441 Sermon Illustrations on Salvation

W. P. Nicholson was from Northern Ireland, came from Christian home, ran away, came back to accept Christ. Made a complete surrender, even though it meant marching in a Salvation Army parade with 2 young girls and a man called "Daft Jimmy" who hardly had enough brains to get a headache, but had sense enough to get saved. All of William's friends and neighbors saw him in the parade and jeered him, but he held firm. (Interesting account of his horror at being laughed at.)

His crusade in N. Ireland in a period of strife in the twenties was credited with easing tensions there. In East Belfast so many shipyard workers came to hear him they moved the gate pillars off their foundation. A foreman remarked there was so little swearing at the shipyard afterwards he thought he was in a Sunday School. He preached to a dignified audience in Hollywood and some were saved.

#200 *

A brief biography of the writer of "Pilgrim's Progress." John Bunyan was a tinker (mender of pots) and was put in prison twelve years for preaching. He was offered a pardon if he would preach only in private, or in approved churches, but he refused for conscience's sake. His wife had four small children, one was blind and died while he was in prison; his wife also had a miscarriage.

As a youth he was deeply convicted concerning sin. The time of his conversion is uncertain because he had several conversion-like experiences.

MORE THAN MERE TINGLE AND MUSH, EMOTIONS PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN FIRMING UP OUR FAITH.

When I was in graduate school I had the opportunity to share my faith with a classmate. As I relayed to my friend his need for personally accepting Christ as Savior and Lord, he asked, "Am I supposed to FEEL any different if I trust Christ?"

I promptly read to him the section in Campus Crusade's "Four Spiritual Laws" booklet entitled "Do Not Depend on Feelings." It reads, "The promise of God's Word, not our feelings, is our authority.... We, as Christians, do not depend on feelings or emotions, but we place our faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God and the promises of His Word."

The booklet goes on to describe the analogy of the engine, the coal car, and the caboose. The engine is the FACT OF God and his Word; the coal car is our FAITH or trust; whereas the caboose is OUR FEELINGS or emotions. The section concludes by saying that "the train will run with or without the caboose" and that "it would be futile to attempt to pull the train by the caboose." At the time, I thought it summed everything up rather nicely.

Several years ago, however, I was challenged by a Christian psychologist to rethink this analogy. He felt the popular Christian premise that we should not listen to our emotions when making decisions assumes that emotions are merely psychological "highs" or irrational states of elation that elicit "tingly" and "mushy" feelings inside. My friend believed that most evangelicals do not understand how emotions work and thus downplay their importance. He was convinced that emotions, in fact, play a crucial part in our finding God. I decided to take him up on his challenge.

THE MARRIAGE OF LEFT AND RIGHT

An important angle to this long-debated issue fell into place as I began to research the functions of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Scientists have discovered that, generally speaking, the right side of the brain controls our emotions, our creativity, and our subjective thinking, while pattern and logical thinking are characteristic of the left side.

Since the right side of the brain controls intuition, artistic expression, and emotional reactions to situations, it also controls our sensitivity to people. Further, the right side of the brain seems to be very important in SOLIDIFYING facts into our conscious memory. For example, I can recall exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard that President Kennedy was assassinated. The same is true for my memory of the space shuttle tragedy. However, there are many other important national and political events that cannot be so quickly and vividly drawn to mind. I remember every detail of the assassination and the crash because of the great emotional impact they carried for me. The right side of my brain functioned simultaneously with the left and indelibly etched all the data concerning these events.

It seems that the left and right sides of the brain, the cognitive and the emotional, work together to anchor an event securely in our minds.

REDISCOVERING OUR HEARTS

With scientific discovery in hand, I decided to look to the Scriptures to see what is said on the matter. I was surprised to find that my new insights were actually a few thousand years old. The idea that our will, intellect, and emotions do and should work together is embedded in the very common biblical concept of the HEART.

The biblical words for heart connote the thoughts or FEELINGS OF the mind." Scripture sees the heart as what actually controls our will and intellect and integrates them with our emotions. In Jesus' comments to the highly religious Pharisees, we see this usage borne out: "You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied against you: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their HEARTS [thoughts, actions, and emotions] are far from me' " (Matt. 15:7-8, NIV).

When you bake a cake, you first mix up all the ingredients. After the cake is cooled and ready to eat, there is no way to separate the ingredients again. The same is true with the heart: It brings together our will, intellect, and emotions; but once it uses these to bring about some action or decision, there is no way to go back and identify the separate ingredients. In a deep and mysterious way our heart represents our whole self. Solomon wrote, "Above all else, guard your HEART, for it is the wellspring of life" (Prov. 4:23, NIV).

We can also see the importance of the heart in a negative example from Exodus 10. We are told that Pharaoh had a "hardened heart." Though he saw what was happening, and could say, I repent" with his will and REASON, and though he COULD HEAR the groanings of his people (the use of all his faculties), Scripture says his HEART would not change.

