The Two Thieves

And that’s a quotation from Isaiah 53 verse number 12, which says, therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul into death, and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bear the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Now, it’s not only the fact that it fulfills the the scripture that Jesus would be numbered with the transgressors but that very statement itself reflects the truth of the gospel that we see being played out and being lived out in in the story of the crucifixion because the lord was indeed numbered with the transgressors. That is he was counted as a transgressor. So, if if if we were to look at that scene from some distance, we would not see Jesus in the middle, we would see only three crosses.

We would only see three transgressors and indeed our lord was a transgressor not his own transgressions but it was our transgressions. And so that’s the significance of the idea of him being numbered with the transgressors. He was counted as one of us, that he might die for us and take our place and that’s what we spent time talking about this morning when we were talking about the Romans and how that they treated him and so, we move a little bit for further because I want to show you what the scripture says about these about these these thieves. Now, we have the benefit as we read Luke 23. We have the benefit of retrospect because we know the entirety of the story. We know what happens to these thieves and we know how that they how that one of them repents and so, as we look at what the thieves say and do, we can we can look back and it helps us to understand where they’re coming from and their perspective and it helps us to understand the truth of scripture even better and the thing I want you to see and the the thing we have to get nailed down is what we saw in Matthew was that both of the thieves on either side of the lord Jesus. When they were right after, they were crucified.

Both of the thieves were jeering and both of the thieves were taunting the lord Jesus Christ. It’s not, it was not one of the thieves was a good thief who got into a bad way and the other thief was a bad thief. No, both of them were the were essentially as far as we know, the same. They were both worthy of death and were getting according to the law, they were getting what they had earned.

And so it’s important to nail that down before we get to Luke because in Luke we see something something changes. Something changes. So, let’s look at Luke 23 starting in verse number 39. And one of the male factors which which hanged, which were hanged, railed on him, saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, does not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Now you see, comparing what we see in Luke to what we see in Matthew, here’s something we we we can we can focus on and we can take from this story. Is that one of the thieves changed his mind, right? One of the thieves changed his mind. That’s that is so important for us to get.

Now, one of the thieves did not but they started in the same place but by the end of the story, I don’t know how long this was. This is before the darkness fell. So, this is the darkness was there for three hours. So this was would have been somewhere between nine and noon that these the that this thief had a change of heart. And that change of heart is although the word is not mentioned in the passage, that change of heart is what we call repentance.

Alright, that’s what we see by example even though the word is not mentioned in this passage, we see that that thing, that doctrine, that truth played out and sometimes that’s a better teacher than having the word actually used because sometimes we we have our own definitions of these words and and it’s good to see these examples and let me encourage you. When you try to when you try to witness to people and you’re trying to explain the truths of the gospel, one of the one of the most effective ways both for you as the witness and for the hearer, one of the most effective ways that you can convey truth is through a biblical example. Amen. And there are few biblical examples better than this one.

The thief on the cross. There are few biblical example examples better because this touches, this one instant touches so many truths that you can illustrate with this one example. And I hope to show you some of those. But the first thing I want you to see is I want you to see the nature of true repentance. The nature of true repentance. Now, this man, as I said, exercised true repentance because you don’t have to look any further than compare what he said at the beginning to what he’s saying now. Something has changed and the idea of repentance is a change. Alright, that’s the core truth. The idea of repentance is a change.

Now, notice what he focuses on. Compare what the two thieves focus on. In verse number 39, and one of the male factors which were hanged railed on him saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us but the other answering rebuked him saying, does not thou thou fear god seeing thou art in the same condemnation. Now, take the one thief, the unrepentant thief. What is he concerned about? What does he he he taunt? How does he taunt the lord Jesus? What is he hoping?

Now I say hope, he’s he’s of course just jeering, but what is what is the subject of his taunt? It is it is he’s he’s hoping for and mentioning the deliverance from his temporal circumstance. You see that? He he says, save thyself and us. He’s not talking about salvation of the soul. This man is only saying, get me off of this cross. If you can save yourself, save us. Get me off of this cross. So the the second thief, the repentant thief has a different thing on his mind.

