God Has Answers For Your Excuses with footnotes by Shane C. Montgomery

“I tried calling on God, but He didn’t answer.”

Isaiah 59:1-2- Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; neither is His ear so

dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, so that He does not hear.

(If you truly desire God, He will know and He will respond in your life. In our refusal to rid our lives of sin, God refuses us. Until we love God more than we love our sins, God will not answer! Repent, turn from all sin and trust in Christ and if you truly desire God then He will send His Holy Spirit into your life and begin the process of Sanctification.


You will begin to die more and more to sin daily and grow closer and closer to God daily. Make no mistake about it, it is not as simple as many will lead you to believe, “easy believism” is a false doctrine. There is no simple prayer that will get you right with God, there is no such thing as “Praying Through” that is no where in Scripture. Neither does “Going to the Alter” in a church service help you, this is not in Scripture either. These things are all inventions by men to make you think it is easy as pie to be saved. This is simply not true, genuine salvation is wrought with tears and sorrows. It is a battle to be fought and won, or lost, daily for the rest of your life. Nothing easy about that friends. But it is your salvation and it is worth it.)

“I don’t see anything wrong with the way I’m living.”

Proverbs 30:12- There is a kind who is pure in his own eyes, yet is not washed from his filthiness.

(You will not see anything wrong with your life, of course you wont! But God sees! You will always be partial to your own self-centered ways and never want holiness, only sin. You ever notice how everyone else around you is acting like a jerk, but never you? We are too self-centered. God gave us the Ten Commandments so we can see for ourselves how sinful we truly are, so compare your life to His Commandments, how do you stack up? Not so good, huh. We all fall short of His glory, none are even close to being Holy enough. The Ten Commandments prove we sin. It is not up to us to decide what is right and wrong, but it is up to the God who created you, me and the heavens, the earth and all of creation to decide. God sees plenty wrong with the way we live.)

“Everybody else is doing it.”

Exodus 23:2 -You shall not follow a multitude in doing evil.

(You are wrong on this one! There are plenty of Christians in the world who are living close to God. They hate everything God hates and God hates sin, God hates rebels and God hates those who deny Him and His Son. Even if everyone else was doing it, you will not have to answer for their lives, but you will have to answer for yours! You will stand before God alone on Judgment Day, you will not have “everyone else” with you, and you will not be able to compare your life with others, you will have to answer for your sinful life! God will say “I am not asking about others lives, I am asking about yours!” We will all have to answer for our lives individually, no excuses will be accepted. Ask yourself this question- If everyone else was murdering children, does that mean it is okay for you to murder children? In God's eyes, a sin is a sin and every sin is a sin against God first and others second.)

“I don’t need God.”

Job 34:14-15- If He should determine to do so, if He should gather to Himself His spirit and His

breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.

(Why? Are you perfect? Are you Holy? Are you the one person in thousands of years of people living and walking this earth who has been and will continue to be perfect and sinless in thought, word and deed your entire life? No? Then you need God. Only Christ was perfectly obedient. The rest of us, well, we need a Savior.)

“I would have to give up too much if I became a Christian.”

Mark 8:36-37- What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what

shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

(You are right on this one, you will give up much, like sin, death, eternal punishment and separation from God in this life and the life to come, you will give up a life of bondage to sin, you will give up being a slave to wicked thoughts and desires, you will stop being a Rebel against God and become one of His adopted children thus sharing in His inheritance!)

“There are too many hypocrites in the church.”

Romans 14:12 -So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.

(There is a saying about hypocrites, it goes, “if you do not want to see any hypocrites, you first must remove all the mirrors in your house!” This is true, everyone pretends to be someone else from time to time. No one is perfect and the Church is a place for imperfect people.)

“I’ll repent later.”

Proverbs 29:1- A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond

remedy.

(Every second, two people die! That is 160,000 people every day! How many of them knew they were going to die that day? None! We never know when it is our time, you take a huge gamble assuming you have time!)

“I’m just neutral about Jesus.”

