RTW 2023

And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:43

The hardest day of reading in the entire Bible, is also the day that brings my heart the greatest joy and hope I’ve ever known.

Imagine the pain it caused Christ to speak, yet the assurance of the criminal’s salvation was so important to Him, that He spoke it out loud.

“Since speech occurs during exhalation, these short, terse utterances must have been particularly difficult and painful.” – Jonathan Edwards

What did the criminal do to be saved?

• Join a church? No.
• Pray a prayer? No.
• Confess sin? No.
• Serve the poor? No.
• Care for the orphan? No.
• Provide for the widow? No.

This is what the criminal did:

• Acknowledge that Christ is God.
• Ask to be remembered in His Kingdom.
• Assured Jesus he knew who He was by reprimanding the other criminal.

Aha moment for me: He believed the resurrection would happen before Christ ever died.

Steps to Salvation:

• Openly declare that Jesus is Lord.
• Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
  Romans 10:9

For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
Romans 10:10

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Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene.
John 19:25

Cleopas was one of the men on the Emmaus Road.

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Everyone can be saved, at any time because of the cross… the kindness of the cross.