IT is a common thing to hear men say, when pressed as to the question of the salvation of their souls, “Well, I have turned over a new leaf. That is to say, though I have not been as good as I should have been; though I have been in the habit of swearing, or drinking, or carousing with the ungodly, I shall do none of these things anymore; and surely if a man does the best he can, that is all that God can require, and will not punish us for what we cannot help.” Now, I trust to be able to show the reader of this, that such a system of reasoning as the above is wholly wrong in principle; and if carried out, wholly insufficient to meet his need.
First, its principle is wrong; for what reason or justice would there be in a judge acquitting a criminal of his past offenses, on the ground of the criminal promising to do better for the future? Would not such a judge be denounced by every right-minded citizen? Is it not a simple matter of justice that the offender should be made to pay the penalty of his crimes, no matter what his promise might be? Now as it is with a criminal in the courts of human justice, so is it with the sinner who has to meet God as his Judge, irrespective of his resolution, whether sincere or otherwise, to lead a better life, after having spent twenty, or thirty, or forty years in sinning against God. Would a hundred years of man’s “good living” atone for one year spent in forgetfulness of God, and of doing one’s own will? Never! such a principle, then, is wrong on the face of it.
But suppose a man’s good resolutions were carried out, which as a matter of fact they never are: suppose a man succeeded in leaving of swearing, drinking, stealing, lying, backbiting, hating, lusting, envying, deceiving― (let history produce such a man if it can) ―it would leave all untouched the state that man has got himself into through sin. Take an example: Can an old rotten boat be made a sound one? Would all the patching and mending within the range of man’s ingenuity succeed in making that boat a safe carrier for the precious human soul? Nay, my friend, the thing is beyond recovery; and the man who trusts his life in such a craft is the worst of fools. What would be the use indeed of a resolution never to trust himself in another such boat, when in mid-ocean he finds himself sinking hopeless and alone, with no help near to answer his despairing cries? Fool indeed, is he, who, against the warning of friends, sets out in a craft of his own choosing, ― painted to attract the eye, while the paint but covers the rottenness till the victim is beyond the reach of help. Friend, if this finds you in a painted boat, ―gilded all over with your good deeds, ―listen to a warning voice, and get out of it; it is the boat of pride and self-complacency, and will launch you to a certain and dreadful doom; it will let in the water faster than you can bail it out, and ruin and despair will be your end.
Now, have I not shown that neither, nor both of the principles, so frequently and naturally adopted by man, are suited to his need, not even after regarding one of them as capable of being practically carried out? The first fails in the point of justice, and the second will not make new what is rotten and condemned. “Turning over a new leaf” is to forget that the old sins are not yet canceled; in your account to God you are still charged with them, and if allowed to remain there they will bring you into judgment. “Doing the best you can,” is like being in a rotten boat with both oars broken; every effort you make but increases your danger. Stop now, look at the matter calmly, and see your state; are you not reduced to absolute helplessness? You cannot lift a finger in your own cause; if you persist in “doing,” you will find at last that God is against you; you cannot produce an unblotted leaf, and you cannot make new what is old and condemned.
Now, my friend, I entreat you to look away from yourself. There was once a man who stood in the breach between you and God; His name was Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God; fix your eye on Him, and you will see how He has met the whole question as to your salvation. Nay, do not grow impatient; if you really want salvation, it is here; if you are in earnest, you will find it; but you will never, never get saved in any other way, nor by any other means, than through this man. Listen, there is one sin between your soul and God, one sin that outweighs all others put-together, and that is the rejection of the Son of God! You need not count your other sins; begin with this one, and stop. Now you stand face to face with Jesus Christ, the Man you have rejected, and you remain His rejecter, with His blood staining your hands. Morally, you cannot evade the charge. Look steadily at the question, and if you do not tremble, your conscience is harder than a millstone.
Now look again: The victim of your scorn and hatred is but standing in your place; He is your friend, and has taken upon Himself all that you stood charged with by a holy God. He is near you, and is pleading softly for you to take Him in. Will you refuse? Oh! now your other sins float before your mind, and you cannot reconcile them with such a Guest. “I am not fit,” you say; but see, on the CROSS, your sins were laid on Him (1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)), and that was long before you ever existed or ever committed one sin. God had decreed that Christ should suffer (Acts 4:1818And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. (Acts 4:18)). Was it because that God was not well pleased with His Son? Nay, for He said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” The secret of His sufferings must be sought for elsewhere; it was, that God loved the sinner. But He could not justly let him off till that which was due to sin had been fully meted out; wondrous to tell, it fell with all its awful force upon the sinner’s SUBSTITUTE!
Are you willing to take that place of being one for whom another died, thereby confessing that you are a lost sinner, helpless, and without strength to save yourself? Cease now your works of righteousness, and begin by having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, for it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” Search from cover to cover of your Testament, and you will not find God once holding out a standard of works or measure of attainment as a means of salvation. God has proved by the law that such an appeal to man is worse than vain; “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ... for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Gal. 2:1616Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Galatians 2:16)). “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse;” but “Christ Hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” (Gal. 3:11, 1311But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. (Galatians 3:11)
13Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (Galatians 3:13)).
Now, my friend, stop at once, own your folly, take your place at Jesus’ feet, and rest forever in what He has done for you; then the language of your self-emptied heart will be, ―
“I would not work my soul to save,
That work my Lord Hath done;
But I would work like any slave
From love to God’s dear Son.”
Read this again! J. M.