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The Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross

By A. W. Pink

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is a subject of never ­failing interest to all who study prayerfully the Scripture of Truth. This is so, not only because the believer's all both for time and eternity depends upon it, but also, because of its transcend­ent uniqueness. Four words appear to sum up the salient fea­tures of this Mystery of mysteries: the Death of Christ was nat­ural, unnatural, preternatural, and supernatural. A few comments seem called for my way of definition and amplification.

 

First; the Death of Christ was natural. By this we mean that it was a real death. It is because we are so familiar with the fact of it that the above statement appears simple and commonplace, yet, what we here touch upon is to the spiritual mind one of the main elements of wonderment. The One who was "taken, and by wicked hands" crucified and slain was none less than Immanuel. The One who died on Calvary's Cross was none other than Je­hovah's "Fellow." The blood that was shed on the accursed Tree was Divine -‑ "The church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). As says the apostle "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Cor. 5:19). But how could Jehovah's "Fellow" suffer? How could the eternal One die? Ah, He who in the beginning was the Word, who was with God, and who was God, "became flesh." He who was in the form of God took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Him­self, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). Thus having become incarnate the Lord of glory was capable of suffering death, and so it was that He "tasted" death itself. In His words, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit" we see how natural His death was, and the reality of it became still more apparent when He was laid in the tomb, where He remained for three days.

 

Second; the Death of Christ was un‑natural. By this we mean that it was abnormal. Above we have said that in becoming in­carnate the Son of God became capable of suffering death, yet it must not be inferred from this that death therefore had a claim upon Him; far from this being the case, the very reverse was the truth. Death is the wages of sin, and He had none. Before His birth it was said to Mary, "that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). Not only did the Lord Jesus enter this world without contracting the defile­ment attaching to fallen human nature, but He "did no sin" (I Peter 2:22), had "no sin" (I John 3:5), "knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). In His person and in His conduct He was the Holy One of God "without blemish and without spot" (I Pet. 1:19). As such death had no claim upon Him. Even Pilate had to acknowledge that he could find in Him "no fault." Hence we say, for the Holy One of God to die was un‑natural.

 

Third; the Death of Christ was preter‑natural. By this we mean that it was marked out and determined for Him beforehand. He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). Before Adam was created the Fall was anticipated. Before sin entered the world, salvation from it had been planned by God. In the eternal counsels of Deity it was fore‑ordained that there should be a Saviour for sinners, a Saviour who should suffer the just for the unjust, a Saviour who should die in order that we might live. And "because there was none other good enough to pay the price of sin" the only‑Begotten of the Father offered Him­self as the Ransom.

 

The preternatural character of the Death of Christ has been well termed the "undergirding of the Cross." It was in view of that approaching Death that God "justly passed over the sins done aforetime" (Rom. 8:25 R. V.). Had not Christ been, in the reck­oning of God, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, every sinning person in Old Testament times would have gone down to the Pit the moment he sinned!

 

Fourth; the Death of Christ was super‑natural. By this we mean that it was different from every other death. In all things He has the pre‑eminence. His birth was different from all other births. His life was different from all other lives. And His death was different from all other deaths. This was clearly intimated in His own utterance upon the subject‑"Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down Myself. I have power to take it again7 (John 10:17,18). A careful study of the Gospel narratives which describe His death furnish a sevenfold proof and verification of His assertion.

 

(1) That our Lord "laid down His life," that He was not powerless in the hands of His enemies comes out clearly in John 18 where we have the record of His arrest. A band of officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, headed by Judas, sought Him in Gethsemane. Coming forward to meet them, the Lord Jesus asks, "Whom seek ye?" The reply was, "Jesus of Nazareth," and then our Lord uttered the ineffable title of Deity, that by which Je­hovah had revealed Himself of old to Moses at the burning bush ‑- "I am." The effect was startling. We are told "they went back­ward, and fell to the ground." These officers were awestruck. They were in the presence of incarnate Deity, and were overpowered by a brief consciousness of Divine majesty. How plain it is then that had He so pleased our blessed Saviour could have walked quietly away, leaving those who had come to arrest Him pros­trate on the ground. Instead, He delivers Himself up into their hands and is led (not driven) as a lamb to the slaughter.

 

(2) Let us now turn to Matt. 27:46 -‑ the most solemn verse in all the Bible -‑ "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The words which we would ask the reader to observe carefully are here placed in italics. Why is it that the Holy Spirit tells us that the Saviour uttered that terrible cry "with a loud voice?" Most certainly there is a reason for it. This becomes even more apparent when we note that He has repeated them four verses lower down in the same chapter‑"Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the spirit" (Matt. 27:50). What then do these words indicate? Do they not corroborate what has been said in the above paragraphs? Do they not tell us that the Saviour was not ex­hausted by what He had passed through? Do they not intimate that His strength had not failed Him? that He was still master of Himself, that instead of being conquered by death, He was but yielding Himself to it? Do they not show us that God had "laid help upon One that was mighty" (Psa. 89:19)!

 

(3) We call attention next to His fourth utterances on the Cross -‑ "I thrist." This word, in the light of its setting, furnishes a wonderful evidence of our Lord's complete self‑possession. The whole verse reads as follows: "After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be ful­filled, said, I thirst" (John 19:28). Of old it had been predicted that they should give the Saviour to drink, vinegar mingled with gall. And in order that this prophecy might be fulfilled, He cried, "I thirst." How this evidences the fact that He was in full posses­sion of His mental faculties, that His mind was unclouded, that His terrible sufferings had neither deranged nor disturbed it. As He hung on the Cross, at the close of the six hours, His mind re­viewed the entire scope of the prophetic word, and checked off one by one those predictions which had reference to His passion. Excepting the prophecies which were to be fulfilled after His death, but one remained un‑fulfilled, namely, "They gave me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drinV (Psa. 69:21), and this was not overlooked by the blessed Suf­ferer. "Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture (not "Scriptures," the reference being to Psa. 69:21) might be fulfilled, saitb, I thirst." Again, we say, what proof is here furnished that He "laid down His life of Himself!"

 

(4) The next verification the Holy Spirit has supplied of our Lord's words in John 10: 18 is found in John 19:30‑"When Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished; and He bowed His head, and gave up the spirit." What are we intended to learn from these words? What is here signified by this act of the Saviour? Surely the answer is not far to seek. The implication is clear. Previous to this our Lord's head had been held erect. It was no impotent sufferer that hung there in a swoon. Had that been the case His head had lolled helplessly on His chest, and it would have been impossible for Him to "bow" it. And mark at­tentively the verb used here: it is not His head "fell," but He­ consciously, calmly, reverently -‑ bowed His head. How sublime was His carriage even on the Tree! What superb composure did He evidence. Was it not His majestic bearing on the Cross that, among other things, caused the centurion to cry "Truly this was the Son of God" (Matt. 27:54)!

 

(5) Look now at His last act of all: "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into thy hands I com­mend My spirit: and having said this, He gave up the spirit" (Luke 23:46). None else ever did this or died thus. How accur­ately these words agree with His own statement, so often quoted by us, "I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself" (John 10: 17, 18). The uniqueness of our Lord's action may be seen by comparing His words on the Cross with those of dying Stephen. As the first Christian martyr came to the brink of the river, he cried, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59). But in contrast with this Christ said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." Steph­en's spirit was being taken from him. Not so with the Saviour. None could take from Him His life. He "gave up" His spirit.

