Cork Free Presbyterian Church, 10 Briarscourt
(Annex) Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
Pastor: Colin Maxwell. Email: colin.maxwell@fpcmission.org
NO LONGER HOPING
(TESTIMONY OF DICK KEOGH)
For many generations our family had
been devout Roman Catholics. In our home we regularly knelt down
together and said the Rosary.
My school days began at the local
Convent. After receiving my First Communion, I attended the Christian
Brothers’ School. One of the boys in my class was a Protestant.
We came from different backgrounds and traditions but were great
friends. We had one thing in common: both of us HOPED we would go to
Heaven when we died.
I HOPED my Baptism, Confession
of my sins to the priest, Communion, Confirmation and regular
attendance at Mass would secure a place in Heaven for me.
My friend HOPED his Baptism, knowledge
of the Catechism, attendance at Sunday School, Confirmation and
membership of the Protestant Church would get him to Heaven.
After I left school, I got a
job with an undertaker. At both Roman Catholic and Protestant funerals
the priests, ministers and mourners were HOPING the departed souls were
gone to Heaven. They were all HOPING, but none of them actually knew.
I wondered what would happen to me. I
could picture myself on my death - bed, HOPING I would go to Heaven
instead of Hell. What a fearful situation to be in when you are dying.
Then, in November 1975, I met a
friend who told me he KNEW for definite he would go to Heaven when he
died. He said he was NO LONGER HOPING, but had obtained assurance of
salvation through believing the Scriptures. He encouraged me to read
the Bible for myself.
I read in John’s first Epistle,
in Ch. 5 v 13, these words: "These things have I written unto you that
believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye have
eternal life..."
I was amazed at the words,
“that ye may KNOW.” I had been HOPING, but now I could see
that according to God’s Word it is actually possible to KNOW that
you have eternal life.
But who were these things
written to, I asked myself? They were written to those who believe what
God said concerning His Son. Verse 11 reads, “And this is the
record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. According to the Scriptures, eternal life is in the Person of
Jesus Christ and His work on the sinner's behalf. For the first time in
my life I was confronted with the fact that eternal life is in a
Person, and not in a Religion.
In the Gospel of John, Ch. 14
v. 6, I read: “Jesus saith unto him, ‘I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’"
I began to realise the importance of believing in and depending
upon this Person. In John’s Gospel, Ch. 3 v. 16 I read:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.”
“God so loved the
world.” But did that include ME? Did God actually love me? I knew
I was a sinner, and my sin had to be paid for. I read in Romans Ch. 3
v. 23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God.” I knew I was certainly included there! But when I read
Romans Ch. 5 v. 8, I was encouraged. It says: “But God commendeth
his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.”
Peter, in his first Epistle, in
Ch. 2 v. 24, writes, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ: “Who his
own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.." The fact that
Jesus bore OUR sins, and gave Himself for US was outlined so clearly in
what I had read. But the important question was this; Did God love ME,
as an individual?
My question was answered in Galatians Ch. 2 v. 20: “..The Son of God, who loved ME, and gave himself for ME.”
I could now see that God did
love. He loved me so much that He sent His Son to suffer and die on the
cross on my behalf. Jesus became my substitute and paid in full the
penalty for the guilt of my sin so that I could be forgiven.
In Titus Ch. 3 v. 4 - 5, I read:
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward
man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us...”.
According to God’s Word, it did not matter what Church I belonged
to, what good works I did or what efforts I made to save myself. None
of these could save my soul. Salvation was bestowed because of
God’s mercy.
In Titus Ch. 2 v. 11, I read: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”
These words make it very clear that
Salvation is by Grace. It is God reaching down to the helpless sinner,
revealing to him that He loves him so much that He sent His Son to the
cross. There, He took the sinner’s place by becoming his
substitute. He paid the penalty for sin that the sinner should have
paid.
The words of Romans Ch. 3 v.
24, summed it all up. They read: “Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” I could
now see that Salvation was given FREELY by God to sinful man. The
sinner was not required to work for it.
I reached out to God, saying,
“Lord, I know I am a sinner, deserving of Hell. I know that
dependence upon the Church or my own efforts cannot save me. Thank you
for showing me that Salvation is free gift from God to the sinner.
Thank you that you not only loved the world, but you loved ME enough to
send your Son to die for me.”
I have repented of my sin and
have been forgiven. I have put my faith in Jesus Christ and I am
trusting Him as Saviour. I am NO LONGER HOPING, but now I KNOW I will
be in Heaven some day because I am depending upon what Jesus did on my
behalf as He suffered and died as my substitute upon the cross.
DICK KEOGH