THERE was a new Preacher in the synagogue. For 1,600 years the preacher to whom they had listened had thundered the Law’s demands, Do or Die. The new Preacher announced the reign of grace, Believe and Live. The old preacher had directed their attention to a ladder of ten steps as the way to blessing. The new one brought blessing to their very doors. The door of the dungeon was thrown open, and the captives were invited to step into liberty. Passing by the self-righteous and self-occupied Pharisee, proud of his knowledge of the law, and jealous of his reputation among men, He proclaimed a full, free, present salvation to the poor and the brokenhearted.
That new Preacher is still alive, though no longer on earth. There was no “thou shalt” and “thou shalt not” in His sermon. It was addressed to people beyond doing.
A man is in prison. He resolves he will never break the law again. Will the turnkey let him out of his cell on that plea? His own efforts cannot break through the bolts and bars. One word from the king, exercising his prerogative of mercy, and the prison doors are thrown open, the man is free. This is what God is now doing. He is blessing on righteous grounds and in pure sovereign grace. He blesses because of what He has found in Jesus, not what He finds in you.
To illustrate the gracious thought of God to sinners, the blessed Lord, in His first recorded sermon, directs our eye to two people. One moved on the highest round of the social ladder, the other on the lowest. One had honors and distinctions, the other had want and sorrow. Both were alike in one particular—both had death staring them in the face, and no way of deliverance. They were very unlike as to their outward circumstances. One was a poor widow, the other the wealthy captain of a mighty host. Desolation and destitution mark the widow, disease and defilement the military man. God visits both in blessing. One through a little maid—a very unlooked—for instrument. God’s ways with this man illustrate His ways with many others. A girl directed Naaman to a man Of God. The man of God directed him to a sure way of blessing, but that way put him into a rage by its very simplicity. His servants entreat him, saying, “Father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?” He yielded, and got the blessing at once.
This gospel magazine you are reading is just like those servants. Someone has given it you to read—your little girl perhaps. That is the first step to your blessing. We bring before you the words spoken by the Lord as He preached that great salvation in the synagogue at Nazareth. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18, 1918The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18‑19)).
This is the sermon preached by Jesus the prophet. Are you going to turn away in a rage, and say, “There is not a word about my goodness, my religion, or my achievements. I, too, like Naaman, am distinguished among my fellow-men; such a message is too humbling for me. It may be all very well for the poor, the captive, the blind.”
Now, my friend, we just want to act the part of Naaman’s servants. We want to ask you to stop doing some great thing. We would fain persuade you to step down from your pedestal of self-satisfaction, and get into your true place in the dungeon. Why the dungeon? Because you belong to it. If death were to lay his cold icy finger upon you, can you free yourself from its relentless grasp? You are a captive to the devil, who has the power of death. Let your heart cease its beating, and blackness of darkness forever will be your portion. Get right down before God as a lost, hell-deserving sinner, powerless to deliver yourself.
God does not visit everybody in the same way. He met the poor widow, the Lord spoke of, in a different way from Naaman. You may read of her in 1 Kings 17. Four things marked that woman—those four things are true of you.
She was at a distance from God. She was outside the people He owned as His. She was afar off.
She was desolate. The one she loved had died. Her widowed heart was full of misery.
She was destitute. All her resources were exhausted. She had just one meal left.
Death stared her in the face.
What a picture of you, my unsaved friend! You are at a distance from God. The sins you have committed have raised an awful barrier. All your efforts can never remove it. You are destitute of everything to fit you for heaven. You may not own it, but you are in as great spiritual poverty as the worst murderer that ever lived. There is not a thing in you to commend you to God. You ask, “Are my good works valueless?” God has labeled them “filthy rags.” Will you insult Him by speaking of them as a passport to heaven, life, and happiness?
Then death is before you. How desolate you will be then! No Saviour for the dark valley, no friend beyond the grave, no heart in whose love you can rest, no deliverer who is stronger than death.
It was to such an one that God sent His servant. He only proposed one condition to her. He only proposes one to you. She had one meal―and death. “Give that up to me and you shall have life,” is the prophet’s message. It was a tremendous moment in her history. Such a moment comes in all our histories. It determines our entire future. The prophet meant, “Can you give up your last earthly hope, and rest upon God’s word alone?” Thank God, she trusted His word. Will you? Will you get down before God and say? “Strip me of everything and help me to trust Thee wholly, trust Thee only, and trust Thee now. Help me to take my place with the poor broken-hearted sinner, own my distance, my destitution, my desolation, and my death.”
Listen to another message from that new Preacher’s gracious lips― “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment.” Trust God’s word! Life and liberty are yours, and yours forever! You shall never see death. After trusting the prophet with her last earthly resource, the widow found in him one who cared for her until the need was over. Spring with its fresh promise, summer with its light and warmth, autumn with its fruitful days, winter with its cold biting blasts―a full year they abode together. Whatever the changes, there was no change in the one who had given his word. He cheered her home by his presence, he succored her daily. That is just what my Saviour will do for you. You may change―He changes not. You may grow cold―His love is ever warm. He not only saves from the jaws of eternal death, but “he saves to the uttermost (to the very end), all who come to God by him.”
“Abundant grace will He afford,
Till we are present with the Lord.”
He is worth trusting! Trust Him now, and you will find that grace, abounding grace, will not only save you but care for you, and keep you, through every changing scene and circumstance, until it sets you in glory with the blessed One from whose lips those gracious words fell― “I am come to preach the gospel to the poor.”
Now is the acceptable year of the Lord. The day of vengeance will follow. The Preacher closed the book when He had read its words of grace. He will open it again at the day of vengeance. Too late for grace then. The sands of time are running out. The year of grace is fast drawing to a close. That blessed Saviour sends you a closing message. You have heard His first, now listen to His last― “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)).
The very last verse in the Bible has grace in it. The grace He preached, the grace He brought, the grace of His blessed heart, the grace with which He has lingered over you―that is the grace we wish, with all our heart, may be your enjoyed portion now, and to the very end of your earthly journey. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” H. N.