The Christian Worldview

David Wheaton: Today is an Easter weekend special: Christ the Redeemer, Christ the Victor. That is what we'll discuss today right here on The Christian Worldview radio program, where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host. The Christian Worldview is a nonprofit, listener-supported radio ministry. Thank you for your prayer, your encouragement, and your financial support. You can connect with us by visiting our website, thechristianworldview.org, calling toll-free 1-888-646-2233, or by writing to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331.

In the days leading up to Easter, I was watching a weather forecast on television when the extended forecast came up, showing the weekend ahead, Easter weekend. There was an icon of a bouncing bunny on Easter Sunday, which is better termed Resurrection Sunday. There was nothing on Crucifixion Friday or Good Friday, not even a mention of Easter weekend.

Now, how sad and tragic that the most important event in the history of mankind, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, has been replaced with a counterfeit fairy tale: the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs. To not know about the person and the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and His supernatural resurrection is to be left in the dark about the one way God offers to reconcile sinners to Himself.

1 Timothy 2:5-6 says, "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time." This Easter weekend on The Christian Worldview, we will focus our minds and hearts on what God has revealed in His word about His Son, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and the Victor.

Now, I think the best way to do that is simply to read the inspired, the inerrant, the immutable, the all-sufficient, the authoritative word of God about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we tend to read a verse here and a verse there and some commentary on it, or that's what messages can often be around Easter. But when was the last time you read the entirety of the account of Christ's death and resurrection in one of the Gospels?

Not only that in Scripture, but there are many prophecies of Christ's death and resurrection in the Old Testament made hundreds of years in advance, proving Scripture is inspired by God and Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. We're going to start today by reading from Matthew's account of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, and then we'll read from two well-known passages from the Old Testament: Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. We're also going to mix in some great hymns of the faith about Christ's atoning work on sinners' behalf.

But let's start with Matthew's account of the crucifixion and resurrection. The context here is that Christ has had His last meal, the Last Supper, with His disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem during Passover week. This would be on Thursday night. One of His disciples, Judas, has betrayed Him to the Jewish religious leaders—the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the Council of the Sanhedrin—who have arrested Jesus unjustly in the dark of the night early Friday morning. Jesus is a threat to their power and position over the people, and so He must be put out of the way.

We begin in Matthew chapter 27 with Jesus having been arrested and then turned over by the Jews to Pilate, who is the Roman governor because the Jews, who were under Roman occupation, didn't have the authority to execute Jesus as they were so desperate to do. You need to remember as we read this just who has been arrested and is about to be beaten and crucified. This is Jesus the Christ, the sinless Son of God, who was conceived and born miraculously of a virgin woman, Mary, who performed miracles that no one in history has ever done.

He turned water into wine. He walked on water. He healed the lame and the sick. He raised the dead. And He said plainly and clearly about Himself, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30); "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6); "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die" (John chapter 11). This is the Son of God that they are about to whip and crucify.

Matthew chapter 27, starting in verse 11: "Now Jesus stood before the governor, Pilate, and the governor questioned him saying, 'Are you the king of the Jews?' and Jesus said to him, 'It is as you say.' And while he was being accused by the chief priest and elders, the Jews, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, 'Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?' And Jesus did not answer him, Pilate, with regard to even a single charge. So the governor was quite amazed.

Now at the feast, the governor, Pilate, was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted. At that time, they were holding a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, 'Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?' For he knew, Pilate knew, that because of envy they, the Jews, had handed Jesus over.

While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife, Pilate's wife, sent him a message saying, 'Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of him.' But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. But the governor said to them, 'Which of the two do you want me to release for you?' And they said, 'Barabbas.' Pilate said to them, 'Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?' They all said, 'Crucify him!'

And he said, 'Why? What evil has he done?' But they kept shouting all the more saying, 'Crucify him!' When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd saying, 'I am innocent of this man's blood. See to that yourselves.' And all the people said, 'His blood shall be on us and on our children.' Then Pilate released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified."

The Jewish religious leaders chose Barabbas—a criminal, a violent robber and insurrectionist—over Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God. Pilate tried to absolve himself. He knew there was something very, very wrong about this. But there is no absolution here. He had the power to acquit and release Jesus, and he didn't because he wanted to appease the Jews and not have an uprising, a riot, that might get Rome's attention, whom he answered to.

The religious but unregenerate, the Pharisees and Sadducees, hated Jesus. The secular unregenerate, like Pilate and the Gentiles, they were indifferent. It is sad to say that the world, if it had the chance to do it all over again, would do the same thing all over again because, as Jesus said, "The world hates me."

Moving on in Matthew chapter 27, starting in verse 27: "Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' They spat on him and took the reed and began to beat him on the head. After they had mocked him, they took the scarlet robe off him and put his own garments back on him and led him away to crucify him.

