(A Letter to an Anxious Soul by one now with the Lord. — No. 1.)
MY DEAR FRIEND, — Reflecting on our yesterday’s conversation, it strikes me that some words you then dropped unfold, more clearly than I have before seen it, the nature of the difficulty under which you labor. You said you “could not have peace unless God spoke peace to your soul”; that you “could not without Him believe on Christ”; and you asked me, “Is God angry with me, seeing that He does not speak peace to my soul?” Will you endeavor to give me your attention while I seek to suggest certain things connected with these points?
It is most true that God alone can speak peace to the conscience. It is also true — such is the unwillingness of our hearts to believe God’s testimony — that it is only by His power and grace that we are, any of us, induced or enabled to believe. But do not suppose from this that God will speak to you in an audible voice, or by some new and distinct revelation, additional to what you have already in His Word. Do not suppose that any such new revelation, or immediate impression on your feelings, is needful to enable you to believe; or that this is God’s way of enabling you to come to Christ. God has spoken already, and most fully, in His Word; and “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Fix, then, your attention on what God says in His Word; and trust Him, while yet considering what He says, to enable you to understand and receive it.
In Acts 10:36,36The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) (Acts 10:36) you read of God “preaching peace by Jesus Christ.” Is not that “speaking peace” by His blessed Word? When He preaches it — proclaims it openly — can there be any doubt of His speaking it? But what is meant by peace? I am not sure whether we understand each other as to this. When you speak of not having peace, of God’s not having spoken peace to you, you mean the feeling of peace within, the inward sense or assurance of being forgiven, and reconciled to God, and at peace with Him. Desirable and important, however, as this feeling is, it is only an effect of peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and not that peace itself. Now, what you need to understand is, that which God has declared concerning that peace itself. The Lord enable me so to place it before you, that it may be cleared up to your soul, and that thus the effect may be produced which you so earnestly desire — the inward sense of peace and reconciliation with God.
You and I, my friend, have both sinned against God. By nature we are sinners, and for a number of years we have lived a life of sin and rebellion against God. To this you can agree now, as you could not have done some time ago. You would always, perhaps, have assented to it as true; but now you know and feel that it is true indeed. Well, God has had just occasion to be angry with us on account of our sins; and, as a matter of fact, He is angry with sin, and hates it with a perfect hatred. But though justly angry with our sin, He has loved us and viewed us with infinite compassion. His heart yearned over us in mercy, and He was unwilling that we should suffer the just consequences of our sin against Him. But how could these consequences be averted? How could He smile upon us, or receive us to His favor, while in our sins? And what could you or I do to get rid of sin, or to turn away God’s righteous displeasure on account of it? Clearly nothing. Whatever we do is defiled by sin, and so makes matters worse. You have found this since you seriously began to seek the Lord. When you read His Word your thoughts wander; so they do when you try to pray; and you told me yesterday how difficult you find it to fix your mind on what God says in His Word. Evidently we can do nothing fit to bring to God; and even if we could do right for the time to come, this could never stand against our past sins, and compensate for them. So far as we are concerned, the case is hopeless. But God loved us, and wished to have us reconciled to Himself, brought back to His favor, and made happy under His smile. And though He could not let our sins go unpunished, and we could do nothing to get rid of them, what He did was to send His only begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins. This having been accomplished, God is now at liberty, if I may so speak, to satisfy His own love in receiving us to His bosom. What God sought was, to have a just and holy ground on which to pardon and save us, and receive us to heaven, notwithstanding our sins, and this He has found in the death of Jesus, in the shedding of His blood for sin. It is thus that Jesus has “made peace through the blood of His cross.” This is not something yet to be done, it is done already; and God tells us it is done in His holy Word.
“As God is true,” the Lord Jesus Christ has “made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20)); and it is thus that God “preaches peace by Jesus Christ.” Christ preaches it also. (See Ephesians 2:1717And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. (Ephesians 2:17).) “And came and preached peace to you [Gentiles] which were afar off, and to them [Jews] that were nigh.” You have, all your lifetime, been outwardly nigher than many. Brought up by godly parents, reading the Bible, hearing the Gospel, mixing with Christians, you have been outwardly nigh, while many openly wicked people have been outwardly far off. But you have now discovered that, whatever outward nearness there may have been, you have been inwardly and really far from God. To you, then, Christ preaches peace, the peace with God which He has made by the shedding of His all-precious blood. God says that He is satisfied with the blood of Christ, that it justifies Him in receiving you and me to His favor. Why, then, should we be harder to satisfy than God Himself? What justifies God in justifying us may well satisfy our hearts, and set our consciences at rest before God. I know the soul wants solid ground on which to rest; and what so solid as the Word of God?
“As God is true,” my friend, you and I are sinners. “As God is true,” He hates sin, and must punish it. “As God is true,” He loves the sinner, He loves us, He loves you, and that He might have you for His friend, His child, to dwell with Him forever, He gave Christ to die on the cross, instead of your perishing in your sins forever. “As God is true,” He is satisfied with what Christ has done and suffered on your behalf; and He sends you word that He is, in order that you may also be satisfied, and throw yourself into His arms of mercy, and live forever. Go to Him, then, in confidence, and tell Him that you cannot longer disbelieve His word, or call in question His love. Remind Him that, undeserving of His favor, and deserving only of hell as you are, He tells you that He is satisfied with the work of Jesus — the blood of Jesus — the sacrifice of Jesus — and that you also can but be satisfied with the same blessed meeting-place between Him and you. Instead of any longer doubting, or fearing, or questioning, see how God is satisfied with what Christ has borne upon the cross on your behalf; and if you dare not say that it is not sufficient, if you feel that it would be awful to say this, why, go then to God, and own to Him that it is sufficient! “Lord, it is enough! I am a sinner indeed, but Christ has died!”
And abide by this, my dear friend. If you feel no instant change, still keep to this ground. Remind God that He Himself tells you in His Word, that the blood of Christ is all-sufficient and has made peace with Him for sinners. Rest your whole soul on this foundation before God, He will never tell you that you do wrong to trust His own word, and the precious blood of Christ. “By Him all who believe are justified from all things”; and to rest thus on Jesus, to trust thus in Jesus, to be satisfied thus with the blood of Jesus, is believing. — Your sincere Friend,