No Doubts
Table of Contents
Part I: Sin
The Chinese Character, meaning “Believe" or "Faith" makes up the background of the cover. Two strokes at the left hand side mean "man". At the bottom is the word for mouth El. The four strokes above the mouth mean words coming out of the mouth. If a man standing by the words that come out of his mouth means "Believe" or "Faith" how much more should we believe every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God?
1.—One Sin.
Little the people in general think of the far-reaching consequences of one sin, whether to the human race at large, or to themselves as individuals. Let us, therefore, give two examples in order to illustrate the true bearing of one sin on both.
And first as to the result of one sin upon the race. We enter some great London hospital and pass through the crowded wards, and see the sick, the suffering, and the dying, on every hand, and our thoughts fly back far over the maze of chimney-tops, to the banks of Euphrates, and that act of disobedience, which might have seemed to Adam so trifling in itself, but which caused all this misery and death; for does not Scripture declare that "through one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin"; and that "through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation" (Rom. 5:12,18, R.V.) Thus, through that one act of that one man, thralldom to sin, and Satan, and death, has marked the race ever since.
But if the results of one sin are far-reaching in their bearing on the race, far-reaching too, are the consequences of one sin committed by the individuals who compose it. And this is a truth of such prime importance, that Satan puts forth his utmost efforts to controvert it. Hence he suggests the thought that the question with God is the amount of men's sins. He bids men look around and measure themselves with others; surely they can easily find greater sinners than themselves; they can't, then, be so very bad after all; let them try to improve a bit, and they may surely hope for the best. But God's answer to Satan's lie is this, that it is not a question with Him of the amount of a man's sin, but of the fact of it, for, "He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity" (Hab. 1:13); and that hence His holiness and His truth alike forbid Him to pass one single sin by.
Let us proceed to give an illustration of this point.
“Have you been to hear the gentleman who is preaching at the Shaftesbury Hall?" asked the shopkeeper. "No," answered the customer, "I haven't even heard about it." "He preaches after Church hours, at eight o'clock on Sunday," said the shopkeeper, "and if I were you I would go." "Well, I think I'll go next Sunday, on my way home from Church," replied the other and left the shop. Accordingly, next Sunday found her in the hall, indifferent, perhaps, at first, curious later on, and, ere the speaker closed his address, listening as if her life depended on his words. The subject was the inevitable effect of one sin: one sin shut Adam out of Paradise, one sin shut Moses out of Canaan, and one sin must shut the sinner out forever from the Paradise of God and the heavenly Jerusalem; for "there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth" (Rev. 21:27). Thus, one sin of necessity involved eternal separation from that holy, sin-hating God.
One sin. And she had committed thousands! One Sin. And she was conscious that that very day, nay, that very hour, she had sinned. One Sin. Then the gates of heaven were shut upon her!—and an agony of dread shook her frame. And now the preacher was about to close. He had told the consequences of one sin; he had told, too, of a Savior's love—a love which led Him to seek and save those who were lost; a love which led Him right on to Calvary to take the sinner's place and to suffer in his stead. And now, as he closed, he called the very walls to witness that he was guiltless of his hearers' blood, that he had set before them the way of death and the way of life, had told them of their lost condition as sinners, and had warned them to flee from the wrath to come, and pointed them to the Savior. Henceforth the responsibility was theirs, not his—and the address was at an end.
And our friend, what of her? She sat as one transfixed, as indeed she was; for is not the Word of God "living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit?" And the sword of the Spirit had been driven home by divine power that night.
But what shall she do? How her heart throbbed! Surely, she thought, the people on the next chairs must hear it beat! She felt as if she must choke. But listen, the preacher is giving out a hymn; but what use could that be to her? Sing? Yes, those who were shut in by that "wall great and high" might sing; but she was shut out—there could be no mercy for a sinner like her! But listen, the first verse of the hymn is being read—
Come, thou weary, Jesus calls thee
To His wounded side;
Come to Me saith He, and ever
Safe abide.
Yes, she was weary and heavy laden—and hopeless too. But why hopeless? Was this not an invitation to every one? Was it not the voice of Jesus speaking? Was it, could it be, to her? How everything seemed in a whirl, and hope alternated with fear, till she was scarce able to collect her thoughts. And now they have reached the concluding verse
Dost thou feel thy life is weary?
Is thy soul distrest?
Take His offer: wait no longer
Be at rest.
She feels that the crisis in her life has come; she feels that it must be now, or it may be never; and how pleadingly the lines of the hymn break on her ear,
Take His offer: wait no longer,
Be at rest.
Yes, she will take it, and take it now; she will come to Jesus with all her load of guilt. Did He not bid her come? Does He not receive sinners? And in an instant, as she came, the load dropped off, the weariness was gone, and joy unutterable and full of glory took its place.