 

(6) The action of the soldiers in regard to the legs of those on the three crosses gives further evidence of the uniqueness of Christ's death. We read, "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) be­sought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs" (John 19:31‑33). The Lord Jesus and the two thieves had been crucified together. They had been on their respective crosses the same length of time. And now at the close of the day the two thieves were still alive, for as it is well known death by crucifixion though exceedingly painful was usually a slow death. No vital member of the body was directly affected and often the sufferer lingered on for two or three days before being completely overcome by exhaustion. It was not natural, therefore, that Christ should be dead after but six hours on the cross. The Jews recog­nized this, and requested Pilate that the legs of all three be broken and death be thus hastened, In the fact, then, that the Saviour was "dead already" when the soldiers came to Him, though the two thieves yet lived, we have additional proof that He had voluntarily "laid down His life of Himself," that it was not "taken from Him."

 

(7) For the final demonstration of the super‑natural character of Christ's death we turn to note the wonderful phenomena that accompanied it, "And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent: and the graves were opened" (Matt. 27:51,52). That was no ordinary death that had been witnessed on the sum­mit of Golgotha's rugged heights, and it was followed by no ordinary attendants. First, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom, to show that a Hand from Heaven had torn asunder that curtain which shut out the temple‑worshipper from the earthly throne of God -‑ thus signifying that the way into the Holiest was now made plain and that access to God Himself had been opened up thro' the broken body of His Son. Next, the earth did quake. Not, I believe, that there was an earthquake, nor even a "great earthquake," but the earth itself, the entire earth was shaken to its very foundation, and rocked on its axis, as though to show it was horrified at the most awful deed that had ever been perpetrated on its surface. "And the rocks rent" -‑ the very strength of Nature gave way before the greater power of that Death. Finally, we are told, "the graves were opened," showing that the power of Satan, which is death, was there shivered and shattered ‑all the outward attestations of the value of that atoning death.

 

Putting these together: the manifest yielding up of Himself into the hands of those who arrested Him; the crying with a "loud voice," denoting His retained vigor; the fact that He was in full and unimpaired possession of His mentality, evidenced by the "knowing that all things were now accomplished." The "bowing" of the erect head; the deliberate "committing" of His spirit into the hands of the Father; the fact that He was "dead already" when the soldiers came to brake His legs; -‑ all furnished proof that His life was not "taken from Him," but that He laid it down of Him­self and this, together with the tearing of the temple veil, the quaking of the earth, the rending of the rocks, and the opening of the graves, all bore unmistakable witness to the supernatural character of His death; in view of which we may well say with the wondering centurion, "Truly this was the Son of God."

 

The Death of Christ, then, was unique, miraculous, supernatural. In the chapters which follow we shall hearken to the words which fell from His lips while He hung upon the Cross -- ­words which make known to us some of the attendant circum­stances of the great Tragedy; words which reveal the excellencies of the One who suffered there; words in which is wrapped up the Gospel of our Salvation; and words which inform us of the pur­pose, the meaning, the sufferings, and the sufficiency of the Death Divine.

 

1

THE WORD OF FORGIVENESS

 

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

 

Man had done his worst. The one by whom the world was made had come into it, but the world knew Him not. The Lord of Glory had tabernacled among men, but He was not wanted. The eyes which sin had blinded saw in Him no beauty that He should be desired. At His birth there was no room in the inn, which foreshadowed the treatment He was to receive at the hands of men. Shortly after His birth Herod sought to slay Him, and this intimated the hostility His person evoked and forecast the Cross as the climax of man's enmity. Again and again His enemies attempted His destruction. And now their vile desires are granted them. The Son of God had yielded Himself up into their hands. A mock trial had been gone through, and though His judges found no fault in Him, nevertheless, they had yielded to the insistent clamoring of those who hated Him as they cried again and again "Crucify Him."

 

The fell deed had been done. No ordinary death would suf­fice His implacable foes. A death of intense suffering and shame was decided upon. A cross had been secured: the Saviour had been nailed to it. And there He hangs -‑ silent. But presently His pallid lips are seen to move. Is He crying for pity? No. What then? Is He pronouncing malediction upon His crucifiers? No. He is praying, praying for His enemies -‑ "Then said Jesus, Father, for­give them: for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

 

This first of the seven cross‑sayings of our Lord presents Him in the attitude of prayer. How significant! How instructive! His public ministry had opened with prayer (Luke 3:21), and here we see it closing in prayer. Surely He has left us an example! No longer might those hands minister to the sick, for they are nailed to the Cross, no longer may those feet carry Him on errands of mercy, for they are fastened to the cruel tree; no longer may He engage in instructing the apostles, for they have forsaken Him and fled;‑how then does He occupy Himself? In the Ministry of Prayer! What a lesson for us.

 

Perhaps these lines may be read by some who by reason of age and sickness are no longer able to work actively in the Lord's vineyard. Possibly in days gone by, you were a teacher, you were a preacher, a Sunday‑school teacher,, a tract‑distributer: but now you are bed‑ridden. Yes, but you are still here on earth! Who knows but what God is leaving you here a few more days to en­gage in the Ministry of Prayer -‑ and perhaps accomplish more by this than by all your past active service. If you are tempted to disparage such a ministry remember your Saviour. He prayed, prayed for others, prayed for sinners, even in His last hours.

 

In praying for His enemies not only did Christ set before us a perfect example of how we should treat those who wrong and hate us, but He also taught us never to regard any as beyond the reach of prayer. If Christ prayed for His murderers then surely we have encouragement to pray now for the very chief of sinners! Christian reader, never lose hope. Does it seem a waste of time for you to continue praying for that man, that woman, that wayward child of yours? Does their case seem to become more hopeless every day? Does it look as though they had gotten beyond the reach of Divine mercy? Perhaps that one you have prayed for so long has been ensnared by one of the Satanic cults of the day, or he may now be an avowed and blatant infidel, in a word, an open enemy of Christ. Remember then the Cross. Christ prayed for His enemies. Learn then not to look on any as beyond the reach of prayer.

 

One other thought concerning this prayer of Christ. We are shown here the efficacy of prayer. This Cross‑intercession of Christ for His enemies met with a marked and definite answer. The answer is seen in the conversion of the three thousand souls on the Day of Pentecost. I base this conclusion on Acts 3:17 where the apostle Peter says, "And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers." It is to be noted that Peter uses the word "ignorance" which corresponds with our Lord's "they know not what they do." Here then is the Divine explanation of the three thousand converted under a single sermon. It was not Peter's eloquence which was the cause but the Saviour's prayer. And, Christian reader, the same is true of us. Christ prayed for you and me long before we believed in Him. Turn to John 17:20 for proof. "Neither pray I for these (the apostles) alone, but for them also which shall believe on me thro' their word" (John 17:20). Once more lot us profit from the perfect Exemplar. Let us too make intercession for the enemies of God, and if we pray in faith we also shall pray effectively unto the sal­vation of lost sinners.

 

To come now directly to our text: "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

 

1. Here We See the Fulfillment of the Prophetic Word

 

How much God made known beforehand of what should transpire on that Day of days! What a complete picture did the Holy Spirit furnish of our Lord's Passion with all the attendant circumstances! Among other things it had been foretold that the Saviour should "make intercession for the transgressors" (Isa. 53: 12). This did not have reference to the present ministry of Christ at God's right hand. It is true that "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25), but this speaks of what He is doing now for those Who have believed on Him, whereas Isaiah 53:12 had reference to His gracious act at the time of His crucifixion. Observe what His intercession for the transgressors is there linked with -‑ "And He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made in­tercession for the transgressors."

