On Monday, January 11, PULSE NIGERIA, a popular online news platform reported that Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram (a jihadist terrorist group based in northeastern Nigeria) was rumored to be critically ill, and that an Anglican reverend in Borno state, Rev. Desmond Yuana was calling for prayers for him to stay alive.

The report goes on to say that in December 2020, a captured Boko Haram fighter, a teenager named Mohammed Adam revealed that Shekau had lost the use of his legs and was crippled (very possibly during a military air bombardment on their insurgents’ camp in Tumbuktu, Sambisa forest), and his health was deteriorating.

The reverend (pictured below on the right), in one of his sermons the week prior (according to PULSE NIGERIA) was urging Christians and Muslims to pray for Shekau because he believes that Shekau, the man responsible for the deaths of more than 50,000 people and the displacement of millions from their home, was ready to seek forgiveness.

The thief on the cross — “Pastor says Shekau is very ill, and wants prayers from Nigerians.”

I must confess that my reaction to this news was far from what one would expect from a pastor. I was actually shocked at how sinfully visceral my initially response was. I felt elation, not at the news that Shekau might be ready to seek forgiveness, but at the news that he might be crippled and his health deteriorating. …And also, I wanted to punch pastor Desmond for daring to suggest that I pray for that murderer.

I should probably explain myself.

After watching countless violent and bloody videos of the carnage Boko Haram has inflicted on entire villages, men, women, and children, I was NOT in a forgiving mood and I struggled to find space in my heart to even mention his name in prayer.

Yet, within moments of my sinful glee at his rumored demise, I experienced a deep conviction from the Holy Spirit that were it not for the grace of God working in my life, I too would be spiritually dead in my sin and destined for an eternity in hell. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t shake off the Biblical FACT that it’s for men like Shekau that Christ Himself died a bloody death on the cross. I repented of my attitude and prayed for Shekau’s salvation.

HOW ABOUT YOU?

If each of us were being honest, we too could probably think of a few people (or person) in our lives who have wounded us, lied about us, or stole something precious from us. I’m talking about people, whom, if we heard any news of their illness or demise, it would barely put a dent in our day. Yet, while we may withhold compassion from such people, we find in the scriptures that when the worst of humanity humbles themselves before God, they find mercy, grace, and forgiveness at the feet of Jesus Christ.

Nowhere else in the scriptures is this more clearly seen than on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion and His interaction with the two criminals crucified on either side of Him.

That account is in Luke 23:39-43. For some background, Jesus has already been arrested and tried. He’s been beaten, bloodied, and badly bruised. He has been and is being insulted, spit on, and laughed at by passersbys (many of whom by the way were praising Him on the streets the Sunday prior when He entered Jerusalem on a donkey).

By the time we get to verse thirty nine of Luke 23, it is about 12noon. Jesus has been on the cross since dawn, probably earlier, and in about 3 hours at 3pm, He’s going to die. But around noon, the following conversation takes place between Him and the two criminals crucified on either side of Him.

Luke 23:39-43, “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Before we dig into this passage, let me share with you the central thought and big idea that flows from this passage:

HEAVEN IS OPEN TO THE WORST OF US - YOU SIMPLY NEED TO PUT YOUR FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.

I think most Christians would agree with that statement, but where we struggle is when we start to attach names and faces to the “worst of us”, and we begin to list out the crimes and offenses those names and faces have committed against us. That is when the above statement becomes hard to swallow.

The truth, however, is that your ability to extend forgiveness or withhold forgiveness from those who have hurt you will reveal whether you are more like the criminal on the right side of Jesus on the cross, or the criminal on the wrong side of Jesus at the cross.

From Jesus’ interactions with these men, we’ll learn three confessions you must make in order to be truly saved and to have heaven open eternally to you.

CONFESSION #1: YOU MUST FEAR GOD

Luke 23:39, “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,”

When the Bible speaks of fearing God, it is not the same thing as being afraid of God. Rather, to fear God is to have a deep reverence for God and to be in awe of God.