As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, he was unwilling to drink. And when they had crucified him, they divided up his garments amongst themselves by casting lots.

And sitting down, they began to keep watch over him there. And above his head, they put up the charge against him which read, 'This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.' At that time, two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at him, Jesus, wagging their heads and saying, 'You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!' In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes and the elders, were mocking him and saying, 'He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God rescue him now if he delights in him, for he said, "I am the Son of God."' The robbers who had been crucified with him were also insulting him with the same words."

Did you notice how scant the description of Christ's crucifixion was? It just simply says, "When they had crucified him." Five words. All four Gospels purposely minimize the process of what crucifixion involved. Why? Well, I think because God wants the reader to focus not on His physical suffering—the physical suffering of Christ, because many people after all were crucified just like Jesus—but God wants us to focus on His sin-bearing as His own Father poured out His just wrath on Christ instead of on us.

Did you notice how the passersby and the religious leaders and even the criminals crucified beside Him were taunting Him to come down from the cross? Why were they all saying the same thing? Well, I think this was Satan's last-ditch attempt to abort the whole purpose of Christ coming: to die as a substitute for sinners. If Christ had come down from the cross, and He certainly could have, no one—not you, not me—would ever have the opportunity of being forgiven of our sins and saved because each one of us would have to pay the penalty for our own sin. We can thank God that Jesus stayed on the cross that day.

The next section is Matthew chapter 27, verses 45 through 56: "Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour." That's from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM in the afternoon. "About the ninth hour, 3:00 PM, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' That is, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, 'This man is calling for Elijah.' Immediately, one of them ran and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave him a drink.

But the rest of them said, 'Let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.' And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city Jerusalem and appeared to many. Now the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, 'Truly this was the Son of God.'"

Did you hear Jesus say, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Here is the real suffering and the pain of the Savior. That His own Father, that He is one with, had forsaken Him, had treated Him and punished Him as if He were the sinner. This is the pain, the real suffering and pain of the cross for Christ. Man is made in the image of God, but the biggest difference between man and God is this: God is holy and we are sinners. And so Christ bearing His Father's wrath on Himself for our sin was His greatest suffering, and yet it is our greatest blessing that He took our sin instead of us having to pay for our sin ourselves.

(Music: "The Power of the Cross" by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend)

Welcome back to The Christian Worldview. I'm David Wheaton. Be sure to visit thechristianworldview.org where you can sign up for our weekly email and The Christian Worldview Journal print publication, order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Today is a special Easter weekend program. In the first segment, we read about Christ's crucifixion. Now to Christ's burial in Matthew 27, starting in verse 57.

"When it was evening," now we're on Friday evening, "there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn out in the rock, and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave.

Now on the next day," verse 62, "this is now Saturday, the Sabbath, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate. And they said, 'Sir, we remember that when he was still alive, that deceiver said, "After three days, I am to rise again." Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal him away and say to the people, "He has risen from the dead," and the last deception will be worse than the first.'" In other words, he was a deceiver when he was alive, but now he might become a bigger deceiver if his body is stolen. Verse 65: "Pilate said to them, 'You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.' And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard, they set a seal on the stone."

Joseph of Arimathea was a Pharisee. He was a wealthy man, but he had become a believer in Christ. God had put him in that position and now was going to use him to fulfill God's burial plan. The Jews' plan had been to make sure that Christ's body wasn't stolen. But this plan totally backfired because a guarded and sealed grave would make their upcoming lie even more unbelievable.

And so we turn the page to chapter 28 of Matthew. And now we come to the resurrection of Christ on Sunday morning. "Now after the Sabbath, Saturday, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Sunday, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen just as he said. Come, see the place where he was lying. Go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead; and behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee; there you will see him; behold, I have told you.'" Verse 8: "And they, the women, left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid. Go and take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see me.'"

Verse 11: "Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, the Jews did, and said, 'You are to say his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' Verse 14: 'And if this should come to the governor's ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.' And they took the money and did as they had been instructed. And this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this day."

So there's an earthquake, there's the appearance of angels, there's an empty tomb, there are appearances of the resurrected Christ, and there are pathetic "won't-believers," not just unbelievers, but won't-believers—the Jewish religious leaders—making up unbelievable stories about Jesus being stolen, despite the fact there's a sealed boulder across the entrance to the tomb and you had many guards watching over it. It's not believable. But Jesus is risen from the dead. He appeared to all the apostles, many other believers; and 1 Corinthians 15 tells us, over 500 at one time. Christ's resurrection proves He is who He said He is: the Son of God. It proves that God had accepted His atonement on the cross for sinners and would exalt Him back to His rightful place in heaven. Christ is the Victor.

