THE THEOLOGY OF THE DYING THIEF

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: LUKE 23:39-45



INTRODUCTION:


  1. Seven hundred years before Calvary, the prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be "numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many" (Isa.53:12).
  2. This was fulfilled when our Lord was hung between two thieves – He was "numbered with the transgressors." And He certainly "bare the sin of many."
  3. This is just one of many prophecies that were fulfilled that day.
  4. Few years ago our church hosted the NYC Baptist Pastors’ Fellowship. It was held out in the tent and it was a very good meeting.
  5. One of the preachers was Dr. Arthur Houk, and his message was entitled, "The Theology of the Dying Thief." I wonder how many heard that message.
  6. The title grabbed me right away and the message was good. I jotted down the outline in the margin of my Bible for future use.
  1. HE BELIEVED IN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD (23:40)
  2. HE BELIEVED THAT HE WAS A SINNER (23:41)
  3. HE BELIEVED IN DIVINE RETRIBUTION (23:41)
  4. HE BELIEVED IN THE SINLESSNESS OF CHRIST (23:41)
  5. HE BELIEVED IN SALVATION (23:42)
  6. HE BELIEVED IN THE CONCIOUSNESS OF THE FUTURE STATE (23:42)
  1. HE BELIEVED IN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD (23:40).
    1. The repentant thief rebuked the unrepentant thief, saying: "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?" (23:40).
    2. Two thousand years ago, this dying thief (this repentant thief) said something that bears repeating today, "Dost thou fear God?"
    3. The apostle Paul describes vividly how the whole world is guilty before God, and in Romans 3:18 he says: "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
    4. David wrote, "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether" (Psalm 19:9).
    5. His son Solomon wrote: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Pro.1:7).
    6. And, "For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD" (Pro.1:29).
    7. Many other Scriptures could be cited. Perhaps this dying thief was familiar with them; perhaps he was not. But he understood that he had been wrong for mocking our Lord (cf. Matt.27:38,44; Mark 15:32).
    8. He believed in the existence of God and he believed in the fear of God (Luke 23:39,40).
  1. HE BELIEVED THAT HE WAS A SINNER (23:41).
    1. The repentant thief said to the other thief, "And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds (sins)" (23:41).
    2. No one had to take time to explain to this dying thief that he was a wicked sinner.
    3. The Bible says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom.3:23).
    4. And the Bible also says "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek.18:4).
    5. And here he was dying on a Roman cross with only minutes to live. No one had to explain what Ezekiel 18:4 means. He was experiencing it. No one needed to explain Romans 6:23, ‘For the wages of sin is death…"
    6. Which brings us to my next point.
  1. HE BELIEVED IN DIVINE RETRIBUTION.
    1. The dying thief said, "For we receive the due reward of our deeds" (Luke 23:41). All throughout the Bible we see the principle of divine retribution (cf. Gal.6:7,8).
    2. This dying thief was hanging there on the cross and he admitted that he deserved it. He made no excuses. He did not try and shift the blame on others. He did not blame his parents or his friends or society. He offered no alibis or sad stories of a difficult upbringing.
    3. One of my brothers used to be the assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn. He said he was tired of all the ridiculous excuses criminals made for their wicked behaviour. It was always some one else’s fault – their upbringing, the police, their friends, society, etc.
    4. But the dying thief simply admitted he was a poor lost sinner. And let me remind you no one can ever get saved until he first admits he is lost, undone, wicked, and deserving of hell (cf. Pro.28:13,14).
    5. The other (unrepentant) thief "hardened his heart" and he sealed his own fate. Soon he slipped off into the eternal fires of hell.
    6. Oh the horror he must have experienced as he considered: "I was right next to the Lord! The other thief repented and was gloriously saved! But I would not repent and now I must suffer for all eternity! Oh the folly of my unbelief! Oh the horror of eternal damnation!"
  1. HE BELIEVED IN THE SINLESSNESS OF CHRIST (23:41).
    1. After acknowledging his guilt, the dying thief said, "But this man hath done nothing amiss" (Luke 23:41).
