is it a confession or a con,
can a deathbed confession of faith in Christ get you into heaven.
example: man on cross beside Jesus got in.
But does your 88 year old mother who lived a full sinful life
really believe in Jesus as she takes in her last weeks on earth,
or are U just hopeful your witness really got the truth out of her, or into her?
Can U change your heart that quickly,
and/or will God honour that?
There was a great work of God done in the heart of the repentant thief .
If you read all the gospels you will find at the beginning BOTH thieves mocked Christ at the beginning .
But as time passed and things were said and done it provoked THOUGHT to start with in one thief .
Who contrasted his life with the life of Christ . His end with the end of Christ.
He thought about his past . Not good. Criminal
He thought about his present . Not good . Criminal judged and condemned to be crucified .
He thought about what little future he had . Not good. He was soon to die .
The thought about his coming and soon death. was not good .He was not ready to die .
Then what really troubled him was "it is appointed unto man once to die then cometh the judgment " He was going to face the Creator and his creator . Those thoughts humbled him and he clearly sought God for mercy .
So when the other thief began to mock the Lord again .He turned his head at least and rebuked him and said "do you not fear God?"
"The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom"
He then showed he had judged himself and spoke the truth about himself as he also did about his 'accomplice'(?)
and found himself guilty and justly so and he also judged the other thief and spoke the truth also about him.
He then judged and justified Christ and found him innocent and thus spoke the truth about Christ.
No man really speaks the truth about himself or God or of Jesus until they come to the cross as it were .
For "if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged " Those who speak not the truth about themselves will not speak the truth about God or Jesus Christ either . For they cannot make righteous judgement about either until they see or understand the cross in some measure .
In Gods condemnation of sin in the flesh . Gods judgment on sin and Gods refusal to compromise with sin in any matter whatsoever .
The cross is where we see or can the awfulness of sin and what it can and does do .
The cross is where we see Gods implacable opposition to sin the world the flesh and the devil.
The cross is where we can see in some small measure the depths hights and breadth of sin . and justly and righteously Gods judgement and condemnation of it .
But that thief; though he spoke the truth about himself the other and of Christ . Was still a condemned sinner dying .
The change came about when he turned his head and face to Jesus and put his faith in Him and said "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom"
The man clearly was mad ?
For here was a condemned criminal hanging and crucified on a cross talking to another man in a worse state than himself . Albeit innocent .
For behold the man .
He was in physical agony .
All his bones "were out of joint " he did not have a few artistic blood stripes on his back but was so badly wipped it looked like " a ploughed field" His beard had been plucked out . and his face was so badly marred "he was not recognisable as a man" Not only was a cruel crown of thorns pressed down on his head ,But he was nailed to the cross by his hands and feet .
He was in mental agony .
"My God ,my God why hast though forsaken me?" and albeit that is the first line of a prophetic Psalm so that even in his agony he was testifying of the truth This is that which was spoken of by the prophets .
Nevertheless his agonising cry was of a man whos mind could not understand or plumb the depths of Gods .
"For it pleased God to bruise Him"
No wonder in the garden he prayed that it be Gods will that be done not His for the will of a man could not ; or be able to endure the unendurable .
He was in spiritual agony .
For "he who knew no sin became sin ............." The Holy ,Pure and Perfect one; incoruptable and undefiled was to bear in His perfect body the sin of the world . That the worst agony of it all .
"............That we through Him might become the righteousness of God."
Never the less that thief saw no Turin shroud . But a man whos image was not recognisable as a man.
But he saw something else that no graven image can or would or even should convey . He saw the image of God ,The Son of God .
He saw more . He saw a King who was going to inherit a kingdom and one who would concquer death .
Did all come in a blinding flash? No.
It started with thoughts of repentance and of God and as his thoughts became more and more in conformity to Gods thinking .So he was led deep in his heart from darkness to light .
To what end ? That he might confess the truth about himself .Yes but only in passing as it were .But primarily about Christ and in doing so bore witness both as to the Lord himself as also to that unseen work of God in a mans heart .When he beholds the truth in action..
His faith was rewarded and his sins justly forgiven . It should be noted also that when the Lord turned TOWARDS the repentant thief He turned away from the other .
in Christ
gerald