He has a different thing on his mind. Now you can see that because in verse number verse number 41 he says, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And then he says, Lord, unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. So, this the repentant thief, the second thief, is this man thinking about getting deliverance off of the cross? He he maybe at one time he was, a few hours ago he was, but now he’s not. Now, he’s not. You see, his focus is on his sin and his guilt And that’s where true repentance starts to grow.

His focus is on his sin and his guilt. And we can see that by his confession. He’s not saying, Lord, just get get me out of this situation or or just just buy me some time. No, he’s he’s concerned about where he stands with god. In fact, he asked the man, he asked the other thief. He says, do you not fear god? Which implies that he himself has the fear of God has come upon him. Let that be a way that you pray for those that you pray for. When we went out yesterday, one thing we prayed, Lord, would you please cause the fear of God to come on people? When I was witnessing to that lady yesterday, the lady Sunshine in James, that’s one thing I pointed out to her is you need the fear of God. That’s the difference between the one thief and the other thief is the one has no fear of God, the other does.

So, something has changed. And you can see by what he says, that what’s in the forefront of his mind as he’s coming to this place of repentance, what’s in the forefront of his mind is not if he’s sick or if he’s well, it is not the fact that he’s hanging on a cross. You would think. You would think if a man’s hanging on a cross, he wouldn’t be able to think about anything else but here he is.

Here he is. Brother Jim, you you when you preach in the jail or that secret place that nobody knows where you go. When you’re there, what is usually on these people’s minds? It’s usually jail, right? And that’s actually can be a barrier, can it not? Because that’s all that’s in front of them. But when when when you come with when you come to true repentance, it’s not just the temporal situation, You know, the fix. Oftentimes, the bad situation, the the evil effect of our sin, the reaping of our our ways is what brings us to that place, but we can’t focus on the evil of those things that at some point, we have to start looking at where am I with god?

What does god think of my sin and my breaking of his law? You see, that’s that’s what he’s thinking about. Now, here’s the danger, is sometimes people are thinking about some carnal or earthly matter, but they’re using the same words. Like they’ll use the word saved, but they’re not thinking about saved like you’re thinking about saved, they’re thinking about like when, I mean just as an example, verse 39, the the first thief says, save thyself and us.

He says the word save, but he is not wanting salvation from sin. In fact, let me I dare say this, if Jesus had delivered him, and he was to just just miraculously be freed from that and set free, what do you think that first thief would have done? I think he would have gone right back to his life of sin.

That’s the result of false repentance where you get immediate temporal deliverance. That’s the result of that. This second thief though is also looking on eternal things. He knows he’s gonna die, he’s given up on that. And it says here, he says, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, in verse 42. This man’s focus is on eternal things. He’s looking beyond death. You see this? He’s looking beyond death. His eyes are on where he is with God, his sin, his guilt, the justice he’s getting, and what’s gonna happen to him after this is over.

That’s what he’s thinking about. You see, one way when you’re when you’re witnessing to someone, one way that you can kinda see where they’re at is what they’re thinking about and sometimes it’s hard to tell.

So, the one thief was looking for temporal salvation from his immediate punishment and suffering, and his concern was not for what had brought him here, but only how to escape from it.

But the second thief was not even asking for temporal deliverance, but for an eternal deliverance. Let me read you this quote, this is a good quote. And this deals with repentance because the the biblical truth is repentance from sin is a necessary part of salvation. Because it and I’ll I’ll I’ll explain that further in just a Because it orients the heart toward God and sin rightly, so that a person can receive Christ in the right in the right frame of mind. Because if if there If if it’s not there, then then there’s no way to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in the correct way.

So, listen to this quote. The question of our sin, that is our moral guilt before god and our transgression of his law is not a question that can be ignored when we come to god.

We cannot come to God apart from this question. Coming to God must be done so in context of our sinfulness in his sight. To ignore our moral guilt is to only deceive ourselves that god will receive us without addressing that question. Often, people try and come to god with other things on their minds such as illness or some peril or some misfortune, in this case a cross, or some dreadful consequence of their own sin.