The preacher had left the town, and was carrying the Gospel message elsewhere, when one day, just before preaching, he received a letter from our friend. "I have heard you were preaching at B ," she wrote, and I want to ask you a favor, and it is this. Tell the people of my conversion, and tell them that one sin will forever shut them out from God: and then give out my hymn—I always call it my hymn now—
“Dost thou feel thy life is weary?
Is thy soul distrest?
Take His offer: wait no longer,
Be at rest.”
So the preacher took it as a message from God, and told the story to his audience, as I have told it to you today. May you, if unsaved, find in it His message, that one sin un-atoned for must forever close the gates of heaven to you!
2.—All Sin.
In the preceding chapter we have sought to illustrate the far-reaching consequences of one sin; we would now proceed to direct our readers' attention to the fact that, "as through one trespass (i.e. Adam's at the Fall) the judgment came unto all men to condemnation, even so through one act of righteousness (i.e. Christ's at the cross) the free gift came unto all men to justification of life"; and that "where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly," for, "the judgment came of one unto condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses unto justification" (Rom. 5:18, 20, 16, R.V.). Accordingly, we will now give an illustration of the far-reaching consequences of the blood-shedding of our Lord Jesus Christ, which avails to cleanse the sinner, not from one sin only, but from all sin.
We read that Luther once had a remarkable dream. He dreamed that Satan approached him with a scroll both broad and long, which he proceeded to unroll before the Reformer's eyes, and bade him read therein; and Luther did so, and perceived that it contained the record of his sins. In vain he sought to find one sin recorded there of which he had not been guilty: so far from doing so, it rather brought back the recollection of many a long-forgotten sin. When he had thoroughly scanned the scroll, he asked of Satan, "Is that all my sins?" "Nay," replied Satan; "Then let me," said Luther, "see them all." And Satan departed, and shortly returned with another scroll equally broad and long; and again Luther scanned the damning evidence of his guilt. Satisfied at length with the correctness of the record, he again asked of Satan, "And is that all?” Yea," replied Satan, "it is all." "Then take thy pen," said Luther, "and write across the scrolls, 'The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth me from all sin.'" My reader, if unsaved, I pray you rest not till you as an individual sinner have found in Christ a personal Savior, and can say, "Thank God, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth ME from all sin.”
Part II: Salvation and Assurance.
Our next subject is that of Salvation arid Assurance. Now, with regard to Salvation, it cannot be too plainly enforced at the outset that it depends, not on anything that you or I could do, but upon a work which Jesus Christ, God's Son, has already done; a work by virtue of which God is enabled to permit the full outflow of His heart of love towards sinners, without abating one title of His holy hatred against sin; yea, the same righteousness which makes it impossible for Him to admit the sinner in his sins to Heaven, is the same righteousness which makes it impossible for Him to exclude from the glory the sinner whose sins have been washed away by the precious blood of Christ. Was it a righteous act to consign me as a sinner to the lake of fire on account of my own works? Most assuredly it was. Then it is, as assuredly a righteous act for God to set me as a saint in the glory on account of the work of His Son. Thus God's character and my salvation stand or fall together.
As to our second subject, Assurance, it depends upon our simple and childlike acceptance of what God says as to those who believe on Jesus. What manner of child is that which doubts its father's word? Let the doubter, therefore, remember that it is no true humility which prompts him to do this, but that rather his doubts dishonor God and disgrace himself. In this section we shall accordingly proceed to bring into prominence the WORKMAN, the WORK, and the WORD: for it is the Person of the Lord Jesus which gives value to the work; it is the Work of the Lord Jesus which makes us safe; and it is the Word of God which makes us sure of it. Let, therefore, these three facts be but realized, and the subsequent section on Doubts will be unneeded, for the reader will have stepped into the gracious liberty of God's children. May the Lord use these papers to that end!
1.—the Workman.
First, then, let us illustrate the fact that it is the perfect Workman who gives value to the work.
“I am glad you have come," said the sick man to the street-preacher; "and now sit down and I'll tell you why I sent for you. I once heard you preach, and I said to myself, 'That's the man I should like to speak to me if I were on my dying bed.' And here I am; not long, I fear, for this world; and I have sent to ask you what I must do to be saved.”
“Well, I am afraid I can't tell you what to do," replied the preacher.
“Not tell me what to do to be saved?" queried the invalid; "why, I thought you were a preacher?”
“And so I am," replied the latter, "but for all that I can't tell you what to do to be saved"; and the sick man sank back disappointed on his pillow, and there was silence in the room. But the silence was at length broken, for the preacher, who had been gazing about, suddenly remarked.
“That's a nice cabinet that you've got over yonder.”
“Well," said the other, "it's a pretty good one, I believe, though I shouldn't be the one to say so, for no one ever put a touch to it but myself.”
“And good work, too," said the preacher; "but I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll just bring my tools round one of these nights and put a few finishing touches to it.”
