A Christian lady was once visiting a friend and not being quite certain as to what she was resting upon in view of death and eternity, said,
“Is it not nice to know that Jesus has done the work for us?” The answer was very precious,
“Ah, yes; and how well He has done it!” Blessed reply! Expressive as it was, of her simple and full trust in her Saviour.
This dear friend had learned four things which were as follows:
1st. That she in herself was a poor, vile sinner. On this point she believed the Word of God. It told her, “There is no difference; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)), and she believed it. She had come to see as God saw. Through grace and the teaching of the Spirit of God, she had been brought to exclaim, “Behold, I am vile!” How necessary to take this place before God—one of true repentance. To pass sentence upon herself as undone, and as one of wisdom’s children, justify God. As the dying thief who said, “We indeed justly, but this Man hath done nothing amiss” (Luke 23:4141And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. (Luke 23:41)).
2nd. She learned that she could not save or help to save herself. She was lost in herself, undone and guilty. She had no strength. As Jonah in the fish’s belly could not save himself from the monster of the deep, neither could she from the power of her own sin, nor from what those sins deserved. Jonah, from the depth of the sea, cried, “Salvation is of the Lord;” so with this dear soul, from the depths of her own ruin and misery she received the blessed fact from the word of God, that there was salvation for such as she.
This, truly, is the hardest thing for man to learn, that he is without strength to save himself. He will own he is a sinner, but it is the farthest from his thoughts to confess that in the matter of his own salvation, he has no strength. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)).
3rd. But if she, in herself, had no strength, she had got firmly hold of another fact which had relieved her soul. She saw that another, even Jesus the Son of God, had been here, and had died for her and finished a work for the salvation of her soul; that He, before He expired, had said, “It is finished” (John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30)); and that God, in consequence of the work, that perfect settlement of the question of sin, had raised Him from among the dead and given Him glory.
4th. She also saw from the word of God that by simply believing in Him—simply receiving Him as the Saviour of her soul—she was saved.
Yes, she to her joy had learned the blessed fact, that the gospel of God brings to the sinner nothing short of a full, present and eternal salvation. She had learned that Jesus by dying, had put into God’s hand the righteous title to justify the ungodly, and in righteousness save the guilty sinner who believes in Jesus. “He was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:11Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5:1)). It was all Christ with her, and what He had done for her. Nothing in herself or of herself, but Christ and His precious finished work.
Reader, are you saved through resting in the finished work of Christ, or are you in your sins? If in your sins, and you die thus, you will be lost—lost in hell—forever! Flee from the wrath to come!