Matthew 12:30 -He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

(I guess it is a good thing that Jesus is not neutral about you! He gave His life so you could live. The Law was given to us to worship God in the right way. Many "Christians" believe that we are no longer bound by the Law in any way. They say, misquoting and misunderstanding Galatians, that we are no longer under the Law. However, the Law is simply a reflection of the character of God. Without the Law, we would not know God. Without the Law, we would not know what it means to be holy. Show me someone who really rejects the Law of God, and I'll show you someone going to hell)

“I’m a good person.”

Luke 18:19- No one is good except God alone.

(You know in your heart that you are not good! Our conscience knows the truth, we are all, every single one of us, wretched and unholy in the eyes of Holy God. Even the best of us are condemned by our own consciences. Are you willing to bet your life on how good you are?)

“I’ve always tried to live a good life.”

Romans 3:10-12- There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands; there is

none who seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become useless; there is none

who does good; there is not even one.

(Most people try to live a good life, but in reality, we all fall short of the Holiness required by God. How many of the Ten Commandments do you break in thought, word or deed everyday? Right, almost all of them, and it only takes one single sin, one single time to be a sinner! We are all sinners and we all need a Savior, if we were good enough, Christ would not have had to die for our sins.)

“It doesn’t matter which religion you follow, as long as you are sincere.”

Proverbs 14:12- There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

(If you follow anyone but Jesus Christ, you are sincerely wrong! The Bible makes this clear, Christ is the only way to Heaven. If you do some studying of all the religions in the world, you will see that everyone except Christianity requires that you perform certain duties and rituals and that you work for you salvation. In Christ, He does all the work, we cannot earn our salvation, it is a free gift from God, so which religion makes more sense?)

“The Bible was written by men”

2 Peter 1:21- No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

(The Bible was written over a course of Fifteen Hundred Years. There were about 40 different human authors involved in the writing of the Bible. These men differed in background, education, culture and profession, each one in a different part of the world and very few having known the others, man was used as a conduit for His Word, just as you would use a typewriter or computer keyboard, so God used the hand of man.)

“The Bible has lots of contradictions.”

Proverbs 14:6 -A scoffer seeks wisdom, and finds none, but knowledge is easy to him who has

understanding.

(This statement almost always come from a person who has never read the Bible. Most times they are simply repeating what someone else has told them. The Bible is one of the most misunderstood books because of the careless way people approach it (see Eph. 3: 1-4). The Bible is seldom studied, just randomly read. We are to "handle aright the word of truth," this necessitates study. Some simple study rules are: Establish the design of a given book before studying it in detail, learn of the author, circumstances of the writing, use a good Bible dictionary to define words, study the context in which a verse occurs, study the verse (observe rules of grammar and syntax), establish to whom spoken, by whom, and why spoken. When you are

considering a subject, gather all the information found in the Bible on that subject before arriving at a conclusion. The Truth is simply that there is no contradictions anywhere in Scripture.)

“Everybody will be saved in the end.”

Matthew 7:13-14 -Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads

to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that

leads to life, and few are those who find it.

 (This is one of the most dangerous ways of thinking out there today! Scripture clearly shows that most people, all who deny Christ as Savior, will spend eternity in Hell. Only those who repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ will be saved and will enter Heaven. God is Holy and for this reason, He cannot allow anything unholy to enter Heaven where He lives. We are all unholy, we all sin, so God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross for our sins, Christ died in our place! So we who trust in Christ have received His imputed righteousness, us sinners are now justified in Holy God's eyes, God see us as Holy even though we still sin and all this because Christ, by taking our punishment of death, gives us His Holiness so we can enter Heaven.)

“I believe in God.”

James 2:19- You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

(Everyone deep down inside believes in God! Scripture tells us that even Satan and the demons believe in God, but what good does it do them? None! It takes more than believing in God, everyone believes in God, we have to trust in His Son, Jesus Christ as Savior if we are to have eternal communion with God in this life and the next.)

“I’ve been a Christian all my life.”

