“I received the gospel as Christ gave it, simply to my heart, from Him who taught me that He had put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. I saw that all my seeking to serve God and be acceptable to Him, without knowing how to submit myself to the righteousness of God’s own providing, and take my own proper position in His sight, had been futile for my life past.... I now have seen for some months past, that when a man is in Christ, he is a new creature—old things having passed away, and that all things are become new, both things of the world and things of religion—and, thanks be to Him who has called me, I now live by the faith of the Son of God.”
Such, dear reader, was the simple and truthful confession a truly converted soul was enabled to make by the reception into the heart of the truth of God concerning sin and the sinner, and the way in which His inflexible holiness, righteousness, and hatred of sin are upheld, that He still may be just, and yet the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus (Rom. 3:2626To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)). Just as you are, without one motion or thought of yours or your doings, you may make the same; for if you think these necessary, you are still ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish your own; in a word, you “have not submitted yourself to the righteousness of God.” The blessed truth that God has recorded of His Son, is indeed that “He appeared to PUT AWAY SIN by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:2626For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26)); and this is why God can now take you, a hell-deserving and lost sinner, just as you are, and make you, through believing on Jesus, fit for His own holy presence, where no sin can enter. Is it not a wondrous truth? Yet it is God’s. As it was of old at those momentous periods of Israel’s history—the great days of atonement—once a year (read Lev. 16) the two goats were taken, one was killed, and the blood brought into the presence of God, as the token that life was taken, and blood shed; the live one was brought to Aaron the High Priest, and he laid his hands on its head, and confessed all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and it was then sent into the wilderness—a land not inhabited—perfect type of the place the sins of every believer are gone from the sight of God, as well as from His remembrance, by the death of Jesus. “He bore our sins in his own body on the tree,” and carried them away to the land of God’s forgetfulness; and there, in that uninhabited place, He left them all-past, present, and future, as men say. Yes, sin in the flesh—the deep-rooted born sin that we only see the fruit of; and in token that He has done so, God has raised Him from the dead, and exalted Him to His own right hand in the heavens. Yes, He stood as our substitute—the great antitype of Israel’s scapegoat. Willingly did He bleed, and suffer, and die, that we might inherit blessing, glory, and life eternal by Him and His work. How happy the Israelites were when the messenger returned, after leaving the sin-bearing goat in the far-off and uninhabited land! and such may be your portion, dear reader, if you trust in Jesus; joy in your heart may be yours, to know by faith that your sins are put forever out of God’s sight and remembrance.
This was the portion of the believing few who first saw Him when He returned from the grave, after He had borne all our sins. “He showed unto them his hands and his side: then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord” (John 20:2020And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. (John 20:20)). Such is the truth for you to rest in, dear reader. And should a doubt arise in the heart that it was only to the few there that He spoke, He adds, “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:2929Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. (John 20:29)). If such is your glorious portion, dear reader, believe what God says, that if you are looking and waiting for Jesus, “He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:2828So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)). And now, dear friend, have you submitted to God? Believe me, it is with all earnest affection for your soul I put the question, Are you enabled to utter with your heart the simple and truthful confession at the head of this little paper?
It was my privilege to get such a one from a soul. Oh! if you are not able to subscribe to it with all your heart, may the Lord, in His grace, awaken you to your awful state by nature. Give up striving to prove that there is something good in yourself in thought, word, or deed, for God has pronounced that you are “dead in trespasses and sins,” but that He, in His grace, is ready to save you, just as you are, if you will but submit to His righteousness, which is not some great thing impossible for you to do, but “That if thou shalt confess, with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, THOU SHALT BE SAVED” (Rom. 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)). Yes, that is submitting to God, acknowledging that you can do nothing yourself, but are a lost sinner. Then He saves you Himself of His own free and sovereign grace. May God give you to be able to confess and believe, to the salvation and peace of your soul, by the Holy Ghost, for Christ’s sake. Amen.