THE FALSE TREE GOT US OUT,
AND THE FALSE TREE KEEPS US OUT
(COMPARING THE PENITENT THIEF AND THE IMPENITENT THIEF)
April 18, 2010 am
MF
Blume
Luke 23:33-43 KJV And when they
were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified
him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the
left. (34) Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they
know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast
lots. (35) And the people stood beholding. And the rulers
also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save
himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. (36) And the
soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him
vinegar, (37) And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews,
save thyself. (38) And a superscription also was written
over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING
OF THE JEWS. (39) And one of the malefactors which were
hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and
us. (40) But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost
not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
(41) And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our
deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. (42) And he
said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy
kingdom. (43) And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto
thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
There is a remarkable contrast
between ONE MAN in this entire passage and everyone else mentioned
there, from religious rulers of Israel, to Romans soldiers and to the
impenitent thief on the cross.
- The penitent thief stands out amongst
them all.
The rulers were spiritual leaders
and the derided Jesus.
- Being spiritual leaders, they focused on
his Spiritual claim as MESSIAH or CHRIST.
- The chosen of God.
- And their concept of MESSIAH could not
handle the thought of such a one dying.
- Their idea of Messiah was a false idea.
- It was a concept that could not conceive
of Jesus dying if He claimed He was chosen of God and was Messiah.
- Jesus would have to save Himself if He
was truly the Christ in their minds.
The soldiers were a secular force
and they focused upon Jesus’ claim as KING OF THE JEWS.
- If He was king of the Jews, then He
needed to save Himself from the death of the cross.
- There is no place for a man to die,
especially if He did not sit on the throne yet, if He claimed to be
King of the Jews.
- And the impenitent thief railed on
Jesus, repeating the rulers’ derision, saying if Jesus was
CHRIST, Messiah, then He should not only save Himself but also save the
two thieves, himself included.
Get this:
- The impenitent thief NOT ONLY WANTED
JESUS TO NOT DIE IF HE WAS MESSIAH, BUT TO NOT LET HIMSELF, DIE EITHER.
- This stands for a very FALSE BUT VERY
COMMON IDEA ABOUT GOD AND HEAVEN.
- MESSIAH represents the way to God and
the way to Heaven.
- Jesus said no man gets to the Father but
by Him.
- Translate that over to the false view of
Christianity that so many sinners hold today, and MANY Christians,
sadly, and the message is THAT WE HAVE TO DO ENOUGH GOOD DEEDS TO MOUNT
THEM UP TO IMPRESS GOD AND SEE HIM LET US INTO HEAVEN WHEN WE DIE.
- There is no concept of the TRUE DEATH OF
THE CROSS.
MORE ABOUT THAT LATER.
The penitent thief rebuked the other and
asked him if he had no fear of God.
- There was the mocking thief railing on
Jesus to save Himself and the two thieves, WHILE GETTING READY TO DIE.
- The repentant thief was absolutely
shocked that someone could say such things as he was dying and ready to
meet his Creator.
- He had no concern over meeting God and
the state of his sinfulness in which He would meet God.
- All that was on the thief’s mind
about anything spiritual like the Messiah that He challenged Jesus of
being, was that this MESSIAH should SAVE HIM FROM DYING THAT DAY.
- Imagine self being so much of a concern
that even when you are dying you are not concerned with sin and meeting
God, but only whether you might be able to get away from dying or not!
- The penitent thief turned his words to
Jesus, and STILL CONSIDERED JESUS HAD A KINGDOM even though HE WAS
GOING TO DIE.
- The others could not see Him as Messiah
or King of Israel if He was going to die!
- Dying on a cross had no room to be
occurring if Jesus was really the Messiah or King of Israel.
- But that is not the conclusion this
thief makes.
- After admitting his sin, stating that he
deserved the die, He asks Jesus to remember him IN HIS KINGDOM!
- He believed that even though Jesus would
die, HE STILL HAD A KINGDOM and none of His claims of having a Kingdom
were the least bit affected by the thought of His death!
