The Way, The Truth

I would like you to meet a thief who went to Heaven?

When Jesus was crucified on "the old rugged Cross," there hung a thief on each side of Him.To one of them He said, "To day shall thou be with Me in paradise." (Luke 23:43.)

Why did one thief go to Heaven and the other to Hell? What did the one do to save his soul? Remember, his arms and legs were nailed to the Cross; therefore, he:

• could not take communion
• could not be baptized
• could not join a church
• could not read a prayer book
• could not give money to the church or charity
• could not plead his own goodness or try self-improvement
• could not call his pastor or priest

In fact, many acts that some people stress as necessary to salvation, as a "straight ticket" to Heaven, he could not perform. All these "could not's" did not keep him out of Heaven. Why? Because there were several vital acts he could and did do.

1. He Repented
He acknowledged his sinfulness to the other thief and to Christ. He said: "We (thieves] receive the due reward of our deeds." (Luke 23:41) The Bible says,"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3)

2. He Believed and Received...
the LordJesusChrist as the Saviour of the world, and of his own Soul. The Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," (Acts 16:31)

3. He Confessed...
his faith in Jesus Christ as the sinless Son of God. He said to the unbelieving thief, "This man (Jesus) hath done nothing amiss." (Luke23:41)
The Bible says, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9)

(From a tract by: Nathaniel Olsen)

Just wonderful.

Amen, Amen, Amen! Wonderful post!

Thank and Praise our Lord Jesus Christ for His Love and Mercy! Gbu's

Indeed, Our God is so great, He saves on the first "attempt". He needs not man's works.

I'm sure that some of you know from past discussions that I belief in Faith, God's Grace/Will and Good Works. In regard to the scripture (Luke 23:34) referenced in the first post, I'd like to make some comments - and I'm quite happy to hear any responses back, ofcourse.

I think it's important to remember that Christ did not go to "paradise" as soon as He experienced the physical death which lasted three days post-crucifixion death. But I digress.

The thief was obviously someone who had gone astray, and broke the Commandments of God (in specifics - "thou shalt not steal" but likely the others too as all those who have reprobate minds (as God allows them to) would experience) as Isaiah says in Ch. 53:6:


The thief's inner light was rekindled by the power of the Almighty presence of Christ, which is the "true light, which lighteth every man" - unlike the mockers around Jesus at that time, he did not join in. He obviously had a spiritual witness of the divinity of Christ, or he would not have acted in such a way because really his testifying of Christ at that time could have had him impaled on the spot or something similar by the mockers around.

Rather than mock, the thief appealed the Lamb of God (obviously seizing upon a hope that he might be saved by Christ) as he is quoted as saying in Luke 23:42: "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."

To this, we all know that the saviour answered with hope. However, this criminal obviously lacked the understanding (as we would expect of someone not understanding the way to salvation) that he would be given an opportunity to live according to God in the spirit - in other words, he would have the choice in the life hereafter to follow in the way set forth by God - as 1 Peter 4:6 says:



In other words, some have the opportunity in the life hereafter (i.e., those who have not heard of Christ/etc) to obtain salvation when most would think all was lost - when they have ended their mortal lives.

Now that's an amazing God! Glory to the Father, the Son Jesus Christ who atoned for our sins and redeemed us from the fall and the Holy Ghost!

I have a question. Would this thief had been saved if he did not speak out on his belief?

Rob wrote:I have a question. Would this thief had been saved if he did not speak out on his belief?

God alone knows the answer to that question. Given that he was being tortured to death, the fact that he even did so is strong evidence of his faith however.

That's a beautiful post Ender, praise God. Trust mankind to make something so simple, so complicated.