My friend, when you look at the details of whathappened on the cross and one of these thieves coming to faith in Jesus Christand the promise He received from the mouth of the crucified Savior, you oughtto have hope. There is no reason anyone, anytime, anywhere, in any conditionshould not receive Jesus Christ and have the hope of eternal life. It doesn'tmatter who you are, how far you've gone into sin, or what types of crimes you'vecommitted.
Pleasecarefully read the above verses. "For there were also two others,criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the placecalled Calvary, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the righthand and the other on the left." The next several verses through verse38 describe how everyone mocked Him, saying, "You saved others, saveYourself." Even one of the thieves in verse 39, one of the criminals who wasbeing executed with Jesus, blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ,save Yourself and us." So, he joined with the crowd.
Ifyou study the other Gospels, you'll find that initially both thieves railedupon Him. As they're being crucified, hanging in tremendous suffering and pain,they both are crying out, saying, "If you are the Christ. Saveus." But then something happened, and we can't explain it, but Ibelieve it was a miracle of God. It was the grace of God, a message of God forthe world.
Let’sgo back to Genesis 3:19, when God created the Garden of Eden. It says that thetree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledgeof good and evil. In the old King James Version of this passage ofScripture, it says in the Gospel of John, that “Jesus was in the midstbetween these two thieves”. Jesus in the midst. The tree of life wasin the midst of the garden. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was inthe midst of the garden.
WhenJesus is crucified on the tree—that's often what the cross is called by theapostles in their epistles, the tree—the tree of life, the tree of theknowledge of good and evil. The Goodness of God and the evil of man and also eternallife are all displayed in the cross of Jesus Christ. Christ is in the midst.He's in the middle. My friend, He stands between you and heaven and hell. Hestands between you and an eternity away from God.
Thereis no reason today, when you look to the cross and hear the words of the Saviorthat He gave to the thief, to lose hope. The one thief said, rebuking the othersaid, "Do you not even fear God, seeing that you're under the samecondemnation, and we indeed 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."
Wewill talk about what paradise in another chat later. But my friend, this meansJesus went to paradise that day, and there this thief met Him when he died.Jesus was there and said, "Welcome home, son." The man foundforgiveness of sins. He didn't have time to go to church, get baptized, or doany good deeds. He went to paradise, to heaven, simply because he put his faithand trust in Jesus Christ, recognizing Him as sinless and innocent. Jesusdidn't deserve to die, but He died in the man's place. The man believed thatJesus was going to come into His kingdom. He believed in the hope of the futurethat Jesus had promised.
Maybehe had heard that message from someone, or maybe he was standing on the side ofthe crowd when Jesus preached somewhere. I don't know. But now he believed andput his faith in Christ, even as he was dying, and God promised him eternallife.
Youcan too. Whoever you are, wherever you're at, would you trust Jesus today? Jesusis in the midst. He stands between you and eternity. Would you trust Himtoday to be your Savior?
Godbless!
