“JESUS’ LAST WORD ON SALVATION”
LUKE 23:43

I. Introduction
“Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” These are Jesus’ last words on salvation.

A week ago today we heard the last recorded words of some well-known people. We heard the last words of unbelievers like the French philosopher Voltaire and the infidel William Pope. We heard the last words of believers like the Scottish pastor Samuel Rutherford and some of the Apostle Paul’s final thoughts. We even heard the last intelligible words of a less well-known person, my own mother, Vernette Timms, when she encouraged her loved ones by saying, “We’ll all be together.”

I cannot help but wonder what my last words will be. Whatever they are I pray they’ll be God-honoring and point to Jesus, my Lord and Savior. That is my prayer for all of you as well. It’s my prayer that, when your last day comes, you’ll be so filled with the Spirit that your last words will be joyous. And you’ll be so close to Him that you’ll not only be eager to see Him face-to-face, but that you’ll want to leap into His presence.

Let me repeat what I said a week ago: A person’s last words can be quite revealing and very instructive. They can tell us a great deal about that person, both from where they have come, and to where they are going.

No one’s last words are more important than those of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
While hanging on the cross He said seven things that have been recorded by the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This morning we’re continuing our short series of seven sermons that will give us an in-depth look into each of the things Jesus said, and con-sider how they speak to us today.

Last week we listened as Jesus spoke His first words from the cross. He said, “Father, for-give them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Not only was He thinking about the very ones who were in the process of killing Him, He was thinking about each one of us as well. He knew how desperately we needed forgiveness of our sins. And He knew that with-out such forgiveness we could never be saved and we could never enter into God’s presence.

Now as we look to the second thing Jesus says from the cross, I’m going to ask you to think about your last day on this earth. I do not intend for this to be a morbid thought. On the contrary, I intend that your faith will be strengthened and your joy may be made full. This is because the second thing Jesus says from the cross should be the most wonderful words you will ever hear.

We’ve speculated a bit about what others might hear us say on our own deathbed.
But today we will consider something that we will hear Jesus say to us. Could we hear any-thing more wondrous and filled with blessings than, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise”?
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II. Text
It’s these words from Jesus’ own lips that we’ll ponder this morning. But if we’re to fully understand them, we need to hear them in context.
*Luke 23:39-43
39 And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
40 But the other answered and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
41 “And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your king-dom!”
43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Para-dise.”

Let’s begin at the beginning. No, wait! Let’s begin before the beginning. Everything hap-pening here is “prŏŏrizō.” That’s the Greek word translated “foreordained” or “predes-tined” in the NT. It simply means “to determine before.” Everything happening at Calvary has been predestined by God to happen just as it is happening. The apostles acknowledged this truth early on in the Book of Acts.
Acts 4:27-28
27 “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gen-tiles and the peoples of Israel,
28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose (prŏŏrizō) predestined to occur.”

God not only knows what is happening – He has caused it to happen. He has planned it, He has predetermined it, and He has foreordained it from eternity past. Nothing is out of con-trol, there is no accident, and there is certainly no mistake. Standing at the foot of the cross we are repelled by what we see, but we are blessed because we are witnessing our salvation.
*Ephesians 1:3-8a
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved (Jesus).
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespas-ses, according to the riches of His grace,
8a which He lavished upon us.

It is at the cross where we see our forgiveness when Jesus says this about His murderers: “Father, forgive them…” It is at the cross where we see our salvation when Jesus says, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” And it is at the cross where we are reminded that we had nothing to do with earning our place in heaven. God chose us for redemption in eternity past and Jesus paid the price for that redemption on His cross.

Two men are being crucified alongside Jesus. There is no visible distinction between them. To us they appear to be the same. They are both convicted criminals. They are both paying the price for their crimes. Simply put, they are both lost sinners. And now both are dying.

In other words, they are just as we once were. But we can’t see their hearts. We can’t see that in a moment one of them will be eternally changed. We can’t see that one of these two sinners is one of God’s elect, one who was chosen in Christ “…before the foundation of the world… (in order that he) should be holy and blameless before (God) (Ephesians 1:4).”

