Bread Cast Upon the Waters: 16 Title Set
Charles Stanley
Table of Contents
Your Dying Hour
"I HAVE just been to the funeral of a very dear friend," said I to a merry-looking man, whilst waiting for the train. "And it is no small comfort, when a friend departs, to know with absolute certainty, that that friend is gone to he with Christ, which is far better.”
“I should think," said he, "there are very few that die who have that certainty. At least not many would like to chance it, if it were put to them to-day; I mean if the question was put, Are you so sure of heaven, that you do not mind dying to-day?" I replied, "I fear even amongst those who profess to be Christians, too few would stand that test. But it was very different with my departed friend. She had only been ill a few days, and on the day before her death, knowing there was no human possibility of recovering, she calmly said, ‘I would not exchange places with the Queen.' Not the shadow of a doubt passed over her happy soul. She rested not in anything she had done, but in the finished work of Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Precious Jesus! Thy blood and righteousness never fail in the hour of death. Nothing can be so certain as that which God has said, 'that whosoever believeth on him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.’”
“Well," said he, "it is a happy thing when a person has such confidence; but I fear there are very few who have the happiness to enjoy it. Man is so given to sin, he has such strong inclinations to sin.”
“Very true," I replied. "But you are not a man of all sin; you have not committed all sin. But God is the God of ALL grace, and that grace is seen on the cross, surpassing all your sins. Who can tell the value of the blood of Jesus as God sees it? I myself am the chief of sinners; I have not one particle of worthiness. But I tell you, if we are all killed before we reach home, I have no fear or question whatever, about my salvation. It was eternally settled by the death of Jesus.”
“Ah!" he said, "it seems to me a poor thing to hang one's salvation on.”
“What is? Is Christ a poor thing to trust? Is God's word a poor thing to trust?”
“Oh I no, I mean it is a poor thing to hang on faith. To think that if you have faith you will be saved, let you sin and do as you like.”
“Ah! my dear sir, but the man that has real faith in Christ, does not want to sin. He hates it, and longs for and delights in holiness; and he is the only one that gets delivered from sin. But now you try, from this day, in your way, never to sin again.”
“I have tried," said he, "many a time; but still I sin in thought, word, and deed. I think I now see that to believe in Christ is the only way to get both saved, and give up sinning.”
Reader, what as to your dying hour? You cannot help the thought crossing your mind at times, can you now? Your dying hour may be very near-yes, very near! Now are you prepared for that hour? What, are you going on carelessly in sin? Well may you tremble at the thought of your dying hour. Are you trusting in forms and ceremonies of human religion? Ah 1 These will utterly fail you in your dying hour.
But mark the blessed condition of every saved sinner: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Is this your condition? Are you justified? Have you peace with God? Then, my reader, if you should fall asleep before Jesus comes again, yours will be a HAPPY DYING HOUR.
Be Thou Clean (Mark 1:40-45)
WHAT a wretched being a leper is, afflicted with a horrid disease, which no one can cure, and shut out of society, as too loathsome for the eyes of his fellow-men. Sad, but true, picture of man's moral condition. Fallen—utterly fallen. The very heart filled with the loathsome disease of sin. His whole nature corrupt—incurable. This little paper may be put into the hands of one who feels the wretchedness of sin. Thou hast sinned. The leprosy has broken out; art thou trying to hide it? God knows it, and thou art wretched. Oh, how wretched! What a burden on thy heart! What is that thou wast saying? I wish I had never been born? Why? Oh! I see; thou hast tried many physicians, but no cure. The leprosy is still there and spreads. Thou hast tried temperance, morality, religion. Thou hast tried to amend, and tried hard, but all in vain; thy case is too bad for these remedies. God knows thy deep sorrow, thy despairing groans.
Who are those two persons there? A loathsome leper and the Son of God. Well now, look; the leper speaks to Jesus, just as he is. He does not ask what he must do to cleanse himself. He came to Him, "beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Does Jesus say, Go and get better first? No! See! Jesus is moved with compassion; and though no other person would touch that wretched leper, Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, and said, "I will, be thou clean." What a wondrous change! That man, whom no one could cure, was in a moment healed: as soon as Jesus had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, AND HE WAS CLEANSED.
Ah! I see your mistake. You have not yet fully seen the love of God to the ungodly in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, trembling sinner! look in the face of Jesus I See Him moved with compassion at the sight of thy leprous wretchedness. Art thou thus brought to Him just as thou art? It was God who sent Him from heaven, that thy leprosy might be cleansed with His very life's blood: and now, raised from the dead, He speaks to thee just as thou art, "I will, be thou clean.”
My fellow-leper, there never was a poor, wretched sinner thus brought and given to Jesus just as he was, but that moment he heard the voice of God in the words of Jesus, and those blessed words were true of him, "and he was cleansed.”
Wouldst thou rob Christ of His glory? Wouldst thou say that thou must get better before Christ can heal thee? Thou wouldst not give an earthly physician such a character. Wilt thou then say of the Great Physician, He receiveth none, and cleanseth none, but those who are getting better? The blessed Jesus rejected none. Thou mayest be too great a Pharisee for Him, but thou canst not be too great a sinner.
Oh, reader! if now thine eyes are opened to see Jesus receiving thee just as thou art, and renouncing all pretensions to righteousness in thyself, believing on Jesus, thou, even thou art cleansed, and cleansed forever. "For, by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.”