    2. Apparently Pilate’s wife came to the same conclusion (Matt.27:19). If only Pontius Pilate had listened to his wife! He might be in heaven today instead of hell!
    3. The dying thief recognized this before it was too late. He said, "But this man hath done nothing amiss" (Luke 23:41).
    4. The dying thief understood that the Lord Jesus Christ was the sinless Son of God (cf. II Cor.5:21; Heb.4:15; I Peter 2:22; I John 3:5).
    5. Notice also he called Him "Lord" (Luke 23:42).
  1. HE BELIEVED IN SALVATION.
    1. It is amazing to me how many people there are who claim to be Christian and yet do not understand the doctrine of salvation.
    2. People try and make salvation complicated. But the Bible says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom.10:13). The dying thief simply said, "Lord, remember me" (Luke 23:42). He called upon the name of the Lord and was saved.
    3. Unsaved friend: salvation is not complicated. The Bible says, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa.53:5,6).
    4. This world is filled with wicked sinners who deserve to go to hell. But God in His mercy and grace sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins on the cross. And if a sinner believes in Christ he will find forgiveness of sin and eternal life (Acts 16:31).
    5. Salvation is instantaneous. It is not a long, drawn-out process. Our Lord said to the dying thief, "Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43).
    6. The JW’s twist this Scripture to mean, "I say unto thee today – Thou shalt be with me in paradise (some day but not too soon)." But that’s not what our Lord said. He said: "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43).
    7. This dying thief believed God would save him and take him to heaven. And God did. Notice our Lord did not say, "Today shalt thou go to purgatory" (cf. Luke 23:43).
    8. This dying thief did not believe in "soul sleep." He believed God would save him and take him right to heaven.
    9. I love that old hymn, "There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood Drawn From Immanuel’s Veins." "And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains…The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day; And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away."
    10. Some churches teach you have to be baptized in order to get into heaven. The dying thief was not baptized. He did not have the opportunity to get baptized (cf. John 3:16).
    11. This dying thief was saved by the grace of God, not by his good works. How foolish to teach salvation by works! What good works did this condemned criminal perform?
    12. The Bible says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph.2:8,9).
    13. The dying thief was saved by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what about you? Are you saved?
  1. HE BELIEVED IN THE CONCIOUSNESS OF THE FUTURE STATE (23:42).
    1. He believed in the future kingdom of God (23:42). He believed in a future paradise (23:43).
    2. Many people today say that you die and they bury you and that’s it. No, that’s just the beginning. The dying thief understood this. Unsaved friend, do you understand this?

CONCLUSION:

  1. One day many years ago a preacher was talking to a young man about his need for salvation. The young man brushed him off and said: "I’ll get saved at the last moment just like the thief on the cross."
  2. The preacher reminded the young man that there were two thieves and that he could very well end up like the unrepentant thief who went to hell.
  3. The Lord used that reminder, and the young man got saved.
  4. The devil likes to fool people into thinking they have plenty of time when in fact they are getting closer and closer to the raging fires of hell.
  5. David Livingstone, the famous missionary to Africa, was once attacked by a lion. The lion pinned him to the ground and started breathing on him. Livingston survived the attack and said later that the breath of the lion soothed him to sleep. Beloved, the Bible says the devil is a roaring lion and he is soothing sinners to sleep!
  6. The great evangelist George Whitefield wrote in his journal that during his first voyage to Georgia he tried to witness to the ship’s cook, a man with a bad drinking problem.
  7. When Whitefield and others reproved the drunken cook he boasted that he would continue on in sin until the last day of his life. Then he would repent and get things right with God.
  8. What he did not realize was that was the last day of his life. Whitefield wrote in his journal that the man got sick and died six hours later from an illness related to his heavy drinking.

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