How I Became a Christian

I had a smattering of Christian instruction as a child, but it didn’t get as far as my heart. Maybe not as far as my brain; I couldn’t have told you if Abraham or Moses had brought the Ten Commandments down from the mountain. I really wasn't paying attention.

That changed the senior year of high school when I became disillusioned and gave up on finding meaning and fulfillment in the youth culture of that time--with its drugs, Eastern mysticism, "free" love, and rebellion against authority. After a bad drug experience in which I was overcome with guilt and thoughts of death, I decided to change course and seek after God.

"Religious" is Not Enough

I did many things to get close to God. I read the Bible. I prayed. I made an altar in my bedroom with candles and a picture of Jesus. I went to church. I tried to quit bad habits. After graduating from high school, I traveled to Israel to understand the Bible better. I worked on a kibbutz near Nazareth, hiked up the Mount of Transfiguration, and spent a week with monks in a Trappist monastery. I had become "religious" yet God still seemed far away.

On Sundays I’d catch a bus from the kibbutz to Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee to attend the Church of Scotland. I found pleasure in the singing and sermons but sensed something was missing. In Pastor Hugh, especially, I saw a joy and a love for God and people that I didn’t have. And the way he talked about Jesus! Pastor Hugh had a personal relationship with him—that’s what I was missing.

Problem of Sin

While visiting Jerusalem I was introduced to an older missionary couple who lived outside the Old City Walls and supported themselves with retirement income. They handed me a Bible as I entered their apartment and for two weeks we studied together. They began by teaching about sin--a good place to begin because I had the idea that people are basically good, and until I let go of that idea I wasn't ready for a Savior.

The missionaries explained that all are sinful and stand condemned before a holy God. “All we like sheep have gone astray.” “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And a just and holy God requires a penalty for sin. “The wages of sin is death.” “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”

Could I fix the sin problem myself? No. Even our best efforts fall short. “All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.” Nothing we do can change the sinful nature. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.” We will never remove our sins no matter how much we try to reform ourselves.

God's Solution

The missionaries explained that to be right with God the penalty for sin must be paid. In the Old Testament God required a blood sacrifice for sin. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." The blood of animals was symbolic, pointing to the only sacrifice acceptable to God: the blood of Christ, the sinless Lamb of God who bore the punishment for sin on the cross. “For Christ also suffered for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God."

Saved by Grace Alone

I was surprised to discover that salvation is not something we earn or deserve. It is the free gift of God’s grace based on Christ's death on the cross. "For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not because of works."

I don’t know precisely when I became a Christian, but on the day I understood that God grants forgiveness and eternal life as an undeserved gift of His grace, I trusted the Lord Jesus as my Savior. And for the first time I had peace with God and freedom from guilt, and I was no longer afraid of death.

Denny Hoyt

Updated June 1, 2012

References: Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Hebrews 9:27; Isaiah 64:6; Jeremiah 13:23; Leviticus 17:11; I Peter 3:18; Ephesians 2:8-9

God is Great, God is Good

How are we to think about God? Is it better to dwell on His goodness and personal presence with us? Or is it better to dwell on God's greatness, His sovereignty and power?

Roger Olson in The Mosaic of Christian Belief (pp. 111-132) talks about the ancient dialogue about God's greatness and goodness and says Christians generally have "acknowledged both aspects of God and sought to do justice to both equally. However, in many cases specific theologians and groups of Christians have overemphasized one side of God's revealed nature to the neglect if not outright denial of the other side. In fact, it is not overstatement to say theologians and Christian traditions have almost always tended to begin with one of these two poles and relativize the other one in its light."

Olson encourages a balanced, all-embracing view of God. "From Jesus' prayer opening, "our Father who art in heaven" to the child's prayer opening, "God is great; God is good," to the various hymns mature Christians sing, everything in divine revelation and Christian devotion points together to this duality: Our God is both glorious beyond our understanding (transcendent) and perfectly good beyond any creaturely goodness."

Attributes associated with God's transcendence include self-sufficiency, eternality, omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience. Attributes associated with God's immanence or personal presence are love, faithfulness, mercy, justice and wisdom. We may share in the latter qualities, but God's transcendent qualities belong to Him alone.

