Editorial
From the Newsletter of Revesby Presbyterian Church
June 2007
Rev Dr Peter Barnes
Calvin commented that the mind of man is ‘a perpetual factory of idols’. Certainly, people can usually think of a multitude of excuses not to believe in Christ. Crusaders against God tend to be rationalising their own lives more than sincerely dealing with the reality of life. It is no coincidence that Richard Dawkins’ raging against ‘the Blind Watchmaker’ and ‘the God delusion’ is
conducted against a background of two divorces, while Bertrand Russell left a trail of four marriages and many affairs. Unbelievers can have very self-interested reasons for wanting to believe that the God of the Bible does not exist. We can struggle with questions when all too often we are indulging in excuses. But what of some questions that people might raise?
I am not good enough
That is, of course, true. Nobody is good enough. The Christian community does not consist of those who were good enough to enter it. We do not make ourselves good enough for Christ. It is the sick who go to visit the physician; it is the spiritually sick who call on Christ. Thankfully, Christ has told us: ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners’ (Matt.9:12-13). Joseph Hart in the 18th century put it as well as anybody:
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.
This He gives you, this He gives you;
‘Tis the Spirit’s rising beam.
Come, ye weary, heavy-laden,
Bruised and broken by the Fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all;
Not the righteous, not the righteous –
Sinners Jesus came to call!
Jesus Christ did not come into the world first and foremost to provide us with a model life, but to save sinners (1 Tim.1:15). The law was given through Moses; grace and truth through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
I will repent later
This is a most dangerous frame of mind. If we have understood the claims of Christ and the issues of eternity, we ought to realise that they take precedence over all else. Jesus told one man: ‘Let the dead bury the dead’ while to another He said: ‘No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:60-62). Entering the kingdom of God is not something that we can do after we have finished the shopping or watching the television. We do not know what another will bring; we do not even know that we will have another day. The claims of Christ are immediate. ‘Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation’ (2 Cor. 6:2).
I have tried and failed
Sometimes this is said by someone who does not understand the gospel, and thinks of Christ as the supreme lawgiver and nothing else. No wonder such a person feels himself a failure – he is, and he must be. It is because we are sinners that we need a Saviour more than a lawgiver. Other people, however, do rest on the grace of Christ but still fail. In this case, we need to remember that ‘If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9).
It will cost too much
Is there a cost in becoming a Christian? Yes, there certainly is. There will be a cost in relationships, in priorities, in time, in ambitions, in money – there may even be a cost in life. But one soul is worth more than the whole world, for ‘What does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’ (Mark 8:36) If it costs much to walk through life as a Christian, it costs far more not to. ‘The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (Matt.13:49-50).
I will be mocked
Yes, you will. The world will not applaud you and confer awards on you. Jesus said that there will be those who receive the word with joy but who wither under tribulation or persecution that arises on account of the word (Mark 4:16-17). If Christ endured the cross for our salvation – such was the fury of the world against Him – we can expect hostility. As Jesus said: ‘If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you’ (John 15:20).
It seems too easy to just repent and believe
Believing in Christ, taking Him at His word, is not easy at all. It is the hardest thing in the world. We are only capable of it if the Spirit of God gives us the capacity to trust. It is pride that keeps us from seeing that only God’s free mercy in Christ can save us. We can boast in nothing except that Christ died for sinners (Gal.6:14).
It is too late for me
The conversion of the thief on the cross always gives us hope, although we must beware of misusing the story. William Guthrie wrote truly: ‘The Bible, which ranges over a period of four thousand years, records but one instance of a death-bed conversion – one that none may despair, and but one that none may presume.’ The right lesson is that drawn by William Cowper:
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there have I, as vile as he,
Washed all my sins away.
Excuses can sound reasonable until we shine the light of God’s word of them. Then we see that the only thing to do is to take Christ at His word and trust Him now and for all eternity.
With warmest regards in Christ,
Peter Barnes