This is not what the first thief did. And this explains why some people quote, get saved and are not truly converted. They say they believe in Christ and they pray the sinner’s prayer sincerely, but they’re just not converted. You know why? Because their mind was on this instead of on God, their guilt, sin against him, and eternal things. See, that’s where the mind must be when you talk about repentance.

The question of our sin and our guilt before God cannot be ignored. It is on this man’s mind. Now notice what it says here in verse 41, he says, and we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds. Another sign of repentance is, I deserve this. I deserve this. I deserve not only this temporal punishment because of the temporal crime, but I deserve also the judgment that comes from God because of this thing.

He feared God, he accepted his punishment as just. Now at some point, some people get confused on this idea of repentance. Has been misconstrued that repentance is changing your life. Let me just make this perfectly clear, it’s again, I don’t have to explain it, it’s in living color in front of us. Repentance does not mean changing your life.

If that were the case, God’s saying repent and believe the gospel, that’s what Jesus said, right? Repent and believe the gospel, he said that. Then that would mean change your life and then believe the gospel and you’ll be saved. Well that’s a form of work salvation. That’s not where repentance is. That’s not where repentance is.

The changing of the life is the fruit of repentance. Repentance, like faith, is something that’s inside the heart, and I’ll show it to you. But it does produce fruit, just like faith produces fruit that comes out in the life. But repentance itself is in the heart. When Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel, that’s something that’s taking place in the heart, but it produces fruit. That’s why John said in Matthew chapter three verse eight, he says, bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. That is fruits, actual lifestyle changes that are consistent with what you say you’re doing which is repenting.

Right? So, the works and the repentance are actually distinct. They’re related but they’re distinct. So, some people say, well, repentance is not necessary for a person to come to Christ. You just need to believe but you don’t actually need to to deal with the issue of your sin or or some people and this is where the confusion comes because some people say, well then, that’s you’re saying a person has to change their life in order to be saved. No, that’s not where repentance is. But they do have to deal with their attitude in their heart toward their sin. That is something that has to be front and center and it is illustrated in this man. That is what he’s thinking about.

I’m guilty. I deserve this. I did it. I’m in trouble with God. Isn’t that simple? That’s what’s in his mind. But say I said, well you just have to do these things reform your life and then you can believe and be saved. Well, what part of that did that man do? What works can this man do?

Can he, if that’s what it means to repent, that you start, you know, you give up all the evil things you’re doing and you stop doing them and then you have a probationary period like we were talking about in Sunday school and and all of that. If that’s the case, how can he do that? He can’t. What he Even though he can’t show really show the fruit of repentance because he’s literally nailed to a cross, the man can absolutely repent. And he did, because it happened in his heart when he finally said, I’m in big trouble with God.

I deserve this. That’s the repentance we see. Here’s the difference, had he been delivered, do you think his life would have been different than the life of the other thief post cross, not that that’s a thing, but if were, yeah, it would have been different, why? Fruit of repentance. Fruit of repentance.

And then this man hoped in Christ. Notice what it says, he says, verse 42, he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. You see repentance towards sin without faith toward Christ is vain. Repentance at its end must have faith in Christ. That’s why repentance and faith are so often mentioned together. What good is it to say, I deserve it, I did it, I’m guilty, I’m in trouble with God, and have no Christ, no light at the end of the tunnel, no hope toward him. But see, that’s where it’s supposed to lead you.

Where this man was led. He hoped toward Christ, he trusted in Christ. And so his repentance, his repentance was real. His repentance was real. Now, the second thing I want you to see about this, not only did this man have true repentance but he also confessed Jesus both as sinless and as lord of all. Now, remember, in Matthew Matthew 27, we see these things repeated and the the issue with the thieves is another example of that. Two things show up that Jesus was without sin, and that Jesus is God in the flesh, the son of God. Notice what this man says.

