This tract has been written
especially for you. Whether careless or interested, indifferent or anxious
about your relationship to God and Eternity, you will find words of instruction
in its pages. Please do read it, and read it CAREFULLY. Man's way of salvation
and God's way of salvation are compared and contrasted; popular excuses and
objections are examined and replied to, while difficulties of inquirers are
explained.
Ruin by the fall, redemption
by the Blood, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and reception by faith are
expounded.
Hitherto you may have
thought that it was a matter of little concern to God whether you were lost or
saved. Read these pages and you will see that, in spite of your sins, God loves
your precious soul, and longs to bestow upon you pardon, peace, joy, and “pleasures
for evermore”.
“I PRAY THEE HAVE ME EXCUSED”
A distinguished man in the
East, at great expense provided a sumptuous feast, and invited many to come.
When the time came for the guests to arrive, they all absented themselves, and
sent excuses. The fact was, they did not wish to go, and, not having the
courage to say, “We won't” they said. “We cannot”. Whatever may have been their
reasons for refusing to speak out their minds and attend the feast, their
excuses were extremely silly (Luke 14).
The first said, “I have
bought a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me
excused”. What was the hurry? Could he not have gone at some other time? The
second was not a bit better. “I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to prove
them: I pray thee have me excused”. What harm could have come to the oxen by
giving them a night's rest? Besides, whether they were value or not for the
money he paid for them they were bought.
But the third excuse was the
worst of all. “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come”. Why didn't
he take her with him? The spiritual application of the story must be evident to
all. God, at an infinite cost, has provided a feast for perishing sinners. He
has commanded His servants to go into all the world and proclaim the glad
tidings to every creature. Here are some excuses given.
“I NEVER DID ANY HARM IN MY LIFE”
Such an excuse has often
been given. Is this your excuse? Do you really mean that you have never done
any harm? Have you never cherished an impure, unkind, or wicked thought? Have
you never spoken a hasty word, told a lie, or attempted to mislead anyone? Have
you loved God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind? Have you loved your
neighbor as yourself? “Oh no,” you reply; “no one has”.
Never mind others just now.
You admit that you have sinned. If one were found guilty of breaking the laws
of this country, who would believe that he had done no harm? There is no use
concealing the fact that you have not been what you ought to have been; you
have not done what you should have done in other words, you are a sinner and
the Word of God declares? “The soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4); “The
wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Take your place as lost and ruined in
God's sight, and give up, all attempts to excuse or cover up your sins. They
cannot be hid from God.
“I'LL TURN OVER A NEW LEAF”
It is all very well to say
that you will “turn over a new leaf”. But let me ask, What about the past black
leaves of guilt? Turning over a new leaf does not remove the blotted ones.
It may be, dear reader, at
one time you were addicted to drinking or swearing, or other bad habits but of
late you have “turned over a new leaf,” and are become what the world calls a “reformed”
person. This is right and proper, but does it blot out past disobedience?
A merchant finds that he is
in difficulties. He takes his cashbook and begins a “new leaf,” forgetting that
there is a “carried over” and a “brought forward” column. New figures on the “new
leaf” won't pay the old debts.
“Turning over a new leaf”
won't do for you. Jesus said, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:3-7).
“GOD IS MERCIFUL”
Satan goes about with his
bundle of lies, giving one to one person and one to another. To one he says, “God
is too merciful to punish sinners,” and if this is not believed, he says “If
God does punish the sinner in hell it won't be eternal”.
It is a blessed truth that “God
is merciful;” but He is also Holy and Just, and never can be merciful at the
expense of His justice. All His attributes are equally balanced and cannot
conflict with each other. He who is longsuffering and slow to anger “will by no
means clear the guilty”.
God's pardoning mercy flows
only through one channel, and that is the atonement of Christ; and all who
refuse to accept of life through His death must forever “dwell with the
devouring fire”. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations
that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). “He that believeth not the Son shall not see
life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
“IF ONE DOES THE BEST HE CAN HE WILL BE SAVED”
Have you always done your
best? Have you not again and again done what you ought not to have done, and
omitted doing what you should have done? “I don't pretend to be perfect”.
Assuredly not, but remember that this admission removes every possible hope of
your being saved by your doings. One sin is sufficient to condemn you, and you
know that you have committed thousands. What is the use of such suppositions
as, “If a man does the best he can,” when God has declared that none have ever
done so? “All we, like sheep, have gone astray” (Isa. 53:6), “They are
altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm
14:3). An unsaved reader, the “best” that you can do is to admit that you are
ruined, helpless, and undone. If from this day until the day of your death, you
did not commit a single sin, you would not be saved on that ground, for sinners
are nor saved by what they do, but by what Christ has done for them. “To him
that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5 ).