C. S.”
How bright there above is the mercy of God!"—
“And void of all guilt, and clear of all sin,
Is my conscience and heart, thro' my Savior's blood."—
"Not a cloud above,"—"not a spot within."
Christ died! then I am clean: "not a spot within.”
God's mercy and love: "not a cloud above.”
'Tis the Spirit, through faith, thus triumphs o'er sin
“Not a cloud above,"—"not a spot within.”
Have I Repented Enough?
I do not know a more perplexing question than this, to a really anxious soul. I met a person lately who had spent years in trying to ascertain how much repentance is required before a person may be quite sure he is saved.
“Which of the two repentances have you been trying?" said I.
“Why, are there two kinds?" he inquired.
“Oh yes," I replied: "the repentance of the law, was a man trying to forsake all sin, and do all righteousness, and thus be saved. (See Ezek. 18:30.) But the repentance of the gospel is the giving up all pretensions to righteousness." The meaning of the word we translate "repentance" is simply a change of mind. The kind of change of mind depends on the connection in which it stands. It may be of sorrow, or it may be of joy, unto death or unto life. The change of mind, or the repentance of the law, was on the principle of works. The change of mind, or repentance of the gospel, is not of works at all, but entirely of grace. Sorrow for sin, and forsaking sin, and living to God—if anything are works, these are. If thus seeking salvation by works, you can never have enough of this repentance to get saved. It is a thorough mistake to think of getting saved by the good works of the repentance of the law.
You may think it a light thing to go on in sin. Oh, you can easily repent some day. Fearful, fatal, delusion. You are becoming more hardened every day.
Let me now turn to the repentance of the gospel.
God is a God of truth, and the truth is that man is a lost sinner, utterly without righteousness; as it is written, "There is none righteous, no not one." Now man's mind is in total darkness as to this. He thinks he is not so bad as to be past mending.
And there is another thing.
God loves man in this lost and guilty condition. He sent His beloved Son from the throne of glory; and with burning love for the poor, guilty sinner He died on the cross—"the Just for the unjust." Oh look at that dying Lamb of God! See from that pierced side the blood of atonement. He bowed His head and died. All was finished. God hath raised him from the dead; and now God can meet thee through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He does meet thee. He does love thee, poor broken-hearted sinner. God meets thee in love! Thou thoughtest He could only meet thee in deserved wrath. He commands thee in the gospel to change thy mind. What is that? To believe what is true; that thou hast nothing but sin in which to meet Him. Give up, only give up all pretensions to righteousness, and as a lost sinner I point thee to the cross; and I tell thee, as surely as thou art brought to know thyself as a lost sinner, feeling thy utter need of Christ, God meets thee through the finished work of Christ, and pointing to the cross on which all thy sins were borne, He says, There sinner I now I have nothing against thee. It is not thy meeting God with the works of thy repentance; but God meeting thee through the death of Christ.
May the goodness of God thus lead thee, my reader, to repentance, even to the full moral judgment of thyself in His presence, and the full knowledge of His wondrous love to thee, a lost sinner, and thou shalt find these glad tidings the power of God unto salvation.
By the Spirit of God thou shalt have godly sorrow for sin, and power to forsake it; yea, God shall work in thee to will and to do. These things certainly accompany salvation, but are never its conditions, otherwise grace would no more be grace. C. S.
Thy Sins Be Forgiven Thee
"BLESSED is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
My friend, though a stranger to me, let me ask you this question: Could anything make you so truly happy, as to know for certain that your sins were forgiven? To hear those words, "Thy sins be forgiven thee"? Yes, THY SINS; all of them—every sin of thy heart and sin of thy life—forgiven thee. Is it possible that this blessedness shall be thine? Compared with eternity, thou hast only a few hours to live. At the end of these few hours, what is thy prospect? What a thought, soon, very soon, thou wilt be in glory or in hell! Nothing can be more certain. Is thy foot lifted up in the paths of sin? Hold! another step, and thou mayest be lost.
Whatever had that man done to whom Jesus spake those wondrous words, "Thy sins be forgiven thee?" Let us look at Mark 2:1-12. Why, this seems strange; he had done nothing; he was too sick to do anything. He could not walk, nor even stand. He was borne of four, and they let down the bed whereon the sick of the palsy lay. What a picture of man's condition, sin-sick; so prostrate that he can do nothing. Sin-palsied; so bad, he cannot walk; cannot stand. True of you, true of me, true of all. "For all have sinned." "There is no difference." Every limb palsied; every thought defiled with sin.
And they LET HIM DOWN to the feet of the Son of God. Have you been let down? Every sinner saved by grace has a letting down—down, down, down—and many a time, when he thinks himself let down, self has still to be let down, down.
Some are let down at once, utterly lost sinners, at the feet of Jesus, and at once are saved. It takes years to let down the sell-righteous pride of others. But to be let down in the deep sense of sin and misery, fairly to sink at the feet of Jesus, and then to hear the first words of the Son of God, "Thy sins be forgiven thee,"—this is blessedness indeed! Oh, my reader, have you, now have you, been brought as a lost, helpless, hell-deserving sinner, to Jesus? Oh, have you? Hush! listen. Look at Jesus. He proposes no conditions to that helpless man. He does not say, If thou wert a little better, or if thou wouldst walk a little, or if thou wilt promise this or that. No, blessed Jesus! that would not have been like Thee; that would not have been grace. Oh, how men do misrepresent Thee, my precious, pardoning, gracious Lord! Jesus pardoned first, and then gave power to walk. And still He pardons first, and then gives power to walk in holiness before God. Is not this just what a sinner needs? To be pardoned and saved first, and that being settled, then he has divine power, by the Spirit of God, to live as a child of God, and walk in holiness.
