A few days ago I went to see a person on whom I had been asked to call, trusting that the Lord would give me some word which might be blessed to her.
After a few minutes' conversation, I asked, "Are you able to rejoice in the knowledge that you are saved? Do you know the Lord Jesus as the One who has borne your sins?”
Immediately a cloud seemed to pass over her face, and she gave me no answer. I saw she was unable to meet the question, and put another, "Don’t you think you need salvation?”
"Oh, yes," she answered, "indeed I do.”
"Do you see that you have no hope out of Christ, that anything you could offer to God would be worthless, because of the sinful nature you possess?”
"Oh, yes," she replied, " I know all that, I have been a regular attendant at church, I was always at the Sunday school, I have heard the gospel time after time, but it never does me any good, I am gospel hardened.; the Bible says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and that's just what He has done to mine; I am gospel hardened, and I can't help it.”
"Then you don't want to be saved," I said, "you know you are a sinner without hope, you know that an eternity of misery is before you, but you don't want salvation, you don't want Christ?”
"But, indeed, I do," was the earnest reply, "only I'm too hardened.”
"You really want to see that Christ can save you?”
"I wish I could," she answered, "but I can't; many a time the thought of the future makes me tremble, but I try to forget it, for it's too late now.”
"Do you suppose that Satan would put that wish for salvation into your heart?”
"Oh, no, of course not.”
"Do you suppose it came from your own heart, which the Word of God says ‘is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked?’”
"Well, I suppose not," she replied.
"Then, who could have given it to you?" After a few moments' silence she said, "It must have been God.”
"And do you suppose He would give you this wish and not give you the power to believe?”
"I shouldn't think He would.”
Taking my Testament from my pocket I said, "We will answer that question from the Word of God; when we only have the words of our fellow-creatures to trust to, we may find that they are mistaken, but when we learn these things from God Himself we are in no danger of being deceived. His Word says, 'Let him that is athirst come, and WHOSOEVER WILL let him take the water of fife freely' (Rev. 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)). From this we see that the will is all that is needed, it says ‘whosoever will;’ have you the will?”
"I have," she replied, "indeed I have, I do want to be saved.”
"You say you want to be saved, you acknowledge that such a wish must have come from God, and you see from His Word that anyone who has the wish to come may do so; now do you think that looks as though you were gospel hardened?”
"Oh, no," she answered, "I see I was wrong there.”
"Then we may leave that subject and go to another; you have the will to be saved, now we will find the way.”
"I know the way," said she; "it is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and to do one's duty.”
"We will see if that is what the Word says about it. In Acts 16:3030And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30), we read that the jailor said to Paul and Silas, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’ They didn't mention his duty at all. The Lord Himself says, ‘He that believeth on me HATH everlasting life’ (John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)). Do you think they spoke the truth?”
"Yes, I believe all that, I know I'm a sinner, and I believe that Christ died to save sinners, but haven’t I to do something?”
"The word of God says nothing but ‘Believe,’" I answered.
"But I don't think I ever could act as I ought. When people get converted they get good all at once, and though I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and have heard all about His death for us, many a time, I'm not a bit changed, and I thought I must be gospel hardened, and have given up trying.”
"I see you have the same idea of conversion which I once had," I replied, "but it helped me very much when some one explained to me that conversion is a thorough change in our thoughts about God and about ourselves, and it is from this change of thought that a change of life springs. This change of thought is what you need, for you have been greatly mistaken in your thoughts about Him, as well as about yourself. You thought He did not care about saving you, though His Word says He is ‘long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that ANY should perish’ (2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)). You thought you must do something for your salvation, though His Word says ‘for by grace ye are saved through faith’—‘NOT OF WORKS lest any man should boast.’ If any works of yours are needed, then Christ's work is not sufficient, and His Word is not true.”
"But I don’t mean to doubt His Word, I know it is true.”
