We show that we have high regard for these people when we go to get a glimpse of them. What if these people came to your hometown? Would you go see the President, an astronaut, members of a winning sports team? Not long ago over 1 million fans lined the streets of Detroit to catch just a glimpse at their Stanley Cup champion Red Wings.

When you think about it, we go and wait for hours to see someone who has done little or nothing for you, and will do little or nothing for you in the future. And they do little or nothing for you because they can do little or nothing for you.

But what if it were different. What if, when you went and saw the Red Wings, they would place you on the team, and successfully teach you how to play, and you joined them on the ice for their games, as an important part of the team.

What if, when you went and saw the president, he would take you with him back to Washington and give you an important, well-paying job in the government.

Now you begin to get the picture that a Jew has of Messiah. The Jews believed Messiah would come and do something for them. God said so. Messiah would benefit the nation above all other people who ever existed. Messiah would be above Moses, and even the angels. He would redeem and restore Israel. He would rescue his chosen people from the domination of the Roman Empire. There would be blessing upon blessing for Israel, and God would establish his kingdom with them forever.

There was no other person who would do so much for so many. They looked forward to the time of this anointed one of God, the Messiah.

With our understanding of Messiah we are halfway there. The second common understanding that we need so we can read what we cannot see is...

We live in an age where the fear of God is more history than practice. Keith Green states it well in his song where he wrote the words as if God was singing it to us.

To Obey is better than sacrifice
I don't need your money, I want your life.
And I hear you say that I'm coming back soon,
But you act like I'll never return.

And while the Jews also had their times of forgetting God, they also had their times of fear of God.

The Jews had a unique history. It was Abraham who was chosen by God, and who talked with God in ways we can only imagine. His son Isaac was spared from death by an angel. In turn his son Jacob was renamed Israel by God and given twelve sons, to begin the twelve tribes of Israel. Their history continues with mighty and miraculous works involving Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and others as recorded in the Old Testament.

When their families would get together they would pass along the stories of how God parted the waters, gave them the Ten Commandments, had the walls of Jericho fall down, and all the other wonders.

They were so full of fearful respect for their awesome God that they did not even fully pronounce his name. They chose to call him Adonai (my Lord) instead of the revered name of Yahweh. They understood and took to heart who he was, for the name Yahweh means "he causes to be, he creates". They understood the vast difference between themselves, the created thing, and the one who could speak them into existence. Or for that matter, could speak them out of existence. When they considered these things, they had the fear of God.

Now that we have a common understanding of Messiah and the fear of God we are ready to read between the lines. We are ready to read someone's mind.

We will read between lines of scripture a story that records a change of heart. And the person who's heart was changed, and who's mind we will read, is...

Let us consider three sections of scripture:

Two robbers were crucified with Jesus, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.     Matthew 27: 38-44

Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.     Mark 15:25-32

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into you kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."     Luke 23:39-43

Here is where we must read between the lines. What happened between the lines that state the two criminals hurled insults at him and the line that indicates one of them feared God? What changed the attitude of one of the criminals that lead him to make those last statements?

He had two things going for him that you and I don't have:
1. He knew he wasn't going anywhere that day.
2. He knew that day he was going to die.

We have never been put in a situation like that. Yet we can imagine in part what that would be like. We can imagine what he might have thought. And being ever so careful, using scriptures as our guide, we will attempt to read his mind.

In scripture we read:

We do not know all that was said that day. But let me give you some thoughts on what they might have said. On what our criminal might have been thinking.

As he was hanging there (from a fairly good vantage point) he saw many people staring. I presume he saw that most of the attention was directed to this person next to him.

He may have seen a few people come up to the vicinity of Jesus, maybe not too close. They might have been crying as they looked at this Jesus. Maybe there were even a few people who commented that this person healed them. They were blind but now could see, they were lame but now could walk.

Maybe this type of information just came out as insults. "You healed that blind beggar by Jericho, why can't you heal yourself." "You raised Lazarus from the dead, why can't you save yourself."

Whatever was done or said may have got our criminal thinking. He might have considered the prophets of old:

All because God was with them. They did not have the power themselves but were using the Power of God. They could not perform these things if God did not provide the power and approve of it's use.

This man hanging next to him performed more signs. He healed the sick, made the lame walk, caused the blind to see. He multiplied bread to feed thousands. He must be a prophet of the most high God. And perhaps this reasoning lead him to say to the other criminal "Don't you fear God since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

Nothing wrong. He has performed more signs than any other prophet who walked the face of the earth. No one could do these things unless God was with him. And God has not left him since right up to the time he was arrested he still demonstrated God's power. When they came to arrest him and said they seek Jesus of Nazareth, he responded "I am he" and they all drew back and fell to the ground. When one of his disciples cut off a servant's ear he reached out and healed it.