Look again at Jesus. What are those wounds in His hands and side? Oh! they tell us He has been dead and is alive again. "Without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins." He died, "the just for the unjust." "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." All is finished. Reader, dost thou believe?
C. S.
Two Things Which God Hath Joined Together
"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.)
There are two things joined together in this verse These two things man tries to put very far asunder. Read the verse again. Now what are those things? They are believing and having. As we have it in another place, "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
Sometimes a person will say, with great anxiety, “I do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I am sure I trust in no one else. I feel I am a lost sinner. I fully believe that the death of Jesus was the atonement for sin. I have no doubt that God raised Him from the dead. I know that it is only through the shedding of His precious blood that sins can be forgiven. But I cannot get to know that I have everlasting life.
If this really is my reader's condition, if you have heard the words of Jesus—if you do really trust in Him alone, then there is no question—there can, in that case, be no question whether you have everlasting life or not. I only ask, do you really trust alone in the finished work of the Lord Jesus? If so, I have no need to ask, have you everlasting life? If one of these things is true in you—namely, real faith in Christ-I know the other is. You have everlasting life; for Jesus says, "It is most certain, it is most certain, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life." Yes, in one breath, Jesus joins these two blessed things together—BELIEVETH—HATH! The discovery of this to the soul gives perfect peace. No more perplexity; no more uncertainty. The more deeply you feel your own unworthiness, the more amazing will the love of Jesus appear in dying for your sin. Oh yes! sin will appear more and more terrible, and the glory of the cross shine brighter and brighter; the world will be now with thee lighter than vanity, for thou, even thou, hast a home in the mansions of light. And though tempted in a world of sin, opposed by a subtle enemy, and groaning over inbred corruptions, yet still thy trust is alone in Jesus, and thou hast everlasting life.
I think I hear thee saying, Is this true of me? Trembling believer, Jesus has said it; it cannot be false. This MOMENT, if thine ears are opened by the Spirit of God to hear the words of Jesus, and in thine heart to believe on God who sent Him, then certainly thou, even thou, hast everlasting life. And how blessed, how perfect, the salvation of God! Thou not only hast everlasting life, but thou shalt not come into condemnation. Jesus says it, and He will keep His word to thee. Yea, even more still,-thou art passed from death unto life. Just as all Israel passed through Jordan with the Ark of God, so, my dear fellow-believer, hast thou passed with Christ from death into resurrection, and therefore into everlasting life. Open thine eyes, for thou art risen with Christ. As surely as He took thy place in death, the divine Substitute, so surely has God given thee a place with Him in spotless brightest glory. Go in peace, then, and doubt no more.
But there are two things more joined together. "He that believeth not is condemned already." Whether thou goest to the ale-house, or to church; whether thou art living in open sin, or trusting in thy strictly religious life; I tell thee, if Jesus is not thine only trust thou art condemned already; thou art waiting the execution of divine vengeance as a rejecter of Christ. "Search the scriptures, and see if these things be so.”
C. S.
Why Are Ye Troubles?
IF living a stranger to Christ, you may well be troubled. The thought of death, and judgment to come, may well give you trouble. If this is your condition, God grant that your trouble may be greater and greater, until you find rest in Jesus.
This little paper may be put into the hands of a doubting Christian. To such an one, these words of Jesus have peculiar application. (Luke 24:38, 39.) Jesus, alive from the dead, speaks these words, "Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet?" What tender love is this! Blessed Jesus! He had said unto them, "Peace be unto you;" and it touched His tender heart that there should be trouble or a thought in their hearts. How could such deep sincere love bear to be doubted! He had loved them unto death; His very body had been on the cross for them; His very blood had been shed for the remission of their sins; as their Substitute He had died the accursed death of the cross for them—the just for the unjust. One had denied Him and all had forsaken Him. But now God had raised Him from the dead, for their justification. And now the object of His eternal desire was accomplished—redemption was finished. His heart, overflowing with unutterable joy had found vent in those ever-precious words, "PEACE BE UNTO YOU;" how could He then bear a cloud of trouble, or one doubting thought, in the hearts of those He had so LOVED? Oh! it makes my heart melt whilst I look at Jesus and hear those divinely sweet words, "Why are ye troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet.”
My reader, do you believe that that agony and shameful death of Jesus, the Spotless Son of God, on the cross, was for your sins—that He was delivered for your offenses—and that, having endured their utmost penalty, God raised Him from the dead for your justification? For this is true of every sinner that believeth. Yes, and if you are brought by the Holy Spirit thus to trust in Jesus alone, then it is true of you; and these words are written for you. With a heart still filled with joy, Jesus says, "Peace be unto you." Like Peter, you may have denied Him; or, like the rest, you may have forsaken Him; but look at Him, listen to Him; oh! what words of love—yes, love that cannot bear to be doubted; and words to you: "Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" How do you answer these words of Jesus? Do you say; I am such a vile ungrateful sinner? He says, "Behold my hands and my feet;" now look at them, what do you think about those wounds on the risen body of Jesus? Do they not speak peace to your troubled conscience "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Oh! yes, my fellow-believer, Jesus feels keenly every doubting thought that arises in our hearts.