Now, Christian, I’m going to ask you once again to think about your last day on this earth. As you do remember that you were “chosen before the foundation of the world.” And listen to His words: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

Why is it that one of these criminals is about to be saved and the other is not? The answer is that one of them was “chosen before the foundation of the world,” and one was not. One will be convicted of his sin, and one will not. One will repent, and one will not. One will be forgiven, and one will not. And as such, one will be saved, and one will not.

We wonder why God’s truth is revealed to one and hidden from another, don’t we? I submit to you that there is no answer that will satisfy your flesh. But there is one that can satisfy your soul. It is that we serve a sovereign and holy God who can do no wrong.

Stay with me now. This is so important. God’s sovereignty never erases, destroys, or even diminishes our responsibility to believe in Christ and receive Him. We know that is true because the Bible plainly and repeatedly teaches that it is true. Every preacher of the gospel and every Bible teacher is expected to preach and teach this truth.

When it comes to our salvation, the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man have been called a conundrum, a dichotomy, a mystery, and a variety of other things. It is beyond us. We cannot comprehend it. To our finite minds God’s sovereignty and our responsibility are a contradiction. But to God’s infinite mind, they are absolute and eternal truth.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was one of the great preachers of the nineteenth century. There is no question that Spurgeon believed in the absolute sovereignty of God in choosing and saving His elect. But when he was preaching through 1 Timothy, he ran headlong into a passage that seemed to contradict God’s sovereignty and set aside the doctrine of election.
1 Timothy 2:3-4
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

How does Spurgeon deal with this apparent contradiction? First and foremost, he knows it is not a contradiction. Thus he says, and I quote…
“There stands the text, and I believe that it is my Father’s wish that ‘all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.’ But I know also, that He does not will it… He will not save any one of them, unless they believe in His Son; for He has told us over and over again that He will not. He will not save any man (unless) he for-sakes his sins, and turns to Him with full purpose of heart: That I also know. And I know, also, that He has a people whom He will save, whom by His eternal love He has chosen, and whom by His eternal power He will deliver.”

So let me say it once more: God’s sovereignty in choosing those whom He will save does not in any way negate or diminish man’s responsibility to believe and repent. The Bible clearly and repeatedly teaches both. Therefore, both are true.

And let me restate one more thing: The criminal who is about to be saved has lived his life disrespecting both the Law of God and the laws of men. He has not built up an account that is filled with so-called “good works.” And after he is saved he will have no time to perform any good works. So it should be immediately obvious to us that this criminal is about to be saved solely and completely by God’s grace.

Every man-made religion demands good works in order to earn, and in many cases too keep, your salvation. But the repentant criminal who is being executed for his crimes has no good works. Yet he is about to be saved. Why? He is about to be saved because salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Even so, multiplied millions, if not billions, spend their lives trying to work their way to heaven. But God has told us that without saving faith “…all of our righteous deeds (our good works) are like a filthy garment (Isaiah 64:6b).”

Consider what God’s grace – His unmerited favor – is doing for this condemned man. This criminal’s illicit desires have overcome him. His friends have forsaken him. Public opinion has turned against him. His enemies have triumphed over him. He has nothing left… except God’s grace, and that alone is what is about to save him.

Can you see how you and I are so much like this man? How often have the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life derailed us? How often have our friends and acquaintances turned their backs on us? How often have our enemies defeated us?
Where would we be without God’s grace? Where would we be if God had not chosen us in eternity past and predestined us to His salvation? The answer should be obvious. We would be hopelessly lost. But, brothers and sisters in Christ, we believed and were saved.

But should you think that you believed and were saved because you were somehow smarter, more insightful, or in some other way “better” than those who have not believed, consider one very important fact about these condemned criminals. They were two of a kind.
*Matthew 27:41-44
41…the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking (Jesus), and saying,
42 “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we shall believe in Him.
43 “He trusts in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
44 And the robbers (both of them) also who had been crucified with Him were casting the same insults at Him.

