"Truly, Truly, I Say to You"

into the Gospel of Luke and the 23rd chapter. Luke chapter 3. And with the Lord's help, our focus will be on the 43rd verse, where we read these words from the Lord Jesus. He said, Assuredly, I say to you, today you'll be with me in paradise. And I know we just read the larger passage, but I would like to read once again a smaller portion from verses 39 through 43.

And while you are turning to the passage, I would like to give you some sense of the context here of our passage. of the various things that took place at the scene of our Lord's crucifixion, this exchange of words between the thieves crucified with him and the Lord Jesus is recorded for us here only. This particular exchange is recorded only in Luke's account of the gospel. And the words of our text in verse 45, of faith, an incredible profession of faith, given the circumstance of one of the thieves, who is evidently converted during this time of crucifixion, as we look at the passage and also parallel accounts in the other Gospels. And this man, who's often called the penitent thief, said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And as remarkable as this man's conversion and profession of faith was, I hope we will see together this morning how even more remarkable, even more remarkable is the Lord's reply to him. So let us read again together, Luke chapter 23, verses 39 through 43. Here now once again, the words of the living and true God. Then one of the criminals, who were hanged, blasphemed him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and us.

But the other answer rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

Let us pray once again together, let us pray. Oh God, how blessed are these words to encourage us in our faith, that our faith may be increased. For this passage from the scripture so plainly shows us the wonderful saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we pray then, once again, that your spirit would be with us. We pray that these words of our Lord would be drilled down into our hearts by your Holy Spirit that would be made alive to us is that living word from you. Lord, we pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts would be acceptable on your side, O Lord, our strength.

And Jesus said to him, truly or surely I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. How wonderful and marvelous are these words from our Lord as he's hanging on the cross of Calvary. These gracious and comforting words that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to this poor dying man next to him. on his own cross, next to the Lord of glory. Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

What makes these words so striking? Why do they seem to jump out at us from this account of the crucifixion, indeed for the whole gospel? One might say it is simply the weightiness of such a powerful and last-minute deliverance of this poor dying man, this penitent thief, as he is often called, that the marvel of these words consists in the strength and the swiftness of the salvation that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And these things are certainly true, aren't they? Yet are not these words of Christ underscored by the setting in which they were spoken? Jesus is speaking these words of eternal life while He Himself is dying, hanging on this cross of crucifixion.

My brothers and sisters, I want you this morning to see this stark contrast. death and life. For on the one hand, we do see and hear all these things that were going on in the scene of crucifixion, a scene which is so vividly expressed to us in the Gospel accounts. But on the other hand, we have these gracious words, these words of grace spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ to this penitent thief. And I would like for us this morning to trace out or to mark out this stark contrast, I say, between the scene of death in comparisons to the words of life from our Savior. So I will break up this message into three parts.

First Point

First, I want us to see that despite all the wicked blasphemies and mockeries railed against Christ on the cross, Jesus gives the penitent thief a sure word of salvation with these words, truly, I say to you. And secondly, as a point of contrast, in the midst of all the darkness that surrounded them and the dreadful execution of crucifixion, I want you to see that Jesus' word today gives hope that this is the day of salvation, not only for the penitent thief, but for so many others. And thirdly, it's a point of contrast. As opposed to the suffering, the suffering, the painful and shameful death of the crucifixion, and in particular, that Christ combated the devil and also endured the dreadful judgment of the most holy God while these things were going on, Jesus promises to depict the indescribable divine pleasure with these words. Today you'll be with me in paradise, in paradise. And in simpler terms, You might think of our outline in this way.

First Point

First, with Christ's words, truly I say to you, he leaves no doubt, no doubt about salvation. And secondly, with Christ's words today, he offers no deferred hope. And thirdly, with Christ's words, you will be with me in paradise, he promises that there will be no more suffering for those who die in Christ. So, first, let us consider together, as we come to our first head, I want you to think about this.

I want you to think about what it would have been like at the Lord's crucifixion if you had been there as well. What are some of the things that you might have seen What are some of the things that you might have heard? We read in verses 48 and 49 in our passage, and all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they saw what had happened, beat their own chests and returned. But all his acquaintances and the women who followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. So what would have been like for you or for me if we had been there?