 

That Christ should make intercession for His enemies was one of the items of the wonderful prophecy found in Isaiah 53. This chapter tells us at least ten things about the humiliation and suf­fering of the Redeemer. It declared that He should be despised and rejected of men; that He should be a Man of sorrows and ac­quainted with grief; that He should be wounded, bruised and chastised; that He should be led, unresistingly, to slaughter; that He should be dumb before His shearers; that He should not only suffer at the hands of man but also be bruised by the Lord; that He should pour out His soul unto death; that He should be buried in a rich man's tomb; and then it was added, that He would be numbered with transgressors; and finally, that He should make intercession for the transgressors. Here then was the prophecy­ -- "and made intercession for the transgressors;" there was the ful­fillment of it -‑ "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He thought of His murderers. He pleaded for His crucifiers; He made intercession for their forgiveness.

 

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

 

2. Here We See Christ Identified With His People.

 

"Father, forgive them." On no previous occasion did Christ make such a request of the Father. Never before had He invoked the Father's forgiveness of others. Hitherto He forgave Himself. To the man sick of the palsy He had said, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee" (Matt. 9:2). To the woman who washed His feet with her tears in the house of Simon, He said, "Thy sins are forgiven" (Luke 7:48). Why then should He now ask the Father to forgive, instead of directly pronouncing forgiveness Himself?

 

Forgiveness of sin is a Divine prerogative. The Jewish scribes were right when they reasoned "Who can forgive sins but God only?" (Mark 2:7). But you say, Christ was God. Truly; but Man also‑the God‑man. He was the Son of God that had become the Son of Man with the express purpose of offering Himself as a Sacrifice for sin. And when the Lord Jesus cried "Father forgive them" He was on the Cross, and there He might not exercise His Divine prerogatives. Mark carefully His own words, and then behold the marvelous accuracy of Scripture. He had said "The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins" (Matt. 9:6). But He was no longer on earth! He had been "lifted up from the earth" (John 12:32)! Moreover, on the Cross He was acting as our Sub­stitute: the just was about to die for the unjust. Hence it was that hanging there as our Representative He was no longer in the place of authority where He might exercise His own Divine pre­rogatives, therefore takes He the position of a suppliant before the Father. Thus we say that when the blessed Lord Jesus cried, "Father, forgive them," we see Him absolutely identified with His people. No longer was He in the position "on earth" where He had the "power" or "right" to forgive sins; instead, He intercedes for sinners‑as we must.

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

 

3. Here We See the Divine Estimate of Sin and Its Conse­quent Guilt.

 

Under the Levitical economy God required that atonement should be made for sins of ignorance. "If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blem­ish out of the, flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering: And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him" (Lev. 5:15,16). And again we read, "And if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, which the Lord hath spoken unto Moses, even all that the Lord hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses, and hence­forward among your generations; Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congrega­tion, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savor unto the Lord, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their ignorance" (Nurn. 15: 22‑25). It is in view of such scriptures as these that we find David prayed, "Cleanse Thou me from secret faults" (Psa. 19:12).

 

Sin is always sin in the sight of God whether we are con­scious of it or not. Sins of ignorance need atonement just as truly as do conscious sins. God is Holy, and He will not lower His standard of righteousness to the level of our ignorance. Ignorance is not innocence. As a matter of fact ignorance is more culpable now than it was in the days of Moses. We have no excuse for our ignorance. God has clearly and fully revealed His will. The Bible is in our hands, and we cannot plead ignorance of its contents except to condemn our laziness. God has spoken, and by His Word we shall be judged.

 

And yet the fact remains that we are ignorant of many things, and the fault and blame are ours. And this does not minimize the enormity of our guilt. Sins of ignorance need the Divine forgive­ness as our Lord's prayer here plainly shows. Learn then how high is God's standard, bow great is our need, and praise Him for an Atonement of infinite sufficiency, which cleanseth from all sin.

 

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

 

4. Here We See the Blindness of the Human Heart.

 

"They know not what they do." This does not mean that the enemies of Christ were ignorant of the fact of His crucifixion. They did know full well that they had cried out "Crucify Him." They did know full well that their vile request had been granted them by Pilate. They did know full well that He had been nailed to the Tree for they were eye‑witnesses of the crime. What then did our Lord mean when He said, "They know not what they do?" He meant they were ignorant of the enormity of their crime. They "knew Dot" that it was the Lord of Glory they were crucify­ing. The emphasis is not on "They know not" but on "they know not what they do."

 

And yet they ought to have known. Their blindness was in­excusable. The Old Testament prophecies which had received their fulfillment in Him were sufficiently plain to identify Him as the Holy One of God. His teaching was unique, for His very critics were forced to admit "Never man spake like this man" (John 7:46). And what of His perfect life! He had lived before men a life which had never been lived on earth before. He pleased not Himself. He went about doing good. He was ever at the dis­posal of others. There was no self‑seeking about Him. His was a life of self‑sacrifice from beginning, to end. His was a life ever lived to the glory of God. His was a life on which was stamped Heaven's approval, for the Father's voice testified audibly "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." No, there was no excuse for their ignorance. It only demonstrated the blindness of their hearts. Their rejection of the Son of God bore full witness, once for all, that the carnal mind is "enmity against God."

 

How sad to think this terrible tragedy is still being repeated! Sinner, you little know what you are doing in neglecting God's great salvation. You little know how awful is the sin of slighting the Christ of God and spurning the invitations of His mercy. You little know the deep guilt which is attached to your act of refusing to receive the only One who can save you from your sins. You little know how fearful is the crime of saying, "We will not have this man to reign over us." You know not what you do. You re­gard the vital Issue with callous indifference. The question comes today as it did of old, "What shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ?" for you have to do something with Him: either you de­spise and reject Him, or you receive Him as the Saviour of your soul and the Lord of your life. But, I say again, it seems to you a matter of small moment, of little importance, which you do. For years you have resisted the strivings of His Spirit. For years you have shelved the all‑important consideration. For years you have steeled your heart against Him, closed your ears to His appeals, and shut your eyes to His surpassing beauty. Ah! you know not WHAT you do. You are blind to your madness. Blind to your ter­rible sin. Yet are you not excuseless. You may be saved now if you will. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." O come to the Saviour now and say with one of Old, "Lord, that I might receive my sight."

 

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

 

5. Here We See a Lovely Exemplification of His Own Teaching.

 

In the Sermon on the Mount our Lord taught His disciples "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you" (Matt. 5:44). Above all others Christ practiced what He preached. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He not only taught the truth but was Himself the truth incarnate. Said He, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6). So here on the Cross He perfectly exemplified His teaching of the mount. In all things He has left us an example.

 

Notice Christ did not personally forgive His enemies. So I in Matt. 5:44 He did not exhort His disciples to forgive their enemies, but He does exhort them to "Pray" for them. But are we not to forgive those who wrong us? This leads us to a point concerning which there is much need for instruction today. Does Scripture teach that under all circumstances we must always forgive? I answer emphatically, it does not. The Word of God says, "If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if be trespass against thee seven times a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying, I repent; thou shalt for­give him" (Luke 17:3,4). Here we are plainly taught that a con­dition must be met by the offender before we may pronounce for­giveness. The one who has wronged us must first "repent," that is, judge himself for his wrong and give evidence of his sorrow over it. But suppose the offender does not repent? Then I am not to forgive him. But let there be no misunderstanding of our meaning here. Even though the one who has wronged me does not repent, nevertheless, I must not harbor ill‑feelings against him. 'Mere must be no hatred or malice cherished in the heart. Yet, on the other hand, I must not treat the offender as if be had done no wrong. That would be to condone the offence, and therefore I should fail to uphold the requirements of righteousness, and this the believer is ever to do. Does God ever forgive where there is no repentance? No, for Scripture declares, "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9).

 

One thing more. If one has injured me and repented not, while I cannot forgive him and treat him as though be bad not offended, nevertheless, not only must I bold no malice in my heart against him, but I must also pray for him. Here is the value of Christ's perfect example. If we cannot forgive, we can pray for God to forgive him.

