The Word of Assurance - Part 1

Thanks for joining us here today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series called the Seven Greatest Words of Love. There are seven words in particular that Jesus spoke during his final hours on the cross that hold the keys for finding fulfillment in your life, relationships and even your career. Right now, here's Pastor Rick with part one of a message called the Word of Assurance.

If you have a Bible, you want to open to Luke chapter 23. If you don't have a Bible, all the verses we're going to look at are in the outline. If you'll take that out, the message notes. And I told you that we're going to continue in this series on the seven greatest words of love, the seven last statements of Jesus on the cross. Now, they weren't the last statements of Jesus because he resurrected and talked a lot after that, but these are the last words that as he is dying on the cross. Now, I have been at the bedside of, I don't know, maybe hundreds, I don't know how many people who I've watched them take their last breath as I've been there as a pastor. And I wanna tell you something. Last words are important. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. The last thing somebody says is extremely significant. And that's why we're taking seven weeks to look at the seven last statements of Jesus and what they are all about, the last things that he says. And in this second word, last week we looked at the word of forgiveness. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. And in this second word we get the word of assurance. And it's a word that he says to a thief who's dying on the cross beside him. As you know, Jesus was led up the hill to Golgotha. He was crucified between two thieves. One of them rejected Jesus, the other actually accepted him on the cross. And today we're gonna look at the conversation between Jesus and that man. And I call it the Word of Assurance. Jesus is hanging between these two criminals there. The Greek word literally means evildoers. They did evil and one of them turns against Jesus. Blasphemo is what it's actually said in Greek. And one of them turns toward Jesus and he's saved at the last minute, hanging there on the cross. This is the most famous last minute salvation in history. I mean, in his very dying seconds, he converts. He trusts Jesus Christ for his salvation. And Jesus says the second phrase, today, you will be with me. In paradise. Now, because I was working on this message and thinking about this message all week, I kept noticing this phrase, saved at the last minute. And, you know, you can read in the paper about bills in Congress that are about to be declined and they're saved at the last minute. And I read about a woman who was captured by some pirates over in Somalia and saved at the last minute. And I read about a suicide pact of some people, some teenagers in Germany, and police found out about it, and they were saved at the last minute. And of course, we periodically hear about people who are on death row and they're getting ready to be executed. And down in Texas, a judge at the last second issued a stay of execution, and the criminal, the inmate, was saved at the last minute. Now, nothing is more famous than this criminal who literally had a deathbed conversion, saved at the last minute. And it's extremely important text of scripture because it tells us in this one passage what you must know in order to be saved. It tells us how you can be certain that you're saved, that you don't have any more doubts in your mind. And it tells us when and where you can be saved. I want you to listen to this message as if your life depends on it, because it does. I'm gonna explain to you as clearly, as simply, as succinctly as I know how, what it means to be saved, what it means to know you are for certain going to heaven when you die. And I know many people who've gone to church their entire lives and still aren't sure of that. They have doubts about their salvation. They have doubts about, am I really gonna get in? Is God gonna love me? Is he gonna let me into his heaven? I don't ever want you to have any doubt again about whether you're going to heaven or not. I want you, when you finish this message, to be absolutely certain, confident, with zero doubts, zero fears, zero anxieties, that if you were to die tonight or in the next hour, you would go straight into the presence of God. I want you to have that assurance. I don't want you to ever doubt again. And I don't want you to have any misconceptions. Now, the first thing that this story tells us is the five things we must know in order to be saved. Now, there are a lot of things you can know about Jesus, but there's some things you must know about Jesus. So I'm not gonna tell you everything you could know about God, about life, about heaven, about salvation. But I'm gonna tell you the minimum. This is what you have to know in order to get into heaven. And there are five things. Let's read the text. Luke, chapter 23, verses 39 to 43. One of the criminals hanging beside Jesus hurled insults at him. So you're the Messiah, are you? Prove it. Prove it by saving yourself. And save us too, while you're at it. But the other criminal on the other side of Jesus rebuked him. The criminal who just said that said, don't you fear God even when you're dying? We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man has not done anything wrong. And then he said, he looks at Jesus and he said, jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus replied, I assure you. This is the word of assurance. I assure you. In other words, I guarantee it. You can count on it. You can take it to the bank. I assure you, today you'll be with me in paradise. Now, what does Jesus tell us in this passage? And what do we learn about salvation? Because obviously, if Jesus says, you're going to heaven, you're going to heaven. And he told this guy, you're going to heaven. So let's tear this passage apart a little bit at a time. First, let's look at five Things I Must Know In Order to be saved. This man is dying next to Jesus. Now, he doesn't know much, probably never been to school, probably hadn't had a single day of education in his life. He's a street criminal. He's what people would call low life. But he did know some things, and he knew enough to get into heaven. What did he know? Well, the first thing he knew and the first thing you have to know, write this down. I must know that I'll face God after I die. That's the first thing you've gotta know. You gotta know that when you die, you're gonna go straight after into the presence of God and you're gonna face God after you die. He knew that. Now, when the first criminal joins in insulting Jesus, because the crowd was insulting Jesus and the soldiers were insulting Jesus, the second one, notice he rebukes. He rebukes. Eptimeo, the first criminal and the second criminal says, don't you fear God even when you're dying? And what is he saying there? Don't you realize the seriousness of your situation, man, you are about to meet God. You are seconds away from eternity, buddy. You may have run from the police and the law enforcement your entire life. You can run from God your entire life, but then you can't run anymore. He said, man, you are seconds away from meeting Almighty God, your creator. Do you not realize this? Do you not fear this, fear God even when you're dying? You see, the reason why so many people ignore God and live unholy lives is they think death is just the end. When I die, it's over. That's it. No more problem. It's not. Death is not the end of anything. Death is the beginning. It's the beginning of eternity. And you're gonna spend far more years in eternity than you're gonna spend on this planet. You get maybe 100 years at the most. On this planet, you're gonna spend trillions of years in eternity. Death is not the end of your life. It's the beginning of your eternal life. The rest of your life in one of two places. So this is not the end here. One day you're gonna stand face to face to God and you're gonna give an account to God of everything in your life. The Bible says this over and over and over. There's gonna be a judgment day. There's gonna be an accounting day of my life. Look at this verse. Hebrews 9:27. Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God. And that is one appointment you cannot counsel. That is one appointment you will not be late for. You know, the mortality rate in the world is now 100%. Nobody's gonna skip death. We're not all the same color. We're not all the same age, we're not all the same sex. We don't all have the same amount of money. But the one thing we all have in common, everybody here and everybody listening, is this. We're all gonna die. That is the one thing for sure. And it is foolish to spend your entire life unprepared for something you know is inevitable. In fact, you're not really ready to live until you're ready to die. So he says, everybody's gonna die. And after that, you're gonna go face to face with God. That guy knew this. The second thing the guy knew, and you've gotta know this too, is, I must know that I've sinned against God. I must know that I've sinned against God. In Luke 23, verse 41, the criminal says this. We deserve to die for our evil deeds. Now, there's a word for that. That's called confession. He's admitting, I have sinned. We deserve to die for our evil deeds. Look at this verse up on the screen. First John 1:9. You know this verse if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from, from every wrong. This is a promise of God, but we've gotta confess. The word confess is the word homologeo. Homo meaning same. We get homogenized milk. It's all the same. Homologeo means to speak the same confession is to agree with God. Say, yeah, God, you're right, that was wrong. That's all confession means. I admit it. I speak the same about it that you do. I say the same thing about that gossip was wrong, that anger was wrong, that, that pride was wrong, that lie was wrong, that cheating was wrong, that unfaithfulness was wrong, that bad attitude of self centered greed and arrogance, that was wrong. Now the Bible doesn't tell us what this guy had done, unfortunately. It would have been fun. I mean, wouldn't you like to have read the National Enquirer notes on this criminal next to Jesus? It doesn't tell us all he had done wrong. But you know what? It doesn't really matter because James 2:10 says this. If you commit one sin in one area, you're guilty of them all. And the Bible says that if you've committed one sin, that makes you a quote, sinner. So what do you mean? Well, let me just ask this. How many laws do you have to break to be a lawbreaker? One. Okay. How many crimes do you have to commit to be a criminal? 1. How many times do you have to be unfaithful to be called an unfaithful person? Once. How many sins do you have to commit to be a sinner? One. So that puts us all in the same boat. Now I'm sure you have committed far less than I have.

