Gospel—Bob Thonney
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Good evening to everybody.
Like to start the meeting by reading a couple verses?
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
And that he was buried and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
Let's pray. Gracious God our Father, we're so thankful for the gospel message that there is been someone here in this world that has died and was buried.
And that rose again, and that in that life and in that death, in that resurrection, is the message of hope for a dying world that we live in today. We pray for blessing on the message as it's spoken tonight, that it might be with clarity. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray, Amen.
Like to sing #23 on this hem sheet that you have?
Behold, behold the Lamb of God on the cross.
For us he shutteth precious blood on the cross #23.
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Like to turn tonight to chapter 23 of Luke's Gospel and read the story of the crucifixion, the death of our Lord Jesus on the cross.
Chapter 23 of Luke's Gospel and I'm going to start.
With.
Verse.
22 And he that is Pilate saith unto them the third time.
Why, what evil have he done? Reference to the Lord Jesus. I have found no cause of death in him. I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that He might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed, and Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.
And they released him to him in that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired. But he delivered Jesus to their will. And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a sirenian coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
Now go down to verse 32. And there were also two other.
Malefactors LED with him to be put to death, and when they were, come to the plate, 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, for they know not what they do, and they parted his garment, his raiment and calf lots.
And the people stood by beholding, and the rulers also with them derided hymns, saying, He saved others, let him save himself, if he be Christ the chosen of God. And the soldiers often mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar.
And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.
And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew.
This is the king of the Jews, one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him.
Saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and on. But the other answering rebuked him, saying.
Dost not thou fear God, seen thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily.
I stand to thee today. Shalt thou be with me in paradise.
And it was about the 6th hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour, and the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried, with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying.
Certainly this was a righteous man.
What a tremendous story we've read.
About the death of the Son of God, you know we live in a world.
That is going fast towards judgment. God takes sin seriously.
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Because thin wrecks people.
It wrecks families. It wrecks nations.
And we have in our world today so much testimony to that fact.
Remember when Adam was created and put in this world he lived up to 930 years old?
Whatever happened to us? Just a few get up to 100 years old today.
It's a testimony to the fact that sin ruined people.
It degrades and we all have that problem, a sin problem.
We're born with it. It's not something that I can point to you and say you've got it and I'm I'm all right. No, it's a common problem of all we're born in sin and shaping and iniquity.
It's our nature to want to thin, and we sin because we are sinners by nature and by practice. And God has taken that question seriously. God has addressed the thin question.
Sin brings death. Why do we die? Because we are sinners.
You sin, you die.
Nobody escapes that. Everybody has to face that. Sometimes people like to try to put it out of their minds, but it's best to face the reality of the fact that we live in a world that is a dying world.
But God has addressed that question, and this is the message of the gospel. Good news, God sent his own Son into this world.
For God's full love, the world that he gave, his only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world since he was God's eternal Son. But to be able to die, since God cannot die, he had to take a human form in this world. And so through the Virgin Mary he became a man was born into this world.
With one difference with us, he did not have a stem nature when the Angel announced to the Virgin Mary that she was going to be the mother.
Of the Lord Jesus.
The Angel said, That holy thing shall that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.
Tremendous fact that God has visited this planet.
In the history of this world, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus lived amongst men, most of the people did not recognize who He was. Even His disciples who believed in Him did not grasp very well who was this person.
When they were asked if they could say he's the Carpenter or he's the carpenter's son, we know him. We know his mother's, his brothers and his sisters. They're amongst this today.
And so the Lord Jesus lived his life down here in this world. He never sinned. Since he never sinned, the wages of sin did not apply to him. He did not have to die.
But you know what? He came to die. Why? Because He came to pay the price of our redemption. That was why He came. God so loved us that He came to pay the price of our redemption. And so after his life in this world of 33 1/2 years approximately, what happened we read about here in this chapter.
He was taken to pilot the governor, the Roman governor in those days, and he was unjustly condemned to the worst possible death, the death of crucifixion. If you read in history, there is throughout the ages of history, many different forms of capital punishment, but I don't think there is a form of capital punishment that was so terribly excruciating.
As was crucifixion. And so on this day that we read about.
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Out of the city of Jerusalem come three men to die. Two were malefactors.
Who were thieves, and they deserved to die. The Roman governor had decided that there was no reason to leave them any longer with their lives, to continue their lives as thin, And so he had decreed that they would be crucified. But there was a third one there, Jesus, his head crowned with thorns, his face beaten by the Roman soldiers, because they were.
Practiced in cruelty.
And they stretched out his hands when they got to that place and nailed through his hands, and his feet are crossed. And there they lifted up that cross. They put Jesus in the middle, and on either side was one of the malefactors.
Three were condemned to die that day.
And who was the first of the three to die?
We're going to get to that, but it's interesting, the conversation that took place.
Before the Lord Jesus.
I should say, when the Lord Jesus was crucified, he prayed a prayer.
Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
God has forgiveness in his heart to the guilty Sinner. I am a guilty Sinner. I spend so much against God. Who knows how many times I've sinned in my life, sometimes calculated just to get an idea. You send 10 times in a day and I don't know how many times a day. When I was a youngster, I was pretty willful and.
