"If I could only be sure," she said to me.
"And so you may," I answered. "But how do you expect to be sure of salvation? Is it by doing good works, by growing better, or what?”
"No, I know there is no growing better, and that no good works can save me.”
"Then tell me plainly what you think your salvation depends upon.”
"I believe that my salvation depends upon my acceptance of the work of Christ.”
This reply might at first sight appear quite sound; but it struck me that it seemed to account for this lady's deep distress.
"Ah, no wonder then that you have no peace, such being your idea.”
She seemed astonished, and I went on, "No, your salvation does not depend upon your acceptance of the work of Christ, but upon your believing that God has accepted the work of Christ as a full and complete satisfaction for all your sins from beginning to end.”
Her expression seemed suddenly to change, as though a flash of light from above had entered her soul, and she gazed at me inquiringly. I continued, "Suppose you were in debt, having run up a large account at a store, and you are pressed for a settlement, but unable to pay; a rich friend wishes to pay your debt; to whom should he pay the money? To you, the debtor; or to the creditor?”
"To the creditor," she replied.
"Yes, it is the creditor that is to be satisfied, is it not?”
"Certainly.”
"And would not your peace of mind depend upon whether you believed that the creditor had accepted the money as a full settlement of your debt?”
"Yes," she answered.
"I firmly believe that," she said.
"Do you think He will ever cease to be satisfied therewith?”
"Never," was her reply.
"Then God's justice can never again raise any claim against you on account of your sins, Christ having suffered their full penalty?”
"Never," she answered. "I see it all now so plainly. I never looked at it in that way before. I have been wondering whether I accepted Christ properly or not—whether I believed aright-whether I had the right faith—and I could not get peace.”
"No wonder. A peace that depends upon the estimate you form of Christ's work, or upon your feelings about it, must always be an imperfect one, changing as often as that upon which it rests; but God always remembers the blood shed on Calvary, and is always satisfied with it. He always has the One Who shed it before Him, and He refuses ever again to open a question which was settled once and for all eternity by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and which He has, accepted for you.”
What a comfort it is to know that God accepts the poor sinner, who believes in Jesus, in all the value of His estimate of Christ's precious blood, and in all the perfection of Christ's adorable Person.