteous but sinners.
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SPEAKER_00: That he has come to seek and to save that was lost.
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There's no better portrait of that than Jesus taking his place
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among the lost by
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SPEAKER_00: dying a sinner's death.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing.
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SPEAKER_00: And throughout this horrifying display.
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SPEAKER_00: This horrifying display of shame and agony and grief.
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SPEAKER_00: What is Jesus doing?
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SPEAKER_00: What is Jesus thinking about, if you will, if I can say it that way?
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SPEAKER_00: Luke 23 again.
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SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 34 of the text.
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SPEAKER_00: Luke 23, verse 34.
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SPEAKER_00: Again, he's between two criminals.
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SPEAKER_00: And all of this is going on.
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SPEAKER_00: All of this horrible display.
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SPEAKER_00: And it says, Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them.
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SPEAKER_00: For they know not what they do.
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SPEAKER_00: Father, forgive.
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SPEAKER_00: While all of this is going on,
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SPEAKER_00: all of the shame,
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SPEAKER_00: all of the horror that is happening,
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus is buying everyone's forgiveness.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what he's doing.
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SPEAKER_00: The Jewish jesters as they're constantly throwing out barbs and jeers.
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SPEAKER_00: And all of those soldiers who are scoffing and spitting at him.
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SPEAKER_00: And they're throwing all kinds of taunts at him.
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SPEAKER_00: And they're poking fun at his claims.
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They're ridiculing him forever thinking that he could be the
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God's chosen one.
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SPEAKER_00: If you are who you say you are, then just come off the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: Call a bunch of angels down and save yourself.
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But little did all of those jesters or scoffers realize that
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unless he stayed,
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SPEAKER_00: he couldn't be the Savior.
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SPEAKER_00: Unless he stayed on the cross, he couldn't save anyone's soul.
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SPEAKER_00: He...
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SPEAKER_00: Had to not save himself.
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SPEAKER_00: In order to be the savior.
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SPEAKER_00: Tempting Jesus to rescue himself.
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SPEAKER_00: By just jumping off the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: Or calling down a legion of angels.
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SPEAKER_00: To help in this mission.
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SPEAKER_00: It's actually an attempt to rob him.
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SPEAKER_00: Of his identity as the savior.
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SPEAKER_00: Again that's the point.
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SPEAKER_00: He saves the world.
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SPEAKER_00: You and me included.
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SPEAKER_00: Everyone here tonight.
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SPEAKER_00: If you believe in Jesus as your savior.
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SPEAKER_00: He saves you by not saving himself.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is the culmination.
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This is sort of the convergence of what the evil one has
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tempted Jesus with years prior.
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SPEAKER_00: Remember in Matthew chapter 4?
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SPEAKER_00: Where Jesus is being tempted by Satan in the wilderness?
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SPEAKER_00: What is one of his temptations?
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SPEAKER_00: Just bow to me Jesus and all of this is going to be yours.
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SPEAKER_00: I'll give you all these kingdoms.
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SPEAKER_00: I'll give them to you.
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SPEAKER_00: It's the crescendo.
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SPEAKER_00: Of Peter's words.
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SPEAKER_00: Just a few days prior.
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SPEAKER_00: Remember what Peter says to him.
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SPEAKER_00: Not Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: You're never going to die.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm going to make sure of that.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what Peter tries to tell Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: You see.
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SPEAKER_00: Both Satan and Peter.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: Even though he probably didn't even know.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: What he was talking about right there.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: But all of these soldiers.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: To forego the cross.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: To avoid the cross.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: Would mean to forfeit every hope of salvation.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Altogether.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: It's all the same temptation.
18:39
The cross with all of its blood and shame and horror and spit
18:43
and splinters.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: It's God's salvation of us, of sinners, in action.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: That's what it is.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: It's putting it into action as God in Christ.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: God come down in human flesh.
18:57
He's staring down all of his mockers,
19:00
all of his tormentors,
19:01
all of his ridiculers.
19:02
He's staring down everyone right in the eyes,
19:05
those who are betraying him.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: And he tells them what?
