Steps to Christ CONVICTION OF NEED
God be merciful to me a sinner. Luke 18:13.
One time I went to see a man who was drunk. His wife was a member of the church. He looked at me through his bloodshot eyes and said with his thick tongue, "I really admire the Adventists. It takes a strong person, it takes a good man, to be an Adventist." Does it take a strong person to be an Adventist? Is it possible for a weak person to be a good Adventist? Yes or no? If your Christian belief is based upon behaviorism only, then it takes a strong person to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, or any other kind of Christian. But where religion is based upon relationship with Jesus Christ, the strong and the weak are equal.
Have you ever considered who hated Jesus more when He was here--the strong or the weak? It was the strong. Why? Because for the first time in their spotless lives they saw Someone who went deeper than the externals, and they got nervous. In His presence, suddenly all of their morality and good living added up to nothing, and they knew it.
There is a type pf person in this world who says, "Smoking causes lung cancer? I quit!" He quits and he never touches cigarettes again. Another person says, "Smoking causes lung cancer? I quit, too." And that afternoon he goes out and buys another carton. The strong succeed and the weak fail.
It is possible to keep the Sabbath (and we should change that to keep Saturday), to become Saturday keepers, and in the very process of keeping Saturday to be sinning. It is possible to stay out of jail because of a good moral life, and in the very process of staying out of jail, still be living in sin, because you are doing it on your own, apart from Christ. It is possible to abide by all the rules and regulations and to be a good person, and be considered so by everyone else, and still be living in sin. There is going to be a great revival one of these days in the church, but it is not going to be based upon the confession of heinous sins. It's going to be based upon the sudden realization on the part of people who have been living good moral lives that they have been living apart from Jesus, and are just as much sinners as the harlots and thieves. This conviction is the step that will lead all, strong and weak, to realize their need of a Saviour.
God be merciful to me a sinner. Luke 18:13.
One time I went to see a man who was drunk. His wife was a member of the church. He looked at me through his bloodshot eyes and said with his thick tongue, "I really admire the Adventists. It takes a strong person, it takes a good man, to be an Adventist." Does it take a strong person to be an Adventist? Is it possible for a weak person to be a good Adventist? Yes or no? If your Christian belief is based upon behaviorism only, then it takes a strong person to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, or any other kind of Christian. But where religion is based upon relationship with Jesus Christ, the strong and the weak are equal.
Have you ever considered who hated Jesus more when He was here--the strong or the weak? It was the strong. Why? Because for the first time in their spotless lives they saw Someone who went deeper than the externals, and they got nervous. In His presence, suddenly all of their morality and good living added up to nothing, and they knew it.
There is a type pf person in this world who says, "Smoking causes lung cancer? I quit!" He quits and he never touches cigarettes again. Another person says, "Smoking causes lung cancer? I quit, too." And that afternoon he goes out and buys another carton. The strong succeed and the weak fail.
It is possible to keep the Sabbath (and we should change that to keep Saturday), to become Saturday keepers, and in the very process of keeping Saturday to be sinning. It is possible to stay out of jail because of a good moral life, and in the very process of staying out of jail, still be living in sin, because you are doing it on your own, apart from Christ. It is possible to abide by all the rules and regulations and to be a good person, and be considered so by everyone else, and still be living in sin. There is going to be a great revival one of these days in the church, but it is not going to be based upon the confession of heinous sins. It's going to be based upon the sudden realization on the part of people who have been living good moral lives that they have been living apart from Jesus, and are just as much sinners as the harlots and thieves. This conviction is the step that will lead all, strong and weak, to realize their need of a Saviour.
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