“DON'T YOU BELIEVE IN GOOD WORKS?”
When sinners are shown that salvation
is all of grace, and “not of works,” it is not an uncommon thing to hear such
say, “You don't believe in good works? “This is a great mistake. What the Word
of God shows us is, that an unconverted man cannot do a good work, as a “good
work” must spring from a good motive, and that must be love to the Lord Jesus.
The moment a person is
saved, that very moment everything he does ought to be done to the glory of
God. No sooner do we read of the jailer's conversion than we see him proving
his faith by his works. “He took them the same hour of the night and washed
their stripes”. Read the account in Acts 16. The Bible teaches, “without faith
it is impossible to please God,” and so long as you are unsaved, you are
utterly unable to do a single “good work”. Believe in God's wondrous love to
you and you will work for Him in return for what He has done for you.
“IT IS
DIFFICULT TO BE A CHRISTIAN”
Do you mean that it is
difficult to become a Christian? If so, you are completely mistaken. “But I
have again and again tried to become one and have failed. “Cease trying to be
saved by your efforts: Christ has finished the mighty work, and justice is
satisfied. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”.
“I meant that it was
difficult to live the life of a Christian”. Granted at once. Let me, however,
ask, whether it is easier to serve Satan or Christ? Which is the better master?
Who gives the best wages?
In serving Satan you have to
turn your back on your best Friend, despise or neglect His great salvation,
resist His Holy Spirit, trample under your feet the Son of God's love, and rush
headlong to eternal ruin. Why, then perish forever, seeing you can be saved?
“I CANNOT GIVE UP THE PLEASURES OF THIS WORLD”
You are not asked to “give
up” anything until you are saved. Salvation, it is true, includes deliverance
from the thraldom and dominion of sin, as well as from its penalty, and you
can't have one part without the other.
God does not, however, say
to the sinner “Give up the pleasures and amusements of the world and I will
bestow on you pardon and peace”. His way is, “Receive Christ now into your
heart and you will be saved from the power as well as the doom of sin”.
A lady, in conversation with
a Christian at the close of a gospel meeting said, “God won't save me now. “Why?”
“I have made up my mind to go to a ball on Tuesday evening, and He won't save
me until I am willing to give up going to it. “She was shown that “now” was
God's time, and that He was beseeching her to accept a free and present pardon
as she was and where she was. The word was blessed to her soul, and I need not
add that she was not at the ball. She had something better.
“I DON'T WISH TO BE GLOOMY”
Numbers think that a
Christian is one who goes through life hanging his head, heaving sighs drawing
a long face, and looking very sanctimonious. This is one of the biggest, and we
fear one of the most widely believed lies Satan ever coined. Real, lasting
happiness is the portion of every believer. “Gloomy!” What is there in the
gospel calculated to make one gloomy? Does it make a man “gloomy” to know that
all his sins are forgiven? Will it “make one gloomy” to be assured that he will
spend eternity with the Lord Jesus in glory? Will the condemned criminal who
has been pardoned by his sovereign feel sad?
The only one who has a right
to be happy is the Christian - he and he alone being delivered from the bondage
of sin.
Well might the psalmist say,
“Happy is that people whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15); “In Thy presence
is fullness of joy”.
“SO MANY HYPOCRITES”
And is that your excuse for
not accepting the invitation to the gospel feast? If so, it is a very poor one.
You know some who say they are Christians, but their conduct proves that they
are hypocrites. Though members of churches and chapels, they do things which
you and others, who make no such profession, would not stoop to, and you are
inclined to say of all who profess to be Christians, “Nice lot! They are a pack
of hypocrites”.
But surely this would be
very unfair reasoning. Hypocrites are persons who profess to be what they know
they are not. Those you refer to, profess to be, but are not Christians. Are we
to conclude because of this, that all who profess are hypocrites? This would be
as foolish as to say that all clerks are thieves, because two were convicted of
stealing.
The fact that some pretend
to be Christians proves that the reality must be good, as men don't counterfeit
that which is worthless. Suppose, however, that real Christians are
inconsistent, will that justify you in not being one?
“IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT ONE BELIEVES IF HE IS
SINCERE”
This is what many of the “mock
charity school” say; but let us see if it is true. A man, feeling unwell, went
to the cupboard, and took by mistake a bottle of poison and drank same of the
contents, and died in great agony a few hours afterward. Did his sincerity of
belief save his life?
The engineer of a passenger
train sincerely believed that the line was clear, but he was mistaken. He ran
past the signal at full speed and the result was a dreadful collisions precious
lives were lost and many were injured.
A man's salvation or
damnation depends on his belief. If he believes the lie of Satan will eternally
perish; but if he believes the truth of God he will be eternally saved.
“There is a way which
seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs
14:12). Sincerity of belief in that way ends in everlasting destruction.
“SO MANY DIFFERENT OPINIONS”
I really don't know what to do.
There are so many opinions that I am quite perplexed to know what to believe.
If this is your thought, let me strongly impress upon you the importance of
being guided entirely by the sure Word of God.
A lady, who had not long to
live was anxious about her soul. She earnestly asked a Christian who visited
her, “What are your views of salvation?” “I have no views,” was the reply. The
lady was amazed. “You seem astonished,” said the visitor, “but supposing I had
what good would they do you, seeing they would be but the views of a fellow
mortal? I can, however, give you something better. I can give you God's word”.
The result of the conversation was the lady shortly afterwards found peace to
her soul by learning that the question “What must I do to be saved?” was
answered thus: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”.
DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE LOST?
The Philippian jailer knew
that I he was lost, else he would not I have asked what he had to do to be
saved (Acts 16:30, 31). Have you really ever seen yourself to be a lost sinner?
The great question is, “Are
you saved or lost?” Face it fairly. Were you called to meet God at this moment,
are you prepared? “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not
look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13). “Righteousness and judgment are the
habitation of His Throne'' (Psalm 97:2). If unsaved, unconverted, unforgiven,
listen to the Word of the living God: “The soul that sinneth it shall die”
(Ezek. 18:4). “The wicked shall be turned into hells and all the nations that
forget God”.
If you know that you are
lost, there is One both able and willing to save you. His mission to this world
was to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
HOW TO BE SAVED
God is holy and just; and
though merciful and gracious, “will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus
34:7). In His Word He has said “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). How
then can one be saved, for “all have sinned?”
The Scripture has declared, “Without
shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9.22). Sin must be atoned for!
“Jesus gave Himself a ransom
for all” (1 Timothy 2:6). The ransom price has been paid and accepted. Justice
is satisfied, not with what you have done, but with what Christ has done for
you. On the ground of His finished work, God invites and beseeches you to
accept a free, full and present salvation.
It is a wonder that any
remain unsaved when God has shown so clearly and fully, in His Word, how
salvation is to be obtained. If you wish to be saved, hear what God says to
you.
“For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “All that believe are justified
from all things” (Acts 13:39). “Whosoever believeth in Him shall receive
remission of sins” (Acts 10.43). “He that believeth on Him is not condemned”
(John 3: 18). The firstborn in the blood-sprinkled house in Egypt was preserved
from the destroying angel because the Lord had said, “When I see the blood I
will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). Salvation can only be had by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
“FAR TOO EASY A WAY”
Many are stumbled at the
simplicity of the gospel. When it is first presented to them in all its fulness
and freeness, they declare that believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is “far too
easy” a way.
Thank God, it is an “easy”
way of being saved. Well might the poet (Cowper sing:
“Oh, how unlike the complex
works of man, Heaven's easy, artless unencumbered way”.
Though an “easy” way it is
not “too easy” since it is obtained through believing in One by whom the
difficult work has all been done. It was not “easy” for Him to be mocked and
insulted by men. It was not “easy” for Him to be scourged, spat upon and
crucified. It was not “easy” in the moment of His humiliation and agony to be
forsaken of God. It was not “easy” for Him to be “wounded for our
transgressions and bruised for our iniquities”. Though an easy way, it is God's
only way of saving sinners, and if the reader is not saved in that way, he will
never be saved at all. “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness”.
“I ALWAYS BELIEVED ON JESUS AND YET I CANNOT SAY THAT
I AM SAVED”
Depend on it if this is what
you say or think, you are completely mistaken. No one has “always believed on
Jesus”. You may have believed a great deal about the Lord Jesus, but you have
never received His glorious gospel, or you would be saved. What about the Lord
Jesus do you believe? “I believe that He died on Calvary for sinners”.
