The penitent thief confessed his sin, and that he deserved death.  Then, next, he had faith in the almighty power of Christ.  A wonderful faith.  It has no parallel in the Bible.  There hangs the cursed malefactor with Jesus of Nazareth, and he dares speak, and say:  “I am dying here, under the just curse of my sins, but I believe Thou canst take me into Thy heart, and remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom.”  Oh, that we might learn to believe in the almighty power of Christ!  That man believed that Christ was a King, and had a Kingdom, and that He would take him up in His arms, and in His heart, and remember him when He came into His Kingdom.  He believed that, and believing that, he died.  Brother, you and I need to take time to come to a much larger and deeper faith in the power of Christ, that the almighty Christ will indeed take us in His arms and carry us through this death life, revealing the power of His death in us.  I cannot live it without personal contact with Christ every hour of the day.  Christ must do it; Christ can do it.  Come therefore and say:  “Is He not the Almighty One; did He not come from the throne of God; did He not prove His omnipotence, and did the Father not prove it when He rose from the dead?” Would you be afraid, now that Christ is on the throne, of doing what the malefactor did when Christ was upon the cross, and entrusting yourself to Him to live as one dead with Him?  Christ will carry you through the very process He went through; will make His death work in you every day of your life.

I note one thing more in the penitent thief—­his prayer.  There was his conviction of sin, and his faith, but there was, further, the utterance of his faith in prayer.  He turned to Jesus.  Remember that the whole world, with perhaps the exception of Mary and the women, was turned against Christ that day.  Of the whole world of men as far as I know, there was but that one praying to Christ.  Do not wait to see what others do; if you wait for that,—­alas!  I desire to say it in love and tenderness,—­you will not find much company in the Church of Christ.  Pray incessantly:  “Lord Christ, let the power of Thy death come into me.”  For God’s sake, pray the prayer.  If you want to live the life of Heaven, there must be death to sin in the power of Jesus.  There must be personal entrustment of the soul into His death to sin, personal acceptance of Jesus to do the mighty work.

We have seen what the preparation is on the part of this man; let us look, secondly, at how Christ met him.  He met him, you know, with that wonderful promise, with its three wonderful parts:  “To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”  A promise of fellowship with Christ,—­“Thou shalt be with me;” a promise of rest in eternity, in the Paradise from which sin had cast man out,—­“With me in Paradise;” a promise of immediate blessing,—­“To-day shalt thou be with Me.”  With that three-fold blessing Jesus comes to you and me, and He says: