“OH, yes; I am going to heaven!” a woman said to me not long ago.
“How do you know that?” I asked her. “You are by nature a sinner, and God cannot have sin in His presence.”
“Yes,” she answered, “I know I am a sinner, but I am trusting to the mercy of God.”
She looked surprised when I said to her, “You will never get to heaven that way. It is of no use for you to hope for the mercy of God at the last; God is love, but He is also light (1 John 1:5, and 4:8 and 16), and, though He is not willing that any should perish’ (2 Peter 3:9), He is of ‘purer eyes than to behold evil’ (Hab. 1:13). To imagine that after a life of sin, heaven can be entered because God is merciful and kind, is a delusion. God is love; He ‘so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life;’ but by that very gift is displayed not only His love but His righteousness. At the cross of Christ the love and mercy of God to sinners were fully manifested, and manifested righteously. To trust, therefore, to the ‘mercy of God’ apart from Christ is to ignore the wondrous sacrifice that has been offered.”
“I pray,” said another poor woman, “I pray to God so earnestly every night.”
“What do you pray for?” we asked; “God has given His Son: what more can He give? The question is have you accepted what God offers you―eternal life in Christ?” The work has been finished; God has fully proved His love; Christ has died for the ungodly He has risen, and now is glorified on the right hand of God―a perfect Saviour. B.