Defining Moments

Turn with me, please, to the Gospel of Luke. Gospel of Luke in chapter 15. Luke chapter 15, and we'll read, for the sake of time, just one verse.

Luke 15, verse number 18. This is the context of the prodigal son. And he says, I will arise and go to my father, and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee.

Chapter 18, please. Luke chapter 18. We'll read together.

Verse number 13, the story of the Pharisee and the publican in the temple and the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And finally, chapter 23, please. Luke chapter 23, and we'll read together.

Verse number 42. The two malefactors crucified with the Lord Jesus, the repentant thief says in verse 42, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And the Lord will bless to us the reading of his word.

I've been thinking today of these three men and the defining moments really in their life. You come to the prodigal son, and there was a moment in his lifetime when he was awakened, and he realized this, that I have sinned. You've got the publican in the temple, and the defining moment perhaps in his life would be these three words, God be merciful or God be propitious to me, the sinner.

God be merciful. And this man, the thief that was crucified beside the Lord Jesus Christ, very defining in his life. He says, Lord, remember me.

When we come to Luke 15 in the parable of the lost things, you've got the sheep and the coin, and you've got the son. I'd like to look at this young man here as a little picture of you and I tonight. He was a young man, and he asked his father for the goods that were to fall to him, his inheritance early.

And I suppose that if it would be me and my kids asked for their inheritance early, I might say, go get your own. But this wasn't the case of the father. He'd give it to him.

He'd give it to him. And so the boy, he takes his substance into the far country, and you know the story, he wasted it with riotous living. He squandered it.

He partied it away. He lived the way he wanted to live, and he supported the friends that would take everything that they could from him. And it's a really picture of the sinner in this world tonight.

Sin took him farther than he wanted to go, and sin will take you farther than you want to go. Sin cost him far more than he ever thought he would pay, because one day he realized this, that he had nothing. He had nothing.

I'd like you to consider the progress down that this man had. Not only did he go away from the father and he spent his substance with righteous living, but it says this, that he had spent all. He had spent all.

But it gets worse. And it says this, that the famine came. And I'd like to look at the famine from God tonight.

The famine came into this boy's life. I wonder, has God ever sent a famine into your life? A real drought. A real barrenness.

A real dryness. As the faithfulness of God speaks to people, and He sends a drought into their life. And here's the boy, and everything was once well, and it was once good, as he lived in his sin, so he thought.

And now the money is gone. And when the money is gone, the friends are gone. And he has spent all that he had.

And it says this, that he began to be in want. He began to have a need. You know, it's a marvelous thing when sinners begin to have a need.

When they come to the place in their life that the real need, that the spiritual need starts to manifest itself. You see, this boy realized that life wasn't about earth. It wasn't about the friends, and it wasn't about the parties, and it wasn't about the money.

And he begins to be in want. Marvelous places God starts to deal in a man, or a woman, or a boy, and a girl. And they begin to be in want.

But it gets worse. He fain would have filled his belly. He fain.

He was longing for something. You see it. First now he's out of money, and the fun is over.

And that's one level. And then he begins to be in want. And it starts to get a little bit deeper as the famine sets in from God to awaken the boy.

And then no man would give unto him. And he's absolutely destitute. And he fain would have filled his belly with the husks.

What's a husk? Iowa farmers know well what a husk is. It's the empty leaves around the ear of corn. Or it's the protection around the grain or the bean.

It's empty. And he fain for something. And what he was faining for was just the emptiness.

And it was all empty. And no man would give unto him. What does it say then? He came to himself.

He came to himself. A defining moment in the boy's life. God was dealing with him.

God was striving with him. God had sent the famine into his life to bring him to an understanding of reality. That his life wasn't about his body, but that his life was about his soul.

About his soul. He says this, I have sinned. I have sinned.

What a moment. What a moment that defined him. I have sinned.

I have sinned. I wonder has God brought you to that place in your life. I can remember it well.

I can take you to the place where God showed me as a young person raised in a Christian home that I had sinned. The preacher preached in the Gospel one night a high look and a proud heart and a plowing of the wicked is sin. And I was 17 years old and I grew up plowing fields.