 

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

 

6. Here We See Man's Great and Primary Need.

 

The first important lesson which all need to learn is that we are sinners, and as such, unfit for the presence of a Holy God. It is in vain that we select noble ideals, form good resolutions, and adopt excellent rules to live by, until the sin‑question has been settled. It is of no avail that we attempt to develop a beautiful character and aim to do that which will meet with God's approval while there is sin between Him and our souls. Of what use are shoes if our feet are paralyzed. Of what use are glasses if we are blind. The question of the forgiveness of my sins is basic, funda­mental, vital. It matters not that I am highly respected by a wide circle of friends if I am yet in my sins. It matters not that I have made good in business if I am an unpardoned transgressor in the sight of Cod. What will matter most in the hour of death is, Have my sins been put away by the Blood of Christ?

 

The second all‑important lesson which all need to learn is how forgiveness of sins may be obtained. What is the ground on which a Holy God will forgive sins? And here it is important to remark that there is a vital difference between Divine forgiveness and much of human forgiveness. As a general rule human forgive­ness is a matter of leniency, often of laxity. We mean forgiveness is shown at the expense of justice and righteousness. In a human court of law, the judge has to choose between two alternatives: when the one in the dock has been proven guilty, the judge must either enforce the penalty of the law, or he must disregard the requirements of the law -‑ the one is justice, the other is mercy. The only possible way by which the judge can both enforce the re­quirements of the law and yet show mercy to its offender, is by a. third party offering to suffer in his own person the penalty which the convicted one deserves. Thus it was in the Divine counsels. God would not exercise mercy at the expense of justice. God, as the judge of all the earth, would not set aside the demands of His Holy law. Yet. God would show mercy. How? Through One mak­ing full satisfaction to His outraged law. Thro' His own Son tak­ing the place of all those who believe on Him and bearing their sins in own body on the Tree. God could be just and yet merciful, merciful and yet just. Thus it is that "grace reigns through right­eousness."

 

A righteous ground has been provided on which God can be just and yet the justifier of all who believe. Hence it is we are told, "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day; And that repentance and remission (forgiveness) of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46,47). And again, "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13: 38,39). It was in view of the Blood He was shedding that the Saviour cried, "Father, forgive them." It was in view of the aton­ing sacrifice He was offering, that it can be said "without shed­ding of blood is no remission."

 

In praying for the forgiveness of His enemies Christ struck right down to the root of their need. And their need was the need of every child of Adam. Reader, have your sins been forgiven? that is, remitted or sent away. Are you, by grace, one of those of whom it is said, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:4)?

 

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

 

7. Here We See the Triumph of Redeeming Love.

 

Mark closely the word with which our text opens: "Then." The verse which immediately precedes it reads thus, "And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left." Then, said Jesus, Father, forgive them. "Then" -‑ when man had done his worst. "Then" -‑ when the vile­ness of the human heart was displayed in climacteric devilry. "Then" -‑ when with wicked hands the creature had dared to cru­cify the Lord of Glory. He might have uttered awful maledictions over them. He might have let loose the thunderbolts of righteous wrath and slain them. He might have caused the earth to open her mouth so that they had gone down alive into the Pit. But no. Though subjected to unspeakable shame, though suffer­ing excruciating pain, though despised, rejected, hated, neverthe­less, He cries, "Father, forgive them." That was the triumph of redeeming love. "Love suffereth long, and is kind . . . beareth all things . . . enduretb all things" (I Cor. 13). Thus it was shown at the Cross.

 

When Samson came to his dying hour he used his great strength of body to encompass the destruction of his foes; but the Perfect One, exhibited the strength of His love by praying for the forgiveness of His enemies. Matchless grace! "Matchless," we say, for even Stephen failed to fully follow out the blessed ex­ample set by the Saviour. If the reader will turn to Acts 7 he will find that Stephen's first thought was of himself, and then he prayed for his enemies -‑ "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" (Acts 7:55,60). But with Christ the order was reversed: He prayed first for His foes, and last for Himself. In all things He has the pre‑eminence.

 

And now one concluding word of application and exhorta­tion. Should this chapter have been read by an unsaved person we would earnestly ask him to weigh well the next sentence -‑ How dreadful must it be to oppose Christ and His truth knowingly! Those who crucified the Saviour "knew not what they did." But, my reader, there is a very real and solemn sense in which this is not true of you. You know you ought to receive Christ as your Saviour, that you ought to crown Him the Lord of your life, that you ought to make it your first and last concern to please and glorify Him. Be warned then; your danger is great. If you de­liberately turn from Him, you turn from the only One who can save you from your sins, and it is written, "If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation, which shall devour the ad­versaries" (Heb. 10:26,27).

 

It only remains for us to add a word on the blessed Complete­ness of Divine forgiveness. Many of God's people are unsettled and troubled upon this point. They understand bow that all the sins they bad committed before they received Christ as their Saviour have been forgiven, but oftentimes they are not clear concerning, the sins which they commit after they have been born again. Many suppose it is possible for them to sin away the par­don which God had bestowed upon them. They suppose that the Blood of Christ dealt with their past only, and that so far as the present and the future are concerned, they have to take care of that themselves. But of what value would be a pardon which might be taken away from me at any time? Surely there can be no settled peace when my acceptance with God and my going to Heaven is made to depend upon my holding on to Christ, or my obedience and faithfulness.

 

Blessed be God, the forgiveness which He bestows covers all sins -‑ past, present and future. Fellow‑believer, did not Christ bear your "sins" in His own body on the Tree? And were not all your sins future sins when He died? Surely, for at that time you had not been born, and so had not committed a single sin. Very well then: Christ bore your "future" sins as truly as your past ones. What the Word of God teaches is that the unbelieving soul is brought out of the place of unforgiveness into the place to which forgiveness attaches. Christians are a forgiven people. Says the Holy Spirit: "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Rom. 4:8)! The believer is in Christ, and there sin will never again be imputed to us. This is our place or position before God. In Christ is where He beholds us. And because I am in Christ I am completely and eternally forgiven, so much so that never again will sin be laid to my charge as touching my salva­tion, even though I were to remain on earth a hundred years. I am out of that Place for evermore. Listen to the testimony of Scripture: "And you being dead in your sins and the uncir­cumcision of your flesh, hath He (God) quickened together with Him (Christ), having forgiven you all trespasses" (Col. 2:13). Mark the two things which are here united (and what God hath joined together let not man put asunder) -‑ my union with a risen Christ is connected with my forgiveness! If then my life is "hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3), then I am forever out of the place where imputation of sin applies. Hence it is written, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1) -‑ how could there be if "all trespasses" have been forgiven? None can lay anything to the charge of God's elect (Rom. 8:33). Christian reader, join the writer in praising God because we are eternally forgiven everything.*

 

*It should be added by way of explanation, that it is the judicial aspect we have dealt with. Restorative forgiveness -‑ which is the bringing back again into communion of a sinning believer -‑ dealt with in I John 1:9 -‑ is another matter altogether.

 

 

2

THE WORD OF SALVATION

 

"And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto hint, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise (Luke 23:42, 43).

 

The second of Christ's cross-utterances was spoken in re­sponse to the request of the dying thief. Ere considering the words of the Saviour we shall first ponder what occasioned them.

 

It was no accident that the Lord of Glory was crucified be­tween two thieves. There are no accidents in a world that is governed by God. Much less could there have been any accident on that Day of all days, or in connection with that Event of all events‑a Day and an Event which lie at the very centre of the world's history. No; God was presiding over that scene. From all eternity He had decreed when and where and how and with whom His Son should die. Nothing was left to chance or the caprice of man. All that God had decreed came to pass exactly as He had ordained, and nothing happened save as He had eternally pur­posed. Whatsoever man did was simply that which God's hand and counsel "determined to be done" (Acts 4:28).