He says, verse 41, and we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. You see, that’s an an a statement of Jesus’ sinlessness. Verse 42, he says, and he said unto Jesus, look at that four letter word, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. That calling Jesus Lord in that way is that acknowledgement of his true identity. He’s not just a guy dying on a cross. He is something far more than that. And again, we see this reiterated again, and this won’t even be the last time. We’ll see it again after this. And so he confessed both Jesus’ sinlessness and Jesus’ true identity. Once again, affirming those truths which are absolutely necessary to the gospel message. Christ was perfectly sinless, indeed he was God in the flesh, dying in the place of sinners.

Now, next thing I want you to see about him is that he called upon the Lord Jesus. Notice what he says in verse forty forty two, simple words, lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. You see, this man’s faith was inside but jumping out of his faith was a call. You know this Romans ten thirteen, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but the next verse says this, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? So, the call itself by itself is not is not is not magic. It’s the call that comes out of faith. And that’s what’s happening with this man. You see, when this man said, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. This was the evidence and the fruit of his faith which was in inward, just like his repentance.

His acknowledging of his guilt, that’s the evidence of his repentance. And the acknowledging of his faith, the calling upon Christ, that’s where his faith is visible and audible for us to see. So this man indeed believed on Christ. And not only that, notice what he says. He says, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Remember, Jesus is on a cross. How’s he have a kingdom? You see, this man’s faith is not only in the identity and in the sinlessness of Jesus but he’s looking beyond the cross.

And you know what’s implied in that? The resurrection. Now, I don’t think that this this this is probably a a low class criminal, right? This is probably a guy who doesn’t have a whole lot of schooling in theology. Problem, I I don’t know. He’s been involved in a bunch of stuff that god had put on a cross, okay? So, I don’t I don’t think this man’s any theologian.

So, I’m not even certain that this guy even knows any of the details of the resurrection at all. But he believes it. He believes that beyond the death of Christ, he will have a kingdom. Whatever that looks like, he at least has that.

See that? That’s some serious faith. That faith is seen by him calling upon the Lord. Notice that this man’s salvation is instantaneous. Verse 43, the moment he calls, verse 43, and Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Did Jesus give him a probationary period?

No. Did the man have to go through any any any discipleship program? Did he have to be a part of the new church member’s class? No. Think about it now. Just as with Abraham, the Bible says in in Genesis chapter 12, and he believed in the lord and he counted it unto him for righteousness. Just as in the moment that Abraham believed god’s promise in his heart, so the instant that this man trusted in Jesus as seen by his calling upon Jesus.

Jesus responded now with full assurance to this man of his bliss after death. He was instantly, totally, and completely forgiven by Christ. Just like that. And what did he do? He simply believed. How’s that? In that instant, you see, he says a word, Jesus answers, and look at look at the words of Christ. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, verily. That’s that word, truly, verily. In other words, I’m telling you the truth.

From the lips of the son of God, this man was given full and complete assurance of his eternal life. Now I know a lot of us, you know, have struggled with the idea of doubt, right? You know, you get, you, if you trusted in Christ when you were really young, or for different reasons, know you’ve dealt with doubt, doubt is a real thing, people deal with it.

But it should be an encouragement to us just like we see here that Jesus didn’t doubt. What the son of God says, what comes out of his lips is a verily. This man may doubt, he may not. In fact, I think this man probably doubted even after Jesus said that. I know if I was on a cross, I’d probably have a lot of things going through my head.

But to Jesus, there was no doubt. He spoke complete and total assurance. Instantly after the man believed. Do you see that? This reminds us that salvation is instantaneous. It was instantaneous in the Old Testament. It’s instantaneous in the New Testament. It’s not something you grow into or work into. It’s not something like like you take a confirmation class and at the end, no, that’s not. Salvation is instantaneous. You pass from death unto life and you don’t stop on the bridge.

You’re either in Christ or you’re a child of wrath. And the the the moment between one and the other is instantaneous. And you can see it again by example here.

Now a few more things I wanna show you. This single instance, this single example in scripture is an aggravating and a bothersome wrench in the systems of false religion.