And when I heard that verse, I'd never noticed that verse before. It dawned on me like this, that is not right. Something must be wrong with God.

You ever been angry with God? You ever challenged the fairness of God? What is sinful about plowing a field? It's hard work. It's a long day. It's a dirty job.

It's an honest living. And I was angry at God. And so I went and I asked my mom, I said, mom, I don't get it.

What's it mean? And this is what she said. And this applies to you tonight as well. She said, Brandon, it doesn't matter what you do in your life or with your life.

Every moment you reject the Lord Jesus Christ is sin. Every moment. And so I did the math.

I was 17 and pretend I could understand at the age of seven, just for easy figuring. 10 years, how many days in 10 years? How many hours? How many minutes? How many seconds? 315 some million opportunities to be saved. And I rejected God's son.

And it defined me that night. I have sinned. If I asked you if you'd sin tonight, you'd say, yes, I'll have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

I'm sure you would. But that's not what I mean. I mean, has there been a moment in your life that your sin was real? And that it was heavy? This boy was under burden.

He was, the famine had come and now his sin is real. I have sinned. And he turned and he repented and he went back to the father.

And you know the story. But the defining moment of his life was this. He realized he had sinned.

He had sinned. You come to the next man. Chapter 18.

The Lord Jesus would give this parable to those that trusted in themselves that they were righteous. You know, you can see the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus there. He had a love and he had a care and a compassion for those that were trusting in their own self for the satisfaction that God would find.

Their own righteousness. Their own right doings. These both of these men, they went up to the temple to pray.

They both wanted to talk to God. They wanted to pray. The first man, the Pharisee, he goes and he wants to tell God something.

There's a great difference here between these two men. The Pharisee's got something to tell God about himself, about his own righteousness. But the publican goes to talk to God because God had already spoken to him.

That's why he wanted to go to pray. God had been dealing in that man's soul. And maybe God has been dealing in your soul.

Maybe behind the scenes in the quietness of your own life, God has been dealing. God has been working. God has been faithful.

If the prodigal son, it was the famine from God. Here in this publican, it's the faithfulness of God. And God was working and God was speaking to him and it drove him to the temple.

He had to go to pray. He had to go. Oh, the Pharisee goes and he prays thus, with himself.

And you know, you really picture what's taking place here. Both of these men would have been educated in the Jewish system. They would have understood what the temple was about.

They would have understood sacrifice. They, if they come into the court of the temple, they would have understood that those animals there were meant for sacrifice. But it seems like the Pharisee just walked right by.

He had no interest in the sacrifices there. Whether it was the turtle doves or the lamb or the bullock, whatever it was, he had no interest in the altar. He had no interest in the way the priest conducted himself.

He was going to talk to God, to present himself to God. And what does the documentary say? The Bible says this. He prayed thus with himself.

What a lonely place. What a terrible, lonely place. To go to speak to God, and all you have is yourself to present.

That's the religious system of today. People are going into the church. People are going into their denominations.

People are going into their churches. And they're going there to speak to God. And they're going there in their self-righteousness.

And all they have to give to God is their own self. Friend, what do you have for eternity? What do you have to present to God? Is it nothing more than yourself? What a lonely place to stand before God one day. And all you have to present is your life and the good that you have done and the life that you have lived.

And not one bit can satisfy God. That's the Pharisee. He missed out on the point.

He needed no sacrifice. That's the man. The man who needs no sacrifice because he has himself.

The woman who needs no sacrifice because she has her penance and she has her devotion and she has herself. Which one of these two people are you tonight? Are you the Pharisee who needs no sacrifice? Or are you the publican that needs mercy? That needs mercy. I see this man entering the same way that the Pharisee did.

He has to go through and he goes by the sacrifices. And you know when a penitent sinner thinks about sacrifice, you know what they think? That sacrifice, one of these sacrifices, maybe the sacrifice that's upon the altar. That is there, that animal has lost his life for my sin.

