Heights family, how we doing? Good, good. If we haven't met, my name's Ben. I'm the pastor at our Park Collective Prescott Valley location. I don't get to make it up here a lot yet. That one person likes it. I'm assuming everyone else is there right now that does like it and watching us online. But interesting fun fact. First of all, happy Palm Sunday. My last name is Palmer, and so... Our people, when we did the genealogy, used to sell palm leaves on the crusade. And
so we were the day palmers. And then when we moved to America, they dropped the day and we're just the palmers. And so that's actually all I got for Palm Sunday. The message is on something different, but I thought I'd at least share that. As always, we just kind of want to slow down for a minute and welcome everyone online. Everyone in Paulding and Baghdad, we love you. You're a part of the family. We are so glad you are
here. We're all one family. And as Kyle said, we've been looking at the last words of Jesus and it got me thinking, well, like what about other people's last words? And so anyone that knows me knows I like to have fun. I take God's words super serious. But one thing I love about Heights is like all the pastors really like to cut up. I mean. Y 'all probably shouldn't know everything that we cut up about, but we like
to have fun and cut loose. And so I found some fun ones I thought would be really good to share with you guys. So the first one I found were et tu, Brute? Okay, now this is Latin for you too, Brutus. And this was said by... We'll have the name pop up, Julius Caesar. Now, the interesting one about this is William Shakespeare coined this for his last words, okay? U2 Brutus is what it says. That's in Latin, was his best friend, and it was part of the group that murdered him.
So there's a ton of debate on whether or not Julius Caesar ever said this, but I'm of the belief if William Shakespeare writes your last words, you let old Bill do what he does best. And so these are going to be Julius Caesar's last words for us, okay? All right, we got another one. I'm bored with it all. Who said this? Winston Churchill. So Winston Churchill, one of the top three public speakers in the last hundred years, said, I'm bored with it all before he died of
a massive stroke. Okay, so maybe don't say that phrase. All right, next we have, you are going to burn a goose, but in 100 years you will have a swan, which you can neither roast nor boil, okay? John Huss said this. Anyone who knows their church history, this might be familiar. The fascinating thing about these last words is they were prophetic. John Huss was burned at the stake. So right before he caught on fire, he died a martyr for Jesus Christ. His last name is translated to goose.
That's what husk means. So he says, you're going to burn this goose, but in 100 years, there's a swan you won't be able to kill. He was burned in 1415. In 1515, Martin Luther nailed his thesis to the door of the church, and it changed the landscape of the European church. That's a pretty cool one. All right, I got another one for you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance. General John Sedgwick said this right before he was shot by a Confederate sniper. Did not
judge that one too well. Someone should have used one of their words to say duck. All right, I got another one for you. Dictionary. It's an odd one, but it was said by Joseph Wright. He edited the English dialect dictionary. Funny, because there's a whole book of words, but he just chose the name of the book. So those were his last words. And I got one more for you. One last drink, please, said by Jack Daniels. It's true. And I'm not advocating for that. Mr. Daniels
said that. I did not. But when we think of words in general, we will look at someone's life and we'll look at the words they say. And if they don't align up with their actions, they can be hollow and meaningless. We're not gonna stop and listen. We know that's not the case though with Jesus. We know all of Jesus, Jesus's words were truth and carried weight. And we can look at his last words and they hold up to everything he taught. They hold up to the way he treated
people, the way he interacted with people. And so with Jesus' last words, you want to slow down. You want to see what God has for us within those. Jesus' last words to the thief on the cross were full of power, his personality, and his promises. But if I'm being honest, there are days where his last words to the thief on the cross mess with this theological neat little box I try to put God in. I have a son named Jedediah. We call
Jed. He's three, almost three and a half, and I got a two -year -old baby girl named Israel Rose we call Izzy, but Jed's a, he's all boy. He's mischievous. He's playful and energetic, and he is always, always looking to push the boundary of what's okay. And we are always resetting that boundary. Which, you know, he's doing what he's supposed to. He's supposed to see what he can get away with. And we're supposed to tell
him what he can't as parents. And so one of the things my wife Piper has been doing for some time is when Jetty is in a consequence or a discipline, she goes, I love you always. I love you always. And so last week he was getting in trouble. And during the consequence or right after, Piper goes, I love you always. And he goes, Mama, you love me always, even when I'm not being good? She was like, yes, son. He goes, Jesus loves me always, even when I'm bad? And she was like,
yes, son. And he goes, Jesus loves me even when I'm fussy? And she goes, Jesus loves you even when you're fussy. And I was hearing this story from my wife, and man, I started just to think, like, man, I'm actually a lot like my three -year -old at times. And I'm your pastor. But there are, if I'm honest, if I want to be honest with myself, there are days that I look at God's love for me like a roller coaster that goes up and down, and it's dependent upon the track I've
laid for the day. How much have I seeked them? How much have I read my Bible? How much have I prayed? How much sin have I had in my life that day? And dependent upon my actions, I can get off track and think that that determines how much God loves me. And it's just not farther from the truth. My hope is that we leave today and we see the thief on the cross is a mirror image of our redemptive story. that we are all the thief on the cross and have all needed the