“It's kind enough of you to say so, but, indeed you mustn't," said the sick man; "and I'll tell you why. You see, when I'm gone, I want my family to have something to remember me by. Now, I've done every stroke to the cabinet myself, and that'll just be its value in their eyes. With them it will be the workman that gave value to the work, and it wouldn't be the same thing to them at all if a stranger put a finger on it.”
“I quite understand," said the preacher, and added, "Just now you asked me what you were to do to be saved, and I told you I didn't know, and I don't, for there's nothing that you can do that could ever save your soul. But the Lord Jesus Christ has done a work, and it's a perfect work, for when He was expiring He said, `It is finished,' so that there's nothing left for you to do. Now, the One who did that work was a perfect Workman, for He was none other than the Son of God, and it is His person that gives the value to the work. And just as, when you are gone, the value of the cabinet in your family's eyes will be the fact that you made it, so, what gives value in God's eyes to the work which Christ has wrought out, is that His Son has done it. You couldn't do the work, and I couldn't do the work, which would fit us for God's presence, for we are sinners, and so are imperfect workmen; Christ is a perfect Workman, and has done a perfect work—so perfect that God has been satisfied, and glorified by it, and by virtue of it He can offer a free pardon to you.”
Like showers upon a thirsty soil fell this message on the ears of the poor dying man, and thankfully he rested his soul's eternal salvation, not on aught that he could do, but upon what Christ had already done; and so, when the summons came, he passed down to the river which leads to the gates of the Celestial City, undismayed.
Now, my reader, how is it with you? Are you resting your salvation upon that solid rock, the work of Christ, or on the shifting sands of what you yourself are doing? Or, failing that, are you seeking, by ritualism, to put the finishing touch of a stranger's hand to the perfect work of God's Son? If so, beware! One touch of yours would mar the value of the work of Christ, and the very fact that you would add the touch is a flat denial of Christ's dying words. Are you prepared for this? Surely you will not dare to spoil Christ's Work, and deny His Word? Will you not rather, with one of old who asked, "What must I do to be saved?" rest your soul on the reply, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved"? (Acts 16:30, 31).
Ritual, a God-appointed one, there has been, and it spoke of an unfinished work—of redemption as yet unaccomplished—and pointed on, by its types and shadows to Christ. But, when Christ came, He "finished the work," "obtained eternal redemption," perfected forever them that are sanctified," and has taken His seat at the right hand of God, in token that the work is done. The priests under God's ritual of old, could never sit, for their work was never done: "This man, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God" (Heb. 10:12). The Savior seated in heaven is the proof to all that He has fully accomplished the work He came to do.
My reader, there is nothing left for you to do. Simply, therefore, as a sinner, accept of the Perfect Workman who has done the Perfect Work. "It is finished." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
2.—the Work of Christ.
The Perfect Work.
"Yes, but that's just where I don't go with you," said the blacksmith. "You see, I hold that salvation isn't so easy for any of us as all that; it's quite true that the Lord has done His part, but we've got to do ours as well.”
“But what is our part?" replied the farmer. "All our part in God's way of salvation is committing the sins which Jesus has borne.’ He bare our sins in His own body on the tree' is what every believer can say, and if He bare them, we can't; so that our sins are put away, and we are saved; but with the putting away of our sins we had nothing to do. It was God Who did it, for 'He hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.' However, what I called in for this morning was to get you to make me an iron gate. See, here are the measurements; now, when do you think you'll get it ready by?”
“Well, you shall have it by Tuesday, if that will suit you." "That'll do first rate; so I'll call in on Tuesday with the spring-cart, and take it away.”
Accordingly, on the day appointed, the farmer drove up to fetch the gate; and there, sure enough, it stood, spick and span, against the smithy wall; and the smith, hearing the wheels, emerged from the smithy with a look of honest pride on his face, good workman as he was, and greeted the farmer with a "Well, sir, there's your gate, finished and ready to time; and a good gate, too, though I says it as shouldn't.”
“Ye-es," said the farmer, as he ran an apparently critical eye over the gate, "Ye-es; but do you happen to have a file handy?”
“File?" thought the black-smith. "What's he want with a file, I wonder?" However, he went and fetched the desired implement, which the farmer received without a word, and with which he proceeded to rasp vigorously at the gate. At first the blacksmith eyed this proceeding with a nonplussed air; but, his temper beginning to get the better of him as he saw his work disfigured, he shouted out at length, "Here, sir, the gate's all right, and doesn't want anything done to it, and you're just spoiling it, for you know nothing about gates; so if you don't like it, why, you leave it before you've done more damage, and I'll soon get a customer for it, I warrant.”
