The Thief on the Cross

Jesu, juva

THE THIEF

The Man Who Destroyed Our Religious Systems

The thief on the cross wouldn’t make it into most churches today.

By every measure we use to determine if someone is “really saved,” he’d fail.

WHAT HE DIDN’T HAVE

• He never experienced baptism.
• He never experienced communion.
• He was never confirmed.
• He never spoke in tongues.
• He couldn’t even fold his hands or bend his knees to pray.
• He didn’t say the sinner’s prayer.
• He never went to church.
• He never read the Bible.
• He never gave to the poor.
• He never served in ministry.
• He never went on a mission trip.
• He never attended a Bible study.
• He never joined a small group.
• He had no opportunity to live a changed life and produce fruit.
• He had no time to make restitution for his crimes.
• He couldn’t make things right with those he’d wronged.

By our standards, he had nothing.

WHAT JESUS SAID

“Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Not “maybe.”

Not “hopefully.”

Not “if you had more time to prove yourself.”

Today. Paradise. Done.

WHAT HE DID

• He recognized who Jesus was.
• He acknowledged his own sin.
• He asked Jesus to remember him.

That’s it.

No ceremony. No ritual. No works. No time to clean up his life. No opportunity to prove his sincerity through actions.

Just faith. Simple, desperate faith in Jesus.

And Jesus said it was enough.

WHAT THIS MEANS

If the thief on the cross could be saved in his final moments with nothing but faith, what does that say about all the religious requirements we’ve added?

The thief reminds us that salvation is by grace through faith. Period.

• Not grace through faith plus baptism.
• Not grace through faith plus church membership.
• Not grace through faith plus speaking in tongues.
• Not grace through faith plus good works.
• Not grace through faith plus living a changed life.

Just grace through faith.

FRUIT VS. REQUIREMENT

Everything else flows from salvation. Baptism, communion, service, changed life, good works. These are the fruit of salvation, not the requirements for it.

The thief had no opportunity to produce any of that fruit. And yet Jesus saved him completely.

This destroys every religious system that confuses fruit with requirement. That makes works part of the gospel instead of the result of the gospel.

TERRIFYING AND LIBERATING

This is terrifying.

Because it means we can’t add our own requirements to God’s simple plan of salvation. We can’t make it more complicated than Jesus made it. We can’t create hoops for people to jump through that Jesus never required.

This is liberating.

Because it means salvation is available to anyone, at any time, in any condition. Even on a cross. Even in the final moments of life. Even when there’s no time to clean up or prove yourself or do anything religious.

THE WARNING

The thief on the cross is the ultimate proof that salvation is by grace through faith alone.

He destroys every religious system that adds requirements to simple faith in Jesus.

And he’s a warning to every church that’s made the gospel more complicated than Jesus did.

If your theology can’t accommodate the thief on the cross, your theology is wrong.

If your requirements for salvation are stricter than Jesus’s requirements, you’ve added to the gospel.

And the moment you add to the gospel, you’ve corrupted it.

THE GOSPEL

Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Recognize who Jesus is. Acknowledge your sin. Ask Him to save you.

That’s it.

Everything else is response. Everything else is fruit. Everything else flows from that simple act of faith.

The thief proved it on a cross 2,000 years ago.

And his story still destroys our religious additions today.

Don’t add to what Jesus made simple.

Blane

SDG