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THE INCREDIBLE CONVERSION OF A CONDEMNED CRIMINAL — Part 7 “There were also two others, criminals, led with Jesus to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:32-34a). In the previous devotion, we considered this stunning prayer from the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ to be both selfless and specific. Today, let’s observe that the Lord’s intercessory prayer (from the Cross) was a SWEEPING PRAYER! This was a prayer on behalf of “anyone and everyone” who will ever come to the Lord Jesus in repentance of their sins and saving faith in Him! For if there is forgiveness available for the most repugnant of all sins (the crucifixion of God the Son paying the debt), then there is forgiveness available to anyone who will come to Jesus Christ the Lord on His conditions! This is certainly an amazingly gracious and magnificently merciful response from God the Son to this callous and cursing mob. The crucified Lord was continually praying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Think of it! The Savior was about to bear a curse that was infinitely worse than any curse that this mob could possibly hurl at Him. Jesus was about to bear the consequences of the eternal curse of the shattered law of God, “in the place of and on behalf of” every sinner who will repent and believe the Gospel. The Son of God was about to bear in His body the very curse that each one of us should have borne for all of eternity. Paul writes in Galatians 3:10b states that, “Accursed (by God) is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the law.” Please notice that the word “everyone” declares that Galatians 3:10 is a universal statement. Yet this universal statement is extremely challenging for the average person to fully discern and digest. Moreover, it is apparently an exceedingly problematic truth for many preachers to preach! In fact, multitudes of contemporary preachers would much rather tell their audiences that “God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives.” Why? Because that kind of message is inoffensive, marketable, and easy to swallow. However, these so-called preachers are not so desirous to tell their gathering that they are under a curse, whose executioner is the Lord God; explaining that they are presently living under the abiding wrath of God; and that this divine curse will soon be realized in their eternal separation from God, if they do not repent and believe the Gospel. It is far more palatable to tell the audience that God has nothing but love for them, that God has a wonderful plan for their lives, and that God wants them to be healthy, wealthy, and fulfilled. Conversely, this is the opposite of what the audience desperately needs to hear. They pressingly need to be warned that those who have not come to Jesus Christ (on His conditions) are under the curse of God. For they have shattered God's moral law. They urgently need to be compassionately cautioned that they have broken the first and greatest commandment, which is to love the Lord their God with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength. In addition, they have broken the commandment to love their neighbor as they love themselves. Moreover, they have broken other mandates from God Himself, such as: “Do not commit adultery; Do not bear false witness; Do not steal; Honor your father and your mother, etc.” The Word of God also declares that, “Whoever keeps the entire moral law of God, and yet offends in only one point, that he is guilty of breaking them all!” This condemning evidence proves (beyond any shadow of a doubt) that all have sinned against God. This reveals that God states the wages for shattering the moral law is the 2nd death in an everlasting lake of fire! But thankfully, there is good news! The Lord Jesus Christ, who was interceding for the forgiveness of these lawbreakers, became accursed on behalf of every sinner who will come to Him on His terms. The sinless Son of God was allowing Himself to be executed by guilty sinners and accursed by His Father. Why? For He was supremely interested in saving sinners from being eternally accursed! Oh, but the news gets better. When a sinner comes to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, the curse is lifted; their sins are cast away; they are clothed in the robe of a perfect righteousness, which the Lord Jesus wrought in His impeccably sinless life.