“Quite true," said the farmer, "I do know nothing about gates; and it's certain that I should make a mess of it if I went on. And it's just the same with salvation. You can't do anything to save yourself; the work necessary for that has been done, and done by the Lord Jesus Christ; and if you try to improve upon that work you'll only spoil it. The Lord Himself declared that 'It is finished,' and yet here are you, eighteen hundred years after, declaring that it is not finished, but that you must do your part. A fine part mine would have been in finishing your gate, wouldn't it? And what part can you take in finishing a work that the Son of God has accomplished? You'll only spoil it, if you try.”
Yes, but what thousands are making the blacksmith's fatal mistake! They are occupied with their own doings, instead of resting their souls upon the work Christ has done. They are putting Works before Salvation, instead of where God puts them —viz., after Salvation; they are making saviors of themselves, while God makes a Savior of His Son. My reader, if you are still deluded by this snare of Satan, ponder well the words, "Through this Man (i.e., the risen Jesus) is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are justified from all things ... Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you" (Acts 13:38-41). Salvation is "through this Man," not through you; it is God's work, not yours.
3.—the Word of God.
Assurance of Salvation.
The address in the Gospel Tent had ended, and the preacher, having pressed upon his hearers the solemn issues of eternity with Christ, or eternity in the lake of fire; of joy and blessing, or weeping and gnashing of teeth—gave out the hymn commencing—
“Oh, do not let the Word depart
Nor close thine eyes against the light;
Poor sinner harden not thine heart—
Thou would'st be saved: why not
to-night?”
and concluded with earnest prayer that God would keep the question, "Why not tonight?" ringing in the souls of those who, as yet unsaved, had heard the Gospel preached that day.
And now the Tent Services had closed; the tent itself had been taken down and stored away for the winter; months had passed; and the preacher had left the neighborhood, while the prayer he had put up to God had been forgotten by him who uttered it. But One had heard and not forgotten, as the sequel to our story will show: for, returning, after a considerable absence, to the neighborhood, the preacher happened to call in at a cottage and found the tenant in deep concern about her soul—a concern which, as she informed him, had commenced by her going to the Tent and hearing the words of the hymn, "Thou would'st be saved: why not tonight?" which ever since had been ringing in her ears; and she told him how she had knelt down night after night, and prayed to God that she might be saved, but, as it seemed, in vain.
Surely the plowing and the harrowing had been done: it only needed now to cast in the good seed of the Word for it to bring forth fruit unto life eternal. So the preacher took the old lady's Bible, and opening it at the fifth chapter of John and the 24th verse, read the words, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life.”
“Now," said he, "you believe you are a sinner and in need of a Savior."
"Indeed I do.”
“Then listen: 'He that heareth My Word.' Have you believed that?”
“Yes.”
“'And believeth on Him that sent Me,'
Do you believe that God sent Jesus to die for your sins?”
“Yes.”
“For yours, if there wasn't another sinner in the wide world beside yourself?"
"Yes, for mine.”
“`Hath everlasting life.' Do you believe that?'
“Well, sir, I do hope I shall get it."
"What, hope? Surely you are not going to alter God's Word, are you?”
“No, sir, I don't want to do that.”
“Then why do you say that `hath' spells 'hope'? Why, at the Board School they would put a child who read that way at the bottom of the class! Now listen: God says `hath everlasting life.' You have fulfilled the two first conditions; you have heard his Word, and believed on Him that sent Jesus, and God says— and mark, it is not what you say, or think, or feel, but what God, by the lips of His Son, says—`You have everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but are passed from death unto life.' Judgment for you is impossible: you have believed on Jesus, whom God has appointed to be the Judge (John 5:22); and the very Judge Himself has born the judgment that was your due, so that you go righteously free. If God has exacted the penalty from Jesus for your sins at the Cross, do you think Jesus will exact the penalty from you for them when He sits upon the judgment-seat? Never! Everlasting life is yours: you will not come into judgment, but are passed from death unto life, not, (again let me say,) because you feel it, or think it, or realize it, but because God says it, and He cannot lie.”
And the old lady said, "Well, if God says it, I will believe it." And she did.
A few more weeks passed, and the preacher was speaking to a Christian in a neighboring town, who said, "Do you know old Mrs.—? Well, the other day she came in and asked me to write a letter for her as she is a poor scholar; and, when I had written the letter, I said, just as a sort of a random shot, 'Shall I tell your friend that you know that your sins are forgiven?’ ‘Yes,’ she replied, 'you can put that in, too.' Oh,' I said, 'and how long have you known that?'" And then she related to my informant her story, just as I have told it to you.
And, to you also, my reader, I would put the question, "Do you know that your sins are forgiven?" You may; for Scripture says, "Through this man (the risen Savior) is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins" (Acts 13:38); "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Eph. 1:7); "I write unto you, children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name's sake" (1 John 2:12); but it can only be by treading in the footsteps of Paul and John, the preacher and Mrs.—, and thousands more, who, convicted by God's Word, and realizing their lost condition before Him, have taken Jesus as their Savior, and have accepted God's testimony as to their eternal salvation as believers on His Son.
