"God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal
life."--John 3:16 (R. V.).
"This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath
sent."--John 6:27.
"He that believeth on me shall never thirst."--John 6:35.
"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name
whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins."--Acts
10:43.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved."--Acts 16:31.
"John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto
the people that they should believe on him that should come after
him, that is, on Jesus."--Acts 19:4.
"To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness."--Rom. 4:5.
"Whosoever liveth and believeth in [into] me shall never die.
Believest thou this?"--John 11:26.
"We have believed in [into] Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the
law."--Gal. 2:16 (R. V.).
"I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is
able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that
day."--2 Tim. 1:12 (R. V.).
If language can be made plain, if it can be used to express a fact
clearly, then God's word teaches clearly, unmistakably, that the one
who believes on Christ is going to Heaven. One may think it to be too
good to be true, when he reads what God's word says along this line;
he may be honestly tempted to suspect that there must be many hidden,
suppressed conditions, which, if expressed, would make the meaning
different; or from religious prejudice, he may warp the meaning or
bring in other conditions;--but God's word is plain.
"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal
life."--John 3:16.
It does not say, whosoever believeth on him and unites with the right
church, or is baptized the right way, or lives the right kind of a
life; it simply says, "whosoever believeth on him"; and then the
promise is plain and absolute, "should not perish."
Jesus said, "he that believeth on me shall never thirst."--John 6:35.
He did not say, he that believeth on me and unites with the right
church, or is baptized the right way, or lives the right kind of a
life; he said plainly, simply, "he that believeth on me," and then
added "shall never thirst."
Peter to the household of Cornelius said, "To him give all the
prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth on him
shall receive remission of sins."--Acts 10:43. He did not say,
whosoever believeth on him and unites with the right church, or is
baptized the right way, or lives the right kind of a life; but simply,
"whosoever believeth on him," and then adds the plain promise, "shall
receive remission of sins."
When the jailor came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and
brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" they
answered, simply, plainly, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt
be saved."--Acts 16:31. They did not say, believe on the Lord Jesus
and unite with the right church, or be baptized the right way, or live
the right kind of a life; they said simply, "Believe on the Lord
Jesus, and thou shalt be saved."
When Paul wrote to the Romans, "To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned
for righteousness,"--Rom. 4:5, he did not say, believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly and unites with the right church, or is
baptized the right way, or lives the right kind of a life; but simply,
"To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness."
Jesus to the grief-stricken sister of Lazarus said, "Whosoever liveth
and believeth in [into] me shall never die."--John 11:26. He did not
say, whosoever liveth and believeth in me and unites with the right
church, or is baptized the right way, or lives the right kind of life;
but simply and plainly, "whosoever liveth and believeth in me," and
then He adds His plain promise, "shall never die."
When Paul said to the Galatians, "we have believed in [into] Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ,"--Gal.
2:16, he did not say, we have believed in Jesus Christ and united with
the right church and been baptized the right way, that we might be
justified by faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. Instead
of this, he puts it in simple, plain language.
In all of these cases, these conditions could have been expressed just
as easily by the Saviour and Peter and Paul as they are expressed by
religious teachers to-day. Why did not the Saviour and Peter and Paul
express these conditions? There can be but one answer,--because they
are not conditions of salvation. How could the Saviour and Peter and
Paul have left out these conditions if they are conditions of
salvation?
But the question arises, if being baptized the right way and living
the right kind of a life are not conditions of salvation, why do these
things? Not from fear of Hell; God desires no service from that
motive. Let the Saviour tell why. When He instituted the Lord's
supper, He said, "This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed
for many, for the remission of sins,"--Matt. 26:28; and then before
leaving the upper room He said to His disciples: "if ye love me, keep
my commandments."--John 14:15. Why love Him? Love Him because He shed
His blood for the remission of their sins. Let Paul tell us why serve
Him: "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge that
if one died for all, then all died; and he died for all, that they who
live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died
for them, and rose again."--2 Cor. 5:14, 15.
