0399. The Character of Saul–He Was Doing the Best He Knew

The Character of Saul–He Was Doing the Best He Knew

"I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus" (Act_26:9).

Saul was not a hypocrite. He thought he was doing the will of God. He thought he was right. He did wrong, grievously wrong, but he acted in ignorance of his wrong-doing. He was so blinded with unbelief, that he did not know the real state of his heart.

Let no one deceive you by saying that if one is sincere, one is right. That is impossible. To do the best we know, is not enough. We are not to be judged by the standard of our own conscience, but by the Word of God, and by the holiness of Christ.

There are many who are going to hell, who are honest in the thought that they are going to Heaven. People need to stop and examine their hearts, whether they are in the faith. To blindly press on, and hope for the best, is abject folly. We should first know we are right, and then go ahead.

We should take stock, and find out just where we are. Suppose some preacher does beg us to join his church; does tell us we are saved, when we have never honestly received the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour; his false words cannot make us sure of Heaven.

Illustration: We were talking to a lad of some fourteen years. His mother came to the front and broke into our conversation and said: "John is all right, he is good enough to join the church." We asked the well-intending but misdirected mother, to let us have it out with the boy. "Good enough?" No, impossible. It is not our goodness that saves us. That boy might have joined the church as his mother wished, and lived and died unsaved; thinking all the time that he was doing the will of God.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR