Jesus' Crucifixion and the saved thief on the cross
- Philip
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Jesus' Crucifixion and the saved thief on the cross
It's never to late to seek the salvation of Christ - and this has absolutely ZERO to do with anyone being "GOOD" enough!
Jesus, in His next to last words on the cross, declared the completion of His salvation mission to the earth (the very reason He came to earth): “It is FINISHED!” And the reality behind His exclamation is the reason for the hope and certainty of millions of Christians across the earth, as their joyful eternity to come was secured that terrible Friday that Jesus was put to death on the Cross!
Unfortunately, many outright reject Jesus, fail to believe in His Gospel message, or are unwilling to embrace Him as God. And many even have the strange, unBiblical idea that before God will save them, they must first become GOOD enough – mistakenly thinking that if they can just be a good enough person, that only then will He accept them. So, people often wrongly believe the salvation of Christ to be a complicated thing necessitating their own maximum personal efforts and good works, before they can ever be acceptable to God – which is totally FALSE!!!
I’ve posted the below takeout I wrote some years back:
Jesus, before His death and Resurrection, was crucified alongside two thieves. And both thieves spent the early part of their brutal agony likewise having been nailed to Roman crosses. And both of them initially mocked Jesus and His claims of Deity. But amazingly, one of the thieves eventually had his eyes and heart opened to the reality of WHO (and WHAT) Jesus truly was / is: Lord / GOD! So, what changes in his life did the saved thief on a cross beside Jesus make before Jesus said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise?”
The ONLY change the saved thief had made - and it's the only thing that allows ANYONE to RECEIVE Christ's salvation - is he had a heart / mind change towards God / Jesus, and moved from unbelief and rejection, to faith and submittance. And so, in his very last hours on earth, this thief decided to recognize and express to Jesus his desire for Him to become his Lord and thus submitted himself by requesting Jesus to remember him when He came into His Kingdom. The saved thief also acknowledged before Jesus / God his own sins and guilt while also chastising the (other) unsaved thief for continuing to mock Jesus in his unbelief. The saved thief acknowledged to Jesus that He was recognizing Him as God, made clear by his request: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And so, remarkably, this thief's heart had changed amidst the agony of being on a cross beside Jesus. In a matter of hours, he had changed from unbelief in who Jesus was to realizing He was God and precisely who He had said He is - the promised Messiah / Holy God! And accordingly, he believed and also placed his faith in Jesus as his only hope for salvation.
As for getting his life right before God with good actions and deeds - this thief had done none of that, and in fact never had any more time to do so. As what possibly COULD he have been able to do? The ONLY and key thing he had done was to change his mind and heart over who and what (God!) Jesus actually is, while also expressing his guilt as a sinner and calling upon Jesus to remember him in Jesus Kingdom to come. Now, had that thief yet begun to live his life as God wanted him to? Yes, but ONLY in that small but crucial step, of changing his heart and mind towards God and submitting to Christ. Had he lived beyond the cross, that thief's changes in learning how to live as God wants us to would likely have been a slow, difficult and sometimes difficult, life-long process of sanctification - even though he was (at the very last moment) saved by Jesus, through faith. The key thing to remember is, God saves people WHERE they ARE and AS they are - and while they are still IN their sins. Because if we otherwise had to first get our act together and stop sinning before we could be saved - well, not only could one never stop all of their sinning, but such an (impossible) effort would make salvation to be contingent upon our own personal effort and works. Yet, it is ONLY true faith in and submittance to Jesus that allows Him to save us. NO one can ever be good enough to merit salvation. And that saved thief is a powerful illustration of this important truth, for all the ages!
And so what does the Bible say about works and salvation?
Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is NOT of your own doing; it is the GIFT of God, NOT a result of works, so that no one may boast.