THERE are three classes to be found everywhere; almost in every congregation you will find them.
The first class are those who are saved, and who know it. Yes, thank God, who are saved, and who know it. Saved is a marvelous word. It describes the condition of one who has discovered from God’s Word that he is lost, and who has fled to the Saviour of the lost, and put his whole trust in Him who “came to seek, and to save, that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)).
When the woman of the seventh of Luke came to Jesus, and trusted Him, she got pardon for her sins, salvation, for her soul, and peace. And what was true of her is true of every sinner that has come to Him, and trusted Him.
Remember, it is not your worthiness, but the blood of Jesus; not your doings, but His finished work, that saves.
When He said on the cross, “It is finished,” heaven rejoiced, and the infernal world groaned. Now, God is not “straitened,” but is righteously free to proclaim pardon, and offer salvation to all.
A dear man who, after three years of exercise of soul, got saved, said to the writer, “I know I am saved, and accepted through the blood of Christ; I have the testimony of God for that.” Blessed knowledge! Would that all possessed it.
Yes, the first class are those who are saved, and who know it from God’s Word.
Reader, are you of that class?
The second class are those who want to be saved, but do not know the way. There is a work of God in their souls; they have felt the awful load of sin, but as yet they do not know what puts sin away. They are on the ground of works for salvation. They have tried morality, and it has failed them; they have tried religiousness, and they are no beater off; they have tried self-betterment, but they only the more discover the hidden depths of evil found there; they have gone under the baptismal waters, and partaken of the Lord’s Supper, but their case remains unaltered. Such need to look out from self altogether to Christ-to “behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)). He accomplished the work that saves. His crimson blood flowed to atone for the soul. He bowed His head, and died, “the just for the unjust, that he might 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)).
The Word of God, who cannot lie, assures you that on trusting Him you are saved.
Thus the work that saves was done outside of you, and the word which assures the believer that he is saved, is outside of him also.
Mark those words, dear reader!
It is the work of Christ that saves, and it is the Word of God that assures us that we are saved.
The third class are those who are so much in love with their sins that they totally ignore the question. But if they ignore the question, the question will not ignore them. It follows them, and will follow them to the judgment throne, if they refuse to give it their attention now; and at the bar of the eternal God, the Judge of all the earth, they will have to render an account. “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Eccl. 12:1414For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:14)).
If you belong to this third class, look that verse in the face; play the man, and not the fool. Let not the satanic charmer attract you from so momentous a consideration. Let not “the pleasures of sin, which are for a season,” drown the voice of conscience within you. Let not, I beseech you, the boastfulness of man displace the authority of God’s Word in your soul. That Word shall stand forever (1 Peter 1:2525But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1 Peter 1:25)). Heaven and earth will pass away, but that will remain.
You would not ignore any great financial question that would affect your fortune, nor would you ignore any great political question, the proper settlement of which would save your country from the horrors of civil war; nor would you ignore any great calamity with which your own family might be threatened. Then why ignore a question so momentous as that which involves your relation to God, and whether you will spend eternity in heaven or hell? Why so wise when it is a question of the things of time, and so foolish when it is a question of eternity?
In conclusion, let me sound in your ear the word of the prophet Amos, “Prepare to meet thy God.” Your meeting God is both inevitable and compulsory. “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:1212So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12)).
The way of salvation is by the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for such as you. Why not go to Him, trust Him, and confess Him both Lord and Saviour?
E. A.