NEAR the Infirmary at Leeds, a poor old man, whose gray locks sheaved that he was not far from three score years and ten, was asking for alms; so we dropped a trifle into his hat, for which he seemed very grateful.
“Do you expect to go to heaven when you die?” we kindly asked this aged beggar. “Yes, sir, by the help of God,” was his ready reply. “That is the wrong road, friend,” we earnestly assured him; but he seemed astonished that any one should question the soundness of the doctrine he had put forth, that he expected to go to heaven by the help of God; so much so that he added, “What, sir, not by the help of God!” “No, friend, you do not want help, you want life; you need to be washed from all sin, to be able to stand in God’s holy presence; you do not require God to help or assist you to make yourself better; you want salvation, and this can only be accomplished through the blood of Christ, for His blood cleanseth from all sin. God has done everything for the salvation of sinners in the death of His beloved Son, to fit them to stand in His presence, and He now says that ‘whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.’”
The poor old man seemed at once to perceive the folly of thinking of God’s help, while at the same time He was rejecting God’s salvation. On leaving him, we could not help thinking how many there are like this aged beggar, who are deceiving themselves with the false thought, that what they need is that God should help them to make themselves better, instead of believing the truth that they are fallen creatures in Adam, born in sin, by nature children of wrath, and therefore that they cannot please God. This truth would show them the folly of trying to mend what God had pronounced incurably bad, and would convince them of the need of looking up to the Lord Jesus risen from the dead, who is now at God’s right hand, and of receiving eternal life as God’s free gift, and thus know present peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The whole point is, What saith the scripture? What is God’s mind about the matter? It is not a question of man’s opinion, but of God’s will. Jesus said, “This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:4040And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40)). This plainly shows us what God’s will is. The question then is, Are you, dear reader, content to be saved in God’s way? God declares in His word (being so satisfied with the death of Christ, as a just atonement for all our sins) that those who believe are “now justified by His blood” (Rom. 5:99Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:9)). Do you then receive God’s testimony about Jesus Christ and Him crucified? For he that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.