same amount of grace and love. And so we're going to be in Luke 23, verses 39 to 44. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him. Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us. But the other criminal rebuked him. Don't you fear God, he said, 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 he said, Jesus, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. See, I think if we're being honest with ourselves, sometimes we look at this thief and go, lucky fella. God was just a little bit kinder to him than what we needed. He was a little more forgiving than what we actually needed. Yours is the clearest story of saving grace. Mine is the biggest, clearest story of saving
grace. We're all the thief on the cross. When I was a young teenager, I'd heard about this. and he died on his deathbed and gave his life to Jesus. And I don't remember exactly how I heard it. It was the 90s, so it was either a magazine or the TV. That was the only way we could get any information back then. But I remember at a young age thinking out loud, that's the perfect way to go. You get to live this life that you want. You get to do whatever you want,
self -indulge, just live. to your heart's desire. And then at the very end, 12th hour, you can give your life to Jesus. See, I was born and raised in a Christian home, so I understood the benefit of heaven, but I didn't step into a relationship, a personal relationship with Jesus until I was 32. See, I wasn't dumb. I understood everything my parents had taught me. Was I ignorant? Sure. Was I foolish? Absolutely. Broken without a doubt.
But it got me thinking, how many of us right now are saying, after today, I'm going to stop doing what I'm doing, and I'm going to surrender that to Jesus later. This is going to be the last day I watch pornography. And then Monday, I'm done. I'm going to surrender it. This is the last day I'm going to take a pill. After this, I'm gonna surrender it. Once this tough season is over, I'm gonna stop drinking so much. And I'm gonna surrender those things to Jesus.
After my kids get settled and they're on the right path, I'm gonna stop worrying every day. And then I'm gonna give that to Jesus. I'll give my kids to Jesus once they're on the right track. Once my retirement fund is trending in the right way. I'm not going to be anxious about the future. And I just got to get a couple things in the places they need to be. And when those things happen, you know, Jesus, I'm going to give my full life to you later. I'm here to tell you
that those things have been paid for. We have been healed and forgiven by the body and blood of Jesus Christ. And on the other side of that cross is an empty tomb. And death has been been defeated. There is no bondage that holds you. You are no longer a slave to sin, but a slave to righteousness. You can stop those things in
this moment in the name of Jesus. If we look at Ephesians 2 in verses 6 through 8, it says, and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. These are his last words to the thief on the cross. Jesus tells the thief, truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise. We as believers who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and we will be seated with Christ in the
heavenly realms. This is a promise. In verse seven, it goes in order. That in the coming ages, he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourself. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. Verse eight and nine, they're super famous. These are memory verses that are on frames. For it is by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not from yourself. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. So let's think about that thief. I'm pretty sure that thief never went to growth track. He never went to a men's breakfast. He never served coffee on the weekend. He never attended church. He wasn't baptized. I know that messes with somebody's theological box in here. Never went to Bible studies. He couldn't explain
the doctrine of ordinances and covenants. He couldn't list any of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. And yet he was gonna be with Jesus in paradise that day because of his incomparable riches of his grace through Jesus Christ. God's word tells us, God demonstrated his love to us in this way that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were still his enemy, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son. What does that teach us?
God loved you and me before we ever knew him. God loved you and me before we ever surrendered to him. God loved you and me before we ever did anything of obedience in his name. God cannot love you any more or less. I heard a pastor once say, without the preaching of the cross to ourselves all day and every day, we will very quickly revert back to faith plus works. as the grounds of our salvation. See, it can never be about me. I'm not saved because I believe. I'm not saved because
I held strong. I'm not saved because I'm a pastor. I'm saved because of what he did and who he is. I'm saved by what Christ achieved on the cross. Are we preaching the cross to ourself all day and every day? I don't. I remember a time several years ago where one of my favorite verses in the Bible was in Luke 6. And Jesus is doing a teaching. He's talking about, hey, love your enemy. Lend to them without expecting anything back. He's like, because then you'll be sons
of the Most High. And he goes, and do this because God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful to you. But that phrase, be kind to the ungrateful and wicked, That just like hit me in this way. And I was like, man, that's awesome. I need to be kind to those who are ungrateful and wicked. And somehow, subconsciously, I wasn't aware of it at the time. I had elevated myself just one
notch above the ungrateful and wicked. So this was my favorite verse for the wrong reason for a few years. And I'm at a Christmas dinner in Huntsville, Alabama with my whole family. Everyone's there. And I go, Dad, will you pray for the Christmas dinner? And he goes, Heavenly Father, thank you for being kind to those of us who are ungrateful and wicked. Amen. Quite the Christmas prayer. Wanting a whole lot about baby Jesus in there.