Part III: Doubts
1.—"I Find It so Hard to Believe.”
“But I find it so hard to believe!" "Indeed? And pray, whom do you find so hard to believe?”
“How you twist my words! I hope you don't think for a moment that I would be so presumptuous as to doubt the Lord?”
“Well, you must excuse my saying it, but that is just what you appear to me to do. The Lord says, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life' (John 6:47). Do you believe that?”
“Strangely enough, that is just one of the Scriptures that I am not quite sure about.”
“But you believe on the Lord, do you not?”
“Indeed I do.”
“You believe on Him, and yet you don't believe Him. Now, if the Lord were still on earth, and, entering your house, as He so often entered houses of old, said to you, `Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life,' would you believe Him?”
“Most certainly I would.”
“Well, then, let me tell you that He is unchanged, for He is 'the same yesterday, to-day, and forever,' and His words are as true for you to-day as when He walked the Galilean hills, and yet you say you 'find it so hard to believe, 'Whom don't you believe?'”
“Well, I never saw that before. Then my finding it 'so hard to believe' for all these years, has been really dishonoring the Lord by doubting His Word?”
“Exactly so; and that is why, though truly saved all these years, you have never had the joy of it. You have, however, unthinkingly, dishonored the Lord by doubting Him; and He would not, nay, could not, honor you with the joy which accompanies simple faith in Him and what He says.'”
2.—"I Haven't Perfect Faith.”
“Well, I think I can now say that I do believe, but I haven't perfect faith;-you see, my faith is so weak.”
“Possibly; but you might have strong faith and go to hell, and have weak faith and go to heaven; though you would, in the latter case, miss much of the joy down here.”
“Strong faith and go to hell? what can you mean?”
“Just this; your strong faith might be in the wrong person. Many a lost soul will be found to have had strong faith in himself. On the other hand, such is the worthiness of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ that the weakest faith in Him saves, for salvation depends not on the amount of our faith, but on the worthiness of the Object. Let me give you an illustration. You remember the Glasgow bank failure? Well, up to the time of the announcement that the bank had stopped payment, thousands had implicitly trusted in its stability; but in a moment, despite all their confidence, they were overwhelmed in ruin. It was not confidence that was lacking on the part of its customers, but trustworthiness on the part of the bank. Conversely, if we put a feeble trust in Jesus, we have confided in One of perfect trustworthiness, whose failure is impossible; while if we trust ourselves, our failure is assured.”
But, blessedly true as it is, that to touch, as it were by faith, but the hem of Christ's garment, is to be made whole, let us rather seek to be like Stephen of old, "full of faith," "full of power," and "full of the Holy Ghost.”
3.—"I Fear I Haven't Believed Aright.”
“I am a good deal troubled sometimes with the thought that perhaps, after all, I haven't believed aright.”
“I see; you are analyzing your faith to see whether it is the right kind of faith.”
“Yes, that is just it.”
“Well, that is but an effort of Satan's to destroy your peace; and, just as some are upset by soul-analysis as to the amount of their faith, so you have been upset by soul-analysis as to the character of it; and the remedy in both cases is the same, viz., instead of analyzing your faith, analyze the Object on which your faith rests. Have you believed in the right Object? Is He worthy of your confidence and trust? If He be—and you know in your soul He is—you have believed aright.”
“Savior, the One Who knew no sin,
Made sin to make us just:
Worthy art Thou our love to win—
Our full confiding trust!”
4.—"I Don't Feel Saved.”
“But, somehow or other, even now, I don't feel saved, as you and so many others do.”
“Well, I can't speak for others; but I can say for myself that, though by God's grace I have now been saved for some twelve years, I never yet felt saved.”
“Never yet felt saved? you surprise me! Do please explain, for I have always looked upon you as such a happy Christian.”
“And so, thank God, I am, and that because I know I am saved because God says so, and knowing this I feel happy; but let me repeat that I never yet felt saved. Numbers judge of their salvation by their feelings. Now, that is, in plain English, to make a savior of your feelings! God does not do this; He makes a Savior of Christ. They look to feelings within themselves. He looks to One outside themselves. In fact, I have met with many Christians whose sense of salvation on this account seemed to depend on the state of their digestions! They will go into the glory as certainly as I will, but they lose a great deal of enjoyment in the meanwhile; and, besides, being in bondage to their feelings, they are unable to serve the Lord Christ; for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
“Once, when preaching the Gospel at Stornoway, I met a man just in your state. He said he loved the Lord, but he could not say he was saved, as he hadn't the feelings within. 'Well,' I said, 'I've just come from the quay; herrings are selling to-day at eleven-and-three pence a basket' (a very high price); 'do you believe it?' I asked. 'Yes, Because you say it,' he answered. 'Oh,' I said, 'then you don't believe because you feel the basket of herrings inside you?' Of course I don't,' he replied, 'Yet that's just the foolish way in which you are treating God. You say, in effect, that you'll believe Him when you have certain feelings within. God's order is, believe His Word, and the happy feelings will follow in due course-but even then the feelings have nothing to do with salvation. They are but the natural result of taking God without question at His Word.'”