 

When Pilate gave orders that the Lord Jesus should be cru­cified between the two malefactors, all unknown to himself, he was but putting into execution the eternal decree of God and fulfilling His prophetic word. Seven hundred years before this Roman officer gave his command, God had declared through Isaiah that His Son should be "numbered with the transgressors" (Isa. 53:12). How utterly unlikely this appeared, that the Holy One of God should be numbered with the unholy; that the very one whose finger had inscribed on the tables of stone the Sinaitie Law should be assigned a place with the lawless; that the Son of God should be executed with criminals‑this seemed utterly inconceivable. Yet it actually came to pass. Not a single word of God can fall to the ground. "Forever, 0 Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven" (Psa. 119:89). Just as God had ordained, and just as He had announced, so it came to pass.

 

Why did God order it that His beloved Son should be cru­cified between two criminals? Certainly God had a reason; a good one, a manifold one, whether we can discern it or not. God never acts arbitrarily. He has a good purpose for everything He does, for all His works are ordered by infinite wisdom. In this particular instance a number of answers suggest themselves to our inquiry. Was not our blessed Lord crucified with the two thieves to fully demonstrate the unfathomable depths of shame into which He had descended? At His birth He was surrounded by the beasts of the field, and now, at His death, He is numbered with the re­fuse of humanity. Again; was not the Saviour numbered with transgressors to show us the position He occupied as our Sub­stitute? lie had taken the place which was due us, and what was that but the place of shame, the place of transgressors, the place of criminals condemned to death! Again; was He not deliberately humiliated thus by Pilate to exhibit man's estimate of the peerless One‑"despised' as well as rejected! Again; was He not crucified with the two thieves, so that in those three crosses and the ones who hung upon them we might have a vivid and concrete rep­resentation of the drama of Salvation and man's response thereto ‑the Saviour's redemption; the sinner repenting and believing, and the sinner reviling and rejecting?

 

Another important lesson which we may learn from the cru­cifixion d Christ between the two thieves, and the fact that one received Him and the other rejected Him, is that of the Sovereignty of God. The two malefactors were crucified together. They were equally near to Christ. Both of them saw and heard all that transpired during those fateful six hours. Both were notoriously wicked; both were suffering acutely; both were dying, and both, urgently needed forgiveness. Yet one of them died in his sins, died as he had lived‑hardened and impenitent; while the other re­pented of his wickedness, believed in Christ, called on Him for mercy and went to Paradise. How can this be accounted for ex­cept by the sovereignty of God! We see precisely the same thing going on today. Under exactly the same circumstances and condi­tions, one is melted and another remains unmoved. Under the same sermon one man will listen with indifference, while another will have his eyes opened to see his need and his will moved to close with God's offer of mercy. To one the Gospel is revealed, to another it is "hidden." Why? All we can say is, "Even so Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." And yet God's sovereignty is never meant to destroy human responsibility. Both are plainly taught in the Bible, and it is our business to believe and preach both whether we can harmonize or understand them or not. In preaching both we may seem to our hearers to con­tradict ourselves, but what matters that? Said the late C. H. Spurgeon, when preaching on I Tim. 2:3, 4, "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, so that ‑He will 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 except he forsakes 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. I do not know how that squares with this, that is another of the things I do not know." And said this prince of preachers, "I will just stand to what I ever shall and always have preached, and take God's Word as it stands, whether I can reconcile it with another part of Gods Word or not." We say again, God's sovereignty is never meant to destroy man I s responsibility. We are to make diligent use of all the means which God has appointed for the salvation of souls. We are bidden to preach the Gospel to "every creature." Grade is free; the invi­tation is broad enough to take in "whosoever believetb." Christ turns away none who come to Him. Yet, after we have done all, after we have planted and watered, it is God who "giveth the in­crease," and this He does as best pleaseth His sovereign will.

 

In the salvation of the dying thief we have a clear view of victorious Grace such as is to be found nowhere else in the Bible. God is the God of all grace, and salvation is entirely by His grace. "By grace are ye saved" (Eph. 2:8), and it is "by grace" from beginning to end. Grace planned salvation, grace provided salvation, and grace so works on and in His elect as to overcome the hardness of their hearts, the obstinacy of their wills, and the enmity of their minds, and thus makes them willing to receive salvation. Grace begins, grace continues, and grace consummates our salvation.

 

Salvation by grace ‑ sovereign, irresistible, free grace ‑ is il­lustrated in the New Testament by example as well as precept. Perhaps the two most striking cases of all are those of Saul of Tarsus and the Dying Robber. And the case of the latter is even more noteworthy than the former. In the case of Saul, who after­wards became Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, there was an exem­plary moral character to begin with. Writing years afterwards of his condition before his conversion, the apostle declared that as touching the righteousness of the law he was "blameless" (Phil. 3:6). He was a "Pharisee of the Pharisees:" punctilious in his habits, correct in his deportment. Morally, his character was flaw­less, After his conversion his life was one of Gospel‑righteous­ness. Constrained by the love of Christ he spent himself in preach­ing the Gospel to sinners and in laboring to build up the saints. Doubtless our readers will agree with us when we say that prob­ably Paul came nearest to attaining the ideals of the Christian life, and that he followed after his Master more closely than any other saint has since. But with the saved thief it was far otherwise. He had no moral life before his conversion and no life of active service after it. Before his conversion he respected neither the law of God nor the law of man. After his conversion he died without having opportunity to engage in the service of Christ. I would emphasize this, because these are the two things which are regarded by so many as contributing factors to our salvation. It is supposed that we must first fit ourselves by developing a noble character before God will receive us as His sons; and that after He has received us, tentatively, we are merely placed on probation, and that unless we now bring forth a certain quality and quantity of good works we shall "fall from grace and,be lost." But the dying thief had no good works either before or after con­version. Hence we are shut up to the conclusion that if saved at all he was certainly saved by sovereign grace.

 

The salvation of the dying thief also disposes of another prop which the legality of the carnal mind interposes to rob God of the glory due unto His grace. Instead of attributing the salva­tion of lost sinners to the matchless grace of God, many profess­ing Christians seek to account for them by human influences, in­strumentalities, and circumstances. Either the preacher, or provi­dential and propitious circumstances, or the prayers of believers, are looked to as the main cause. Let us not be misunderstood here. It is true that often God is pleased to use means in the con­version of sinners; that frequently He condescends to bless our prayers and efforts to point sinners to Christ; that many times He causes His providences to awaken and arouse the ungodly to a realization of their state. But God is not shut up to these things. He is not limited to human instrumentalities. His grace is all powerful, and when He pleases, that grace is able to save in spite of the lack of human instrumentalities, and in the face of un­favorable circumstances. So it was in the case of the saved thief. Consider‑

 

His conversion occurred at a time when to outward appear­ance Christ had lost all power to save either Himself or others. This thief had marched along with the Saviour through the streets of Jerusalem and had seen Him sink beneath the weight of the cross! It is highly probable that as one who followed the occupa­tion of a thief and robber this was the first day he had ever set eyes on the Lord Jesus, and now that he did see Him it was under every circumstance of weakness and disgrace. His enemies were triumphing over Him. His friends had mostly forsaken Him. Public opinion was unanimously against Him. His very cru­cifixion was regarded as utterly inconsistent with His Messiah­ship. His lowly condition was a stumbling‑block to the Jews from the very first, and the circumstances of His death must have in­tensified it, especially to one who had never seen Him except in this condition. Even those who had believed on Him were made to doubt by His crucifixion. There was not one in the crowd who stood there with out‑stretched finger and cried, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world!" And yet, notwithstanding these obstacles and difficulties in the way of his faith, the thief apprehended the Saviourhood and Lordship of Christ. How can we possibly account for such faith and such spiritual understanding in one circumstanced as he was? How can we explain the fact that this dying thief took a suffering, bleeding, crucified man for his God! It cannot be accounted for apart from Divine intervention and supernatural operation. His faith in Christ was a miracle of Grace!

