The purpose of this website is to provide free sermon manuscripts and sermon videos to pastors and missionaries throughout the world, especially the Third World, where there are few if any theological seminaries or Bible schools.

These sermon manuscripts and videos now go out to about 1,500,000 computers in over 221 countries every year at www.sermonsfortheworld.com. Hundreds of others watch the videos on YouTube, but they soon leave YouTube and come to our website. YouTube feeds people to our website. The sermon manuscripts are given in 46 languages to about 120,000 computers each month. The sermon manuscripts are not copyrighted, so preachers can use them without our permission. Please click here to learn how you can make a monthly donation to help us in this great work of preaching the Gospel to the whole world.

Whenever you write to Dr. Hymers always tell him what country you live in, or he cannot answer you. Dr. Hymers’ e-mail is rlhymersjr@sbcglobal.net.

When the Roman soldiers nailed Christ to the Cross two thieves were crucified with him, one on His right hand and one of His left. It seems to me that these two thieves represent the entire human race. During the first hours that Jesus was on the Cross, we are told in Mark’s Gospel that both of these men railed at Him,

“And they that were crucified with him reviled him [railed at him, Strong]” (Mark 15:32).

It seems, from Matthew’s Gospel, that the two thieves repeated what the chief priests and scribes were yelling.

“He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him…The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth” (Matthew 27:42, 44).

But, as the day wore on, one of the thieves had a change of heart. He admitted that he was a sinner, worthy of crucifixion, but he said of Jesus,

“This man hath done nothing amiss” – nothing wrong
       (Luke 23:41).

Then the repentant thief said to Jesus,

“Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom”
       (Luke 23:42).

It was a simple, artless prayer, but it reflected his conversion, his change of heart. In reply, Jesus gave the words found in our text,

“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

We can learn several things from this text.

I. First, only one of the thieves was given this promise.

Jesus said,

“To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Christ gave that promise only to the man who experienced that change of heart which is called “conversion.”

As I said, the two thieves represent the whole human race in several ways. Both of them had been reviling Christ, thus showing the enmity of all men toward God,

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7).

Their enmity and inner hatred toward God was revealed by the fact that they both reviled God the Son.

Your own unconverted soul is enmity against God according to the Scriptures. There is a deep-seated antagonism toward God in your own unconverted heart, often revealed in many ways, some openly, and some secretly. May I ask you, have you committed secret sins against God that no one knows about but Him? May I ask you, have you ever felt anger at God for not blessing you more? Have you ever felt that God is wrong to send people to Hell? Have you ever found that you have no enjoyment of God in prayer? And it is not true that the very fact that you do not like to pray is a proof that you don’t like being in the presence of God? We could ask you the same thing about the preaching of God’s Word, the Bible. Do you enjoy the truth when it is preached to you from God’s Word? Or do these sermons make you feel uneasy, and even angry at times? And if those things are true of you, does it not prove that you have the same antagonism and enmity in your heart that the two thieves had before one of them was changed by God's Spirit? And does not your inner antagonism against God show that you are in the same condition as these two thieves before one experienced the great change of conversion?

“To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Also, since the promise of salvation was given only to one of the thieves, this shows that some will be saved and others will be lost. Isn't that made clear in this passage of Scripture? Liberal preachers, who do not fully believe the Bible, often use our text in funerals, when they say that a lost person who has not been converted will be in paradise. But this is Scripture-twisting. The Apostle Peter said,

“They that are unlearned and unstable wrest [wrench, pervert, Strong, twist], as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (II Peter 3:16).

It requires a “wrenching” or “twisting” of the Scriptures to make the promise of Christ in our text apply to an unconverted man at his funeral. And the preacher who perverts the text that way to please the friends of an unsaved dead man, will one day have to answer to God for his dishonesty. No, there is nothing in our text that gives any hope at all to a person who dies without having that change of heart called “conversion.” The promise was not made to the unconverted thief, or to any other unconverted man or woman. The promise was only to the thief who experienced conversion, and by application, only to those who experience conversion before they die. Some are saved, who turn to Christ. Others are eternally lost since they reject Christ. In these ways the two thieves represent all mankind. Only one of the thieves was saved. The other was lost. All mankind is either saved or lost. Jesus said,

“He that believeth…shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16).

