Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” [Luke 23:42-44 (NLT)]
Last Monday, I referenced an article in Christianity Today by theology teacher Jared Dodson whose students wanted to know “when bad people will get what they deserve.” Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that bad people will get what they deserve while on this side of the grass. Nevertheless, if they don’t repent and follow Jesus, those people eventually will get their comeuppance. Scripture makes it clear that those who don’t know God and follow the gospel of Jesus “will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.” [2 Thes 1:8-9]
What, however, of those who were evil most of their lives but repent and proclaim Jesus shortly before death? What does Scripture say about that? Jesus told us that “Anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life.… I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” [John 3:36,5:24] However, He never said they had to come to believe by a certain point in their lives. Two thieves hung on crosses beside Jesus that dark Friday and both were sinners. One thief died in sin but, because the other thief reached out to Jesus and claimed the mercy of Christ with his last few breaths, he died to sin! Both men were equally guilty, but one thief’s sins were erased. Once he professed his belief in Jesus, that thief didn’t have time to do anything good for anyone! Nevertheless, he ended up with the Lord in paradise while the other thief ended up in hell.
On the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter announced that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” [Acts 2:21] He never said anything about undergoing divine punishment for one’s sins before receiving eternal life! When their jailer asked Paul and Silas what he had to do to be saved, their answer simply was, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” [Acts 16:31] Paul never said the jailer had to somehow work off his previous sins before that salvation went into effect!
If people like Hitler, Pol Pot, John Wayne Gacy, Stalin, Jeffrey Dahmer, Pablo Escobar, or Jeffrey Epstein truly repented of their sins and became true believers in the saving grace of Jesus before their deaths, rather than suffer in hell for eternity, it appears that their horrific sins would have been forgiven. Even if those evil men didn’t repent and accept Jesus until the very end of their lives, they would have escaped eternal punishment for their sins in the same way every other believer escapes it. To our mortal minds, that doesn’t seem fair but let’s not begrudge God His mercy and forgiveness. We all are sinners and every one of us deserves hellfire and brimstone but, because we’re followers of Jesus, that won’t happen. Because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, we get God’s mercy instead of His punishment.
We are saved by grace through faith and not works. Nevertheless, even though believers escape eternal condemnation, we all will give the Lord an account of ourselves as His workers. As for those who think they can sin all they want and then, at the last minute, profess belief to escape condemnation, Jesus will not be fooled by empty words; He knows what’s in our hearts! Puritan theologian Thomas Watson warned, “Take heed of abusing this mercy of God….To sin because mercy abounds is the devil’s logic; he that sins because of God’s mercy, shall have judgment without mercy.” A final caution—one should never wait until the eleventh hour to repent; death may arrive at 10:30!
God in his infinite mercy has devised a way by which justice can be satisfied, and yet mercy can be triumphant. Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, took upon himself the form of man, and offered unto Divine Justice that which was accepted as an equivalent for the punishment due to all his people. [Charles Spurgeon]
In Luke 7:36-50, we find a “sinful” woman anointing Jesus with her tears and perfumed oil. Taking place in Galilee early in Jesus’ ministry, this occurs at the home of Simon the Pharisee. During a banquet at the Pharisee’s home, a “sinful” woman carrying an alabaster jar entered. Remorseful for her sins, the uninvited guest fell at Jesus’ feet, washed them with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and kissed His feet while anointing them with perfume from her jar.
Flawed people that we are, we want to play down our culpability before God by minimizing sin and thinking of some sins as less significant than others. We’d like to think if we avoid the “big ten” Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai that we’re good and righteous people. God didn’t stop telling us how to behave with those two tablets! What about the hundreds of commands we find in the New Testament? Can we truthfully say we do nothing “out of selfish ambition or conceit” while we do everything “without grumbling and arguing?” [Phil 2:3,14] Are we ever conceited, boastful, or envious? [Gal 5:26] Do we show favoritism or partiality? [James 2:3-4] How are we doing in the loving our enemies and praying for them, forgiveness, and self-denial departments? [Matt 5:22,44;16:24] Are we truly free of “malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander”? [1 Pet 2:1] Those sins are no less an affront to God than worshipping an idol or murdering a spouse. Every sin we commit damages our relationship with God.
It’s been nearly 50 years, but I’ll never forget that day when, out of anger and fear, I vowed, “I’ll never forgive him!” My husband and I had taken our three children shopping for school clothes. While I was busy with the eldest, my husband said he’d take the other two for a walk through the mall. Unknown to me, the three-year-old had convinced his father that he’d stay at the store, sit quietly in a little crawl-through hole by the store’s entrance, and wait for his dad’s return. Unfortunately, my husband never told me of that decision. Having the attention span of a gnat, the little guy quickly grew bored watching shoppers. After wandering into the store to hide in the clothes racks, he looked for his brother and me. Not seeing us (since we were in a changing room), the independent guy decided we’d left without him and calmly went looking for us in the mall parking lot. While I was paying for our purchases, my husband returned with only one child in tow. Almost simultaneously, with panic in our voices, we asked one another, “Where’s Scooter?” My imagination went wild with all the horrible things that could have happened to the youngster. In an instant, I decided I’d never forgive my husband for his carelessness and that our marriage would be over!
The hatred between Jews and Samaritans began in 930 BC when Solomon’s son Rehoboam was king and the united kingdom of Israel divided. Ten tribes rebelled and made Jeroboam king of the northern kingdom of Israel whose capital was Samaria. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin along with the Levitical priesthood remained in the southern kingdom of Judah. Fearing a change of alliance if people returned to Jerusalem to worship, Jeroboam set up his own worship centers in the north.
When writing about forgiveness these last few days, I wondered why we find it so difficult to forgive. Perhaps it’s because, in our troubled hearts, we want to even the score before doing so. Wanting to retaliate in some way, bitterness and resentment grow and eat at us until we can extract our pound of flesh.
Devotions of the Heart 