The apostle Paul also saw a need for an intellectual as well as an emotional affirmation in order to solidify our salvation experience when he stated, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that 'God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your: mouth that you confess and are saved" (Rom. 10:9-10, NIV). In other words, our belief emerges from our hearts, where our intellect and our emotions work together.

THE HEART EXPRESS

So how would I now answer my friend if he asked whether or not he should feel anything when he puts his trust in Christ? Piggybacking on the train illustration, I believe a more helpful picture can be drawn.

In our experience of faith, the engine could represent our will or intellect (instead of facts). The coal car can represent our emotions. Just as an engine does not move without fuel, so our intellect dries up and becomes lifeless without emotional support. And just as a coal car cannot pull a train by itself, likewise our emotions are directionless and lead us nowhere without the balance of our intellect. But when the heart brings these elements together, the wonder of combustion and movement occurs.

So what happened to the caboose? The caboose to this train is works (instead of emotions). We always want and expect to see the caboose on a train. It is a little disappointing to watch a train go by and not see the caboose. In the same way, we expect to see good works in the life of the believer. They belong there. While they can never pull us to heaven, their rightful place is following the engine and coal car.

So it is in our lives. When our will and intellect join hands with our emotions, the spark of faith is kindled and a glorious journey down the tracks of the Truth of God's Word is begun. The unalterable destination is heaven.

________

Richard Fowler is director of the Minirth-Meier clinic of Longview, Texas.

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Examples of great prayer warriors by Mahood, an evangelist at the turn of the century:

Women in Texas prayed for missionary daughter in Hinghwa, China, that they would have a revival. When letter arrived 3 weeks later the revival had started and 1,000 were saved in 50 days.

Dr. A. T. Pierson talked with George Muller shortly before his death and asked him whether he had ever presented any petition to God that had not been granted, and Mr. Muller said that there were two men for whom he had prayed sixty-two years and they were not converted. “Do you expect God to convert them?” asked Pierson. “Certainly. Do you suppose that God would put upon His child for sixty-two years the burden of two souls if He had not purpose of their salvation? I shall meet them in Heaven certainly.”

Shortly after Mueller’s death, Pierson was preaching in Bristol and he referred to this conversation. As he was leaving the church a lady said, “One of those men was my uncle, and he was converted and died a few weeks ago.” The other, a man in Dublin, was also brought to Christ.

Man needed an eye operation but was poor. Surgeon's fee was more than he had, so man figured he would have to go blind. The doctor answered, "You can't come up to my terms, and I can't come down to yours. But there is another course open to us. I can perform the operation for free. And that is what I am willing to do."

In the same way, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins.

Testimony of George Moran.

I know George pretty well - we were born in the same town of Koizumi, Japan, and went to the same high school in Heidelberg Germany. Both of us were saved around the same time and went to Wheaton College. George, however, almost didn't make it to college - while kayaking on the Nekar River, he came too close to a dam and was capsized. The swirling undertow kept him submerged and disoriented. The air in his lungs was rapidly running out when he called to God for help. An instant later his kayak shot out into the air. He credits God with saving him literally and spiritually on that day.

Joy results when we turn to God. God rejoices over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7).

Bill Eikenbary grew up in a Christian home, but drifted away as a young person. His dream in life was to be a police officer. He soon became one, and set his sights on being a sergeant. A few years later he achieved it, and his ambitions were fulfilled.

Soon his job no longer seemed rewarding. He became an alcoholic and sank into depression. By 1980 he had considered suicide more than once. One night he sat at his desk with his service revolver cocked and pressed against his head. He never knew why he didn’t pull the trigger.

A few weeks later Bill was patrolling the downtown at 2 a.m. He came to a church and walked to the front door. It was unlocked, and he went in. His flashlight beam came upon an open Bible on a communion table. As he read it, the passage from the Psalms spoke to his heart. [Passage was from Psalm 143] Bill closed his eyes and prayed to Jesus to become his Lord.

He said he experienced a cleansing that words cannot describe. All is depression and despair were washed down the drain. The next day he told his wife and she revealed that she had been attending that same church for several weeks. She had given her life to Christ in the same sanctuary Bill had been in only hours earlier.

In Bill’s own words, “My heart overflowed with joy as we wept in each other’s arms.”

Have you experienced the joy of God’s salvation?

Gideon Alan Pirrello was doing a Scripture distribution at a nursing home on March 14, 1992. He asked the director about the age range and was told the residents were from 23 to 100 years old. Alan was curious as to why a 23-year-old would be in a nursing home and asked to see him. Seven years previously, at age 15, Ronato had been hit by a truck and had been in a deep coma ever since.

Pirrello read him some Scripture and told the unresponsive body about the love of Jesus Christ for him and asked him to receive Jesus as his Savior. Everyone was stunned when tears began to roll down his cheeks. The nurses said they had never seen him cry for any reason.

I got into a street car in Buffalo, and when the conductor came for

the fare I gave him the leaflet, "Where Hell Is." As I handed it to

him he laughed, and said, "You always give me one of these religious

papers; I suppose you think me a very wicked fellow, but I am as good

as they make them." I held up my Bible and asked, "Do you see this

Book? It tells me 'the heart is deceitful above all things, and

desperately wicked' (\reference{Jeremiah 17:9}{Jeremiah 17:9}). That

means your heart and mine.

