Very
briefly – Christian parents raised me and for my first 20 years I
attended church regularly. In my early teenage years I attended classes
held by the church and at the conclusion of those, having given the
right answers to a number of questions, I was deemed worthy to receive
communion. However my interest in sport [field hockey and cricket] began
to dominate my life and my leisure time. So, after the age of 20 I
stopped going to church and indulged myself in my sport and the social
life that went with it. That was a very active social life including
tours/trips to foreign parts and always included an abundance of alcohol
resulting in much ungodly and sinful behaviour.
However
in 1984 [@ age 38] things were to change. In the months leading up to
my conversion I had been reading a number of books by a Christian author
– mainly concerned with his views of what would happen just prior to
the return of the Lord. I then began to read another book by the same
author that outlined how the life and death of Jesus Christ was
foreshadowed by many passages in the Old Testament. The verse that began
to impact upon me was Leviticus 1:4 ‘And he [THE SINNER] shall put his
hand upon the head of the burnt offering [THE SUBSTITUTE] and it [THE
SUBSTITUTE] shall be accepted for him [THE SINNER] to make atonement
[SALVATION] for him [THE SINNER]’.
The
reality of my sin and its consequences [eternity in hell] became very
real to me. I thought perhaps I could ‘sweet-talk’ my way into heaven on
the basis that I wasn’t really too bad but then I read in James 2:10
‘For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point
[even one small “white lie”] he is guilty of all’. I realised that it
only takes one sin to send a person to hell and I more than qualified.
Fearful of the consequences of my sin I decided to attend a church
service on the evening of 19th August 1984. I can’t recall what the
preacher spoke about but I know that during the service God revealed to
me that the sinless life and substitutionary death of Jesus Christ would
solve my problem.
HE
was righteous [“CHRIST is the end of the law for righteousness” Romans
10:4] and I needed HIS righteousness. I deserved punishment for my sins
and HE didn’t for HE was sinless but HE suffered in my place [“For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins {the substitute} the just for
the unjust {the sinner} that he {by his sinless life and substitutionary
sufferings and death – no work on my part} might bring us {not assist
us to get there by our own works/endeavours} to God” 1st Peter 3:16].
Here
I saw Christ fulfilling the role of SUBSTITUTE as pictured in Leviticus
1:4 but the missing piece of the ‘jig-saw’ revealed to me by God was
this. Before Christ was nailed to the cross He was stripped and the last
garment removed was “his coat; now the coat was without seam [a picture
of perfect righteousness] woven from the top throughout [the God-man
who came to earth]” John19:23. God revealed to me that not only was
Christ taking “our [my] sins in his own body on the tree” 1st Peter 2:24
but He was also in exchange giving me His robe – His righteousness to
cover me “the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ,
unto all and upon all them that believe” Romans 3:22.
That
night I was clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith and
in consequence I knew I was “accepted in the beloved” Ephesians 1:6. Why
did I know and understand all this? Because the Spirit of God had
graciously “quickened” me [John 6:63 & Ephesians 2:1]. I went out of
that service having been “born again” – I was like the man born blind
in John 9 who declared in verse 25 “one thing I know, that whereas I was
blind, now I see”. I knew that Christ had given me a perfect and
permanent righteousness [HIS] and that ALL my sins had been removed from
me because “HE was wounded for our [my] transgressions, HE was bruised
for our [my] iniquities…and the Lord hath laid on HIM the iniquity of us
all [me]” Isaiah 53 5&6. That is the glorious and full gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ [His sinless life] and Him crucified [His
substitutionary death] and because of HIS work one day I will join the
chorus in Heaven to sing “unto HIM that loved us [me] and washed us [me]
from our sins in his own blood” Revelation 1:5. May God bless you as
you read of what HE has done for this unworthy wretch.
Ceecil Andrews – - Cecil Andrews,
- 29 Edengrove Park,
- Ballynahinch,
- BT24 8AZ,
- Northern Ireland
-
Contact ‘Take Heed’ Ministries by Telephone
- Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511
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