"But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence?"
Luke 23:40 (NIV)
Three men are dying!
One of them is our Lord Jesus - fully man and fully God, dying in our place, for our sins, dying under the curse of the Law, at the hands of Gentiles for crimes He did not commit. The other two men are dying for their own sins, dying under the curse of the law, at the hands of Gentiles for their own crimes. One of those two looked at our Lord and believed in Him and was saved. Not saved from physical death - NO - but saved in the sense that our Lord told that he would be in paradise after physical death.
Both men were criminals, but one was saved. One went to Paradise and one went to Hades. Both men had the same opportunity, both of them had the same honour, and yet only one of them had the faith to trust in the Lord and be saved.
FEAR made the difference! The one who was saved asked the other, “Don’t you FEAR God?” The one who was saved knew he was dying and he knew something else – he knew that he was going to face God after death and he was afraid. This FEAR moved him to an act of faith. This FEAR is the FEAR that our Lord spoke to us about in Matthew 10:28: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Be afraid. Be very afraid and then you will have the faith to flee to Christ and be saved. Be bold, and strong in your own ability to stand before God, and you will scorn Christ and die in hell.
In 1748, a man named John Newton experienced this FEAR of the Lord, and he was saved. He penned the hymn "Amazing Grace" and the second stanza testifies to the power of FEAR: “’Twas grace that taught my heart to FEAR, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed.”
Oh friend do you remember the hour you first believed?
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