Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 268, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1914 — Excuses For Not Becoming A Christian [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Excuses For Not Becoming A Christian

Bf REV. HOWARD POPE

Sop«faitaiclait of M«a, Moody Bible Inuitut* j. v Chicago

TEXT—They all with one consent be gran to make excuse.—Luke 14:18.

Quite often we meet this excuse, "I did something once which gave me a bad record.” I. Very likely. But remember that all who have ever been saved had made a bad record of some kind. Peter had good qualities, but he also had bad habits wffich called forth sharp rebuke ' from the Master, and which

doubtless cost Peter many a sleepless night. He was rash and impulsive, Always saying the wrong thing. Even after he had been with the Master fpr three whole years, he was guilty of falsehood and profanity. Yet Peter, by the grace of God, overcame his ba!f record, and so gained the victory over his besetting sins that later his testimony is “Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” There was Mark, the backslider, who, not discouraged by his signal failure, made a fresh start and became so steadfast and reliable that the Holy Spirit selected him to write a history of the Master’s life. Today millions of people are prayerfully studying the Gospel of Mark, and are thanking God for it. Little did he expect such a career after deserting Paul and Barnabas at Pamphylia, but God knows how to use even a backslider to fyis glory.

11. Remember that Christ did not ©ome to select here and there a perfect man and thus make up a church; he came to seek and to save the lost. He is not looking for righteous men at all, but for Binners. He came expressly to lead such to repentance, and the encouragement which he offers is that he bore the penalty of their sins on the cross and whosoever will may be saved. The strange thing about the Gospel is. that it reveals God’s love for those who have made a bad record, and his desire to blot it out and give them a chance to make a new record.

Notice the great variety of ways in which God describes the putting away of the believer’s sins. In Isaiah 38:17 we read, “Thou hast cast all my sins behind f thy back.” “But,” someone says, “God might turn around and all my sins would be in full sight.’’ Sure enough. And so we read in Mlcah. 7:19, “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” That Is better, but they might wash ashore? Very true, and so God says in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

Now, why should you so persistently remember what God so graciously forgets? Why should you keep in tbe foreground what God is willing to put behind his back? Just throw that bad record in with the rest of your sins and have them all disposed of at once, and then you can have the sweet conthat though you hiay remember your sins, God has entirely forgotten them. Remember also that the longer you wait the worse your record will be. 111. While your bad record will hinder you somewhat, it also will help you. It will tend to keep you humble for one thing, and that will be no small gain. It will enable you to sympathize with others who have made a bad record, and to encourage them to hope for better things. Indeed, your bad record In onq sense will become your strongest weapon of warfare.

IV. Consider also that If you have a particularly bad record your conversion will be a greater triumph of grace than if you were only an ordinary sinner. Jesus Christ claims that he can save the worst of sinners and so change them, by the power of his grace that he will actually be proud of them in heaven. He Is searching the world for hard cases on which to demonstrate hls power. * V. And may It not be that In heaven' those who have been the greatest sinners will be the loudest pralsers of the Redeemer’s name? When the Pharisee Jesus for allowing the outcast woman to weep at hls feet the 1 master said, “Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. A certain man had two debtors, the one ovyed five hundred pence and the other fifty. When they could not pay he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?” Simon answered, "He, I suppose, .to whom he forgave the most” Jesus replied, “Thou hast rightly judged,” and then he drew a contrast between the proud, self-righteous hoßt and the sinful, sorrowing woman who was weeping out her penitence and bathing hls feet with her tears. Even bo our theme In heaven will not he the good deeds we have wrought on earth, but the matchless grace that redeemed us, and the greater the sins from which we have been redeemed, the greater triumph of grace shall we have tq proclaim. • . ... t