That sacrifice had to be made because of my sin. And I can see this man as he goes and he looks at those sacrifices as he walks by and through his mind would run this thought, death must come because of my sin. Oh, I need sacrifice.

And then he would look out and perhaps he could see the priest in his functioning and maybe the high priest in the glory of his garments and maybe the way he conducted himself in holiness and in reverence. And he would understand that sacrifice must be made for me to approach God, for me to even be here. Have you ever noticed your need of sacrifice? What we're talking about tonight is the sacrifice that took place at Calvary.

We're talking about the substitute of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross in the stead of the sinner. Sacrifice, blood must be shed, death must be accomplished, death must be paid in order for any sinner to find acceptance with God. There must be sacrifice.

And here's the man, God be merciful, God be propitious. And maybe he was even thinking of the bloodstained mercy seat where the blood was sprinkled to satisfy God. My dear soul tonight in this gospel meeting, have you found a sacrifice? Have you found the blood? Have you found propitiation with God? Or are you like this Pharisee, depending on yourself, praying thus with yourself, going away from the temple by your lonely self, waiting to meet God someday? This dear publican, I love this.

It says he went away justified rather than the other. Justification is a marvelous thing. To be reckoned righteous, to be declared right.

And you know what made this man right? Versus the Pharisee? This man agreed with God. That's what made him right. He was the sinner that needed mercy.

When two people are at a disagreement, when a soul, when a sinner is at disagreement with God, who's right? Well, of course, God is always right. God can never be wrong. And when the sinner agrees with God, then they're right.

Then they're right. This man went home justified because he agreed with God, what God said about him. You see, it was God that defined him.

It was God that defined him. You see, the first man, the prodigal, it was his sin. It was his sin that defined him.

And you know, our iniquity is marked before God. And if somehow all God had to identify us, he could identify us through our sin. Sometimes you think of dental records when there's an accident and that's all that remains and they identify a body through the dental records.

If all else was gone, God could identify your soul by your sin. His sin defined him. Here, the faithfulness of God, what defined the man? He needed mercy.

He needed mercy. Has God ever defined you? God defined the man and the man agreed with God. Has God ever defined you? Now we try to define ourself.

We try to let people define us. The fear of men defines us. But this man was defined by God.

What a moment when God puts his searchlight upon the heart and upon the soul and God defines the sinner. God does it. And then we come to Luke 23.

You've got the malefactor. Interesting bunch. Amazing as you go through Matthew, Mark and Luke and John and you find the different peoples that cried out to the Lord to save himself.

Save himself. Scoffers and revilers, the magistrates and the soldiers and the passersby and even the malefactors, they all cried out to the Lord Jesus, if you're the Christ, save yourself. But these two men, these malefactors, there they are.

They're in a different situation. Totally different from the mob around. They're nailed upon crosses also.

They're going to die also. And in Matthew it says, save yourself and us. And so these two men, they wanted to be delivered from the situation their sin found them in.

They wanted to be delivered. If you're the Christ, save yourself. Get us all out of here.

Make this a threesome rescue. Save yourself, save us. Let's get out of here.

But what defines the man here? What defines the malefactor that repented? It's not the famine from God. It's the fear of God. Fear of God.

That's what makes the difference. And we didn't take time to read the verse, but you know the story. He rebukes his friend and he says this.

The first sensible thing that comes out of the man's mouth. He rebuked him. He says, does not thou fear God? Have you ever had a defining moment in your life where the fear of God identified? It's very searching.

It's very solemn. When the thought of falling into the hands of the living God, this is what this man was thinking. He's just got a few hours left on this earth and he is going to meet God.

I am going to meet God. You can just see the spirit of God working in the man, can't you? There he is upon the cross and it's the mercy of God dealing with this malefactor. And there he is.

And once he reviled on the Lord Jesus, he was no different. But what changed? What's the difference between now and just a few minutes ago? Oh, the fear of God stepped into his soul. The fear of God flooded his soul.

The reality of death and the reality of eternity now is absolutely real. There's no time for foolish talk. There's no time for reviling and scoffing.

