_Behold_, _now is the day of salvation_.
ST. PAUL, having just quoted a prophecy of Isaiah, which relates to an
accepted time and a day of salvation, in the text declares the fulfilment
of that prophecy: “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of
salvation.” That which was then promised, is now performed; that which
was formerly but anticipated, and only embraced by faith, while yet afar
off, is now realised and brought near. But the prophecy itself was
mentioned by the Apostle, to enforce an entreaty, “We then as workers
together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of GOD
in vain. For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the
day of salvation have I succoured thee.” It is evident, then, that St.
Paul would impress upon the Corinthians that men are in danger of
receiving the grace of GOD in vain, of not benefitting by all the
merciful and bountiful provision made through CHRIST for their
redemption, and justification, and sanctification, by not recognising
that this is the day of salvation, and so, not looking and preparing for,
and receiving a present salvation.
Salvation is, as you know, the result—possible in all cases; certain,
wherever the conditions are observed—of redemption by CHRIST. In its
perfection, it is absolute freedom from the guilt, the taint, and the
power of sin, and complete, effectual, and abiding holiness of heart and
life. It belongs not to our proposed subject to consider at any length
the destruction from which this is a salvation, nor the manner in which
it was wrought out for lost sinners by CHRIST, nor the blessedness of its
perfect possession and fruition, which can only be had in heaven. We
have rather to do with what is present, than with the past and the
future. We inquire not now, What has CHRIST done, or, What shall we
reach by and by, but, What ought we to do now? What have we, or may we
have now? In what respects, to what extent, is salvation a thing of the
present?
First, then, it is present in the offer to bestow it, and the
exhortations and influences to lay hold on it. When CHRIST rose
victorious from the tomb, having paid the ransom for all the prisoners of
the law, and purchased the right and power of being their Saviour, He did
not immediately make all the men of His time actual partakers of the
privileges, nor did He provide that all who should thereafter be born,
should from their birth inherit the blessing, as from Adam they had
inherited the curse. No man might say, “CHRIST has died and risen again,
therefore, I am certainly saved, without any reserve or delay on His
part, without any effort, almost without any desire, on my part.”
Salvation was then provided; rather, the fountain was then opened, and
began to flow; but each man in his turn, at the call of GOD, and in the
way of GOD’S appointment, was, so to speak, to help himself to salvation.
In other words, what CHRIST did, was not to take all who were then living
into an ark, and to cause all that sprung from them to be born and
brought up in that ark; but simply to build an ark, and leave it open for
all ages, and to offer helps to reach it, and to urge an entrance into it
upon all men, by the entreaties and promises of His love, and the threats
of His wrath.
We want to be impressed with this. We are too apt to look upon salvation
as an accomplished fact, belonging to the past; to speak of the
blessedness of being born after the atonement has been made; to take for
granted that we are actually saved, rather than that we have a present
offer of salvation; and even to regard the ordinances of religion, as
Baptism and Holy Communion, more as ceremonies of thankful faith,
acknowledgments of obligation for past favours, than as means of laying
hold on a now offered, and, as yet, unattained blessing.
Think a moment, brethren: look into your ways and thoughts about
religion, and you will, perhaps, find that it is so with you; that,
whatever may be your theory, your practice does not assent to the truth,
that “Now is the day of salvation”; that you have now to be saved, yet to
be washed from sin, to have its power destroyed in you, to be qualified
for salvation, to lay hold on it, to work it out with fear and trembling,
as that which, though commenced, is not certain to be completed—which,
even when got, may again be lost. It may occur to you, as an objection
to this statement, that you use means of grace, and somewhat diligently;
that you exercise yourselves in prayer, and by Christian discipline; that
you depend continually upon the ever-present grace of GOD; that you count
not yourselves to have attained; that you seek to go on unto perfection.
All this may be true, and yet—I beseech you ask yourselves whether it is
not so with you—the latent feeling may be, that salvation is a thing
inherited, already, in a measure, attained; and that what religion
requires of you, and what you render, is gratitude to the Giver, and a
due appreciation of the gift, sought to be testified and developed by a
becoming life, and an enlarging of the spiritual faculties, which by and
by will have so much more to exercise themselves upon.
But, secondly, is not this, it may be urged, a right view and feeling?
