His Final Moments

While studying for messages for the month of April I'm catching onto a theme.  Here goes my attempt to explain what I'm seeing.

In Jesus' final moments of life on the cross He makes a few statements that are more than well known...

"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."  Luke 23:34

"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."  Luke 23:43 

Either one of those ring a bell?  Well they are to say the least, among the greatest final words of any person (maybe not final words...but definitely among the group of what He spoke last).
There is a common theme that goes with these two statements that I had never seen. 

Jesus sees corruption through my unbelief not my actions

(large print for emphasis!)

Corruption of action is a given., we must all realize that we are sinners (Romans 3:10, 23).    Across the board, the whole world is hopeless unless God has steps in. Realizing the need for forgiveness, we approach Jesus with relevance to our life.  Now we can move on...

Jesus sought forgiveness for those who put Him on the cross because they had no comprehension of who He was or what was going on.  If they could believe they would have hope!  Then you see the two criminals on either side of Jesus and realize that though both were admittedly guilty of crimes, it is the unbelief of the mocker that sentenced him to eternal death...it was the belief of the pleading criminal that gave him a ticket to paradise!

One more example from Scripture...

"To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure.  In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted."  Titus 1:15

Unbelief = Corruption in the eyes of Jesus.  Unbelief will distort what is in our minds and consciences.  Belief that Jesus is who He says and did what He claims...purifies all.

In His final moments, Jesus reinforced what those in His day and throughout all history have struggles to grasp...Salvation "is by grace...through faith...not from yourselves."