Struck with the vastness of the number of believers who are in bondage to their feelings, I once took the trouble to ascertain how often feelings were mentioned in the New Testament, and found that the word occurs but twice; once in connection with the Lord Jesus (Heb. 4:15), and once in connection with unregenerate man (Eph. 4:19); but never in connection with believers at all; while to enumerate the occasions on which the word "faith" is used would be to write a volume. I next turned to the Old Testament, and there I could only find one man who trusted to his feelings, and that was Isaac (Gen. 27:21); and he, poor man, as we all know, was terribly deluded by them.
How many believers are gloomy and joyless because they are occupied with their feelings instead of God's Christ!
5.—"I Haven't Perfect Peace.”
“I haven't perfect peace; indeed, I am sometimes not quite sure whether I have really made my peace with God at all.”
“Well, for my part, I am quite clear on that point, for I am certain that I never have.”
“But how can that be? You always seem so confident.”
“Yes, for that confidence flows out from my knowledge of the fact that God Himself has made the peace; if I had to make the peace I should, no doubt, like yourself, be harassed with doubts as to whether it was effectually done.”
“But surely we all have to make our peace with God.”
“Pardon me, we have not; that is, if we take Scripture instead of theology as our guide, for in Col. 1:20, I read of God's `having made peace through the blood of His (Christ's) cross.' And now let us dissect this text for a moment:—
Peace has been made.
It has been made by God.
It has been made 1900 years ago.
It has been made at the Cross
It has been made by the blood of Jesus.
Now what had you or I to do with making it?”
“Well, I must own that that Scripture has rather upset my view. But if we are not to make our peace with God, what are we to do?”
“We are to be 'peace-takers,' not 'peace-makers.' Let me give you an illustration. You remember the Indian Mutiny? When the English began to get the upper hand over the mutineers, it became evident that the only way to bring matters to a satisfactory conclusion was to proclaim an amnesty for all rebels who would lay down their arms, and to inflict summary punishment upon all taken with arms in their hands; and this was accordingly done. Now, let us suppose that some time after the proclamation of the amnesty a rebel prince sets sail for England in order to make his peace with the Queen, and on his arrival hastens to Buckingham Palace, and asks for an interview with Her Majesty. Questioned as to his reason for desiring to see her, he replies that, having taken part in the mutiny, he desires to make his peace with the Queen. We can imagine how he would at once be met with the reply that peace had been made for all that would accept it, and that a free pardon was his, even in India, the very moment when he laid down his arms. Just so with ourselves; God has made peace, for all who will accept it, by the blood of Christ's Cross: we who were the rebels have but to lay down our arms and accept it.
“Now, this peace, once accepted, cannot be broken, for God Himself is the Author of it, and the blood of the everlasting covenant its basis. God knows no variableness or shadow of turning, and the peace He has made is settled and eternal, as we often say—
“'My love is ofttimes low,
My joy still ebbs and flows,
But peace with God remains the same;
No change Jehovah knows.”
“But while peace with God remains unchanged, the enjoyment of it on the part of many believers fluctuates, and that because the import of the resurrection is not fully apprehended. Thus, in the fourth chapter of the Romans, Paul draws a parallel between Abraham's justification and our own: Abraham believed that God would raise up from his dead body a son; we believe that God has raised up Jesus His Son from the dead. Let me quote the passage so far as it relates to ourselves. `Now it was not written for his (Abraham's) sake alone, that it (righteousness) was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him Who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.' And note that prominence is given to two great facts: the Lord Jesus has been (1) delivered for our offenses, and (2) raised again for our justification: and these two facts satisfy alike God and me, for the death of the Lord Jesus for my offenses satisfies God: and the life of the Lord Jesus the other side of death satisfies me. Let me make my meaning plain. I owe ten shillings at a shop, and look in to pay it. The shopkeeper thanks me, and puts the coins in his till. Observing that I still wait, he asks whether he can serve me with anything more, and, receiving a reply in the negative, he answers, `Ah, I see, sir, you are waiting for your receipt,' which he accordingly makes out and hands to me, and which I place in my pocket and leave the shop; and the shopkeeper and I are alike satisfied, for the payment of the ten shillings satisfied him, and the receipt satisfies me. So, too, the Lord Jesus, delivered by God to death for my offenses, has satisfied God about them, and the Lord Jesus, alive from the dead, has satisfied me that my offenses are put away; for God, since Jesus took the place of sin-bearer, and as such must perforce die, would never have raised Him from the dead unless He had satisfied Him about the whole question of sin.