It does not sound so very good, does it?" "Oh, well," he said, "there

is plenty of time for me to think of these things; I am still young."

"Yes," I said, "but if you go into any graveyard, you will see graves

of all sizes. A little girl once asked her mother how old one must be

before one dies. The wise mother gave her child a long piece of string

and told her to go into the graveyard and measure the graves, and

every time she measured to tie a knot. Soon after the child came back

with the string full of knots. 'Look, Mother, the graves are all

sizes!' Yes, dear, that is when people die; at all times and all

ages."' Again the young man laughed, and said, "There is plenty of

time for me." On leaving the car, I said, "Remember the time is short,

and you need not go to a Christless grave and hell; Jesus died for

you." I had often met him, and always gave him a tract.

The next morning I traveled by the same car, but a new conductor.

was there. He told me that the one I had spoken to the day before had

intended going for an afternoon's pleasure, but in jumping from one

car to another had missed his footing, was run over by the car, and

injured so that in a few hours he died. I felt very bad, thinking he

had indeed found a Christless grave, but later in the day I was told

that he had accepted the Saviour and wished me to know that he was not

going to a Christless grave. I went to his home, and as I looked on

that dead young man's face I could not help thinking, what an awful

warning to anyone who thinks there is plenty of time.

By William Moses Tidwell, "Effective Illustrations."

Sermon in Joshua series. Deceit of the Gibeonites. Joshua 9:3-16

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HALF A LOAF

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I. If you were really desperate, what could you do?

II. Half and half.

A. Jews get down to worship before next phase of conquest.

B. Altar on Mount Ebal, lately discovered. 8:30

III. Half a loaf of guidance.

A. Everyone is not as they seem.

B. Human wisdom has its limits - seek God. 9:14

IV. How does God guide?

A. Urim and Thummin.

B. Prayer, meditation and Bible.

C. Humans, circumstances and irresistible impulses.

V. Promises, promises.

A. Once made, the treaty is binding.

B. All our promises should be sacred.

VI. The other half of the loaf.

A. Their scheme results in salvation.

B. From curse to blessing. 9:23

C. Admire their shrewdness. Luke 16:1-9

VII. Don't settle for the wrong half of the loaf.

#4420

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Batsell Barrett Baxter puts it this way: "Salvation is by God's grace. It is a gift from God, motivated by his love for us, and is provided through Jesus Christ. Grace means `unmerited favor.' Salvation is an unearned,

undeserved blessing, offered freely to all mankind, and made possible by the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. In short, there was no way that man, the sinner, could earn or merit salvation, so God provided it for him as a gift. This is the Good News of the Gospel"

(The Family of God , p. 34).

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

God... commands all people everywhere to repent. Repent, and believe the good news. Remember then what you received and heard; obey it, and repent. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Yet even now, says the LORD,

return to me with all your heart...

Return to the LORD, your God,

for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,

and relents from punishing.

Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Turn, then, and live. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

[The Lord] does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west

so far he removes our transgressions from us.

Seek the Lord while he may be found,

call upon him while he is near;

let the wicked forsake their way,

and the unrighteous their thoughts;

let them return to the Lord,

that he may have mercy on them,

and to our God,

for he will abundantly pardon.

So they [the disciples] went out and proclaimed that all should repent... They should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance.

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8,9; 2 Peter 3:9; Acts 17:30; Mark 1:15; Revelation 3:3; James 4:10; Joel 2:12-13; Ezekiel 18:31,32; Acts 3:19,20; Psalm 103:10-12; Isaiah 55: 6,7; Mark 6:12; Acts 26:20. Psalm 51:1,2,10.

.....

A COMEDIAN, Dan Leno, used to open his act saying, 'Ah, what is man? Wherefore does he why? Whence did he whence? Whither is he withering?'

Who am I? As our first three chapters disclose, I am a special person made in the image of God, but whose image has been scarred. I am like God, and like the devil. I am good... and bad. I am a delight, but my sins are a horror, both to God and to myself.

How bad am I? There are two opposite errors in some replies to this question. 'Too bad' you might say. Wrong. 'Not bad enough' - again, wrong. Pascal once wrote: 'There are only two kinds of people - the righteous who believe themselves sinners; the rest, sinners who believe themselves righteous.'

We are all are equally guilty - not just those the law calls 'criminals'. Indeed it's people who think they're good enough who are in the greatest peril. Most people in the Bible who were asked to repent were religious people. We cannot offer our righteousness to God (we'll never have enough), only our penitence.

You will sometimes read about the doctrine of 'total depravity' in connection with our sin. This doesn't mean that humans are as bad as they can be, but rather that no part of us has escaped the pollution of sin.

C.S. Lewis explains the old prayer-book phrase about being 'miserable offenders' by analyzing the situation of those who don't realize they're miserable. Passengers on two trains speeding towards each other on the same track may be reading magazines, dozing over a drink, or laughing boisterously. They don't feel miserable. But in fact their situation can be described as utterly miserable. Tell them they're miserable and they'll laugh at you.

