3. God’s Point of View

d. God is Righteous, Just and Holy, and requires the propitiation for sins

• • God cannot do something against His nature. He cannot save us without the punishment of sin, which is death. There is no way out to this, other than the solution that God himself must come. The death on the cross is a theological conundrum. The death of the cross is the zenith of the plan of salvation. There is no plan B; the cross is the only way to save some men from eternal condemnation and Christ is the Only Person who can save us.

• • In Luke 23, there were two other thieves on the cross with Jesus. Both faced different destinies. One accepted that Jesus must die, one denied it. One taunted Jesus, but the other understood it clearly. In verses 40-41, one of the thieves chastised the other and proclaimed that Jesus did nothing amiss.

• • By doing so, the thief made two important admissions:
    i) “does thou not fear God” – He admitted that Jesus is God. Jesus is God and He died on our behalf. Jesus is not an ordinary man. This was the very God Himself standing and suffering at the cross next to them.
    ii) He was a sinner guilty and worthy of punishment, but Jesus did nothing wrong and he did not believe that.

• • We must respond in the same manner, that we need Christ. In verse 42, we see the cry of a penitent sinner – the thief asked Jesus to remember him. It is not enough to give an intellectual assent to Christ. There must be a personal confession and repentance of our sins. Which thief represents your heart and position today? Something to think about and act upon.

Conclusion

There is only one way available for sinful man to be saved – one that has eternal consequences, to confess our sins and believe and trust in Christ alone. The difference can be a matter of a split second, just as it was for the two thieves at their dying breath. The decision means a different destiny – eternal life in paradise or eternal death in condemnation. In some sense, we all have a part to play. We are the reason why He died on the cross and we need to repent of our sins and to turn to Christ, embrace Him as our Saviour, and like the thief, at the eleventh hour, received eternal life. The other option is to choose to laugh and rant and face eternal condemnation.

It is our call. All of us have to understand why Jesus must die for there is no other way in which God can save sinful man. Coming to church, doing good works alone cannot save us. That conviction of our sins will forever change the destiny of our lives. We have a duty to respond to it and believe that Jesus is God. If we believe and repent of our sins, when we die, we shall be in paradise with God. May we come to seek Christ today as our only Lord and Saviour before it is too late.

By Rev Jack Sin

Sovereign Hope BPC, Singapore

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