AS John Wesley lay dying, he said: “I have been reflecting on my past life: I have been wandering up and down between fifty and sixty years, endeavoring in my poor way to do a little good to my fellow-creatures; and now it is probable that there are but a few steps between me and death; and what have I to trust to for salvation? I can see nothing I have suffered that will bear looking at, I have no other plea than this―
‘I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me.’”
No man ever insisted more on the importance of good works in the life of a Christian. He pressed on all believers the absolute necessity thereof, as the evidence that faith was a living vital principle which works in all who possess it. He preached the fullest sanctification of the believer in Christ. He desired this sanctification to be manifest in holy living.
Did he preach good works as the ground of the believer’s eternal salvation? Did he believe in progressive sanctification as a preparation to enter heaven’s eternal courts of holy blessedness? No.
His dying testimony is clear. Indeed, nothing could be clearer than that he disclaimed all merit in himself. His fifty years of toil and suffering, for the One his heart loved, was not to be even looked at as a ground to rest upon in view of eternity.
He said nothing about his holy, sincere, and blameless life as giving him any title to meet God In fact, his dying testimony is a strong disclaimer against such an unworthy idea. He could not take lower ground as to himself when he said―
“I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me.”
His spiritual eye was not dimmed. His spirit did not falter or sink within him. His faith in the great atoning work of Christ was unwavering to the end.
CALVARY’S FINISHED WORK
filled his open vision. His faith was not anchored in himself, but outside, on a greater and more worthy object. His soul was becalmed with the perfect peace that ever flows from the knowledge that the finished and all-prevailing transaction of Calvary’s glorious Substitute for the chief of sinners, had settled all for him. He had not to make his peace with God, because Jesus had done that on the cross for him. “Having made peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20)).
Great man and great saint though this soul-winner and world-renowned evangelist was, yet in his dying hour he took the same ground for his eternal salvation as the dying repentant thief. The thief had no merit to show. He had the sins and sorrows of a godless, misspent life weighing hard upon his guilty conscience. His heart-felt cry reached the Saviour’s ears. As the result, he was snatched from the jaws of death and hell, and carried to eternal bliss in the power and virtue of the Saviour’s blood. What a mighty triumph of sovereign grace! It was the same ground as Tom the Pie-man of Glasgow took. When he got converted people wondered why such an illiterate man as he should be so happy. He was able to teach them the true secret of real happiness from start to finish of the Christian life. He said: “You all want to be great by doing something, but
‘I’m a poor sinner, and nothing at all,
But Jesus Christ is my all in all.’”
When the late C. H. Spurgeon preached his remarkable sermon on “Heaven” to over 20,000 people, in the Botanic Gardens, Belfast, in 1858, he quoted approvingly, and with great effect, these simple words. A leading religious journal, in an able review of that sermon, said, “Just think of such words, which are the very kernel of the gospel, being sounded throughout the length and breadth of the counties of Antrim and Down.”
Is it not the language of even a greater than John Wesley? Did not Paul, who was unequaled for a sincere and blameless life, for zeal in the Jewish religion, for penetration of mind and force of character, use similar language?
Are not John Wesley’s and the Pie-man’s couplets rather a paraphrasing of Paul’s words, “I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ, and him crucified”? His person and His work are both included. Not a Person without a cross, and not a cross without a Person. Also, wrote Paul, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)).
This is the true beginning of the believer’s confidence, of which Hebrew 3:14 speaks. It is the end of our confidence besides. John Wesley and Paul were brought from the lofty pinnacle of religious zeal and pride, to own themselves the chief of sinners. They both accepted, and thus began with the sinner’s Saviour, and ended life in triumph, in the power of the Saviour’s blood.
THE ONLY FOUNDATION.
It is the true and only foundation to rest upon. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1111For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)). It dispels the tormenting dread of death, and gives boldness in the presence of a holy God. It is the basis on which the righteous governmental throne of God is forever established with men, and the fullest revelation made of His wondrous love, that was equal to meeting all the claims of His righteous throne.
As well might that throne be shaken in the heavens, or the pillars on which the universe rests, as that the weakest believer who trusts with childlike faith in the Saviour’s death and blood-shedding should be shaken, in view of that which has made the strongest men shiver with terror―DEATH.
Well has Bonar written: ―
“Till then my peace is sure,
It will not, cannot yield;
Christ Jesus died, and rose again,
On this firm rock I build.”
The basis of the believer’s peace is the work of the cross. The ground of his assurance is the resurrection of Christ. The enjoyment of his peace flows from faith in the testimony of the sure Word of God, received in the power of the Holy Ghost as to both. If these are shaken Paul’s preaching was vain and our faith also is vain (see 1 Cor. 15:1414And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. (1 Corinthians 15:14)).
This is not building on a foundation inside yourself. Who ever felt two days alike? How can we trust anything so changeable as feelings? The quicksilver in the weather-glass is not more changeable. Another has said―
“No infant’s changing pleasure
Is like my wandering mind.”
The work of Christ is a solid, immovable foundation outside yourself. Nothing can affect it. The rugged, perpendicular rock of Gibraltar has defied all the storms that have swept the Atlantic, yet an earthquake might shake it. But the finished work of Christ defies not only the storms of time, but all the upheavals that Satan may raise against it.
THE SECRET OF TRUE PEACE.
Someone has said, “If you look within, you will be miserable; if you look around, you will become distracted; if you look above, all is bright and happy.” Why so? Because Christ is above on the throne of the heavens, the righteous claims of which He met and perfectly settled, for the glory of God and our salvation.
The throne of glory claimed Him, because He was equal to meeting all its just demands. “The Father loveth the Son, and Hath given all things into his hands.” He said after His resurrection, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:1818And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (Matthew 28:18)). Heaven’s great and glorious Authority said to Him, “Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.” The gates of glory opened wide to welcome His triumphal entry: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in” (Psa. 24:77Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. (Psalm 24:7)).
His being on the throne is conclusive evidence of His resurrection from the dead, which is the sure and unmistakable proof His finished work has been accepted as a ransom for all, by which the peace of the believer is forever secured.
What more is needed? Could my works, or John Wesley’s, or Paul’s, or Martin Luther’s add to the luster of His finished work? No! Is not that finished work the basis, and thus the spring or moving principle, of all the good works that ever flowed from the most exalted saint? Assuredly!
Our love to Him is the result of learning His great love to us, expressed in His sacrificial death, to atone for our sin and deliver us from its awful and eternal penalty. In the power of His love we are moved by faith to work for Him. All work done for Him, as our only object, is what Scripture recognizes and calls “good works.” All else are “dead works” in which He finds no pleasure.
Dear old John Berridge expressed it well when he penned these lines: ―
“Go thou and work, the law commands,
But gives us neither feet nor hands.
Better news the gospel brings,
It bids us fly and gives us wings.
“I would not work my soul to save,
That work my Lord has done.
But I would work like any slave
From love to God’s dear Son.”