Well, for one thing, as we see plainly from our passage, you would have heard the wicked lies and mockeries that were spoken against Christ. Yet, despite these lying words, Jesus speaks this word, truly, truly, truly, I say to you, you will be with me in paradise." What a contrast of words! Listen again to all the different things that the people spoke against Christ as He suffered pain there on the cross. We read that those who were passing by insulted Him, blasphemed Him, shaking their heads and saying, Ah, you who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross."

And the soldiers mocked Him. Not only the soldiers that we read about in other places in the Scripture about how the Lord was clothed with a purple robe and how they wove a crown of thorns and put it on His head, but also the soldiers at the cross mocked Christ. From our own passage in verses 36 and 37, we read, And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. And then we have the mockeries of the chief priests with the scribes and the elders. They mocked Jesus and said, he saved others, but he cannot save himself.

If he is the king of Israel, if he is the Christ, the chosen one of God, Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. And the chief priests went on to say with the scribes, Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.

My brothers and sisters, I tell you that even if the Lord, as he had said at an earlier time, called upon more than 12 legions of angels, to bring him down from the cross, I say that these wicked men, these priests and scribes and elders, still would not have believed. Oh, they would have been dazzled and dumbfounded to see such a supernatural intervention, no doubt about that. But they still would not have believed sincerely from their hearts, nor would they have placed their trust in Christ. Because you see, the hearts were too hardened and they were too blind, and they were consumed, not with the Lord's glory, but with their own glory and the praise of men. And so do you see what a contrast all these words of mockery are to the gracious words of the Lord to this penitent thief on the cross?

Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. What a stark contrast. Now, this word truly is used, as I'm sure you know, several times in the Gospels. Jesus often uses this term as a way of introducing a weighty or a solemn expression, and it speaks to the certainty of the matter. Jesus here leaves no room for any ambiguity. It is as if to say, this is a trustworthy saying. You can bank on it. What I'm about to tell you is truly true, so to speak. And if we take a closer look at this word, we find even something more.

Did you know that in the Greek, in the original language, what is translated here is truly, is literally the word Amen. And without getting too technical, the letters of the word in the Greek can be transliterated into our English, A-M-E-N, Amen. And so indeed, this same Greek word is often translated in the scripture as Amen. And as a result of that fact, you could fairly render our text as Amen. I say to you today, he will be with me in paradise. O man, so be it. It is so. How is that for attesting to the certainty of this expression from our Lord? And as if that was not sufficient, consider that what we read in 2 Corinthians 1 also amplifies this point.

We read there in verse 20, For all the promises of God in him, that is, in Christ, are yes, and in him all men, to the glory of God through us. And even the Lord Jesus himself refers to himself as the All-Man. From his letter to the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3, we read, The All-Man.

The faithful and true witness says these things. So you see, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the All-Man. And this very All-Man says to this poor dying man next to Him, All-Man, I say to you today, ye will be with me in paradise. What a sure word Jesus is speaking to the penitent thief dying next to Him. Now, of course, everything that the Lord Jesus speaks is a sure word, for He is that God-man, the eternal Son of God. He is perfectly sinless, and we read in the Scriptures that it is impossible for God to lie. But I tell you that by the authority of the word of God here, that salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ is a sure thing.

For this penitent thief dying next to the Lord, the outcome was beyond the shadow of a doubt. There was no equivocation here. There was no back and forth, no vacillation. There is no deliberation among the persons of the Godhead, no. There is only certainty and sureness in this man's salvation. The Lord leaves no room for doubt when he says, truly, truly I say to you today, you'll be with me in paradise.

But perhaps someone this morning is thinking, Yes, I'm happy to see the Lord promising salvation to this poor penitent thief, this dying man, as you say. But as for me, for myself, I have doubts. I have doubts about my own salvation in the Lord. And I don't have that experience that that thief had on the cross when Jesus was right there personally and directly telling him that he was going to paradise. I don't have that experience.

My brothers and sisters, I tell you this morning that we have just as sure a word from the Lord as what that dying thief had. You may ask, where do I find that sure word for us? Well, it's here, it's in, Bible and the Word of God. This is where we have a sure word for our own salvation. Now, when the Lord Jesus uses this word truly, he condescends to us, to the weakness of our faith.