One thief believed in Jesus and was saved. The other one refused to believe in Jesus and was damned to the eternal fire of Hell. The promise of the text was only given to the man who was saved by Jesus.

“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

II. Second, the thief who was converted was promised immediate entrance with Jesus into paradise the moment he died.

“To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

This shows us that Jesus’ soul went immediately to paradise the moment He died on the Cross. Several “prosperity” preachers are now saying that Jesus’ soul went to Hell after He died on the Cross. I personally heard a famous American “prosperity” preacher say this on television not long ago. I heard that preacher say, “Jesus burned in Hell to pay for our sins.” What blasphemy! What error! Nay, what heresy! There is not a shred of Scripture that says Jesus’ soul went to Hell after He died, and “burned in Hell to pay for our sins.” That is not in the Bible! The Bible teaches that He suffered and died to pay for our sins on the Cross – not in Hell!

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree [the cross]” (I Peter 2:24).

“Having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself” (Colossians 1:20).

“That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross” (Ephesians 2:16).

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God”
       (I Corinthians 1:18).

That’s why the Apostle Paul said,

“I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (I Corinthians 2:2).

Christ made full sacrifice for our sins, blotting out the ordinances of the Old Testament,

“that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:14).

And, again the Apostle said that Christ sent him

“to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect” (I Corinthians 1:17).

And again, the Apostle said,

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).

The Cross is the symbol of Christianity, not the fire of Hell. If Christ atoned for our sin by burning in Hell, rather than by suffering on the Cross, then fire should be the symbol of Christianity, not the Cross on which Jesus died. But Jesus did pay for our sins on the Cross! His soul did not go to burn in Hell to pay for our sins. That teaching is ignorant at best, and rank heresy at worst! Our very text tells us Jesus’ soul did not go to Hell when He died on the Cross. If He was going to Hell when He died, He would have been lying to the converted thief when He said,

“To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

If those American “prosperity” preachers were right, Jesus would have had to say to the thief,

“To day shalt thou be with me in hell.”

What comfort would that have been to the converted thief? Away with such nonsense from the face of the earth! Never believe any preacher who says Jesus paid for your sins in Hell! And never believe anything else that preacher says, either. If he is so blind that he doesn’t understand the centrality of the Cross, you are very foolish to believe anything he preaches!

“To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

The souls of Jesus and the converted thief both went immediately to paradise that day!

III. Third, the thief escaped from Hell when he trusted Jesus and was converted.

When that thief trusted Christ, his sins were immediately cleansed by the Saviour’s Blood, and the sovereign power of Almighty God converted his lost soul, so Jesus could say to him,

“To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

However, we need to remember that when Christ gave the converted thief that promise, He was not denying the reality of Hell. No one ever preached on Hell more than Jesus. In His preaching, He warned people to

“flee from the wrath to come” (Matthew 3:7).

Jesus said that He would

“say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:41).

Jesus spoke of Hell as the place

“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched”
       (Mark 9:46).

No one ever made Hell more clear than the Lord Jesus Christ!

In the words of Jesus, “flee from the wrath to come.” Repent of your sins like the dying thief. Have a complete change of mind regarding your sinful life. Come to Jesus Christ by simple faith! Be washed clean by His holy Blood! Be converted, and never go back to your old sins again. Don’t come back again and again to be “converted.” Conversion of that sort is nothing but Roman Catholicism, where you have to come back to the priest for absolution every week! This is not our Baptist and Protestant faith! Come to Christ. Trust Him. Be washed in His Blood! Live the Christian life and never turn back. Then when it comes time for you to die like the thief, Jesus will say,

“To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Let us stand and sing William Cowper’s grand and timeless hymn. It is number seven on your song sheet.

There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away.
Wash all my sins away, Wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away.
   (“There Is a Fountain” by William Cowper, 1731-1800).

(END OF SERMON)
You can read Dr. Hymers’ sermons each week on the Internet
at www.realconversion.com. Click on “Sermon Manuscripts.”

Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan: Luke 23:33-46.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
“There Is a Fountain” (by William Cowper, 1731-1800).