SO NEAR YET SO FAR

(Luke 23:39-43)
Date: ____________________

Read Luke 23:39-43 In Alice in Wonderland, Alice comes to a fork in the

road. She asks the Cheshire Cat, Would you please tell me which way I
ought to go from here? He replies, That depends on where you want to
go. Alice replies, I dont much care where. The cat replies, Then it
doesnt matter which way you go. Sooner or later, we all come to a fork in
the road the Cross. Only 2 directions lead away. Our text advises: Dont
treat lightly the decision that is going to determine your eternal destiny.

All Scripture is sacred, but this one is amazing. Outside Jesus resurrection, it
holds more hope than any other. How can a wicked man be within minutes of
death, mocking his only hope, still end up in heaven? Amazing grace!

Urgency is on display here. Two reprobates are being crucified beside a third
some religious fanatic. Their hope has run out. No one is going to ride in on
a white horse and save them as Lancelot did Queen Guinevere when she was
condemned to burn for her sins in Camelot. Hopes gone! Yet within hours,
one is heaven, the other in hell. Their fates have diverged with a suddenness
and thoroughness and finality that is mind-boggling. How could that be?

Well, the man in the middle made all the difference. No one else could have
brought hope to that hill. There is no greater illustration in history of the
saving power of Christ. So we have 3 men 3 crosses and 3 very different
endings to instruct us the Rejecter, the Repenter and the Redeemer.

I. The Rejecter

The Rejecter. In desperation he challenges Jesus: 39 One of the criminals who

were hanged railed at him, saying, Are you not the Christ [Messiah]? Save
yourself and us! If youre really the Messiah, heres how Ill know. Save
yourself and us. Thats pretty in-your-face, but reasonable! If youre real,
prove it! What would a Messiah be doing hanging on a cross? If youre
who you claim, prove it! Rescue us! Messiahs dont hang on crosses!

Remember The Matrix? A guy named Neo is the One the Messiah whos
going to lead the human race out of bondage to machines. But the bad guy,
Cypher, disables all Neos colleagues and is about to kill Neo. He says, If he
is the chosen one the messiah, I shouldnt be able to kill him. But Im
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going to kill him bc he is not the one. But then Tank, regains consciousness
and zaps Cypher. Why? Because the moviemakers agree. If Neo dies he cant
be the one. Messiah cant die. Thered be no movie. Thats the human
perspective. Thats the Rejecter. Theres only one way Ill believe youre
the Messiah. Save yourself and me. Gods way, rez, never occurred to him.

But havent we all prayed that same prayer. Something goes wrong in your
life. Disaster strikes. Youre fired. Your son is badly injured. Its
cancer. First words out of our mouths: God, if youre real, here is how Ill
know. Fix this. Just like the thief. You may have considered faith a bunch of
bunk. But in that waiting room, there you are! God, if youre there, save this
person. Get me out of this, my way. Then Ill know youre real.

So, if Jesus could, why didnt He rescue them? Bc. What the thief doesnt see
is the only hope he has for salvation is if Jesus stays there. He doesnt get
that. He cant see beyond this life. He doesnt see, if Jesus leaves the cross,
there is no atonement; no redemption; no forgiveness and no eternal life.
But Jesus sees it; He refuses physical rescue so He could rescue him
spiritually. The thief says, Heres how Ill know that you are God. Make my
life go the way I know it needs to go. And by His silence Jesus is saying,
Heres is how Ill show you that I am God. I will stay here so you can have
the possibility of eternal life. Thats the way your life really needs to go.

Asking God to prove Himself is a no-win game. He already did that. He is

more interested in our eternal destiny than in physical rescue. The railing
thief didnt get that and as a consequence he missed both physical and
spiritual salvation. True faith doesnt trust God to do exactly what I ask; it
trusts God to do what I would ask if I knew everything He knows. Rejecters
assume they know better than God; believers assume God knows best.

II. The Repenter

The turnaround of this man in 3 hours is mind-blowing. He came to the cross

mocking Jesus with the crowd: Mt 27: 44 And the robbers who were crucified
with him also reviled him in the same way. But hours later He commits his
whole eternal existence to Jesus. This is pure grace. Like all believers he was
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4a). So, God at
the last possible moment removes the blinders, implants faith in his heart and
saves his soul. He absorbed more theology in 3 hours than most people do in
a lifetime. But this progression of grace also has a 3-fold human dynamic.

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 A. He Recognizes God for Who He is He didnt care before; he
does now. So as the 1st thief mocks Jesus, the 2nd responds, v. 40: Do you not
fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? Light has
penetrated his hard heart. He sees God is not to be challenged but feared. He
sees himself and his colleague under sentence of condemnation, meaning God,
not Rome. Hes condemned by a holy God he is about to face as Judge.

Psa 111:10) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who
practice it have a good understanding. Wisdom starts with a healthy fear of
the God to whom we will all give account! You say, But I thought God is
love. Surely we have nothing to fear from Him. Well, God is love. But for
Gods love, this man would not be having this 11th hour opportunity. But for
Gods love, Jesus would not be dying for his sins right next to him. I Jn 4:10 In
this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. This man was seeing the greatest act of
love in the history of the world being enacted within inches of himself.

But God is more than love. God is also holy. God is also just. God is also the
judge of every person who ever lived. Heb 9:27: It is appointed for man to
die once, and after that comes judgment. Rom 14:12 So then each of us will
give an account of himself to God. Thru a mind clouded by pain and he saw
that while God loved him, hed be judged by Gods standard of perfection.

Not long ago Nike sold a t-shirt that said, There is no finish line. Wouldnt
that be nice?! No accountability. No reckoning. No judgment. Just a God who
loves us and exempts us in the end. But this thief recognized there is a finish
line, and hes nearly there. At the end is a God who loves him, but whom he
has repeatedly violated. Salvation starts with a good dose of fear of the Lord.

B. He Recognizes Himself for Who He is condemned by his

own actions, words and deeds. V. 40: Do you not fear God, since you are
under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are
receiving the due reward of our deeds. These are the words of true
repentance. My guilt is real. My condemnation deserved. My sentence just.
No excuses. No mitigating circumstances. Not blaming a harsh teacher, absent
father, intimidating friends just true heartfelt confession and repentance.

The Rejecter has none of this, but its exactly what God requires: Psa 51:
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O

God, you will not despise. Excuses are meaningless to a perfect Judge.
Negotiations not allowed, nor challenges to prove His Person and worth. Only
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repentance unleashes His saving power: Isa 66:2b: But this is the one to
whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my
word. Repentance will only come when we see how undone we really are.

You say, Im not like that thief. Maybe not, but God has a similar verdict
for all: Isa 53:6: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every to
his own way. We dont have to be a murderer or rapist to be guilty before
God. All it takes is our daily penchant to go our own way with no regard for
Him. We minimize. Like the 4-year old girl scolded by Dad. Shortly after, she
knocked on his office door and said, Daddy, its like this. Sometimes I am
good, and sometimes I am bad. And that is just the way it is. And thats the
way it is for all of us but thats exactly what makes us lost to God.

C. He Recognizes Jesus for Who He is How could this man

look at the bleeding, naked man next to him and see a Savior? Dont know,
but he saw V. 41c: this man has done nothing wrong. He saw that Jesus
was no criminal. Did he know it went deeper than that that He was the
spotless lamb of God sent to take away the sin of the world by taking it upon
himself? Perhaps not that much, but he knew this. He saw a Deliverer. So he
asks, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. The intimacy
is astounding. Even the disciples didnt call him Jesus. They called Him Rabbi
or Teacher or Lord. But the thief called Him Jesus and humbly requested that
Jesus remember him. With almost nothing to go on, he realizes theres a life to
come, and Jesus is his only hope for salvation in that life.

He mustve heard: Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Did
that light the fire in his heart? Were not told. But we know that while one
thief demanded that Jesus save his skin, but other pleaded with Jesus to save
his soul. At the last second, he found a Redeemer, and while his physical life
was about to end, his eternal life had just begun, Jesus says in Jn 5:24 Truly,
truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has
eternal life. Never was that more true than for this repentant thief.

