Why Men Today Cannot Be Saved Like The Thief On The Cross

I once had an individual ask the question that if baptism is essential for the forgiveness of sins, Acts 2:38, then why did Jesus not tell the rich young ruler who came to him inquiring, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18 NKJV) My inquirer asked the wrong question. Why? Because when Jesus was talking to the rich young ruler he was not talking to you and me. He was speaking directly to a specific individual at a specific time in history.

The only lessons in the account of the rich young ruler that could be made applicable to us today are (1) a man may be very religious but lost and (2) the danger of having a hidden idol in one's heart and putting that ahead of God.

Your salvation and mine do not depend on what Jesus did or did not tell a man living under the Law of Moses sometime before Jesus’ death on the cross. Our salvation depends on what Jesus says directly to you and me today under his law, the law of Christ, which began to be preached among men beginning on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. We live under God’s new covenant, not his old.

Jesus, in speaking to his disciples after the resurrection, said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." (Luke 24:46-49 ESV)

Luke tells us they were ordered to not depart from Jerusalem, "He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, 'you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'" (Act 1:4-5 ESV)

In Acts 2 we see the arrival of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4) clothing the apostles with power from on high. Peter's sermon that day and in that chapter fulfilled Jesus' earlier proclamation found in Luke 24 "that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." (Luke 24:46-47 ESV)

This gives us a beginning point of both the time and place of the gospel message God has for us today. Those desiring to be saved the way the thief on the cross was saved (by faith without baptism) go back too far, past Jerusalem, past the beginning, back to the Law of Moses, and in doing so end up with another gospel if their goal is to be saved that way today. The only way to have the Jerusalem gospel is to preach what Peter did that day beginning in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. Since hardly anyone is willing to do that today their gospel is another gospel.

A person who seeks to be saved in a way some individual may have been saved while Christ lived and walked upon the earth is rejecting the Jerusalem gospel--"repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." That individual's gospel does not originate in Jerusalem and is thus not the gospel of Christ.

A big part of the problem that causes people to misunderstand God's plan of salvation for man is a failure to discern what we call the dispensations. There are 3 as follows: (1) the Patriarchal, (2) the Mosaical, and (3) the Christian. I will deal with the last two as they are relevant to this discussion.

Jesus lived and died under the Mosaical law. Jesus was in the fullness of time "born of a woman, born under the Law." (Gal. 4:4 NAS) When we say Jesus lived a sinless life what law did he keep perfectly? The Law of Moses. In what was the second to last utterance Jesus made on the cross he said, "It is finished!" (John 19:30 NAS) What was finished? What was finished was the fulfillment of the law and the Prophets (which included, of course, his sacrifice on the cross as prophesied, his mission on earth to make himself a sacrifice for the sins of man).

Hear Jesus in Matt. 5:17-18, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." (ESV) When Jesus drew his last breath on the cross the Law and the Prophets were fulfilled, either that or Jesus failed in his mission “to fulfill them.”

The law of Christ became binding on men as the old law was fulfilled and passed away. The old Law of Moses was nailed to the cross. (Col. 2:14) The Christian dispensation of time when men came to live under the law of Christ began when Jesus died. "For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives." (Heb 9:16-17 NKJV)

Jesus "has become a surety of a better covenant." (Heb. 7:22 NKJV) "In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one (the Law of Moses--DS) obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." (Heb 8:13 NKJV) "For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law." (Heb 7:12 NKJV)

Many take the thief on the cross as an example for all men regarding salvation (Luke 23:39-43) and say look at him. All he needed was faith. Was Jesus talking to you (or me) or was he talking to the thief on the cross beside him that day approximately 2,000 years ago? Did the thief live under the Christian dispensation or the Mosaical? Had the gospel that was to be preached beginning at Jerusalem yet been preached? Will you disregard the Jerusalem gospel? You will have to if you attempt to be saved as the thief on the cross was.

If Jesus forgave sins in the gospel accounts before his death in a way different from that which sins are forgiven today what has that to do with me? I live under the New Covenant.  So do you.

Speaking to the apostles Jesus said, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." (John 14:26 NAS) Did Jesus lie? Did the Holy Spirit fail to do this with Peter on the day of Pentecost? If you ever wanted to know when Jesus taught baptism for the remission of sins then Acts 2:38 is one of your answers. Peter spoke by the Holy Spirit but the Spirit spoke the words of Jesus.

Speaking to the apostles before his death Jesus said, "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you." (John 16:12-14 NAS)

Today we have the completed revelation that Jesus has made to man. The law Jesus has for you and me has now been fully revealed to us. For us today to go back and say it was not always done this way is foolishness. What is that supposed to prove even if it is true which, by the way, I do not deny? What if the thief on the cross did not have to do what you or I do for salvation? What does that have to do with either you or me?

If we expect to be saved like the thief on the cross that is about the equivalent of giving Jesus a slap across the face. It is saying I don't care about your new covenant. You save me like you saved him. Instead of you obeying Jesus you would have him taking orders from you and obeying you. It does not work that way.

