WHAT MOVED THE HEART OF JESUS
Part 2: The Promise of Paradise
- Luke 23:39-43
> v43 . . . Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.
You know, I have seen a few things and a few places in life. I haven’t seen as much nor traveled as extensively as some of you who’ve been around since the continents first divided, but I have seen a few things. I have seen the beauty of countless hours of snow covered plains and forests, crossing the heartland of Russia on a train. I have known the beauty of camping on a deserted island with friends and family in the Gulf. I have seen the beauty of this country, of ours. From the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains jutting toward the sky, to the endless rows of mountains peeking one after another from the mist of the Smokey Mountains. I have seen the beauty of desert springs, and aspen turning gold in the fall. I have hiked parts of the Appalachian Trail and listened to the birds and animals singing all around me. I have known the joy of exploring trails on horseback with friends in the mountains of Arkansas and listened with joy as the folks there filled the summer evenings with music played in the town square. I have known the joy of canoeing the St. John’s with a canopy of Palms draped overhead, and of canoeing Spring River where every turn reveals another rapid to shoot. I have climbed hills in Zion National Park with my son at my side and have peered from the rim, with my family, into the immeasurable beauty of the Grand Canyon. I have explored caves, where God reveals his creative imagination in stone formations of every color. I have seen fields gold with wheat, white with cotton, and ablaze with sunflowers. I have seen running rose and honey suckle blooming from every ditch in Mississippi, and listened as endless flights of geese and ducks passed overhead. I have watched the sun rise over the wave kissed beaches of our East Coast, and watched it set in the mountains of the west.
But let me tell you, all of the beauty I have seen and all of the joy I have known pales to insignificance when compared to that place Jesus here calls Paradise. Here Jesus says, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise!” Can you imagine, being in Paradise with Jesus?
Recent surveys show that the majority of people in this country and around the world, still believe in heaven of some sort. We may differ a bit about the details of heaven, but most believe in a better place after this life. The place where we find the most disagreement though, is in how we go about getting there.
After conducting a recent survey of 320,000 U.S. Protestant churches, George Barna discovered that just 51% of pastors in America have a biblical worldview. One of the criteria he used to determine that, was their belief in whether salvation, and thus admission to heaven, came by grace alone or whether it required something more. (“Only Half of Protestant Pastors Have a Biblical Worldview” by Barna Research Group. Barna Research Group, Jan. 12, 2004.)
After reading of the study in World Magazine Mike Simon wrote, “I find it intriguing that ‘salvation by grace alone’ was on the list of core biblical beliefs in the Barna Survey.” (World Magazine, March 6, 2004. p47)
My friends, I believe Jesus makes it clear in this passage that salvation for you and I, admission to heaven comes through grace and through grace alone.
I. SALVATION COMES BY GRACE
> Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
1. No Purgatory required – There are some who believe that in addition to believing in Jesus Christ, and that in addition to accepting Him as your Lord and Savior, that after this life you must go to some holding place, and there somehow pay for part of your sins. You must suffer for a while in order to get into heaven.
My friend, when Jesus turned to the thief beside Him, after hearing his prayer, Jesus did not tell the man that after this life the man would have to suffer for a while, he would have to be punished for a while and then he would gain admission to paradise. No. Jesus said, TODAY you will be with Me in Paradise.
Paul said in :
>2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2. No Baptism required –
There are others who claim that in order to be saved, in order to get into heaven, you must be baptized. They quote the verse there in :
> Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. “For” on a wanted poster.
My friend, the thief had no time, no place and no way to be baptized, and yet Jesus said to him, “Today you shall be with me in Paradise.”
Do you remember in the old westerns, where they would have wanted posters hung around? Those posters would often say, “Wanted for murder.” Now, they did not want that man so he could commit a murder, no, the man was wanted for something that he had already done. The same is true in Acts 2:38, where it says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins.” The baptism doesn’t do away with the sins, you are baptized because of what has already taken place.
We are baptized because of what has taken place, it is a testimony. We are baptized because Jesus told us to be, and we want to be obedient.
3. No Works required – Ephesians 2:8-9
There are those who believe you have to do a certain amount of good works to be saved, that you have to share in the Lord’s Supper, or join a church, or any number of things. The thief did none of those things and he was saved. We do those things because they remind us, we do those things because we want to serve God, we do those things because we want to help others, but we do not do those things to be saved.
II. SALVATION COMES THROUGH FAITH
> Romans 10:9 That 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.
1. You must confess your guilt – 40-41
2. You must confess Jesus’ innocence – 41
3. You must confess no merits – 42
4. You must confess your need - 42
In Quo Vadis? is found the story of the old spy who posed as a Christian, entering homes of believers and frequenting their meeting places because he had their confidence. Then he would report the names of the Christians to Nero. Scores were dragged to the wild beasts as the result of his betrayal. At last the Christians discovered his deception. It was hard not to be bitter against him. They felt within their souls that of all the fiends of hell none were as bad as he. Should they attempt to win him to Christ? Nothing could reach him! He seemed condemned even while he lived. But the story goes on. The old spy sat high in the Coliseum and watched the Christian die, saw them torn by the wild beasts, saw them burned with fire. The one day he saw Christ in the faces of those martyrs. Boldly he went to Nero. “I, too, am a Christian,” he confessed. They tied him to a stake, another victim. And as he died, the persecutors heard him denounce Nero; then lifting his voice to heaven, he cried, “Jesus, Jesus.” Like the penitent thief, he received the Savior’s welcome, for none are turned away. With Jesus there are no hopeless cases.
