THESE words were spoken by one who had been for many years living in a state of sin and wretched unbelief. Like many, alas! how many, in this day of God’s abounding grace, this day of the Lord’s long-suffering, he had treated the word and authority of God, “the living and true God,” with utter contempt, and trampled under his feet God’s testimony concerning His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Infidelity reigned in that heart, as indeed it does in thousands around, in spite of all the blessed privileges a gracious God has given to man. Satan, the god of this world, had full possession, and blinded the mind, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine there.
But, blessed be God, He is stronger than the strong one, the great enemy of souls, and when He takes the sinner in hand, when He begins to deal with the heart and conscience, when He brings a poor, lost, guilty, hard-hearted sinner into His holy presence, who can resist His will.
I was asked to visit this poor unbeliever, and found him brought down, unable to do anything.
The hand of God had touched him.
The Lord had saved his wife, and now He was about in the riches of His grace to deal with him. I well remember the first visit: what a look of hardness sat on that face, a true index of what reigned in that heart—a heart without the knowledge of God; a heart believing the devil’s lie, and not the truth of the living God; a heart deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Dear reader, such is the heart of man naturally. Do you believe this? Do you believe that your “heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked”? God has said it is, and this is enough. What He says about us must be true. Blessed for us when we bow to His word.
Many visits were paid before there was any apparent work in the conscience. Satan had his captive fast in his slavish chains. He had drawn a thick veil over the mind. All was darkness within.
I asked a dear Christian to go and see him.
He found him ready to listen to the truth. The Spirit of God had begun His work of conviction.
The conscience was aroused, and he was brought to see himself in the light of God’s presence.
The work went on gradually in his soul, and he was anxious to hear God’s word. The precious Gospel was proclaimed—God’s love in the gift of His dear Son, and His delight to save sinners.
The heart was opened to receive the truth, and now the captive was free, free forever, free from sin, free from death and judgment. The eyes were opened, and he was turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Oh, what a change, what a mighty change; no longer hard, infidel thoughts respecting God’s blessed word, but a thorough conviction of his true condition, and a reception of Christ into the heart by faith. The poor body gradually wasted away through disease, but the spirit was bright and happy, only waiting for the moment to be released, to be “absent from the body and present with the Lord,” present with Him who loved him and gave Himself for him. Just before passing away, he turned his dying eyes to his dear wife and said, “Lizzie, let the Lord have all the glory!”
Dear reader, have you had your heart broken in the presence of a holy God? Do you see yourself, a lost, guilty, undone sinner before Him?
Can you say, like one of old, “Woe is me! for I am undone?” Are you satisfied with Jesus as a sufficient Saviour for yourself? Can you say, “Let the Lord have all the glory”? If you cannot answer to one of these, may the Holy Ghost awaken you to a true sense of your real state before God, and not only show you yourself in His holy presence, but reveal to your heart a true knowledge of Himself as a Saviour-God in the person of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Be assured of this: the unwillingness, if any, is all on your side. “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9). Do not charge Him with unwillingness.
When the leper came to the Lord he doubted His willingness to cleanse him. He believed in His power, but doubted his willingness. It may be that this is just where you are. You believe in His power, but you doubt His willingness to save. You are bringing your “If,” saying “If thou wilt thou canst.” Now listen to the Lord’s gracious and glorious answer to the poor doubting leper. “And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I WILL, be thou clean, and immediately the leprosy departed from him.” Luke 5:12, 1312And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 13And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. (Luke 5:12‑13). Alas, what poor, wretched, unbelieving hearts are ours!
Beloved reader, if you did but know the heart of God, and His willingness to save sinners, how rejoiced you would be to accept His gift. He loved the world and gave his son, and has declared that “whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” There is “no hope” as to yourself. No improvement, no good works, no moral culture, no round of religious duties, so called, nothing whatever you can do, will save your precious soul from hell. Jesus, and Jesus only, is God’s remedy for the sinner. He, having done all the work necessary for the salvation of sinners, God in the Gospel offers Him to you as a SAVIOUR-GOD. He has declared in the word for your real joy and peace that He is satisfied, divinely satisfied, yea, glorified in the death of His Son, and that the same precious blood which has met all His holy claims has also met the deep, deep need of every one who believes. How blessed when the heart can say, “Let the Lord have all the glory.” Truly He is worthy of all praise and glory in the conversion of every poor sinner. May you, dear reader, know the reality of it in your own soul.
B. E. K.