Convinced that the Scriptures are true, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, believing that He willingly came, and God so loved me that He has willingly sent Him to suffer the full penalty of my sins that I might go free, if I would retain my self-respect, I must accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour, and crown Him Lord of my life.

    But I do not ask you to accept Him as yours. Possibly you admit the Bible is true, but ask, have I interpreted it aright? Are not the views of others worthy of consideration? Surely they are.

    On telling my conclusion to a friend, he replied: "You are all right, but so am I, although I don't see things as you do. It seems to me that it doesn't matter so much what a man believes, so long as he is sincere in his belief."

    Let us test that. Not far from where I live a shopkeeper, one fine Sunday morning said to his wife and family. "Let us take our little delivery van and go for a picnic." Traveling north, they came to a level crossing on a branch railway line and sincerely believing there would no train on a Sunday morning, he attempted to drive straight over - Crash, an engine struck him. He was killed on the spot, one son had an arm broken and his little daughter was in a plaster cast for months. Did his sincere belief that all was clear save him? No it did not.

    I know a nurse who, on night duty, sincerely believed she held the right medicine in her hand, but it wasn't and in twenty minutes her patient was dead in spite of frantic efforts to save him.

    Of course we need sincerity, but we must sincerely believe truth, not error. In fact having sincere belief in error can be the very means of luring us on to destruction.

    The Bible leaves no room for doubt. In John 14:6, Christ says: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." Acts 4:12, says: "There is none other Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." If you can get to heaven any other way you will be a standing witness throughout all eternity to the ignorance of God's Son, or to the fact that he spoke falsely when He said there was no other way. I ask in the deepest earnestness, is it not folly to attempt coming to God by any other way than through Christ Himself? God's appointed way.

    The real reason we want some other way is because the way of the Cross is a humbling way and we are proud at heart, but let us remember the way of the Cross was a humbling way for Christ also, as we read in Phil. 2 verses 5 to 8.

    5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

    6. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

    7. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

    8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

    "Why not turn over a new leaf," says Mr. Reformer, "and live an absolutely holy life, and you will be all right for Eternity." That sounds reasonable, doesn't it? However, before we accept it, let's put it to a simple test. If a man could become absolutely holy, would he be better than he ought to be? No, of course he wouldn't. If a man were perfect he would be only what he ought to be. Then, in a strictly logical sense, he couldn't retrieve any of his past shortcomings. For instance, the manager of a business goes to his head clerk and finds that his firm owes $50,000 to manufacturers and other merchants. He says: "Write letters to all our creditors and tell them that we are not going to worry about the past, that we have turned over new leaves in our ledger and while we propose to forget the past, we promise to pay 100 cents on the dollar on all future business." That clerk would think his employer had gone mad, and would refuse to put such a proposition to their creditors; yet thousands of otherwise sensible people are trying to get to heaven by just such a proposal, offering to meet their obligations towards God for the future, but they are not going to trouble about the past at all. Yet in Eccles 3:15, we read: "God requireth that which is past." No, God's righteousness demands that no past account shall be considered settled till it has been paid to the uttermost and every claim of justice met. The murderer may cover his sin and live the life of a model citizen for ten years after his crime, but man's law, when he is discovered., condemns him, though he has murdered no one for ten long years - it judges him still a murderer. To hide past sin, either thoughts, words or deeds, by what seems to be an absolutely perfect life, still leaves me a sinner in the sight of Him to Whom the past and future are as open as the present. According to God's standards of holiness, we all have sinned - then let us bring that sin out into the open and have it dealt with righteously so that we need fear it no more for ever.

    To meet that past myself would have meant to me eternal loss, but the Lord Jesus Christ gave up His life in place of mine that I might go free. My past sin is expiated, and God, against Whom I have sinned, has given me His receipt, showing His satisfaction with the completed work of Christ on the Cross in that He raised Him from the dead. Christ once crucified is now my living Saviour. He died to save me from the penalty of sin and now He lives to deliver me from the power of sin.