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.