I must say (wrote Dr. Chalmers in a letter to a friend) that I never had so close and satisfactory a view of the gospel as when I have been led to contemplate it in the light of a simple offer on the one side, and a simple acceptance on the other. It is just saying to one and all of us, “There is forgiveness through the blood of My Son: take it,” and whoever believes the reality of the offer, takes it. It is not in any shape the reward of our own services; it is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We are apt to stagger at the greatness of the unmerited offer, and cannot attach faith to it till we have made up some title of our own. This leads to two mischievous consequences: it keeps alive the presumption of one class who think it is something in themselves which confers a right to salvation. And it confirms the melancholy of another class, who look into their own hearts and their own lives, and find they cannot make out a shadow of a title to the divine favor. The error of both lies in their looking to themselves, when they should be looking to the Saviour.
If I were to come as an accredited agent from the upper sanctuary with a letter of invitation to you, with your name and address on it, you would not doubt your warrant to accept it. Well, here is in the Bible your invitation to come to Christ. It does not bear your name and address, but it says, “Whosoever” that takes you in; it says, “all”—that takes you in; it says “any”—that takes you in. What can be surer or freer than that?