THE GREATEST
CONVERSION EVER
Some of us might be disturbed by deathbed conversions.
Consider a man named Joe. He was not a church-going man. He lived a wild life.
He drank too much, gambled a lot, swore without thinking about it, and would
lie if it was to his advantage. Joe never thought much about God.
Joe had
retired and was looking forward to doing a lot of fishing. But he had been
having a lot of stomach problems. Too much “good living” he thought. But the
doctor told him it was cancer and it had spread. Joe had six months to live.
A pastor
came to talk to him in the hospital and talked about spiritual things. For the
first time in his life, Joe listened. The pastor made sense. Joe realized he
had lived a selfish, sinful life, and when he died he would face God’s
judgment. However, the pastor said Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the
penalty he deserved. There was forgiveness if Joe would receive it. So he
prayed to receive Christ and died peacefully shortly thereafter.[i]
If Joe
had lived, would he have remained a faithful Christian? Was his conversion
genuine? We are glad to hear of conversions like this and are at the same time
nagged by these “last hour” conversions. Can a person live his whole life
denying Jesus and at the last minute be saved? What is our understanding of
salvation then?
In the
center of the Christ’s agony on the cross, in the fire of the Passion
narrative, we are given a most amazing account of a sinner turning to Christ
for salvation. John Calvin said that since the creation of the world, there has
not been a more remarkable and striking example of faith than this thief. You
could say that it was the greatest conversion ever. And it stands as a symbol
of hope to all that anyone, the person about to die or the person who simply
thinks they are beyond saving, can come to Christ and receive salvation. By the
grace of God any sinner who repents can find salvation in Jesus Christ.
This is
a simple message that ought to blow our minds.
1. Salvation Requires a Confession of Sin
Luke did something unique with the story of the two
thieves crucified on either side of Jesus. Matthew and Mark both tell the
reader that, “Two robbers were crucified
with him, one on his right and one on his left,” (Mt. 27:38; Mk. 15:27).
John too says, “Here they crucified him
(Jesus), and with him two others – one on each side and Jesus in the middle,”
(Jn. 19:18).
John is
silent otherwise. But Matthew and Mark add that those crucified with Jesus
“heaped insults” on him (Mt. 27:44; Mk. 15:32).
There
must have been a lot of shouting that day. The Crowds that had called for
Jesus’ crucifixion had shouted insanely. And even at the cross itself there
were shouts and insults and ridicule. Somehow shouting emboldens the cowardly
and makes them sound right.
Luke
records that, “The people stood watching,
and the rulers sneered at him. They said, ‘He saved others; let him save
himself if he is the Christ, the Chosen One,” (23:35). And the soldiers who
crucified Jesus mocked him too, saying “If
you are the king of the Jews, save yourself,” (36-37).
There is
a crescendo of abuse rising and rising, people becoming more abusive and
insulting. This is the climax of the opposition to the person of Jesus, where
the whole world has risen against him and called for his death. Even those
dying with him mocked him.
And
then…a turning point. No change was more dramatic than that of the thief, one
who had mocked Jesus with the rest, but now suddenly defending Jesus.
What
happened? What changed?
In the
midst of the cursing and yelling, the ridicule and cries of pain, the thieves
hurling down their expletives at the priests and soldiers, Jesus prayed.
Perhaps witnessing how Jesus handled dying struck the thief as absurd and
beautiful. He must have done a double-take when he heard Jesus ask, “Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
The
thief turns on the other thief and rebukes him, “Don’t you fear God since you are under the same sentence?” (40).
There is a realization that death is coming, and with death, an audience with
God. The two thieves were under the same sentence of death with Jesus, but the
one thief was struck with the revelation that Jesus doesn’t deserve this. And
when he comes before God, Jesus will be vindicated. How does the thief know
this? Who knows? God knows – he revealed it to the thief.
Did Luke
make this up? Some might wonder since the other gospels don’t mention the
thief’s conversion. Was it added to make a point? Luke was too meticulous an
historian to fabricate the event for drama’s sake. He would not do that.
No, one
thing we know for sure, the thief recognized his sinfulness and that he
deserved, along with his friend, to die on the cross. “We are punished justly,
for we are getting what our deeds deserve.”
We must
recognize our sinfulness. We are under the same sentence of death as the
thieves, even as Jesus – since he bore the sins of the world. “For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God,” (Ro. 3:23).
2. Salvation Calls for Repentance and Faith
Not only did the thief recognize his sin, he turned to
Jesus. We call this repentance – turning from sin to Jesus.
Somehow,
this thief came to a point of faith. He believed that Jesus was not only
innocent, he was the Christ, he was God. So he confesses that he belongs on his
own cross but he also turns to Jesus for deliverance.
We hear
the conviction of his new faith in this request, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” (42). We
don’t know what the thief knew. We can only go by his words uttered in this
moment. Did he know of Jesus? He knew his name; he knew he was a king with a
kingdom; he knew that it was a heavenly kingdom.
I
wondered to myself if this was a “Hail Mary” pass. In football, when the
seconds are ticking down and the game is close, a quarterback will try to win
the game with a “Hail Mary” pass – throwing it up and hoping your own player
will catch it. Jesus’ response assures us it is not.
The
thief genuinely repented of his sins and turned to Jesus. A repentant person
stops blaming God and others for his problems and admits his own sin and guilt.
Those who live as victims will always try to pass off their failures and
follies as what other people have done to them. Repentance means accepting that
the blame rests with me. I am responsible for my sin and its consequences. As I
fear God, that is, respect who God is and stand in awe of his glory and
greatness, I will want to turn from my sin to Jesus, as the thief did.
You
might be thinking, “I am not in the same league as this thief. I am not the
best person, but I am not that bad either.” But a Bible scholar by the name of
A.W. Pink says we are all thieves of the worst sort, since we have robbed God.
