WHO shall fathom the exquisite beauty of these five golden words, unfolding, as they so sweetly do, three grand and glorious realities?
1. God's grace.
2. God's salvation.
3. God's saved ones.
GOD'S GRACE.
Who shall measure the height and depth, the breadth and length, of God's amazing grace? Freer than the air, warmer than the sun, and deeper than the ocean wave, is God's grace; but, dear reader, what do you personally know of it? What is it to you?
Works of every kind are discarded, when it is a question of grace; the only works God owns are those that flow from life possessed in a risen and glorified Christ. Law, too, is set aside in Moses, in order to bring in "grace and truth, which came by Jesus Christ." Law can only curse and condemn, whereas grace supplies, in Christ, both life and righteousness. All human efforts are worthless in presence of God's grace; and, if righteousness come by the law, then Christ has died in vain. It is the grace of God that bringeth salvation, Just as the gentle zephyrs from the summer sea bring life and healing to the wearied heart and brain, so does the grace of God bring salvation to the heavy-laden sinner. Grace is for the lost, the helpless, and the guilty. Though all unmerited, it breaks the chains of sin and Satan, and sets the prisoner free.
Grace lays its sure foundation at the cross where Jesus died, and rears its top-stone on the very throne of God! It is the atmosphere in which God moves and lives; and a glorified Christ is the living channel through which it now flows out in righteousness to a lost and ruined world. Reader, if still in thy sins, cast thyself now upon this matchless grace, for it brings salvation even to thee!
GOD'S SALVATION.
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Salvation is of the Lord; and in virtue of Christ's atoning sacrifice at Calvary, it is freely offered to all, without money and without price. Such is God's infinite satisfaction with the finished work of Jesus, that He has raised Him from the dead, and placed Him in the highest glory, "far above all principality and power, and every name that is named.”
The glorious outcome of redemption's work is thus fully secured in Christ's resurrection, and this is the result to every believer:
Salvation from sin, and its dominion.
Salvation from the curse of a broken law.
Salvation from death, and its sting.
Salvation from judgment, which is eternal.
Salvation from hell, which is a reality.
Salvation from the bondage of Satan.
Salvation from the world, and its doom.
Yes, salvation is a full and complete deliverance from every foe, as well for the body as the soul. It brings the believer from darkness to light, from death to life, from slavery to liberty, and from the power of Satan unto God. It is "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." Reader, is this salvation yours; and if so, do you know it, and enjoy it?
GOD'S SAVED ONES.
Who are the saved ones; and is it possible that they may be quite sure they really are saved? To this question there can be but one answer, that if God says they are saved, they are. Saved ones, then, are those who once were lost; saved ones are those who, like Job, have learned their vileness, and confessed their sins; but they are also those who have lost their sins through faith in Jesus' blood. Saved ones possess eternal life in a risen Christ; saved ones are children of God, and heirs of glory, yea more, God's Spirit indwells them, and they know it, because "the witness of God is true.”
Are you then a saved one, dear reader, and do you know that you have "passed from death unto life?"' God's word declares that all who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are saved with an everlasting salvation, and being thus saved, God wants them to know it. "By grace ye are saved;" these are-the precious words of scripture, and who will dare-to doubt their veracity? Yea, "let God be true, but every man a liar." God, then, is the source of salvation. Christ is the divine and holy channel through Whom it comes. The Holy Spirit is the-indwelling witness to every believer that he-possesses it. And it is God's word which emphatically declares, "By grace ye are saved.”