Open the Bible

Steve Hiller: Welcome to this special edition of Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. Today, we’re going to hear the final chapter in the book and the audiobook *Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross*. But before we do, I want to back up and take a look at what we’ve been focusing on all this week: the story of how the thief ended up on the cross next to Jesus, absolutely hating God.

Colin Smith: Scripture makes it very clear that at the beginning, both of the robbers—there was one on either side of Jesus—both of them were hurling abuse at Jesus. Both of them were pouring out this hatred towards Christ. So, at the beginning of these hours on the cross, the thief who eventually trusted Jesus was about as far from God as it would be possible for a person to be.

Yet something began to happen in the life of that thief, in his soul. There was a moment in time where he began to turn. There was a remarkable change in his whole attitude toward Jesus. We’re not told in the Bible exactly how this came about, but he was right on the very brink of eternity. What is the point in going into eternity with your fist shaking toward Almighty God?

It is as if a stillness came over him, a sense of awe. He would have heard Jesus say, “Father, forgive them,” to those who had nailed Him. I wonder if he thought to himself, “If He’d forgive them, maybe He would forgive me as well.” It seems that he had picked up on Jesus being a king with authority because he said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Whatever the factors were, he came to a place where, instead of pouring out this hatred toward Jesus, he asked Jesus to help him. “Will you remember me when you come into your kingdom?” Jesus gives him this marvelous answer: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

What a relief that must have been to the thief to hear those words. But yet, there was still something that the thief was doing there on the cross. There was a moment of hearing those words, but there was a moment of accepting them and believing that truth. He puts his trust in Jesus, and Jesus gives him that promise and that assurance.

This is how one comes to faith in Christ. This is what it looks like: you believe in the promise of Christ, you come to Him, you ask of Him. He says, “Whoever comes to Me, I will never turn you away.” So you come to Him, you ask of Him, He gives His promise that there is forgiveness, there is grace, and there is mercy. You believe that, and it is yours.

One promise He did not give the thief is that his suffering would be over just because he began this relationship with Jesus. In fact, even more than the pain that he experienced, he was plunged into darkness. We know that after he trusted Jesus, darkness came over the whole land and lasted for hours. He heard this Jesus, whom he had just trusted, say, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

If you put your trust in Jesus, there will still be times when you experience darkness, when you may be asking the question, “Why?” Being a Christian doesn’t mean you’ve got the answer to every question or that you live in sunny light all the time. This guy was in pain, but he trusted Jesus in the pain and in the darkness. That’s what real faith actually does. Today, we take a look at what the thief was ushered into and how he began that eternal relationship with Jesus in heaven. We continue with chapter nine of *Heaven, How I Got Here*, entitled “Safety,” as read by Stephen Baldwin.

Narrator: 5:38 PM. The lifeless body of Jesus was still hanging on the cross beside me. Beyond him, the other victim had exhausted himself, and though still breathing, had become largely silent. Where had Jesus gone? He told me, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” “Today” meant before sundown, and he said, “with me,” so he would be there too.

I believed him, so there was no doubt in my mind that Jesus was in heaven already. He had gone there ahead of me. When Jesus died, he said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” He had no doubt about where he was going. His body remained on the cross until it was taken down and laid in the tomb, but his spirit went immediately into the presence of his Father in heaven. At the moment of his death, Jesus was translated from the agony of suffering in the body to the conscious enjoyment of life in heaven. And he had promised the same to me.

Time seemed to stretch on forever. Then suddenly, there was movement. Someone had come out from the city. The soldiers immediately stood at attention. New instructions were given: kill the criminals, bury the bodies, take down the crosses. So the soldiers turned and walked purposefully toward me, armed with their clubs. One swing to the head with one of those would kill a man, and if there were any interest in relieving my pain, they could have ended my life in an instant.

But that was not what they had in mind. My legs were their target. I screamed out as the first blow slammed into my knees, then the second, and then the third. My body sagged, suspended but no longer supported. Unbearable pain seared through my aching hands. Without the support of my legs, I no longer had the strength to lift my body and to breathe. Only a few minutes longer.