"There are many people who doubt that Word, who would be very much astonished if any one told them that they were doing so. We cannot appreciate God's plan of salvation until, in some little measure, we learn what we are; but when we really see that we are LOST, that we have a nature that cannot please God, and that any attempt to do so must be an utter failure, we are only too thankful for the grace which has left us nothing to do, nothing but to believe on Him, the One who has done all that was needed, who has satisfied God's justice, so that He can now bless those who deserved nothing but punishment. We must believe what God says about us, for being so perfectly holy, He sees us as we can never see ourselves, and in Rom. 3 we read that ‘There is none righteous’—‘none that understandeth’—‘none that seeketh after God’—‘none that doeth good.’ God is too holy to pass over sin, however great His love may be to the sinner. This is proved by the cross, for if God could forgive sin without its penalty having been paid, He need not have sent His Son, His ‘beloved Son,’ in whom He was ‘well pleased,’ to suffer in our stead, that ‘whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ Is this clear to you? do you understand it?”
"Yes," she replied, "but that's so simple, I don't think I ever saw it like that before; but have I nothing to do?”
"Nothing but to take your place as a lost sinner, to own that you can do nothing for salvation, to believe that Christ bore the judgment in your stead, and that therefore you are free.”
"But I always feel as if I ought to do something.”
“If you could add anything to Christ's work you would spoil it, for anything you could do would have to be rejected. If a man is in prison for murder, and is sentenced to be hanged, however well he might behave in prison, it could not alter the sentence of death he is under; so it is with us, we are under God's judgment, and all our good behavior can make no difference; we can only be saved by accepting God's salvation, thus owning that we can do nothing for ourselves. Surely you won’t refuse salvation because it is free?”
"Oh, no," she answered, "I should be only too glad to know I was saved, but isn't there a verse somewhere which says 'Work out your own salvation'?”
“Yes, there is, it is in Phil. 2:1212Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12). But first we will see who the epistle is written to. The very first verse says ‘Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus.’ A saint is not an unconverted person. In writing to these saints, these saved ones, He says, ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;’ the salvation was theirs before they were told to work it out. Working for a dress is not the same as working at it when once the material is yours. God gives us the salvation and we have to work it out.'
"I think I see it now," she said; "I always thought it meant that we were to work for our salvation.”
"Well, we have found out that God wants to save you that He has given you the will to be saved, and that you have nothing to do but believe on His Son; is there anything to stop you from being saved now?”
"But I do believe on His Son.”
"Do you really believe that he came to save you?" I asked.
"Yes, He came to save sinners, and I'm a sinner.”
"Then He must have come to save you. Did He perform what He came to do?”
"Yes," she replied.
"And are you saved?”
"Oh, no, I should be afraid to say that.”
"Do you doubt God's word? He tells us that those who believe in His Son shall never perish; and the Lord says ‘He that believeth on me HATH everlasting life;’ is that true?”
"The Bible says so," she answered, "only I don’t feel as if I were saved.”
"But God doesn’t want feelings, He wants faith, you will find nothing in His word about feeling saved, we are saved by believing on the Lord Jesus, and we rejoice, not because we feel saved, but because of what God says about us.”
"But, I should like to feel it.”
"Now just answer me this question," I said, "If I had put a £5 note in your pocket, would it not be there whether you felt it or not?”
“Of course it would.”
"And don't you think you can be saved by faith in Christ, if God says so, whether you feel it or not?”
"I see it now," she replied, " we have to believe what God says, only it seems like presumption to think I'm saved; there are many people ever so much better than I am who would not like to say that.”
"Don't you think it is more like presumption to doubt His word, as if He did not speak the truth?”
"Yes," said she, "I should not like to disbelieve him.”
"Then you must honor Him by taking Him at His word, and trusting to what He says, won't you do so?”
"Yes, I will; I will trust Him, only I'm afraid that if I sin after this, I shall begin to think I am not saved after all.”
"That would be very wrong," I replied, "and very dishonoring to Christ's finished work, as though its value depended on your walk. We who are saved ought not to sin, but we read that ‘neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom. 8:3939Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)). Once His, we are His forever.”
Dear reader, perhaps you have been harboring doubts of God's willingness to save you. Perhaps you have thought that some change of life was needed before He could receive you. Never were you more mistaken. God can accept nothing from you until you have accepted His salvation. His Word says, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:88So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8)). More than this, He cannot save you unless you accept the salvation He offers. If He did, he would not be perfectly just, and if He were not perfectly just and true, how could we trust His word and expect the fulfillment of the promises He has made. It is the perfection of His character that gives us confidence in what He says. He has done His part, He can do no more, and you are now responsible to accept His offer. Will you refuse it any longer?