of Christ, that the
almighty Christ will indeed take us in His arms and carry us through this
death life, revealing the power of His death in us. I cannot live it
without personal contact with Christ every hour of the day. Christ must do
it; Christ can do it. Come therefore and say: "Is He not the Almighty One;
did He not come from the throne of God; did He not prove His omnipotence,
and did the Father not prove it when He rose from the dead?" Would you be
afraid, now that Christ is on the throne, of doing what the malefactor did
when Christ was upon the cross, and entrusting yourself to Him to live as
one dead with Him? Christ will carry you through the very process He went
through; will make His death work in you every day of your life.

I note one thing more in the penitent thief--his prayer. There was his
conviction of sin, and his faith, but there was, further, the utterance of
his faith in prayer. He turned to Jesus. Remember that the whole world,
with perhaps the exception of Mary and the women, was turned against Christ
that day. Of the whole world of men as far as I know, there was but that
one praying to Christ. Do not wait to see what others do; if you wait for
that,--alas! I desire to say it in love and tenderness,--you will not find
much company in the Church of Christ. Pray incessantly: "Lord Christ, let
the power of Thy death come into me." For God's sake, pray the prayer. If
you want to live the life of Heaven, there must be death to sin in the
power of Jesus. There must be personal entrustment of the soul into His
death to sin, personal acceptance of Jesus to do the mighty work.

We have seen what the preparation is on the part of this man; let us look,
secondly, at how Christ met him. He met him, you know, with that wonderful
promise, with its three wonderful parts: "To-day shalt thou be with me in
Paradise." A promise of fellowship with Christ,--"Thou shalt be with me;"
a promise of rest in eternity, in the Paradise from which sin had cast man
out,--"With me in Paradise;" a promise of immediate blessing,--"To-day
shalt thou be with Me." With that three-fold blessing Jesus comes to you
and me, and He says: "Believer, are you longing to live the Paradise life,
where I give souls to eat of the Tree of Life, in the Paradise of God, day
by day? Are you longing for that uninterrupted communion with God that
there was in Paradise before Adam fell? Are you longing for perfect
fellowship with me, longing to li