I would guess at least 10 times a day, but you know, one year that's 3650 sins.
In 10 years that's 36,500 sins and keep on multiplying it for the decades that I've lived.
It gets up to the quietest son. You know, people think that by living and doing good things that God will pass over the bad things they did. I want to say to you that that is not the case.
Even human judgment, Human justice.
Does not think that way, supposing that I lived here in Saint Thomas.
And was known to be a person that did a lot of good things for the people of Saint Thomas.
But one day in an unguarded moment, I get really angry if somebody and I take my fist and I hit him hard.
And he dies. Here comes the police.
They're coming to arrest me, I said. Just a minute, Mr. Policeman, I just want to say something here.
That, you know, I'm a person here in Saint Thomas that people know has done a lot of good. I'm really sorry about this and I think maybe you can just let me go. You think they'll let me go? You know, that's not going to happen because doing good things and we all ought to do good things. I'm not speaking against that, but doing good things does not wipe out the bad that we've done in life. Every single.
Sin that I have committed has to receive. It's just punishment from the hand of God. God is just and He will punish sin. There is no escape to that. And so the Lord Jesus here on the cross.
On either side there were two malefactors. The first one started out by mocking him.
And it says in verse 39 he said, if thou be Christ saved thyself in us. This man wanted to get off of that cross so he could continue his life as he had lived it down here. But notice the other one has something different to say to Jesus.
In another gospel it says that he neither one was saying the same things as this first thief had said. But then there's a change with this man.
And he says he rebuked his companion, his fellow thief. And he says you not fear God's teen. You are in the same condemnation when you live here in this world and face death every day. Don't you fear God? Don't you realize that there's going to come a time when you're going to have to face the issues of your sin with a holy God?
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And so he turns to Jesus after he had rebuked his fellow.
Thief and he says verse 41, we indeed, justly, we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing amiss. There was a change in thinking in this man. You know what that's called and the Scriptures? It's called repentance. And repentance is extremely important. People think they're all right.
I remember thinking that way myself.
I was raised in a Christian home. I was taught the Bible. I thought I was all right. I had to repent. I had to realize that I'm as guilty as the worst Sinner in the presence of Canada or the United States. I'm guilty and the sentence for sin is death.
But then this man doesn't end there. He turns to Jesus.
And he says, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
Interesting, how did he know that that man did dying beside him had a Kingdom?
I supposed in the trial perhaps he might have heard something that gave him to realize that this man had a Kingdom, but he was on the cross dying.
This man might have heard that the Jewish people believed in resurrection.
And there is such a thing as resurrection. Death does not end at all.
For anybody on the face of this earth.
Anyhow, he says, Remember Me.
When you come in your Kingdom, you know what? Jesus hasn't come in his Kingdom yet. And if he would have gotten what he asked for, he would still be waiting. But notice what Jesus responds to him. To me, this is the most wonderful, he says.
Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Isn't that wonderful today?
Thou shalt be with me in paradise. Wonderful, wonderful.
Wait a minute.
Does God allow thieves in heaven?
How can that be?
Here's a man that's lived all his life doing bad stuff. God let's people like that into heaven.
Isn't God just?
Yes, God is just. Then how does this figure?
Notice what it says in the next verse, verse 44, and it was about the 6th hour and there was a darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour.
And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
You know Jesus was crucified according to the way we calculate time about 9:00 in the morning.
And he died at 3:00 in the afternoon, the first three hours from 9:00 to 12:00.
People were passing in front of him, mocking him, spitting on him.
And at 12 noon, when the sun is high in the sky.
Everything got dark and for three hours there was darkness.
And nobody could see what was taking place on Calvary during those three hours.
But it was in those three hours that God had to be satisfied in His justice about the question of sin. And in the prophet Isaiah it says he was wounded. Speaking of Jesus, he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with His stripes we are healed.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
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It was in those three hours that God to be able to give that thief an entrance into heaven, to be able to give this guilty Sinner that stands here tonight an entrance into heaven.
Had to be satisfied about the sins that we had committed. It was in those three hours that our sins were laid on Jesus.
God does not forget. And God remembered every single sin and laid it on the head of his own beloved Son. And God picked up the rod of his judgment, and let the judgment of of his judgment fall in all its fury on the head of his own beloved Son for three hours.
The waves and billows of God's judgment roll over Jesus there.
Those three hours, there's no complaint from that center class. He suffered it all in love.
For you and me, and at the end of those three hours, we don't have it in this gospel, but in John's Gospel he says it is finished. All the judgment that was against you and me as guilty sinners, Jesus paid the price in full. God has been vindicated about the question of sin. His righteous character has been vindicated so that God is not compromised in his character when he comes out to offer you and me.
Full and free salvation and forgiveness. Forgiveness of sins.
Sometimes I say, what kind of a judge would it be?
You had a judge here in Canada that every criminal that was brought before him, he says. We're we're just going to forget you. Here comes another criminal. What were his crimes? We're going to forgive you. I don't think that would be a very good judge. Why not?
