What convicted him? I will tell what I think convicted him, though I could not teach it dogmatically but I think it was the Saviour’s prayer. When the Lord Jesus cried out from the very depths of His soul, “Father, forgive them,” conviction flashed into his heart. He must have said, “Why, this is more than a man; He has got a very different spirit from me. I could not ask God to forgive them. I would call down fire from heaven to consume them, and I would call upon God to smite them with blindness as Elijah did, and I would sweep them from this mountain if I had the power.” That’s what he must have thought as he heard the piercing cry go up, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Ah, it was love that broke his heart. In those days, when they crucified a man, they used to scourge him. This poor man had been taken into the court, and tried and condemned by the judge; but that had not broken his heart. He had been led forth and scourged; but that had not broken his heart. And now they had nailed him to the cross; but even that had not broken his heart. There he is reviling his God. But when he saw that loving Saviour, he got a glimpse of His love, and that one glimpse broke his heart.
I heard of a young man once who was very hardhearted. His father loved him as he loved his own life. He had tried everything he could to win that prodigal boy back. When his father was dying, they sent for him; but he refused to come. But after his father’s death, he returned home to attend the funeral; but not a tear fell from his eyes. He followed that father to his resting-place, and never dropped a tear over his grave. But when they got home, and the will was read, they found that father had not forgotten his prodigal boy, but had remembered him kindly in his will; and that proof of the father’s love just broke his heart. And so I think it must have been with the thief when he heard the Saviour crying, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”; it pierced like an arrow down into his heart, and he was convicted.
CONFESSION FOLLOWS CONVICTION.
Well, then, the next point in this man was, he confessed his sin. He says to his brother thief, “We are suffering justly; we deserve it.” I never knew a man saved till he took his stand as a sinner. Cain never confessed his sin. Judas never confessed his sin to God, though he went and confessed it to man.
Now, I want to say that I am not come here to urge you to confess your sins to any man, unless you have done some sin against him and he is stumbling over it; if so, go and confess that certainly. We must not confess our sins to any but God. I have not much sympathy with the class of people that are always running to this man and that man to confess their sins. There is no priest on earth that can forgive sins. I have got a high priest who is “a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” The only man we have a record of in Scripture who confessed his sins to man was Judas, and he went right out and hung himself.
FAITH IN CHRIST.
The next thing about this thief was his faith in Christ Jesus. We talk about the faith of Abraham and Moses; why, this thief had the most remarkable faith of any man on record. He took his stand at the very head of the class, passing by many who had wonderful faith. He heard no sermon, saw no sceptre in Christ’s hand, no crown on His brow, nor witnessed any marvellous works, yet he had wondrous faith. Why, God was twenty-five years toning up Abraham’s faith. God met Moses in the burning bush, and went up into the mountains and talked with him; and Isaiah saw God lifted up on His throne; but not so with this thief. There were many who had met Christ and seen wonderful things. His disciples had heard Him discourse, and had seen Him raise the dead, and yet they had forsaken and left Him. Yet here amidst the darkness and gloom this poor thief had faith in Him; for although the Jews had nailed his hands and feet to the cross, they did not nail his eyes, and he could look at Him. They did not nail his heart to the cross, and it is with the heart man believeth, as we read in Romans, and with his heart he believed. There’s faith for you.
NOT ASHAMED OF CHRIST.
Then the next thing is, he confessed Christ at that dark period. It was the darkest hour of Christ’s pilgrimage down here. We will never see another dark hour like that. The sin of the world was on Him; heaven was closed against Him—locked, bolted, and barred. He was now hanging on the tree bearing our sins; and it is written, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” And even God had to hide His face from Him, for He could not look on sin, and Christ was then bearing the sin of all the world. I believe that’s what Christ meant in the garden of Gethsemane, when He prayed that the cup might pass from Him. Up to that time He saw His Father’s face, and He knew He was blessed of Him, and from time to time a voice came from heaven, “This is my beloved Son.” But now He was taking our place before God as a sinner, and God had to hide His face from Him. Yes, it was breaking the Saviour’s heart; and now, when darkness is coming over creation, and the moon is to be turned into blood, and the sun is about to veil its face because it cannot look upon the terrible scene, and Peter, one of His most conspicuous disciples, had denied Him with a curse, and swore that he never knew Him, and Judas, one of His own disciples, had gone out and sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, and the chief men of the nation were mocking Him, saying, “He saved others, let Him save Himself, if He be the Christ”—amidst all this darkness and gloom, out comes this signal faith of the thief, “Lord, remember me,” He called Him Lord there and then; and he said to the other thief, “This man hath done nothing amiss.” Thank God for that confession. There’s faith and confession for you. If you want to be saved, you must have faith in Christ, and be ready to confess Him before all men.