And what has he been saying? These people standing around have been repeating it. He said he was the Christ of God, the Chosen One (Luke), the Messiah. People have been commenting he claimed to be the King of Israel (Mark). He himself said "I am the Son of God" (Matthew).

And the motivation was there for the criminal to deeply ponder these things. After all, he wasn't going anywhere, and he was going to die. He might have thought, Jesus demonstrated beyond doubt that God was with him by his miracles. Jesus said he was sent by God to bring salvation. He said he was the way to heaven, the only way. He said he was God.

And our criminal might have been the only one clearly thinking and reasoning that day. For while others in their grief and despair were sad and saying they thought this might have been the Messiah, the criminal could have reasoned, this is the Messiah. This man from God said he was. And while that criminal could not understand why he was hanging there on that cross next to him, he might have understood that it was because he wanted to. No one can oppose God, and this Jesus has to be who he said he was, there is no other explanation for the miraculous signs. So he must be choosing to be there.

He might have thought to himself, I don't know why, but I do know who this is hanging on a cross next to me. This is my Messiah. And this reasoning may have been what prompted him to say, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

And the reply that he received was beyond all expectations. This may have been the first time that Jesus spoke to the criminal. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

What would that be like, to have God turn and look you in the eye, and say to you, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." It would be joy, comfort, and relief to know that your fate is secure. Our criminal experienced that.

So what does all of this mean to us, living some 2000 years later? We have 2000 years of more proof that no one has ever walked the face of this earth and demonstrated power over the things of this earth like Jesus did. We have 2000 years of more proof that the message Jesus brought was from God. And that message from God to you is recorded in the Bible.

And what is that message?

It says in Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Many people have trouble with that because it is so simple. It does not require much effort on your part.

For those of you who think it is beneath your dignity to get to heaven by the simplicity of the Gospel message; for those of you who think you get to heaven by doing good works; for those of you who think you get to heaven by doing sacrifices in your life, maybe the best thing for you today is to be stripped of all your clothing and be nailed to a cross like our criminal.

Then you would have a few hours of deep thought: of who you really are, of what your situation really is, and where you are really going.

And as you are hanging naked in front of everyone you will realize that you amount to nothing. Your works, your wealth, your achievements, your character, your mind, your talents all amount to nothing as you hang there in a helpless condition, being stuck to the wood with the nails through your hands and feet.

Perhaps then you would ponder and realize that the only thing you amount to is being a sinner in the sight of the almighty God. The only thing in your future is an eternity of punishment in the real existence of hell. God makes that clear.

Maybe then you would remember the words you heard earlier today, that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

And if you are still having trouble believing it is just that simple, let's take another look at our criminal.

What did he have going for him?

The only thing our criminal had going for him was that he confessed with his mouth and believed in his heart.

Lets look at his words. "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He confessed he was Lord when he spoke of him coming into his kingdom. He knew that this person nailed to the cross next to him was going to be established as ruler over all. He confessed that Jesus is Lord.

The next part is interesting. "Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead". At first, one might think it is difficult to believe that God raised someone from the dead who has not even died yet. But look at the situation. Jesus is hanging there on the cross, and for all our criminal knew, they both were going to die shortly. Yet our criminal asked to be remembered when Jesus enters his kingdom, something that he can only do when he is alive. He did not know how, or when, but he believed in his heart that this Jesus would someday be brought back to life in order to enter his kingdom. He believed in his heart that God would raise him from the dead.

That is all our criminal did to go from an eternal death into an enternal life. That is all you have to do.

And how would God respond to you? If you could hear it, it would only be slightly different because of the situational difference. We might not die today.

But His response to you would be, "I tell you the truth, today you have guaranteed, that when you die, you will be with me in paradise."

The criminals on either side of Jesus were there for a reason. They give us a picture of all mankind, for all the people who have ever lived can be represented by one of those two criminals. Like both of the criminals, all people are sinners and all are going to die. But the difference between the two criminals, like the difference between all who have ever lived on this earth, is that one will enter heaven while another will not.

As one of the criminals showed us, it does not depend on our works or effort, but only on trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Today you can have the same surety of eternal life in heaven that he had when Jesus spoke directly to him. Accept Jesus as your savior today, before it is forever too late.