We're gonna die, he says to his friend. Do you not fear God? See, and we are in the same condemnation and we receive justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds. Just exactly what he had coming is what he was getting.

And men's justice was being carried out. And God's justice at Calvary was being carried out. Do you not fear God? Could I ask that from my heart to yours tonight? In your life, has there ever been a moment when you feared God? Where you let the fear of God define you? And where God's reverence and God's holiness and God's justice poured into your soul and you saw that you were going to meet God in your sin.

That's the malefactor. Does not thou fear God? We receive the due rewards of our deeds. The Lord Jesus has done nothing in this.

But I marvel to think of the three words here. He says, Lord, remember me. Lord, remember me.

I oftentimes go to Calvary, I think almost every day. And I go to Calvary in my mind and I hope you do too. Alas, and did my savior bleed? And did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? And I see those malefactors there.

But my focus is upon the man upon the middle tree. And I see the Son of God. I see the Lord Jesus Christ there upon the cross of Calvary.

Having been crucified, having been scourged, having been marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men. How the reproach had broken his heart. And he looked for some to take pity and there was none and for comforters and he found none.

And amidst all of his pain and all of his anguish, his ears were open to the cry of a repentant sinner. And that thief says, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Can you imagine hearing those words? If you're saved tonight, you know well just exactly what that's like.

To have a promise from God, to have a word from the Lord Jesus Christ that it is well with your soul. You see, this man feared God because he wasn't going to be where Jesus was gonna be in eternity. That's evident by his statement.

Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. It's not, Lord, I'm going to see you in a few hours. No, he says, Lord, remember me, remember me.

He wasn't going to be where Christ was when he died. His sins were taking him the other way. His sins were taking him to hell and in due time, the lake of fire.

And I can see the Savior there with ears wide open and to hear that man's cry, Lord, remember me. And the promise comes from the lips of the Savior himself. Today, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

You know, when the Lord Jesus forgive men and women throughout his earthly ministry of their sins, you come to Mark two and you've got the man who was let down from the roof by the four friends and he says, his sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. And then they say, he says, what is easier to say? Arise, take up your bed and walk or your sins are forgiven.

Humanly speaking, what's easier to say? Humanly speaking, it's easier to say your sins are forgiven. And the reason being is who's ever going to know if you're a fraud. But for the Lord Jesus to say from God's perspective, it's easier to say, rise, take up your bed and walk.

Because by the word of his power, he could have healed the man. But for the Lord Jesus to tell him his sins are forgiven, you know what he was doing? He was promising his death for that man. Same here with this thief.

He says, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. His death was on behalf of that malefactor. His blood was being shed so that man could be forgiven.

He was dying as a substitute for that sinner. Friend tonight, tell me this. What does the sacrifice of Christ mean to you? Is there any value in the person of Christ? Is there any good in the cross of Calvary where the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied God's justice? He shed his blood so that sinners could be free, so that sinners could be saved.

And he says this today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. It was the blood that made atonement for that man's soul. It was the word of Christ that made him sure, made him sure.

And friend, you have no more than that and you need no more. The blood of Christ has been shed and the word of God has been given. And it is the payment for sin at Calvary through the blood of Christ that makes atonement for the soul, that makes propitiation for the soul, that cleanses the soul.

Marvelous, the work of Christ. Marvelous. Today, shalt thou be with me in paradise.

What defines you tonight? Is it the prodigal son defined by sin? Was it the publican in the temple? And there he was. He was defined by God. God had already spoken to him.

Or was it like this malefactor? And it was the fear of God that defined the man. You know, I like to think of this promise that this man got from the Lord Jesus Christ. It defined him too.

It defined him as one whose sin was paid for. It defined him as one who was on his way to heaven. It would define him as one who was going to spend eternity with Christ.

It defined him as one whom God had forgiven. What defines you tonight, my friend? Look away to the cross of Calvary and see the suffering Savior there. See the blood that was shed, the death that was accomplished, and understand that it was for sinners Christ died.

And you could be defined by the Scriptures too. And you can see yourself there. For Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

The Lord bless his word.