D. L. Moody went to the city jail to preach on night. He stood at the head of a
long, narrow passageway to address 300-400 men while they remained in their
cells none able to see him. After preaching he began to visit cell by cell. At
the first cell, he found 2 men, both of whom claimed to be in jail because of a
false witness. Moody thought, "Christ cannot save anybody here; there is
nobody lost." At the next cell he found a man who claimed a lookalike had
committed a crime for which he was jailed. At a third cell he found a man who
said, I got into bad company. They robbed a store and got away; I took the
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fall. Moody thought, I never saw so many innocent men in my whole life.
Finally he found a man with tears running down his cheeks. Moody asked if
he wanted forgiveness. He said, Oh, my sins are too great. I have sinned all
my life. Even the Lord Jesus would not forgive me. Moody shared Isa 1:18)
Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they
shall become like wool. He told of the thief on the cross who sinned all his
life, and the blinders came off. The man invited Jesus to save him. His
confession of sin freed Jesus to save him, just like the thief. Amazing grace.

III. The Redeemer

Jesus responds to the repentant plea of the 2nd thief. 43 And he said to him,
Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise. Wow! That guy
was thinking distant kingdom; long ways out. Jesus tells him: No friend. Not
far; not long. Today in just a few minutes youll be with me in heaven.
How could Jesus do that? Bc He was about to pay for the sins of that repentant
thief. So He could tell him, For you, the kingdom starts right now. And in
just a few minutes you and I will enter together into the Fathers presence.
What did he do to deserve that? Nothing. He couldnt! It was all Jesus. Jesus
took his sins, so he could have Jesus righteousness, like every true believer.

Suppose we get a copy of my official transcript not from high school or

college but from heaven. The news is not good. I have flunked every course.
Seeking God F. Doing good selflessly F. Obeying God F. Keeping the
law F. Being Perfect F. Bad news! But its the same for every student from
Adam on some worse than others, but all Fs. All except one. The second
Adam. The 33-year-record of Jesus. All As. Class valedictorian. Never an F,
all As. The lesson of the cross is this. All my Fs were all transferred to Him.
All His As were transferred to me! He paid the penalty for my failures; I got
credit for His perfection! Priceless! Thats what happened to that thief the
moment his heart reached out in faith to Jesus. Jesus forgave him all his Fs
and gave Him all Jesus As. The Redeemer saved the Repenter.

Conc Implications abound from this true story. It shows its never too late -
- a lifelong sinner can come to Christ at the 11th hour and find forgiveness. It
shows salvation is by grace alone thru faith alone. No baptism, no good
works; no confirmation. Just faith. It shows the fallacy of purgatory. Jesus
says, today you will be with me in Paradise, not after a few thousand years
of purging your soul. That this wicked man hanging by a thread could in one
moment repent and be cleansed is amazingly good news. No other religion on
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earth can offer a hope and certainty of salvation like this. Acts 4:12: There is
salvation in no one else only the Mediator in the middle the Redeemer.

But dont think, Ill continue writing my own script until Im near the end.
Then Ill submit to Jesus. You never will. The habits you build now are the
ones youll die with. This is your moment. It will never be easier. Lord Byron
waited. He packed more pleasure into 36 years than most of us will in a
lifetime. But near the end he wrote: The thorns I have reaped are of the tree
I planted. / They have torn me and I bleed. / I should have known what fruit
would spring / from such a tree. As he lived, so he died, saying on his
deathbed, Shall I sue for mercy? Come, come, no weakness; lets be a man
to the last. The habits of a lifetime. Ill do it my way! Dont wait. The
likelihood of you coming to Christ gets less every time you say, Later.
Now is the day of salvation (I Cor 6:2b), not later.

None of us know when our number will be up. A young sailor in England was
arriving back home after months at sea. He couldnt wait to see his family. As
the ship neared its landing point he jumped for the dock. But the ship moved
slightly. His jump was just short and he was crushed between ship and dock.
When his mother saw his mangled body she cried: So near and yet so far.

Look at those 3 crosses again one last time because you see, were all there.
The Redeemer continues to offer His righteousness for our sin to all who will
ask in faith. Meanwhile all of us end up on one cross or the other. The
Repenter dies to self, repents his sin and receives the perfection of Jesus as
though it were his own and ends up on heaven on what started as the worst
day of his life. The Rejecter mocks the Redeemer, cant see beyond this life
and dies in his sin. Salvation is inches away and he misses it. So near and
yet so far! Could that be you? Please dont let that be you. Lets pray.