John Bunyan's classic Pilgrim's Progress opens with 'a man clothed with rags standing in a certain place with his face from his own house, a book in his hand and a great burden upon his back.' 'How camest thou by thy burden?' this pilgrim was asked by his companion, Mr. Worldly Wiseman. He replied, 'By reading this book in my hand.'

The book, of course, was the Bible, a book with an accurate diagnosis and cure for the human condition. The problem: you are a sinner. Cure: 'Repent!' If you check a concordance you'll find 'repentance' is an idea mentioned as often in the Old as in the New Testaments (eg. Ezekiel 18:31, Luke 13:3, Acts 3:19). Jesus' first recorded preaching was about repentance, so was his last.

So repentance isn't funny, like the little old men in cartoons with sandwich boards shouting 'Repent, the end is nigh!' Or the mourners' bench in Charlie Chaplin films. Byron was wrong in his opinion that 'The weak alone repent'.

And the cynic who said...

Christians are people who feel

Repentance on a Sunday

For what they did on Saturday

And intend to do on Monday

...could not be more wrong!

Repentance is about radical change. It means coming to your senses, waking up to yourself! It means turning from your sins to God.

Repentance isn't the same as 'doing penance': inflicting pain on yourself isn't the way to go. Christ died for your sins: his sacrifice was sufficient. Repentance is more than feeling sorry, though it includes sorrow. Judas felt remorse for betraying Jesus, but apparently he didn't truly repent. (His greater sin was not to betray our Lord, but to refuse to go to Calvary for a pardon). Repentance is more than feeling guilty: guilt can be a form of self-hatred. You should hate your sins, not yourself.

And repentance is not superficial. The bucks stops with you, the penitent. You can't blame anyone but yourself. Repentance has no room for excuses, putting the blame somewhere else. Sigmund Freud, probably more than anyone else in the twentieth century, has done a lot to help us understand ourselves. He located many of our personality disorders in the early experiences of infancy. These, he said, are repressed into our subconscious and come back later to haunt us. Now this may be true, but it could lead to a 'blame-oriented' approach to life. Many who have never heard of Freud still blame their parents for who they are. Repentance is the opposite of blaming. It's you taking responsibility for who you are and what you've done.

Repentance involves a radical change of heart, and mind, and behaviour. It is a U-turn, not merely a course correction. The story of the prodigal son and the waiting father (Luke 15:11-32) is about repentance. The boy felt sorry for himself, then sorry that he'd wronged his dad, so he decided to go to his father and confess: 'I have sinned against God and against you'. He was instantly forgiven, welcomed back into the family, and his homecoming was the occasion for great rejoicing. There's feasting in heaven, Jesus said, whenever a sinner repents. If you have repented did you know you caused the angels to throw a party?

The Bible encourages us to confess our sins to God and to another human being (1John 1:9, James 5:16). Be careful to whom you confess: that person must be able to keep a confidence, and to pray a healing prayer for you.

You are saved from the penalty of your sins (though their effects may lnger). So confess them and forsake them and then don't carry their guilt with you: 'own and disown' them. God has truly, completely forgiven you. It's like being sick, then well: don't keep thinking about your sickness; enjoy your health!

A Christian evangelist was asked, 'How is it that your religion has been around for 2000 years and hasn't influenced more people?' His reply: 'How is it that water has been around for thousands of years and many people are still dirty?'

A final serious word: the refusal to repent is worse than the sin for which one ought to repent. The question really isn't 'Shall I repent?' but 'Shall I repent now, when it may save me?' Jesus had some awesome things to say about one's repentance being one's punishment... So...?

.....

The biblical view of the history of mankind and of each individual is contained in the first three chapters of Genesis. We are created to serve God by loving him and each other in freedom and joy, but we invariably choose bondage and woe instead as prices not too high to pay for independence. To say that God drove Adam and Eve out of Eden is apparently a euphemism for saying that Adam and Eve like the rest of us made a break for it as soon as God happened to look the other way. If God really wanted to get rid of us, the chances are he wouldn't have kept hounding us every step of the way ever since.

[Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, London, Collins, 1973, p.55-56.]

I went back to the New Testament, to the Acts and the epistles, to Peter and Paul, who were the first ones to preach the gospel to a pagan world. What does it mean to preach the Christian gospel to such a world...?

Christ, after his resurrection, said... `Now that the resurrection is a reality, now that forgiveness of sins is accomplished in this new covenant, go out to all the earth and preach the good news of the forgiveness of sins to all the nations'...

That is good news, to the Masai, to the guilty man cast out of his community, to the sinful son and to the offending family. I do not have to convince them of sin. They know of sin. What they did not know of was forgiveness. It has touched the earth. This is where Christianity parts company from Judaism and from Hinduism and from paganism. Sin is a conquered thing. This is a redeemed world. One wonders if one should dare talk to pagans about sin - apart from Christ, until they know Christ.

The job of a missionary, after all, is... to teach the forgiveness of sin.

[Vincent J Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered, London, SCM, 1985, p.61-62.]