But I tell you that the promises of are just as sure as the words that that dying thief heard from the lips of our Savior on the cross. There is no difference in the certainty of it. But again, you may say, how is that possible? I can't read in the Bible anywhere about me, personally, that I'm gonna be saved, like as it clearly was in the case of this thief.

My friend, the answer is that you must look to the gospel. You must look there and see how the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself there to you. Listen to how Jesus freely offers himself to you in the gospel, and then you must hold on tightly, and by faith don't let go of that precious gospel promise.

I'll take just one very well-known example, just by way of illustration. Of course, there are many places in the scripture where we find the gospel. But in the third chapter of John, we read, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

So if we were to speak logically, according to reason, What is the condition that's necessary for the fulfillment of that promise? What does the scripture say? It says in order to fulfill the promise, the condition is that you believe in the Son. That's what it says. Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. And again, the Bible says whoever. That means even you and me.

If we believe, in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we have that sure word of God. And Jesus says in another place that the scripture cannot be broken. We have that sure word of God that if we believe in him, we shall not perish but have eternal life. And I tell you this morning that that word of God is just as certain and sure as the word spoken to the man who is dying on his own cross next to the Lord of glory. If you were then put to place your trust in Jesus and receive Him with all of your heart, then you also will be saved, truly, truly.

Let us now turn to our second act, our second act. Because you see, there's another thing. that you would have unmistakably noticed at the crucifixion of our Lord. And that is that there were three hours of darkness. We read about that in our passage. And this period of darkness started at midday, the time of day which is ordinarily the brightest. And we are told in our passage that about the same time Jesus spoke these words to the penitent thief that the stage of this divine theater darkens. In verse 44, we read, Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

And also in verse 45, we read that the sun was darkened. Matthew Poole in his commentary states that a heathen philosopher, reportedly as far away as Egypt, Solve this eclipse and find out either the divine being now suffers or sympathizes with one who does suffer.

So you see, my friends, this was no ordinary eclipse. Poole goes on to clarify that this was not a natural eclipse of the sun by the interposition of the moon. No. For the darkness here would have covered the entire hemisphere. And no natural eclipse could last as long as three hours. No, this darkening of the sun must have been supernatural, a miraculous event. Yet even this darkness, even this darkness must be understood not only in a sensory way, but also in a spiritual sense.

As our Lord Himself described it earlier, when He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, when I was dealing with you in the temple, you did not lay your hands on me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness. You see, this time, unlike and distinct from any time prior to this, this was the time for the power of darkness. It was the hour for the wicked. According to God's eternal decree, it was their time, it was the opponent time, for great darkness. Yet again, what a contrast this is to the words of the Lord Jesus.

It is as if in the midst of all this darkness, When Jesus spoke, it was like a thin beam of light shooting out of his mouth through all the different folds of darkness that surrounded him in the scene of crucifixion. Indeed, at an earlier time, Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life. And again, in another place, he said, I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me should not remain in darkness. When Jesus spoke to the penitent thief, it was as if, as if, I say, he had said, I know that all around me was this scene of darkness, death, and dying.

Even here in Golgotha, the place of the skull, it's called, Yet today, truly I tell you, in this day, you will be with me in paradise. My friends, I want you to see this morning how wonderful this word is, this word today. And this word must have given great hope and comfort to this poor, wretched, penitent thief dying next to the Lord on his own cross.

In effect, Jesus is saying to this man, it won't be long now. This is the day. Not tomorrow, not the next day, not a few days from now. Jesus is not offering to this man a deferred hope. This is not gonna wait until next year, like our politicians often tell us. Well, my campaign promise was not fulfilled at this time, Vote for me again, I promise, next year, if you just give me more time, blah, blah, blah, blah. But Jesus doesn't say anything like that to this man.

Instead, the Lord is saying to this man that his redemption is at hand. It will not be delayed. It will not be put off. For the Lord, Jesus, is telling him, this is the day of your salvation, this very same day in which we are suffering these things, as we are surrounded by darkness, this very same day in which we are in great agony and shame as we hang on our crosses, this is the day that you will be with me in paradise. What is more, my friends, you may be surprised to hear how that the Lord's use of this one single word today also overthrows false doctrine.