Pink wrote:
“Suppose
that a firm in the East appointed an agent to represent them in the West, and
that every month they forwarded to him his salary. But suppose also at the end
of the year his employers discovered that though the agent had been cashing the
checks they sent him, nevertheless, he had served another firm all that time.
Would not that agent be a thief? Yet this is precisely the situation and state
of every sinner. He has been sent into this world by God, and God has endowed
him with talents and the capacity to use and improve them. God has blessed him
with health and strength; He has supplied his every need, and provided
innumerable opportunities to serve and glorify Him. But with what result? The
very things God has given him have been misappropriated. The sinner has served
another master, even Satan. He dissipates his strength and wastes his time in
the pleasures of sin. He has robbed God.”[ii]
The
thief’s hope, and our only hope, was Jesus Christ. What gives us hope in this
narrative is that a sinner does not have to be a theologian to have saving
faith in Jesus. You should know that Jesus is the Son of God, that he lived a
life that he wants us to follow, and that he died for our sins and rose again.
The thief knew that Jesus was an innocent man; he knew that he would triumph
over the grave, and he had the audacity to ask Jesus to remember him in his
kingdom. But Jesus loves that kind of audacity. Just ask; he dares us to just
ask.
3. Salvation Happens by Grace Alone
Coming back to the reason that deathbed conversions
bother us, it might be because we who have followed Christ all our lives and
served him and done all sorts of things in his name, feel cheated. This thief
was not even baptized. He never served on a committee or taught Sunday School.
In fact, he came with nothing to Jesus – absolutely nothing to offer!
Jesus’
answer to the thief displays outrageous grace. Jesus tells him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me
in paradise,” (43). We know this truth: No amount of good works saves us.
We know this, but we still cling to the idea that we can earn our salvation. If
we receive a gift, a ride in the car, a free meal – we ask, “What can I give
you?” Nothing! It’s grace. Just accept it.
Jesus illustrated this
truth in a parable in Matthew 20:1-16. A landowner went out early in the
morning and hired workers for his 3 vineyard. He agreed to pay them a fair
day’s wage. Later in the morning, he saw some other men standing idle in the
marketplace, so he hired them and told them that he would pay them a fair wage.
At noon and in mid-afternoon, he did the same thing. Finally, about five
o’clock in the afternoon, he hired some others. When evening came, he paid all
the workers the same, a full day’s wage. But the men who had worked all day
grumbled because these men who had only worked one hour got the same wage that
they received after working hard all day. But the landowner said, “I paid you
what we agreed on. If I wish to be generous to this last man, that’s my
privilege. I can do what I want with that which is my own.”[iii]
Salvation
happens by grace alone. Jesus doesn’t play fair with salvation. He doesn’t have
to. When a sinner calls on him, Jesus answers.
Did you
note however, that both thieves called on Jesus? The first thief said, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and
us!” (39). He did not ask in faith, but out of mockery. The second thief
rebuked him for this, and then in true faith turned to Jesus.
And
Jesus said,
“Today” –
indicating that salvation is immediate. Discipleship is a process, but the gift
of salvation is free and immediate.
“you will be with
me” – salvation is personal. One remarkable observation that must be said
is this: The thief understood that Jesus did not hang on the cross to identify
with the thief in his pain, but to save him. Jesus could have saved himself,
but then he could not have saved others. Somehow the thief understood that
Jesus had to die for his sins. It’s personal. And then, Jesus said, you will be
with me.
“in paradise”
– salvation is heavenly. “Paradise” is the crucial word. Scholars tell us that
it originally referred to the walled gardens of the Persian kings. When a king
wanted to honor his subjects, he would invite them to walk with him in his
garden in the cool of the day. This same word was used in the Greek Old
Testament to refer to the Garden of Eden; in Revelation 2:7 it refers to
heaven.
Not only
is this thief, this unrighteous man, going to live forever among the righteous,
but something even more glorious is happening in Jesus’ promise. There is a
cosmic re-creation of the Garden of Eden. Or, in other words, the dwelling of
men and women would once more be with God.
And this
is a gift of grace, something achieved only by the death of Christ on the
cross. There is nothing for us to boast about lest it cease to be grace.
As we close, there are three thoughts that come to mind.
First,
when my mother passed away last year, the question on my mind was “where did
she go.” The Apostle Paul taught that those who fell asleep in the Lord will be raised on the last day, implying
that the dead in Christ were presently sleeping. But then Jesus says “Today,
you will be with me in paradise.” Which is it? What happens after we die is a
mystery only to those still alive. We must take Jesus at his word when he says,
“Today, you will be with me in paradise,” and believe that when we die we go to
be with him.
Second,
if deathbed conversions are valid because of the grace of Christ, why not sin
now and believe later? Why not live how we please and turn to Christ just
before we die?
There are three answers to this question:
1) If you reject the gospel now, you will harden your
heart so much so that when the time comes to die you will reject the gospel at
that time too.
2) To continue in sin now does not bring joy but
heartache and sorrow and you will miss out on the life God has for you now.
3) Not everyone gets a deathbed opportunity to repent.
Some of us will die in accidents where we won’t know what hit us.
Third,
what is the greatest conversion ever in your opinion? Is it the outrageous
grace of God shown to the thief on the cross? How about the “road to Damascus”
experience of Paul? Was it Augustine? Martin Luther? Louie Zamperini? Charles
Colson? These are all amazing stories, but the greatest conversion you will
ever know, is yours. You don’t deserve this. That’s grace. The cross of Christ
is horrible and beautiful all at once. It is the cost of your sin and it is the
outpouring of the love of God.
If you
believe, rejoice. If you do not believe in Jesus, receive him now.
AMEN
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