Believing that won't do you any good. Do you believe that He bled and suffered
and died on account of your sins? If you did you would know from the Word that
you had eternal life, and would not come into judgment on account of your sins.
No one can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ without being saved, for He has
declared: “Whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins”. (Acts
10:43); “All that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38, 39).
“I DON'T BELIEVE IN THE RIGHT WAY”
If you are not already saved
you do not believe on Christ in any way. Scripture does not recognize two ways
of believing a “right” and a “wrong” one. Men may speak about a “living faith “and
a “dead faith,” but Scripture speaks of believing what God says. Faith in man
and faith in God are the same exercises of mind; the difference is not in the
faith, but in the person on whom the faith terminates.
Paul did not say to the
jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with the right kind of believing, and
thou shalt be saved”. If he had, the poor ignorant heathen would not have
understood him. He simply said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”. Do the same
dear reader, “and thou shalt be saved”.
“MUST WE NOT WORK OUT OUR OWN SALVATION?”
Such a question is often
asked by anxious, as well as careless sinners. Sometimes it is put in this form
“Does it not say in the Bible that we are to work out our own salvation? How
then can you reconcile that with the statement that we are saved through
believing?”
You have only to look at the
Epistle and see to whom it is addressed. Philippians 1:1: “To all the saints in
Christ Jesus at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”. They
were already saved. They did not hope to be, they knew they were saved. “My
beloved . . “. says Paul, “work out your own salvation” (Philippians 2:12,13).
They were already in possession of it. “Your own” implies possession. They were
to “work out” what God had wrought in.
“MUST I NOT PRAY TO BE SAVED?”
Scripture nowhere states
that salvation is to be had by prayer; it speaks of sinners being saved in only
one way, faith in the finished work of the Lord. Did not the Lord Jesus tell
Nicodemus to “pray to be saved?” No! “Whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish” (John 3:16). Did Paul, in answer to the question “What must I do to be
saved?” reply, “Pray earnestly for forgiveness, and you will get it?” No!, he
said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
You do not need to pray to God for salvation. He is at this moment beseeching
you to take it (2 Corinthians 5:20). How can you dare to ask God for salvation
so long as you are guilty of the awful sin of making Him a liar (1 John 5 10,
11)? Instead of continuing to pray for salvation, even now as you read these
lines, stretch out the empty hand of faith and take it as a gift from the
pierced hand of the Lord Jesus. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely'' (Revelation 22:17).
“IF I DO MY PART GOD WILL DO HIS”
A Christian in the east of
England used to say it took him forty-two years to learn three things: (1) That
he could do nothing to save himself, (2) that God did not require him to do
anything; and, (3) that the Lord Jesus Christ did it all.
If you learn these three
lessons you will never talk about your doings. “Your part” is to admit that you
are a helpless, hell-deserving sinner, unable to do anything to save yourself. “Your
part” is to cease thinking of being saved by anything you can do or feel. “Your
part” is to believe that Jesus did everything that was necessary that He
finished the work of atonement and paid the ransom price with His precious
blood. Whenever you cease trying to be saved by your doings, and believe on the
Lord Jesus who did it all and paid it all, you become a child of God, an heir
of glory, and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ. “To him that worketh not, but
believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for
righteousness”.
“I AM TOO GREAT A SINNER”
There can be no doubt that
you are a great sinner and far worse than you imagine. God knows all about you.
Since you were an unconscious babe on your mother's breast He has watched over
you and loved you with more than a parent's love. In spite of your sin and
folly, He stands with outstretched arms ready to welcome you. The prodigal son
was received by his father in rags and wretchedness, misery and poverty, and
God is willing to save you now. Take the lost sinner's place and claim the lost
sinner's Saviour. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John
6:37) .
“NO ONE CAN BE CERTAIN OF THAT”
Paul's reply to the most
important of all questions was very explicit. He did not say, “ Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and you will have a good chance of being saved”; but “believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”.
Numbers declare it is great
presumptions in anyone to “go to the length” of saying he know that he is
saved. They affirm that “no one can be that certain” and that all we can do is
to have a “humble hope”. How different this from the Lord Jesus and His
apostles! Paul says, “We are always confident” (2 Corinthians5: 6) The Apostle
John says, “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven
you for His Name's sake” (1 John 2:12). “We know that we have passed from death
unto life” (1 John 3:14). Every sinner who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is
bound to believe that he is saved. It would indeed be “great presumption” in
anyone to doubt the Word of the living God.
