Ques. I have seen myself as a sinner before God, and have believed that Jesus died for me. Still, I have so many wicked thoughts, and do so many things a Christian ought not to do, that I am very unhappy. How can I get that peace which a believer should have?
Ans. You will never know what true peace is until you get done with yourself as an utterly ruined, good-for-nothing thing, and rest on Christ's finished work and God's faithful Word. Self-occupation is your special disease. You want to look off unto Jesus, for this is the divine remedy.
Ques. On what ground will Christendom be judged?
Ans. The Holy Ghost has given us the three grand distinguishing titles, namely, "The Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God." Alas! that which calls itself the Church of God has become a corrupt thing-a vast mass of baptized profession. But clearly that which is called Christendom is no longer viewed as being on Jewish, or Gentile ground, nor will it be judged as such, but according to the profession which it takes up. Hence the appalling solemnity of Christendom's position. We believe it, beloved friend, to be the most terrible moral blot in the wide universe of God the master-piece of Satan and the destroyer of souls. O! the awfulness of Christendom's condition the awfulness of its doom! No human language can set it forth.
May all who truly belong to the Church of God be enabled to yield a calm, clear, decided, and consistent testimony against the spirit, and principles and ways of that terrible thing called Christendom.
Ans. This verse refers to the difficulties, trials, and temptations which surrounded the Philippian saints: the apostle exhorts them now that they had not him to lean upon to work out their own salvation, as a daily practical thing, ever remembering that it was God who wrought in them.
Ques. What part has repentance in the salvation of the soul?
Ans. Repentance is an abiding and universal necessity for the sinner (Acts 17:3030And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: (Acts 17:30)). It has nothing whatever to do with the ground of a sinner's peace, any more than the feelings of a drowning man have to do with a lifeboat. But man, being a sinner must be brought to the moral judgment of his nature and state in the sight of God. This judgment may vary in its measure and character but it must be sooner or later, in every case. Man must find out that he is lost, that he is a guilty hell-deserving sinner, else what does he want of life, pardon, or salvation at all?
No doubt there is an utterly false legal way of handling the question of repentance which must be carefully avoided by all preachers of the gospel; but at the same time we must never forget those words of our risen Lord and Master;