Is not this what the ministers of religion should labour to impress upon
the baptized: that they have received salvation—the grace of GOD, which
bringeth salvation? Are we not taught by the Church, and by the Bible,
that in baptism we were born again, that we then became children of
GOD—and if children, then heirs, joint heirs with CHRIST; that we are,
therefore, from that new birth as actually the inheritors of a blessing,
as naturally we were inheritors of a curse; and that, thenceforth, it is
proper for us to say, “I heartily thank my Heavenly Father that he hath
called me to this state of salvation through JESUS CHRIST”? It is even
so, brethren. “Now is the day of salvation,” may mean to us Christians,
“now we _have_ salvation,” rather than “now it is only offered to us.”
It may be intended to stir us up to a consideration of our high calling,
to an appreciation of the great gift already bestowed, to a remembrance
of what GOD has already done for us, to a sense of His abiding presence.
There is no doubt—whether this text teaches it or no is another
question—that the disciples of CHRIST have a present possession, as well
as a present offer of salvation; and what I meant in the first part, was
not to hide this truth, but to guard against the error, to correct
whatever amount you might have of the feeling, that we have already a
final gift, so complete that nothing can be added to it, so altogether of
the past, that we can do nothing in the present, but acknowledge the
goodness of GOD in bestowing it, and wait on Him patiently and holily
till He is pleased to reveal to us the full excellencies of the gift, and
to enable us to enjoy them in the eternal heaven. Above all, I meant to
protest against, to awaken from the fearful delusion, that CHRIST has
conferred absolutely on mankind, or upon any chosen number—the elect—the
salvation which, by His precious merits, He procured; that it is ours
independently of means of grace, without closing with present offers of
it, and making present exertions, and showing present appreciation of it;
that it can be ours at all, without earnest seeking and praying for it,
and strivings, and workings, and self-denials, and crucifyings of evil,
and growth in grace, and perseverance unto the end. “By grace are ye
saved, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of GOD.” Work out your
own salvation, each individual of you; make that your own which was once
procured for all that would have it; work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. Your salvation (I speak to the baptized) is _begun_,
you have _present_ salvation—_i.e._, you are in the way which leads to
salvation. You have guaranteed to you, on conditions, the helps
necessary to attain perfect salvation. You may derive, and should be
deriving, present benefits from your salvation, and you should experience
present joy in it.
You have, I say, present salvation. You have been made members of that
One Body, which was sanctified, and which is able to sanctify all other
bodies that are joined to it: you are branches of that glorious tree,
whose sap, pervading every healthy branch, gives it present strength and
develops its beautiful growth, and by and by will produce the fruit of
everlasting life. You have the life of CHRIST kindled in your souls.
Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Now is the day of
salvation, and _present_ salvation, too; not merely past salvation
applied, not that you are washed in a lake whose waters _once_ flowed
from a glorious Fountain; not that you partake of a store of
sanctification, long ago laid up; but that now each individual of you is
operated upon by a present influence, deriving directly from the source,
the water of life, having sanctification produced in you by the
now-working and influencing Spirit. Creatures of the present, there is a
present salvation for you; and that does not mean merely that you have
for yourselves to seek and lay hold of a ready salvation, but that a
merciful and grace-giving GOD, a loving Saviour, an indwelling Spirit,
are present with you, and personally operating upon you for your
salvation.
Dear brethren, try to understand and feel this. Do not suppose that
GOD’S gifts are in any way separated from the Giver by time or by
distance. Once for all, He resolved to give, but severally as each needs
and rightly seeks, He gives; and when He gives, it is not by messengers,
through long mediums, _but out of His own hand_. The bread which we
break and the cup which we bless, are the communion of the Body and Blood
of CHRIST. The bread is not the Body, nor the wine the Blood, nor is the
reception of them the way of applying to us any stored up blessings; but
when we keep the ordinance which CHRIST has appointed, then He fulfils
His promise of blessing us, and, with the sign, Himself the reality
enters into our souls.
There present in the heart,
Not in the hands, th’ eternal Priest
Will His true self impart.
And so of all other ordinances. They are nothing, and give nothing of
themselves. Their whole value—but what an unspeakable value it
is—consists in their being appointed ways of bringing us into direct
communication with a present GOD, our Father, our Saviour, our
Sanctifier!
