The First Business of Lost Man

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 5
“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)).
HERE the invitation approaches the character of a command, of a command to be saved. "LOOK unto me, and be ye SAVED." It is not by feeling, realizing, or appropriating, that I am saved; but simply in looking to Jesus as the One who died for me, who died for me just as I am. I am not called to be anything, or to bring anything, or to experience anything, but just what I am, as judged by God, sinful in my nature, and my sins actually committed, innumerable. But, oh! glorious truth! Christ died for such, “the Just for the unjust.'' For me! faith exclaims; and God has accepted the mighty sacrifice in my stead, and I stand complete in Him as risen and glorified. (Jonah 2:99But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. (Jonah 2:9); John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30)).
When a man discovers that he is a lost sinner; that his sins bring burning wrath, and banishment from God's presence, forever and ever; that by no supposed goodness, or good works, can he meet His righteous requirements, or satisfy the fair demands of His holy law; he is sure to have hard thoughts of God, and to wish in his heart that there were no God to judge, and no hell to punish.
But when he is brought to listen to the gospel of peace, and hears that God so loved the world (a world of lost sinners) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, hut have everlasting life; he finds out two things, namely, that the very hopelessness of his condition establishes his title to the love of God and the work of Christ. And what more does he need, can he need, than the love of God and the work of Christ? God loves me; Christ died for me. God so loves me. What is the measure of His love? The gift, sufferings, death of Jesus, His Son. He died for me, in my stead; that I should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
Surely a man's first business is to be SAVED, saved according to the love of God, and the work of Christ. Has the reader thought of this, or has he neglected it? No question of equal importance can come before thee in this life; nothing can justify thy delay; nothing can be admitted as an excuse. All things are ready; all that is required for thy salvation is done; thou hast only to rest in that finished and accepted work. And this should be thy first business. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:3636For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36)).