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THE ASTOUNDING CONVERSION OF A CONDEMNED CRIMINAL — Part 12 “But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even FEAR GOD, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise’” (Luke 23:40-43). This insurrectionist had arrived at his execution without any concern for the salvation of his eternal soul. Remember, at first, he too had been reviling and blaspheming the Lord Jesus, with everyone else in the mob. But as we have been considering in these past devotions, the Holy Spirit mightily employed the stinging words of the deriding mob, the soldiers' reviling, and the religious leaders' mockery to awaken this individual’s criminal mind. Suddenly, this man realized the true identity of the Lord Jesus Christ and why Jesus was on His cross! However, what were the manifest evidences that these words were coming to this career criminal in supernatural power, so that he was being converted to Christ in his dying moments? First, let’s observe the spiritual reality that “he was seized with the FEAR OF GOD”! Notice, he rebuked the other criminal with these words, “Do you not even FEAR GOD, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed JUSTLY, for we receive the DUE REWARDS of our deeds? Again, recall that just a few moments earlier, he too had been blaspheming Jesus in a sinister and sarcastic fashion. He had been involved in the cursing and ridicule that was being orchestrated by the religious leaders. While this insurrectionist was being crucified in extremely close vicinity to the Lord Jesus, he had previously been blinded to the reality that this was God the Son who was hanging on that middle cross. Furthermore, like the other criminal, it was obvious that this man had previously possessed no fear of God; no fear of judgment; no consciousness of his own vile wickedness in the sight of God; and no realization of his spiritually condemned condition before the Lord God. Like so many, it appears that he knew no substantiated fear of the eternal wrath of hell, possessing not the least bit of an appetite to be made right with God! But suddenly, this particular criminal began to grow increasingly silent, while the other one continued to hurl his abusive mockery at the Lord Jesus. Why the growing quietness? His mouth was shut because an amazing miracle (which was being wrought by the Holy Spirit) was occurring in his heart of hearts! This hardened terrorist was suddenly and powerfully gripped with the FEAR OF GOD! Friend, this was the first evidence that a “saving work of the Holy Spirit” was beginning to take place in the darkened heart of this nefarious scoundrel. This was an amazing and miraculous transformation! He was experiencing a mighty metamorphosis from a blaspheming rebel mocking Jesus into a man seized with the “fear of God”! God, the Holy Spirit, was miraculously gracing him with a personal illumination concerning “Who Jesus is and what Jesus was accomplishing”! As a dramatic result, the entire nature of his speech was radically transformed from a wicked reviler of Jesus into a man who was compassionately correcting his partner in crime, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation, and we indeed just?” Please consider these questions for yourself! Have you ever been arrested with the “fear of God” and the “fear of your own condemned condition before Him”? Has the Spirit of God ever planted the roots of conviction and contrition in your heart, so that you were powerfully gripped with “a holy anguish and alarm” over the just judgment and wrath which you richly deserve? Have you ever been convinced by God’s moral law, convicted by the moral law, and condemned by the moral law? Has the iron fist of the moral law of God ever loudly banged on the door of your heart? Has the Spirit of God ever prosecuted and awakened you, concerning the stark reality that you were doomed and damned, because of your myriad sins against God? Has your mind ever been engulfed with the astounding reality that you are a lost sinner who is in desperate need of the Savior? In other words, has the inner core of your being ever been seized with a ‘HOLY SPIRIT-PRODUCED FEAR OF GOD’? Dear reader, if a sinner has never known the fear of God, they have known nothing of the “saving grace” of the Lord Jesus Christ. There must first be the convicting and condemning reality of the “BAD NEWS” of the Gospel, before the sinner will begin to hunger and thirst for the GOOD NEWS!