Men of the Bible

Dwight L. Moody

• Publisher: Aneko Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781622455287
• eBook ISBN: 9781622455294
• Topic: Theology & Religion

My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he that walks in the way of perfection, he shall serve me – Psalm 101: 6When you wish to know something about godly living, where do you look? Is there a better place to look than to the men of the Bible? The Lord, in all His wisdom, left us with a wonderful textbook – the Holy Scriptures. Some make the mistake of worshiping these heroes of the faith. Others make the mistake of only highlighting these men's weaknesses. Somewhere in the middle, though, is what God intended, and if our heart is right, we can learn all we need to know about healthy, rewarding Christian living from these incredible men of the Lord. Men of the Bible Contents
Abraham – Faith and Obedience
Moses – God's Voice
Naaman – God's Methods
Nehemiah – Uncompromising Vision
Herod and John the Baptist – Dealing with Sin
The Blind Man and Joseph of Arimathaea – Boldness
The Penitent Thief – It's Not Too Late

Chapter 7

The Penitent Thief

It’s Not Too Late

It should give us all a great deal of hope and comfort that Jesus saved such a man as the penitent thief just before He went back to heaven. Everyone who is not a Christian ought to be interested in this case in order to learn how he was converted. Anyone who does not believe in sudden conversions ought to look into it. If conversions are gradual, if it takes six months, six weeks, or six days to convert someone, then this thief had no chance. If someone who has lived a good, consistent life cannot be converted suddenly, how much less chance for the thief. In the twenty-third chapter of Luke, we see how the Lord dealt with him:

And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou art the Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:39-43)

He was a thief, and the worst kind of a thief, or they would not have punished him by crucifixion. Jesus not only saved him, but He took him with Him into paradise.

Christ hung on the cross between the two thieves. The scribes and Pharisees shook their heads and jeered at Him. His disciples had fled. Only His mother and one or two other women remained in sight to cheer Him with their presence among all the crowd of enemies. Hear those spiteful Pharisees mocking among themselves: He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God (Luke 23:35). The account also says that the two thieves reproached him with the same (Matthew 27:44).

Reviling

The first thing we read of this man is that he was a reviler of Christ. You would think that he would be doing something else at such a time as that; but hanging there in the midst of torture, certain to be dead in a few hours, instead of confessing his sins and preparing to meet that God whose law he had broken all his life, he is mistreating God’s only Son. Surely, he cannot sink any lower, until he sinks into hell!

Under Conviction

The next time we hear of this thief, he appears to be under conviction: And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou art the Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing amiss (Luke 23:39-41).

What do you suppose made such a great change in this man in these few hours? Jesus had not preached a sermon and had given him no exhortation. The darkness had not yet come on. The earth had not opened her mouth. The business of death was going on undisturbed. The crowd was still there, mocking and hissing and shaking their heads. Yet this man, who in the morning was denouncing Christ, confessed his sins and rebuked the other thief. We indeed justly. No miracle had been performed before his eyes. No angel from heaven had come to place a glittering crown upon Jesus’ head in place of the bloody crown of thorns.

What caused such a change in him? I will tell you what I think it was. I think it was the Savior’s prayer: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). I can almost hear the thief talking to himself in this way:

“What a strange kind of man this must be. He claims to be king of the Jews, and the writing over His cross says the same. But what sort of a throne is this? He says He is the Son of God. Why doesn’t God send down His angels and destroy all these people who are torturing His Son to death? If He has all power now, as He used to have when He worked those miracles they talk about, why doesn’t He bring out His vengeance and sweep all these wretches into destruction? I would do it in a minute if I had the power. I wouldn’t spare any of them. I would open the earth and swallow them up. But this man prays to God to forgive them. Strange, strange! He must be different from us. I am sorry I said one word against Him when they first hung us up here.

“What a difference there is between Him and me. Here we are, hanging on two crosses, side by side; but all the rest of our lives we have been far enough apart. I have been robbing and murdering, and He has been feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and raising the dead. Now these people are denouncing us both. I am beginning to believe He must be the Son of God, for surely no man could forgive his enemies like that.”

Yes, that prayer of Christ’s did what the scourge could not do. This man had gone through his trial, had been beaten, and had been nailed to the cross; but his heart had not been subdued. He had raised no cry to God, and he was not sorry for his sins; yet when he heard the Savior praying for His murderers – that broke his heart.

It flashed into this thief’s soul that Jesus was the Son of God, and that moment he rebuked his companion, saying, Dost thou not fear God? The fear of God fell upon him. A man has little hope of being saved until the fear of God comes upon him. Solomon says, The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).

We read in Acts that great fear fell upon the people; that was the fear of the Lord. That fear was the first sign that conviction had entered the soul of the thief. Dost thou not fear God? That was the first sign we have of life springing up.

Confession

Next, he confessed his sins: We indeed justly. He took his place among sinners, not trying to justify himself. A person may be very sorry for his sins, but if he doesn’t confess them, he has no promise of being forgiven. Cain felt badly enough over his sins, but he did not confess them (Genesis 4). Saul was greatly tormented in mind, but he went to the witch of Endor instead of to the Lord (1 Samuel 28). Judas felt so bad over the betrayal of his Master that he went out and hanged himself, but he did not confess to God (Matthew 27:3-5). True, he went and confessed to the priests, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood, but it was of no use to conf...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Abraham
• Moses
• Naaman
• Nehemiah
• Herod and John the Baptist
• The Blind Man and Joseph of Arimathaea
• The Penitent Thief
• Dwight L. Moody – A Brief Biography