Blessed Jesus! Thy work is finished; here our souls rest. Our sins were laid on Thee; they cannot be laid on us. On our account wrath was on Thee; on Thy account it is peace, endless peace, to us.
May my reader hear the words of Jesus, "Go in peace, and doubt no more." He does not say, Look at your faith or your feeling—He does not say, Look at your sins or your failings. We might look at them in despair. But He says, "Behold my hands and my feet;" as though He had said, Is it not enough? could I love you more?
C. S.
How Are You to Be Saved?
"WHAT shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Who would have thought that that question, which so many ask, would have tempted Christ? It is the language of one "willing to justify himself." What shall I do? No words can more plainly chew the ignorance of a fallen sinner. Whilst these words are on his lips, he knows not his lost, fallen, helpless condition.
The Lord knows the pride of the deceived heart. The religionist can repeat the law, and no doubt thinks he can keep it. "Do it," says Jesus, "and thou shalt live;" and then answers his tempting question with one of the most striking parables in the word of God. This parable of the good Samaritan is the answer to man's question, "What shall I DO to inherit eternal life?" It describes man's condition—yours. Fallen among thieves, stripped, wounded, left half dead. What a picture! and how true! Man is not innocent —not happy; but fallen, guilty, helpless, undone. Look at that dying man by the road-side; he cannot walk a yard further, no, not a step. He cannot even call for help. Do not you see he is dying? Is this the man to talk about doing—eh? Poor dying man, the law cannot help thee! The priest and the Levite have to pass thee by; they cannot help thee. Reader, thou art this man; this is thy spiritual state. The law cannot help thee; the priest and the Levite cannot help thee. Thine own efforts, thy resolutions, thy struggling! I tell thee there is only One that can help thee. "A certain Samaritan came where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him." This is Jesus, the Son of the living God. Infinite love-mighty to save! God so loved, so pitied fallen, helpless, naked, dying man. He saw him where and as he was. Yes, this is the glory of the Gospel God, full of tender compassion, rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins; yes, even then God SENT His beloved, Son to man, laid by the road-side fallen in sin and misery. (See Eph. 1:1-10.)
Man could do nothing: Jesus came to him where he was. What a journey of love! He came to do all for the sinner, and He has done it; it is finished. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good-will towards men.”
Oh! my reader, dost thou thus know Jesus? Is it no longer what shall I DO? But art thou resting on what Jesus has done on the cross? Hast thou been brought to know thy utterly lost condition by the way-side? Has Jesus come to thee—has He bound up thy broken heart, pouring in oil and wine? Has God revealed to thee Jesus, taking thy place as a sinner, and now giving thee His place in spotless purity forever. Dost thou know that it is not thy taking care of Jesus, but Jesus taking care of thee? yea, and until He comes again, that He hath committed thee into the hands of God, who keeps thee with His mighty power 1 yes, that He will take care of thee? (John 17:11; 1 Peter 1.5.)
If thou art a doer for eternal life, thou art a rejecter, a despiser, a tempter of Christ. But if thou knowest and believest the love of God in thus sending Jesus to thee, thou hast eternal life. It is the GIFT of God. Let thy work now be to show forth the praises of Him who saw thee, and saved thee, and loves thee forever. "We love him, because he first loved us." Read the parable over seven times. (Luke 10)
C. S.
Who Is to Blame?
LET us suppose a vessel foundering at sea. We know the vessel to be exceedingly rotten, and so leaky that it is filling fast—that it must shortly go down. On shore the utmost effort is made. The life-boat, with capacity to hold every person on the sinking ship, is launched. The mariners pull alongside the rotten, sinking vessel. The captain of the life-boat begs every person on board immediately to let go the old rotten ship and trust himself in his hands in the life-boat, with the certainty of being brought safe to shore. The people on board resolutely refuse the invitation. One says, "the old vessel is not so bad; she only requires painting," &c. Another says, "Away with both you and your lifeboat 1 we have a carpenter of our own, whose business it is to mend the old ship. Who do you think is going to leave this fine old ship and trust to that poor-looking boat?" The vessel fills and sinks. And now-tell me, if every fool-hardy despiser on board goes down, who is to blame? Plainly themselves. The lifeboat was sent to them and they refused.
Man is that rotten ship—fallen, ruined by sin, filling fuller and fuller of sins until he sinks into perdition. Christ Jesus is the life-boat. God so loved this poor, ruined, sinking world that He sent the life-boat, "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Did the world believe God? Oh no, they rejected even such love, so great salvation. They murdered the Son of God. The death of Jesus was the offering of Himself, the atoning sacrifice for sin. God raised Him from the dead; and the RISEN CHRIST becomes the life-boat of every soul that trusts in Him.
But, my reader, may I ask you a home question? Where are you—in the life-boat or in the old ship? Are you in Christ or trusting to the self-righteousness of old human nature? Are you one of the redeemed? Can you say that you “have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins?" (Col. 1:14.) Or are you still in and of that world, which is guilty of rejecting and murdering the Son of God?
Perhaps you do not care for these things. Are you filling up the measure of your iniquity? You know when the old ship gets full it sinks, and when your last sin on earth shall be filled up and you sink into endless perdition, you will remember who is to blame.