And finally, the last part of Matthew chapter 28: "But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'"

That is how the Gospel of Matthew ends. That's the account of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus went through all this not to just save those who saw Him then, who witnessed His resurrection, but for those who wouldn't see Him in person afterwards. And then He commissioned every believer to "go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." This isn't just evangelism, telling someone about the Gospel, but this is actually discipleship: making disciples. That is ongoing training. This is the believers' and the church's mission: to make disciples and to baptize them and to teach them to observe all that I commanded you. And the good news is He promises to be there with us to do this even to the end of the age.

There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah. And two of the most prominent ones about the crucifixion of Christ are found in Psalm 22 and Isaiah chapter 53. Psalm 22 was written 1,000 years before Jesus was crucified. This is a psalm of David. Just listen to a few verses from this psalm. Verse 1: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus said those exact words in the passage we just read earlier in Matthew chapter 27.

Verse 6, Psalm 22: "But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip, they wag the head saying, 'Commit yourself to the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him because he delights in him.'" This is exactly the kind of taunting that Jesus was receiving on the cross in what we just read in Matthew again, chapter 27.

Let's move down to verse 14 of Psalm 22. Again, this is King David writing this, and he's writing about the coming Messiah: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws." Let's move down to verse 16 where King David says: "A band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me." Verse 18: "They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots."

This is exactly what we read in Matthew 27 at the crucifixion of Christ, and also in John 19 and 20 it describes this is what took place at Christ's crucifixion. Matthew 27: "And when they had crucified him, they divided up his garments among themselves by casting lots." Christ's hands and feet were pierced on the cross. Crucifixion wasn't even invented at the time that King David wrote this.

And what about predicting the resurrection of Christ, that He would rise from the dead and not decay in a grave? Psalm chapter 16, again 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus, King David writes: "For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One," capitalized, "to undergo decay." That's exactly what didn't happen to Jesus. He died and didn't undergo decay in the grave because He rose again three days later.

But as we turn to Isaiah, the latter part of chapter 52 and then into 53, this is the greatest and most specific of the prophecies of the Old Testament about the "suffering servant," that Messiah would die for the sins of His people. The MacArthur Study Bible says on this section from Isaiah 52, verse 13 to the end of chapter 53: "This section contains unarguable, incontrovertible proof that God is the author of Scripture and Jesus is the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. The details are so minute that no human could have predicted them by accident, and no impostor fulfilled them by cunning. Clearly this refers to Messiah Jesus, as the New Testament attests."

(Music: "He Was Wounded" by Thomas Chisholm/The Piano Series)

Isaiah chapter 52, verse 13: "Behold, my servant will prosper," Isaiah writes, speaking for God here. "He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, my people, so his," referring to Messiah, "his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. Thus he, Messiah, will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths on account of him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand."

Now the beginning of Isaiah 53: "Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he, Messiah, grew up before him, God, like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground. He, Messiah, has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised and we did not esteem him."

The chapter starts out by saying that very few believe the message about Christ. "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Not many. And He was a king. Kings conquer; they don't get crucified. Kings grow up in palaces, not poverty. Kings ride horses, not donkeys. They reign and are lauded; they're not despised. But Jesus in His first coming was a different kind of king. He was a suffering servant that came to bear the sins of the world; and in His second coming, He will come as a king reigns and rules in His second coming.

Moving on to verse 4 of Isaiah 53: "Surely our griefs he, the Messiah, himself bore, and our sorrows he carried; yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way." Isn't that the truth? "But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him," the Messiah.

This is about the heart of the Gospel here: the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. Christ bore our sin penalty on the cross so that we could be made right with God. 2 Corinthians 5:21: "God made Christ who knew no sin," so He was sinless, "to be sin on our behalf," He took our sin, "so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ." There's a double swap here. Did you notice it? That Christ takes our sin upon Himself, but then God gives the believer Christ's perfect righteousness so that God can welcome the believer into heaven with his sins fully paid for and having the very righteousness of Christ.

The footnote from the MacArthur Study Bible on Isaiah 53, verse 6, about "all of us like sheep have gone astray," it says, "Every person has sinned, but the servant, the suffering servant Christ, has sufficiently shouldered the consequences of sin and the righteous wrath deserved by sinners. The manner in which God laid our iniquity on Him, Christ, was that God treated Him, Christ, as if He had committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe. Though He, Christ, was perfectly innocent of any sin, God did so to Him so that wrath being spent and justice satisfied, God could then give to the account of sinners who believe the righteousness of Christ, treating them, sinners, as if they had done only the righteous acts of Christ. In both cases, this is substitution." And again, that is the heart of the Gospel: penal substitutionary atonement by Christ. He took our penalty; He was the substitute in our place. He atoned; He took two parties who were at odds, alienated from each other—we were alienated from God—and He brought them together. He atoned for our sin so we could be made right with God.

Let's move down to the next section, Isaiah 53, verses 7 through 9: "He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he, the Messiah, did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death." We just read that. "Because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth."