19:08
SPEAKER_00: Father, forgive them.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
19:13
SPEAKER_00: Right there.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: Right there, their forgiveness was being wrought out.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: This is essentially what Jesus is saying.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: In the reservoir,
19:24
SPEAKER_00: in this well of my blood,
19:26
SPEAKER_00: which is being shed for you,
19:28
SPEAKER_00: that's how you are going to be made whole.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: That's how you are going to be absolved.
19:32
Because you see,
19:33
as Jesus was bleeding out,
19:35
so too was God's heart for you being poured out.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: His heart for sinners.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: His heart for the lost.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: As the racket intensifies,
19:45
As we read a few moments ago,
19:46
one of those companions in crucifixion joins in.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: Verse 39 again.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying,
19:55
SPEAKER_00: If thou be Christ,
19:57
SPEAKER_00: save thyself in us.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: Of course, he wasn't going to do that.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: But amid all of these insults and curses that are being thrown at him.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: He asks this criminal hanging next to Jesus.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: He asks what the crowd has been asking.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you just save yourself?
20:21
This is nothing but a last ditch effort to sort of cheat death
20:25
by this malefactor.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: Save his own skin if you can.
20:29
If you can do something,
20:30
hey,
20:31
if you can do something,
20:32
just do it already.
20:35
And this is when one of his other fellow criminals is maybe his
20:39
partner in crime,
20:39
who knows.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: He speaks up and he actually reprimands his fellow criminal.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 40.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: But the other.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: So the other criminal on Jesus' other side.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: Answering rebuked him.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: Saying, dost thou not fear God?
20:58
SPEAKER_00: Seeing thou art in the same condemnation.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: And we indeed justly.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: For we receive the due reward for our deeds.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: But this man has done nothing amiss.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: You see, the first criminal is concerned about himself.
21:15
This second criminal somehow is understanding that something
21:19
deeper is happening.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: Something deeper is going on in this moment, in that afternoon.
21:25
He perceives a difference in Jesus,
21:28
the man on the middle cross,
21:30
so to speak.
21:31
And while they were being hanged for crimes that they
21:35
definitely committed,
21:36
SPEAKER_00: that they were definitely guilty of,
21:38
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wasn't.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: He was being hanged even though he was innocent.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: And this thief recognized that.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: Somehow he recognized.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: But that the man in the middle.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't guilty of anything.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't getting what he deserved.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: While they were.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: They were getting what they deserved.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: And it leads him to plead with Jesus.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: To remember him.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 42.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: And he said unto the Lord Jesus.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Remember me.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: Remember me.
22:15
A lot of energy has been spent trying to figure out what this
22:20
thief knew or didn't know.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: Did he know that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah?
22:26
SPEAKER_00: Did he know or hear about Jesus' prophecies of resurrection?
22:30
Did he know about this kingdom that was supposedly coming that
22:33
Jesus was preaching about?
22:34
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
22:35
SPEAKER_00: Those are all unanswerable questions.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what he knew.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, those are questions that don't ultimately matter.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what he knew or how much.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter all of those things.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: It only matters who he knew.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: Who he trusted in.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: You see, this thief here is confessing.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Actually, it's a confession that's an expression of trust.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: Of hope.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: Beyond hope.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: That the man dying in the middle.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: That the man dying next to him was more than a mere man.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: Even if he didn't fully knew what that meant.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: He's putting his trust in that man.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: And his closeness to Jesus.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: Who is himself incarnate grace.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Who is God come down in the flesh.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: It brings about this surprising and sudden confession from this vagabond.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: From this criminal.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: He knew he was a sinner.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: The very worst kind.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: And he was dying for it.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: He was right on eternity's doorstep.
23:42
SPEAKER_00: And so he's essentially repenting.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: And he's flinging all of his faith, what little he had.
23:50
He's flinging all of it on the shoulders of this one who was
23:54
dying right next to him.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: Even though I've done wrong, he's essentially saying.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: Even though I don't deserve it.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Remember me.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Remember, notice the words again.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom again.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: It's a cry for pardon.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: It's a cry for relief.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: It's a cry for forgiveness.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: The very thing that Jesus was dying for.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answers this criminal.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: Verse 43.
24:24
And Jesus said to him,
24:26
Verily,
24:28
truly,
24:28
I say unto thee,
24:30
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: These,
24:36
SPEAKER_00: of course,
24:37
SPEAKER_00: are more words,
24:38
more inspired words that have sparked no shortage of debate
24:44
among biblical
24:45
SPEAKER_00: scholars.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus mean by today and what did he mean by paradise?