But are you trusting to outward forms and ceremonies of religion? Now what good will this outside paint do? The ship is sinking, and if you stay on it, you will go down with the very paint brush in your hand. Oh my friend! all the baptisms, and sacraments, and ordinances that man can perform will never keep one ruined sinner from sinking into hell! Woe be to your poor soul if you trust in them.
Do you say there are so many opinions—how am I to tell who is right? Whoever points you to Christ, the life-boat, is right; and whoever keeps you in the old ship, is wrong. Do you not see that?
Are you trying—no matter how—to mend the old ship; that is, your fallen human nature, called in scripture "the flesh"? Then you may be quite certain, sooner or later, if you continue in that condition you will, as the old ship, go down. Think where! Oh, the bottomless pit—and who is to blame?
Oh give up the vain attempt to mend the old ship. Own yourself a lost, undone, ruined sinner-believe the grace of God in sending you Christ the lifeboat—trust Him with all your heart—confess Him with your lips and life. You cannot be in both. If you are in the old ship, no matter how self-righteous, you are sinking fast: there is not a moment to be lost. It is indeed great presumption for any one in the old ship to say, he knows he is safe. But if you are in Christ, the life-boat, you cannot be too sure. He never did and never will lose one. C. S.
If Thou Knewest the Gift of God! (John 4:10)
JOH 4:10
A WEARY one sat at Jacob's well; He had left the land of the Pharisees. It was JESUS. He came in love to His own, to save them from their sins; but they received Him not. Weary and grieved was His tender heart, as He sat about the sixth hour at Jacob's well.
There is a woman coming with her waterpot to the well. She is one to whom the proud Pharisee would scorn to speak. She is a despised Samaritan, and that is not all; she is a poor wretched being, living in open sin. She little knows that she is about to meet the eye of Him who knows all that ever she did. She arrives at the well, and is astonished that Jesus, being a Jew, should ask her to give Him to drink. "Jesus answered, and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and HE WOULD have given thee living water.”
He did not say, If thou wert not so great a sinner. He did not say, If thou wilt reform and become a holy woman, then I will give thee living water. No! No! No! He let her know, that He knew all that ever she had done. But there was such a depth of pity, grace, and compassion in the wondrous countenance; such tender love to the sinner in those words, that it won her heart, it converted her soul. Christ was revealed to her; and leaving her waterpot she went to the city so full of Christ, that forgetting her own shame, she said, "Come see a man which told me all that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
My reader, can you meet the eye of Him who knows every thought of your heart from childhood? All that ever you did, open and naked to His eye! And can you say that you are not a sinner? How was it, think you, that there was nothing in Jesus to repel this wretched sinner? And what can those words mean, think you—"If thou knewest the gift of God," &c.? Is this the one great thing needed by a poor wretched sinner? It is; there can be no mistake about it, for Jesus says it. Of whatever nation my reader may be; whatever the sins you may have committed, the first thing you need is not the waters of the Ganges, or the intercession of saints, or works of amendment; no, the thing you need is to KNOW the gift of God.
Do you ask who and what is that gift of God? The same that met that poor Samaritan sinner; Jesus the Son of God: as also it is written, "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." "The GIFT of God is eternal life." "He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.”
My reader, it is a gift, a gift, a gift; oh, if thou knewest this! Thou canst not buy it; thou canst not merit it. He that knows all that ever thou didst, all that thou art; sets before thee Jesus the crucified Jesus the risen one; Jesus the glorified. Dost thou know Him, the gift of all gifts?
Dost thou say, "but my sins are heavy, they press me down, what must I do?" If thou knewest the gift of God! Yes, even though thou hast committed every sin that has been done in this dark world; yet God's gift, "redemption through his blood" abounds above it all. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." His very business was saving just such burdened, weary, heavy-hearted sinners as thou art. Blessed be His holy name, the work is finished. May God reveal to thy soul, my reader Christ Jesus. Change of life and holiness of life will follow. But the first thing is The gift of God.
C. S.
Repentance Unto Life - A Double Change of Mind
THERE are not a few in this day who are very fond of talking about other great sinners. When a person does this, it is a sure sign of a deceived heart; by telling of the sins of others, he is merely showing how much better he thinks himself to be than they. Now some of this very sort came to Jesus, and told Him of the Galileans. (Luke 13) Mark the words of Him who knows the heart:—"Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." He again repeats the same solemn instruction respecting the eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell.
Oh, the millions who are fast locked in this fatal mistake! "I am not so bad as So-and-so:" the drunkard says this, the thief, the liar; but above all the religious Pharisee.
Is my reader one of the millions thus deceived? Do you think yourself better than others? Are you doing your best to be so? Is this the road you think leads to heaven? Without an entire change of mind about this, you also will certainly perish. Does God think you better than those Galileans or sinners at Jerusalem? He says, "I tell you NAY." And in another place, He says, "There is no difference, for all have sinned." It is true—God says it—you have sinned. May God give you entire new thoughts about yourself; even His thoughts, that you are a guilty, vile, lost sinner; for unless you know, own, and confess this, you shall likewise perish.
Well, still this change of mind about self would never save the sinner without that other—an entire change of mind about God.
In Luke 15 we get exactly man's thoughts of God, for the blessed Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, stood in their midst; "And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners." Now, why did they murmur? Why! because they had got an entirely wrong thought of God; they did not know Him. They tried to persuade themselves that they were not sinners, or at all events, not such sinners as others, and then concluded that God only received such good people as they thought themselves to be. This is man's thought of God, that He only receives and saves the righteous.