But that was his prayer. And my little nephew is like, he's like, Pop, that don't sound right. And my dad goes, I assure you it is. And in that moment, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I had stopped preaching the cross to myself. I had lost sight of the need of a savior every day, all day. That it was his goodness, his righteousness, that I was ungrateful and wicked. And I was in need of his mercies every day. When we don't preach the cross to ourselves, we become judgmental.
We start to compare our faiths to one another. We hold people to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. We are quick to hold their lives under the magnifying glass of Scripture while we look at our sin and issues from a distance with binoculars. And I don't mean those good ones. I mean like those little kid broke ones. where we just kind of imitate that we're looking for our issues.
When we don't preach the cross to ourselves all day, every day, we become self -righteous and prideful while elevating ourselves and lowering Christ. We focus on the wickedness of the sin rather than loving the sinner. We are more consumed with who is right and who is wrong, and proving it is the most important thing. When we do preach the cross to ourselves all day, every day, we can't not forgive because we're acutely aware of how much we've been forgiven. We can't not
serve. We can't not give because we're aware of how much we have been served and how much we have been given. It is by his goodness. And so with this in mind, I want to repaint the scene in Luke. We have Jesus on the middle cross. We have a thief on the left and on the right of Jesus. Now we know the Romans used the crucifixion. It was a criminal's death. We know that this was for notorious criminals and they would placard these people against the sky for all to see.
And it would be a deterrent, hopefully, that no one, would repeat what they had been accused of. We also see one of the thieves is mocking Jesus and the other thief is rebuking him. The other thief is like, we're justly being punished. We deserve this. This man is innocent. But that wasn't always the case for both thieves. One of my favorite things to do, it's so much fun, is to pull out the same story out of all four gospels. Pull them out and lay them on top of
each other. And you will get a more rich, a more full, a more life -breathing word from God. And it will take you to deeper layers. And this is no different. And in Matthew 27, 44, it says, in the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. Just hours ago, both thieves were mocking him. Both. Thieves were insulting him, and now one has changed his
thinking. And how this thief came to recognize the innocence of Jesus, we're not told in this, but you can look at Scripture as a whole, and I think it's very clear. And first, we have to know that saving faith is understood through divine revelation. In Matthew 16, Jesus goes, Peter, who do you say I am? Peter goes, well, some say you're Elijah, some say you're a prophet. And Jesus is like, no, I know, but who do you say I am, Peter? And he goes, you're the Messiah,
you're the King. And Jesus goes, blessed are you, because this was not revealed by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. In Matthew 11, no one knows the Father except the Son, and to those the Son chooses to reveal himself to. John 6, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them in. And the same thing happens within this divine revelation to every person, thief, you, me, everyone. One is we are
aware of our brokenness and sin. We're aware that we need a savior and that savior cannot be us. We're also made aware of Jesus's sinlessness. and that he took on a punishment that he didn't deserve. We will recognize this kingship and that there is a paradise after this. Within this, there is repentance. Repentance gets a really bad reputation in today's age. This is a good word. This is a word we should celebrate. This is a word that should make someone smile. Repentance
in the Greek is metanoeo. Meta means change, metamorphosis, change. Noeo is thinking. Change your thinking. When Jesus came out of the desert after being tempted by Satan, his first words he preached were, repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. Change your thinking for the kingdom of heaven is near. As we're studying Jesus' last words on the cross, think about the thieves.
They're ones of repentance and they're etched in history forever that we might never lose sight of the incomparable riches of God's grace through Jesus Christ and what he did on that cross and the desperate need for a savior. I need to change my thinking every day. I don't know about you. In some area, some format, some way, equally true. Equally true is we are held responsible for the response to the invitation. In James, it says, draw nearer to God and he'll draw nearer
to you. In 2 Peter, it says that God is long suffering for us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should be saved and turn to repentance. See, these are not mutually exclusive ideas. These things are both true. And in Revelations 3 .20, it says, Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me. So I wanted to share this illustration with you. It's a painting. And it's a famous
painting. This is a rendition of it. It's not the original. It's not me. There it is. You see Jesus is at the door. You see Jesus is on the outside. And he's knocking at the door. And what I want you to notice is there's no handle on Jesus' side. He'll knock at the door, but the handle is on the inside. And we have to open it. And so let's think back to these two thieves hanging next to Jesus. What did they experience? They experienced the last words of the Messiah.