Olson writes, "[P]roper Christian belief is faithful to divine revelation and the Great Tradition confesses that God is both perfectly good and unsurpassably great. However, some theologians and groups of Christians have developed views of God that they believe are true to revelation and the consensus of Christian thought through the patristic and the Reformation but that emphasize either God's transcendence or God's personal presence and goodness in a special way. Often this arises from a concern with some previous approach to God's being that is perceived as one-sided. The pendulum swings."

Spending regular times in the Psalms is an excellent antidote to polarized thinking about God, for the Psalms continually invite us to meditate on both God's kingly majesty and His goodness and love.

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The LORD is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Psalm 145:3-9

That's My King!

That's My King!

From Sermon by Pastor S.M. Lockridge

The Bible says he’s the King of the Jews. He’s the King of Israel. He’s the King of Righteousness. He’s the King of the ages. He’s the King of heaven. He’s the King of glory. He’s the King of kings and He’s the Lord of lords. That’s my king! I wonder, do you know him?

My king is a sovereign king. No means of measure can define his limitless love. He’s enduringly strong. He’s entirely sincere. He’s eternally steadfast. He’s immortally graceful. He’s imperially powerful. He’s impartially merciful. Do you know him?

He’s the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He’s God’s Son. He’s the sinner’s Savior. He’s the centerpiece of civilization. He’s unparalleled. He is unprecedented. He’s the loftiest idea in literature. He’s the highest idea in philosophy. He’s the fundamental doctrine of true theology. He’s the only one qualified to be an all-sufficient Savior. I wonder if you know him today.

He supplies strength for the weak. He’s available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and he saves. He strengthens and sustains. He guards and he guides. He heals the sick. He forgives sinners. He discharges debtors. He delivers the captive. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent. He beautifies the meager. I wonder if you know Him?

He’s the key to knowledge. He’s the wellspring of wisdom. He’s the doorway to deliverance. He’s the pathway of peace. He’s the roadway of righteousness. He’s the highway of holiness. He’s the gateway to glory. Do you know him?

Well, His life is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteousness. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

I wish I could describe him to you. He’s indescribable. He’s incomprehensible. He’s invincible. He’s irresistible.

Well, you can’t get him out of your mind; you can’t. You can’t get him off your hands. You can’t outthink him. You can’t outlive him. You can’t outlast him. And you can’t live without him.

Well, the Pharisees couldn’t stand him. But they found out they couldn’t stop him. Pilate couldn’t find any fault in him. Herod couldn’t kill him. Death couldn’t handle him. And the grave couldn’t hold him. That’s my king! Yes, yes, yes, you are my King!

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever and ever and ever and ever--how long is that? And ever and ever and ever…and when you’re through with all the forevers, then amen, amen…Yes, you are my king! Thank God, thank God, almighty God, you are my king, amen and amen!”

Fear of Ridicule

How often have we sensed the Lord prompting us to speak up, reach out, champion a cause or lead an effort--but we held back out of fear of ridicule?

"Anytime we are engaged in a work for God, we are likely to encounter the poison-tipped arrows of ridicule. A barrage of truth mingled with lies, innuendo, malicious gossip and implied threats is the normal experience of leaders. Malice arises from fear. And fear is a common response to someone else’s success. So expect to have your faults thrown in your face, your folly mocked and your real progress belittled. When this happens, by all means allow yourself to be cut down to size, but do not let yourself be dismayed or intimidated. Remember that the chorus of contempt has a diabolical conductor whose aim is to make your knees buckle. He likes tongue-tied, ineffective Christians and plays on your secret fears and inferiorities to make you one of them."  (Today in the Word, October 17, 1993.)

But if God is our fortress and shield, the enemy's ridicule needn't keep us from the path of obedience, whatever our feelings may be. John White writes, "I am full of fears and chasms of inferiority. Whenever I have listened to the enemy pointing them out I have stopped working for the kingdom. Yet in those moments when I have refused to listen to him and have feebly walked in obedience, I have been astonished at what God has done with my feeble performance.”

 

So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper;

I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

Hebrews 13:6

Divine Love May Hurt, No Matter What

"I think the pain you have had in life has left scars but has driven you toward Aslan just as His claw marks on the back of the girl in "A Horse and His Boy" prompted her to ride her horse faster than she believed possible."

In a letter from a friend


If we live "just right" can we pretty much avoid trouble and pain? I thought so once. Or at least I assumed a corollary idea: if things aren't going well then somehow I must be at fault. And since it all comes back to me, if I can get to bottom of things and set them right, then God will make the trouble go away. Neat! But of course the problem of pain is more complicated.

For one thing, God speak to us "the truth in love" (Eph 4:15) and truth, however kindly shared, can fall like so many hammer blows upon our folly and pride. Is the hammer of a friend a bad thing? No. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy" (Prov 27:6). "Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts" (Prov 20:30).

Truth often demands change and where there's change there's discomfort, even trauma. Such discomfort and trauma can even be the temporary effect of God's kindness, as when He calls us to repentance (which means a change of direction). "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Rom 2:4).

A kind hand may be a rough hand and God's love may bring pain no matter how obedient we are. We might well imagine the healing hands of Jesus being warm and tender, but also firm on account of sawing and sanding and pounding at the carpenter's bench.


Sometimes God uses pain to get our attention. C.S. Lewis said, "Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

As a young Christian I came across a poem in J.I. Packer's Knowing God that I've always liked but always found, well, a bit jarring.

When God wants to drill a man,

And thrill a man,

And skill a man
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects

Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!
How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And with every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out--
God knows what He's about.  -- Unknown

Hebrews 12 instructs us not to be weary when the Lord reproves us, "For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." Romans 5:3 says, "Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." Under the sovereign hand of a loving Heavenly Father, afflictions lead to greater godliness and wider service. Joseph understood this when he reflected upon the cruel treatment of his brothers and said to them, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20).

On the other hand, there is danger in thinking that every hard and painful thing that happens was designed by God simply to make us more godly. If we think like that, life will soon have the feel of a beauty pageant run by a God who seems willing to let any awful thing happen to us just so we will become more attractive to him. But God is not so cold and manipulative; his "steadfast love endures forever" and his "mercies never come to an end" (Lamentations 3:22-23). Really, if all God cares about is making us perfect, then why not take us to heaven now and be done with it? 

No, the cause of many of our troubles lies outside ourselves. The sufferings of Jesus were not due to any shortcoming of his; it was never because he needed moral improvement. His sufferings were entirely the consequence of Adam's sin--Adam's sin and ours. "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:5).

Granted, the sufferings of Jesus were unique. His sufferings were an atoning sacrifice for sin; because he suffered and died for us, we have forgiveness and peace with God. "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed" (I Peter 2:24).

Our sufferings, on the other hand, do not and cannot atone for a single sin. Yet, like Jesus, we do in various ways suffer because of the sins of others--ultimately because of Adam's sin by which suffering and death entered into world--but also because of the sins of people we grew up with, the sins of those we live with and work with and worship with.

It is inherent in the human condition that we will oftentimes find ourselves burdened or deprived or neglected or badly treated, not because of what we ourselves have done or failed to do, but because of the sins of others. That is why we must constantly stay poised to forgive. "Forgiveness," writes Neil Anderson, "is agreeing to live with the consequences of another person's sin."

Finally, we should always remember that behind all the world's pain and suffering slithers the malevolent being and activity of Satan. He is the god of this world and he is set to do us harm. Jesus said he is a murderer and a thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10). "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world" (I Pet 5:8-9). 

"By every act induces him to try His splendor out." In pain and hardship God invites us to lift up our eyes and see his transcendent glory. "Show me Thy glory"--that is how Moses prayed when things turned ugly in the wilderness (Exodus 33:18). And at the end of the day, that is the best thing we can pray when times are dark and difficult: "Lord, show me Your glory."

If God Weeps, Shouldn't We?

For most of my adult life I've carried in my wallet a short poem on sorrow by a Scottish missionary named Geoffrey Bull.

    O Lord, I have not learnt to cry,

Perhaps I laugh too oft for true conformity

To Thee and Thy rough Cross, or try

To love Thee without sorrowing—

Talk but touch not, thus they heed not.

What heart, O Lord, moved through the garden?

I too have slept, but wake me, Lord,

E’en though it be to love with tears.