Think about it. False religion always, pretty much every false religion, that is every Christian false religion. You say, is there a such thing? Oh, yes, there is. Every Christian false religion gives lip service to the gospel. Oh, yes, we believe in Jesus. Oh, yes. We believe Jesus died on the cross. Oh, yes. We believe it. But but as we read in the book of Galatians, inevitably, something is always added to that that one must do in order to get final salvation, to get eternal life. So, it’s the gospel plus some other thing that is a religious sounding thing that sounds like it’s really important like baptism, right? Baptism is good, right? You you so you take something that is good in its place and you tag it on to the gospel and now you have what?

A false gospel. And you’ve done it with something good. False religion has always been doing that. It did it from almost the very inception of the of the church with circumcision. You see, if works played a part in salvation in any way, whether that work is baptism or circumcision or church membership or giving tithes and offerings or confirmation or communion or anything, doing good to others, helping the poor, if work salvation played any part whatsoever in your eternal life, this story, this story would not have happened and would not be in the Bible.

You see, this story is an aggravating and bothersome wrench in this in the system of false doctrines. What work could this man do with his hands and feet nailed to a cross?

What work could he have done? He can’t do any work. None. Not big, not small, nothing. And usually at that point because it is such a stark example and useful example, false teachers will sometimes dismiss this or explain it away as some sort of fluke or exception but in fact, from what we know from the Bible from the beginning to the end, what happened to this man is perfectly consistent with what the Bible teaches about repentance and faith in Christ. That it is instantaneous and it doesn’t involve works. Ephesians two eight nine, 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. Titus three five, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. We see that in the old, we see that in the New Testament as well. And so, it should be no surprise to us so that we see a guy who doesn’t do any work at all.

And yet, he is saved instantaneously. Anytime you meet with someone who’s a who’s a church of Christ, or someone who is a Seventh day Adventist who tells you you need to be baptized in order to be saved, or you need to keep the Sabbath in order to be saved, or or you need to be christened, or you need to go to confession, or you need to take the holy Eucharist, whatever that is. Anytime anytime you you have someone that tells you that you gotta do this or that or the other, all you have to do is say, what about the thief on the cross? And they say, oh, that was before Jesus died, and oh, that was the Old Testament, and all. And you just say, you just stand right there, and you say, what about the thief on the cross?

Jesus, was the thief on the cross baptized? No. Well, that was before Jesus died. Yeah, I’ve heard that too. I’ll stand, listen, I’ll stand right on these five verses. I’ll hang my eternity on these five verses, and that’s good enough. And we have all the rest of the scripture to help us as well.

You see, let me read this to you actually. This is from the Journal of Discourses by Brigham Young. Anybody know who Brigham Young is? He was one of the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, the Mormons. Listen to what Brigham Young says. Some of our old traditions teach us that a man guilty of atrocious and murderous acts may savingly repent on the scaffold, and upon his execution will hear the expression, bless God, he has gone to heaven to be crowned in glory through the all redeeming merits of Christ the Lord.

This is all nonsense. Such a character will never see heaven. But he did. But he did. You see how that messed up his theology pretty badly? And we stand by and we’re like, Brigham Young, Jesus. Brigham Young, Jesus. I think I’ll go with Jesus. You see, our deathbed, repentance, deathbed, salvations, are those real things? Absolutely. I don’t have to have anything else than this right here.

You see, this story is obnoxious, and this story is offensive to the self righteous religionist, who has spent his whole life chasing his own righteousness, but never knowing if he had eternal life. And they ask, can a wicked man who who did nothing religious or good go to heaven only go to heaven?

And I, with all the good I done, don’t go to heaven? Is this is this possible? And they stumble at the stumbling stone. Yes, it is possible. I remember I had a family member one time who stumbled at that version of that, and that family member said, you know, that family member heard of a child who had who had put their faith in Christ and had been saved and that family member stumbled at that and said, you telling me a child can know they’re going to heaven and I’ve been I’ve been I’ve been religious all my life and I don’t know I’m going to heaven?

Actually, yeah. You mean a wicked man who has done no good in his life and has no merit whatsoever can just while he’s hanging on a cross, call upon Jesus, and believe in Jesus and he’ll go to heaven that that very day? Yeah. Yeah. That’s exactly what what we mean to say. But the only reason that this is possible, there’s only one reason that this is possible.

