Instant Forgiveness and Salvation.

One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!" 
But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
"And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong."

And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
And He said to him, "Truly I say to you today; you shall be with Me in Paradise."
Luke 23:39-43

Two Sides.

by

Dwight L. Moody

The cross of Christ divides all mankind. There are only two sides, those for Christ, and those against Him. 

Think of the two thieves; from the side of Christ one went down to death cursing God, and the other went to glory. 

What a contrast! In the morning he is led out, a condemned criminal; in the evening he is saved from his sins. In the morning he is cursing; in the evening he is singing hallelujahs with a choir of angels. In the morning he is condemned by men as not fit to live on earth; in the evening he is reckoned good enough for heaven. In the morning nailed to the cross; in the evening in the Paradise of God, crowned with a crown he should wear through all the ages. In the morning not an eye to pity; in the evening washed and made clean in the blood of the Lamb. In the morning in the society of thieves and outcasts; in the evening Christ is not ashamed to walk arm-in-arm with him down the golden pavements of the eternal city.

And that, my friends, is just what Christ wants to do for you. That is the business on which He came down from heaven. That is why He died. And if He gave such a swift salvation to this poor thief on the cross, surely He will give you the same if, like the penitent thief, you repent, and confess, and trust in the Savior.

The Conflict Within.

These first paragraphs are written by Charles Spurgeon, 1862.

"About five days after I first found Christ, when my joy had been such that I could have danced for very mirth at the thought that Christ was mine, on a sudden I fell into a sad fit of despondency. 

I will tell you why. When I first believed in Christ, I am not sure that I thought the devil was dead, but certainly I had a kind of notion that he was so mortally wounded he could not disturb me. And then I certainly fancied that the corruption of my nature had received its death blow. I felt persuaded that it would never sprout again. I was going to be perfect—I fully calculated upon it—and lo, I found an intruder I had not reckoned upon, an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. 

So I went to that same Primitive Methodist chapel where I first received peace with God, through the simple preaching of the Word. The text happened to be ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’  (Romans 7:24)

‘There,’ I thought ‘that’s a text for me.’ I had got as far as that—in the middle of that very sentiment—when the minister began by saying, ‘Paul was not a believer when he said this.’ Well now I knew I was a believer, and it seemed to me from the context that Paul must have been a believer too. Now I am sure he was."

My husband told me when he first became a Christian he thought he would never sin again - until he grabbed a guy around the throat. He said he realized then that he wasn't perfect and needed God's help. 

Let us not become discouraged by our sinfulness. It keeps us humble and makes us see how much we need God to live a good life. When we fall, pray, pray, pray. The Lord will change us.