But you're still.

In the same boat with me. All right? We're all in the same boat. Break one law, you're a law breaker. Commit one crime, you're a criminal. Do one sin, you're a sinner. And so it's all. I mean, if you've got a link, a chain link, and it's holding up a bridge, how many links have to break for the bridge to fall? One. Not every link. Just one link and the bridge falls. Now God does not judge on a scale of 1 to 100. He just doesn't. But let's just use this for illustrative purposes and let's say we've got like a thermometer here from 0 degrees to 100 degrees and we're gonna make 100. Being absolute perfection in your life, you've never done anything wrong. I mean, you are more than a saint. You're a super saint. You have never done anything wrong in your life. And let's say zero is absolute incarnate evil. Okay, let's play a little game here. So let's name some people in history and rate them. Hitler. Hitler. We'll give him a zero. Absolute incarnate evil. Killed 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. Hitler gets a zero. Absolute evil. How about Mother Teresa? Mother Teresa cared for people. She does good. She cares for the sick. She cares for the dying. I'm gonna give Mother teresa maybe an 80, maybe even a 90. But even mother Teresa would admit that she was a sinner, that she wasn't perfect, that sometimes she got impatient, sometimes she got angry, she didn't always have faith, that sometimes she doubted. But let's give her an 80. Let's give her a 90. Okay, now let's get serious. Rick Warren. Okay, let's give him a 15. Okay? Okay. He's trying hard, but he keeps stumbling over his own shoelaces, which is why he never puts them in his shoes. So maybe I get a 15. Okay. I get a 15. Let's say you. Okay. I'm just gonna be gracious and say, how about a 45 for you? Okay. You know, you're probably at least twice as good as me. Okay. I don't doubt that. Okay. And the point is, some people are better than others, but nobody is perfect. Does that make sense? Now, here's the problem. Heaven is a perfect place. So there's not a snowball's chance of hell in hell that I'm gonna get into heaven because I'm not perfect, and you're not either. You will never deserve heaven. You couldn't do enough good in your life to deserve heaven. So God had to figure out a way to make you perfect in his eyes. Because if God let imperfect people into heaven, heaven would not be perfect anymore. It wouldn't be heaven. It would be filled with jealousy and gossip and ego and pride and impatience, and heaven would be just like Earth. That would be hell. I'm glad I don't have to live on Earth forever. Really. There's too much sadness, sickness, sorrow, sin, suffering in this world. It's a broken planet because of sin. I'm glad I don't have to live on Earth forever. I don't wanna live on Earth forever. I wanna live in a perfect place forever. The problem is, I stopped batting a thousand about my third breath in life. So I need a plan. God had to come up with a plan to make me perfect in his eyes. And to make you perfect in his eyes. That's called salvation. There is no way you or anybody else on the planet earth will ever deserve heaven. None of us deserve it. Cause it's perfect and none of us are perfect. So the thief says this. You might circle it on your thing. He says, we deserve to die. We deserve to die. Now, notice this next verse on your outline. Romans 6:23. It's a very famous verse. You know this verse? The wages of sin is what death. But the gift, that's the bad news. Here's the good news. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now circle the word wages and circle the word gift. I hope you know the difference between wages and gift. I mean, let's say your employer came into your office wherever you work, you know, when you get your paycheck, and he says, I have a really great gift for you. You're gonna love this gift. You're gonna like me for this gift. And he hands it to you, and it's your paycheck. And you're going, buddy, this is no gift. I earned this paycheck. I earned these wages I deserve. You're not doing any good thing for me. I deserve this. These are my wages. They're not a gift. A gift is something you couldn't afford, you don't deserve. You didn't ask for. It was just a gift. It's a gracious gift to you. Gifts are undeserved. You don't deserve heaven. I don't deserve heaven. I didn't earn it, and I never will. It is a gift of God. So the first thing he knows, I know that I'm gonna face God after I die. He says, don't you fear God? You're gonna meet him in just a minute. And I know that I've sinned against God. He says, we deserve to die for our evil deeds. And then there's a third thing that this guy knew, and it's the third thing you have to know in order to be saved. I must know that Jesus was more than a man. I must know that Jesus was more than a man.

Hey, thanks for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily. Pastor Rick has created a beautifully illustrated book called Journey with Jesus. And this book is stunning. It's filled with beautiful photographs, colored mosaics that depict the sacrificial journey Jesus made to save us. Here's Pastor Rick to tell you more.

Every year, Christians from all over the world remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by traveling to Jerusalem where they walk the path that Jesus took on the way to the cross. That path is called the Via Dolorosa, which literally means the Way of suffering. Now, since you may not be able to ever travel to Jerusalem, I wanna suggest a way for you to celebrate and reflect on and pray about what Jesus did for you on the cross. So I've created a brand new, one of a kind resource that will take you through through the 15 stops that the Bible tells us Jesus took on the road to Calvary and his death on the cross. Now, we're calling this resource Journey with Jesus. Journey With Jesus is a deluxe hardcover gift edition book that's illustrated with really beautiful photos. High quality glossy photos of mosaic tile artwork that reflect each of the stops that Jesus made on his journey to the cross. You're not ever gonna forget this gift. It's a great gift book to keep and to study over and over again and it'd make a great gift for your family and your friends too.

Just go to pastorrick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That's pastorrick.com or just text the word hope to 70309. Again, that's the word hope to 703. And really, thank you so much for your support. It means so much to us because your gift to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people all around the world. We hope you'll join us next time when we look into God's Word for our Daily Hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.