Elisabeth Elliot: You better turn off the radio, if you can't endure hardness. Gird up your loins now. Take a deep breath and listen.

Lisa Barry: Well, now that I have your attention, I'm glad you're here. And in just a minute we'll hear what Elisabeth Elliot was about to say. But before we do, I want to tell you that our topic all this week is a difficult one. We all encounter hard situations in life and at times we're tempted to try and wiggle out of them, rather than sit tight and endure. And we're also tempted to minimize the seriousness of sin in ourselves and in others. Today Elisabeth will read an article that brings this issue to light in a timely way, so get ready for a powerful dose of hard-hitting truth next on Gateway To Joy.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot. You know my subject. Last week it was faithful endurance. Yesterday it was "Endure Hardness."

Now I'm just not going to be terribly soft on you, my dear faithful listeners. You've gotten used to that, I think. But I do want to lodge a serious plea for the reconsideration of a classic Christian doctrine. A serious plea for the reconsideration of a classic Christian doctrine. You guessed it. Sin.

It's hard for us to be told that we're sinners, but we must, according to God's Word, endure hardness, face up to the truth, confess, repent, and pray for conformity to Christ Himself. It seems to me that I heard some years ago that a book came out called WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SIN?

I hope none of you will take what I am about to say as mere Elisabeth Elliot opinions. This subject today is a divine assignment, given to me through, first of all, the Bible, but also through the pens of men and women who have walked with God, perhaps many centuries ago-people whom I revere as my spiritual tutors. They speak to us over the years with spiritual authority. I'm still a learner. Make no mistake about that. This voice that you hear is that of a learner. I'm ashamed to think how slow I have been in learning things which I should have learned many decades ago.

An old friend of mine, maybe he is not as old as I am, I'm not sure, but he is a man of integrity. He wrote an article which I want to read to you. You'd better turn off the radio if you can't endure hardness. Gird up your loins, now. Take a deep breath and listen. This is by Peter Moore.

"The little Gothic church is nestled in a valley amid rolling hills on which horses graze behind white fences separating lovely estates. It's a replica of an English country church, although the richly detailed wood and stonework here would probably outshine its Old World model.

On Sundays in the pews are scattered well-heeled gentry who pass the peace with studied politeness. I'm listening to a new rector preach on Genesis 3, the fall. 'You must understand,' he says, 'that the fall is not really a descent for humankind, but rather an ascent. Adam and Eve, in choosing the apple, chose for the knowledge of good and evil. It was not the disaster traditional Christian theology has painted it. Instead, it was a rise into sophistication, awareness and understanding. The human race needed to move from innocence into self-conscious action in its progress towards compassion and grace. This is why Jesus Christ can be for us the apex in the evolution of human nature.'"

I hope you remember that I was quoting from somebody else, who was being quoted in an article by Peter Moore. Peter is quoting this other person, who says that Jesus Christ can be for us the apex in the evolution of human nature.

Peter says, "The message would have jarred me out of somnolence, had it not been so familiar. On a previous visit to the same church, I had heard something similar. That time, the former rector was preaching on Christ as our 'Advocate.' It all sounded quite good, until at the climax of his sermon he said, 'Now picture yourself standing before God at the judgment. The books are opened and you cringe at the thought of what might be revealed. But Christ stands at your side and says to the Father, 'Father, this child of Yours is really not so bad. There is still a great deal of good in her. She has done her best and tried hard. Your image is there, not perfectly reflected, but still there. Be kind towards this Your child. Show Your lovingkindness.'

Whether either rector realized it, both managed to render the incarnation, the atonement, the resurrection and the work of the Holy Spirit unnecessary. As I left, I began to wonder if this might not be typical of many churches in America today. These days, sin is rarely talked about and almost never denounced. It is as if sin, having been relegated in the popular mind to the baser lusts of the flesh, can now be dismissed by a culture anxious to celebrate the flesh as a newly discovered gift of God.

We have come a long way from the days when Manton Eastburn, the staunchly evangelical bishop of Massachusetts in the last century, which rector of the fashionable and cultured congregation of Trinity Church, Boston, would address his people as 'vile earth and miserable sinners, worms and children of wrath.' Although they may not have liked it, most of them stayed on to hear more.