“And now let me put you through a short catechism:—
“Is Jesus on the cross?—No.
“Is He in the grave?—No.
“Where is He, then?—He is in glory.
"Quite so. And He died for your sins?
—Yes.
“You are sure of that?—Quite sure.
"Then are your sins in the glory?—
No; they could not be there.
“But the One Who bore them is, and that is the proof that God is satisfied, and that your sins are forever blotted from His sight. If God were not satisfied with Christ's sacrifice for your sins, He would be still in the grave. He is not in the grave, but on the throne—the eternal proof to all that God is satisfied. Are you?
"And let me, in conclusion, warn you against a very common mistake, namely, confounding peace with communion. Peace has been made, and is maintained by God, and cannot, therefore, be broken: communion has to be maintained by us: and nothing is so easily lost. Let me give you an illustration. You know what an eclipse of the moon is? The world has intervened between the sun and the moon, and the latter, since it can only shine by borrowed light, is in darkness, though the sun itself has not ceased to shine. Just so the Father's smile of infinite complacency ever rests on us, His blood-bought children (Rom. 5:2); but if the world, its lusts, its pleasures, and amusements, intervene—for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2:16)—the believer suffers a partial or total eclipse. The radiance of the Father's smile remains undimmed; but the believer, since he is not walking in communion with his Father, has lost the sense of his enjoyment of it. Let us never confound the two.”
6.—"I Haven't Perfect Love.”
Such was the sorrowful exclamation that fell from the lips of a lady with whom the writer recently met. She had been reading a book called "Perfect Love," one of a class of publications only too common nowadays, characterized by the presence of the so-called experiences of Mrs. Dash or Miss Blank (more especially of the latter lady, for family cares seem greatly to modify these views), but by the entire absence, or misapplication, of the Word of God, apart from which human experiences are dangerous and misleading. Accordingly, the natural result of perusing such a book had been to thoroughly upset the reader, and to cause her to sorrowfully exclaim, "I haven't perfect love.”
“Pardon me," I replied; "but indeed you have. But perhaps you are not looking for it in the right place. Where are you expecting to find it?”
“Well, of course, in my own heart.”
“Ah, it is just as I thought, you are looking in the wrong place for it entirely! Neither you nor I, nor anyone else—Miss Blank's protestations notwithstanding—ever had, has, or will have, perfect love in our hearts this side of the grave, or till, if living at His coming, we are caught up to be with the Lord. Then, indeed, our love for Him will be perfect, and every pulse of ours beat in unison with the heart of Christ. Meanwhile, we have perfect love; but it is in God's heart, not ours. Let us turn to the chapter (1 John 4) which speaks of it—a chapter written by one who, while his theme is love, calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved, but never for a moment ventures, like Miss Blank, to speak of his love for Jesus. Peter, as the beloved disciple records, once did this, and fell (John 21:15-17).
“Beginning, then, at the 16th verse, we read, 'We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in Him. Herein is love with us (see margin) made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment.' And why? 'Because as He (Christ) is, so are we in this world; that is to say, that we believers, even down here in this world, are as free from judgment as the exalted Christ Himself. The judgment which was our due has been meted out by God to Him; but He is not undergoing judgment now, but is exalted to God's right hand, in proof of the absolute acceptance by God of the work Christ wrought out at Calvary; and gazing on Him there by faith, we know that our sins are forever blotted from God's sight and memory (Heb. 10:17). Well may we sing—
“Rise, my soul, behold, 'tis Jesus!
Jesus fills thy wondering eyes;
See Him now in glory seated
Where thy sins no more can rise!
For we can, not on the ground of some supposed experience, but on the authority of God's own Word, declare that, as free from judgment as He is up there, so free are we from it down here, and add, 'There is no fear in love.' Can I fear God, Who has given the measure of His love for me in the gift of His Son? Fear the One Who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all? Surely not. The perfect love welling from the great heart of God, so perfectly expressed in the gift of His Son, has cast out every guilty fear from mine. Hitherto I feared, and 'fear hath torment,' for I was not made perfect in love, i.e., God's love had not been fully manifested to my soul. Now I fear no longer. Fear is dispelled and love has taken its place. I love Him 'because He first loved me.'”
Well is it, indeed, for us to turn from what a lady (who had herself with difficulty escaped the toils) afterward described to me as, "making a Christ out of your own heart," to the heart of love of God, a source which never fails!
7.—"I Don't Always See the Fruits of the Spirit.”
“Well, I really do believe on the Lord and love Him, but what troubles me is that I don't always see the fruits of the Spirit within me.”
“Don't you? Then if I were you I would give up looking for them. Did you ever see an apple tree looking for the fruit on it?”
“No; I certainly never did.”
