A CHRISTIAN having given his child, a boy of about nine years of age, a neat little book, entitled “The Cleansing Blood,” the following conversation ensued between them: —
Father. Whose blood is called “the cleansing blood”?
Boy. The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
F. Why is the blood of Jesus Christ called cleansing blood?
B. Because it cleanses us from all our sins.
F. Why does the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanse us from all our sins?
After some consideration, the reply was, “Because he bore our sins on his own body on the tree.”
F. Whose sins does the blood of Christ cleanse away?
B. The sins of those who believe in him.
F. Has it cleansed you from your sins?
B. Yes.
F. Are you quite sure of that?
B. (thoughtfully), Yes, I am.
F. What makes you quite sure of it?
Now, dear children, mark the reply. Some grown up Christians would have answered, “Because I feel happy;” others, “Because I think I can trust him.” Some, looking at their own experience, have been known to answer, “Well, because I have reason to hope that I have been born again.” But this little boy’s answer—clearly, simply, emphatically, and deliberately given—was,
“BECAUSE GOD SAYS SO,” laying much stress upon the word “God.”
The importance of this reply cannot be overrated. In preaching the Gospel, some time afterward, this conversation was repeated, in order to explain to the people what was meant by “believing God.” And one poor sinner found peace at once. Being asked, the next day, whether his sins were gone, he replied, with a happy smile, that they were. “How?” said the preacher. “The blood of Jesus Christ has washed them all away,” replied the man. “How do you know that?” was the inquiry. “Well,” said the poor man, “I’ll be like the little boy— ‘Because GOD says so!’” Two others, who had long been anxious about their salvation, but had been looking within for some ground of hope—something that would justify them in their own eyes in thinking they were saved, instead of looking at Christ, and God’s gracious message concerning him—got settled peace in the same way. Their faith and hope are now in God, instead of in themselves, their frames, and feelings, and experiences.
Some dear young reader of GOOD NEWS may be anxious to know what is meant by believing. It is taking God at his word about Jesus. When the Philippian jailer “sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him THE WORD OF THE LORD.” Now when this trembling sinner heard the Word of the Lord, what did he do? Why he simply believed it, and so “rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house.” He did not wait to ask what is meant by believing; he did not look into himself to see whether any change had taken place in his own heart; he did not wait to feel something; but he heard the message from GOD concerning Jesus, and just believed it at once, because God had said it; therefore he could rejoice then and there. Now, my dear young reader, can you say, as in the sight of God, “My sins are gone”? If not, may the Lord give you grace to say so at once. “I am quite sure that my sins are cleansed away by the precious blood of Christ, BECAUSE GOD SAYS so.” What does God say about it? He says, “The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Believe him, because it is HIM. “God is love.” He gave his own dear Son to die for sinners, to “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Jesus has done it. God says so. Will you not believe HIM?