“CAN A MAN BE SAVED AT ONCE?”
The same hour of the night
that the Jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?, witnessed his conversion,
and baptism; and it is likewise added, he “rejoiced believing in God, with all
his house”. In one short hour, the whole household believed, were saved and
baptized. It is of no use people saying that “No one can be saved at once,” for
Scripture clearly shows that those mentioned in the New Testament, whenever
they believed, were saved. How long does it take one “to believe” what his
father says? A moment. Another figure is employed “looking”. “Look unto Me, and
be ye saved” (Isaiah 45:22). How long did it take a bitten Israelite to be
cured? The one moment be was dying, the next, by simply looking at the brazen
serpent, he was completely healed.
The very moment you “believe”
in, or “look” to Jesus, as the Sin-Bearer, you are saved.
“I CANNOT LOVE GOD”
A lady became anxious about
her soul. She prayed and labored earnestly to “love God” in order to obtain the
forgiveness of her sins. Instead, however, her heart seemed to get harder.
Meetings were being held in
the district and one evening the preacher said, “Some imagine that God requires
them to love Him in order to be saved. They begin to examine their hearts, and
they cannot find there one particle of love to Him. “If,” said he, “we were not
to be saved until we loved Him, we would never be saved at all: but the blessed
truth is that He loved us”. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He
loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” ( 1 John 4 :10
). The moment she saw that God had so loved her as to give Jesus as a
propitiation for her sins, peace and joy filled her heart, and she could not
help loving Him who had done so much for her.
It is true you ought to love
Him, but so long as you are unsaved you will not do so. Meditate on His love to
you, and you will be able to say, “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1
John 4:19).
“I DON'T FEEL ANXIOUS ENOUGH”
Numbers when awakened to see
their danger, get occupied with feelings toward God, instead of with His
feelings toward them. They never seem to consider this important question: “Does
my salvation depend on how I feel towards God or on how He feels toward me?”
Again and again, we hear the remark, “I don't feel anxious enough,” or “I don't
feel sorry enough”.
Such have read or heard of
some who were in great darkness of soul, and they imagined that they must go
through a similar experience.
Don't think of your anxiety,
or want of anxiety but ask yourself: “Is God willing to save me now?” Again and
again, in His Word, He declares that His desire is that you should not perish,
but be eternally saved (see Ezekiel 33: 11; 1 Timothy 2: 4 -6). Cease occupying
your mind with your feelings. Think of His wondrous love to you, as manifested
in the gift of His only begotten and well-beloved Son. On the ground of what He
did and suffered, you can be saved even now. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved”.
“I COULD NOT HOLD ON”
“I have often tried to be a
Christian, but have failed. Sometimes I thought I was one, but soon the happy
feelings were gone, and I was just as bad as ever; so there is no use in me
professing”. You need not be troubled about your “holding on. What you are now
required to do is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the moment you do so
you obtain eternal life (John 3: 3), and the assurance that you will never
perish (John 10:28). Then, as to how you will “get on” after you are saved, the
same Christ who “saves from wrath to begin with, saves from sin to go on with
and will keep you safe to glory to end with. His name shall be called Jesus:
for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21); and He is able to
keep you from falling (Jude 24), and has promised never to leave nor forsake
those who put their trust in Him. The moment you believe on Jesus you are His;
and He has pledged His word to guide, guard, and keep you, and to give you
strength and grace to live and work for Him.
“WOULD IT NOT BE GREAT PRESUMPTION?”
Presumption to do what? “Presumption
is for anyone to say he knows he is saved”.
But if God declares that you
may be sure, and tell you how you may be sure, would you call it presumption to
believe Him? “Assuredly not!” Then listen to Him: “These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye
have eternal life” (l John 5 13).
Instead of it being “presumption”
to believe what God says, to doubt Him is to be guilty of the greatest sin a
man can commit. “But I cannot say that I am saved”. Then you do not believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ? “Oh yes, I do!” You must surely be mistaken for the
Scripture states that “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life”
(John 3:36).
“I believe on Jesus, but I
cannot say I am saved”.
Then you are making God a
liar; for He again and again asserts that everyone who believes on Jesus has
eternal life (See John 6:47). But “He that believeth not God hath made Him a
liar, because He believeth not the record that God gave of His Son” (1 John 5:
10,11). Believe and be saved.
