Well, this man was not only a thief, but a reviler of God, right upon
the threshold of eternity, a most depraved and abandoned wretch.
Matthew tells us: "And the two thieves cast the same in His teeth."
You would have thought they would have been doing something better
than that, coming so near death and the grave; and that their thoughts
would have been made very solemn in the face of not only death, but
after death the judgment. Instead of that, they were reviling Christ,
and casting accusations in His teeth a few hours before their death.
Well, I do not think this thief could have sunk any further, until he
sunk into hell. Though so far off Jesus found him. Matthew and Mark
both tell us that these two thieves reviled Him. John says nothing
about their reviling; in fact, he does not tell us about one of them
being converted. The first we get of it is in Luke xxiii. 40, where we
find him saying to the other thief, "Dost not thou fear God?" Solomon,
the wise man, says, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God." Now,
there we have the beginning of wisdom in this thief. He began to
_fear_ God. I hope there will be hundreds in this building who will
fear Him; for that is the true beginning of wisdom.