The well-known parable that follows in three parts, the lost sheep, the lost silver, the lost son, is Christ's sermon, unfolding the character of God; and that character the very opposite of all man's dark thoughts. The work of the Son in coming to seek and to save the lost sheep; the work of the Spirit in giving the light, as the woman who took a light and sought for the lost silver; and to crown all, the unspeakable joy of the father in receiving back his long lost son, one, mind you, who could not be more unworthy, and blessed be the God of all grace, could not have been more welcome.
And now, my reader, have you got this part of repentance, this entire change of mind about God? Though you may feel as vile as the prodigal—if you never did feel so, God grant that you may know yourself so bad that you could not be more lost and undone. May your mind be forever changed by seeing the joy of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in receiving you as a lost sinner who cannot be more unworthy, and who cannot be more welcome. "I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
When God is thus revealed to the soul in Christ, and sin fully owned and confessed, a change of heart and life is sure to follow. C. S.
What Is Good News to a Man Who Feels Himself Lost?
I WAS deeply impressed, the other day, with a sentence in a letter I received from a person at a distance, in which he states, "the Gospel as (sometimes) preached in our day, is of no use to a man WHO FEELS HIMSELF TO BE LOST.”
When a man has broken the laws of his country, and is under sentence of death, he paces the floor of his gloomy cell, looks through the iron grate and thinks of the fearful morrow. That is something like being lost, as to this world. Let us go down the dark passage, and speak to him at the iron grate. Hark! how he groans. What will you say to him? Would a lecture on morality do? Would you tell him to be a good man and keep the laws of his country? Would he not reply, You very much mistake my case; that sort of talk is no help to me at all; my life is forfeited, I am under the sentence of death. Poor lost one! Would it help him if you engaged to keep the laws of his country for him? Not in the least: the law demands his life, and the day is fixed. The only way of keeping the law for him would be to die in his stead; and the only good news that would meet his case would be the free pardon of his sovereign.
Such is the case of an awakened sinner who feels HIMSELF LOST. This world to him is a condemned cell. The devil roars in his conscience, GUILTY! GUILTY! He has tried to be innocent; he has pleaded "Not so guilty as my neighbors;" he has tried "to mend;" he has tried to keep the law of God, he has broken it more and more. And now, trembling with guilt and fear, conscience, the devil's jailer, has turned the heavy bolt of the iron gate of despair. And thus, sooner or later, is every saved sinner brought to utter despair as to all help in self, or self's doing. Now what is the good news that will meet a man who has thus learned the truth about himself, and feels himself lost? Will it meet his case to tell him to amend his life, to love God, and keep His commandments? Would he not reply, You don't understand my case at all: if I could do that, I should not be lost: I am lost, I am vile, I am condemned; I have forfeited my life, heaven, everything!
Reader, art thou the man? Have I described thy condition,—art thou one who feelest thyself lost? Then hearken; I will tell thee of One who came to seek, and TO SAVE THE LOST. I come not to thy iron gate to tell thee what thou must do. Nothing that thou canst do can save thee from thy dark condemned cell, nor thy future fearful doom. I tell thee, if the Spirit of God has thus made thee feel thou art lost, I have good news from heaven to thee. There sits Jesus at the right hand of the Majesty on high; that is the blessed One, who came in pity to this condemned cell, who took the sinner's place, died the just for the unjust. Hadst thou forfeited thy life? He gave up His own, even to the death of the cross. Hadst thou forfeited heaven? He left it and became a man of sorrows. Oh think of the glory of this mighty Savior. He knew that nothing short of His very life's blood could meet thy guilty, condemned state. He gave it freely. What plenteous redemption through that precious blood! Thou hadst sinned against God, and God is satisfied, justified, glorified by this precious sacrifice. God hath raised Him from the dead, "and through him is preached the forgiveness of sins;" free, full, everlasting forgiveness-through Him, not through thy doing: and by Him, not by thy doing, thou, and all that believe ARE justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Thy door is open: come out, and rejoice in the gospel, that suits the man who feels himself to be lost. C. S.
What Is Grace?
I REMEMBER a person once saying, "he did not like the word Grace; he thought the word Love meant the same and was much better." This is a mistake; grace goes a great deal further than love. Man loves that which he thinks is in some way worthy of love, and he thinks God is the same as himself, and therefore says he, "I must turn to God some day and try to be worthy of His love; and then He will love me." Now the grace of God is the very opposite of this human thought. I don't know anything like it in the whole world. "What is grace?" said I, the other day. "Mercy" was the reply. Well, it is true the love of God and the mercy of God are both very, very wonderful. "God who is rich in MERCY, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins;" and both the mercy and love of God are thus in grace; that is in pure unmerited favor. Yet this grace of God goes further, yea, far beyond the reach of all human thought.
Let us suppose a criminal, guilty of such crimes as to make him an object of the deepest abhorrence, standing condemned before the judge. Mercy would be a great thing shown to such an one, but if it were possible in the heart of a human judge to love such an one, so utterly worthless and undeserving; that would indeed be a wonder. But what would be thought if the judge so loved the poor guilty one, as to put himself really in the place of the prisoner; bear the full penalty of all his crimes, and then take him into his own house, make him partner with himself; and say "as long as I live, all that I have is yours"? Ah! tell me where amongst the cold-hearted sons of men, where was ever grace shown like this? No! No! The glory of this grace belongeth alone to my God. Oh, how shall I tell of His wondrous grace!