Jesus describes sinfulness as more than just doing wrong things. When we fail to do what's right, it's as bad as doing wrong. You can be totally law-abiding and not give a thought for anyone else. Sin is basically four things: 1. Failing - in our thinking, saying and action - to do what is right. 2. Trying to find meaning and fulfillment without God's love, relationship and guidance. 3. Rejecting and rebelling against God. 4. Missing out on the full and creative life God intends for us...

[Repentance] begins with being sorry enough to quit the past... It begins with: * changing directions * changing sides * changing what is important to us * changed alliances * changed intentions * changed commitments... There should be changes everywhere - enough for it to be noticeable: * at home * at work * at sport * in relationships * in lifestyle * in attitudes * in thinking.

[John Smith]

Sin incriminates. To be a sinner means to be guilty before God. Guilt is that aspect of sin which belongs to the past, and is well expressed in the words from Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyam,

The Moving Finger writes; and having writ

Moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,

Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.

As Paul would say, 'the handwriting is against us', and this is something that no merely human means can ever remedy...

The late Archbishop Temple once wrote, 'A great deal too much attention has been given to sins as compared with sin. And so, if it happens that I cannot think of any particular wrong thing that I have done, or any particular good thing that I might have done and neglected, yet still I must ask God to be merciful to me a sinner, for I share the common sin of [humankind] and make myself in a host of ways the centre of the world. I think like a human and not like God.'

[James Philip, Repentance: Its Meaning and Implications, London: the Tyndale Press, 1963, pp. 12-13,20.]

Your intellect says, 'I accept Christ,' your emotions say, 'I love Christ,' and your will says 'I will follow Christ.' In true repentance all your powers are diverted and channeled through Christ. It is not just giving mental assent, it is not just an act of volcanic emotion, nor is it an act of will power alone. True repentance is bringing all of our being - mind, heart and will - under the control of Christ.

[Billy Graham, 'The Meaning of Repentance', a sermon preached on 'The Hour of Decision', Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Box 779 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55440, 1967, pp. 8-9.]

Repentance must not be mistaken for remorse. It does not consist in feeling terribly sorry that things went wrong in the past; it is an active, positive attitude which consists in moving in the right direction. It is made very clear in the parable of the two sons (Mt. 21:28) who were commanded by their father to go to work at his vineyard. The one said 'I am going,' but did not go. The other said, 'I am not going,' and then felt ashamed and went to work. This was real repentance, and we should never lure ourselves into imagining that to lament one's past is an act of repentance. It is part of it of course, but repentance remains unreal and barren as long as it has not led us to doing the will of the father. We have a tendency to think it should result in fine emotions and we are quite often satisfied with emotions instead of real, deep changes.

[Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, 'Meditation and Worship', in John Garvey (ed.), Modern Spirituality: An Anthology, London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1986, pp. 35-36.]

Ignatius sums up as one single and fundamental principle (in other words, his First Principle and Foundation): our end is God; therefore what helps towards God is good, what gets in the way is bad. Things are not good or bad in themselves, but only in the effect they have on our relationship with God. We can recall Augustine's classic, rule-defying pronouncement: `Love, and do what you will'.

[Margaret Hebblethwaite, Finding God in All Things, London, Fountain Paperbacks, 1987, p.35]

Repentance is a gift... I do not have to live into fearful defensiveness in relation to my past... I can learn things today that shed a whole new light on yesterday's conclusions, and this is precisely what I hear Jesus encouraging us to do in his call for us to repent and believe the Good News. He is affirming that God is more interested in growth than innocency, in how much we have learned from our mistakes rather than how many mistakes we have made. Is not that the crucial point in the way the father of the prodigal son responded to his return from the far country? He was more concerned about what the lad had gained in terms of self-understanding than about the money and time he had lost in coming to that wisdom.

[John Claypool, 'Growing and the Gift of Repentance', a sermon preached in Northminster Baptist Church, 3955 Ridgewood Rd., Jackson, Mississippi, on August 31, 1980.]

Repentance, metanoia, is the turning of the mind, and with the mind the imagination, the affections and the will, away from self and sin and towards God. It is within an act of Godward-turning that our self-examination happens. We look towards God in gratitude for his loving-kindness, towards Jesus in his death for our sins, towards our own true self in what it is meant to become. The examining of our consciences will be thorough, and while it means a looking into ourselves it will not be an introspective self-scrutiny, for it will be mingled with the looking up towards God and the exposing of the self towards him. But the preparation will be thorough. It is not a matter of naming those sins which seem to be 'big' or which worry us specially, for it is necessary to confess all the ways in which our attitudes and actions have been contrary to the Christian way. That is important. It is a confession of the whole self, and the attitudes and actions which we may sometimes think to be small may be a decisive part of the self's orientation.

[William Ramsay, Be Still and Know: A Study in the Life of Prayer, London: Collins (Fount paperbacks), 1982, pp. 107-8.]