 

It is also to be remarked that the thief's conversion took place before the supernatural phenomena of that day. He cried, "Lord, remember me" before the hours of darkness, before the triumphant cry "It is finished," before the rending of the temple veil, before the quaking of the earth and the shivering of the rocks, before the centurion's confession "Truly this was the Son of God." God purposely set his conversion before these things so that His sovereign grace might be magnified and His sovereign power acknowledged. God designedly chose to save this thief under the most un-favorable circumstances that no flesh should glory in His presence. God deliberately arranged this combination of un-propitious conditions and surroundings to teach us that "Salvation is of the Lord," to teach us not to magnify human instrumentality above Divine agency, to teach us that every genuine conversion is the direct product of the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit.

 

We shall now consider together the thief himself, his various utterances, his request of the Saviour, and our Lord's response - "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" (Luke 23:42,43).

 

1. HERE WE SEE A REPRESENTATIVE SINNER.

 

We shall never get to the heart of is incident until we regard the conversion of this man as a representative case, and the thief himself as a representative character. There are those who have sought to show that the original character of the repenting thief was nobler and worthier than that of the other who repented now. But this is not only not true to the facts of the case but it serves to efface the peculiar glory of his conversion and takes away from the wonderment of God's grace. It is of great importance to see that prior to the time when the one repented and believed there was no essential difference between the two thieves. In nature, in history, in circumstances they were one. The Holy Spirit has been careful to tell us that they both reviled the suffering Saviour: "The chief priests mocking, with the scribes and elders said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for He said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also which were crucified with Him, cast the same in His teeth (Matt. 27:41-44).

 

Terrible indeed was the condition and action of this robber. On the very brink of eternity he unites with the enemies of Christ in the awful sin of mocking Him. This was unparalleled turpitude. Think of it - a man in his dying hour deriding the suffering Saviour! O what a demonstration of human depravity and of the native enmity of the carnal mind against God! And reader, by nature there is the same depravity inhering within you, and unless a miracle of Divine grace has been wrought upon you there is the same enmity against God and His Christ present in your heart. You may not think so, you may not feel so, you may not believe so. But that does not alter the fact. The Word of Him who cannot lie declares, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked' (Jer. 17:9). That is a statement of universal application. It describes what every human heart is by natural birth. And again the same Scripture of Truth declares, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7). This, too, diagnoses the state of every descendant of Adam. "For there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God7 (Rom. 3:22,23). Unspeakably solemn is this: yet it needs to be pressed. It is not until our desperate condition is realized that we discover our need of a Divine Saviour. It is not until we are brought to see our total corruption and unsoundness that we shall hasten to the great Physician. It is not until we find in this dying thief a portrayal of ourselves that we shall join in say­ing, "Lord, remember me."

 

We have to be abased before we can be exalted. We have to be stript of the filthy rags of our self‑righteousness before we are ready for the garments of salvation. We have to come to God as beggars, empty‑handed, before we can receive the gift of eternal life. We have to take the place of lost sinners before Him if we would be saved. Yes, we have to acknowledge ourselves as thieves before we can have a place in the family of God. "But," you say, "I am no thief! I acknowledge I am not all I ought to be. I am not perfect. In fact, I will go so far as to admit I am a sin­ner. But I cannot allow that this thief represents my state and condition." Ah, friend, your case is far worse than you suppose. You are a thief, and that of the worst type. You have robbed God! Suppose that a firm in the East appointed an agent to represent them in the West, and that every month they forwarded to him his salary. But suppose also at the end of the year his employ­ers discovered that though the agent had been cashing the checks they sent him, nevertheless, he had served another firm all that time. Would not that agent be a thief? Yet this is precisely the situation and state of every sinner. He has been sent into this world by God, and God has endowed him with talents and the capacity to use and improve them. God has blessed him with health and strength; He has supplied his every need, and pro­vided innumerable opportunities to serve and glorify Him. But with what result? The very things God has given him have been mis‑appropriated. The sinner has served another master, even Satan. He dissipates his strength and wastes his time in the pleas­ures of sin. He has robbed God. Unsaved reader, in the sight of Heaven your condition is as desperate and your heart is as wicked as that of the thief. See in him a picture of yourself.

 

2. HERE WE SEE THAT MAN HAS TO COME TO THE END OF HIM­ SELF BEFORE HE CAN BE SAVED.

 

Above we have contemplated this dying robber as a rep­resentative sinner, a sample specimen of what all men are by na­ture and practice ‑ by nature at enmity against God and His Christ; by practice robbers of God, misusing what He has given us and failing to render what is due Him. We are now to see that this crucified robber was also a representative case in his conversion. And at this point we shall dwell simply upon his help­lessness.

 

To see ourselves as lost sinners is not sufficient. To learn that we are corrupt and depraved by nature and sinful trans­gressors by practice is the first important lesson. The next is to learn that we are utterly undone, and that we can do nothing whatever to help ourselves. To discover that our condition is so desperate that it is entirely beyond human repair, is the second Step toward salvation ‑ looking at it from the human side. But if man is slow to learn that he is a lost sinner and unfit for the presence of a holy God, he is slower still to recognize that he can do nothing towards his salvation, and is unable to work any im­provement in himself so as to be fit for God. Yet, it is not until we realize that we are "without strenatb" (Rom. 5:6), that we are "impotent" (John 5:3), that it is not by works of righteous­ness which we do, but by His mercy God saves us (Titus 3:5), not until then shall we despair of ourselves, and look outside of ourselves to the One who can save us.

 

The great Scripture type of sin is leprosy, and for leprosy man can devise no cure. God alone can deal with this dreadful disease. So it is with sin. But, as we have said, man is slow to learn his lesson. He is like the prodigal son, who when he bad squan­dered his substance in the far country in riotous living and began to be "in want," instead of returning to the Father straightaway, he "went and joined himself to a citizen of that country" and went to the fields to feed swine; in other words he went to work. Likewise the sinner who has been aroused to his need, instead of going at once to Christ, he tries to work himself into God's favor. But be will fare no better than the prodigal ‑ the husks of the swine will be his only portion. Or again, like the woman bowed down with her infirmity for many long years. She tried many physicians before she sought the great Physician: so the awakened sinner seeks relief and peace in first one thing and then another, until he completes the weary round of religious per­formances, and ends by being "nothing bettered, but rather grows worse" (Mark 5:26). No; it is not until that woman bad "spent all she bad" that she sought Christ: and it is not until the sinner comes to the end of his own resources that he will betake him­self to the Saviour.

