“What a magnificent sight,” I exclaimed as I observed a young man on a wagon in the open street of a large city, reading his Bible. I was at once attracted by such a sight, and stopped to inquire what he had found in the Bible to make him pore over its pages, when others were hurrying to and fro after the busy concerns of life.
“Do you know your sins forgiven, and are you saved by the One of whom your Bible speaks?” were the pointed questions I addressed to hint.
“I am,” he replied, “if I continue in the faith, and hold on to the end.”
“On what ground are you saved, or on what ground do you hope to be saved, may I ask? Is it on the ground of your own works, or the finished work of Christ?”
“Of course it is on the ground of the finished work of Christ,” he said, “but must we not hold on to the end?”
“It is time enough for you to talk about holding on to the end, and continuing in the faith, when you know that you are in the faith, and that you are resting on the solid rock—Christ and His finished work, and when you know that the whole question of your sins has been settled with God. It would help you greatly if you saw the force of those words in Romans 5:9, 10. ‘Much more, then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.’ It is plain from those verses that the believer in Christ is already justified—cleared from all charge of guilt by the blood. of Christ, and that he is also reconciled to God—brought into a place of nearness in which formerly he was not.
“The argument of the apostle is, if all this has taken place, that is, that we have been perfectly justified and brought near to God, is there any danger of our being lost after all? Clearly not. As to the future we shall be saved from wrath by the very One through whose blood we have been now justified, and through whose death we have been reconciled; and as to the present, we are being saved by His life.
‘Because I live, ye shall live also.’ ‘He ever liveth to make intercession for us.’ And because He ever lives with God for us as our great High Priest, and as our unfailing Advocate with the Father, He is able to save unto the uttermost—on to the very end of our pilgrimage-pathway—all that come unto God by Him. But to be explicit with you, turn over in your Bible to Hebrews 10:9, 10, and read: ‘Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.’
“You know the meaning of sanctified—it simply means being set apart. Well, is it not clear to you from the verses you have read, that the believer in Christ is set apart to God, by God’s will having been accomplished through the work of Christ done once for all?
“Yes, it does seem clear that we are absolutely sanctified by the work of Christ done once for all which certainly needs none of our doings appended.
“He was a perfect Savior. He offered Himself a perfect sacrifice according to the will of God, and God has accepted the work done. It needs no repetition, and indeed never will be repeated. Well now, read verses 14-17: ‘For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us: for after that He had said before, This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them: and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin.’
“Could anything be plainer than these verses as to the entire satisfaction or setting apart to God of all true believers in the full value of the work of Christ? And, moreover, those who are thus sanctified, are said to be perfected forever, which simply means in perpetuity, like a lease which never runs out. And the Holy Spirit testifies to us (not in us yet, though He dwells in every saved person) by the written Word, that our sins and iniquities God in His marvelous grace remembers no more. All are forgotten, thank God. How gloriously grand is such a salvation, and how worthy of the God of all grace.”
Having said these few words as a passing stranger, I left my friend to ponder them, in the hope that his soul might be established in the true grace of God.
That salvation is entirely of grace, and not of works or merit on our part, Scripture over and over again asserts. Paul says, “And if it be grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then grace is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” (Rom. 11:6).
“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Rom. 4:4, 5). And also, “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8). shall never forget once conversing with a lady upon these matters. Our conversation turned upon a deceased gentleman, whom she had rightly held in high esteem. She wound up the conversation by saying, “If there be one man in heaven that man is sure to be there, for he was such a good man.” To her great surprise I said, “Well, ma’am, if that man be in heaven he could not be there but on the same ground as the dying robber—as a sinner saved by the matchless grace of God.” “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:9).
For nearly six thousand years the minds of men have been filled with doing. Cain tried it, when he brought of the fruit of the ground, that God had cursed, to atone for his guilt, and to find acceptance with God; but God rejected him and his bloodless offering. Abel, on the contrary, came on the ground of simple faith. Disclaiming any and all merit on his part, “he brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof,” (type of the Lamb of God who Was to come) and offered his sacrifice to God, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, and stood before God an accepted worshiper.