“You are good; do you feel good?”
The question was sarcastically thrown at a young Christian, who was perusing a copy of GOSPEL TIDINGS. The question set him thinking, and his thoughts were occupied with what God said about “goodness.” It is evident that no man can claim to be good, for the Lord Jesus said, “There is none good but God.” Surely such words, falling as they did from the lips of the Lord Himself, are worthy of the consideration of every man, woman and child, of every nationality and color. Whether you are old or young, black or white, learned or illiterate, matters not; for it is as true as ever, that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” and you are responsible, whoever you may be, to heed what God has said.
The devil has, ever since he succeeded so well with Adam, been instilling into the hearts of men wrong thoughts of both God and man. The very same words that he used in the Garden of Eden, he often uses today, seeking thereby to impress men with the idea that God is keeping something from them. His first words, “Hath God said?” convey the idea that God’s words were an empty threat. And the word of God is still more explicitly denied when he says, “Ye shall not surely die,” for God had previously said that a disobedience would be punished with death.
Men, however, have always preferred the lie of the devil to the truth of God, and consequently the punishment that God said would follow has been inflicted. This world, which God at creation pronounced “very good,” has become a veritable graveyard. Sad, indeed, is the spectacle, yet all is the result of sin.
How, then, can men today boast of their goodness? Surely it is as absurd as it is false, and only goes to prove how successful the enemy has been in blinding “the mind of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them.”
How sad is the account of man’s fall; yet midst the darkness there shines one bright beam of hope. The woman’s seed was to bruise the serpent’s head, undoubtedly foreshadowing the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, which would break Satan’s power and destroy his might. How gracious, then, of God to act thus.
If any of my readers think that God is not so good as He said He was, allow me to turn your gaze to Calvary. What does that scene mean? Three crosses standing on Calvary’s hill. Suspended on that center cross is Jesus. Why is He there? Well we know that He was there as the Sin-bearer. In the anguish of His soul He cried that terrible and bitter cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
How can you think that God is not good? If the sight of Calvary is not sufficient to melt your heart, it must be hard, indeed. Well would it be for you if you had never been born, if you die in your sins. Remember the door of mercy will soon be closed, and you, if unsaved; will be outside. How terrible! Not one single ray of light to shine upon your dark eternal future. No, but you must spend that eternity amid the horrors of hell, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
Yes, you may well tremble at such words as these; but, if you don’t come to the Lord Jesus; such must be your awful portion. Then come now, just as you are, in all your sin, just where you are.
How can you keep away any longer? Come! Come!! Come!!! And now.
“Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold; NOW is the day of salvation.”
J. G. B.