 

Before any sinner can be saved he must come to the place of realized weakness. This is what the conversion of the dying thief shows us. What could he do? He could not walk in the paths of righteousness for there was a nail through either foot. He could not perform any good works for there was a nail through either hand. He could not turn over a new leaf and live a better life for he was dying. And, my reader, those hands of yours which are so ready for self‑righteous acting, and those feet of yours which are so swift to run in the way of legal obedience, must be nailed to the cross. The sinner has to be cut off from his own workings and be made willing to be saved by Christ. A realiza­tion of your sinful condition, of your lost conditions, of your helpless condition, is nothing more or less than old‑fashioned conviction of sin, and this is the sole prerequisite for coming to Christ for salvation, for Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

 

3. HERE WE SEE THE MEANING, OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH.

 

Repentance may be considered under various aspects. It includes in its meaning and scope a change of mind about sin, a sorrowing for sin, a forsaking of sin. Yet there is more in re­pentance than these. Really, repentance is the realization of our lost condition, it is the discovery of our ruin, it is the judging of ourselves, it is the owning of our lost estate. Repentance is not so much an intellectual process as it is the conscience active in the presence of God, And this is exactly what we find here in the case of the thief. First he says to his companion, "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?' (Luke 23: 40). A short time before he had mingled his voice with those who were reviling the Saviour. But the Holy Spirit had been at work upon him, and now his conscience is active in the presence of God. It was not, "Dost not thou fear punishment?" but, "Dost not thou fear God?" He apprehends God as judge. And then, in the second place he adds, "And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds" (Luke 23:41). Here we see him acknowledging his guilt and the justice of his condemnation. He passes sentence upon himself. He makes no excuses and attempts no extenuation. He recognized he was a transgressor, and that as such he fully deserved punishment for his sins, yea, that death was his due. Have you taken this position before God, my reader? Have you openly confessed your sins to Him? Have you passed judgment upon yourself and your ways? Are you ready to ack­nowledge that death is your "due?" Whilever you palliate sin or prevaricate about it you are shutting yourself out from Christ. Christ came into the world to save sinners ‑ self‑confessed sin­ners, sinners who really take the place of sinners before God, sinners who are conscious that they are lost and undone.

 

The thief's "repentance toward God" was accompanied with "faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." In contemplating his faith we may notice first that it was an intelligent head faith. In the earlier paragraphs of this chapter we have called attention to the Sovereignty of God and His irresistible and victorious grace which were exhibited in the conversion of this thief. Now we turn to 'another side of the truth, equally necessary to press, a side which is not contradictory to what we have said previously, but rather, complementary and supplementary. Scripture does not teach that if God has elected a certain soul to be saved that that person will be saved whether they believe or not. That is a false conclusion drawn by those who reject the truth. No; Scripture teaches that the same God who predestined the end also predes­tined the means. The God who decreed the salvation of the dying thief fulfilled His decree by giving him a faith with which to be­lieve. This is the plain teaching of II Thess. 2:13 and other Scrip­tures‑"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." This is just what we see here in connection with this robber. He "be­lieved the truth." His faith took hold of the Word of God. Over the Cross was the superscription, "This is Jesus the King of the Jews." Pilate had placed it there in derision. But it was the truth nevertheless, and after be had written it, God would not allow him to alter it. The board bearing this superscription had been carried in front of Christ through the streets of Jerusalem and out to the place of crucifixion, and the thief had read it, and Divine grace and power had opened the eyes of his understanding to see ‑ t was the truth. His faith grasped the Kingship of Christ, hence his mention of "when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom." Faith always rests on the written Word of God.

 

Before a man will believe that Jesus is the Christ he must ha e the testimony before him that He is the Christ. Distinction is often made between head faith and heart faith, and properly so, for the distinction is real, and vital. Sometimes head faith is decried as valueless, but this is foolish. There must be head faith before there can be heart faith. We must believe intellectually before we can believe savingly in the Lord Jesus. Proof of this is seen in connection with the heathen: they have no bead faith and therefore they have no heart faith. We readily grant that head faith will not save unless it be accompanied by heart faith, but we insist that there is no heart faith unless there has first been bead faith. How can they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? True, one may believe about Him without believing in Him, but one cannot believe in Him without first believing about Him. So it was with the dying thief. In all proba­bility he bad never seen Christ before this day of his death, but be bad seen the written superscription testifying to His Kingship and the Holy Spirit used this as the basis of his faith. We say then that his was an intelligent faitb: first an intellectual faith, the believing the written testimony submitted to him; second, a heart faith, the resting in confidence on Christ Himself as the Saviour of sinners.

 

Yes, this dying robber exercised a heart faith which rested savingly on Christ. We shall try to be very simple here. A man may have head faith in the Lord Jesus and be lost. A man may believe about the historic Christ and be no better for it, just as he is no better for believing about the historic Napoleon. Reader, you may believe all about the Saviour ‑ His perfect life, His sacri­ficial death, His victorious resurrection, His glorious ascension, His promised return‑but you must do‑ more than this. Gospel faith is a confiding faith. Saving faith is more than a correct opinion or a train of reasoning. Saving faith transcends all reason. Look at this dying thief! Was it reasonable that Christ should notice him? ‑ a crucified robber, a self‑confessed criminal, one who a few minutes ago had been reviling Him! Was it reasonable that the Saviour should take any notice of him? Was it reasonable to expect that he should be transported from the very brink of the Pit into Paradise? Ali, my reader, the head reasons, but the heart does not. And this man's petition came from his heart. He had not the use of his hands and feet (and they are not needed for salvation: they rather impede), but he had the use of his heart and tongue. They were free to believe and confess­, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation7' (Rom. 10:10).

 

We may also notice his was a humble faith. He prayed with becoming modesty. It was not "Lord, honor me," or "Lord, exalt me," but Lord, if Thou wilt but think of me! if Thou wilt only look on me‑"Lord, remember me." And yet that word "re­member" was wonderfully full and appropriate. He might have said, Pardon me, Save me, Bless me; but "remember" included them all. An interest in Christ's heart will include an interest in all His benefits! Moreover this word was well suited to the condition of the one who uttered it. He was an outcast from society‑who would remember him! The public would think no more of him. His friends would be glad to forget him as having disgraced his family. But there is One with whom he ventures to lodge this petition ‑ "Lord, remember me."

 

Finally, we may notice that his was a courageous faith. Per­haps this is not apparent at first sight, but a little consideration will make it plain. He who hung on the central Cross was the One on whom all eyes were turned and toward whom all the vile mockery of a vulgar mob was directed. Every faction of that crowd joined in jeering at the Saviour. Matthew tells us that "they had passed by reviled Him," that "likewise also the chief priests mocked, with the elders and scribes." While Luke informs us "the soldiers also mocked Him" (23:36). It is therefore easy to understand why the thieves should also take up the taunting cry. No doubt the priests and scribes smiled benignly upon them as they did so. But suddenly there was a change. The repenting thief instead of continuing to sneer and jibe at Christ, turns to his companion and openly rebukes him in the hearing of the spectators gathered around the crosses, crying, "This Man hath done nothing amiss." Thus he condemned the whole Jewish nation! But more; not only does he bear testimony to Christ's innocency, but be also confessed His Kingship. And thus by a single stroke he cuts himself off from the favor of his companion and of the crowd as well! We talk today of the courage which is needed to openly witness for Christ, but such courage in these days pales into utter insignificance before the courage displayed that day by the dying thief.

 

4. HERE WE SEE A MARVELLOUS CASE OF SPIRITUAL ILLUMINATION.

 

It is perfectly wonderful the progress made by this man in those few dying hours. His growth in grace and in the knowledge of his Lord was amazing. From the brief record of the words that fell from his lips we may discover seven things which he had learned under the tuition of the Holy Spirit.

 

First, he expresses his belief in a future life where retribution would be meted out by a righteous and sin‑avenging God. "Dost not thou fear God?" proves this. He sharply reprimands his com­panion, and as much as says, How dare you have the temerity to revile this innocent Man? Remember, that shortly you will have to appear before God and face a tribunal infinitely more solemn than the one which sentenced you to be crucified. God is to be feared, so be silent.

 

Second, as we have seen, he had a sight of his own sinfulness - "Thou art in the same condemnation. And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds" (Luke 23:40,41). He recognized that he was a transgressor. He saw that sin merited punishment, that "condemnation" was just. He owned that death was his "due." This was something that his companion neither confessed nor recognized.

