“Look unto Me, and be ye saved.”
WHAT a most unaccountable thing grace is! Let us suppose a case by way of illustration. A burglar has broken into a nobleman’s residence. He has managed to get safely off the premises, but a dense fog has come on, and in trying to make his way out of the immense park he misses the footpath (specially chosen for noiseless walking on the grass) and wanders about, he knows not where.
Weary and disappointed, he suddenly thinks he hears a human voice. Standing still, he listens; and then, though apparently at some little distance, he distinctly hears these words: “You have lost your way; come in this direction and I will deliver you from your difficulty.”
Like a frightened hare, he takes to his heels and runs with all his might. But where? Ah, he is lost! First he falls headlong heavily, then he collides with a tree and bruises himself sorely. His alarm increases, and once more he stands to catch breath. “What is that?” he gasps out to himself in a subdued whisper. “If it isn’t the same voice again!” But it now says, “I can see you have lost your way; I know of dangers which you do not. I feel for you in your bruised condition. But come in this direction, and I will not only deliver you from your peril, but heal your bruises into the bargain.”
Once more he darts off, trying to take a little more care, but suddenly finds himself in the fish-pond, up to his waist in mud and water. No hunted deer from that park ever panted more painfully. He halts by compulsion. He cannot help himself; the next step might land him in some mud hole and be his death. Suddenly the same voice again breaks the horrid silence: “I know exactly how it stands with you. I see your danger. I know all you have been doing tonight. But I am, the owner of the residence, and I desire to forgive you. Stand still, and if you wish I will bring a light and come to you. I will most certainly save you from your predicament. Shall I come?” Somehow, the burglar thinks, there is an assuring tone in that voice. And out comes his response, “Yes, my lord, come. I am prepared to tell you the worst. Come as quickly as you can.”
Do you say, What nobleman on earth would so patiently make offer after offer to one he knew had been robbing him? Ah! you must look higher for that. There is a “Nobleman” (Luke 19:1212He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. (Luke 19:12)) Who knows all the things that ever you did, and says to you, as tenderly as ever, as you read these lines, “Look unto Me and be ye saved.” He lets you know that He sees your danger, and the terrible character of it. He knows your deeds and the awful consequences of same; knows that you have been robbing him of the years of life He claims as His, and spending it for yourself and His enemy, but that He has been to the cross to meet the question of what was righteously due to the one who believes on Him. The grace of God His Father was behind it. By the grace of God He tasted death for every man. You have but to confess your sins, and call upon Him Who suffered for sins and rose again, in order that salvation shall be yours! For “whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.” Yes, there it stands waiting for your response. “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:2222Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:22)).
What claims could that burglar plead for the benefits offered? None whatever. It was all grace―that is, it was all without one merit on his side. And it is, says the Apostle, “by grace ye are saved... not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 98For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8‑9)).
Boasting is excluded. “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is DEATH. The wages of sin is DEATH: but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:21-2321What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:21‑23)). The death we deserved, Christ, by the grace of God, tasted. The eternal life we did not deserve, grace makes ours in Christ risen and glorified. We turn from ourselves to Christ, and not only get the forgiveness of our sins through His precious blood, but the God of all grace has called us to His own eternal glory by Christ Jesus (1 Peter 5:1010But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)).
What say you, my reader, to such grace? He knows your sinful wanderings, but is calling you still. Is it not high time you responded to that call? “Truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between (thee) and death” (1 Sam. 20:33And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. (1 Samuel 20:3)). But blessed be God, there is but a step between thee and forgiveness, and peace and life everlasting. God give you to take it. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death”