24:49
There's theories that abound and that go into all kinds of
24:52
crazy directions.
24:54
For my own part,
24:55
by the way,
24:55
I just think the simplest answer is the right answer.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: Today means right then and right there.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: In that exact moment, in the moment of death, he would be in eternity.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: In where?
25:09
Well,
25:09
as he says,
25:10
in paradise,
25:11
which literally can mean the place of blessedness.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: And in fact,
25:15
it's the same Greek word that's used to translate the Garden of
25:20
Eden in the Old
25:20
SPEAKER_00: Testament.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: It's paradise.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: It's the new Eden.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: It's the place where God dwells.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: That's where he would be.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: That's where he would be ushered into.
25:30
The dying son of God gives this dying thief upon his confession
25:36
of faith a
25:37
SPEAKER_00: beautiful assurance,
25:40
SPEAKER_00: a blessed assurance,
25:41
SPEAKER_00: if you will,
25:42
that he would be with him in the new Eden that Jesus was right
25:48
then and there
25:49
SPEAKER_00: establishing by his death and resurrection.
25:54
So when that criminal closed his eyes in death,
25:57
he would open them again in glory.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: What a thought.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: And the point is that this criminal is all of us.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: This criminal is all of us.
26:11
Maybe,
26:11
hopefully,
26:11
I'm not talking to someone who's committed some egregious
26:14
crimes.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: But we're all criminals of the law of God.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: This law that we've fallen short of.
26:23
And we all are pinning our hopes on a man who died in the
26:27
middle of two thieves.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: That's what our hope is pinned to.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: You know,
26:33
SPEAKER_00: a long time ago,
26:33
SPEAKER_00: a couple years ago,
26:34
I got dragged into this online debate with a friend about this
26:38
very moment.
26:39
My friend was insisting that what Jesus did for this thief was
26:43
some sort of
26:44
SPEAKER_00: exception to the rule.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: It was an outlier.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: This is not the way God usually works.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: After all, this thief, he didn't bear any fruit.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: He didn't join the church.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: He didn't grow in grace.
26:58
He didn't share any sort of opportunity to disciple other
27:03
people or be discipled himself.
27:05
He never got a chance to do anything that we would associate
27:09
with someone being a Christian.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: And yet Jesus pardons him anyways.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: Which, for my friend, meant that this was a special case.
27:21
This is one that we shouldn't be sort of always looking to as
27:25
the way God always works.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: Needless to say, I think my friend was wrong.
27:34
Jesus' forgiveness of the thief on the cross is how forgiveness
27:39
always works.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: Because the criminal next to Jesus did nothing.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: It is zilch.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: He did nothing to secure his spots in the good place, in paradise.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: He believed, and as faint as that belief was, Jesus said that'll do.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: Why?
27:59
SPEAKER_00: Why could he say that?
28:00
Precisely because Jesus was the one who was already doing
28:04
everything for that
28:05
SPEAKER_00: thief's salvation,
28:07
SPEAKER_00: as well as the soldier's salvation,
28:09
SPEAKER_00: as well as the mob's salvation,
28:11
SPEAKER_00: as well as his apostle's salvation,
28:13
SPEAKER_00: along with the whole world's salvation,
28:15
SPEAKER_00: along with you and mine.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: He was accomplishing it right then and there.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: He was doing everything necessary.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: He was buying every sinner's hope by shedding his own blood.
28:26
He was making peace with God for everyone who believes through
28:31
the blood of his cross.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: As Paul says in Colossians.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: He was enacting the good news.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Which Paul says in Ephesians 2 is what?
28:40
SPEAKER_00: By grace you are saved through faith and not of yourselves.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: It is the gift of God.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: A gift that can only be received.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: It can't be bought.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: It can't be earned.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: It can't be merited.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: It can't be won.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: It can only be received.
