Lost.
GOD’S great salvation is for the lost. Hence a man must wake up to the fact that he is lost, or he cannot be saved. “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)). We all belong to a lost race. You may believe it, pretend to believe it, or disbelieve it, the fact remains true. God says so. “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Rom. 3:44God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. (Romans 3:4)).
If we were not lost, we should not need to be saved. And if we did not need to be saved, God would never have sent His Son to save us. Notwithstanding all the prevailing errors of the day, and the unbelief of many the mass in Christendom still profess to believe that fact. But, alas, how few find out they are lost!
Tens of thousands hope for heaven because Christ died, but it is a false hope. They are not saved; and why? Because they have never learned they were lost. It is the lost one who gladly hears of Christ as a real, present, personal Saviour. Sinner, professor, you are lost! You belong to a lost race, and you are guilty of sins of which God alone knows the total, and every moment you live (whatever your poor deceived heart may imagine) you are ever speeding nearer and nearer to the eternal doom of the lost―the lake of fire (Rev. 20:1515And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)). Hear the note of warning while you may! Arouse ye to a sense of your state, and danger, and need!
Whether outwardly moral and religious, or sinful and ungodly, you must have Christ as your Saviour, or your case is hopeless. And the time to have Him as your Saviour is now. Without Christ you are lost; to die without Him is to be eternally lost. To be eternally lost, is to be banished from the light of the blessed presence of God in the lake of fire, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched; the blackness of darkness for eternity (Jude 1313Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 13)).
Half Saved.
Now Christ is a present, perfect, and eternal Saviour. Hence if you believe God’s testimony concerning Him, you are, now, perfectly and eternally saved. But alas, such is the power of Satan, and the blindness and perversity of the human heart, that thousands are satisfied with being what we may call “half saved.” They believe on the Lord Jesus, but, occupied with self, self’s shortcomings, and their own unworthiness, they continue in an undefined state of soul, with nothing clear as to their eternal salvation. Sometimes they hope they are saved, sometimes they think they are saved, sometimes they are tolerably sure they are saved, sometimes they question it altogether. They believe in Christ; but instead of bowing to God’s testimony concerning Him, and seeing that their salvation is eternally secure, as all depends on Him who is already the Victor, seated at God’s right hand, they make their salvation depend more or less on their own feelings, which are as changeable as a thermometer. When they feel happy, they feel they believe, and feel they are saved. When they feel unhappy, they are not sure whether they believe, and their salvation is surrounded with clouds of uncertainty. It is feelings instead of Christ. Souls in this condition may be counted by tens of thousands in Christendom; they are, so to speak, half saved.
Is this the trace Christian state? Unquestionably not. It is the state of souls awakened through the grace of God, born again, but without peace or deliverance. Many causes may produce it, bad teaching, legality, self-occupation, self-righteousness, carelessness, allowance of unjudged sins, &c., &c. It is a miserable state to be in. They are more or less spoiled for this world, but they are not in the enjoyment of Christ and His things. It is a state totally foreign to the blessed revelation of the Word of God.
Saved.
The, scripture says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” &c. (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)). “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)). “Who hath saved us,” &c. (2 Tim. 1:99Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (2 Timothy 1:9)). “According to his mercy he saved us” (Titus 3:55Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)). “By grace ye are saved” (Eph. 2:88For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8)). And one might cite other passages.
Now nothing can be plainer from this than that the believer should know he is saved. Are you a believer? Yes. Then you should know that you are saved. Take God at His word, and there will be no doubt about it. His word endureth forever. You will never have any assurance of salvation so long as you are occupied with yourself. Christ is the Saviour, glorified, triumphant, and crowned. He finished the work once for all at the cross, by faith in which we are saved. That is enough. So long as you are occupied with self and your own unworthiness you are dishonoring Christ, and robbing God of the glory due to His name. Believe Him, and you are saved; you may know it, have the full assurance of it, find rejoice in it. We read that God “will have all men to be saved,” &c. (1 Tim. 2:44Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4)). it is the desire of His heart that we should know and rejoice in this blessed truth. Saved! What a wonderful thing! Are you then saved? Can you reply, “Yes,” without hesitation? Can you look eternity in the face, and know all is well? Can you look death in the face, and say, Ah, it was my great enemy once, but now I know its sting has been taken away by Christ, and for me it is but the portal to His presence forever. Can you contemplate the truth of His promised return, and say, Ah, I know when He claims His own, His saved ones, He will surely claim me? Can you say unhesitatingly― “By Thy grace I am saved, precious Jesus”?
Saved After God’s Own Heart.
Now, blessed as it is to know we are saved, we should not stop there. It is cause indeed for thankfulness, that death, judgment, and the lake of fire are things of the past, all gone forever for every believer, and nothing now but glory with Christ in front. But how far do we enter into the fullness and blessedness and infinite extent of God’s great salvation? How far do we enter into His side of it, and the joy of His heart in Christ and His saved ones?
Thousands are saved, and know it, yet have but the faintest idea of the infinite heights and depths, and lengths and breadths, of the blessing found in God’s salvation, the present and eternal portion of every believer!
All is ministered to us by God Himself―Light and Love―for the eternal satisfaction and joy of His own heart, according to His delight in His Beloved, now seated as the triumphant Saviour at His own right hand. We are blessed for His sake, and in Him. The great salvation of God is revealed in righteousness as present, free, full, and eternal, the fruit of perfect love, infinite wisdom, and everlasting counsel. Eternity is needed for us to enter into the full depth of the blessing. Through the Spirit, we should know it now; and in a measure some do. But, alas, how feeble our finite grasp, and the soaring’s of the most trustful human heart, in that which is infinite! Alas, how little we get away from ourselves, and enter into God’s side of things, and revel in the fullness of the grace ever flowing in mighty tides around His saved ones. He planned the salvation, Christ’s finished work is the ground of it, the Holy Ghost reveals it to us; it is ours now and forever, and God finds joy in our joy. Blessed and rich as is the language of His Word, telling us of so great salvation, yet the one who entered into it above all others, when caught up to the third heaven, the sphere to which one can say it belongs, the blessing he was in some measure conscious of was far beyond him. He heard unspeakable words, which it was not lawful for man to utter (2 Cor. 12:1-51It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 3And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) 4How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 5Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. (2 Corinthians 12:1‑5)). Fellow-believer, this eternal portion is yours; and we are saved after God’s own heart.
“Blest are they who, lost, undone,
Rest by faith on God’s own Son;
Blest who take, through precious blood,
Refuge in the Eternal God:
They by truth are thus set free,
Rock of Ages, hid in Thee.”
E. H. C.