Communion Message
(Remember me when You enter Your kingdom)
July 3-4, 1999
Pastor Ralph Huddleston

God's word says, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. That's what we do every Lord's Day when we gather around the Lord's supper table. We're proclaiming His death and what it means to us as individuals. In Luke 23:39-43, this is what God's word says; Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us." But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? "And we indeed are here justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." It would be most natural for us right now to want to know more about this man. What was his name? Who were his parents? What crimes did he commit? Did he have a wife? Children? A family that surrounded him? Those are all fine, but they're not important right now, not around this table. But one absorbing thought in the mind of this man who was being moved by the Holy Ghost, prompted by the Holy Ghost, is to show us a soul passing from darkness to light, from the grip of Satan into the grip of God. Just like that (snap of fingers). He came to the cross defiant and reckless, on his way to hell. But where sin abounds, grace did so much more abound. There is no soul so deep in sin that that same grace can't pull them up. I don't care how far down we get, that grace is sufficient to bring us back up. Even in all of his agony, the pain that he was going through, they had mixed wine and myrrh and now it had taken its toll on him, almost in a stupor, but the agony and the pain asserted itself, so to speak, woke him up to who was around him. And he fixed his eyes upon his fellow sufferer, Jesus Christ, and he was almost transfixed by His grace, by His confidence. A sight that he had never seen before. He was looking at a face that was imprinted with the beauty of holiness. Through his life he had seen nothing but ugly. He had seemed to experience nothing but tragedy, and now he was where he belonged. He looked a Jesus hanging there and he came to grips with the fact that through all the taunting, all the punishment, all the torture, he never spoke up for Himself. He never returned that back to His accusers. And as he looked at his fellow sufferer, Jesus Christ, Christ prayed and He said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Something began to stir in his soul. It was the fear of God, the righteous fear and respect of God almighty. He had to, at that point, deal with God and with his conscience. They're two realities that sooner or later we all have to deal with. Every time we come to the supper table we're confronted with the infinite God of love, and the same God who is the God of justice, and we examine ourselves and we know our place. God who would send His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place, to pay the penalty for our sins, and whose blood has the power to cleanse us from, this is wonderful, all sin, now, right here today and forever. I think we kind of have it over the criminal, you see, for as long as we live we can relish that thought. All of this to him happened in a few moments and then he was on to eternity, but we kind of revel in this don't we? Today forgiven, tomorrow forgive, the next day forgiven. That's the God that we serve. We also have to deal with our conscience here at this table. Because we cannot live like a sinner, continue to live like that, and be comfortable around this table. When a person has come to see the holiness of Jesus, and I believe the criminal saw that, and we see it; in our time of worship, we sense it. We see it with eyes that don't see like these, but beyond that. When a man or a woman sees the holiness of Jesus, they are not far from the kingdom. When their focus crowds out everything else, in order to see that holiness, we're not far. I see the criminal kind of push aside his focus on his fellow criminal and lean out towards Jesus looking through the blood drops from his hands and from his feet, and the most daring and triumphant prayer that ever a sinner offered rendered up his soul to Jesus. Here's how he prayed, Lord, Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. That's all it took. Great spiritual changes always come upon us in just a moment. Just like that (span of fingers) and that decision is made. Yes, a lot of prayer, a lot of conviction go before that, but when the decision is made it's like this (snap of fingers). Christ said it is done. One moment he was a criminal, the next, he's a child of God. One moment he's on his way to hell, the next moment, he's on the highway to heaven. Like that (snap of fingers). It happens here at the table all of the time. We come here sinners. We open our hearts in prayer and repentance, and when we're finished with this we'll stand up and we'll greet one another as new creatures in Jesus Christ, entirely different than when we walked in just a few minutes ago. We kneel as a sinner; we stand as a saint. And when we face Jesus face to face, when we bow in His presence and trust in His grace, then the spiritual miracle in our lives can once again take place. When I stand at the cross today listening to this criminal, listening to him pray, and to hear the promise of our Lord and Savior, my heart is kind of filled with a different kind of joy. It's a joy that knows that there is hope for the worst of sinners. That would cover any one of us at any time, amen? The worst of sinners.

Would you join me on my knees as we partake of the elements together? Heavenly Father, I don't believe that any one of us ever dreamed that we would make the thief on the cross, the criminal, our example. This morning in Your word we see him going though stages of his life in just a few minutes, looking at Your Son's face, sensing who He is, His innocence, and the fact that he was dying for something he deserved. Father may we always remember the thief, remember who we were, who Jesus Christ still is, and that He died for us. Once and for all He paid a price that we could never pay. Help us to remember that, as we partake of these elements together, and whenever we do, that we remember who we were, who we are, and how we became that in Jesus Christ. Let's partake of the bread together, and of the cup. Lord Jesus, remember us in Your kingdom as we prepare with every day for an eternity with You, gathered around Your table like we are right now. Remember us as we remember You, and Your work, and Your influence, and Your mighty, mighty ministry in our lives. Thank you Lord Jesus in Your name we pray, and everybody said, amen. Would you stand and greet those folks around you as a new creature in Jesus Christ?