My reader, you may have heard of it by the hearing of the ear, but has this grace ever reached your heart by the power of the spirit of God? That God should thus love and pity, and show mercy to the guilty; yes, the ungodly! the guilty! the lost! as to send His own dear Son in sweetest grace, to take the very place of the lost and guilty, in purest grace to bear all their sins in His own body on the tree! Oh look at the cross! God in grace meeting man's utmost need. Ah! Do you in your very heart believe it? Then you may cast yourself before such a God, confessing all your sins, your wretchedness, your misery; spread it all before Him. Don't try to make yourself a bit better than you are before Him. He will pardon the confessing sinner in faithfulness to the blood of Jesus. Jesus died for the purpose; that God might be just, not only in pardoning but in justifying every sinner that believeth. But oh, this is not all; God in pure grace takes the utterly unworthy sinner, pardoned and justified, into perfect partnership or oneness with Himself in the ever blessed Lord Jesus. In this grace He met the murderer Saul; from that moment Paul became the partner or joint-heir of Christ. What a change! From that day he could say, "Not I, but Christ liveth in me." Right well did he know that nothing could ever separate him from such love as this. Yes, and God by this very little paper can in the wonders of His grace, meet a murderer, a drunkard, a harlot, or worse than all, a deceived Pharisee. Yes, and from this moment the days of my partnership with Satan may be ended. Oh, God grant it. May this be thy happy portion; pardoned, justified, forever one with Christ. This was grace, not only to take the sinner's place, but to give the guilty worm an everlasting place with Himself in resurrection glory. This salvation is wholly of God. C. S.
"Hath" and "Are"
These are the words of Jesus, the Son of God—
“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.)
Can these words be untrue? Impossible! Anxious inquirer, God has blest them of late to many souls. They are most certain-most certain. Yes, it is Jesus who says them. Do you hear His word? Do you believe on God who sent Him? Then ponder these three words, "hath everlasting life." What a certainty "hath" gives. It is not, "I hope so." No, hath never hopes, but has, not only life, but everlasting life. Do you ask, How is it possible that I shall not come into condemnation? I am such a great sinner; I think no one is plagued and burdened with sin as I am. Then hearken.
These are the words of God the Holy Ghost—
“Be it known unto you that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."—(Acts 13:38,39.)
Blessed message of God to a sin-burdened soul! Is it true? Reader, do you believe in your heart that God thus proclaims the forgiveness of sins through Jesus alone? How simple-how certain! Do you believe God about the death and resurrection of Jesus? Then God justifies you from all things. He say so; does He not? Read it again and again. And just as surely as you believe God, just as surely you are-not shall be, but ARE justified from all things.
Think of these two things—
“HATH everlasting life.”
“ARE justified from all things.”
C. S.
The Righteousness of God
WHAT a wondrous depth of meaning there is in the thought, that the vile, lost sinner should be clothed with—yea, made—the righteousness of God! I only know of one greater wonder than this, and that is, that God's most precious, holy Son should have been made sin, and have died the accursed death of the cross.
How very sad that this is almost forgotten in our day. It is almost forgotten that the law brought out man's sin, and proved he had no righteousness. "That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom. 3:19, 20.) Men forget this, and still vainly try to be righteous by keeping the law. If you try to be righteous in this way, instead of finding yourself righteous, you will find that you are in the same condemnation as the devil himself.
But there is another thing as little known, that whilst the law proved man to be without righteousness, in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. "But now the righteousness of God without law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, WHOM GOD HATH SET FORTH a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." (Rom. 3:21-26.)
Is it not greatly overlooked, that in the salvation of lost sinners the whole transaction is of God? Man cannot do one thing, neither is he asked to do anything, but to receive, as the free gift of God, the righteousness already wrought out and accomplished by Christ. The whole thing, from beginning to end, is of God. It is not, as man would tell you, that if you keep the law and believe on Christ, then you shall be saved. No, but without law, for man cannot keep it. You cannot keep it. God has, in His own grace (because He so loved poor sinners, who were without strength to keep His law), given Christ to die for the ungodly. Christ crucified has been set forth the great propitiatory sacrifice. It was God who gave Him to die for sinners, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. IT IS GOD also, who gives faith to believe. IT IS GOD who justifies every sinner who does believe. IT IS GOD who shall finally glorify every sinner whom He has justified. The blood of Jesus has been shed, and IT IS God who has set it forth for the remission of sins. Is He not just, and the Justifier of Him that believeth? All, all this vast transaction has been accomplished to declare His righteousness in bringing the lost sinner to Himself. I believe it. I say, fearlessly, that not only is God perfectly righteous in justifying the ungodly sinner in this His own way, but that from eternity to eternity the cross of Christ is the glory of God. Yes, when He raised our adorable Substitute from the dead, it was by the glory of the Father. Man, through sin, had sunk to the lowest depths; God, through redemption has raised him to the highest glory. All is finished; and is not God divinely righteous? This robe of divine righteousness is "upon all them that believe.”
Art thou, my reader, clothed in this wedding garment? Then thou shalt be a happy guest in the courts above. See now that thou walkest with garments undefiled. C. S.
How Can a Sinner Be Justified?