Oh the comfort,

the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person,

Having neither to weigh thoughts or measure words

but pour them all out just as they are

Chaff and grain together,

and a faithful hand will take them and sift them,

keep what is worth keeping,

and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away

-- Dinah Maria (Mulock) Craik, in her novel “A Life For A Life” (1859)

[often falsely attributed to George Eliot, which is the pseudonym of

Mary Ann Evans, English Victorian novelist (1819-1880)

The most noble strategy for dealing with guilt is the way of self-punishment. Do you remember how T.S.Elliot's Celia said, `I feel I must atone for this'? This is a very deep impulse of the human spirit - to conclude that because a wrong has been done, some price needs to be paid or some equivalent action taken. At least in this approach there is a recognition of the seriousness of the situation and of the individual's responsibility. However, the problem with self-punishment is that one never knows how much is enough; we can spend all our lives scourging ourselves and still feel no sense of absolution. Soren Kierkegaard's father, as a shepherd lad out on the freezing Danish slopes, once cursed God, and the memory of that act of blasphemy haunted the man for the rest of his life. He never stopped punishing himself for this misdeed. He gave lavish sums of money to the church, even lacerated his own body, but he was never able to believe that the debt had at last been paid. Any attempt to design or effect our own atonement is bound to end in uncertainty and failure. [John Claypool, The Light Within You, Texas: Word, 1983, p.188.]

The practice of confession and absolution is central to the teachings of the Christian church. Throughout the pages of Holy Scripture the reader encounters a variety of forms and procedures reflecting an understanding of and support for confession and forgiveness.

Luther struggled to restore the proper practice of individual confession and absolution to the church... His writings reveal that he allowed... six types of confession:

(1) confession in the heart (secret confession)

(2) general or public confession in the liturgy

(3) public confession made by an individual before an assembled congregation

(4) reconciliatory confession (based on Matthew 5:23-24))

(5) the 'mutual consolation of the brethren'

(6) private (individual) confession.

[Walter J. Koehler, Counseling and Confession: The Role of Confession and Absolution in Pastoral Counseling, St. Louis: Concordia, 1982, pp. 38, 39.]

Confessing one's sins to another human being... makes a public expression of my sorrow... It is an act of humility wherein I accept the authority of the Church as guardian and guide to the holy things of God. I accept my fellow human being as someone better able than myself to make a judgment of where I stand, of my guilt - and of my goodness; and I accept through his word the promised forgiveness of God, who knows me through and through. This practice brings peace of mind and soul, a deeper trust in God, and a facing of the reality of sin in my life as something to be tackled in the future, once it is clear that the past is no more a burden, that guilt does not remain, that there is nothing to hold me back.

Michael Hollings, Hearts Not Garments, London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1982, p.50.

The seven capital sins are pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth...

What am I proud about?

What are my ambitions?

What does sex mean for me?

Have I shown anger and if so was it constructive?

Have I suppressed anger in any areas of my life, and if so is it doing

damage?

What am I dependent on in food and drink?

Have I got professional jealousies, or jealousies in relationships?

What am I lazy about?

Or, if we turn our minds to the corresponding positive qualities:

What is the gift of humility?

What would it be like to be less concerned with better status and

possessions?

What would it mean to have a sexual drive directed towards the real

purpose of sex?

What is the virtue of gentleness?

What is best for my health in eating and drinking?

What would it be like to desire the well-being and success of others

without envy?

For what causes would it be good to be able to work tirelessly...?

`God works with those who love him... and turns everything to their good' (Romans 8:28). And St Augustine adds, `even my sins'.

[Margaret Hebblethwaite, Finding God in All Things, London, Fountain Paperbacks, 1987, pp.158, 142.]

.....

O Lord, our God, grant us the grace to long for you with our whole heart, and that so longing we may seek and find you; and that so finding you we may love you; and that so loving you we may hate those sins from which you redeemed us for the sake of Jesus Christ.

[Anselm, cited in Praying with the Saints, Dublin, Veritas Publications, 1989, p.12.]

Lord, your 'need' is to love, mine to be loved by you. Your 'need' expressed itself in my creation, my being made an object of your love. I am a masterpiece of spiritual, emotional and physical engineering, with a spirit yearning to relate to you, the living God; a soul and mind and heart and will to relating lovingly to others, and a body to relate to a dynamic cosmos.

Your love, Lord, expressed itself ultimately in the life of Jesus, and now in the life of Jesus-in-me.

Lord, when I think back on my sins, my feelings range from sadness (for what might have been) through regret (either that I was found out by others or found out who I was really was myself) to anger (that I could have been so destructive and stupid). Perhaps also fear: what will almighty God do to me for what I've done?

So out of my darkness, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come to you. I receive your gift of forgiveness, and ask for your help to live in the future a life of commitment to yourself and obedience to your word.

I am not worthy to come to you, or belong to your eternal family, Lord. But apparently that's not the point: your invitation is not conditional upon my goodness, but simply upon my acceptance of it.

I accept!

.....

A Benediction: May God, who in your conscience has already graciously given you an awareness of your sins, give you also grace to repent, grace to accept his complete forgiveness, and then grace to forgive yourself! Amen.

.....

