SOME time ago there lived in the north of Ireland, in the town of B—, a servant of the Lord well known to the writer. While living there, he was visited by a young friend of his who was lively and light-hearted, and, like many others—or as the reader of these lines may be—thoughtless and careless about her precious soul. But the Lord's eye was upon her in all her thoughtlessness and carelessness, as it is upon you, my reader. His thought was to bless her before she returned home. This servant of the Lord and his wife, being deeply interested in her, made her the subject of earnest prayer, and, as she had only a few days to stop, they became intensely earnest that she might be converted before she returned home again. God graciously answered their prayers.
One evening they persuaded her to go with them to a Gospel meeting, at which she was awakened to a real sense of her position as a sinner before God.
She restrained her feelings, however, until she got home, and said nothing to anyone about it. She retired to bed, but could not sleep, for God was working with her. She became terribly alarmed, thinking that, if she died before morning, she would be eternally lost. Filled with despair, she arose quickly and dressed herself. All the other members of the house had retired to rest, but there was no rest for Mary Anne. She fell down on her knees and cried to the Lord, her only cry being, "O God that I might know my sins forgiven." Her cries awoke this servant of the Lord and his wife. He, wondering if it could be the one in whom they had taken such interest, went downstairs, and, to his great joy, found the awakened girl in the terrible agony of soul already described, still crying, "O God! that I might know my sins forgiven." He got down beside her, and opened his Bible at the well-known 38th and 39th verses of Acts 13, and kept whispering into her ear, " Be it known unto you, therefore,' Mary Anne" (for so he put it, leaving out "men and brethren"), " that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things.'" For hours this went on, until at length light burst in upon her soul, and she arose and exclaimed, “I do believe that Jesus died for me." Peace filled her soul. Peace with God was now her portion through believing God's testimony about the work of the Lord Jesus.
How simple God has made it, when He declares, “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith—(mark it well, my reader, not his works)—is counted for righteousness" (Rom. 4:55But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5)). But perhaps you will say, “I always believed—I have been taught to believe from childhood—and yet I cannot say my sins are forgiven." I have often met people in this state. Do you believe God, my reader? You say you believe on the Lord Jesus; but do you not see that God has connected forgiveness with believing?
“Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:4343To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:43)). Let me ask you, dear reader, in all affection, do you know your sins forgiven? Are you resting your soul on the authority of God's Word, which assures you they are, if you simply believe? or are you, like the one already described, lively and light-hearted, careless and unconcerned? If so, I pray God that your eyes may be opened, as hers were, to see your true state as a sinner in His presence, both by nature and practice, and that you are a "child of wrath.”
Do you know and own this, my reader? Do you feel the burden of your sins? If so, then listen to what God says about the sins of all those who believe. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree;... by whose stripes ye were healed "(1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)). And again," Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 4:25; 5:125Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25)
1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5:1)). God wants you to see that in the death of Christ all His glory has been made good, and your sins fully and forever answered for. So much so, that Christ has been “raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Rom. 6:44Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)), and is now in the glory on the ground of the perfection of the work which He accomplished in the putting away of sin. God has come out in the fullness of His grace beseeching you to be reconciled to Him. The moment you believe that Christ on the cross bore all your sins, and is now in heaven without one of them, having put them all away, that moment you will have, like Mary Anne, the forgiveness of your sins, and "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
P. W.
It is important to perceive that peace with God depends on what is done for us, not in us. It is Christ's work for us, not the Spirit's work in us, that blots out our sins, and meets all the righteous claims of God against us.
W. T. P. W.