They moved to the victim on the other side of Jesus and broke his legs, too. “Now this one,” said one of the soldiers as they came to Jesus. “He’s already dead.” “Make sure. We don’t want any doubt.” The soldier pulled back with his spear and, with full force, rammed it into the side of Jesus’ body, ripping it open with a huge gash from which his blood spilled out onto the ground. That was the last thing I saw on earth.

I sometimes wondered what the journey of my soul leaving my body would be like—being launched out like a shivering ghost, lost and alone in the unknown vastness of space. The thought was terrifying. But the reality was very different. It felt for me like moving through a tunnel at lightning speed. The release was sweet. After hours of pain, I closed my eyes and was set free.

When the moment came, I knew I was not alone. I was accompanied. I was carried. I was taken up, and I was welcomed by Jesus himself. Death is a dark place, but Jesus had already been through it, and he had made it a safe place for me. And watching now from the other side, I’ve seen millions of people come through safely because of him.

If you want to know more about heaven, you’ll have to wait until you get here yourself. All I can say is that this is a place of greater joy than you have ever tasted. Think of your happiest moment on earth and then multiply that happiness a million times and make it last forever. Heaven is better than you can imagine.

So, that’s my story: *Heaven, How I Got Here*. And I’m telling it so you will get here too. No one gets in automatically. It’s Jesus who gets you here. Heaven is his home. He holds the key; he opens the door. And if you become his, heaven will be yours.

My story proves that getting into heaven depends on Jesus and on Jesus alone. It’s Jesus who gets you in. He opens the door for people who believe his word and trust themselves to him. That’s what I did, and you can do that too. Think about what I did. I confessed to Jesus. I faced the fact that my sins were many and that if death took me to the outer darkness of hell, I was in no position to complain.

Now, you might be thinking, “I’m not as bad as the thief on the cross,” and that may be true. But your need is as great as mine. So don’t push away what I’m saying because you think you are better than me. God does not grade on a curve, and at the end of the day, we are all in the same position. We come up short of his high calling.

Tell him that your sins are many. Tell him that you have been trying to make your own way in life apart from him. Tell him that you’ve been trying to make your own way to heaven apart from him. Tell him you are done with that. Tell him you are ready to follow him, obey him, trust him, love him, and serve him as he gives you strength. Then ask him to save you. That’s what I did. I asked, “Jesus,” I said, “remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

You can have confidence in asking. God’s love for you is so strong that he gave his Son. You can be sure that when you come to Jesus and ask him to forgive you and save you, he will not turn you away—not now, not ever. So ask him to be the Lord and Savior of your life right now. Ask him to forgive your sins, ask him to give you peace with God, and ask him to give you strength by his Spirit to live in a way that is pleasing to him. And when you ask, you must believe.

Asking arises from faith in who Jesus is and in what he promises. Believing in Jesus, you ask him for what he has promised and trust him that it will be yours. I asked on the last day of my life, and Jesus opened the door of heaven for me. Don’t say it’s too late for you, because it’s not. You can believe in Jesus and ask him to save you today.

Please don’t wait until the last day of your life. God is speaking to you now, right now. He is reaching out to you in love and mercy. He is ready to save you. Your asking will be the beginning of a new adventure in trusting in Jesus. It only lasted a few hours for me, but whether it be hours, days, months, years, or decades, trusting Christ will be the new dynamic of your life.

Don’t expect it to be easy. Your faith will be tested, as mine was. You may experience days of great darkness. You may go through times when you feel that God is far from you. You may experience great pain in your body, as I did, or great pain in your soul. But his presence is with you, and the strength he gives will get you through.

My faith was tested from the time I trusted Jesus right up until the end. When the moment of my death drew near, it seemed as if all the worst things I had ever done flashed across my dulling mind. My sins were real, alive, fresh, and present, and they were many. It felt as if I would drown in them, that my sins would overwhelm me and damn me forever.

All I could do was trust the promise of Jesus: “Today you will be in paradise.” He had given his word, and I found hope in believing that his commitment to bring me into heaven would be stronger than everything that would conspire to keep me out. Trusting in Jesus begins with a decision, a commitment, and a prayer. But it’s more than that. Trusting Jesus is a way of life.