Now comes the all-important question, what do these parallel
expressions, "believe on Christ" or "believe in [into] Christ" mean?
Many, when they see how simple and plain is the teaching, say, "Why,
almost every one believes on Christ." No; they believe _about_ Christ,
but not _on_ Christ. A wealthy man deposits a large sum of money in
the bank and promises to pay the debts of all the poor people who will
trust him to pay their debts. They all may believe him, may believe
about him; but only those who believe on him, depend on him, rely on
him to pay their debts, will have their debts paid. So Christ died
for all our sins (1 Cor. 15:3); He gave Himself for us that He might
redeem us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14); but only those who _believe
on_ Him, _depend on_ Him, _rely on_ Him to save them, will ever be
saved. The man who is depending on Christ and his baptism or Christ
and his church, or Christ and his good life to save him, will be lost;
for he is not believing on, depending on, relying on, Christ to save
him; but only partly on Christ and partly on something else; and
_there is no promise in God's word that those who partly believe on
Christ shall be saved_. The very fact that a man depends partly on
Christ and partly on something else to save him, shows that he has
never believed that the Saviour "gave himself for us that he might
redeem us from all iniquity" (Titus 2:13, 14); the Saviour he is
depending on is not the Saviour God's word reveals; and hence he has
no Saviour at all.
Notice Paul's instruction to the Romans concerning believing on
Christ: "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness."--Rom. 4:5.
Consider the simple but vital teaching of this passage: He justifieth
the ungodly. How? "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood ... to declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness, that he might be _just_ and the _justifier_ of him that
believeth in Jesus" (Rom. 3:25, 26); "being now justified by his
blood."--Rom. 5:9. And He justifies us from all sin, "Our Saviour
Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from
_all_ iniquity" (Titus 2:13, 14); redeems us from the curse of the
law (Gal. 3:13), redeems us from under the law (Rom. 6:14), and this
makes us God's children (Gal. 4:4-7).
Consider further: He justifies _the ungodly_. If He justifies the
ungodly then all efforts to become godly _in order to be saved_, are
worse than wasted and are in rebellion against _God's plan for men_.
"When we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the
_ungodly_."--Rom. 5:6. "God commendeth his own love toward us, in that
_while we were yet sinners_, Christ died for us."--Rom. 5:8. "_When we
were enemies_ we were reconciled to God by the death of his
Son."--Rom. 5:10. Why? Because Christ justifies the ungodly. The
Saviour did not say to Nicodemus, "Whosoever becomes godly should not
perish," but "Whosoever believeth on him." Why? Because He justifies
_the ungodly_. Paul and Silas did not say to the jailor, a hardened
sinner, "Become godly and thou shalt be saved"; but "Believe on the
Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved." Why? Because He justifies _the
ungodly_. On what condition does He justify the ungodly? "To him that
_worketh_ not, but _believeth_ on him." Here is the work of the soul
to be saved; Paul says to cease working at the task, and believe on,
depend on, Him--He justifies the ungodly. God gave men ten
commandments to keep. God's word says, "The man that doeth them shall
live by them."--Gal. 3:12. But all men have failed to keep them; "all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God."--Rom. 3:23. To
illustrate: A father gives a little boy ten rows of corn to work out
and says to him, "Willie, if you will work out the ten rows of corn
to-day, I will pay you five dollars; but it will take steady work all
day." About nine o'clock some boys persuade Willie to play, and he
plays with them for two hours. Now he cannot get the task done, and so
is sure to lose the five dollars. His grown brother comes to him and
says, "Willie, I saw the trouble you were getting into, and had a talk
with father. Father says that the work must be done or you will lose
the five dollars. But father agreed to let me do the work for you. Now
if you will quit working at the task and trust me, depend on me, I
will see that the work is done, and that you get the five dollars."
