“GOOD morning, Martha. Have you been out today?”
“Yes, sir. This is Sunday, and I always try to get to church to hear Mr. — preach.”
“Is he a good preacher, Martha?”
“Yes, indeed, sir. His church is so full it is often difficult to get a seat there; but I would gladly stand for hours to hear him.”
“Then, I suppose, you are anxious about your soul, Martha, and want to know how to get to heaven?”
“Yes, indeed, sir, I am; but it is very hard to get there. I am often afraid I shall be lost, after all.”
“After all what, Martha?”
“Oh! sir; you know, after doing my duty, and using the means of grace, and doing the best I can, still I don’t feel one bit nearer heaven, and I sometimes fear it’s no use trying any longer; but they say I must keep on at it.”
“On at what, Martha? I don’t understand you.”
“On at trying to save my soul by getting better, sir.”
“And do you really believe, Martha, that you could save your soul from being eternally lost by anything you could do? If you or anyone else could have done that, then why had God to send His only begotten Son into the world to die for sinners?”
“Of course, sir, I don’t mean that I can save myself altogether; but then, surely, we must all do the best we can, and leave the rest to God.”
“Why, Martha, that’s exactly what Adam did when he transgressed God’s commandment; he sewed fig leaves together, he did the best he could to hide his sin from view, and yet he did not dare to face a righteous God, before whose eyes the secrets of all hearts are bare and naked.”
“But if we only do our best, sir, surely God will have mercy upon us; He is so merciful.”
“What do you call your part, Martha?”
“Why, sir, I always do my duties, morning and night; I go to church regularly; I was baptized; I attend the means of grace once every month; I have a class in the Sunday-school; and I give what I can spare in charity; and I am sure I don’t know what more to do.”
“Oh, I see; you would like to earn salvation! you want to make God your debtor! you will give Him so much if He will only give you your pardon and life in return. Cain thought that a good plan, too; and he did his part’ right heartily; he toiled hard, and offered to God the best thing the cursed earth could produce. But Cain failed to please a holy God, after doing the but he could; for God has said, ‘Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.’ (Hebrews 9:2222And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22).) Now God must be as good as His word, Martha, and you must offer blood to God for sin. Whose death will you offer for your sin?”
“I suppose the death of Christ, sir.”
“Oh, sir; sure everyone believes in Jesus and yet everyone is not saved!”
“Oh, Martha! there is a great difference between believing about Jesus (even devils believe and tremble) and believing that He has done everything that was necessary for your salvation; that He has satisfied God about sin, and that you have but to trust simply and entirely to His finished work for you, without adding anything of your own to it. Your part is to accept the gift of everlasting life. Christ has pledged Himself to save ALL that come to Him for pardon Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37).) He is able to save you, He is willing. If you believe on Him, He has paid the whole of your heavy debt to God; His own precious blood was the price demanded, and He died instead of you, ‘the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.’ (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18).) What more is required, may I ask?”
“I’m sure I don’t know, sir. What you say is all very true; but it’s very frightful to think about. I sometimes wish I had never been born at all.”
“Oh, Martha! don’t say that. Think of all the glory that awaits those who are made members of Christ, and children of God. Are you one of those, Martha?”
“Yes, sir; to be sure I am.”
“Indeed. Well, I should not have thought so from your previous conversation. When were you made a member of Christ?”
“In my baptism, sir.”
“Where did you find that written, Martha?” “In the catechism, sir.”
“But I cannot accept as true anything that is not written in God’s Holy Word, Martha, and I am quite sure you will not find that there. For instance, when the Philippian jailor asked Paul, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ he did not say, Go and be baptized, and take the sacrament, and by doing so you will be made a member of Christ’s body, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven; but he said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.’ (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31).) And the Holy Ghost teaches us that he believed on the spot, and was saved, and afterward he was baptized; but not before. So you see, Martha, that water was not a means of grace to him; but faith in Christ was. And faith is the only means that God provides for our passing from death unto life. Hear what Jesus says: ‘He that heareth, and believeth, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.’ (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).) ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.’ (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36).) ‘These 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.’ (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).) And if you believe that, Martha, then you are born again, and have got everlasting life. I hope you are able to understand me, Martha?”
“Well, sir, I think I begin to see it differently from what I ever did before. What you say is this, is it not? Jesus died for sinners, and I am a sinner, so He died for me; He paid all my debt to God, so I am a pardoned person―Christ died instead of me, so it is His death I can offer to God instead of my own, and I have everlasting life by believing all this, and being satisfied to trust Jesus only. But what about my future sins, sir? I see that the work of Christ is enough to save me, but must I not do a great deal to keep safe?”
“Oh Martha, you have just as little power to keep yourself as you had to save yourself, so you must leave that also to God. He knows that you would lose your new life the moment after you got it if it were left in your own keeping, so He tells us in the Bible what He has done with it: “Your life is hid with Christ in God,” (Colossians 3:33For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3),) where neither you, nor I, nor devils, nor angels can touch it.
“Ah! sir, that’s a blessed thing for me; but am I not to do anything when I find I have done what’s wrong?”
“Yes, Martha; the Bible says we are to go just as little children would to their father, and confess it all straight out to Him. ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).) But we must tell it all to our Father, otherwise we shall feel unhappy and ill at ease in His presence, and He would have to chasten us for it, just as you would your child if it had done wrong, and would not confess to you that it had been naughty; but though you might chasten your child, he would not cease to be your child would he?”
“No, sir, he could not cease to be my child, let him do what he would.”
“Well, Martha, do you think you can trust ‘Jesus only’ to says you and to keep you safe?”
“Yes, sir, that I will, with the help of God, and I’ll not waste my time any more ‘sewing fig leaves together,’ as I see that all my righteousness is after all but filthy rags in God’s sight, and the Lord Jesus likes beat to do everything Himself for a poor sinner; but I should like very much, sir, to go and tell everybody all that you have just said to me; I don’t think I should ever weary of telling such good news to people.”
“Well, go and tell it by all means, Martha! and may God help you in your labor of love; and remember, we do not work to be saved, but we work because we are saved.”
“I dare not work my soul to save,
For that my Lord has done;
But I will work like any slave
For love of God’s dear Son.”
“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” (Jude 24, 2524Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. (Jude 24‑25).)
A MISSIONARY, addressing a pious African woman, said, “Mary, is not the love of God wonderful?” and then enlarging on its manifestation in the atonement of Christ, he made the appeal, “Is it not wonderful?” Mary simply, but we may add sublimely, replied, “Massa, me no think it wonderful, cause it is just like Him.”