IN the south of England the writer once met a woman, who was for some time in great trouble of mind, because someone had told her that her son, a soldier on foreign service, was dead; they had seen his name in the newspaper. The clergyman of the parish was kind enough to write to headquarters to inquire if it was true. And it turned out that a soldier of the same name had met his death, but it was not her son.
Now, if God had published the names of all whose sins Christ bore, how long would it take you to examine all those names to see if your own was enrolled? A lifetime would be far too short to accomplish such a task, and should you happen to drop accidentally upon your own name, how would you be sure that it did not refer to another person of the same name?
Thank God, He has not done so. He sets before us His own blessed, worthy Son. He presents Christ in the glory of His Person, the tenderness of His love, the value of His blood, the power of His resurrection, and believing on Him, He assures us, we shall “not perish, but have everlasting life.” But how could I possibly have escaped perishing? What could have saved me from eternal death, if Christ had not died for me? Nothing.
But more than this. I find in God’s own word this blessed declaration: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” If the Son of God is so worthy that I may safely rely upon Him, here is the word of God, equally worthy of my trust—a “faithful saying,” and “worthy of all acceptation”―and what is it? It is this, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
Has the Holy Spirit, therefore, discovered to me that I am a sinner? Before God, then, this “faithful saying” gives me a divine right to say that Christ came into the world to save me, for I know that I belong to the class for whom He died, and only by His death could He save any. I know that I believe on Him.