The little brother quits working at the task, and gets out of the
field. He believes on, depends on, trusts, his big brother. If, now,
there is any failure, it will be the big brother's failure, and not
the little brother's. So, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for
righteousness." If, then, the sinner will quit working at the task of
his salvation and believe on, depend on Christ, trust the whole work
of salvation to Him, He will "justify the ungodly" from "all iniquity"
(Titus 2:14). If, then, there should be any failure of being saved, it
would be Christ's failure, for He said, "Him that cometh unto me, I
will in no wise cast out."--John 6:37. Why, then, should the one who
has thus trusted Christ ever be baptized, or live a faithful, godly
life? Go back to the illustration: As the little brother quits working
at the task in the field and believes on, depends on, trusts, the big
brother to have the task done, a man meets him and says, "Willie,
your brother was good to you. But to do your work for you, that you
might not lose the five dollars, he left his field, and it needs work
badly. If I were in your place, from love to my big brother, I would
go and work in his field for him." The little brother says, "I will do
it, sir." He goes over into his big brother's field and works harder
than ever, not from fear of losing the five dollars, but from love to
his big brother. So the Saviour, after we have believed on Him,
trusted Him to save, justify us, says, "If ye love me, keep my
commandments."--John 14:15. "Go work to-day in _my_ vineyard,"--Matt.
21:28; not "in _your own_." All the work that the redeemed, the saved,
man does is not in his own field, to get the task done, that he may be
saved; but in the big brother's field, from love to the big brother
for having relieved him of the entire responsibility for the task.
To follow up the illustration: The big brother sees the little brother
working in the big brother's field and he goes to him and says,
"Willie, I appreciate this, for you are doing it from love to me. If
you were doing it from fear lest I might not keep my promise, it would
hurt me; for that would show that you did not trust me. But you cannot
work for me for nothing. I will pay you fifty cents for every hour you
work in my field. Now, work hard and have a large reward for your
labor." So the Saviour says, "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one
of these little ones a cup of water only in the name of a disciple,
verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward."--Matt.
10:42. And he says, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in
Heaven."--Matt. 6:20. "He shall reward every man according to his
works."--Matt. 16:27. The reward of fifty cents for every hour's work
does not destroy the motive of love that moves the little brother; it
only increases the motive of love.
But do not redeemed people, God's children, sometimes become
backsliders? Yes. Go back to the illustration of the little brother
and his task. As he is working from love to his big brother, in the
big brother's field, the bad boys follow him and tempt him, and
prevail on him to leave the big brother's field and to mistreat the
big brother. The father sees it all; goes and takes the little brother
out into the forest and reproves him for his wrong to his big brother,
and then chastises him and sends him back to the big brother's field.
So, when God's redeemed, saved children backslide, do wrong wilfully,
He chastises them. "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the
Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."--Heb. 12:5,
6. "Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the
earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant
shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure
forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake
my law and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and
keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with
the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving
kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail."--Ps. 89:27-33.
Reader, which field are you working in? Are you working in your own
field? trying to accomplish a task, now that you have sinned, you can
never accomplish?--Meet _all_ of God's just laws and requirements, and
develop a character that will entitle you to a home in Heaven? Heed
the message, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness."
Believe on Him, depend on Him, to justify you from all iniquity (Titus
2:14). The moment you do, your eternal destiny is settled, "Verily,
verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life."--John 5:24. Then,
from love to the big brother, go into his field and work till the day
is done.