[John Smith, 'When Love Comes to Stay', Care and Communication Concern, 1990, pp. 5,7.]

*

HIS SUBSTITUTE

A great preacher of another generation, Dr. John McNeill, used to say that of all people in Jerusalem he thought Barabbas had the best idea of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Said he: "You will remember that he should have been crucified and Jesus released, but the order was exactly reversed. The door of the

prison swings open and Barabbas is free. As he comes out into the light of day all the people seem to be hurrying in one direction. He hears them saying that someone named Jesus was to be crucified out that way. He stops a moment to think, then exclaims, ~Why, that is the man that is dying in my stead; I

will go and see him.' He pushes his way through the city and on up the hillside until he reaches the surging mob around the cross, pushes his way through to the Savior. I hear him say, `I do not know who this man is, but he is dying in my place, and because he is dying in my place, I do not need to die.' And that is the substance of the atonement,--Christ, your substitute, dying in your place."

("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 35)

H. A. Ironside once told the following:

"One of the first gospel illustration that ever made a real impression upon my young heart was simple story that I heard a preacher tell when I was less than nine years old. It was of pioneers who were making their way across one of the central states to a distant place that had been opened up for homesteading. They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress was necessarily slow. One day they were horrified to note a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie, and soon it was evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely, and was coming toward them rapidly. They had crossed a river the day before but it would be impossible to go back to that before the flames would be upon them. One man only seemed to have an understanding as to what should be done. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. Then when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon it. As the flames roared on toward them from the west, a little girl cried out in terror. "Are you sure we shall not all be burned up?" The leader replied, "My child, the flames can reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has been!"

The fires of God's judgment burned themselves out on Him, and all who are in Christ are safe forever, for they are now standing where the fire has been. - Robert G. Lee, Sermonic Library, pp. 105-06.

How Do You Get Into Heaven? This question will bring a variety of

answers. A confusion of views is evident in the following sampling of

opinions gathered for the Radio Bible Class program 'Sounds of the

Times': - "God wouldn't send you to hell." (New York) - "I'll cross that bridge when I get there." (Boston) - "You have to believe in God." (Miami) - "There is nothing I can do about it." (New York)

- "I don't dare say that I know I'm going." (Los Angeles)

- "Keep the Ten Commandments." (San Francisco)

- "How I live my life...being kind to other people." (Boston)

- "Jesus gave His life for my salvation." (Los Angeles)

- "I couldn't care less." (Boston)

- "Be a good person." (Gainesville)

- "I feel I'd go to hell." (San Francisco)

Can we know? Or is one idea as good as another? The Word of God tells

us that we can have a definite answer. It's the answer that focuses on

Jesus Christ. \reference{Acts 16:31}{Acts 16:31} emphasizes, "Believe

on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." \reference{Ephesians

2:8-9}{Ephesians 2:8-9} tells us, "For by grace you have been saved

through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not

of works, lest anyone should boast." Jesus Christ announced that whoever believes in Him will "not perish

but have everlasting life" (\reference{John 3:16}{John 3:16}).

\reference{Romans 5:1}{Romans 5:1} reminds us that we can be qualified

for heaven by faith in Christ. --Kurt E. DeHaan

One of the great events of British history occurred at Dunkirk in 1940. The Nazis were sweeping the European continent and breathing threats against Great Britain. By May, they had most of Europe under control and England was in extreme peril. Neville Chamberlain had resigned and Winston Churchill had just assumed command as Prime Minister. One of his first decisions was to evacuate hundreds of thousands of British citizens and soldiers still on the continent. But how was it to be done? Churchill sent out the word to British citizens to inform the government of all available boats at least thirty to one hundred feet in length. The purpose wasn't disclosed immediately, but it soon became obvious to the world what was happening. Within nine days in May, 1940, 887 vessels (sailing boats, tug boats, pleasure craft, whatever would float and could haul human cargo) rescued 338,000 people from Dunkirk. They redeemed Britain's citizens from their captivity.

The Golden Gate Bridge was built in San Francisco between 1933 and 1937. During the first half of construction over a dozen men fell as far as 700 feet to their death in the water below. Imagine what it must have been like to slip. I wonder what those workers' last thoughts were like. Construction was halted and a huge safety net, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, was stretched underneath. During he second half of construction six people fell and none of them lost their lives. Interestingly, work proceeded at 25% greater efficiency!

==============================

Another version:

During the first part of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, no safety devices were used, and 23 men fell to their deaths. For the last part of the project, however, a large net which cost $100,000 was employed. At least 10 men fell into it and were saved. But an interesting sidelight is the fact that 25 percent more work was accomplished when the men were assured of their safety!

-Dennis J. De Haan, Tan 5252

==============================

Third version:

When the Golden Gate bridge was constructed, it was then the longest, highest, widest, costliest brige in the world. Because of the danger, work proceeded behind schedule. Then someone hit on a brilliant idea. Why not build a net under the construction area? Then, if any workman fell, he would not tumble to his death, but would land in the net and thus be saved. So a giant safety net of stout cord was made and swung under the construction work, the first time in history a major construction that such a net had been used. This safety net reportedly cost around one hundred thousand dollars. Because the workmen knew that if they did slip, they would not fall to their death, the work then proceeded at a much faster rate.

