NOT long ago a poor man was listening to some earnest preaching of the gospel in the West of England. He remained unmoved till about the end of the address, when suddenly the words, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)), earnestly repeated by the preacher, arrested his attention, and struck like an arrow home to his heart, awaking for the first time the dormant state of his soul. The address being ended, he left his seat sad and sorrowful. “Well,” he thought to himself, “if those are really God’s own words, I had better begin now at once and work for salvation,” and, going home, he walked straight up to a high and dusty shelf, where for many years his unread Bible had lain, and taking it down, after having wiped off the dust with his hand, he began to read at the first chapter of Genesis.
Poor man He thought, if only he read a chapter of the Bible every day, when he came to the end he would be sure to feel “all right” —by that he meant he would be sure to feel saved and happy, and not afraid to meet the piercing holy eye of a righteous God. He did not know that God was Love as well as Light.
The speaker’s words, or rather, God’s words, “Now is the day of salvation,” seemed to haunt him day and night. He could think of nothing else. Ah! we know it must ever be so when God Himself speaks to a soul with power through His mighty Word; “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Heb. 4:12, 1312For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:12‑13).)
Thus God in His wondrous love and mercy awoke for the first time a need in this poor man’s soul. And let me tell you, dear reader, there is never the faintest longing in your heart towards God, nor any desire to know His Son, whom He sent to die for sinners, unless Christ has first been yearning in His wondrous love towards you; indeed, it is His very yearning after you that kindles in your heart the desire after Him.
Not only had God awakened a need in this dear man’s soul, but He meant to show him that the more and more he worked to obtain salvation the more wretched He would make him, and this we constantly have to learn before we get to the end of ourselves, a lesson which, alas! we are so slow in learning!
He did not know that God says we are dead— “dead in trespasses and sins;” and, therefore, that we need a new life to become “alive unto God.” But the moment we own we are dead, utterly undone and helpless before Him, able to do nothing of ourselves, then God takes us up, and shows us what He can do, and all that His Son has done.
Day after day, as soon as his work was over, W. read steadily through his Bible, till at last he came to the end of Revelation. But it was a hard, irksome task. What? reading God’s own word “an irksome task”! Yes, because it was not from love to God he did it, but because he thought he ought to do so. He was working up to God, instead of working down from God.
What was W.’s utter amazement when he found that, instead of feeling happier when he came to the end of Revelation, he was much more wretched! And thus he read through the Bible three times, from Genesis to Revelation, each time feeling more and more wretched and disheartened!
At last, after the third time of reading it, he thought to himself, “Well, if reading the Bible through three times does not give me peace and joy, and make me less frightened to meet God, I am afraid nothing will; I shall try no more;” so saying he reached up again to that high and dusty shelf, and there he left his Bible.
He did not know that God’s loving eye had been following him all these years, and that He had tenderly been leading him to this very point—in other words, bringing him to the end of himself, and making him see that if he insisted on having any part in his own salvation God would not act. Neither did he know how near, how very near God was, nor how soon He was going to act for him, and indeed did act, the moment He saw W. had learned that it was useless for him to work for his salvation, and that it is God’s own free gift: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8, 98For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8‑9).)
It must have been rather more than two years after this that W. heard that the same preacher who had been used of God in first awakening him to a sense of sin and need was going to speak at the same place.
He determined to go, and the first words that greeted his ear as he tried to find a place in one of the back seats, were, “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5).)
“What!” he thought, “does God say that? — ‘To him that worketh not!’ Impossible!” He listened again. Yes, it was no mistake; he again heard those five words distinctly repeated, “To him that worketh not!” “What!” he thought, “God tells me not to work, and here have I been working for two years, and that to get peace, and God tells me I am not to work, but that I am justified by believing in His Son! Thank God, I see it all now! I have been working instead of believing, and God tells me to believe instead of work. Now I see how reading the Bible could not save me. It must be God’s free gift from beginning to end!”
From that hour W. had peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; God’s light had shone into his dark soul, and he saw like a flash of lightning that Christ had done the work by shedding His own precious blood on the cross 1800 years ago, the very work he in his blindness of heart and proud presumption had been trying to do! And 1800 years ago Christ Himself had said, “It is finished,” and yet he never knew it was finished till that moment! Yes, finished; and how perfectly! God gave him to see not only that the work of Christ is finished, but how perfectly that work has glorified Him. And that now His Son is at God’s own right hand in the Glory, where He ever liveth to make intercession for His people. Truly it could be said of W. that, like the eunuch of old, “he went on his way rejoicing.”
“Now is the free accepted time;
Now is salvation’s day;
Now ‘whosoever will may come’
Now Christ’s the Life, the Way.
“Now pardon’s offered, full and free;
Now heaven is open wide;
Now peace is offered through the blood
Of Jesus crucified.”
E. O’ N. N.