In telling of his own salvation, Paul again makes plain what "believe
on the Lord Jesus" means: "I know him whom I have believed and am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him
against that day." Notice this declaration as to the apostle's
salvation: "I know him." A man must "know him" or he cannot "believe
on" Christ. He can _risk_ Him without knowing Him, but he cannot
_believe on_ Him, cannot _trust_ Him for salvation. It does not mean,
know Him in every respect, as to how His divine and human nature could
be united; as to how He could have had eternal existence; as to how
His resurrected body could appear and disappear, etc., but to know Him
in His character as Saviour. In trusting money to a bank one does not
need to know how much German or French or English blood there is in
the bank officials. In trusting one's case to a physician, one does
not need to know the different nationalities from which he is
descended, but he needs to know him in his character as physician. So
men must know Jesus in His character as Saviour, or they cannot
believe on, trust Him to save them. They must, then, know Him as the
Messiah, the promised Saviour, the complete sin-bearer, or they cannot
believe on Him. But after one knows the bank, he must commit his money
to the bank, else the bank is not responsible for it. After one knows
the physician, he must commit his case to the physician, else the
physician is not responsible. And so Paul says, "I am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I _have committed unto him against that
day_." No one, then, is redeemed, is saved, who has not committed his
salvation to Christ against that day. Let the reader get clearly the
meaning of "commit." No one has committed money to the bank who yet
holds to the money; no one has committed a package to the express
company who yet holds to the package; no one has committed a letter to
the post-office for delivery who yet holds to the letter. So no one
has committed his salvation to Christ, no one is redeemed, is saved,
who yet holds to the work of his salvation. He must _commit_ it to
Christ.
Further, no one has _committed_ his money to the bank who has not left
the entire responsibility for the money's safety to the bank, leaving
no further responsibility whatever upon himself for the safety of the
money. No one has _committed_ a package to the express company, who
has not left the whole responsibility for the delivery of the package
entirely to the company, leaving no responsibility whatever upon
himself for its safe delivery. No one has _committed_ a letter to the
post-office who has not left the entire responsibility for its safe
delivery to the government, leaving no responsibility whatever upon
himself for its safe delivery. Even so, no one has _committed_ his
salvation to Christ, no one is redeemed, is saved, who has not left
the entire responsibility of his salvation to Christ, leaving no
responsibility whatever for his salvation upon himself.
But one may have committed his money to the bank and yet not really
have trusted the bank, but only _risked_ the bank; one may have
committed a package to the express company and yet not really have
trusted the express company, but only _risked_ it; one may have
committed a letter to the post-office and yet not really have trusted
the post-office, but only _risked_ it. So, one may have committed his
salvation to Christ, and yet be unredeemed, unsaved, because he only
_risked_ Christ and did not _trust_ Him. Hence Paul says, "I know him
whom I have _believed_," _trusted, taken at His word_.
One other fact needs to be considered as to what believing on Christ
means in Paul's case. He says, "I am persuaded that he is able to keep
that which I have committed to him _against that day_." It is not a
committal of one's salvation to Christ a moment at a time, nor till
one can see how he will afterwards feel; nor till one can see whether
he is going to be able to live a Christian life. It is to commit one's
salvation to Christ "_against that day_." And the moment one does
what Paul did, commits his salvation to Christ against that day, God's
word says he is saved, redeemed: "Verily, verily I say unto you, He
that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed
from death unto life."--John 5:24.
_FOR FURTHER STUDY_:--When Paul says, "To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth _the ungodly_, his faith is counted
for righteousness,"--Rom. 4:5, he is in line with the teaching of the
Saviour when He said, "The publicans and the harlots go into the
kingdom of God before you,"--Matt. 21:31; and if the teaching of the
Saviour and Paul on this point is true, then there is not left one
square inch of ground on which the teachers of "salvation by
character" may stand. They are not in agreement with the Saviour and
Paul on this point, but there is one with whom they are here in strict
agreement; "I hope for happiness beyond this life"; "I believe that
religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and
endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy"; "The only true
religion is deism, by which I then meant and now mean the belief of
one God, and an imitation of his moral character, or the practice of
what are called moral virtues; and that _it was upon this only_ (so
far as religion is concerned) _that I rested my hopes of happiness
hereafter_. So say I now, and so help me God." These are exact
quotations from "The Age of Reason," by Thomas Paine. And those who
preach "salvation by character" thus line up with Paine against the
Saviour and Paul. They fail to see that there can be no proper
character without proper motive, and that there can, in the sight of
God, be no proper motive till one is redeemed, saved, and thus placed
where the motive will be love, the purest motive possible to human
beings. And they fail to see that _God's plan with men_ is to save
irrespective of character, and then to develop in the redeemed man the
real character for all eternity.
