No Good Deed

“And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:39-43

Jesus was crucified between two thieves. One of them mocked Jesus along with the crowd that was gathered at the cross. The other thief rebuked him and then turned to Christ and said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Jesus answered, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” In this one brief conversation, we can see the answer to the question as to whether a person can earn an entrance into heaven by good works. First, we can see that there is no doubt that this man was a sinner who was worthy of both death and hell. He was a convicted criminal, and we know that the Bible teaches that only one sin is enough to keep a person out of heaven. Second, there is no need for a theological discussion as to whether this man ever actually made it to heaven. Jesus gave him a guarantee, “Verily I say unto thee….”  Finally, this man never had an opportunity to do good works after he turned to Christ. If good works were necessary for salvation, he could not possibly have been saved. Only Christ can save us!