My Pulpit Message Notes

THE CRIMINAL AT THE CROSS

My Pulpit Message Notes are transcribed from the sermon preached at the Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC) Ngong Road on Sunday, 2nd April, 2023. Preacher - Reverend Evans Mutamba, Pastor at NBC. Scripture: Luke 23:32-43. Topic: The Criminal at the Cross.

1. The Disobedient Arrogant Thief | Luke 23:39

2. The Desirous Repentant Thief | Luke 23:40 - 42

3. The Demonstrative Merciful King | Luke 23: 43

The Disobedient Arrogant Thief Luke 23:39

One of the criminals on the cross says, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us”.

Matthew 27:38, these criminals are also called ‘evildoers’. And so this man who is speaking is not speaking because he needs mercy, but he is speaking because he is mocking the Messiah and he is discrediting Him showing that he is not all that powerful as He claimed to be. If indeed He was powerful then why is He hanging on the cross?

So in other words he is saying, you are nothing. You are not what you claim to be. If you were then do it. Display your power.

Secondly, this man was mimicking what the rulers were saying. Him being the evildoer, the rebellious guy, disobedient and arrogant he is simply saying what the leaders were saying, “He saved others, let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God (Luke 23:35). And so he looks around and says sure. This guy didn’t have a history, a story, an encounter with Christ and if he ever did, he simply ignored what Christ was doing.

He didn’t have an encounter with Him performing miracles, healing people, feeding people, showing kindness and generosity to many and showing compassion to the widow of Nain when her son had died. He did not have any idea how Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. And so he mimics what the other guys were saying, ‘He save others, let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the Chosen one of God.

Thirdly, what troubles me, is this man imagined Christ would save Himself and save him, the thief on the cross. Christ’s mission being limited on these three, save Himself and the two thieves on the cross. That is lack of understanding the Scripture and the purpose of Christ. He was to come to die for the entire world. And so he wants to cut short the mission of Christ of dieing on the cross to save you and I and all of us and all those who believe in Him. He is being myopic in looking at things.

But doesn’t it bother you more when he says, “If you are Christ then save yourself. And where we are as a country, it is so easy to look at the difficulty of circumstances we are going through as a nation and globally and begin saying, if God was there, if You claim to be there why can’t you stop this mess that we are experiencing every Monday and Thursday? We can’t go to work, we can’t function, the country is coming to a standstill.’ Where is God? It is so easy to get to that space and fail to recognise that in spite of what was happening, Jesus, the King, merciful and loving, was still in charge.

The Desirous Repentant Thief Luke 23:40 - 42

This man turns to rebuke the other thief because, he understood the man to be mocking Christ and he says, “Don’t you fear God? Since you are under the same sentence. We are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserve, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then desirous repentant thief knew his place. He knew he was getting his … He knew he was a criminal and he knew he deserved what he was getting. Equally, he understood that Christ was righteous, faultless. He was there not because He was a criminal. But He was there on a mission saving humanity on that cross. And so this man understood so well that the first criminal was mocking Christ, Who was without fault.

But it also reminds me of the story and a preacher in the old days by the name Jonathan Edwards. This other thief understood like Jonathan Edwards that he was like every sinner who is in the hands of an angry God, hanging on a thread under fire, and every second , the fire could easily consume the thread and the sinner hanging on that thread would fall on the fire, not for a few minutes, seconds, or years, but would be in that eternal fire eternally. And he had the understanding that was the hour for him to make a decision.

And the decision he made that moment, he cried out to the Messiah, “Have mercy on me. Remember me.’

Friends, we do understand that we can be here today, but it is an opportunity for us to make that very critical decision, to mock Christ, or to say, ‘Remember me’ as we celebrate this Passion Week.

Entrance into Jerusalem - the triumphal entry in the city of Jerusalem, as they burst out and cried out saying, “Hossana Hossana, Son of David.” “Save us , save us Lord.” We can cry out like the thief on the cross and say, “Remember me.” I don’t want to mimic what the world is saying . I don’t want to join them in mocking of the Messiah. I don’t want to join them in mocking the power of God to save. But I am here today to make this critical decision, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. Remember me on this day” because you know where you are and God knows exactly where you are. Deep in your heart you know where you are and you can cry out for God’s for His mercy.

The Demonstrative Merciful King Luke 23:43

He speaks not like a helpless man on the cross, but speaks with finality and authority and brings assurance to the repentant criminal, and He says, “Assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” It is a declaration of finality. He is seated on His seat as the Judge and as the King.

He is making a ruling based on the cry of the second repentant desirous criminal who desires to be remembered and He is not just remembered, but He is given the assurance that the day of being in paradise is here and he will be with Him that day. And he will not be with Jesus in Paradise for one day, but eternally where there will be no suffering, there will be no hanging on the cross, there will be no condemnation, no famine, no demonstrations, no throwing of stones. There will be nothing that causes us to worry. We will live eternally.

“You will be with me in Paradise. Jesus has he final say over your life depending on the position you make. You don’t have to get to a place of mimicking the world. You don’t have to get to a place of losing hope. You don’t have to get to a place of saying, ‘It’s too late, I have gone to far.’ You can like that man turn to the Lord.

Like the two thieves, you have a chance to make a choice. Shall we disobey to our distraction, or call on God to have mercy on us? The King is waiting on us to make that wise decision. Call on Him for mercy.