Pastors John Sherwood and Peter Simpson were preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified in the centre of Uxbridge on 22nd September 2024.
Pastor Sherwood had an encouraging time with some schoolchildren, who seemed really open to an explanation of the gospel, and one of the helpers from the church at Penn, Mrs Jackman, carried on with a conversation which she had with an atheist from a Hindu background two weeks previously. He said that he had tried to approach God in the past, but that it did not work. However, he would have needed to hear the gospel before he made this approach, because the first issue which must be dealt with in any transaction with the all holy God is the issue of personal sin.
We assert this in love, but people cannot approach God expecting Him to help when in difficulties, having up to then ignored Him and not dealt with their personal relationship to Him. Two key verses in this regard are to found at the beginning of Isaiah 59 :
“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear, but But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).
The young atheist said to Mrs Jackman that we are all predetermined to make the choices we make by our environment, and that, for example, people who are abused by others will then go on to abuse themselves. The witnessing sister responded that we are each free to make our own choices and are answerable for our own actions before God. Whatever someone may have suffered at the hands of others, it creates no right or excuse to then inflict the same suffering upon others.
Pastor Sherwood also joined the conversation. The atheist said that he is open to believing in God, but that he could not reconcile the fact that God does not prevent evil. The problem withy this statement is that it is blaming God for the freewill sinful acts of men. Part of man’s glory made in the image of God is that he can make moral choices, but human beings are not pre-programmed robots who can only do good. Rather, each one is responsible before God to pursue that which is good. Pastor Sherwood assured the atheist that prayers would be offered up that the Lord would reveal Himself to Him and show him his need of the Saviour.
As Pastor Simpson was handing out tracts, a young man approached him and asked, Is this a good area for business so as to set up a restaurant? The minister replied it is probably as good an area as any, being within greater London and a fairly prosperous part of the country at that.
However, Pastor Simpson felt that he had a more vital task to perform than that of an amateur business advisor, and so he added in the general context of good economic prospects that it is actually the Trinitarian God who determines the prosperity or otherwise of any nation, and if Britain today as a nation, keeps on ignoring God, then we will not know any lasting prosperity at all.
Psalm 33:12 states, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord”, and this blessedness applies to all area of life including, for example, the economic situation of a nation and its agricultural productivity. How little do our politicians realise that ultimately it is not their policies which can guarantee economic success, but rather the need to fear and honour the one true God.
AS some young people were walking by ignoring the witness, Pastor Simpson caught their eye and asked them, Are you good enough to get to heaven? One replied by saying, I hope so, to which the Minister said, But you are not good enough to get there. The young man came back and asked the pastor, Well, are you good enough? to which the minister said, No I am not. That is why I need Jesus Christ. The young man then walked on, but may this brief encounter be enough to make him think seriously about his soul.
Pastor Simpson asked another man who refused the offer of a tract the same question : Are you going to heaven? , in an attempt to encourage him to take an interest in the content of the leaflet. Sadly, he did not respond, but may the Holy Spirit cause the question to linger in his mind, and indeed to make him feel uneasy, so that he begins to experience the need to take the precious gospel more seriously.
Pastor simpson began his preaching by quoting 2 Corinthians 5:10, “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” and then Romans 14:11 and 12, “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God”.
The preacher then went on to say : “Every human being without exception will have to stand before Jesus Christ as judge. Whether you are a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Sikh, a Muslim, a Jew, an atheist or an agnostic, you are going to have to stand before Jesus Christ as your judge. We are all created by God, and that means that we are all are answerable to Him. So there is coming a “day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ” (Romans 2:16).
The minister then continued, “We only have this life in which to make our peace with God. You cannot come to God once you have died. You cannot come out of hell once you are there. If you die without faith in Christ, it will mean everlasting hell, because “all have sinned, all come short of the glory of God … There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:23,10). We have all hopelessly broken God’s commandments. So no one is innocent, no one is neutral. And therefore all need a Saviour. You cannot save yourself from your sins. You cannot work your way to heaven, as other religions teach. You cannot buy God’s favour by giving money to charity. No matter how much you give away, you are still a sinner who needs God’s mercy. And it is only through Jesus Christ that you can obtain mercy.
May many who heard this urgent message realise their need and flee to the Saviour, before it is too late.