It can't but sober us to picture Jesus weeping over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), and crying with his friends near Lazarus' tomb (John 11:28-36), and agonizing in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44).


The thought of Jesus' tears assures us that in our times of sorrow we have a Lord who sympathizes with us in the deepest of ways. Grief was so much a part of his life that Scripture gives him title Man of Sorrows. "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3).

The Lord's tears also remind us that heartache is the price of loving others in a fallen world. If we would love like Jesus, we must learn to weep like Jesus.

"I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit--that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh" (Romans 9:1-3). 

You Never Walk Alone

As a child I sometimes watched a religious broadcast on our black and white TV called “You Never Walk Alone.” Whatever the topic of the day, the Rev. Reuben K. Youngdahl always returned at the show's conclusion to the theme of God’s abiding presence, saying in a deep reassuring tone, “Remember, you never walk alone.”

Sometimes it is enough just to know we are not alone. “Emmanuel“ is the name for Jesus that means “God with us.” To be with us means God is present where we are. It means He is on our side. It means He is for us. “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:31-32).

Ambushing Satan With a Song

“And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.” 2 Chronicles 20:22

Martin Luther was convinced that Christian music holds a power for confronting the spiritual forces of evil. “Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of man. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath, impurity and other devices.” And again, “The Devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God.”

One of my first memories of spiritual warfare is of standing by a cemetery singing a hymn. Doesn't sound like much but it was a big deal. As an unsaved teenager I had often biked—no, flew--past this cemetery after spending time with friends. The road wound through a little-trafficked ravine past a row of houses and streets lights and into a dark and wooded area until it came to the cemetery, deserted except for gravestones and long shadows. It was creepy. It gave me cold tingles up and down the spine. But now as a young Christian in my early twenties I lived close to the cemetery and had come upon its iron gates during a night walk. This time, however, I did not flee in a visceral terror. I stood my ground, full of faith in my Savior, and allowed my gaze to roam across the cemetery as I sang “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”

This old hymn is a great confidence builder and may well drive out the devil, as Luther said.

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:

For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,

Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow’rs, no thanks to them, abideth;

The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).

The Sustaining Thought of God

"The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action" (Daniel 11:32).

I reread Maurice Robert's The Thought of God last month and found so much encouragement I bought several copies and gave them to friends for Christmas. Early on Roberts talks about how the thought of God strengthens His people in difficult circumstances.

To have God in his mind and thought is the believer's constant source of strength. The martyr languishes in the flames but his mind flies upward to God his Saviour and looks forward blissfully to the glory that awaits him even as his body sinks to ashes. The imprisoned Christian forgets the harsh regime of the camp, the daily grind and gruelling labour, as his mind soars upward on the wings of hope to remember God. The weary missionary, struggling with unfamiliar syllables and convoluted grammar in his appointed sphere of service sees beyond the frustrations of the hour as he remembers God, his 'exceeding great reward' (Gen 15:1). The faithful pastor of the congregation in his study and confronted with an impossible daily agenda of duties, brightens in his heart and feels his pulse quicken as he remembers his Master above. The thought of God enlivens all action.

That the infinite God loves us individually and perfectly is a thought that often relieves sorrow.

[W]hat an infinity there is in the thought of God! Nothing can approach in beauty to the idea of the true and living God. That there exists a Being who is infinite in power, knowledge and goodness, that that Being cares for me with a perfect love as though I were the only man in existence, that he loved me before I was born and created me to enjoy him eternally and that he sent his Son to suffer the agony of the cross to secure my eternal happiness--that, surely, must be a thought to end all sorrow. It ought to be and often it is.

What lies ahead in 2012? What trials, what blessings, what challenges, what changes, what loses, what gains, what setbacks, what improvements, what surprises? Whatever is coming, we will find the strength we need if we lean into God and fix our thoughts on the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8).

Gallup Finds Most Americans Claim Christianity

Gallup has a new poll out based on 327,244 interviews that shows 78% of all Americans self-identify with "some form of Christianity." Of those claiming any religion at all, 95% claim Christianity. That's a LOT of folks claiming to be Christians! We should show respect for all people and their professions of faith. But not all professors are possessors. What percent of Pharisees in Jesus' day would have self-identified as loyal followers of Jehovah?

Christianity Remains Dominant Religion in the United States