Section 40 — 'I Am Not Good Enough'

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." — Jesus, Mark 2:17

Christianity's invitation is not to people who have cleaned themselves up sufficiently to deserve entry. It is to people who have recognized that they cannot clean themselves up. The prodigal son came home rehearsing his I am not worthy speech — and the father was running toward him before he finished the sentence. The not good enough objection treats salvation as something earned. But Christian salvation is not earned. It is received. The only qualification required is need.

Section 41 — 'I Have Sinned Too Much'

There is no sin the cross cannot cover. Paul: I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man (1 Timothy 1:13). He oversaw the murder of Stephen, systematically hunted down Christians. The thief on the cross — dying in the act of a crime — heard Jesus say: I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). No time for good deeds. No chance to make amends. Just the acknowledgment of the truth and the request.

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." — Romans 8:38–39 (NET)

Section 42 — 'I Don't Feel Anything'

Faith does not begin with feeling. It begins with a step taken in the direction of the evidence. Faith, biblically, is confidence based on evidence and testimony. A person who boards an airplane by faith is not having an emotional experience of certainty — they are acting on the reasonable assessment that airplanes generally arrive at their destinations. If you base your faith on feeling, you will lose it on days you don't feel anything. If you base it on the historical evidence and the theological coherence of the Gospel, the feeling may come and go — but the foundation holds.