Lesson 15: Righteousness is Gained through Christ Alone

So imagine for a minute… that you are the thief on the cross. What can you do to earn righteousness? I mean, there is nothing you can do is there to make yourself right with God? In fact, you are dying for your sins. It is not your decision to change your life that is going to have any effect. It’s not your commitment to obey God from here on out for the next couple of hours that is going to have any bearing on your standing with God whatsoever. You have no hope in anything you can do from now on, and you and I are in essence that thief. So, you look over at the Man on the cross next to you, and what you see hanging on that cross should spark a new hope in you. As you are looking, maybe you think to yourself: For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. Maybe, just maybe, His horrible, agonizing suffering and tortuous death mean something for you even now, and you start to see the cross as a flowing fountain opened even for you. And wave after wave of love and grace begin to hit you: “The dying thief rejoiced to see, That fountain in his day; And there may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away” (Lyrics from “There is a fountain”) I don’t want to set aside the grace of God. I don’t want to deny the cross of Christ. I don’t want to push aside the fountain that flows…we want to focus on that grace. We want to look at that cross and see everything we need for righteousness right there. And if we do that, it will affect the way we live.