Because he does not make the law of Canada valid, He does not make it sick. There is punishment for sin. But think of it, my friend Jesus on the cross paid the price of redemption in full, so much so that he could say before he died, it is finished.
And he bowed his head and died. Another detail that we have in John's gospel is that after he had died.
There was a soldier who came and with his spear pierced his side.
Rammed it into his side and outflowed blood and water. The testimony that there was no life in that body any longer. Jesus died and he paid the price with his precious blood for our redemption.
And then they took him off that cross.
And they buried him. But the story doesn't end there.
Go to chapter 24 of Luke and I want to read the first verses of that chapter.
Upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, that is the women.
Came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them, And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre, and they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed.
There about, behold, two men stood by them in shining raiment garments, and as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Behold, remember how He speak unto you when He was yet with you.
So the Lord Jesus, the third day rose from the dead.
Was interesting to me the other day to read a statement that one of the.
Most established facts of human history.
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Is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. People used to laugh at you if you said you believe that. Those that really study those matters do not laugh anymore. They realize it is a well attested fact. Jesus died. He was buried. He rose again from the dead. Death has been conquered. There is no longer need to fear death.
Because Jesus died to pay the price of our redemption, and the fact that God raised him from the dead means that God was satisfied with the payment that Jesus made. If there was one sin left to pay for that he had left out, he would not have raised Jesus from the dead. But the price is paid in full. Full and free redemption is now available.
And a bond that basis of that redemption God offers to every person in this world, Full and free salvation, forgiveness of sins, a home in heaven. Yes, this world is going fast to judgment. People don't stop to think what's going on. But this world is a tinderbox. I'm amazed that we still have as much order as we still have in this world and that we can travel around and visit.
I'm amazed, but there are parts of the world today where I cannot go like I used to go.
They're getting too dangerous and even the native people in those areas tell me don't go there now. That's the world we live in and it's bound to get worse. God has an account to settle with this world. Jesus is coming again. Before he left the disciples, he told them if I go, I will come again. And he went and he hasn't fulfilled that second part.
Jesus is coming back to this world and I would like to read before we get to the end of this meeting a verse in Acts chapter 17.
That says it clearly as to our responsibility in view of what God has done.
Acts chapter 17 and verse 30.
The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now?
Commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he has the point of the day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.
Whereof He has given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Interesting verse that speaks again of the resurrection of the dead. But this is something future. God has appointed a day in which he will judge this world. The day is appointed. We don't know when it is. People make calculations and say one thing and another.
But it's God who knows what that day. The point is, the day is appointed.
And the judge is appointed, and the judge is going to be the same person that hung on that cross to pay the price of redemption so that all might have an opportunity to accept God's free salvation. Oh, my friend, I ask you tonight, do you know what it means to be saved? Do you have assurance like that fee on the cross?
That Jesus told today.
Thou shalt be with me in paradise. You know, On that cross, Jesus died. On that hilltop outside Jerusalem, Jesus died first.
Then it tells us in John's Gospel that the soldiers came to one of the other thieves and broke his legs, and once their legs were broken, they had nothing to sustain themselves to be able to breathe. And he dies.
And since there was number faith in Jesus, he went to a lost eternity.
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The thief and the soldiers come to the other thief and break his legs too, and that thief dies. And the difference is that that thief goes to paradise.
How in the world can he go there? Because Jesus paid the price in full. And the greatest thing you can do tonight, my friend, is accept the message of the gospel. We're not talking about religion here.
It's not about religious experience. It's about historical facts. Jesus died for our sins. Christ died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures and just as we were mentioning that the resurrection is one of the best established human facts.
Apart from scripture, we have it very clearly there. But even apart from Scripture?
It's one of the most well established facts in human history. Jesus rose from the dead.
So is it's certain that there will be a day of judgment like it says here. Let me repeat it again, verse 31. He has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men.
In that he hath raised him from the dead. And so Jesus was raised from the dead. So certain did he rise from the dead. So certain is the coming Judgment Day. My friend, every human being that has ever lived on planet earth will must meet Jesus someday. You can accept Him tonight as your Savior to meet Him by faith.
Accept the offer of salvation that He is offering you tonight.
If you don't, the alternative is to face him on that judgment day when there will be no more salvation.
We're thankful for our brethren here in Saint Thomas that have extended this invitation to our friends and neighbors as well. But I want to say to the young people, to the children here.
Who are here at the conference, this applies to you as well. And I'm afraid for some of the children. Sometimes when I was growing up, in the meeting where I grew up, there were those who were in the Sunday school, and some of them, their lives have shown that there was no faith in the Lord Jesus at all, even though they knew the way. Where do you stand? Have you ever repented of your sins, children?
And young people.
This is a moment when you can accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior to and so we end this meeting with a desire that you that there would be no one that would go out of these doors tonight without having accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. That way you can be certain of your destiny, just like that thief was when the Lord Jesus said to him.
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Let's pray attend our meeting.
Father, thanks for thy precious word. Thanks so much for our Lord Jesus.
That one who paid the price in full on the cross. Oh Father, we pray for blessing on all those who have heard the word.
May thy word be as.
Seed in their hearts to bear fruit to eternal life. We ask and give thanks, Father, in that most wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.