“I WISH I was, sir, but I cannot feel saved, I have got such a load at my heart, and I can get no relief, no rest. I know that I deserve to go to hell. I have lived all these years and never thought of God, or my soul; but now I see what a sinner I am, and oh if I could only feel saved, if I could only feel this weight of misery gone.”
Week after week it was the same story; in vain we pointed out that we must believe good news before we feel the joy of it, and that God has written, “The just shall live by his faith.” (Hab. 2:44Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)).
We asked, “Can you point to any passages in the Word of God which say that a really anxious soul is to feel saved before he trusts God.” “No, sir, I don’t know of any, but—but—but—I cannot feel my burden gone—”
Thus said an invalid, and her spiritual history is that of many others. And what think you, dear reader, brought relief and deliverance? (Rom. 10:8-108But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9That 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. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:8‑10)). “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith (not feeling), which we preach; that 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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
The troubled sinner believed God’s word, and forthwith her burden was gone, her load removed, and she could feel the joy she had often longed to experience. Like many others, she could only wonder afterward, how it was she had been so blind, so foolish as not to see when God had written so plainly in His Word that faith must precede feelings. Let me call the attention of the reader who is really anxious to know that he is saved to the only three passages in the New Testament, in which the word “feel” is mentioned, in connection with the sinner.
In Acts 17:27, 2827That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (Acts 17:27‑28), we read “They should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being.”
This refers to a desire to know God, or in other words it indicates the state of a seeker after Him, and not the effect produced in the soul of one who has believed.
In Mark 5:28, 2928For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 29And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. (Mark 5:28‑29), we find, “If I may touch but His (Jesus’) clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.” This plainly shows that it was not until this poor woman had by “Faith’s touch” shown her faith in Jesus, that she felt that she was healed; that is, she believed first, and feeling followed, not preceded, the act of faith.
The third scripture describes the condition of blinded and deluded sinners of the Gentiles, who are greedily feeding on the lusts of their depraved hearts, and of this defiled world.
It is, therefore, evident that none of these passages strictly applies to an anxious soul. To a sinner fully awakened to the reality of his state before God, in answer to his inquiry, “What must I do to be saved?” the divinely inspired reply was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
The word of God, and the work of Christ are the real, true, abiding bases upon which the knowledge of salvation is built; and until we rest there, we never have true peace or right feeling.
H. N.