Doctor Harry

I remember hearing a story many years ago about Harry Ironside. Harry (or Doctor Ironside as he was commonly called, though an honorary title) was a Canadian born evangelical preacher extraordinaire and pastor of the famous Moody Bible Church in Chicago back in the 1930s. I had the good fortune recently to come across the story once again and I’m delighted to be able to share it with you here.

Harry had just finished preaching the gospel to a university audience in California (imagine that!) when he was approached by a student with a question:

“Dr. Ironside, there are literally thousands of religions, how do we know which is true?”

Harry’s reply was such a classic, you just gotta love it:

“Well, before we can get into the question of which one is true, we need to clarify something. There are not thousands of religions. There are not even hundreds of religions. There are only two: one which tells you that salvation comes as a reward for what you have done, and one which tells you that salvation comes by what somebody else does for you. That’s Christianity. All the rest fit under the other. And if you think you can get your salvation by your own efforts, then Christianity has nothing to say to you. But if you know you need to be saved, then you are a candidate.”

It’s true! All of the religions of the world teach some version of man somehow striving to reach up to God, pulling ourselves up by our own boot straps as it were, in order to somehow be accepted by Him. Only in the Christian faith do we have the wonderful news that God has come for us. Christ has given His life for us, and anyone who wills may come and receive the free gift of eternal life. No matter what you may have done, and quite apart from anything you think you might be able to do, you can become a child of the living God! He has done it all. He has completely satisfied all of the righteous demands of the holy law of God. He has satisfied every bit of justice and taken away every charge that stood against us. Now all of the blessings of heaven in the world to come and the personal companionship of God Himself to walk each step of the way with you in this present world is made available to you simply by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That is the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and it is MATCHLESS. In the words of Paul …

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Colossians 2:13-15


Here is one of my all-time favourite poems that says it well:

O long and dark the stairs I trod
With trembling feet to find my God
Gaining a foothold bit by bit
Then slipping back and losing it
Never progressing; striving still
With weakening grasp and faltering will,
Bleeding to climb to God, while He
Serenely smiled, unnoting me

Then came a certain time when I
Loosened my hold and fell thereby;
Down to the lowest step my fall,
As if I had not climbed at all.
Now when I lay despairing there,
Listen … a footfall on the stair,
On that same stair where I afraid,
Faltered and fell and lay dismayed.

And lo, when hope had ceased to be,
My God came down the stair to me.

Author Unknown