“I DON'T FEEL ANY CHANGE”
Of course not. How could you
so long as your mind is occupied with your feelings toward God instead of His
feelings toward you. If you continue to look into your cold wretched heart you
will become more and more miserable. By dwelling on its coldness or hardness,
your want of love or want of sorrow, faith or feelings, you must be unhappy.
Peace is not to be derived
from looking within; it is only to be found by looking unto Jesus, by thinking
of what He has done.
So long as you do not
believe on Jesus you cannot have that love to Him you ought. You must first
believe in His love and death for you; and the moment you know that the mighty
work has been finished, that justice has been satisfied, peace will fill your
heart and love will flow out to Him who loved you.
“HOW AM I TO COME TO CHRIST?”
A Scotch shepherd, in a
state of great anxiety of soul, asked a preacher if he could tell him what was
meant by “coming to Christ”. “I have been hearing,” said he, “a most earnest
discourse; we have been urged and entreated to 'Come to Christ'; and I felt as
if I had been sitting on nettles all the time for he never told us how to come
to Him”.
“Can you fly to Him?” “No, I
cannot do that”. “Can you walk on your feet to Christ?” “No”. The preacher then
told him that Christ, though in heaven, was beside him on earth, eagerly
anxious to save him. He was shown that with his mind and heart, and not with
his body, he was to go to Jesus in other words, he was to believe on Him who
died that he might live. “Is that it? Is it so simple? I see it now,” he said,
and believing on the Lord Jesus as His Saviour, went on his way rejoicing.
“I CANNOT REALIZE IT”
What do you mean? “I see
that Christ has borne my punishment and that God is perfectly satisfied with
what He has done; but somehow or other, I cannot realize that I have eternal
life”.
Your mistake is, you are
taken up with the realizing of your mind instead of with the realities of God's
salvation. Suppose for some crime you were sentenced to a term of imprisonment
with the option of paying a large penalty. A friend pays the amount in full,
and brings you a receipt; would you then be afraid of going to jail? “No”. “Why
not? Because of your realizings or graspings?” “No”. “Why, would you not be
afraid? Because the ransom had been paid”.
God in His Word tells you
that Christ has given Himself a ransom for you (1 Timothy 2: 6, and on the
ground of what He has done you may be saved.
“I CANNOT FEEL SAVED”
Paul did not say to the
jailor, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt feel saved”; but “Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (See Acts 16: 30,31). Ask
that man whose debt was paid by his brother, “Do you feel that your debt is
paid?” “No”. is his reply, “I don't feel it is paid” I know from this receipt
that it is paid, and I feel happy, because I know it is paid”. So with you,
dear reader. You must first believe in God's love to you as revealed at the
Cross of Calvary, and then you will feel happy, because you will know that you
are saved.
“GOD SAYS I AM SAVED, AND IT MUST BE TRUE”
Such were the words uttered
by a young convert on the night he found peace. Reader, can you truthfully
adopt his language? “I wish I could”. Then there is nothing to hinder you from
doing so now. Jesus has died on Calvary. He has suffered for sins, “the Just
for the unjust,” and the Lord has declared that those who believe on Him have
eternal life (John 5:24; 6:47). If, therefore, you really believe on Him you
have God's Word for it that you are saved.
“I don't feel I am saved”.
Neither do I, but thank God, I know it, because He says so in His Word, and He
always speaks the truth.
“TIME ENOUGH YET”
Allow me to ask you in
closing, “Are you saved?” “I intend to be but there is no great hurry. “What?”
No great hurry, “and the messenger of death at your very door! The man-slayer,
fleeing into the city for refuge did not think so.
When asked why you despised
His pardon, and neglected His great salvation, what answer will you give?
Don't, oh, don't allow Satan to lull you to sleep in the cradle of a false
security. Time is short and eternity is at hand. Will you, can you, dare you
one moment longer remain unsaved? “Now” is God's time. Tomorrow may be too
late.
Conclusion
Ye must be born again (John
3:7).
Reformation is not Regenaration
Turning over a new leaf
won't destroy the old ones. Future good conduct does not blot out past
disobedience.
God is Willing to Save You now
“Now is the accepted time”
(2 Corinthians 6:2). “Come now” (Isaiah 1: 18)
Salvation is a Free Gift
It cannot, therefore, be earned or bought by good
works, prayers, or religious observances. 'The wages of sin is death but the
free gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23 Revised Version). “Not of works,
lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:9).
Justificaction by Faith Alone
This is clearly taught in
Scripture. “being justified by faith” (Romans 5:1). “If by grace, then it is no
more works” (Romans 11:6). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).
