Crossing over
A man stumbles into a church service one night in a desperate state. The years of drunken revelry, sleeping with woman after woman and constantly seeking to gratify the flesh have caught up with him. He is broken, alone and in despair. He would never have thought of entering a church, believing it could offer no hope for someone such as he, but for some reason he was irresistibly drawn to enter the building. He feels uncomfortable as he walks through the door. Churches aren’t for people like him but for those who have lived decent, upright lives, people who have pure hearts and minds, people who have not been corrupted as he has been by the world. To his great surprise, however, when the altar call is given, he stumbles forward to accept Christ as his Saviour.
A kindly old man chats with him after the service. He tells him a battle will now follow so that he can see victory over the sin he is a slave to. The man tells him this victory can only be won, however, by looking to Jesus and trusting that He died for him. That is the only righteousness he can have before God. The new convert considers this a very strange battle to be in, with strange rules that don’t make sense, but there is something about this kindly old man that makes the new convert trust him. He has so much love for him, a filthy rotten sinner, it exudes from every part of the man sitting next to him. The man gives the new convert a few simple scripture verses and advises him to place them in rooms in his home. Then when the battle becomes difficult, he can look to them and gain strength. The new convert takes them, along with a New Testament the old man gives him.
He walks away from the church, slightly bemused. His life has been in a terrible state for years. He is a habitual thief who has spent time in prison, he is a slave to alcohol, he swears like a trooper, and he has had many affairs. For a long time he has been desperate for a way out, but never once dreamed of turning to God. He’d imagined he would have had to live an almost perfect life or God would have cast him into hell. He was too weak for that. He had no strength left. He was broken from living a life steeped in the worst of sin. Yet now this old man was telling him all he had to do was trust Jesus. That would decide the battle ahead.
So the man starts out on his walk. As we previously discussed, some sin the new convert can immediately stop, for it has not tied itself so tightly around him that he is a slave to it. So this man determines not to steal again, which immediately brings positive fruit from his new found Christian walk. He also determines there will be no more affairs. Even the bad language immediately starts to lessen, so evidence of his change of heart by being born again is already plain to see.
The drinking is not so straightforward, however; he has been its slave for many a year. A couple of days after the man gets saved, he is sitting at home in the evening. All of a sudden a huge desire for alcohol comes over him. He has a drink, hoping to satisfy the craving, but it doesn’t. His conscience hurts him as he pours the second drink, but the pull of alcohol is fierce. By the time he takes the third drink, he is not thinking so clearly because the alcohol is having an effect. Eventually he drinks far too much before stumbling into bed.
When he wakes in the morning, he feels anguish in his heart. Things were going so well, but now he has let God down. A voice whispers in his head, You’d better give up with God, for Christians cannot go around drinking as you did last night. You can’t stop being a slave to sin and get where you need to be if you drink like that. The man pauses. The voice sounds reasonable. He knows he cannot cross over to where he needs to be if he continues to drink as he did the night before. He remembers, however, the old man telling him the night he got saved that only one thing could make him acceptable in God’s sight − faith in His Son − and that would bring him the victory. So despite his sorrow for how he acted, he determines to trust in this truth rather than dwell on his failure. It isn’t easy to do, but he perseveres. He looks to Jesus and trusts he is still saved. The voice in his head tells him he is just faking his Christianity, but the man determines to keep looking to Christ and carries on in the faith.
A couple of days later the same thing happens. The man drinks far too much and wakes up in great sorrow for his actions the night before. The voice inside his head tells him he will have to give up on Christianity now. God may have forgiven him once for drinking too much, but he won’t a second time. If he remains a Christian, he is making a mockery of the faith. He is as good as promoting sin. Once again, the man pauses. The voice sounds reasonable and logical.
He rings the kindly old man who spoke to him the night he got converted and truthfully tells him about his drinking and the voice inside his head. To his amazement the man tells him not to worry because he’s winning the battle, and Satan must be getting worried if he’s accusing him that much. He reminds him he must keep looking to Jesus and trusting he is saved because Jesus died for him, and not look to his imperfections and failures. He puts the phone down, surprised by the man’s words, though reassured by what he told him. Once again, however, he considers this battle to have strange rules that don’t seem logical at all. He has to fight his natural reasoning and understanding to hold onto faith in Christ.
For a time the lapses continue where alcohol is concerned. After each occasion, the man wakes in the morning feeling terrible because he drank so much the night before. Each time, the voice inside his head increases its accusations: “You’re just a hypocrite”; “You’re faking your Christianity”; “You can’t be a Christian and drink as you do.” Despite the accusations, however, the man clings to Christ. He trusts what the old man told him the night he was saved.
After a time something startling happens; the man finds he is becoming more able to resist the alcohol. Bit by bit he is able to markedly resist his drinking. Eventually the amount he drinks is so little it has no adverse effect on him at all. He is thrilled. That kindly old man in church was right; he was seeing the victory by faith in Christ. He praises God for what He has done for him, through Jesus.