God has not two ways of salvation; He has not two ways of believing on
Christ. What is essential to one man's salvation is essential to the
salvation of every man. What is "believing on Christ" for one man, is
believing on Christ for every man. When Paul says "I know him whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I
have committed to him against that day,"--2 Tim. 1:12 (R. V.), he has
given the pattern of saving faith. "I know him." Man _must_ know Him
in His real character as Saviour or he cannot commit to Him against
that day the matter of his eternal destiny, cannot believe on Him.
What are the essential things, then, that must be included in "I know
him" in His character as Saviour, in order that one can believe on
Him, be saved by Him, be a real Christian? First, one must know Him as
the promised Messiah, in order to really believe on Him, to be really
a Christian. The high priest asked, "Art thou the Christ, the Son of
the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am."--Mark 14:61, 62. The woman at the
well said, "I know that Messiah cometh, who is called Christ: When he
is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee, am he."--John 4:25, 26. As Ballard, in "The Miracles
of Unbelief," has clearly pointed out, either (1) He was the Messiah;
or (2) He was the illegitimate son of a fallen woman and the vilest
deceiver the world has ever known, or (3) He was the illegitimate son
of a fallen woman, and a poor, simple-minded ignoramus, who claimed to
be the Messiah and honestly thought He was, but was simply ignorant
and deluded. Men in their intellectual pride or religious prejudice
may sneer and try to avoid this issue, but every honest thinking man
will see and confess that only these three conclusions are possible,
that one of the three is inevitable: and every honest man will take
one of the three positions. Voltaire said "curse the wretch." He is to
be commended as compared with the man who tries to avoid the issue.
Second, one must know Him as complete Redeemer in order to believe on
Him, in order to commit one's salvation to Him against that day. There
is no middle ground. He was either no redeemer at all, or He "gave
himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity."--Titus
2:14. To try to avoid the issue here is as fatal as to try to avoid
the issue as to His being the Messiah. To believe on, to commit one's
salvation to, a partial Redeemer, is to have no redeemer at all, to be
left unredeemed, unsaved.
Third, to know Him in order to believe on Him, to commit one's
salvation to Him against that day, one must know Him as having been
really raised from the dead. _Belief in the real resurrection of the
Saviour is essential to salvation._ For one to be heralded abroad as a
great preacher and theologian who yet denies the literal, real
resurrection of the Saviour, cannot change God's word that all such
are yet unredeemed, lost, not real Christians. God's word is plain on
this point: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and
_shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead_,
thou shalt be saved."--Rom. 10:9. "If Christ hath not been raised your
faith is vain; _ye are yet in your sins_."--1 Cor. 15:17.
Chalmers, the great Scotch preacher, in a letter to a friend made
plain what believing on Christ means: "I must say that I never had so
close and satisfactory a view of the gospel salvation, as when I have
been led to contemplate it in the light of a simple offer on the one
side, and a simple acceptance on the other. It is just saying to one
and all of us, There is forgiveness through the blood of My Son: Take
it, and whoever believes the reality of the offer takes it.... We are
apt to stagger at the greatness of the unmerited offer and cannot
attach faith to it till we have made up some title of our own. This
leads to two mischievous consequences: It keeps alive the presumption
of one class who will still be thinking that it is something in
themselves and of themselves which confers upon them a right of
salvation; and it confirms the melancholy of another class, who look
into their own hearts and their own lives, and find that they cannot
make out a shadow of a title to the divine favor. The error of both
lies in their looking to themselves when they should be looking to the
Saviour. 'Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth.'--Is. 45:22. The Son of man was so lifted up that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John
3:14, 15). It is your part simply to lay hold of the proffered boon.
You are invited to do so; and you are entreated to do so; nay, what is
more, you are commanded to do so. It is true, you are unworthy, and
without holiness no man can see God; but be not afraid, only believe.
You cannot get holiness of yourself, but Christ has undertaken to
provide it for you. It is one of those spiritual blessings of which He
has the dispensation, and which He has promised to all who believe in
Him. God has promised that with His Son He will freely give you all
things (Rom. 8:32); that He will walk in you, and dwell in you (2 Cor.
