– Lord Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. I know that I have broken God’s laws and that my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry. Please forgive me. I do believe that You are the Christ, the Son of the Loving God, that you died for my sins. I believe that you resurrected from the dead, that you are seated in heaven at the Father’s right hand as Lord of all creation, and that you are coming again. I call upon you as Lord of my life. Fill my heart with Your Holy Spirit. From this day forward I will confess you as my Lord and Savior. Amen. –
A prayer of Salvation
Journal,
The thief on the cross did not have time to find a church, to get baptized, to do good works, or undo any of the sins of his life. He was about to die. On the cross between him and another thief was Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Here is how it went:
“One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, ‘Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!’ But the other answered, and rebuking him said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’
“And he was saying, ‘Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!’ And He said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’” (Luk 23:39-43)
The reason the thief on the cross would enter paradise is that he was placing his faith in the Man who was hanging on the cross. The thief would enter paradise the same way that all true believers enter paradise. He acknowledged faith and trust in the Lord when he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”
One struggle that often confronts new believers has to do with realizing the life that is given us in the new covenant. I have often shared that when believers try to measure their walk with the Lord by the Old Covenant laws it can actually hinder the flow of grace in their life. The new covenant includes a life cause that had never been known to man.
It all has to do with…
The Life Atonement
In all the former covenants there was no spiritual atonement. All the Old Testament sacrifices could do was serve as reminders of sin and of man’s need of a Savior. The Bible says that these sacrifices could never make the worshipper “perfect in conscience.” (Heb9:9)
In the Old Testament sacrifice the one offering the sacrifice was exchanging his life for the life of the animal. The sacrificed animal was taking the place of the sacrificer. But all the sacrifices under the Law could never take away sin. They served as a reminder and a shadow of the great sacrifice to come. In the Old Testament sacrifices the gospel of Christ was being set forth.
What of the cross? It was on the cross that Christ offered himself as an ‘eternal’ sacrifice for all sin for all time, and through His atoning blood, the believer is given a cleansed
conscience. Rather than having a heart that would continually remind the believer of the condemnation of sin, the blood-sprinkled heart would now speak of grace and righteousness.
The moment a person becomes born again, they are made aware of a new life principle at work. The born from heaven believer has a new relationship with God. His conscience has been cleansed. The former things have passed away.
Paul said it this way:
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” (2Co 5:17-19)
None of this means that a new covenant believer is incapable of sin. What it means is that the new covenant believer’s life has been exchanged for the life of Jesus. The new believer now remains under the influence of the atonement of Christ.
This also means that the heart and soul of a new covenant believer has undergone a nature change. Where sin was his natural state, now sin becomes an unclean thing to this new believer. O yes, he can sin but he can never be comfortable in sin. Sin is now contrary to his new nature.
Another way of saying this is that the new believer now represents Jesus on the earth, and Jesus represents the new believer in heaven. Both the apostle John and the apostle Paul confirms this.
“By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He [Jesus] is, so also are we in this world.“ (1Jn 4:17)
“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Col 3:3-4)
Walking with a Cleansed Conscience
It is one thing to know we are saved by the sacrifice of Christ, it is altogether another to walk with a cleansed conscience. And so the new covenant has a built-in ‘spiritual-cleansing’ or ‘renewing’ factor that will never lose its power for cleansing. The apostles speak of this renewing and cleansing work of the Holy Spirit.
The word that relates to the cleansing and renewing is the word sanctification. When God saves us, we become ‘set apart’ from the world. (This is essentially what ‘sanctify’ means.) Anything that is sanctified means that it belongs exclusively to God. In this sense all believers are ‘God-possessed’ people.
And so we have from God the work of separation, of cleansing and of renewing.
Paul said,
“We do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” (2Co4:16)
The term Paul used for ‘renewed’ is anikainoo. It literally means, ‘make new.’ Anikainoo carries the idea of spiritual restorations. Thus it can be said that the believer’s life is being made new day by day. This is the outflow of the life that has been given us in Christ.
Jesus described it this way:
“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (Joh 7:37-39)
Back to the thief on the cross. In the new covenant there is …
No Salvation by Works or Personal Goodness
Just as the thief could be saved only one way, the apostles are careful to point out that we cannot be saved by anything that we could do or have done in our own power. The truth of our being saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone is taught throughout the New Testament. James explains how a person is born from above. He said,
“In this exercise of [God’s] will He brought us forth by the word of truth.” (James 1:18)
It is so important to understand this. You cannot work God’s will in your life. God works His will in your life. This is why even repentance can be said to be God at work in our hearts.
Paul added to this in saying,
“He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.” (Tit3:5)
Once again Paul is speaking of the new life renewal that the Holy Spirit continues to manifest in each believer.
Always keep in mind what Jesus said to the thief, ‘Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.’
Now let us talk about…
Full Fellowship
Again listen, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” We need to know that the Lord always deals with us as blood redeemed people. When we make mistakes, or
fall into a temptation, or stumble, or whatever the case may be, the Lord is able to restore us in full fellowship through the atoning blood of Jesus. The Bible says that nothing shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus.
We drink from His cup. We sit at His table. We will always be with Jesus in heaven. The believer’s life cannot be separated from Jesus’s life.
In Hebrews, we hear,
“He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Heb7:25)
But it is more to this than restoration from sin. It is the very life of the new covenant that we need to learn about. Paul gave the finishing touch on how new covenant life works in a single statement. He said,
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal2:20)
Crucified with Christ
Yes, the thief was crucified with Christ. And the thief would forever live with Christ. When Christ arose from the grave, the thief arose with Him. When Jesus entered into heaven the thief entered with Him. When Jesus was seated at the right hand of the Father, the thief was seated with Him. And so was every believer in the new covenant.
When Paul said that he had been crucified with Christ, he is addressing a cardinal reality of the Christian faith. Listen to the apostle:
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Eph 2:4-7)
Where does all this leave us? It really depends on your standing with heaven. If you are not assured of your salvation, I provided a prayer at the beginning of this journal entry that you may want to use. It begins with the simple words of the thief on the cross and it includes those things that speak of the Lordship of Jesus.
Don’t place your salvation in some church membership, or on some emotional experience, on shaking the preacher’s hand, or how long you prayed at an altar. Salvation is based on one issue alone – Salvation is the change of Lordship. You are turning from the god of this world [Satan] and calling on the name of God’s beloved Son. The Bible plainly says that whoever will call on His name will be saved.
Why not take time for this song. It is titled, ‘Lord, Please Remember Me,’ by the Jackson Southernaires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYF-2Y9-ogo
Be blessed,
Buddy
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