“Nor I neither. The tree bears the fruit, but others look for the fruit on it. So, too, in your case; give up self-occupation and get occupied with Christ, and the fruits of the Spirit will soon be seen by others. Surely, Moses did not get his face to shine by rubbing it, did he?”
“No; but by going into God's presence.”
“Quite so; and you'll get yours to shine, too, if you, with unveiled face, behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord; for you'll be changed into the same image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).
And another thing: 'Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone' (Ex. 34:29). The Israelites saw it readily enough, but he knew nothing about it, because he was occupied with God, and not his own face. Thus, you see that you, however unwittingly, have been making the fatal mistake of being occupied with your face, instead of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6), and have been rubbing your face to get it to shine, and then looking at it in the glass of introspection. Now, if I get occupied with myself, I am not in the current of God's thoughts, for I am making a center of myself; He makes a center of Christ, and well may I do likewise.”
“But, you know, it does say that we are to examine ourselves. See Second Corinthians, 13.”
“Does it? Well, let us turn to the passage. You will find that false teachers at Corinth had been calling in question Paul's apostleship, so he settles the matter in a very conclusive way. 'Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me,' he says (and thence on to the end of verse 4 is a parenthesis), 'examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith, prove yourselves (i.e., don't prove me as to my apostleship). Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?' Paul puts before them a dilemma, and invites them to impale themselves on whichever horn they pleased. If they were saved souls, he was an apostle, for he had been used to their conversion (1 Cor. 3:6). If he were no apostle, then were they reprobates! Self-judgment where failure has come in, is enjoined by the Word (1 Cor. 11:31); self-occupation is quite another thing, and is never enjoined; in fact, the contrary is insisted on; and it is alike withering in its influence on the one indulging in it (for it is a selfish indulgence after all), and destructive of all service to others.”
I have been struck with the fact that, just as in Wales (where man's responsibility has been taught almost to the exclusion of God's sovereignty) one finds many uncertain about their salvation because they are trying to see the Blood without them; whereas God declares, "When I see the Blood I will pass over you," so in Scotland (where God's sovereignty has been pressed almost to the exclusion of man's responsibility) many are to be found afflicted with doubts because they judge of their salvation by the work of the Spirit within them-a plain proof of the danger of teaching only partial truths. This latter mistake arises from confounding the respective offices of the Substitute and the Comforter. It was the Substitute, not the Comforter, who died for me, and my salvation, therefore, depends on the past work of Christ outside me, while my joy and communion depend on the unhindered present operations of the Holy Ghost within.
8.—"I Fear I Have Committed the Unpardonable Sin.”
A formidable weapon in the hand of Satan, and one which he uses, not only against anxious souls, but oftentimes even against true believers without settled peace, is the suggestion that the individual has committed what is called "the unpardonable sin." One person, indeed, with whom the writer once conversed, was driven to the verge of suicide through this horrible dread, which the one who is a liar and a murderer from the beginning had instilled into his soul. It might, therefore, prove helpful to some if we briefly considered what this particular sin is. The passage referring to it may be found in Matt. 12:22-32. A person possessed with a demon, blind and dumb, had been brought to the Lord, who healed him. In amazement the people ask, "Is not this the Son of David?" And indeed, the Pharisees could not deny that supernatural power had been displayed by the Lord; but sooner than confess that it was David's Son who had wrought this miracle, they would ascribe it to Satanic agency, "This fellow doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons." The Lord proceeds to point out, first the folly, and then the sin of so vile a suggestion. As to the folly of it "If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?" But, so far from this being the case, the Lord, as He explains, had first entered the strong man's (i.e., Satan's) house, had bound the strong man, and, by casting out the strong man, had spoiled his goods. Next the Lord deals with the terrible nature of the sin of thus attributing to Satan the manifest operations of the Holy Ghost, "Whosoever," He says, "speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world neither in the world to come;"—that is to blaspheme the Holy Ghost by willfully attributing His operations to Satanic agency, was a sin for which there was no forgiveness.
But some might find a difficulty in 1 John 5:16, and "sin unto death" therein referred to. The context, it will be noticed (verses 14, 15), deals with prayer, and the confidence which acts according to His will. Now, if we see a brother sin in such a manner that we have faith to go to God about him, and ask that the chastening which has, in consequence of his sin, befallen our brother, may not go on to his being taken out of this world (see 1 Cor. 11:30), then, in such case, our prayer that his life may be spared will be answered, and "He shall give him life." But, on the other hand, "there is a sin unto death." Instinctively we feel what the result of such sin will be, and we have no confidence before God in praying for our brother's restoration, for "This is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us.”
The so-called "unpardonable sin" is not, therefore, as Satan so often suggests, some sin or other, he knows not what, which a person may have committed at some time, he knows not when; but it is the willful and malicious attribution to Satanic agency of works manifestly wrought by the Holy Ghost.
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