- That thief had a better understanding of
the nature of Jesus’ Kingdom than the religious rulers did of the
Kingdom of the Messiah!
- He had a better idea of how Jesus could
be KING OF ISRAEL than even the roman soldiers did, who were very well
accustomed to the nature of Kings and Kingdoms, themselves in
occupation of the armed forces of a Kingdom.
- The point is that the penitent
thief’s concept, though likely very shallow and minimal as could
be in regards to how truthful it was, was precisely the basic
understanding of the actual KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST THE MESSIAH.
- Though the thief did not altogether
understand it at the time, Jesus Christ would indeed rule as King of
Israel and bring salvation as Messiah and Christ AFTER HIS DEATH and
actually THROUGH HIS DEATH!
Hebrews 5:8-9 KJV Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience
by the things which he suffered; (9) And being made
perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him;
The things He suffered on the cross
caused Him to be made COMPLETE.
- And through that very cross He actually
became the author of salvation.
- While the rulers and thief thought the
Messiah should be concerned only with a salvation that was so far below
eternal salvation from sin that it is ridiculous, a salvation from
merely DYING that day on a cross, the penitent thief knew that HE HAD A
KINGDOM IN WHICH HE WOULD ENTER AFTER HIS DEATH!
- And when we learn that by Dying, Jesus
would become the author of salvation, we find the penitent thief was
not very far by accepting Jesus’ death and asking Jesus to
remember him IN HIS KINGDOM.
Jesus replied to the thief
something that probably shocked the thief.
- Not only would Jesus remember Him in His
kingdom, that the thief was able to believe Jesus was going to enter,
but when the thief likely thought that some far distant future time
would bring the results of his request to the Lord, THAT THIEF WOULD BE
IN PARADISE WITH JESUS THAT VERY DAY!
- Jesus meant that when both of them would
die, they would leave their bodies and actually be in what Jesus called
PARADISE!
- And PARADISE is what the Septuagint
version of the Old Testament actually called the Garden of Eden.
THE WRONG TREE GOT US OUT,
AND THE WRONG TREE WILL KEEP US OUT
The fascinating thing about the
words from the impenitent thief, the thief who would not repent,
was that his words from the cross
upon which he was crucified mirror the entire false concept that THE
TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL offered mankind when mankind
first LOST PLACE IN PARADISE.
- It was as though the impenitent thief
was with the rest of mankind OUTSIDE THE PARADISE OF GOD, needing to
get back in, in order to truly LIVE WITH GOD, but was crying out such a
terrible and false version of THE CROSS that he shows mankind still
eating from the FALSE TREE’S FRUIT that threw us out of the
Garden and thereby KEEPING HIMSELF OUT even at his last chance upon his
very death!
- THE TREES IN THE GARDEN stand for THE
FALSE CROSS and the TRUE CROSS.
The tree of the knowledge of good
and evil is the false cross the devil offers to mankind today.
- The bible calls the CROSS of Jesus
Christ a TREE in scripture.
Acts 5:30 KJV The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Acts 10:39 KJV And we are
witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and
in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
Paul takes a law regarding hangings
on a tree and refers it to Christ on the cross in order to show Jesus
took our curse so we can be redeemed from the curse wherein he said:
Galatians 3:13 KJV Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:
for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
So the message of the impenitent
thief dying on a cross stands for the false message of the false cross
of Jesus.
- Jesus Christ died that same day on a
cross, but THIS CROSS AND THE MESSAGE COMING FROM IT DOES NOT STAND FOR
THE CROSS THAT JESUS DIED ON.
- There is a false message that is offered
by the devil in regards to the cross that Jesus died on that day.
- It is the same message that the devil
used to get man out of the Garden of Eden and into sin that he is now
using to KEEP MAN OUT OF THE GARDEN and out of the Paradise of God!
- And he had that impenitent thief still
hollering it out during the last day that man would ever live.
