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Joseph Charles Philpot J.C. Philpot Bevindelijke geschriften & prediking
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365 Days with Philpot

March 27

De gelovige moordenaar

Vandaag

2 min. read

Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.
Luke 23:43

I wish now to go on to the answer that the Lord Jesus gave to the dying thief. And oh, what an answer that was! How encouraging it is for poor souls! Can you, as you search the Holy Scriptures, find one single instance of a soul that cried sincerely, honestly and earnestly to the Lord Jesus Christ when He was upon earth, while He was deaf to that cry? It is true that the Lord referred some who came to Him and said, “What must I do?” to the law. But we find not one instance of a poor, guilty wretch who came to His footstool and cried and sighed for mercy, and from whom He turned away.

What was the answer? “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” In the twinkling of an eye came the word: “Verily” — “Amen, I say unto thee, thou malefactor, thou who art arraigned for a thousand crimes, thou who fearest the wrath of God, thou who hast deserved thy condemnation — I say unto thee.” Oh, those words must have dropped like honey into the poor sinner’s heart! What peace and joy must have flowed into his soul as the words fell from the Redeemer’s lips! “Verily I say unto thee.”

And immediately faith was raised up in his soul without a doubt. He received the promise, experienced its glory and died enjoying it. Blessed man! Blessed faith! But above all: blessed Redeemer, Who gave the faith and saved the man!

Reading: Isaiah 51:1-11

To the reader…

You who fear that the Lord will be deaf to your cry, search the whole of Scripture for one poor, guilty wretch who cried sincerely and earnestly to Him when He was upon earth, and from whom He turned away. You will not find him. Nor did the dying thief find it so. He, who was arraigned for his crimes and feared the wrath of God, received in one moment the answer: “Verily I say unto thee.”

How those words must have dropped like honey into his heart! Faith was raised up in him without a doubt; he received the promise and died enjoying it. Let this give you courage to keep crying at His footstool. You need not make yourself better than you are; come as a guilty one who needs mercy. Blessed is the faith that may rest so, but above all blessed is the Redeemer, Who gives the faith and saves the sinner.

With warm regards,
The compilers of jcphilpot.nl