Luke 23: 43.
Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.
This was spoken by Jesus the day He died. Jesus was crucified between two thieves. At first the two were taunting Jesus along with the crowd at the foot of His cross. During the time spent on the cross, one of the thieves, stopped taunting and rebuked the other thief; saying we are paying for our crimes, but this Man is innocent. And then the thief asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His Kingdom. Jesus then uttered the words of our text listed above. This short phrase spoken by Jesus speaks volumes. Jesus forgave this man's sins. The Jews believe that Only God has the power to do that! Jesus went on to say today, you will be with Me in Paradise. Faith and works, have long been a debate in Christian circles. Faith in God must come first, then works become a proof of that faith. Jesus proves that here, clearly the thief was dying on the cross and could not perform any works before he died. This is what is meant by a death bed conversion. John 3: 16, is called the Gospel in a nut shell. If you check this verse, works are not mentioned at all. God gave us free choice, so that we could come to Him on our own. This passage shows that God forgives us unconditionally. Have you made up your mind yet??
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