WITH men this is clearly impossible. Man, with all his boasted wisdom, could not devise any plan of effecting this. For instance, a prisoner stands at the bar, really guilty of the crime charged upon him; the judge may forgive, but can he say to that guilty man, you go away from this bar justified; from this time no person can lay anything to your charge?
GOD ALONE can justify the guilty, and be righteous in doing it. Romans, chapters 1-8, shows God's wondrous plan of justifying the guilty.
All are guilty, Jews or Gentiles, religious or profane. There is no difference, all have sinned. God says so. Conscience says so. You know, I know, it is so. Guilty! Guilty. "Yes," you say, "that is what perplexes me; I know I am a sinner; how then can I be justified, so that no charge can be laid to me?”
Let us see first how this cannot be done: how you cannot be justified; and then see what God's only plan is of justifying the sinner. "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight." (Rom. 3:20.) In the sight of men the believer is justified by works, as in James 2:24. But in the sight of God it is absolutely impossible to be justified by works of law; still guilty, guilty. "Knowing that a. man is not justified by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." "For if righteousness come by the law, then is Christ dead in vain." (Gal. 2:16-21.) "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for IT IS WRITTEN, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the works of the law is evident," &c. We have broken the law; it can only curse us. We cannot even have forgiveness by all our efforts to keep the law, much more be justified. Do you say, "We must do our best to love God and keep His commandments, and then hope He will forgive us and justify us "? Where does He say, if we do our best? or where is the man that does his best? No, on the doing plan no man shall be justified. God hath said it, and it is hard to fight against God.
Let us now look at God's only way of justifying the ungodly. IT IS CHRIST THAT DIED! Oh, wondrous answer to all my sins! "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood," &c., "who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore, by justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." IT IS GOD THAT JUSTIFIES. (Rom. 3:19-28; 5:1; 8:31-34.)
My reader, let your thoughts dwell on the cross of Christ. Blessed are the eyes that see and the ears that hear God's testimony about the death of Jesus, the propitiation for sin. "God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." (Rom. 5:8.) What man could never do God has done. He hath laid our sins on Jesus; they are put away by His atoning blood. God hath raised Him from the dead. He that believeth is justified from all things. And God thus not only is just in forgiving the believer's sins, but is righteous in justifying the believer. Though once guilty, yet justified, so justified by the death of Jesus, that not one charge can be laid to him that believeth. Oh, think of it, my fellow-believer! God hath so justified you by the blood of Jesus, that nothing can be laid to your charge-all, all has been borne by Jesus. Is not this enough to give you peace? Yea, the peace of God is yours. Yes, yours forever. C. S.
How Does the Believer Know That He Is Justified?
CERTAINLY not by looking at his feelings. His feelings are as changeable as the wind. Nor yet by looking at his prayers, or his good works: all that he does is mixed with sin. If he looks at himself in any way, he can find nothing that will afford a sure ground of certainty that he is justified; that is, that he is so clear of sin, that nothing can be laid to his charge forever. Can you, my reader, with eternity before you, with the prospect of standing before that Judge who knows every secret of your life, can you say that you are clear of all sin, so clear that nothing can be laid to your charge? Are you not ready to say, "How can any sinful man in this world know that he is thus clear of all sin?" You will be astonished at the believer's simple, yet certain answer. It is this—CHRIST IS RISEN.
But you will ask, "What has that to do with a believer's justification?" It has everything to do with it. "If Christ be not risen, ye are yet in your sins." (1 Cor. 15:17.) A saved sinner knows and believes the love of God in sending Jesus to be his SURETY and representative. His eyes have been opened to see Jesus, bearing his sins in His own body on the tree. He knows that the blood of Jesus, his surety, has met every claim of Divine holiness to the uttermost. What love and mercy to lost sinners! Now the believer can say, "As surely as Jesus was condemned for me, was delivered to death for my offenses; as certainly as God dealt with Him, on the cross as my surety for my sins, so assuredly did God raise Him from the prison-house of death for my justification." Now if a surety is cast into prison for the person's debt he is bound for, when that surety comes out of prison, having paid the full demand, is not the person for whom he paid it as clear of the debt as the very person who was his surety, and paid it? And he knows he is clear of every claim. Why? Because his surety is now out of prison. Just in the same way does the believer look outside himself to Christ, his adorable surety. Oh ponder this well: it was an awful engagement, when Jesus became the surety of all who through grace should believe on Him. Yet still He trusted God. He knew that God would justify Him from all these sins and guilt, as He says, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." He did not leave His soul in hell; He raised Him from the dead, completely cleared from all our sins, no more to be forsaken, but to be received up to the highest glory. Now Christ had no sin to die for of His own, therefore His death was entirely for us. Just so He had no sin to be justified from of His own, therefore His resurrection also was entirely for us; He died as our surety, He rose from the dead as our representative, so that whatever God did to Christ on the cross is reckoned unto the believer; and whatever God did to Christ at His resurrection, He did to us in Him as our representative. CHRIST IS RISEN.
Is He perfectly and forever clear of all sin? Even so doth God justify every believer—see Rom. 8:29 -34, Heb. 10:14, 1 John 4:17. It is God that justifies.
My reader, if thou art looking at thyself in any way, thou art far from knowing that thou art justified. If the Holy Spirit shall give thee real faith in Jesus, looking entirely away from thyself at Christ, thou wilt not ask for anything to make thee more certain that thou art justified from all sin, than this one triumphant answer-Christ is risen, who is even at the right hand of God. C. S.
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