“SIRS, what must I do to be saved?”
Such is the question that necessarily arises in the heart of one who has found out he is lost, and in danger of the lake of fire. Now we will hear man speak first, and see what answer he returns to the heart’s question, and if he can lead that heart to rest. For if he cannot lead the heart to assurance and rest, and God in His answer can, then surely the anxious soul will turn a deaf ear to all that man has to say, will believe what God says, and thus “set to his seal that God is true.”
First let man answer the question, and you will find in his answers what you may hear almost every day, if you put the question.
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
“Well, do the best you can of course.”
“But what do you mean by the best I can?”
“Why, go to church, take the sacrament, say your prayers, ask God to forgive you your sins, and try not to commit any more.”
“But suppose I should commit more, which I am almost sure to do, what am I to do then?”
“Oh! go back and ask God to forgive you again.”
“Then will all this church-going, sacrament-taking, prayer-saying, and forgiveness-asking pay all my old debt, blot out my past sins, and make me sure that I am saved?”
“With the help of Jesus Christ it will.”
“Then am I to understand that if I do all this, and it should not prove enough, that Jesus Christ will come in and make up the rest of it?”
“Yes.”
“But when shall I know that I am saved?”
“Oh! when you die, of course.”
“But I want to be sure about it now! for I might make a mistake and end myself all wrong at last.”
“Oh, but you can’t be that. There’s no man sure about that on this earth. I’ve heard of some who say they are sure about it, but I confess I don’t believe them, for there’s no man that doesn’t sin every day, and I’m quite convinced you can’t be sure about that in this world.”
“Then what ever shall I do? Here are all my sins staring me in the face I have no peace night or day. I don’t think any one has sinned like I have, and besides I’ve been trying for long to do my best and all you have been telling me, still I have no peace, and now I am sick and tired of it, and just inclined to give it all up; it’s no use, I have not got peace through it, and certainly I am afraid to meet God.”
“Well, well, you know we’re all sinners, but one doesn’t need to give way like that, God is a merciful God.”
“Yes! that is all true enough, but He is just as well, and I have sinned, and my sins are staring me in the face, and I want to be saved from the wrath I so richly deserve.”
“Well, I’m sure you can’t know you’re saved here, so you must just continue to do the best you can, and hope in the mercy of God; that’s what I’m doing.”
“Well, really, you seem so very easy about the matter that I fear you have never had your sins pressed upon your conscience like me. I must seek advice somewhere else. ‘Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?’”
Let us now hear God’s answer to your heart’s question.
Man started with you and told you to do.
God starts with Himself, and tells you what he did. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but HAVE everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
You were the sinner, a part of the world—God was the One who loved you. You needed a Saviour—Jesus is that Saviour. You should have died because of your sins. Jesus came, and died for sins. You “MUST be born again” (John 3:77Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)). “The Son of man MUST be lifted up” (3:14).
Just think of the picture the Lord reminds Nicodemus of in that chapter. The people had sinned, and were dying from the bite of the serpents. Moses prayed for them after they had confessed their sin, and God told Moses to make a brazen serpent, and put it on a pole, and that whosoever looked should live (Num. 21:88And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. (Numbers 21:8)). Now what had a bitten person to do to live? Only to look.
Well, see the simplicity of it. You have sinned, and death is the consequence. How are you to be saved? God says “You must be born again.” Then, the “Son of Man must be lifted up.” Is there love enough in the heart of God to give Him? Yes. He has given Him. He has been “lifted up, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” What did the bitten one do in the wilderness? He looked.
What have you to do to get eternal life? Look, in other words, believe.
“But I do believe,” says the anxious soul.
Well, when does a soul get eternal life?
“When it believes.”
Then you say you believe?
“Yes, I am sure I do.”
And you are really looking?
“Yes, I am.”
Then does not God say Eternal life is yours?
“Yes, but is that all?”
Do you find any more then? The people looked to the serpent and lived. Sinners look, or believe in the lifted up Son of Man, and they live.
Ah! God’s way is the best. He loved sinners, and gave His Son. Jesus “died the just for the unjust.” The soul that believes in that blessed Jesus can look back to the cross and see Him bearing all his sins; he looks into the grave and finds it empty. He looks up to the throne and finds it occupied; and can say:
Now I know my sins are gone, for on yonder throne sits the man without them, who had them on the cross.
Thank God, says the believer, my sins are not overlooked, but put away at the cross, and God is satisfied, and so am I. Then the Holy Spirit comes and takes up His abode in the believer’s body. He is filled with joy and peace in believing (Rom. 15:1313Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15:13)), seeks to walk worthy of the Lord, and longs for the Lord Himself to come to take him to the Father’s house (John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)) Just look at one thing more. God has sent a letter to make you sure that you have eternal life. Man says, You cannot be sure. God says, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW (not feel, but know) that ye HAVE (not HOPE to get, but ye have) eternal life” (1 John 5:1313These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)). How blessed! how simple! how sweet! how it removes the doubts, and questions, and gives the heart assurance and rest.
W. E.