NOT long ago I was passing through one of the principal streets of London when a striking advertisement caught my eye. Printed in very large letters, and running the whole height of a hoarding quite fifteen feet high, it must have attracted universal attention. It ran as follows: ―
INVESTIGATE! INVESTIGATE!! INVESTIGATE!!!
Investigate what? Well, if I had passed that way a few days later I should probably have seen the space occupied with details of that which was to be investigated, but as I had not opportunity to do so, that is exactly what I don’t know.
However, leaving the advertisement aside, I write this little paper to ring this thrice-repeated cry into your ears. Whatever you may be—high-born or low-born, religious or irreligious, refined or rude, ― this is the word for you. Indeed, I would that it passed as a watchword from mouth to mouth, throughout the millions of our race.
But again you ask, Investigate what? Ah! this time I can tell you.
Investigate the stability of the foundation on which you build your hopes for eternity. Investigate that you may ascertain exactly how you stand in reference to God just now. Investigate the end of the journey of life, which fast approaches.
Ten thousand human beings start together on life’s journey. Picture to yourself the throng. You and I are amongst that number. Ten years elapse and at least one-third have gone. The years roll on and only half are now upon the road. The ranks thin with increasing rapidity, many are growing weary and lie down to rise no more. At threescore and ten a brave band of four hundred struggle on. At ninety, a mere handful—thirty tottering patriarchs― remain. Year after year they fall. Perhaps one― a lonely marvel― lingers till the century is over. We look again, and the journey of life is finished.
And then eternity. Investigate!
Do not turn aside from this. If you do, whatever your professions may be, we shall become suspicious that there is something wrong. When the heads of large business houses manifest a strange aversion to having their books examined by competent accountants, they always make people uneasy as to their financial stability.
If a true believer, you can welcome it. Investigation will only prove afresh the security of your blessing.
If an unbeliever, you have nothing to fear. It will simply disclose your danger in the presence of that precious Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who waits to be gracious.
How shall we set about it? Well, the only reliable way is to call in the great authority on such subjects, the Word of God, and to thankfully welcome the light that it sheds.
This verse reminds me of the Rontgen or X-rays, now so largely used by the medical profession, and for this reason. They possess, as you doubtless know, the peculiar property of being able to throw light on things beneath the surface. Beneath them flesh and blood become almost transparent, the bones and any foreign matters embedded in the flesh become clearly seen. Now what the Rontgen rays would do for your body, this verse will do for your soul.
You may be moral, honest, and religious, then externally there is a great difference between you and the immoral, the dishonest and the irreligious. Apply our verse. Ah! it cuts to the foundation. It lays bare the true nature of your heart and unerringly pronounces, “There is no difference.” Why? For two reasons: ―
1St ―All have sinned.
2nd ―All have come short of God’s glory.
That is, you have sinned. Do you deny it? You dare not―that is, if you are honest as I have supposed. You have come short of God’s glory, you fail to answer to God’s requirements.
Pause! and God grant you, my reader, to weigh this fact aright.
You have never done anybody any harm! Perhaps so, but you come “short of the glory of God.”
You have always been upright and respectable. Yes, but you come “short of the glory of God.”
You do the best you can, are religious, have been baptized, and take the sacrament. Yes; but, if still unconverted, you come “short of the glory of God.”
What then are your hopes for eternity? Nil!
And how do you stand in reference to God? A sinner unable to meet His righteous requirements.
And what will be the end of the journey of your life? The judgment of God.
Reader! I pen these words out of love for your precious soul, and earnestly I beg you to turn to Christ, for again it is written―
Ah! let this verse shine like a ray of light into your soul, not to expose, but to save you. Like sunshine, it combines both light and warmth.
Supposing a man stood before you, the picture of misery, because hopelessly involved in debt, and you were able to assure him that his creditor, far from being incensed at his inability to pay, was full of compassion for him, and most desirous to release him if it could be righteously done. You would kindle hope in that man’s breast. And if again you met him, and could tell him on good authority of a transaction which had righteously settled his debts, he would exchange his hope for a joyful certainty. This verse contains two similar facts―
1St ―God’s love TOWARD us.
2nd ―Christ’s death FOR us.
God loves you. It is no mere sentiment on His part, nor a passing emotion, but a deep unalterable stream of compassion. He loves you as you are, and He loves you in spite of what you are; circumstances can never alter this glorious fact.
Do you doubt this? If so, then you will only land yourself in uncertainty and gloom. Perhaps you will answer that all your experiences seem to deny it. That may be, but then the fault lies with your experiences and not with God. They have not been long enough. Half-way through his experience, Job would have spoken like that. But the “end” to which God brought Job justified the path by which He took him. “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:22Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. (James 5:2)).
There is no greater mistake than that of judging God’s love by our feelings towards Him. A man put on the weathercock of his barn the inscription, “God is love.” Said one to him, “Do you mean to say that God’s love is as changeable as the wind?” “No!” said the man, “I mean that God is love whichever way the wind blows.” And that witness is blessedly true.
Christ has died for us. Apart from this there is no salvation. Make no mistake on this point, for frantic efforts are being made to-day to “evolve” a gospel in which Christ’s death shall be conspicuous by its absence. I feel it a solemn duty to faithfully warn you in the clearest possible language that to refuse or neglect Christ’s death as the ground of justification, and to rest upon anything else, is to court disaster, and ensure an eternity of hopeless damnation.
And mark, it was “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” That is, Christ’s death avails for you just where and as you are. Nothing is demanded from you, neither prayers nor works nor self-improvement, no qualification is needed to recommend you to the Saviour, but the fact of your being a sinner.
Both these―the love of God, and the death of Christ―are for you. Because God loved you He delivered up His blessed Son to death, so that, the claims of righteousness being satisfied, He might be raised for your justification and God’s love find its full delight in the blessing of your soul.
Remember, then, the love of God towards you is the source of all your blessing: the death of Christ for you the basis of all your blessing.
Let us now consult the great authority as to the way of salvation. It is written―
According to these verses two things upon our side are necessary if we are to be saved―
1St ―Belief with the heart.
2nd ―Confession with the mouth.
Oh! believe me, the cold belief of creed and dogma will procure you absolutely nothing, but the faith which springs from a burdened conscience and a trembling heart secures eternal blessing.
“God hath raised him from the dead.” Let faith lay hold of that. It means the complete discharge of every sin, every-claim, every liability.
1St ―God glorified.
2nd ―Sin discharged.
The Victor Himself is now crowned with glory.
Once lay hold of that, and you will find no difficulty in confessing Him as Lord with your mouth. It will be but the outward expression of an inward joy.
“Oh sinner, confess Him, the throne-seated Lord,
And thou shalt be with Him where He is adored.”
F. B. H.