John 3:3, 6-7- Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born

again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is 

born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.”’

(Almost everyone claims to be a Christian already! Most people are going through life deceiving themselves, they are carrying a false assurance around with them and they will be shocked and dismayed when they are denied Heaven. Salvation is by Faith Alone, In Christ Alone, on account of Grace Alone for the Glory of God Alone. If we are truly Christian already, then we would love the things that God loves and hate the things that God hates! Do you hate all sin? Do you love anything more than God? If yes, you are deceiving yourself and you are not saved. You can always tell who is truly Christian by the fruits they produce, Jesus said- “a rotten tree cannot bear good fruits.”)

“Christ is my Savior, but not my Lord.”

I John 2:4- The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments,

is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

(If He is not your Lord, He is not your Savior. Christ is Lord and always has been, and always will be. We do not choose to make Christ anything, He is Lord and Savior. We simply choose to deny Him and His Lordship and we choose to reject His saving grace. When we trust in Christ, 

we trust Him and His Word for all things, not just the parts we like, we accept His Word as His revealed will for our lives and we acknowledge Christ as our Prophet, Priest and King forever. Christ is Lord of all and we must put Him in the center of our lives, our lives are to revolve around Christ, not around us.)

“I have plenty of time to get right with God.”

Luke 12:20 -But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you.’

(Are you sure about that? How do you know this? We are not promised one more day, our lives can end at any given second. A heart attack can come on out of no where, there are dozens of small things that could happen in our bodies that would end our lives withing a few seconds. To assume you have a long life ahead of you is to be ignorant of the world around you. We see people dieing in car wrecks, in robberies, in so many ways. No one comes with a guarantee of how long they will live, Lord willing, you will live to be 95 years old, but it might also be the Lord's will that you don't see this weekend.)

“The idea of Christ dying for my sins makes no sense to me.”

1 Corinthians 1:18- For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to

us who are being saved it is the power of God.

(Right, it is not suppose to! It is suppose to save you from your sins, not make sense. Unregenerate man can never understand the things of God, even the simplest of doctrine is confusing to the unsaved. Once man is regenerated by the Holy Spirit, God's Word makes more sense, it is easier to understand, the things of God no longer seem hidden, because we are no longer blinded by our sins. Our very nature condemns us and blinds us of the truth. There are a lot of things in life that do not make sense to me, but it does not take away from the fact that these things are effective and useful now do they. I can't say I fully understand how a brain surgeon does what he does, but I am glad he does!)

“God could never forgive me for what I’ve done.”

Mark 3:3:28 -Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter.

(You would be surprised. In Christ we have total forgiveness! The very records of our sins have been cleared. Christ atoning blood washes away Every Sin! This is a promise from God. No matter how awful you have sinned, no matter how much you have sinned, all is forgiven and made anew in Christ. Listen, there have been people worse than you in this world who have been forgiven, and there have been people not as bad as you who have been forgiven. It doesn’t matter, all have complete forgiveness in Christ. There has never in the history of mankind been a sin committed that God has not seen before. He is not looking down at you saying- “did you see that? Did you see what he just did? No way am I forgiving that sin!” We all think this way sometimes, but it is just not true. We are forgiven in Christ completely and totally.)

There you have the answer for your excuses. Now I would like to take a moment and share with you the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In short, the Gospel is the life-altering news that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, lived a sinless life under the Law, died for sinners and rose again to 

reconcile them to himself, eternally victorious over every enemy that stood between God and man. Now, because of this redemptive work, there is nothing that separates those who believe from their Creator and all the benefits that He promises in him. The gospel centers "upon Jesus Christ and what God has done through him. The essential points of the gospel are Jesus Christ's status as the Son of God, his genuine humanity, his death for our sins, his burial, resurrection, subsequent appearances, and future coming in judgment. That no one is justified but in the gracious work of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection. It is not merely a recital of theological truths and historical events; rather, it relates these truths and events to situations of every individual believer."

Soli Deo Gloria! Shane