Looking back, I see that I wasted my years on earth. I lived for myself. I failed to love God. But that changed when I met Jesus Christ. The King captured my mind. His love and care for me laid hold of my heart. If I had been given a longer life on earth, I would have lived it for him. No question.

That gift was not given to me, but right now it is being given to you. So please cherish every day you have and live in a way that honors your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus gives all of us who trust him a whole new purpose and desire. It’s not so much that you are living for something; you are living for someone—the one who loved you and gave himself for you, the one you are going to share the unending joys of heaven with, the one who one day will welcome you into heaven: Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Steve Hiller: You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the dramatic reading of *Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross*. What a great reminder from the thief today, Colin, that we get to heaven in only one way.

Colin Smith: That’s right, and it’s very clear from his story. He had not lived a life that was pleasing to God, and he’s right at the end of his life. There’s no way that he’s going to get into heaven except through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. But that’s true for me as well. I haven’t lived the life that God calls me to live. None of us have. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

If we present our best efforts on our best day, we’re not going to make the cut. It’s just not there. And so, every person is cast back upon a Savior. This is why Jesus Christ came into the world. He did what we have not done. He accomplished on the cross what we have not accomplished. He fulfilled all of the law of God and then he laid down a perfect life as a sacrifice. We can put our trust in him. He says, “It is finished.” I can’t say that. None of us can say that about what we’re called to do, but he has finished everything that he was called to do, and we can trust in him.

Steve Hiller: As you’ve been listening all this week to this radio broadcast, maybe it’s stirred some questions in you about beginning this relationship with Jesus, or you’re ready to make that decision now. I hope you’ll get ahold of us here at Open the Bible. You can do that through our website, openthebible.org, or call and talk to a staff member. The number is 877-OPEN-365. That’s 1-877-673-6365. One of the things that the thief said just a few moments ago is that heaven is so much better than you could ever imagine. So let’s talk about that for just a moment. What is heaven?

Colin Smith: The thief is on sure ground saying that. The Apostle Paul says that heaven is better by far. It doesn’t matter how good a person’s experience in this life is, heaven is never less; it is always more. It is to be with Christ and it is to enter into the full and conscious enjoyment of all that is his at the right hand of the Father.

Steve Hiller: That’s one of the things that I think we may not give a lot of thought to. I’ve heard you say, “Heaven’s not some sort of half-life.” No, it is better by far. And so, those of us who maybe have had a pretty good life, we seem to think, “I’m in no hurry to get to heaven because I don’t see how it’s going to be any better than this.” It is going to be so much better. And it’s not only because we’re going to be removed from sin and we’re going to be removed from suffering and Christ will wipe every tear from our eyes; we’re going to be actively engaged with him. But what does that mean? What are we going to be doing?

Colin Smith: It’s hard to imagine that, because all of our experience of life is in the body. Obviously, when death comes, death is the separation of the soul from the body. The soul goes into the presence of the Lord. I think one of the reasons why many folks really struggle to imagine how there can be any joy in heaven is that it’s just difficult to imagine life apart from the body.

But think about this. We’re told in the scripture about angels. Angels are spirits; they do not have bodies in the way that we have bodies. And yet, we read in the scriptures that angels speak, angels see, angels inquire, the Bible says, inquiring into these things. Angels worship. They’re actively engaged in the life of heaven. That will be true for believers immediately after death. To be away from the body means to be at home with the Lord. It’s to be with Christ and to be actively engaged in life in his presence.

Steve Hiller: Well, I hope that as you’ve been listening to today’s broadcast and the program all this week, you’ve been reminded of that truth. And maybe if you don’t know Christ, you’re ready to begin that relationship with him, to take that step that the thief did. If that’s the case for you, I hope you’ll contact us here at Open the Bible. Our website is openthebible.org, or call us at 877-OPEN-365. You also might want to consider picking up a copy of the book or audiobook *Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross*. Colin, these are two things that could be used really effectively in evangelism.