The closest thing I can compare it to is the awe one might experience if you stood on the shores of the beaches of Nazaré, Portugal and watched waves the size of 5-storey buildings crashing one after the other. Those waves in Portugal are some of the biggest in the world and even an image of waves instill in you a sense of awe and fear. You can’t help but have a healthy sense of respect and even reverence for its power and the havoc it could wreak were it to explode beyond its shores.

It’s with a similar sense of reverence, respect, and awe that one is to fear God. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:28-29, “…let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ’God is a consuming fire.”

When that 2nd criminal on the cross asks the first one, “Don’t you fear God?”, he’s acknowledging, first, that there IS a God! Second, he’s acknowledging that this God actively watches humanity and rules over all of creation. Perhaps, more importantly, this man is acknowledging the reality that in a few hours when he dies, He is going to stand before that same God to give an account of His life.

The other criminal, however, had no fear of God, even though in a few hours, he too would come face to face with the God who is a “consuming fire” to give an account for His life!

One man’s fear of God would shortly result in eternal peace in heaven with God.
The other man’s lack of fear of God would shortly result in an eternity in hell.
That’s why Proverbs 1:7 declares that, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”

So, the question for us here is, do you live your life in fear of God? In everything you do and say, do you live with a reverent fear that you will someday give an account to God for every word, every thought, and every action you ever took?

Jesus’ interaction with these two criminals is a reminder to us that there is no sin in our lives so great that the cross of Jesus Christ isn’t more powerful than. Heaven is open to even the worst of us, but access to it can only start when we put our faith in Jesus.

The 2nd confession one must make in order to be truly saved and to have heaven open eternally to you is....

CONFESSION #2: ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR SIN

In response to the 1st criminal’s insult at Jesus, verse 40 says, “But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Let’s do a quick profile on who these men were. The scriptures don’t tell us what their crimes were, simply that they were criminals. The Gospel of Matthew refers to them as, “robbers”, one version says they were, “rebels”. No matter which gospel account you read, the one truth that eventually becomes clear is that they were being crucified not just for being criminals, but violent criminals. It is no stretch of the imagination to say that these men ended up on the cross because they’ve killed people, possibly while robbing them or breaking into a place they shouldn’t have been in.

The thief on the cross - the thief who missed heaven — “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.”

So make no mistake about, these two criminals on the cross are BAD GUYS (possibly no different than Abubakar Shekau). In fact, the 2nd criminal admits as much. In verse 41, he admits that their punishment of death by crucifixion fits the crime they committed, “We’re getting what our deeds deserve.”

The other criminal, however, has no such conviction. He isn’t looking for forgiveness nor is he admitting his sinfulness. If anything, he’s just looking for a way to escape the punishment he’s under, which is why he’s mocking Jesus saying, “If you’re the savior of the world, get us and yourself off this cross!” Hardened criminals like him only respond to strength and authority, all of which Jesus seemingly lacked. This thief missed heaven because Jesus didn’t fit his expectations of what a Savior/Messiah does, hence he had no need to confess his sin or repent before a dying one.

WE DO THIS TOO

Concerning the acknowledgment of our sin, I’ve observed in my pastoral experience a game we play as Christians where we compare our sins to one another to reassure ourselves of how well we’re doing in our Christian life. We’ll find the worst person in our social circle, or a popular figure who’s done something immoral, and go, “Well, my life is not as bad as that person, so I must be doing okay!”

But what we forget is that these sinful peers we’re comparing ourselves to are not the standard of holiness God has called us to live up to. JESUS’ HOLINESS IS OUR STANDARD!

Furthermore, acknowledging our sin isn’t simply about confessing the one or two things we’ve done in recent weeks. Rather, it is admitting to God that we have a sinful nature, a natural inclination to sin because we were born in sin. When faced with the option to choose God’s will or our own, we prefer to follow our own leading all the time! It’s why Paul explains in Romans 7:25 that we are slaves to our sins.