The men being crucified alongside Jesus were the same. The one was no better than the other. They had the same fallen nature, the same history, and now they find themselves in the same predicament – condemned and dying. Before we were saved we were just like that. There was no fundamental difference between us and our neighbors around the corner, or our fellow men around the world. We were no less depraved than these two men being cru-cified with Jesus. We may not like to hear that, but it is true nonetheless.

Yet God chooses some of us, even though none of us are worthy of His gift of salvation,
Jeremiah 17:9
9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Romans 3:22c-23
22c …there is no distinction;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Therefore, we cannot look at this condemned man and fail to see that he represents each and every one of us. He is depraved and he is lost. But now, as he hangs on his own cross, he finally wakes up and realizes that he has come to the end of himself. That is to say, he final-ly knows and admits his own helplessness.

It’s been said that God often puts people on their backs before they will look up. Now, finally, this lost and condemned man “looks up.” Rather, he looks over at Jesus, and his spiritual eyes are opened. He sees the one thing he needs. It is one thing to know you are a sinner, but it’s quite another to come to grips with the fact that you can do nothing to save yourself. Every believer has come to this point of acknowledging his own helplessness.
No one can be saved until they admit their lost condition, and their inability to do anything about it. Only then do they finally look outside of themselves. If you are not yet a Christian, have you recognized that neither you, nor your good works, nor your religious activities can save you? Have you acknowledged your own helplessness?
*Romans 5:6-8
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sin-ners, Christ died for us.

The condemned criminal on the cross is powerless to help himself. So he does the only thing he can do – he turns to the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this turning toward Christ we are witnesses to both repentance and saving faith. In one moment of time he knows he is lost. A moment ago he was speaking against Jesus. “And the robbers also who had been cruci-fied with Him were casting…insults at Him (Matthew 27-44).”

But now his spiritual eyes are opened, and he becomes fully aware of who and what he is. He knows he is about to be judged, and he confesses his sin. While the one criminal contin-ues to rail against Jesus this repentant man says… “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong (Luke 23:40b-41).”

The condemned man repents. And immediately we see his faith. We’ve talked a great deal about God’s sovereignty in salvation, but here we see the other side of the coin – man’s responsibility. Let me say it again. There is no contradiction here.

The Scriptures do not teach that if God elects someone, that person will be saved whether or not he believes. What the Scriptures do teach is that the ones whom God elects and predestines to salvation are also given the faith they need to first, believe that Jesus is the Christ, and second, believing that, to put their faith and trust in Jesus as the Christ.

Merely believing that Jesus is the Holy One of God, the Messiah, the Christ saves no one. Satan and the demons believe that! It is faith in Him that saves.
2 Thessalonians 2:13b (Paul speaking to believers in the church at Thessalonica)
13 …God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctifica-tion by the (Holy) Spirit and faith in the truth.

The world sometimes calls this “blind faith,” but, of course, it is anything but blind. The Christian’s spiritual eyes have been opened. It is the lost who are blind.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
4 in whose case the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbe-lieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

This condemned and dying man, rather than having “blind faith” has, if I may use another old cliché, “seen the light.” The light of God has been shined on both his own sinfulness and Jesus’ sinlessness.
• First, he reprimands the other criminal by saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation (Luke 23:40b)?” In this his belief in a future where God will judge sin is clear.
• Second, in his plea, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom (Luke 23:42)!” we see his recognition of Jesus’ deity and kingship, his understanding that Jesus can save him, and his belief in the Second Coming. It’s all there!

You may ask, “When did he learn all of these things? He hasn’t been to church or Sunday school.” The answer is that the Holy Spirit has been his teacher. Do you remember when Jesus asked His disciples, “…who do you say that I am?”?
Matthew 16:16-17
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you Simon (son of John), because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

Now let us consider Jesus’ response to this lost and dying sinner. In His response the grace of God is poured out on the man. In his desperation he turns to Jesus and Jesus answers him. “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” As Jesus is entering into His darkest hours, as He is taking the sin of the world upon Himself, He still finds time to comfort a broken and contrite heart.