Colin Smith: It’s been wonderful to hear stories of folks who have taken the book and given it to a friend. Some folks have taken many copies of the book and given it to many folks. It’s been marvelous to hear of how the Lord has used this simple tool that presents the gospel of Jesus Christ through this clear and compelling story, and it’s led to people putting their trust and their faith in Jesus Christ.

Steve Hiller: If you want to find out more about the book *Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross*, the audiobook which has been turned into this radio drama that you’ve been listening to this week, I hope you’ll come check out our website. One other thing while you’re there—and this also can be a great evangelistic tool as well as something that you can use to just remind yourself of the power of the gospel this week—is *Heaven, How I Got Here: A Night with the Thief on the Cross*. Stephen Baldwin, whom we’re listening to this week, also has performed this as a one-man stage play that was recorded and turned into a film. You can watch that for free at our website, openthebible.org/heaven.

With just a few minutes left that we have here, we really want to share a powerful and personal story from our executive director, John Aiello.

John Aiello: Thank you, Steve. When Pastor Colin completed the book *Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross*, he dedicated it to John and Carla—that’s me and my wife—and to John Senior, who also believed. John Senior is my dad, who lost his battle with cancer and died in March 2012.

The sermon that Colin preached that gave rise to the book is what the Lord used to help me speak to my dad about grace and helped me be part of leading him to Christ. There’s millions of people like my dad, John Senior. He was raised in church, so thankfully he knew about Jesus. But like so many of the people of all faiths, my dad did not really understand grace. My dad felt that living a good life was the path to heaven. At 74 years old, facing his imminent death, he reflected on his life and rightly concluded that he had not measured up.

Exactly like the thief, my dad knew that if his life were to be judged by God, it was not going to turn out well. When he heard the story of the thief, it not only gave him hope, but it gave him a clear direction, a clear call to action. Like the thief, my dad, John Senior, reached out and asked Jesus to remember him, to forgive him. And Jesus did.

My dad, John Senior, came to faith in Christ in part because of his upbringing, which made him aware of Jesus, but in even greater part because of the story of the thief on the cross that made him aware of what Jesus did for him. Praise the Lord for that.

Folks, I want to just ask you: who is the John Senior in your life? Someone in your church, your workplace, your family—someone you see struggling to earn a ticket to heaven, or someone you see in despair because they’ve realized that they can’t. Your friend, sister, brother, your mom, your dad. Tell them it’s not about what they have or haven’t done. Tell them it’s not about if they go to church or where they go to church. Tell them it’s about what Jesus Christ did for them that matters.

All they have to do is what the thief did: he confessed to the Lord, asked for forgiveness, and believed with all his heart. I know you know someone like the thief, like my dad. Please don’t wait. I’ve not stopped hurting from the loss of my dad, but my tears of grief quickly turn to tears of joy, knowing that just like the thief, my dad was welcomed immediately into paradise by his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Steve Hiller: John, thank you for sharing such a personal and powerful story with us and the great reminder that God may use the message of the thief on the cross to bring people to that saving knowledge of His grace in their lives. Well, as John has already challenged you with a question, let me ask that again of you today: Who is the John Senior in your life? Who’s the person that you know who needs to understand the grace of God in their life?

Why not share the message of the thief on the cross with them? There’s a few different ways you can do that. You can pick up a copy of the book *Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross*. If you think your friend or family member would rather listen to the story, you can pick up a copy of the audiobook, and you can send them to our website, openthebible.org/heaven. They, and you, can watch the film *Heaven, How I Got Here: A Night with the Thief on the Cross* featuring Stephen Baldwin. That’s free at our website through Easter Sunday. You’ll find all the information about this and more when you come to openthebible.org/heaven. For Pastor Colin Smith, I’m Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening today, and I hope you’ll join us next time.

Colin Smith: At Open the Bible, we’re grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. To that end, I’d like to commend the work of Global Fingerprints. In the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That’s a clear command, but it’s not always clear how we should obey it. This is where Global Fingerprints comes in.

Through Global Fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend Global Fingerprints to you. They’re focused on equipping the local church to care for children, and where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you’d like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on Global Fingerprints at our website, openthebible.org/gf. That’s openthebible.org/gf.