If it were true that you had to you had to be religious and you had to be good and you had to keep the law and you had to do all these religious things, if it were true that that played a part in your salvation, I could not say that. But the only reason that this instance is possible, that a deathbed salvation can happen at all, is because the Savior is on the cross.

That’s the only reason. If there is any other scheme or method, any other ingredient, any other requirement, whatsoever, this can’t be in the Bible. And the deathbed confession can’t be possible. But the only reason it’s possible is because that wicked man who’s on his deathbed or in this case on his cross, that wicked man has no thing to merit, no goodness to boast of it all but if his trust is resting upon the merits of the one on the cross, he doesn’t need it. He never needed it and here’s the truth, the religious person who had been religious their whole life also doesn’t need it. In fact, it might even be a stumbling block to him.

He only needs Christ on the cross. Right? He only needs Christ on the cross. He only needs Christ on the cross. And this man, this thief, this wretch has that and it is enough.

J. C. Ryle in his book, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels has an interesting quote, I thought it was good. He says, One thief was saved that no sinner might despair.

But only one that no sinner might presume. That’s good. Two more things and we’re finished. Verse 43, and Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

The believer, when he dies, goes instantly to be with Christ at his death. Not only does, you know, my aunt just passed away on Saturday, yesterday, yesterday, I think it’s yesterday, yes. Early yesterday morning, and the question in my family, as some people were discussing it and I was over at their house, question in my family was, you know, do you go straight to heaven, do you go straight to be with Jesus when you die? Because she was a believer, and the answer is yes. How do you know?

Verse 43. There’s other verses, but 43 is enough. Not only that, but when a believer goes to be with Christ instantly, he is conscious. Otherwise, today shalt thou be with me in paradise wouldn’t matter. If you’re, if you don’t even know what’s going on, why does it matter who you’re with? But the fact that he’s with Christ tells us that he is aware of the fact that he’s with Christ. So, this idea of soul sleep that you’re you’re just sleep until the resurrection. That is not what the scripture teaches and that verse 43 shows that to us. The last thing I wanna show you is this, and this is a sad truth but it’s real.

This man did believe in Christ, this man on this day did die, this man did go to paradise to be with Christ, this man is in heaven today. But he still had to suffer the physical consequences of his sin.

Even though that before God, he was forgiven. And you know what, that is the reality. And some people, going back to the idea of repentance, some people have escaped from this temporary problem, this temporal problem, and they say, oh, I just I need to get saved because I want to get my family back.

Oh, I’ll get saved because I don’t wanna go to jail. I’ll get saved because I don’t wanna die from this illness. So I’m gonna You’re looking at the wrong thing. You’re looking at the wrong thing. It’s gonna lead you to false repentance.

You see, this man wasn’t looking at that. He knew, even after he believed in Christ, he knew he was gonna die and he knew that he deserved the death he was getting. This is a cold reality. Salvation from our sin is about our relationship with God. But our relationship with man on this world that has been put into motion, the effects of our sin that have been put into motion by our evil, are things that we still have to deal with in this life.

That’s just a fact. And this man trusting in Jesus did not fix that, didn’t change that all of a sudden. Does trusting in Christ, being born again, does that affect your life in ways that are tangible in this life? Well, I certainly hope, just like we saw this morning about being healed by Christ’s stripes. There’s a matter of our, you know, it should affect our sin and how we live and all those things and all that has has downstream effects, but it’s not like all the effects of our our life of sin is gonna change because we trust in Christ, it’s just not how it works. It didn’t work for this guy.

Is it possible to be forgiven by God and to be right with God but not be forgiven by man. Absolutely, it is absolutely possible. And so once again, as we come up to this moment where our Lord dies upon the cross for sinners, we’re reminded again of the truths of the Gospel illustrated for us. We’re reminded of the truths that we know in our lives two thousand years later that they’re real to us, they’re real, they are true and genuine, and they’re illustrated for us to see in vivid color. Let’s pray.