There is never a bad time to be saved. Any time is a good time, but the Scriptures teach that the best time is now. In 2 Corinthians Paul reminds us of what the Prophet Isaiah said, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you”; behold, “now is the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).”

I think “now” is also the best time to say a word about what are commonly called “deathbed conversions.” It should be clear from Jesus’ response to this dying sinner that there is always hope – even to the last moments of life. But I do not believe that many are saved in those last moments. In fact, I believe that very few are saved on their deathbeds.

Think about it. Many people do not even have deathbeds. What about those who’ve heard the gospel again and again, but continue to refuse Jesus’ invitation to receive Him?
Proverbs 29:1
1 A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken (“shâbar” – destroyed) beyond remedy.

What about those who suffer massive coronaries and are actually dead before they hit the floor? What about those unbelievers in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 who were literally vaporized in a millisecond? What about my cousin and her husband, both of whom were unbelievers, instantly killed when their car was broadsided by a loaded dump truck? They didn’t have time to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus because they never knew what hit them.

Yes, God’s grace can save on a deathbed, but no one is guaranteed such grace. It has been rightly said, “Scripture records only one such case so that none need despair, but only one, so that none might presume.” If you have not yet turned to Jesus, please don’t wait. Don’t presume upon His grace. “A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.”

There is something else in Jesus’ response that should put every fearful heart at ease. It is when He says, “Today you shall be with Me…” with the emphasis on “Today.” With that one word Jesus destroys at least two false teachings that have been used to discourage and control believers for hundreds of year.
• The first is called “soul sleep,” a false teaching taught by Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some others. It says that when you die you enter into a state of unconsciousness and are aware of nothing – sort of a dreamless sleep.
• The second is the Roman Catholic teaching that says when Christians die they finish paying for their sins in a place called Purgatory (where remaining sins are “purged”). But there is no such place. The whole idea of Purgatory is founded on Rome’s failure to believe that Jesus’ death was sufficient to pay for ALL sins.

There is no soul sleep. There is no Purgatory. The very day that you and I pass from this life we will be with Jesus. He said so!
2 Corinthians 5:6-8
6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord –
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight –
8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Jesus’ comforting words to this dying sinner, and to all sinners who have trusted Him alone for their salvation, are “…with Me in Paradise.” We will be with Him. Isn’t that the whole point? Would heaven even be heaven if Jesus weren’t there? Let Him comfort you with these words.
When Peter wanted to go with Jesus, the Lord said that although he could accompany Him now, he would later. Jesus said to Peter…
*John 14:1-3
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

There’s just one more word I want to address. That word is “Paradise.” There are two major schools of thought about what Paradise is or was.
• One line of thinking says it was the place where, when the OT saints died, they went to await their redemption. They would be redeemed when Jesus would pay the price for their sins on the cross. After the crucifixion Jesus went to Paradise, freed the OT saints, and took them to heaven. This line of thinking says that, since the crucifixion, all believers go directly to heaven.
• A second line of thinking is less complicated. It says that “Paradise” is just another name for heaven. As such, it too says that when they die, all believers go directly to heaven.

Which of the two is right? The fact is that both opinions raise issues that can be difficult to resolve. But either way, as far as Jesus’ use of the word here in Luke, the important thing for us is that all Christians are going to be with Jesus when they leave this world. And any way you cut it, being in His presence will be “Paradise.”
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III. Conclusion
Today we have been reminded that no matter what your sins may be, Jesus is ready, willing, and most importantly, able to save any who, by simple faith and trust in Him, will repent and seek His forgiveness. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done or how close you are to leaving this world. The moment you die you will be with Him.

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Could there be more reassuring and comforting words that any Christian could ever hear this side of hea-ven? If so, I do not know what they would be.

But, for the faithful child of God, there are some words that will be better even than those. We will hear when we step into His presence.
Matthew 25:21
21 “Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.”

~ Pray ~