But there is another view to take of present salvation—namely, that from
its very nature, it cannot be received at any one time in perfection, in
such a state as to need no care to preserve it, no sustentation and
renewal, no constant direction and blessing from the Author, and
Regulator, and Finisher of it. It is spiritual life. Who does not know
to what hazards life may be exposed, and how, from its very nature, it
requires to be fed with proper food, and kept in health, and exercised,
and developed? It is a spiritual sap. And what a mockery of life and
support to the branch, would be one single, separated, unrenewed
imparting from the vine, of the sap, which indeed ceases to be sap when
the flow from the trunk is interrupted! The work of salvation is GOD’S
work, begun by Him, continued by Him, and to be completed by
Him—therefore, it must have His continued personal superintendence. He
must work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Thus is salvation _present_ as distinguished from the _past_.
But in another sense it is now the day of salvation. We have not to
expect it as a thing wholly future, we must not delay to close with it as
though there were a better time and way of doing that to be afforded
hereafter. Salvation is present in its rewards and effects.
This, again, is a truth we need to be impressed with. We are wont to
look too much to the future, to _hope_ to be with GOD hereafter, to
_long_ for salvation, to sigh for the season of sanctification. By and
by we shall be comforted. By and by we shall be strengthened. By and by
we shall be holy and happy! Thus it is that we only expect salvation,
that we persuade ourselves that we are not to receive anything here by
way of real spiritual joy and blessing, and that we are not required to
reach any high degree of spiritual excellence here! But, brethren, how
unreasonable is this persuasion. To believe that GOD is present with us
and operating upon us, and pouring out His benefits upon us all our
lives, and yet that we are none the better, that we do not derive any
blessedness from Him: or, again, to believe that GOD has given us
spiritual life, that He imparts to us, and constantly superintends, the
grace which justifies and sanctifies; and yet that we can, or at least
need make no use of this grace, not grow in it, not become purer, and
holier, that it is ineffectual, that we may consent to its being
ineffectual till life is over—O is not such a persuasion unreasonable,
are we not ashamed of it? Imagine a mother not feeding or taking care of
her infant, and yet counting on its thriving! or, fondly and diligently
tending, taking care of her infant, and continuing to do so year after
year, yet perfectly satisfied though it gained no strength, did not grow,
nor walk, nor speak, nor show the slightest sign of getting out of
babyhood! Imagine, I say, satisfaction with such a state, and hope all
the while, yea, conviction, that presently, when the usual number of
years were over the child would somehow be a man! Or, imagine the
husbandman expecting a harvest without sowing, or ploughing; or planting
his field diligently, and rejoicing in refreshing rains, and ripening
suns, yet not disappointed if the ear did not ripen, or even if the blade
did not spring up; not concerned about it, not expecting it, sure of
harvest at the usual time, even if that usual time should be next week,
and there were yet no sign of a crop! Imagine this! you say. Such
imagination is idle; it is a mockery of common sense to suppose such a
thing possible. Well, then, my brethren, what is to be said of the
spiritual nurses of the new life of GOD in the soul, of the spiritual
husbandman of the seed of grace in the heart, who do nothing towards, or
who expect nothing of present salvation? Brethren, NOW is the day of
salvation, the day in which salvation is offered, in which it is actually
conferred, in which it should be working and growing, yea, and bestowing
its joy and peace. If in aught of this it fails, be sure there is some
fault in yourselves—it is not that grace is of itself unreal, or
unproductive, but that you receive it in vain, that you do not
sufficiently heed and reverence it, that you do not sufficiently guard
it, and sustain and refresh it, that you do not sufficiently use it.
There ought to be in every baptized Christian, a gradual, steady, and
even perceptible Christian progress. Our salvation ought to be ever
nearer and nearer than when we believed, not only in the expectation of
our complete adoption and removal to glory, but in our fitness for glory,
and desire and hope of it. If we have the same evil tendencies, are as
easily overcome by the same temptations, have the same dislike or
imperfect taste for spiritual occupations, the same poor appreciation of
religious privileges and hopes as we had a year, a month, a week ago,
then assuredly our salvation stagnates, we are not using what GOD has
given us, we are not yielding to, we are resisting His living influence!
Grace, my brethren, is an useless gift, if it is to effect nothing: a
time of probation is an idle space, if there is no trial. Faith is
little entitled to be called “the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen,” if it produces no spiritual conviction: and
as for hope—what kind of anchor is it to the soul, if it is ever
shifting, if it grasps nothing?