 

Third, he bore testimony to Christ's sinlessness - "This Man hath done nothing amiss" (Luke 23:41). And here we may mark the pains God took to guard the spotless character of His Son. Especially is this to be seen toward the end. Judas was moved to say, "I have betrayed innocent blood." Pilate testified, "I find no fault in Him." Pilates wife said, "Have nothing to do with this just man." And now that He hangs on the cross, God opens the eyes of this robber to see the faultlessness of His beloved Son, and opens his lips so that he bears witness to His excellency.

 

Fourth, he not only witnessed to the sinless humanity of Christ but he also confessed His Godhead ‑ "Lord, remember me," he said. A marvellous word was that. The Saviour nailed to the Tree, the object of Jewish hatred and the butt of a vulgar mob's ridicule. This thief had heard the scornful challenge of the priests. "If Thou be the Son of God come down from the cross," and no response had been given. But moved by faith and not by sight he recognizes and owns the Deity of the central Sufferer.

 

Fifth, he believed in the Saviourhood of the Lord Jesus. He had heard Christ's prayer for His enemies, "Father, forgive them," and to one whose heart the Lord had opened, that short sentence became a saving sermon. His own cry, "Lord, remember me" included within its scope, "Lord, save me," which therefore im­plies his faith in the Lord Jesus as Saviour. In fact he must have believed that Jesus was a Saviour for the chief of sinners or how could he have believed that Christ would "remember" such as he!

 

Sixth, he evidenced his faith in Christ's Kingship‑"when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom." This too, was a wonderful word. Outward circumstances all seemed to belie His Kingship. Instead of being seated on a Throne, He hung upon a Cross. Instead of wearing a royal diadem, His brow was encircled with thorns. In­stead of being waited upon by a retinue of servants, He was num­bered with transgressors. Nevertheless, He was King‑King of the Jews (Matt. 2:2).

 

Finally he looked forward to the Second Coming of Christ­ - "when Thou comest." He looked away from the present to the future. He saw beyond the "sufferings" the "glory." Over the Cross the eye of faith detected the Crown. And in this he was before the apostles, for unbelief had closed their eyes. Yes, he looked beyond the first advent in shame, to the Second Advent in power and majesty.

 

And how can we account for the spiritual intelligence of this dying robber? Whence did he receive such insight into the things of Christ? How comes it that this babe in Christ made such amazing progress in the school of God? It can be accounted for only by Divine influence. The Holy Spirit was his Teacher! Flesh and blood had not revealed these things unto him but the Father in Heaven. What an illustration that Divine things are hidden from "the wise and prudent" and are revealed to "babes!"

 

5. HERE WE SEE THE SAVIOURHOOD OF CHRIST.

 

The crosses were only a few feet apart and it did not take the Saviour long to hear this cry of the penitent thief. What was His response thereto? He might have said, You deserve your fate: you are a wicked robber and have merited death. Or, He might have replied, You have left it till too late: you 'should have sought Me sooner. Ah! but had He not promised, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out!" So it proved here.

 

Of the reproaches which were cast on Him by the crowd the Lord Jesus took no notice. To the insulting challenge of the priests to descend from the cross, He made no response. But the prayer of this contrite, believing thief arrested His attention. At the time He was grappling with the powers of darkness and sus­taining the awful load of His people's guilt, and we should have thought He might be excused from attending to individual ap­plications. Ah! but a sinner can never come to Christ in an un­acceptable time. He gives him an answer of peace and that with­out delay.

 

The salvation of the repentant and believing robber illustrates not only Christ's readiness but also His power to save sinners. The Lord Jesus is no feeble Saviour. Blessed be God He is able to "save unto the uttermost" them that come unto God by Ilim. And never was this so signally displayed as when on the Cross. This was the time of the Redeemer's "weakness" (2 Cor. 13:4). When the thief cried "Lord, remember me," the Saviour was in agony on the accursed Tree. Yet even then, even there, He had power to redeem this soul from death and open for him the gates of Paradise! Never doubt then, or question the infinite suf­ficiency of the Saviour. If a dying Saviour could save how much more He who rose in triumph from the tomb, never more to die! In saving this thief Christ gave an exhibition of His power at the very time when it was almost clouded.

 

The salvation of the dying thief demonstrates that the Lord is willing and able to save all who come to Him. If Christ re­ceived this penitent, believing thief, then none need despair of a welcome if they will but come to Christ. If this dying robber was not beyond the reach of Divine mercy then none are who will re­spond to the invitations of Divine grace. The Son of Man came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10), and none can sink lower than that. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God "to every one that believeth" (Rom. 1:16). O limit not the grace of God. A Saviour is provided for the very "chief of sinners" (I Tim. 1:15), if only he will believe. Even those who reach the dying hour yet in their sins are not beyond hope. Personally I believe that very, very few are saved on a deathbed, and it is the height of folly for any man to postpone his salvation till then, for there is no guarantee that any man will have a death‑bed. Many are cut off suddenly, without any opportunity to lie down and die. Yet, even one on a death‑bed is not beyond the reach of Divine mercy. As said one of the Puritans, "There is one such case recorded that none need despair, but only one, in Scripture, that none might presume."

 

Yes, here we see the Saviourhood of Christ. He came into this world to save sinners, and He left it and went to Paradise accompanied by a saved criminal ‑ the first.trophy of His redeem­ing blood!

 

6. HERE WE SEE THE DESTINATION OF THE SAVED AT DEATH.

 

In his splendid book "The Seven Sayings of Christ on the Cross" Dr. Anderson‑Berry has pointed out that the word "Today" is not correctly placed in the rendering of our King James version, and that the designed correspondence between the thief's re­quest and Christ's response requires a different construction of the latter. The form of Christ's reply is evidently designed to match in its order of thought the robber's petition. This will be seen if we arrange the two in parallel couplets thus:

 

And he said unto Jesus

And Jesus said unto him

Lord

Verily I say unto thee

Remember me

Shalt thou be with Me

When Thou comest

Today.

Into Thy Kingdom

In Paradise.

 

By arranging the words thus we discover the correct emphasis. "Today" is the emphatic word. In our Lord's gracious response to the thief's request we have a striking illustration of how Di­vine grace exceeds human expectations. The thief prayed that the Lord would remember him in His coming Kingdom, but Christ assures him that before that very day had passed he should be with the Saviour. The thief asked to be remembered in an earthly Kingdom, but Christ assured him of a place in Paradise. The thief simply asked to be "remembered," but the Saviour de­clared he should be "with Him." Thus‑ d6eth God exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

 

Not only does Christ's reply signify the survival of the soul after the death of the body, but it tells us that the believer is with Him during the interval which divides death from the resur­rection. To make this the more emphatic Christ prefaced His promise with the solemn but assuring words "Verily I say unto you." It was this prospect of going to Christ at death which cheered the martyr Stephen in his last hour and therefore did he cry "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59). It was this blessed expectation which moved the apostle Paul to say, 1 have "a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better" (Phil 1:23). Not unconsciousness in the grave, but with Christ in Paradise is what awaits every believer at death. Every "believer" I say, for the souls of unbelievers, instead of going to Paradise, pass to the place of torments, as is clear from our Lord's teaching in Luke 16. Reader, whither would your soul go, if this moment you were dying?

 

How hard Satan has striven to hide this blessed prospect from the saints of God! On the one hand he has propagated the doleful dogma of soul‑sleep, the teaching that believers are in a state of unconsciousness between death and the resurrection; and on the other hand, he has invented a horrible Purgatory, to terrify believers with the thought that at death they pass into fire, neces­sary to purify and fit them for Heaven. How thoroughly the word of Christ to the thief disposes of these God‑dishonoring delusions! The thief went straight from the cross to Paradise! The moment a sinner believes, that moment is he "made meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). "For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are san