29:00
You see here,
29:00
right here in this moment in Luke chapter 23 is the heart of
29:05
SPEAKER_00: Of the good news.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Of God's son.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: As Paul says in Galatians chapter 1.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: Giving himself for our sins.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: That he might deliver us from this present evil world.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: According to the will of God.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: So yes.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: Although this thief.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: He was never baptized.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: He was never discipled.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: He was never memorized a single verse.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: He never attended church.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: Let alone a small group.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: He never did any Christian thing.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: Actually,
29:31
he probably did the most Christian thing there ever is that we
29:36
could ever do,
29:37
SPEAKER_00: which is repent and believe.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: That's what he did.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: And again, don't misunderstand me.
29:46
This doesn't mean that going to church or being in discipleship
29:49
groups or getting
29:50
SPEAKER_00: baptized or studying God's word are things that we can just set aside,
29:53
SPEAKER_00: that they're unimportant or trivial.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: No, actually, no, not at all.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: All of those things are privileges that we can relish in.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: They are gifts and blessings.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: That God delights to give us, to give his church.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: They are part,
30:09
SPEAKER_00: by the way,
30:10
they are part of the good works which God has before ordained
30:13
that we should walk
30:14
SPEAKER_00: in them.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: That's, by the way, later on in Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2.10.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: So in a way, we should pity this thief.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: Because he never got a chance to enjoy the fellowship of the redeemed.
30:27
He never got a chance to celebrate Christ in worship with
30:31
fellow believers.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: As we heard,
30:33
SPEAKER_00: hearing the word,
30:34
he never got a chance to fellowship with other believers with
30:37
the blessing and
30:38
SPEAKER_00: outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: He never got to grow in grace with fellow sinners.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: But the point is this.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: It's that age-old question.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: If you were to die right now,
30:55
SPEAKER_00: And you were to be ushered into eternity.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: What evidence would you point to that you are saved?
31:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm saved because.
31:03
What would you say if you were asked to give proof that you are
31:09
a son or a daughter
31:11
SPEAKER_00: of the living God?
31:13
SPEAKER_00: What would you point to?
31:14
SPEAKER_00: What would you say?
31:15
SPEAKER_00: This is why I should be allowed entry.
31:19
SPEAKER_00: Pointing to baptism is not going to cut it.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: Pointing to how many scriptures you've memorized won't do.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: How many Awana badges you had on your ribbon.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: Pointing out all the things that you do in church.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to suffice.
31:35
Pointing to anything other than the Son of God dying on a cross
31:43
for you is wrong.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: We're pointing to the wrong answer.
31:47
Whatever you might have done in hopes of getting in God's good
31:51
graces isn't going to cut it.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: That's how strict God's law is.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't just accept good effort.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: It demands perfection.
32:00
And up against that,
32:02
we are just as hopeless as this thief dying on a cross.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: Because we deserve death.
32:09
SPEAKER_00: That's what our sins are due.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: That's our wage, Romans 6.23 says.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: But like this thief,
32:17
SPEAKER_00: even our very weak and pitiful cries of confession and faith,
32:22
SPEAKER_00: what are they greeted with?
32:23
The words of relief and forgiveness that is sure that you are
32:28
remembered and
32:29
SPEAKER_00: redeemed only because of what Christ did for you on the cross.
32:34
Your forgiveness and mine is sure and is certain because Christ
32:38
has died and risen again.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: I'll give myself an amen.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: He has finished the work of salvation.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: It's done.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: Making it so that the very worst are welcome to believe in him.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: As it says in Hebrews.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: For salvation to the uttermost.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: There's no end to the lengths to which his salvation will go.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: He can save the worst because he took the place of the worst.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: When he went to the cross.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: And he swallows up every last drop of judgment that you deserved.
33:13
SPEAKER_00: See, the good news is that there is no judgment awaiting for you.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: That God's son hasn't already endured for you.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: He's born at all.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: Your record is clear.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: My friends, your slate is clean.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: It is washed in blood.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: The verdict has been heard.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: Romans 8.1 No condemnation.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: That's the announcement of the judge.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: No condemnation.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
33:43
SPEAKER_00: There is no trying a case twice in that court.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: Your case is at risk of being reopened or re-adjudicated.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: It is finished.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: Your state,
33:59
SPEAKER_00: your status before the Heavenly Father,
34:01
SPEAKER_00: before the King of glory and of all creation,
34:04
SPEAKER_00: it is sure and certain because of Jesus.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: Your hope of forgiveness is sure.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: Case closed.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: Because of him.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: And this isn't something we have to work our way into.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: It's not something that we have to win by effort.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: It's yours by faith, by believing.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: Remember me, the thief said.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, you will be with me.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: It's yours.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: This gift of salvation is yours.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: And what Jesus has already accomplished.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: What a hope.