As depressing as that may be to admit to ourselves and to God, it is one of the first steps in true repentance that leads to salvation and eternal life. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Ready for it? GOD IS DEEPLY ATTRACTED TO OUR BROKENNESS AND REPENTANCE.

In Isaiah 66:2 God says, “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” Earlier in the same book, Isaiah 57:15 (NLT) God says, “The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.”

Now, if you have already placed your faith in Jesus Christ, it’s important that you understand that the penalty of your sin has already been paid for through the death of Jesus on the cross and you are eternally secure in your relationship with Christ. However, as a Christian, repetitive sin in your life can still disrupt your intimacy with God and cloud your ability to hear Him clearly. So, for the believer, the goal then is to live what I call a confessional lifestyle.

The idea is to start each morning and wrap up each evening by laying your heart bare before God. Confess any known sin you can think of and ask God to reveal to you any hidden sin in your life in the last 24 hours. 1 John 1:8-9 says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

The same reassurance that the scriptures gives about your sins being wiped away when you confess is the same reassurance Jesus gave the criminal on the cross when he acknowledged his sinfulness.

This brings us to the third and final confession one must make in order to be truly saved and to have heaven open eternally to you is....

CONFESSING #3 – BELIEVE IN JESUS

Verse 41, “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

In Matthew’s Gospel account of this same event, there’s an interesting piece of detail in chapter 27:44. He says, “… the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.” In other words, at the beginning of Jesus’ journey to the cross, BOTH criminals were actually insulting him.

The Thief on the Cross - The Thief who missed heaven.jpg

At some point that morning though, the 2nd criminal began to experience a change of heart about Jesus. We could speculate that it had something to do with the fact that he observed that none of the charges brought against Jesus stuck (Luke 23:4), or the fact that Jesus was actually praying for the forgiveness of the very people who were insulting Him and killing Him (Luke 23:34).

Biblically speaking, however, we know that it was the Holy Spirit who was actually changing the criminal’s heart and drawing Him to God. John 6:44 says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” Make no mistake about it, from eternity past and in His amazing grace, God had made an appointment with this criminal to meet with Jesus on the cross. In fact, the prophet Isaiah 53:12 had prophesied 700 years earlier that Jesus would be crucified among thieves!

Now think about this criminal’s request to Jesus for a second. In order to make such a request, there are three important beliefs he had to have been convinced of.

One, he had to have believed that Jesus had a kingdom and had the power and authority over that kingdom to grant Him access into it.
Two, he had to have believed that Jesus was powerful enough to defeat death, rise up again and guide him through the valley of the shadow of death to paradise.
And three, he needed to have believed that by putting all his faith in Jesus, that Christ would save him from the life of sin he had lived and present him faultless and sinless before God.

It’s in response to this criminal’s faith-filled request/belief that Jesus reassures him; “THIS VERY DAY! TODAY! You will be with me in paradise!”

Talk about a last minute save! Here is a man whose life has been marked by sin, a man who seemingly has no charitable efforts in his background to show for, a man who arguably represents the worst of humanity - yet, because he put his faith in Jesus Christ, would now have eternal access to heaven!

I said it earlier and I’ll repeat it here at OUR conclusion: There is no sin in your life so great that the cross of Jesus Christ isn’t more powerful than.

Heaven is open to even the worst of us, but access to it can only start when you put your faith in Jesus, and that act of faith requires three important confessions.

Do you live your life in fear of the God who is a “consuming” fire knowing that someday you will give an account for every thought you ever entertained, every word you every spoke and every action you ever took?
Have you acknowledged that you are a sinner, and confessed your sin to God? Is there any part of your life you’re still trying to keep hidden from God? Psalm 139:4, the Psalmist says, “Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.”
Have you actually placed all your hope and faith in Jesus Christ? Romans 10:9 says, “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

If your faith in Jesus hasn’t felt real, I invite you to make it so today by praying through these three confessions. Jesus reassures you that He will hear your prayers, and someday catch up with you (in person) in paradise!