SOME short time ago I had been visiting at the Coastguard-station at B― with a friend, and on our way from the houses at which we had called to speak a little about eternal questions to those we met, we passed the boat-house. The door was open, and the coastguard on duty was standing close by. Our attention was attracted by a rather interesting-looking machine, capable of being drawn by two horses, which appeared in very good order, and ready for immediate use.
We stopped, and entered into a short conversion with the coastguard as to what this machine was, and for what purpose intended. He at once stated that it was the rocket life-saving apparatus, used to throw a line attached to the rocket to a ship which might be driven on the rocks or sands in a storm, and that many lives had been saved by it on various parts of the coast. I made a remark to the effect that it must be a very useful invention; that to save a man’s life was indeed a very important thing, as it not only concerned himself, but probably a wife and family, who would be depending on him for support; but I went on to say that it was of comparatively little importance when compared with the great question of the salvation of his soul. One’s life might last for sixty or even eighty years, but the soul must live on and on through the never-ending ages of eternity. He admitted at once that not many of us would reach the age of eighty, and life would probably be much shorter. My friend said, referring to the rocket life-saving machine, that it does not require any machinery to save the soul.
“No,” replied the coastguard, “we can do that ourselves if we like.”
We went on to explain that all man’s efforts were unavailing; that the Lord Jesus Christ had finished the work on the cross, and that the only thing which could come in between the sinner in his sins and a holy God was the precious blood of Christ.
Our friend the coastguard became rather uneasy; he did not care to hear more on the subject, and said he knew all about those things.
This case is simply an illustration of that of thousands around us. They do not deny, in so many words, that the Lord Jesus came into this world, and that He died on the cross; but they do not look by faith entirely to Him, but put into the scale something of their own as a make-weight to meet the claims of divine justice.
But what has God said on this subject of such vital importance?
First, He speaks of man under trial. The early part of the epistle to the Romans gives us a vivid picture of his condition, whether professedly religious or openly wicked, and sums up with these words: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” (chapter 3:19.) Man, proved in every way for four thousand years, could produce nothing to meet the claims of God, and closed his history as under trial by crucifying the Son of God, come down here in perfect grace. Man is not now on his trial, but proved to be lost and guilty.
But there is another way in which Scripture looks at the sinner, and that is as dead in sins. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved).” (Ephesians 2:4, 5.) Dead! not one motion of life toward God. What a condition to be in! And yet it is the state of every man, woman, and child, be they moral, amiable, religious members of society, or quite the opposite, unless they have been” quickened,” saved by divine grace. How could a man who was dead do anything whatever for himself? He must get life before he can do one act pleasing to God. But God has come, in the riches of His mercy and grace, and given His own Son, who has gone down into death; having there met and satisfied at once all God’s just and holy claims, and all our desperate need.
Now, being risen from the dead and seated in glory, the sinner who believes in Him alone as his own personal. Saviour is looked at by God as “in Him,” far beyond the reach of condemnation or judgment.
Unsaved fellow-sinner, this question is urgent. You will soon, perhaps very soon, have crossed the boundary-line that separates time from eternity, and then there will be no going back. The great gulf will be “fixed” between the saved and the lost, so that none may cross it. There is no salvation after death, nothing to look forward to but the gloom of hopeless despair.
Jesus is the sinner’s Saviour, and He alone. (Acts 4:12.) God will not allow His Son to be robbed of one whit of His glory and if you are to be saved, He who completed the work of redemption on the cross, and proved that it was complete by His resurrection from among the dead, He must have all the glory; and you will have all the joy, and peace, and blessing, to the eternal praise of the riches of God’s grace. F. G. B.