And there are many things here I would have liked to have spoken to, but they lay on the editor's floor. But I want to at least bring up one issue, and that is that sadly there are those, even in the Christian evangelical community, who hold to a false teaching known as soul sleep, sleep of the soul, soul sleep.

Soul sleep is the idea that when we die, our souls have no conscious awareness of ourselves or the things that are going on around us. Instead, we remain in a kind of sleeping state until the day of resurrection. And perhaps this idea comes from the places in the scripture where it speaks of death metaphorically as sleep. Yet those who hold to soul sleep literally. And some who hold to this teaching actually maintain that although the soul is at death, separate from the body, yet it remains present with the body at the grave. But my friends, our text this morning overturns all of these notions.

Jesus tells the penitent thief that today they will be together in paradise. In death, the penitent thief's soul will not be sleeping about his decaying body. No. And if his soul was to sleep in paradise, in the presence of Christ, how would he be aware of Christ's presence with him? And how will a sleeping soul take in all the wonders of paradise? Would this not make Christ's assuring words to him while they both hung on their crosses? rather empty.

In addition to our text this morning, we could readily cite other places in the scripture, and I won't take time to go to these places and refute them, but if you are taking notes, we see something here in Philippians, chapter one, verses 21 through 24.

The apostle Paul says that for the sake of the saints, he'll continue in his ministry, but he would rather die so that he would be with Christ. In other words, the teaching there is that when he dies, he would come in the presence of Christ. And then also in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 6 through 8, again, we read that Paul, as he continues in his life, he speaks of it as being absent from the Lord, absent from the Lord. But he is confident and willing to die, that is, to be absent, rather, from the body, so that he can be present with the Lord. the same thing.

And we also have it in our Westminster Shorter Catechism. In question and answer number 37, we read, What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death? And the answer is, the souls of believers are at their death, made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory. And their bodies be still united to Christ, who rests in the graves, Now, I hope I'm not belaboring the point, but I would like to just say one more thing about this because it pertains directly to our text.

Some who hold to Solsik actually twist our text from the Gospel of Luke here in order to maintain their false hue, and let me tell you how. They argue that the comma in our text was misplaced. You see, there is actually no punctuation in the original Greek manuscripts, so the translator has to provide the punctuation. And so they argue that our text should be like this.

Truly, I tell you today, comma, you will be with me in paradise. So it's not as we have in our Bibles, where we read, truly I tell you, comma, today you will be with me in paradise. You see the difference between these two renderings? In other words, instead of the Lord assuring this born-again thief that he will be with Christ in paradise on the very same day in which they are crucified and die, the sense is that the Lord is simply telling the thief about the good news of his salvation today. I tell you today. But what does that really mean? Would Jesus be saying to the thief, I'm telling you about your salvation today, as opposed to telling them yesterday before they met or tomorrow when they both are dead.

My brothers and sisters, I beg you not to be influenced by such a foolish error as soul sleep. And besides this twisting of the scripture, besides that, I think it ignores the entire import of this passage which I'm striving to bring out. That is, in the midst of all this mockery and darkness and suffering and hopelessness and death, Jesus is proclaiming a message of hope and comfort and assurance to this dying man next to Him, the penitent thief. But again, I ask you, what kind of hope or comfort or assurance would be offered to this dying man if Jesus is merely saying, truly, I tell you today, Once you die, you will slumber until the resurrection."

This way, to me, sounds more like a story from Sleeping Beauty than a teaching from the Bible. My brothers and sisters, instead of soul sleep, do you see again what a contrast there is within this single day? For now, they face death in the power of the darkness, but later in the same day, the light and beauty of paradise.

Now, when the Lord Jesus uses this word paradise, the immediate sense, of course, is that on that same day that they die, they would both be together in heaven, in heaven, and there's no doubt about that. But it is interesting, isn't it, that the Lord chooses a different word than heaven. He chooses this word, paradise, which is a term which certainly has a broader meaning than heaven. My brothers and sisters, I don't want you to think that our hope as Christians ends in heaven. There's much more beyond heaven, where the Lord God will create the new heavens and the new earth, and that's where we shall dwell forever and ever.

