GOD justifies the ungodly!
Read that again, —God justifies the ungodly!
My reader, have you ever before heard of this wonderful fact?
Now, an ungodly person is one who is without God; a poor, wretched, hell-deserving sinner, without merit, strength, or hope. When God justifies such an one, He clears him from every sin, and from every claim and charge in respect of his sin; takes him out of his original state and place of degradation, ruin, and misery; sets him before Himself as though he had never sinned, and brings him into direct and eternal association with the risen and exalted Christ. The glorified Son of God's acceptance is the measure of the justified sinner's acceptance.
The crucified thief, Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, Zaccheus, the Samaritan adulteress, —these are the kind of people whom God thus justifies on the principle of faith, without works.
Do you doubt it? Then read the divine record, “To him that worketh, not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5)).
Oh, ponder over this marvelous statement, and grasp its wondrous meaning in its application to thyself, thou poor, needy, ruined one.
"To him that worketh not." Maybe you are one of that vast multitude who, dreading the eternal torment of the damned, are frantically endeavoring to escape its woes by works of righteousness, carnal observances, useless ceremonies, prayers, and tears? Then I warn you that you are building a raft of false hopes, that will never carry you across the dark waters of eternal judgment,—a bridge of illusions, that will never span the measureless distance that separates your Christless soul from the Gild of heaven. Your raft will founder, my friend, and plunge you beneath those waves of endless wrath and unutterable despair; your bridge will vanish, and leave you nothing but the great gulf fixed forever between God's glory and your lost soul.
Salvation can never be gained thus, it is for him that "worketh not." You may labor and toil, and hope and sigh for it during a lifetime, but it will elude your grasp at last, and you shall clutch but a lost eternity. You cannot merit salvation, you cannot secure it by your efforts. Hearest thou not, that it is the portion of him that "worketh not"? I yearn to be saved, you say. Then, cease from your works, and take the-place of him that "worketh not.”
"But believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.” What must I do, do you ask? Only believe! Believe what? Believe that you are a poor lost sinner, speeding down the road that leads to hell, powerless to either get rid of your sins, or to satisfy God about them, and powerless to do a whit better in the future than you have done in the past. Believe that Jesus the Son of God came from the glory and went to the cross, that by death He might make atonement for those sins, and render that satisfaction to God about them which you could never render; that He, the powerful One, came to the rescue of the helpless one; that He, the holy One, came to die for the sinful one; that the work has been so perfectly done by Him, that nothing is left for you to do. Believe this, and that same moment will God justify you, the ungodly one, through the blood of the sinless One.
Oh, is it not wonderful, my reader? Surely your heart is melting at the revelation of such unfathomable love on the part of the God you have so sinned against.
You will believe, will you not? Oh, this moment cease from your works, and believe what is said by Him who justifies the ungodly. Come into His presence at once, poor troubled soul. Come, just as you are, wretched, naked, sin-stained. Jesus has died, clear reader, the work is completed, and God waits; He waits, and longs, I say, to pardon thee.
“His faith is counted for righteousness." In a bygone day a man's righteousness consisted in keeping inviolate ten stern commandments. Now, the sinner's faith is counted to him for righteousness. Is it a mystery to you how the thrice-holy God, before whom the adoring angels veil their facts, can justify the sinner who has not an atom of righteousness, or a particle of power to gain one? Do you marvel, I ask, at the suggestion that God can save the sinner on such wondrously easy terms?
Then turn—with bated breath, and reverent heart—one moment, to that awful scene at Calvary, where Jesus, the Son of God, was made sin for us, and learn—in the nameless agonies, and the priceless value of the blood of the holy One—the ground on which a free pardon is offered by God to the guilty sinner, without works.
Oh, touch not that finished work, vain striver after a human righteousness; seek not to add to it by your efforts to earn acceptance with that God who justifies him that "worketh not.”
Oh, touch not that peerless work, doubting one; seek not to dim its luster, by your dishonoring fear to trust wholly to it for the salvation of your perishing soul.
Worker, Doubter, Pharisee, Romanist, Ritualist, Jew, Gentile, know you not that through the blood of Jesus, God has opened heaven to the sinner? Have you not heard His glorious proclamation, Which has sounded through the universe for nigh two thousand years, that on the ground of that shed blood He justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5)), gives everlasting life to dead souls (John 5:24, 2524Verily, 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. 25Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:24‑25)), saves the lost (Luke 19:10,10For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10) Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)), and forgives the sinner (Luke 7:36-5036And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. 37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. 40And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 41There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. 48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. (Luke 7:36‑50))?
Oh, my reader, tell me, are you one of the "ungodly"? Then God, this very moment, offers to justify you from all things; for He Himself has said, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
Are you "dead in trespasses and sins"? Then, this very moment, God offers to you the gift of everlasting life. Listen to the wondrous message, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”
Are you "lost"? Then is God, this moment, seeking to save you. Have you not heard the blessed news? — "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost"; "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
Are you a "sinner"? Then is God, this moment, yearning to forgive you; for it was He, who, in a day that is past, said to the despised sinner of the city, "Thy sins are forgiven, thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.”
Now, pause a moment, and consider this: Suppose God had left perishing man to his own resources, could any or all of the good works or fleshly ordinances in the world, ten million times repeated, have enabled an ungodly person to obtain righteousness, a dead soul to gain everlasting life, a lost soul to secure salvation, or a sinner to obtain forgiveness of his sins?
Oh, reader, man's dreadful condition of guilt, helplessness, and desperate need, serves as a background to throw up into higher relief the magnificent grace of God.
Now, gather up the wealth of blessing that is within your reach: sins blotted out; a free justification from all things; salvation from the coming wrath; and the gift of life eternal And, marvelous fact, none of this is made to depend upon your exertions, your piety, your resolutions, your merit but all the result of Christ's toil, His agony, His blood-shedding; and all to be had by you, a poor helpless sinner, the moment you believe on Him.
Will you let the blessing slip from you, perishing one? Oh, beware, the day of God's grace is fast waning, the shadows are rapidly lengthening out; each passing moment carries you farther from heaven, but nearer to hell. Dare you trifle longer with His mercy, and trample underfoot the blood of His dear Son?
Think, His eye is on you, even as you read these lines, watching to see if you will accept His great love-gift. Oh, fold your hands, vain worker; cast away your fears, poor doubter; and meekly receive, at God's hands, the precious fruit of Jesus' death.
W. H. S.