They heard Jesus say with full selflessness, here is my mom, make sure she's being taken care of. Make sure she's loved. Both these thieves hear it. That was Jesus knocking at their door. They're able to hear him pray, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. That was Jesus knocking on the door to their heart. Jesus was mocked and spit on and beaten, and he did not retaliate. In all of his suffering, he made no threats. Jesus was knocking on the door, and
only one of those thieves opened it. Every time you hear a message, that is Jesus knocking on the door to your heart. Every good and perfect gift, the word tells us, is from the Father. That's Jesus knocking. Even in times of desperation and loss, and there's a sense and a need that there's a need for something greater than ourselves, that's Jesus knocking on the door to your heart. It says even in Romans 1 that you can tell there's
a creator in creation. So even within nature, sunrises, sunsets, beauty, Jesus is knocking on the door to our heart. I was able to go to Jordan a few weeks ago. Many of you know we did a missions trip, and we were able to visit a town called Azrak. Now, Azrak is two hours east of Amman. Amman is over two million people. It's their capital. It's a big city. Azrak is the exact opposite. It is this little itty -bitty town. of about 10 ,000 in the middle of nowhere.
And I was able to meet a woman named Besma. And she was able to share with me how her husband and daughter came to Christ first. And she was the last one in the family to come and meet Jesus. But she also shared with me why. See, she practiced sorcery and witchcraft. And she used to tell
people their fortunes and read their palms. And people would come, from Saudi Arabia and pay $1 ,000 to $2 ,000 a day to hear what she had to say, which means she was pretty accurate at it, which also means there were some pretty demonic and evil spirits involved with that. But she shared how she looked at this husband and daughter and everything changed in them, the way they thought, the way they acted, the way they talked. what they cared about, what they believed in.
And Jesus used this husband and daughter to knock on Besma's heart. And she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and forsaked all, forsaked all of that money and that fame from that. And now she preaches Jesus Christ unapologetically in a country you're not allowed to do that. Yeah, that's worth celebrating. I was also able to visit a Christian preschool in Azraq. And so within the kids that visit this preschool, we did a bunch of home visits and met a bunch of
parents, a bunch of them. And these parents told me, you know, the truth is other organizations give us more resources, but there is an unexplainable love that our children. received from this Christian preschool. And so we send our kids there. God has used that preschool to bring over a hundred Druze to Christ in a town where there was zero. God is using the love of that preschool to reach parents and change people's lives. There's an awakening in Azraq Jordan of people on fire for
Christ. Can God use your life to knock on people's door? Can God use my life? Are we living our lives in such a way that the way we talk to people, the way we talk about people, the way we treat them, are we in such a personal place with Christ that as we're dependent solely on this, that it affects everything in this outward area? That our sphere of influence that God has handed us to oversee, that it can be used to knock on the
door of people's hearts? If Christ is the only remedy for alienation from God, how can we not share the good news? If someone doesn't know their loss, why would they ever look to be found? You don't... Go to a doctor if you don't think you're sick. If we're going to the left and it's the wrong way, and how am I going to know to change my thinking and turn right if I'm not sharing Christ? If we believe this, how can we not want someone to experience the incomparable
riches of His grace? Easter's next weekend. It's the number one service. People that don't go to church will go to church. There's studies that say eight out of 10 non -believers, if asked, said, I'll go to Easter service. Christmas is a close second. Who are we gonna invite this week? How much time are we going to spend praying for God to lay a name on our heart and invite them to Easter? All the while preaching the cross to ourselves and being reminded of our need for
the Savior. And praying for a divine revelation to that person's eyes and ears to be open. That is my prayer for this church this weekend. that we would spend time praying for God to lay a name on our heart and invite him to Easter so they can be a thief on the cross and be saved, just like you were and just like I was. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I just come before you, Lord, Lord, that you would just light a fire inside of us, Lord, that, Lord, we are desperate
for you, Lord. that we are desperate for you in every way, Father. Lord, that your presence is with us, your Holy Spirit is poured out on us, Father. I stand here in repentance for the times I have lived my life, not in desperation of you. Lord, I am in need of your goodness and your righteousness, Lord. Reveal areas in our lives that we need to repent and change our thinking,
Lord. Lord, for those of us that our salvation is secure, Lord, but there's areas we're holding on to, Lord, bring those to the forefront of our mind that we might change our thinking and repent. Lord, and look to you, our Savior. Lord, for these sins have been paid for. We don't have to be held in these chains anymore, Father. Lord,
that you would make the names of those. Father, that you wish to be at Easter, just make them so prominent in our minds and hearts this week, Lord, and give us the courage and strength and self -control, Lord, to go and invite them, not to think about how it makes me feel or if it's awkward or not, Lord, but that we trust in your goodness and your power and your strength, Lord. Father, that the spotlight should be on the cross alone and not on us. Father, I thank you for
your love. I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for your grace, Lord. I thank you for your patience, Father, for your kindness leads us to repentance. You are a good God, Lord, and let us celebrate that in your name. Amen.