Christ was the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That's what John the Baptist said about Him. Christ didn't resist and fight the crucifixion, even though He could have called legions of angels to save Him. He was crucified for the sins of the Jewish people, whom they deserved to be punished. And the Jews would have wanted Him to be discarded in a hole somewhere in the ground, but God saw to it that He was buried in a rich man's grave just as we read in Matthew chapter 27.

All right, the last three verses of Isaiah 53: "But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in Messiah's hand. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied," God will. "By his knowledge the righteous one, my servant," Christ, "will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities," again substitution. "Therefore," God says, "I will allot him, the Messiah, a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors." He was treated as if he were a sinner, but he wasn't. "Yet he himself bore the sin of many, and he interceded for the transgressors."

When it says there that the Lord was pleased to crush Him, the death of Christ was not an accident. It was planned by God and designed by God because of His incredible unearned grace toward us and His love for us as sinners, that He provided a way that we could be reconciled to Him through the death of His Son. God sent His Son to die for our sins. This isn't cosmic child abuse as some say; it is the only way of remedy for our sins that would atone for our sin before a holy God. 1 Timothy 1 says, "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all." That's what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy chapter 1. God was satisfied, or the theological word is propitiated, through Christ's death on the cross. And by the death of Christ, many God will justify, for He, Christ, will bear their iniquities. And there's a great reward for Christ, the last verse there in Isaiah chapter 53: the victorious Messiah.

Just one final thing to consider this Easter weekend. Do you remember how we read in Matthew 27 about the two robbers, the two criminals, crucified on either side of Jesus? Verse 38 of Matthew 27: "At that time two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads and saying, 'You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!' In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him and saying, 'He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God rescue him now if he delights in him, for he said, "I am the Son of God."'" Remember that? In verse 44 it says in Matthew 27, "The robbers who had been crucified with him were also insulting him with the same words." The robbers, as in plural. There were two of them.

Well, Luke records in his account, his Gospel of the crucifixion, that an amazing thing, a supernatural thing happened to one of the criminals shortly after both of them were insulting Jesus. Luke 23, starting in verse 39: "One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Jesus saying, 'Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!'" But then in verse 40, we learn that one of the criminals has an amazing, supernatural change of heart. "But the other robber, criminal, answered and rebuking him," the other criminal, "said, 'Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man, Jesus, has done nothing wrong.'" Verse 42: "And he, the robber, the criminal, was saying, 'Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom!' And Jesus said to him, 'Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise,' or heaven."

Just think about that. This criminal was never baptized as an adult or a child. He never took First Communion or any communion. He never attended church. He never went through confirmation. He never filled out a salvation card at an outreach event. Never read the Bible. Never shared his faith with anyone. He never needed anyone praying for his soul after he died. And yet Jesus confirmed to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise." Not only was there no time to do any of these things—he was about to die—but according to Jesus, these things have nothing to do with being saved.

This account of this criminal on the cross destroys, as one pastor put it, our little self-salvation projects: the notion that our faith in Jesus plus our good works make us right with God. No, no. Faith alone in Christ alone is God's only way of salvation. And so the question is, have you been born again as this criminal was? Because we are all sinful criminals before God. The most well-known verse in the Bible says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, Jesus, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

You must believe God and what He has revealed about Himself, about you, and about His Son: that God is the creator and just judge of the universe; that you are a sinner and alienated from God and under His judgment; that His Son Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life and offered Himself as the sin-bearing substitute for your sin and that He rose victoriously over death and is now at the right hand of God. You must believe that to be born again. And then you must obey Jesus' command to repent and believe in this Gospel.

Romans 10 says, "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart." You are being told the Gospel right now. That is the word of faith which we are preaching, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. For the scripture says, 'Whoever believes in him,' in Jesus, 'will not be disappointed,' or put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek," we're saved the same way. "For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on him; for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved," just as that criminal on the cross was saved.

This Easter weekend, we urge you, if you haven't already, to put your faith, your trust, your hope for forgiveness in who Jesus Christ is and what He did for you on that cross, rising victoriously from the grave. If you want to find out more, go to our website, thechristianworldview.org, and click on the page "What must I do to be saved?" or give us a call toll-free at 1-888-646-2233.

Thank you for listening to The Christian Worldview radio program this Easter weekend. May you all have a blessed Easter weekend, remembering Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and the Victor.

The mission of The Christian Worldview is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program, order a transcript, or find out "What must I do to be saved?", go to thechristianworldview.org or call toll-free 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Worldview is a listener-supported nonprofit radio ministry furnished by the Overcomer Foundation. To make a donation, order resources, become a Christian Worldview partner, sign up for our weekly email or The Christian Worldview Journal print publication, or to contact us, go to thechristianworldview.org, call 1-888-646-2233, or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. Thanks for listening to The Christian Worldview.