six points should always be remembered in connection with the penitent thief. His time was very short for giving proof of his conversion. But it was time well- used. Few dying people have ever left behind them such good evidences as were left by this man.
Let us beware of a repentance without evidences. Thousands, it may be feared, are every year going out of the world with a lie in their right hand. They fancy they will be saved because the thief was saved in the hour of death. They forget that if they would be saved as he was, they must repent as he repented. The shorter a man*s time is, the better must be the use he makes of it. The nearer he is to death, when he first begins to think, the clearer must be the evidence he leaves behind. Nothing, it may safely be laid down as a general rule, nothing is so thoroughly unsatisfactory as a death-bed repentance.
We see, thirdly, in this history, the amazing poioer and willingness of Christ to save sinners. It is written that He is " able to save to the uttermost." (Heb. vii. 25.) If we search the Bible through, from Genesis to Kev- elation, we shall never find a more striking proof of Christ's power and mercy than the salvation of the penitent thief.
The time when the thief was saved was the hour of our Lord's greatest weakness. He was hanging in agony on the cross. Yet even then He heard and granted a sinner's petition, and opened to him the gate of life. Surely this was " power ! ''
The man whom our Lord saved was a wicked sinner at the point of death, with nothing in his past life to
LUKE, CHAP. XXIII. VER. 39t— 43. 473
reoommend him, and nothing notable in his present posi- tion but a humble prayer. Yet even he was plucked like a brand from the burning. Surely this was "mercy."
Do we want proof that salvation is of grace and not of works ? We have it in the case before us. The dying thief was nailed hand and foot to the cross. He could do literally nothing for his own soul. Yet even he through Christ's infinite grace was saved. No one ever received such a strong assurance of his own forgiveness as this man.
Do we want proof that sacraments and ordinances are not absolutely needful to salvation, and that men may be saved without them when they cannot be had? We have it in the case before us. The dying thief was never baptized, belonged to no visible church, and never re- ceived the Lord's supper. But he repented and believed, and therefore he was saved.
Let these things sink down into our hearts. Christ never changes. The way of salvation is always one and the same. He lives who saved the penitent thief. There is hope for the vilest sinner, if he will only repent and believe.
We see, lastly, in the history before us, how near a dying believer is to rest and ghi'y. We read that our Lord said to the malefactor in reply to his prayer, ** To- day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
That word " to-day " contains a body of divinity. It tells us that the very moment a believer dies, his soul is in happiness and in safe keeping. His full redemption is not yet come. His perfect bliss wiU not begin before the resurrection morning. ' But there is no mysterious delay.