Perhaps there is no more common mistake than to suppose that salvation means a gradual improvement; a growing better and better, until at last a person is suitable for the presence of God — ready for heaven.
But Scripture makes it plain that salvation is through faith in the work of Christ and nothing else. That work was finished on the cross once for all. We are told that the apostle Peter was “filled with the Holy Ghost” when, before the rulers and elders of Israel, he boldly testified, “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)).
It cannot be too clearly understood that the Holy Ghost is never presented as our Saviour, as though He had died for our sins. It was through the Eternal Spirit Christ offered Himself without spot to God (Hebrews 9:1414How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)). It is through the Spirit’s work in our souls that we are made aware of our need of Christ and His sacrifice. It is the Spirit who points every awakened soul to what Christ has done. But the Spirit’s work in us is not the ground of peace. “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” because it was He “who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25; 5:125Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25)
1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5:1)). Consider the simple figure of “thirst,” used repeatedly in Scripture to describe the sinner’s sense of need. “If any man thirst,” said the blessed Lord, “let him come unto Me, and drink” (John 7:3737In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37)). Even a child knows that thirst is the result of something produced inside of us and that what relieves this thirst is something provided outside. When this outside provision is applied to the inside need, the thirst is quenched.
When faith receives the testimony of God’s word, as to Christ’s death; the conscience-troubled soul gets peace. I deserved death and condemnation, he will tell you, but Christ drank the cup of judgment, and died in my place. My sins were without number, but God, who alone knew them, laid them upon His beloved Son, as my substitute, and their undiminished judgment fell on His blessed head. All my badness has come out; nothing has been left hidden; nothing has escaped judgment.
“He was wounded for our transgressions,” “He was delivered for our offences,” God has raised Him from the dead, and it is faith in Him and the God who raised Him that brings peace to the soul.
It is no question of “growing better and better” on our part. If God could not save us until we were good enough to deserve it, our case would be hopeless. But instead of telling us to achieve a certain standard of merit, He has to teach us two very unwelcome facts about ourselves:
1St. Our sinfulness.
2nd. Our helplessness.
We must learn that not only are we guilty and ungodly, but that we have no strength to be what we try to be.
It was after repeated efforts at reformation, after numberless broken resolutions, that Romans 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6) was applied to the longing soul of the writer, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly;” and just as water would meet the need of a traveler dying of thirst in some desert, that verse met his need. His past had given abundant proof that he was “ungodly,” while all his fruitless efforts to be what a Christian ought to be only proved that he was “without strength.” But now,
“My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, And now I live in Him.”