BE the man rich or poor, learned or illiterate, moral or immoral, refined or unrefined, he has sinned, and also come short of the glory of God.
So that there are these two things; not only have you sinned, but, you have come short of the glory of God.
There are moral differences; there is of course a deal of difference morally between a drunkard, and. a sober man; there is thus a great difference between Nicodemus in the third chapter of the gospel of John, and the woman of Samaria in the fourth chapter; between the dying thief, and Saul of Tarsus, the pharisee of the pharisees. A wide moral difference between the rich, law-observing ruler, and the woman of the city. But the one has sinned, and so has the other.
Nicodemus has need to be “born again,” and so has the woman of Samaria; and there is as much need for Saul of Tarsus to hear the “still small voice,” as the dying thief.
People who have as they suppose few sins, often think that they stand a better opportunity of being saved than those who have more sins.
Not so; often the reverse is the case. The individual who thinks he has some goodness of his own to fit him for the glory of God, trusts to this, and is lost; while one who is aware from his past conduct that he has no goodness, trusts to Jesus, and is saved. The young ruler, with all his religious impressions, and kneeling to the Lord, “went away sorrowful,” while the repentant weeping woman of the city went in peace, her sins forgiven. The repentant prodigal is welcomed home, and has the best robe put upon him, and is brought into the Father’s house, while the pharisaical elder son “would not go in.”
Did you ever think it was only one sin that caused Adam and Eve to be shut out of paradise? Sins, not even one, can be allowed where God is. There is no communion between light and darkness. And as well might a drowning man trust to the waves to save him, as a man to his sobriety, honesty, or what he may term his good works, to deliver him.
“No Difference.” These words are once more used in the epistle to the Romans, chap. 10, verse 12— “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.”
In the first “no difference,” the door is shut to all, so to speak; in this the second “no difference,” the door is open to all. In the first, you have no righteousness of your own to fit you for God’s presence; in the second, He provides a righteousness for you. Since the death and resurrection of His Son, He welcomes all comers. He is rich unto all that call upon Him. Be he who he may, aged or young, whatever the previous life, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Just as in the first “no difference” all are involved in one common ruin, so in the second “no difference” all shall be saved who call upon the name of the Lord. How many are sincerely calling upon the name of the Lord, who do not know that they are saved, and why?
Because they do not believe God; they do not believe that He is as good as He is. This verse of scripture was quote d to a man anxious to be saved, and he replied, “Why, I have been calling upon the name of the Lord for twenty years, and did not know that I was saved before.”
In the Old Testament, the Lord commanded that when Israel were numbered, every man was to give a piece of money, “a ransom for his soul” from twenty years old and upward, each man was to give a half-shekel (a shekel is about 2s. 3½d.) The rich were not to give more, and the poor not to give less than half-a-shekel. Here the rich and poor met together; the rich man might have wanted to have given more, and the poor might have wanted to have given less, but no, both were to give alike, there was “no difference.” This illustrates the truth, that all receive salvation on the same terms, not that you have to give half-a-shekel (perhaps if salvation had to be paid for, many more would get it). For
“Jesus paid it all—
All that I was due.
So nothing, either great or small,
Remains for me to do.”
What a happy thing it is to be able to say that God is satisfied with what Jesus His beloved Son has done for me.
Salvation is put within the reach of all. It is as near as your mouth and your heart, for “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.” (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).)
My reader doubtless believes that the Lord.
Jesus Christ died for sinners; let me ask, Have you ever in your life thanked Him for dying for you?
Let none think that they are not good enough to be saved. It is because none were good enough, that God sent His Son to die for all, that, through Him, those that believe might be saved.
W. R. C.