Matthew Henry writes that the word here, paradise, alludes to the Garden of Eden, quite naturally. The Garden of Eden, which is where our first parents were placed after their creation, when they were still in their state of innocency. And indeed, Jesus Christ in the scripture is called our second Adam. And why is that, by the way? Why is Jesus called our second Adam? It's because he restores to us all those things that we lost in our first Adam, even paradise.

And in the second chapter of the book of Revelation, Jesus speaks to the church of Ephesus, to him who overcomes, I will give permission to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. In this place, the word paradise is used, but it cannot be a way of referring back to the garden, can it? but it's a way of looking forward. For the promise is for those who overcome, we read, and they are the ones who will indeed eat of the tree of life. Indeed, in the very last chapter of the book of Revelation, that reference to the tree of life is picked up again, and we are told that the leaves of that tree will be for the healing of the nations, which again is clearly a reference to something in the future, Ultimately, paradise, as I said, notably refers to the new heavens and new earth that Peter speaks about in 2 Peter 2, verse 13. And while we've already begun to speak about paradise, let us now turn to our third head, which is about paradise, this word that Jesus uses, paradise.

And as opposed to the suffering, in contrast to the suffering, this painful and shameful death on the cross And in particular, Christ combating the devil while at the same time enduring the dreadful judgment of God, Jesus promises to the penitent thief indescribable divine pleasure with these words, in paradise, in paradise. The physical suffering and crucifixion is acute, but this crucifixion dimension as well.

Peter would later state in his sermon at Pentecost that the crucifixion was a time when Jesus was delivered up by, quote, the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. And Peter goes on to say to the gathered men of Israel, you have taken, and by wicked hands, you have crucified and slain him. borrow from the words of the Lord's parable, one of his parables, quote, but when the bydresser sold his son, they said to themselves, this is the heir, come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.

So this was a time not only of mockery and the power of darkness, as we have said, but it was also a time of great malice and wickedness. This was the time when the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, was murdered. And this scene of crucifixion was a time of great devilishness. It was as if, and I say as if to say, that the very mouth of hell was opened up below the feet of these three men hanging on their crosses and that the flames of hell flickered up from this gaping hole in the earth. And from this abyss flew out those principalities, those powers, those rulers of darkness of this world, that spiritual wickedness which wrestled against the Lord of glory. And it was as if these fiery flames from the furnace of hell lit at the feet of these men, the mouth of hell eager to swallow them whole, if it were possible. grasp the depth of it, we must understand that the Crucifixion was a time of great spiritual warfare. There was a flurry of demonic activities such as had never been seen before and never since. For this was that culminating event of history that was alluded to back in the Garden.

In the Crucifixion, we had the seed of the serpent bruising Christ's heel. Yet Messiah the Prince, the Lord Jesus, bruises the head of the serpent. As we read in Colossians 2, verse 15, And having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them by the cross. It reminds me of some notes from the old Geneva Bible at this place. It proclaims that the cross was a chariot of triumph, of triumph. Yet who would have seen Christ as a victor in his humiliation on the cross?

Even as the founder of Islam, Muhammad, would say centuries later, God would not allow his prophets to be treated so shamefully. And so from all appearances, the day of triumph for the kingdom of darkness had finally come, the day when they would destroy the innocent and beloved Son of the Heavenly Father. And not only was this a time for the malice of men and the spiritual warfare against the devil, but also, this is key, we must understand that this was a time of the great and dreadful judgment of God upon His Son, even His own beloved Son. Remember that during the time the Lord suffered on the cross, Jesus was receiving the full blast of the wrath of God Almighty, not for His sins because He was innocent, but for our sins. Indeed, earlier in His ministry, the Lord Jesus referred to the suffering as being baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with. So you see, his life was being poured out as a propitiation, as a satisfaction to appease God's wrath and to meet divine justice. Jesus was drinking from that foaming cup of the fury of the Lord God He was draining that cup even down to the dregs.

But perhaps the pinnacle of our Lord's suffering, as recorded in the Gospel, comes from the time when we hear Him cry out, Eli, Eli, namasabachthani, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Now these are the very words that we read at the beginning of Psalm 22. Yet don't think of it so much as the Lord quoting from the psalm, but rather think of it as the psalmist prophesying the words the Lord Jesus would speak in His experience on the cross of Calvary.