Today, however, reflecting the mood of a kinder, gentler society, we would have to rewrite the General Confession as follows: 'Benevolent and Easygoing Father, we have occasionally been guilty of errors of judgment. We have lived under the deprivations of heredity and the disadvantages of environment. We have sometimes failed to act in accordance with common sense. We have done the best we could in the circumstances and have been careful not to ignore the common standards of decency and we are glad to think that we are fairly normal.

Do Thou, O Lord, deal lightly with our infrequent lapses. Be Thy own sweet self with those who admit they are not perfect, according to the unlimited tolerance which we have a right to expect from Thee. And grant, as an indulgent parent, that we may hereafter continue to live a harmless and happy life, and keep our self-respect.'"

Peter Moore goes on to say, "But is this really progress? Psychologist Carl Meninger argues in his book, WHATEVER BECAME OF SIN?, that sin is a hopeful category because it holds out the possibility of correction, change and remedy. Without it, we would wonder, what is the cause of the malaise we all feel and project as blame and criticism?

A world without sin leads to the nonsense described by Robert M. Hunt at Harvard, when, after a course on the holocaust, a majority of students considered the rise of Hitler inevitable, leaving no one responsible for the slaughter of six million Jews. William Honig, former superintendent of California's public schools, commented, 'No fault history. No fault corporate wrongdoing. No fault cheating on tests. It's all of a piece.'

Why should it take someone outside of our American context to call us to account for our shortcomings? Commenting on the message of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, William Shannon in the New York Times wrote, 'He is a uniquely Russian prophet who became an exile in the wilderness of the West. He speaks of sin, shame and redemption-concepts which our neo-pagan society, with its secularized atmosphere and deeply corrupt popular culture, can barely comprehend.'

It recalls the time when a number of great thinkers wrote an article in the LONDON TIMES entitled, 'What's wrong with this world?' The TIMES published a terse letter in reply from G. K. Chesterton. All it said was, 'What's wrong with this world? I am.'

Why does the Church, with its rich and sober reflection on the twisted state of human nature and its deep spirituality of alienation and redemption, fail to teach and preach about sin? Are we fearful of turning away the bulk of church-goers, who are like the dignified parishioner Sam Shoemaker once described as 'having every virtue, except a sense of sin'?

Perhaps this lack of awareness of sin explains why, in so many Episcopal churches, Jesus Christ is rarely spoken of outside the liturgy. If, as a noted theologian once said, every heresy begins with an inadequate sense of sin, then we may have an explanation as to why so few talk about Christ as if they really knew Him as Lord and Savior.

Or maybe it works the other way. The knowledge of Christ brings with it a deep abiding sense of our own unworthiness. As Blaise Pascal once wrote, 'To know God and yet know nothing of our wretched state breeds pride. To realize our misery and know nothing of God is mere despair. But if we come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, we find our true equilibrium, for there we find both human misery and God.'"

I hope you will ponder those eloquent words and think about the Redeemer who has come to save us from our sins. We can't be saved from our sins until we acknowledge that we are sinners.

Lisa Barry: When I came to Christ at the age of twenty, I didn't really know I was a sinner. Well, I did, but I didn't think I was that much worse than anyone else, because I was sure God graded on a curve. I tried to live a good life, as much as the next guy. In fact, I was sure I tried a little harder. But I learned that God doesn't grade on a curve. In fact, a perfect score is the only thing God will accept, and the penalty for sin is death.

So you ask, "How can anyone get there, then?" Well, they can't. At least, not on their own. That's why God sent Jesus to earth. He died in your place and said, "Heaven is a gift. The only way to get it is to receive it from Me." Receive that gift by praying a prayer like this: "Father, I know I'm a sinner, even if I don't feel like it. I can't make it to heaven on my own, because Your standard is perfection. But I know Jesus is perfect and He said that He went to the cross and died for me. He also said no one can get to heaven apart from Him. I accept Your free gift of salvation. Help me now to grow closer to You. Protect me from the evil one. Let this be the most important decision I will ever make. Amen."

If you need to hear this again, call and ask to purchase a copy of this series. ENDURE HARDNESS is the name of it. Or you can write to our staff of counselors. Tell us if you've made a decision for Christ today. We'd love to hear about it. Our address is Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Or call toll-free: 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. Our Internet ministry address is gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible.

Tomorrow Elisabeth talks about the feminist agenda, so be sure and tune in then for another Gateway To Joy.