We are bound to live under and obey whatever law is in effect while we live, not when someone else lived. Our job is not to question God but to do as he has told us. No matter what someone else has done or not done in years gone by for salvation you have the gospel of Christ now, the new covenant, the law of Christ. You are bound to it, to believe and obey it, as am I.

I add a footnote here in closing for clarification. The thief on the cross was not saved because he lived under the Law of Moses or kept it in any fashion. He was saved because the Lord extended him grace. In our day the Lord’s grace is extended to us in the gospel. To reject the gospel is to reject God’s grace.  

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Misreading Reality – Jeremiah 44

After Judah and Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians and the people deported, and carried away captive back to Babylon, the remanent remaining defied God and left for Egypt.  The Bible says, “for whatever things were written before were written for our learning” (Rom 15:4 NKJV) and there is certainly a lesson to be learned from the way that remanent misread reality, a lesson to be applied in our time.  Because of their misperception, they experienced catastrophe.

After Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and destroyed the city he carried away captive back to Babylon most of the people who remained alive but left some of the poor people of Judah with a man named Gedaliah to govern over them.  When Jews who had been scattered roundabout heard about Gedaliah being left to govern they returned to Judah (Jer. 40:11-12).  However, a plot was hatched by the king of the Ammonites to have Gedaliah murdered (Jer. 40:14) which took place (Jer. 41:2-3) creating great fear among the Jews fearing that Nebuchadnezzar would seek revenge on them for this killing even though they had nothing to do with it. (Jer. 41:17-18)

Their desire was to flee to Egypt where they thought they would be safe.  They sought Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord what they should do.  This he did the Lord telling them if they would remain in Judah it would go well with them, he would save them, but if they were to go to Egpyt “then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt” (Jer. 42::16 NKJV).

Here is our first lesson.  They did not believe Jeremiah, “You speak falsely!” (Jer. 43:2 NKJV)  We are now some 40 chapters into Jeremiah.  Jeremiah has been prophesying to them for years before Nebuchadnezzar and his prophecies have all been shown to be true by the events that have come to pass.  Is he now to be judged a liar?  They have every assurance he is speaking the truth but they cannot accept it.  Why not?

Well, certainly it is a lack of faith but why?  It is hard to trust one you have been away from so long.  They had been steeped in idolatry which is why Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians, God calling Nebuchadnezzar his servant (Jer. 25:9).  He was God’s instrument to punish.  They had come to trust in their idolatry as we shall see as we continue on.  They had lost trust in God. 

Sin is deceitful (Heb. 3:13).  The prodigal son of Luke 15 thought things were going well until they weren’t.  The Bible says “when he came to himself” (Luke 15:17 NKJV) he repented (verses 18-19).  There is a sense when one gets caught up in sin that he does not think right, he is reading life wrong, judging matters incorrectly, thinking wrong but he/she does not think so.  Sin is deceitful. 

Sometimes one’s life has to be almost destroyed before you can get the person to change their thinking.  The Jewish people finally got out of pagan idolatry once and for all but at what an awful price.  In our own time, we see how the Japanese got out of Emperor worship and the Germans out of Nazism but it took destruction to bring it about.

“The heart is deceitful above all things.” (Jer. 17:9 NKJV)  “There is a way that seems right to a man,  but its end is the way of death.” (Pro. 14:12 NKJV)  Both of these passages assuredly apply to the Jews of that time but they also apply to you and me today.  Our heart tells us this or that but how reliable is it?  We are persuaded we are doing the right thing but are we?  These Jews were sure going to Egypt was the right move.

Upon the arrival of the remanent of the Jews in Egypt and their settlement, Jeremiah continued to speak to them God’s word.  “Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves … in that you provoke Me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt.” (Jer. 44: 7-8 NKJV) 

Hear their reply.

“Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: "As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you!  But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.  For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble.  But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine." (Jer. 44:15-18 NKJV)

Yes, they badly misread reality.  They thought when they were living in sin before God’s punishment that the good life they were enjoying was because of their idolatry.  The reality was it was because of God’s great patience and longsuffering, granting them time and opportunity for repentance but they could not see that.

Herein lies the final lesson to be learned.  It can be difficult at times to read reality.  Things that seem to be one way may be just the opposite.  Job had an awful time with this.  What is going on?  We do not know why things happen.  We may misjudge and misunderstand.  Things can be very deceiving.  One thinks of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16.  The rich man was receiving God’s blessings, an abundant harvest.  Did this reflect God’s approval of his character?  To ask is to answer.  But, at the time it may well have seemed that way.

The poor man in that account, did his state reflect his spiritual status?  Again, to ask is to answer.  It would be easy to misjudge reality looking at this case if one was not privy to the whole story as given in the scriptures.

The lesson to be learned is that we cannot depend on our wisdom and judgment to direct us in life.  Just because it seems right, whatever it is, does not make it right.  God’s word must direct us, believing and obeying is the only answer to life. 

Solomon nailed it in closing out the book of Ecclesiastes when he said:

“The end of the matter; all has been heard.  Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Eccl. 12:13 ESV)

This was the failure of the Jews of Jeremiah’s day, they did not do that.  May it not be our failure in our day.

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