You may be asking yourself, what does this mean? What does it mean when Christ cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Is this true or is it just some kind of poetical flourish? Is it figurative? Is it true that God the Father forsook his Son? Yes, it is true.

The Heavenly Father, in a mysterious way that we cannot fully understand, turn his face away, so to speak, away from his Son, his only begotten, beloved Son. For as Jesus was nailed to the cross, Jesus became your sin and my sin, if we are in Christ. And our sin is utterly repulsive to the Heavenly Father, and that's why he turns away from his Son on the cross.

The physical suffering which Jesus endured was brutal. Please don't minimize the Lord's physical suffering. But even this did not compare to what He suffered spiritually. My friends, listen to me. Jesus suffered what it would be like for you and for me. to be forsaken by God forever and ever if we were not found in Christ. So again, I ask you, do you see the stark contrast between what these men suffered and especially the profound suffering of Christ?

And at the same time, his promise to this dying thief next to him, this promise of exquisite pleasure forevermore by this word, paradise. Truly, I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise. How remarkable are these words. Paradise is described again in quote from the Marshall Notes of the Old Geneva Bible at our place here in our text. Paradise is that place of everlasting joy and salvation through the goodness and mercy of God, a most pleasant rest for the souls of the godly, a most quiet and joyful dwelling. So you see, we must understand that in paradise, we will know only eternal rest and joy, nothing but bliss in the presence of Christ and that forever and ever.

And finally, this leads to another dynamic. about paradise, which is reflected in our own text here in the Gospel of Luke, and I would be negligent if I passed over it. We see this from our text in the words of Jesus, that he also says, you will be with me. You will be with me in paradise. And so you see, paradise is not a wonderful place just in and of itself.

But paradise is paradise because that is where Jesus Christ is. That is where we will commune with the Lord forever and ever. At another time in that well-known prayer to his Heavenly Father, recorded for us in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus says, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me, be with me where I am, that they may see my glory which you have given to me. My brothers and sisters, we should find our chief joy in our communion with Christ. Because you see, that is what paradise is all about.

If you take Christ out of paradise, then you have no paradise. If you do not delight and enjoy in the Lord Jesus Christ now, what do you expect it will be like in paradise? Indeed, it is in our own very nature, the way the Lord God made us, as we also see in our catechism, that God made us to enjoy Him forever. God made us with such a nature that we are to delight in him forever and ever.

Now, I've attempted to give you some sort of description of paradise from the word of God, but we also must be reminded that we should not speculate about these things. We should not go beyond what the scripture has revealed to us about paradise and glory. This is not the proper season, so to speak, for us to have all of our questions answered. We must be content in those revealed things that the Lord has given us, and not try to pry into the secret things the Lord has not revealed to us. But what He has revealed to us is exquisite. And also to this point about speculation, and also about how it's more wonderful than we can imagine.

We read in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9, I have not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. In conclusion, these words, truly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise seem to leap out to us from the pages of our Bibles. They are striking not only because of Christ's love for a converted criminal, but also because Jesus spoke these words of eternal life, even while he himself faced a terrible death. When we read Christ's words promising paradise to this man, it is as if we are listening to a sublime, celestial music amid the sounds of great cacophony. This new song of salvation must have been sweet in the ears of that penitent thief, but it is also sweet to us if we indeed have ears to hear. My friends, can you hear this heavenly music?

Almighty God and Heavenly Father, what a blessed salvation there is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord, day by day, to learn more and more about the depths of what Jesus did for us, and laying his life down on the cross, and all the things that he suffered, and rising again on the third day, and ascending up into heaven, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and so now ruling from there until the great last day. We praise you, O Lord, for such a Savior. Help us to meditate on these things, these things which are at the heart of your gospel. We confess, O Lord, that eternity itself will not be long enough for our meditation on these things. O Lord, we do pray that you would use this word and the folly of preaching to build us up, to strengthen us in our faith, to increase our faith, that we may evermore draw closer to the Triune God through the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear us now, O God, and please be with us.