Dear Christian friends:

Of the few people whom the Bible specifically tells us that they are now in heaven - one was a criminal! There was no question about his crimes or his guilt. The courts had decided he was a menace to human life and not worthy to live. To this he himself argued when he rebuked the other thief who mocked Jesus, "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss." (Luke 23:40-41)

Yet this court-condemned, self-condemned murderer dares to ask the dying Son of God to remember him when He goes into His kingdom. He confesses his enormous guilt and throws himself completely upon God's mercy in Jesus Christ.

Here we have a beautiful picture of true, saving faith. One that can afford the greatest of comfort and hope to each one of us, for to this great sinner, this man unfit to live in society, Jesus promises with an oath, "Verily I say unto thee today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43)

As men see and judge there seemed to be no hope or salvation for this man executed upon a cross and buried in the city dump. One with such a record and with such a death and a burial could not possibly be saved and go with God into heaven. And yet, Jesus swears that he is. Contrary to all human appearances and evidences this man is saved.

Now I ask you, "Is not this true of each one of us?" You and I may not be condemned by human courts as a menace to human life, unworthy to live out the rest of our days in society, but we are most certainly condemned by the divine court of God in heaven.

Many people are able to get away with their crimes and many others restrict their sins to things which are not punished by human laws. However, God knows our sin whether society punishes us or not.

Oscar Wilde puts it very bluntly in his "Ballad of Reading Gaol":

Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword!

Some kill their love when they are young,
And some when they are old;
Some strangle with the hands of Lust,
Some with the hands of Gold:
The kindest use a knife, because
The dead so soon grow cold.

Some love too little, some too long,
Some sell, and others buy;
Some do the deed with many tears,
And some without a sigh:
For each man kills the thing he loves,
Yet each man does not die.

He does not die a death of shame
On a day of dark disgrace,
Nor have a noose about his neck,
Nor a cloth upon his face,
Nor drop feet foremost through the floor
Into an empty place

To this we all have agreed, at least with our mouths, when we sang the hymn, There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood:

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away:
Wash all my sins away,
Wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

It is a good thing for us that God in His great mercy called this dying thief to faith in the Savior; for in so doing He calls us. Each one of us in his own little way sooner or later, if he hasn't already, will come to know that he, too; is a dying criminal nailed to a cross of his own making.

In that hour it may not appear by the evidence of your senses that God loves you. In fact, it will seem that He hates you and forsakes you. But, remember, here Jesus swears to you that God does love you and that He will remember you and forgives you; that you will be with Him in paradise.

The dying thief used his cross to give a mighty testimony to his God and Savior. May God also give us grace to believe and to do likewise.

Amen