That thief’s only cry was to
DELIVER SELF FROM DYING, with not a hint of his need to be saved from
sin and eternal damnation.
- It was a cry to let FALLEN SELF LIVE.
- To continue on IN NATURAL LIFE.
- The only salvation his version of the
Messiah was to offer was salvation from seeing SELF DIE.
- No regard to sin, and no regard to
anything spiritual.
- It is like the false cross of the social
gospel today in many so-called Christian circles.
- Sin is never dealt with.
- It is a cry only against things lesser
than the most important issues which are eternal life and God’s
Kingdom in this earth and a truly born again and changed life in Jesus.
- The social gospel only deals with
secular issues, that may indeed be wrong, but preaching all the time
against abortion or against gambling or alcohol, as bad as those since
are, do not affect the deeper and inward spiritual aspects of
mankind’s need for salvation from sin and truly becoming new
creations in Jesus Christ!
- There is no inkling of THE NEED FOR SELF
TO DIE in order to see Jesus Christ live through us!
- There is no SPIRITUAL FOOD concerning
how Christ actually fills our lives by His Spirit and causes us to live
forth a powerful and supernatural lifestyle that sees THE KINGDOM
FULFILLED IN THIS EARTH.
Abortion, gambling addictions and
alcoholism are all wrong, but they are OUTWARD issues that never touch
the true inner problem of sin and death that thrives in those never
born again of the water and of the Spirit.
- They’re like saving oneself from
physical death and not being saved from the spiritual sin and death
that eats our souls and spirits until we finally DIE WITH JESUS CHRIST.
The FALSE CROSS PREACHES NO DEATH
WITH CHRIST!
- No concept of the need for the blood,
and no preaching about it with no study of it.
- It’s like Peter’s plea to
Jesus to put the thought of dying far from him.
Matthew 16:16 KJV And Simon
Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Matthew 16:21-22 KJV From
that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he
must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third
day. (22) Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him,
saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
The same Peter who knew Jesus was
the Christ, like the rulers and impenitent thief and soldiers of Rome
could not comprehend the death of the cross being necessary for THIS
MESSIAH!
- They were concerned for their fleshly
survival.
- The only concept they have for anything
to do with LIFE, which the True Tree of Life was trying to provide for
mankind, is NATURAL LIFE.
But the penitent thief gives a
message in his words to both the impenitent thief and even Jesus Christ
that reflects the TRUE CONCEPT OF THE CROSS.
- Far from seeking to escape physical
death, salvation is from sin and the bondage that exists outside the
Garden of Eden in this Egyptian prison binding world, into the KINGDOM
OF GOD.
- NATURAL LIFE MUST GO SO THAT TRUE LIFE
OF GOD MIGHT RETURN.
The false tree of knowledge was
NATURAL LIFE OF SELF saving self.
- It’s a message that we do not
really need God.
- A false message that we are our own gods.
Genesis 3:4-6 KJV And the
serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (5)
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
(6) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one
wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto
her husband with her; and he did eat.
It makes oneself WISE.
- It improves upon self by the power of
self.
- The false cross says DEATH is not the
answer.
- Get away from the need to die.
- Let SELF LIVE so that SELF CAN
EVENTUALLY MAKE ITSELF RIGHTEOUS.
Righteousness is a topic concerning
which most believers find themselves lost.
- It is RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD.
- You cannot go to glory one day without
right standing with GOD.
- So how do we get this right
standing/righteousness?
- It is something that Law stated would
come by doing good works.
Deuteronomy 6:25 KJV And it
shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments
before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.
But no one could do it.
Acts 15:10 KJV Now therefore
why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
God loves righteousness.
Psalms 11:7 KJV For the
righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the
upright.
He rewards us according to our
righteousness.
Psalms 18:20 KJV The LORD
rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness
of my hands hath he recompensed me.
But THE LORD, HIMSELF, IS OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Jeremiah 23:6 KJV In his days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his
name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
It is a GIFT to us when we believe
the Gospel and decide to serve Jesus.