6:16); that He will purify your heart by faith (Acts 15:9); that He
will put His law in your mind and write it in your heart (Heb. 8:10).
These are the effects of your believing in Christ, and not the
services by which you become entitled to believe in Him. Make a clear
outset in the business, and understand that your first step is simply
confiding acceptance of an offer that is most free, most frank, most
generous, and most unconditional. If I were to come as an accredited
agent from the upper sanctuary with a letter of invitation to you,
with your name and address on it, you would not doubt your warrant to
accept it. Well, here is the Bible, your invitation to come to Christ.
It does not bear your name and address, but it says 'Whosoever,' that
takes you in; it says 'all,' that takes you in; it says 'if any,' that
takes you in. What can be surer or freer than that?"
Equally helpful are the words of Horatius Bonar in "Words for the
Inquiring":--"If you object that you cannot believe, then this
indicates that you are proceeding quite in a wrong direction. You are
still laboring under the idea that this believing is a work to be done
by you, and not the acknowledgment of a work done by another. You
would fain do something in order to get peace, and you think that if
you could do this great thing 'believing,' if you could but perform
this great act called faith, God would at once reward you by giving
you peace. Thus faith is reckoned by you to be the price, in the
sinner's hand, by which he buys peace, and not the mere holding out of
the hand to get a peace which has already been bought by another. So
long as you are attaching any meritorious importance to faith, however
unconsciously, you are moving in a wrong direction--a direction from
which no peace can come. Surely faith is not a work. On the contrary,
it is a ceasing from work. It is not a climbing of the mountain, but a
ceasing to attempt it, and allowing Christ to carry you up in His own
arms. You seem to think that it is your act of faith that is to save
you, and not the object of your faith, without which your act, however
well performed, is nothing. Accordingly, you bethink yourself, and
say, 'What a mighty work is this believing--what an effort does it
require on my part--how am I to perform it?' Herein you sadly err, and
your mistake lies chiefly here, in supposing that your peace is to
come from the proper performance on your part of an act of faith;
whereas, it is to come entirely from the proper perception of Him to
whom the Father is pointing your eyes, and in regard to whom He is
saying, 'Behold my servant whom I have chosen, look at Him, forget
everything else--everything about yourself, your own faith, your own
repentance, your own feelings--and look at Him! It is in Him, not out
of your poor act of faith, that salvation lies; and out of Him, not
out of your own act of faith, is peace to come.' Thus mistaking the
meaning of faith and the way which faith saves you, you get into
confusion, and mistake everything else connected with your peace: you
mistake the real nature of that very inability to believe of which you
complain so sadly. For that inability does not lie, as you fancy it
does, in the impossibility of your performing aright the great act of
faith, but of ceasing from all such self-righteous attempts to perform
any act, or do any work whatsoever in order to your being saved. So
that the real truth is, that you have not yet seen such a sufficiency
in the one great work of the Son of God upon the cross, as to lead you
utterly to discontinue your mistaken and aimless efforts to work out
something of your own.
"But perhaps you may object further, that you are not satisfied with
your faith. No, truly, nor are you ever likely to be. If you wait for
this before you take peace, you will wait till life is done. Not
satisfaction with your own faith, but satisfaction with Jesus and His
work, this is what God presses on you. You say, 'I am satisfied with
Christ.' Are you? What more, then, do you wish? Is not satisfaction
with Christ enough for you, or for every sinner? Nay, and is not this
the truest kind of faith? To be _satisfied with Christ_, that is faith
in Christ. To be satisfied with His blood, that is faith. What more
could you have? Can your faith give you something which Christ cannot?
Or will Christ give you nothing till you can produce faith of a
certain kind and quality, whose excellences will entitle you to
blessing? Do not bewilder yourself. Do not suppose that your faith is
a price, or a bribe, or a merit. Is not the very essence of real faith
just your being satisfied with Christ? Are you really satisfied with
Him and with what He has done? Then do not puzzle yourself about your
faith, but go on your way rejoicing, having thus been brought to be
satisfied with Him who to know is peace, and life, and salvation....
