DEAR friend, are you saved?
“Well,” you reply, “I hope so.”
I do not hope I am; I know I am.
“Oh, but I am working for it.”
I am not.
“Not working for it? then you will never get it.”
Yes, I shall; I have got it now; and as you say you are working to get, I tell you, you will never get it.
“Why not?”
Because the blessed Lord Jesus came down into this world, and was born into it, walked about it, and then went to tile cross, and died. In the darkness of those three hours that Jesus hung upon the cross, God met and punished sin. There were no prying eyes to see Jesus “smitten, stricken of God, and afflicted.” When the darkness rolled away, all that remained to be seen was the blessed Son of God. Was He alive? No, He was dead; but just before He died He cried, “It is finished!” This is how peace was made. And now there remains no more to be done. You have only to leave off working (because it will not save you), and trust to the precious blood of Christ; and poor guilty sinners who come to Him are cleansed, and made fit to dwell with Jesus forever. Well, what have you got to do to get salvation? You have simply to come to Jesus, own yourself a guilty sinner, deserving nothing but the lake of fire, believe what God says, trust in the finished work of Christ, and then salvation is yours.
“But how may I know that I am saved, and that I shall not be judged, and be cast into the lake of fire?” you reply.
The Lord Jesus said: “Verily, 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). This is the Gospel; and if you believe it you are saved.
“How simple the Gospel is!” do you say?
Certainly it is! Most earthly positions and prizes have to be worked hard for; but the Gospel is got by just believing what God says, and by trusting in the blood of Jesus: ―
“Precious, precious blood of Jesus,
Shed on Calvary;
Shed for rebels, shed for sinners,
Shed for me.”
If you are a sinner, you are just the very person Jesus came to save. He came “not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Do you believe?
“Yes,” you reply. “I believe that Jesus came down into this world, and went to the cross, and died for me. I do believe on Him.”
Then you are saved; God’s Word says you are, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Someone has thus stated the Gospel: ―
GOD’S MESSAGE FROM ABOVE.
“That all who in the Son believe
Shall never perish, but receive
Life endless and divine;
No condemnation e’er shall know,
From death to life they pass below,
And then in glory shine.
‘Tis not of works; let no man boast
Save in His name, who saves the lost,
The Lord our righteousness!
Poor sinner, now from working cease,
And claim from God a blood-bought peace,
And Jesus, Lord, confess.”
A.
IF salvation be of grace, works cannot avail. Did’ they avail, grace would not be grace, and a meritorious effort on man’s part would supersede grace. “By grace are ye saved,” is a very simple and plain statement.
W. T. P. W.