“I THINK it is of great importance to observe that the blessing expressed in these words is not a feeling, but a fact—a fact altogether independent of our feelings.
“God has a controversy with sinners. We sometimes hear it said, that He cannot look upon sin but with abhorrence. The teaching of the word is, that He cannot look upon sin at all. So long as I am chargeable with it, I must stand at a distance from Him. I can have no intercourse or fellowship with God.
"What am I to do? How is the controversy to be ended? Here it is: —The controversy is ended the moment I am justified; being justified,' that very moment we HAVE peace with God.”
"What is it to be justified? I take it that it is just to be in such a position that God, looking on us, sees nothing in us that He can condemn.
“THAT implies that I have made a thorough atonement for every sin I have committed; and, further, that I have yielded a perfect obedience to all the requirements of His holy law.
“Have I ever done that? Ah! no. Can I ever expect to do it? The thing is impossible. Then I am lost. Yes, assuredly, that is my position.
“But now comes the cry:— Is there no one in the universe who can do for me what I never can hope to do for myself? And the gospel of God's grace quickly brings me the answer:—Yes, there is such a one, and His name is JESUS. It was the very purpose for which He came into the world. By His life He fulfilled all righteousness truly, and by His death He poured out His soul an offering for sin.
“But how can I make all this my own? The word of God has but one answer: it becomes ours BY FAITH. I can know of the work of Christ only on the testimony of God. That testimony I believe. That work meets my deepest and truest needs, ark is offered me as a gift from God. I thankfully receive it. It is as sure as the word and the oath of Him who cannot lie can make it; and therefore, with calm assurance, I rest upon it.
“And now, what is my position? Accepting this gift from the hand of God, it becomes forthwith my own—mine, and it can never be taken from me; mine, as truly as though I had done the whole work myself, atoned for my own sin, yielded personal obedience to the law of God. God sees nothing in me now that He can condemn. I stand forth before Him, spotless as His own Son. And so I can now say, and I say it with unspeakable joy: Justified by faith, I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.'”
W. P. M.