Faith, however perfect, has of itself nothing to give you either of
pardon or of life. Its finger points you to Jesus. Its voice bids you
look straight to Him. Its object is to turn away from itself and from
yourself altogether, that you may behold Him, and in beholding Him be
satisfied with Him and in being satisfied with Him have joy and
peace."
Likewise James Denny, in "The Death of Christ," teaches the same
lesson: "It is this great Gospel which is the gospel to win
souls--this message of a sin-bearing, sin-expiating love which pleads
for acceptance, which takes the whole responsibility of the sinner,
unconditionally, with no preliminaries, if only he abandon himself to
it."
A young person who felt that his time in this world was short, wrote
to an eminent English preacher to write and tell a sinner what he must
do to prepare to die--what is the preparation required by God--and
when he is fit to die. The preacher wrote: "I urge you to cast
yourself at once, in the simplest faith, upon the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. All your true preparation for death is
entirely out of yourself and in the Lord Jesus. Washed in His blood,
and clothed upon with His righteousness, you may appear before God
divinely, fully, freely and forever accepted. The salvation of the
chief of sinners is all prepared, finished and complete in Christ
(Eph. 1:6; Col. 2:10). Again I repeat, your eye of faith must now be
directed entirely out of and from yourself, to Jesus. Beware of
looking for any preparation to meet death _in yourself_. It is _all in
Christ_. God does not accept you on the ground of a broken heart, or a
clean heart, or a praying heart, or a believing heart. He accepts you
wholly and entirely on the ground of the atonement of His blessed Son.
Cast yourself in child-like faith upon that atonement--'Christ dying
for the ungodly' (Rom. 5:6)--and you are saved! Justification is this,
a poor law-condemned, self-condemned, self-destroyed sinner, wrapping
himself by faith in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
is unto all them that believe (Rom. 3:22). He, then, is justified and
is prepared to die, and he only, who casts from him the garment of his
own righteousness and runs unto this blessed city of Refuge--the Lord
Jesus--and hides himself there--exclaiming, 'There is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus' (Rom. 8:1). God is
prepared to accept you in His blessed Son, and for His sake He will
cast all your sins behind His back, and take you to glory when you
die. Never was Jesus known to reject a poor sinner that came to Him
empty and with nothing to pay. God will glorify His free grace by your
salvation, and will therefore save you just as you are, without money
and without price (Is. 55:1). I close with Paul's reply to the anxious
jailor, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved' (Acts
16:31). No matter what you have been, or what you are, plunged into
the fountain opened for sin, and for uncleanness (Zech. 13:1), and you
shall be clean, 'washed whiter than snow' (Ps. 51:7). Heed no
suggestion of Satan, or of unbelief; cast yourself at the feet of
Jesus, and if you perish, perish there! Oh, no! Perish you never will,
for He hath said, 'Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out'
(John 6:37). 'Come unto me' (Matt. 11:28) is His blessed invitation;
let your reply be, 'Lord, I come! I come! I come! I entwine my feeble,
trembling arms of faith around Thy cross, around Thyself, and if I
die, I will die cleaving, clinging, looking unto Thee!' So act and
believe and you need not fear to die. Looking at the Saviour in the
face, you can look at death in the face, exclaiming with good old
Simeon, 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace; for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation' (Luke 2:29). May we through rich, free
and sovereign grace, meet in Heaven, and unite in exclaiming, 'worthy
is the Lamb, for he was slain for us' (Rev. 5:12)."
"Until I saw the blood 'twas Hell my soul was fearing;
And dark and dreary in my eyes the future was appearing,
While conscience told its tale of sin
And caused a weight of woe within.
"But when I saw the blood, and looked at Him who shed it,
My right to peace was seen at once, and I with transport read it,
I found myself to God brought nigh
And 'Victory' became my cry.
"My joy was in the blood, the news of which had told me,
That spotless as the lamb of God, my Father could behold me.
And all my boast was in His name
Through whom this great salvation came."