If any man is in CHRIST, he is a new creature, that is, he is becoming a
new creature, with new life, and powers, and energies, and tastes, and
aims, and hopes. He will grow in grace if he has rightly received it,
and in the knowledge and love of CHRIST. He will manifestly (at least to
himself manifestly) be putting off the old man with his affections and
lusts, and putting on the new man, which after GOD is created in
righteousness and true holiness. He will endure trials more and more
patiently, as seeing more clearly Him who is invisible. He will resist
temptations more easily, and do good more consistently and gladly, and be
more pained and more penitent after every sin. He will have a growing
love of searching GOD’S word, and speaking to Him in prayer and praise,
and receiving Him in Holy Communion. He will gradually be raised above
the world, and will soar higher in imagination and affection and hope
towards heaven. Each day will have witnessed some advance—or some more
than recovery if there has been a relapse. And when the night cometh,
the end of the day of attaining salvation, he will want but little to
complete his resemblance to CHRIST, his pattern, and to perfect his
salvation.
If, then, brethren, you would obtain an answer to the momentous question,
Whether you shall be saved, whether there is a good hope that you are in
the way of salvation, I would bid you not so much look back to your
Baptism and Confirmation, and count the number of your attendances on
Holy Communion, of the sermons you have heard, the prayers and praises
you have offered—though these are all great things—but rather, I would
say, ascertain whether you have present salvation, for the future depends
on the present; and to ascertain this, examine well whether you are
putting off the old man and putting on the new, as I have just described.
As another test—and a very great help in godliness, to which there is no
equal in feelings and exercises—inquire into your hope of future
salvation (by which I do not mean only your expectation, but also your
eager desire), and into your joy for present salvation.
If religion is a reality, it is a great reality. Its immediate blessings
are so precious, and its prospects so transcendently glorious, that the
man who is not filled with joy and desire on their account, has no part
or lot in them, or is strangely culpably ignorant of his privileges and
his hopes. No wonder that he easily yields to sin, that he finds
spiritual employments wearisome, that he makes no progress in salvation.
If GOD touches him and he feels not, if heaven has come down to him and
he knows it not, if glory is revealed to him, and he does not burn for
it, if CHRIST has put him in the ark and he is not comforted by the
immediate deliverance and counting on the perfect salvation—then, surely,
he has received the grace of GOD to little sanctifying, and so to little
saving purpose!
O let him beseech GOD earnestly and perseveringly to give him spiritual
sight and feeling, to fill him with joy and peace in believing, to make
him rejoice, not only for what he has, but for what he expects of
salvation; working, like St. Paul, in view of the crown laid up,
confident that, whether absent or present, he is accepted by GOD, knowing
that to depart is to be with CHRIST.
But, lastly, let him guard and pray against mistaking _present_ for
perfect salvation, the road and discipline and growth for heaven, for
heaven itself. The possession which he has, precious as it is, is not a
perfect one; and, moreover, he may lose it. Remember Paul’s care, lest
he should be a castaway, his caution to take heed lest we fall, his
fearful sayings about forfeited grace. O brethren, seek as the best
immediate blessing and the best stimulus to godliness, an assurance of
hope in perfect salvation. But be sure that it is founded upon the
reception and right use and evident growth of grace, upon present
salvation; and, withal, be not high-minded, but fear. You know your own
frailties, the influences of the world, the subtlety and tremendous power
of Satan’s temptations. Any of these is sufficient to make you wander
out of the right way, or stand still, or turn back, or to cause you to
faint in your spiritual course, and even to threaten the destruction of
your spiritual life. You are sure of GOD, of His favour, of His
upholding, of His preserving you unto the day of perfect redemption; but
you are not sure of your observance of the conditions on which only you
may count on Him. And if you disregard these conditions, then are you
plainly taught, by precept and example, that a neglected GOD will not
abide with you, and a resisted Spirit will not strive with you, and that
grace received in vain will be taken away. Remember this, let it keep
you from presumption, make you watchful against temptation, always
clothed in the armour of GOD, and wielding the sword of the Spirit, and
abounding in the work of the LORD; praying, too, always, that the present
may be an earnest of the future, that the Spirit will sustain, and
sanctify, and perfect you, and that GOD, Who has begun a good work in
you, will perform it until the day of JESUS CHRIST.
SERMON XV.
CHRIST TOUCHED.