==============================

Fourth version:

In 1937, the great Golden Gate Bridge was completed. It cost $77 million. It was built in two stages: the first slowly, and the second rapidly. In the first stage, twenty-three men fell to their death. And the work ground to a halt because fear paralyzed the workmen as helplessly they watched their companions plummeting from the structure to the water far below. Finally, an ingenious person thought, “There needs to be a security net.” So they put together, for $100,000, the largest net ever built and hung that net beneath the workmen. When phase two began, ten were saved who fell into that net. The work proceeded twenty-five percent faster until the job was done.

As Christian, when we fall or stumble, we can rest assured that Jesus, our security net, will catch us and lift us back. We are secure in the arms of Jesus.

___________

The Tale Of The Tardy Oxcart by Charles R. Swindoll, Word, pp. 509-510.

Man does not come to know God through works - he comes to know God by faith through grace. You cannot work your way toward heaven, you cannot moralize your way, you cannot reform your way, and you cannot buy your way. It comes as a gift of God through Christ.

- Billy Graham

Many times in my life I have been in a strange town and did not know how to get to my destination. When I stopped for directions people would often say something like, “Go two blocks, turn left at the stop sign then go until you come to the fourth traffic light and turn right. You can’t miss it.” But I often did miss it.

However, once when I asked directions the man did not give me a list of directions but got in his car and said, “Follow me, I’ll take you right to it.” In a sense that man became the way to my destination. In the same manner, Jesus is our way to heaven. We do not get to heaven by following a list of directions but by following Jesus Christ.

My salvation does not depend upon me holding on to Jesus. Rather,

Jesus holds on to me and he does not have slippery fingers.

The distance between the head and the heart is 18 inches.

Unfortunately, a 'head' (intellectual) knowledge of the Lord Jesus

Christ, fully knowing and giving mental assent to the plan of

salvation, without also a 'heart' acceptance that brings the personal

relationship that the Bible demands, avails nothing to any man.

Christ wants your 'heart', not just your head because "The Lord

seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but

the Lord looketh on the heart." (7)

It is vitally important that you make sure it is not just head

knowledge and mental assent you have given to Jesus Christ. He needs

the complete surrender of your heart and life so that you may be truly

born again.

Eighteen inches can mean an eternity with Christ or an eternity

with- out Christ. Are you sure of your personal relationship to Him?

Why not settle the question in your heart once and for all right now?

Bible References: (1) \reference{Matthew 7:23}{Matthew 7:23}; (2)

\reference{Romans 10:2}{Romans 10:2}; (3) \reference{Romans 3:10-

18}{Romans 3:10-18}, \reference{21-23}{Romans 3:21-23};

(4)\reference{John 14:5}{John 14:5}; (5)\reference{John 5:12}{John

5:12}; (6)\reference{Romans 10:9-10}{Romans 10:9-10}; (7) \reference{1

Samuel 16:7}{1 Samuel 16:7}.

-- Paul W. Empet

I have an insurance policy

Written in the blood of the Lamb, Sealed by the Cross of Jesus.

Redeemable wherever I am!

The company will never go bankrupt,

It is bonded by God's promise true;

It will keep every word of its contract,

Exactly what it says it will do.

I don't have to die to collect it.

No premiums do I have to pay;

All I do is to keep God's promise

And walk in His holy way.

No collector wifl ever come calling,

It was paid on Calvary's tree;

It insures me for living and dying

And for all eternity.

-H.H. Hover Tan 5244

A man once came to a preacher and said, "I was filled with joy in the

meeting yesterday. Now it has all gone-all-and I do not know what to

do. It is as dark as night." "I am so glad," was the preacher's reply.

He looked at the servant of Christ with astonishement and said, "What

do you mean?"

"Yesterday God gave you joy. Today He sees you are resting on your

emotion. instead of Christ. He has taken it away in order to turn you

to Christ. You have lost your joy, but you have Christ. Have you ever

passed through a railway tunnel?" "Yes, often." "Because it was dark,

did you become melancholy and alarmed?" 'Of course not." "And did you,

after a while, again come into the light?" "I am out now!" he

exclaimed, interrupting the servant of Christ. "It's all right,

feelings or no feelings!"

-A.E. Janzen, Tan 5247

Charles Schultz, creator of the comicstrip "Peanuts" pictures one of

his characters, Linus, tenaciously clinging to his security blanket.

Wherever he goes or whatever he does, Linus must have his blanket. He

feels insecure without it. This may be humorous, but actually all of

us have to have our security blankets of one kind or another.

"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting

arms" (\reference{Deut. 33}{Deuteronomy 33}: 27).

-Carl C. Williams Tan 5249

At a travel bureau a clerk was trying to convince a woman of the

safety of air travel. She remained unconvinced until he threw in the

clincher, "Madam, if it wasn't safe, would we be using the fly now,

pay later plan?"

-Pastor's Manual Tan 5251