To many this is the most difficult of the four points mentioned at the
outset. They are perfectly satisfied as to the divine Saviour, the
divine salvation, and the divine revelation in the Word of God, but have
found no little difficulty in the application of it to themselves. They
can see the chain with its three links hanging down from heaven over
their heads, but it is just out of their own reach, and as a poor dying
sailor once said to me, “I see the rope, but I cannot get hold of it.”
So they see the salvation, but cannot get hold of it as their own. If
there are any anxious on the subject, and earnestly desiring “to get
hold” on the great salvation, let them remember that what they really
want is for _the Saviour to lay hold on them_, and this is what He
practically does by the power of the Holy Ghost. It is the peculiar
office of the Holy Ghost to take of the things of the Lord Jesus Christ
and apply them unto us, and without that act of His we may struggle in
vain to reach the blessing. It is not enough for us to be told that God
has provided a perfect Saviour, that that Saviour has made a perfect
propitiation, and that by virtue of that propitiation the great salvation
is offered to us as a gift. We may be assured of all that and yet live
on without it, for we want in addition that which the human heart cannot
find in itself, the power to receive the gift and, receiving it, to live.
It is by this mighty power that those who sleep are awakened; those far
off are brought nigh; the bondsmen are set free; the dead made alive, and
those who are strangers and outcasts are made heirs of God through the
blood of Christ.
There is no case too hopeless for the Lord’s salvation. There are many
who have been so utterly unsuccessful in their efforts to rise that they
begin to think there is something peculiar in themselves which makes them
an exception to the general offer of life and pardon. And there are
others who are longing for the salvation of some stubborn, unbroken
heart, but who have sought so long and so hopelessly that they almost
begin to despair. Now whether your anxiety be for yourself or others,
remember the divinity of the great salvation. If the whole is divine,
why should it not be sufficient? You say you are dead, but cannot the
divine power raise the dead? You say your sins are too great for pardon,
but is not the divine propitiation sufficient for them all? You say you
cannot produce even a good prayer, but does not the divine revelation
assure you that the salvation is a free gift even for those who have
nothing?
Give up, then, all thought of working yourself up to salvation, for that
is a mere human process, and is certain to fail, but throw yourself
_before you are saved_ right away on the Saviour for His great gift of
salvation. Remember that the whole thing from first to last is divine,
and, because it is divine, as a little child trust it without the
slightest qualification, trust the promise, accept the gift, and may God
grant that you may be able to use as your own the words of the text,
“According as His divine power hath given unto me all things that pertain
unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who hath called
_me_ to glory and virtue.”