Curtis Klingle

The Man on the Middle Cross

It is rare for me to be affected by sermons, at least to any great degree. I am a textual and dialogue learner, and I find it next to impossible to learn through monologue. Nearly a year ago now, I was exposed to a short excerpt from a sermon titled, “The Power and Message of the Cross,” by the Scottish/American preacher Alistair Begg. I cannot think of a time when I have ever built a message off of another’s message, but this will be the exception. There has not been a day go by when I have not thought of this sermon. It has penetrated into my soul so much so that it has changed much of the way I view things, and the constraining to share His gospel has grown exponentially from that day.

The centerpiece of Begg’s message was the story of the penitent thief. If you will recall the story, there was a thief crucified on either side of Jesus at Calvary. All three were affixed to their crosses and even then, wracked with pain and quite literally fighting for every breath, both of the thieves cursed and ridiculed Jesus. Imagine with each inhalation, these men expended that precious oxygen to rail against Him who hung with them. Think of the hatred these two men must have had for Him, for only hatred could have been the driving force behind their rage against Him. They, right along with the crowd disdained Him. Hours upon hours Jesus endured the cross, the crowds as well as those two thieves, all with their accusations, taunts, and ridicule. But something changed, at least for one person present. In those final moments of suffering one of the thieves received revelation of who Jesus truly was and cried out to Him (Luke 23:42). Jesus, always gracious and replete with love, responded to the thief’s plea with these reassuring words, “…today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

In the clip of his message, Begg’s animated delivery of the penitent thief’s entry into heaven is both humorous and enthralling. I have had to take a few liberties in the transcription of his spoken word to written, and I can only hope I did not take away from his message for it is one of the most powerful I have ever heard. Begg, in his Scottish accent excitedly declared to the audience, “I can’t wait to find that thief one day to ask him, ‘How did that shake out for you? You were hanging on the cross, cussing Jesus with your friend. You had never been in a Bible study. You had never been baptized. You didn’t know a thing about church membership. And yet, you made it! How did you make it?!’”

Begg went on to say,

“And that’s what the angel working the gate must’ve thought when he saw the thief’s entrance and yelled out to him, ‘Hey you! What are you doing here?!’

The thief, apparently a bit bewildered, responded, ‘Well, well I don’t know.’ 

‘What do you mean you don’t know?’

‘Well, because I don’t know.’

The angel, perplexed, told the thief, ‘Well, uh, ummm. Excuse me while I go get my supervisor.’

The angel returned shortly with his supervisor, and the supervisor angel asked, ‘Sir, we have just a few questions for you. Are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?’

The thief responded, ‘I’ve never heard of it in my life.’

Supervisor angel, ‘What do you know of the doctrine of sanctification?’

The thief just shrugged his shoulders.

The supervisor angel, obviously frustrated stated, ‘Let’s just go immediately to the doctrine of scripture.’

The thief just stared at the angel.

The angel, greatly confounded at this situation, looked at the thief with a piercing gaze, and in an authoritative tone pointedly asked,

‘ON WHAT BASIS ARE YOU HERE?!’

The thief looked him square in the eye and proclaimed,

‘The Man on the middle cross said I could come.’”

Immediately upon hearing those words my heartbeat quickened and my eyes welled with tears. I could not recall a more beautiful and affecting message! Though a fictional account of the thief’s entrance into paradise, the profundity of the message of the Cross was poignantly portrayed. In that short four minute clip from his original sermon, the entire Gospel message was condensed into those 10 words,

“The Man on the middle cross said I could come.”

Even now, a year later from hearing the message, I still find I am filled with emotion and awe. I cannot remember any sermon that has affected me so deeply. My God, if I could cling to the thoughts and feelings I have when rehashing this message, I actually think I could live this life as a true Christian!   

It is no coincidence that there were two men crucified with Christ. As we already know, both ridiculed and cursed Him as they hung on their own crosses on either side of Him, yet in the final hour one repented and turned to him. And isn’t that what has occurred throughout history? We curse and deny Him, each of us, but some receive a revelation of who He is and repent, turning to Him as Lord and Savior. Just as the penitent thief experienced, all that is required to be saved is repentance and faith (Romans 10:9-10). All the rest that we do is the fruit of obedience. That obedience is because we recognize what He has done for us, but none of those things gain us entry into heaven. That third cross was as much mine, as it was yours. But He took my place, alongside the two thieves. It was not out of sympathy for us, never let that enter your mind. Sympathy will not die for another, only love will sacrifice like that. It was an act of love, the greatest act of love since time began. It was the only way to reconcile us.

I don’t know about you, but at the end of the day, when I reflect upon the things I have said and done, I find more often than not, that I have spent the majority of my time working for that other guy, rather than for Jesus. My course speech, envy, pride, all will invariably lead me down a path of darkness. There is nothing consistent in me, and yet He continues to love me. I look at the state of this world and there has been many a day I have wondered if He even should have made the sacrifice. I question if I, or any of us were worth the price He paid. But the question is never so apt as when I look at that man in the mirror. I can so relate to Paul’s cry, “O wretched man that I am…” No, I will never see myself worthy of the sacrifice, but I will spend eternity loving Him because of it.  

Begg later went on to declare that we must preach the Gospel to ourselves every day. Jesus entered this enemy occupied territory and during His three- and half-year ministry, He showed us who God really was and is. His interaction with us showed us His humanity as well as His divinity. We must constantly remind ourselves that Adam’s actions in the Garden forever twisted and perverted the entire universe and we were doomed to be eternally separated from our Creator. Jesus’ accomplishment on the Cross quite literally shook all Creation. That cosmic upsetting was the Creator sacrificing Himself for the created, you and I. Those on Earth experienced an earthquake, rocks splitting in two, tombs opened and some of the dead being raised. Imagine the shockwave that rippled throughout the universe as Christ cried out, “It is finished!” (Matt. 27:44-53; John 19:30)  

When I arrive in heaven my friends it will be because of one thing and one thing only. The only answer I will have for being there, and for that matter, any of us will have is this,

“The Man on the middle cross said I could come.”

C. Klingle