THE WORD for the WEEK Title: For by Grace 06/22/2020 “And people stood beholding. The rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen one…And one of the robbers which were hanged railed on Him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? …but this man hath done nothing amiss…And Jesus said, Today, thou shalt thou be with me in Paradise” Luke 23:35-43 Even today, the wickedness in the hearts of men is still quite prevalent. Jesus came into this world to offer Salvation and share the Love of God. In hardness of heart and evil intent, rulers and men condemned HIM (especially the chief priests) and set Jesus up for crucifixion. When men were doing their worst God did His best. When men thought they were getting rid of Jesus, God was giving them a gift; He is the one and only way to live among the living and have Eternal Life. The crucifixion all along was a plan of foreknowledge and an appointment made from heaven by God. What the devil meant for evil, God turned it into good. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. During these times we must stop and thank God for his Grace, back then and during these troublesome times today. In this Chapter of the Gospel According to Luke, his sole purpose was to show Jesus as the sympathetic Christ sent to have compassion and care for the needy; to display God’s love and God’s Grace. In Luke 23, Dr Luke reports that while Jesus was hanging from the cross, he was reaching out to other sinners. There were two robbers that were on both sides of Jesus, also being crucified on Golgotha’s hill. Our Lord was crucified at 9 AM and remained on the cross until after 3 pm. The bible tells us Jesus spoke 7 times and prayed to God. These two robbers could hear him and could see how he graciously gave up his life for “sin” of this world. One robber had a closed heart, derided Jesus and mocked him; the other in that moment had a changed heart. He took on new possibilities, stepped out on faith, trusting and believing in the Word of God, Jesus the Savior had been saying while dying on a cross! Can’t you imagine seeing him: His eyes opening, taking in more strength and courage. This robber was saved by Faith, in a twinkling of a second, for he died and went to paradise with Jesus. You too can go deeper with Christ in this walk of Salvation! Come Come… “For by grace are we saved through faith; and that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, least any should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Jesus unto good works which God before ordained that we should walk in them” Ephesians 2:8-10
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