Romans 5:17 KJV For if by one
man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life
by one, Jesus Christ.)
But despite the fact that God gives
it as a gift freely without having us earn it, like under Law, the
Jews rejected Jesus and continue to try to get it through self effort
of good works.
Romans 10:3 KJV For they
being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God.
Do enough good deeds and eventually
build up enough of a stock of them that God is so impressed He lets you
go to Heaven one day.
- That is SELF SAVING SELF.
- For them, the last thing they would ever
think about in regards to salvation is DYING TO SELF!
- SELF is their god!
- Self is their means to righteousness!
- Tell them what is good and what is evil
so they can store up a good KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL so that THEY CAN
MAKE THEMSELVES AVOID THE EVIL AND DO THE GOOD, and please God!
Their concern is BEING GOOD ENOUGH
THROUGH GOOD DEEDS to be able to dwell int eh deepest and holiest
presence of God.
- They contrive the very opposite concept
in their minds that we should have.
- They think THEY HAVE TO DO ENOUGH GOOD
THINGS IN THEIR FLESH to be able to MERIT presence with God.
- The truth is GOD DID ALL THE WORK THAT
COULD EVER ALLOW US TO BEING HIS PRESENCE, and that involves SELF DYING
ON THE CROSS THROUGH JESUS’ DEATH, in order to get any remotely
possible concept of SELF improving SELF DEAD AND BURIED!
- Like the penitent thief said, WE DESERVE
TO DIE.
- Dying means we are killing any hope of
ever being able to be good enough in our fleshly abilities to please
God.
When you have a powerful revelation
of the cross, you FULLY KNOW THAT DYING WITH JESUS that day on the
cross PUTS YOU INTO A PARADISE GARDEN OF EDEN KINGDOM before you had a
chance to even do ONE SINGLE GOOD DEED, because it is not of YOUR works
that YOU CAN DO, but HIS WORK OF THE CROSS IN RIDDING YOU OF SIN
THROUGH DEATH!
- Remember, he that is dead is freed from
sin.
- And if we’re freed from sin, then
we are free from the thing that separated us from our God.
- And if we’re freed from what
separated us from God, then WE CAN BE IN HIS PRESENCE!
- IN THE GARDEN!
The need for us to understand that
it is not of works is so much emphasized to us that Jesus told the
thief that THE DAY THE THIEF DIED WITH JESUS WOULD BE THE DAY THE THIEF
IS RESTORED BACK TO GOD AND IN THE KINGDOM OF THE GARDEN PARADISE OF
GOD WHERE GOD FIRST PUT ADAM IN GENESIS 2.
Before we have a chance to do ONE
SINGLE THING for the Lord, WE ARE IN THE KINGDOM AND IN THE GARDEN OF
EDEN FROM WHENCE SIN CAUSED GOD TO CAST US OUT!
The impenitent thief had it all
wrong like so many do today when they think of Church and the Bible and
Jesus Christ.
- They think you have to make yourself
perfect.
- You have to do so many good deeds, that
you know you cannot do them, so no sense in even going to church to
make a start.
- THEY HAVE NO CLUE THAT DYING WITH JESUS
MAKES US RIGHTEOUS IN AND OF ITSELF.
- And WE DIE WITH HIM BY FAITH!
THE WRONG TREE GOT US OUT,
AND THE WRONG TREE WILL KEEP US OUT
The liar said DO NOT KILL SELF!
- You’re the messiah.
- My concept of you is that MY SELF NEEDS
TO LIVE SO THAT I CAN DO GOOD THINGS TO EARN MY WAY TO HEAVEN.
- DYING WITH JESUS?
- NO, JESUS MUST NOT DIE AND NEITHER MUST
I.
- DYING IS THE LAST THING TO DO IF WE WANT
TO GO TO HEAVEN.
- SELF MUST LIVE SO THAT SELF CAN DO A LOT
OF GOOD DEEDS TO MAKE SELF SAVE SELF SO THAT WE CAN PLEASE GOD!