34:41
You know,
34:42
I've said before,
34:43
and this is the thing that I've been in church a long time.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm a younger guy.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: I don't feel young.
34:51
If you talk to me,
34:52
you'll know that my wife and I,
34:54
we both have fake joints.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, I have a fake knee.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: I tore my ACL a couple of years ago and I have a fake knee.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: So I feel older than I look.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: Because my knees feel like I'm in my 70s or something like that.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, that's beside the point.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: I've been in church a lot.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: Being a grandson of a pastor and a son of a pastor.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: I've seen a lot of church people.
35:20
SPEAKER_00: I've seen a lot of church people come and go.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: Some of my friends.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: Come to church and they don't go to church anymore.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: I've seen people stay in church for a long time.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: But have you ever seen those people?
35:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to say you're one of them.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: But have you seen the people in church?
35:38
SPEAKER_00: And they're singing, let's say, Count Your Many Blessings.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: And they're singing it with just the most Eeyore facial expression.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: I feel like some folks in church...
35:52
They leave church or they stay in church,
35:55
but they're never really happy in church.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: Because they feel like they got to earn it.
36:02
They're constantly white knuckling and wringing their hands
36:05
over the next thing they got to do.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: And now they leave church because they feel like, man, what's the point?
36:11
SPEAKER_00: I can't do any of this.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Or they're there and they're trying their best.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: But man, are they sour.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: My friends,
36:22
SPEAKER_00: your assurance is the most life-giving,
36:26
SPEAKER_00: joy-giving word you could ever have imagined.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: There is Jesus on the cross and he says, Father, forgive them.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: There's Jesus remembering you, redeeming you.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: By staying on the cross,
36:45
by having his hands split apart by nails and having his head be
36:50
gassed with thorns.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: There is Jesus buying your blessed assurance.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: We of all people should be the most free and happy.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying put on a fake smile.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying deep down in your soul.
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SPEAKER_00: Remember that old kid's song?
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SPEAKER_00: I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
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SPEAKER_00: Where?
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SPEAKER_00: Down in my heart.
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SPEAKER_00: And they do that a couple times.
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I think this has often been said,
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and maybe Kenny's even said this before.
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SPEAKER_00: Children's songs are very profound and deep.
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SPEAKER_00: Children's songs are sometimes better than adult songs.
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SPEAKER_00: The joy down in your heart is what?
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SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus taking our place on the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: Talk about something that gives us joy.
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SPEAKER_00: That we are forgiven at the foot of the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: Maybe we should start living like forgiven people.
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Living like forgiveness isn't something that we're hoping to
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one day acquire.
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Living as if forgiveness is something that we're hoping we can
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work our way back into.
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Living as if this thing called forgiveness is something that
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maybe one day we'll
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SPEAKER_00: get to experience.
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SPEAKER_00: My friend, right now you are forgiven in Christ.
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SPEAKER_00: Right now you are forgiven.
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And as you walk out of those doors,
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you're walking out as forgiven people.
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SPEAKER_00: The forgiven sons and daughters of God.
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SPEAKER_00: So yes, we can be the most worship-filled people.
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SPEAKER_00: Joy filled people.
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SPEAKER_00: Despite whatever else is going on in the world.
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SPEAKER_00: Because we were remembered.
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SPEAKER_00: And we were redeemed.
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SPEAKER_00: By the man who died on the middle cross.
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SPEAKER_00: Christ the son of God.
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SPEAKER_00: Who stayed there for you.
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SPEAKER_00: And of course the bright and blessed hope is what?
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SPEAKER_00: What we're going to celebrate in a few weeks.
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SPEAKER_00: That he didn't stay on the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: And he didn't stay on the tomb.
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SPEAKER_00: The tomb is empty.
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SPEAKER_00: And now our hope is sure forevermore.
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SPEAKER_00: My friends, you are forgiven at the foot of the cross.
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SPEAKER_00: May we live as forgiven sinners.
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SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.