I had a brief chat with a lady today that I want to tell you about.
I was giving out some Gospel literature and she said wouldn't take it, so I asked her was she not really interested in the Bible. She told me she was very interested in the Bible, so I told her that the booklet was about the way of salvation and I asked her was she saved. She hesitated a bit at this and told me she was a Bible-believer and a Christian, so I asked her when was she saved. Her response was that she didn't believe in "once-saved always saved" but rather we had an obligation to walk as Christ walked.
I asked her was she doing that. She stalled a wee bit and said, "By the grace of God, yes." Well, my eyes widened a bit, I said, "Oh, so you are good enough for God then?" She said I was twisting her words and she was saying no such thing, so I explained to her I hadn't twisted her words but had asked her a question and would like to know what I'd missed. She said she did not believe that salvation was something someone could be sure of now because we had an obligation to walk as Christ walked (in order to be in heaven), so why is it naughty of me to ask if she was good enough?
She told me the grace of God and the blood of Christ were available for her sins, but I pointed out to her that she had to be good enough to earn that grace and avail of that blood and she could be too bad such that the grace of God could not reach her and the blood of Christ could not cleanse her.
At this stage she closed the conversation down, but I did tell her that the Gospel offers something far better than that - John wrote, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life".
That's what the Gospel offers, no one else does, no one else can. Then, with the indwelling power of God's Spirit you can begin to walk as Christ walked.
