Having, in our leading article for last month, dwelt a little on the meaning, force, and value of the word “salvation,” we shall now proceed to the question which forms the second part of our subject, namely,
WHO SENDS it?
The answer to this question presents God in that character which, above all others, suits a lost shiner, and that is as a Savior-God. Moreover, it assumes that man has been proved a total ruin—a hopeless wreck; that he has been weighed in the balance and found wanting; and that God is no longer looking to man to produce aught in the shape of righteousness—no longer proving and testing him in order to see if anything good could be got from him. In a word, the very fact of God’s sending salvation to men proves, beyond all question, that men are in an utterly undone condition. If man be not lost, he does not need salvation. He might need help; but this latter is not what is sent, nor is it what we want. It is quite a mistake to say, as people sometimes do, “With the help of God, I hope to be saved, and get to heaven.” If God be only a helper in the work of salvation, then it follows that man can cooperate with God in that great work, which were not only a fatal error, but a blasphemous presumption. What! God and the sinner on the same platform, both working together to the same grand end—man’s salvation? Far away be the monstrous thought! No, no; God is alone in the work. Man is the material to be wrought upon—man in the condition of a lost one—needing not merely help, as though he could do a little; but needing full salvation, as one who can do absolutely nothing.
Is this weighty point fully seen? Does the reader see it? Does he see it in its application to himself? The volume of God teems with evidence in reference to it. Every age of the world’s history, every stage of man’s history, from Paradise to Calvary, every dispensation of God, every economy under which He has ever dealt with man—all goes to prove, with overwhelming power of evidence, that if God was to do anything at all for the sinner, He must save, and not merely help him. Help might do for those who are weak and defective, or astray; nothing but salvation could avail for those who are hopelessly lost.
Blessed forever be the God of all grace, this is exactly what He has sent. “The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles.” What divine power, what infinite fullness, what exhaustless depths are in these few words! They present a margin sufficiently broad for the insertion of all that God was pleased to do for us poor lost sinners. That blessed word salvation embraces in its mighty compass, not only all that we are saved from, but all that we are saved to, and what we are saved by. For, let it never be forgotten, that the glory of God is bound up in the salvation which He sends to us. This could not possibly be if man had to contribute the weight of a feather, or co-operate to the extent of the movement of an eye-lash, in the matter of salvation.
This is a point of immense interest and value, and one eminently calculated to strengthen the foundations of the Christian’s faith, and to lift him beyond the reach of every doubt and every fear. God’s glory is at stake in the salvation which He has wrought out for us and sent to us. What strength is here! What comfort and consolation! What peace and liberty! What courage and confidence! Nothing can exceed it. If a single flaw could be detected in the salvation of God—a single thing defective—a single point unprovided for—the slightest possibility of failure, from first to last—from the moment when the soul first tastes the sweetness of divine grace, until it bathes itself in the very fullness of divine glory—if it were possible that a saved soul could be lost—if a single want of that saved soul were not perfectly provided for, whether in the way of “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, or redemption”—if, in short, there were a single missing link in the golden chain of salvation, then verily would the luster of the divine glory be tarnished, and the enemy of God might triumph.
But no, reader, it cannot possibly be. “Salvation is of the Lord;” and tins holds good whether it be a question of deliverance from the smallest difficulty lying in our daily path, or of the full, final, and everlasting salvation of our souls, actualized in the very presence of God and of the Lamb. It is all of God, from beginning to end. It wears the stamp of His omnipotent hand upon it, in its every stage. It flows like a shining river from His loving heart; and His glory is involved in the integrity of its every aspect and its every branch. It comes to us as free as the very air we breathe; and, when we get it—or rather when it lays hold of us—it is as permanent as the throne of God Himself. It is the fruit of the will of God, as accomplished in the perfect work of Christ, and attested by the record of the Holy Ghost in the scriptures of truth. See Heb. 10.
Such is the salvation which God sends to the Gentiles. And may we not triumphantly inquire, “What else could it be as coming from the hand and the heart of such a God?” Surely nothing else, nothing less, nothing different. God must be God in all His actings and in all His ways. His glory shines in everything to which He puts His hand. If He saves, He saves like Himself. Can anyone, with a single ray of the true knowledge of God, imagine that He could send us a salvation with a flaw of any sort whatsoever? Or can we suppose that when God speaks of sending us salvation He would think of fencing that salvation round about with certain legal conditions? Can we suppose that when God set about saving lost sinners through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, He would do so with a “Yea” in one place, and a “Nay” in another? Impossible—utterly impossible. We can understand God putting men under conditions—giving them laws and statutes—putting them to the test, and raising the question of righteousness, and causing the offense to abound. He did all this at Mount Sinai. But this was not “sending salvation.” Giving a law, by the disposition of angels, in order to put man to the test, is one thing; and sending a full and free salvation to lost sinners, on the ground of the death and resurrection of Christ, is another thing. Salvation is absolute, eternal, divine. It is as perfect as the One who sends it, and man has nothing to do but to receive it, and walk in the light and power of it all his days upon earth, and then go home to bask in the beams of it in that bright and blessed world above.
And, let it never be forgotten, that in this salvation whereof we speak, there is most blessedly included and secured holiness of life—yes, beloved reader, remember this. True holiness is wrapped up in the comprehensive folds of that salvation which our gracious God has sent to the Gentiles. It includes victory over lusts, tempers, habits, influences, circumstances—victory over self and its surroundings—victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. True it is—alas! how true, we fail to make good, in our souls’ experience, from day to day, what God’s salvation secures to us. We fail to plant the foot of faith upon the full extent of that fair inheritance which sovereign grace has, most surely, made ours in a risen Christ. How few of us really enter into the divine fullness of salvation! How many are groping about in darkness or dim twilight, hardly knowing where they are or whither they are going. They have life. Their very groping proves that; but then it is life in a fog, when it ought to be life in the clear sunlight. The condition of many of God’s dear people may be fitly compared to people moving about in one of those thick London fogs. They have no certainty in their movements, and they are in constant danger of coming in collision with one another or with the various objects which he in the way.
But does all this darkness and uncertainty, this poverty of apprehension and shallowness hi experience, on our part, touch the integrity and fullness of the salvation which is ours in Christ? Not in the smallest degree. There it is for us in all its blessedness and glory; and all we want is faith to take it in and make our own of it. God, in His infinite grace, has sent it to us; and, most assuredly, He means that we should have it and enjoy it, just as He meant that Adam should enjoy the fruits and flowers of paradise, and Israel, the milk and honey of the promised land. God has given us a full salvation, and it is for us to walk in the light, joy, and strength of it, all the day long. Faith appropriates what love provides; and love is never more gratified than when faith most simply appropriates its rich provision. May we ever bear this in mind. May we ever remember that, as God is glorified in the salvation which He sends, so He is gratified by the faith of those to whom He sends it. We need not imagine that it is in the least according to the mind and heart of God that we should refuse to enjoy the things which He so freely gives to us in Christ. What He gives, He gives “with his whole heart and with his whole soul.” (Jer. 32:41.) He gives like Himself, and He loves an artless, childlike faith. If He bestows with His whole heart, He means us to enjoy with a whole heart.
However, gladly as we would expatiate upon this precious branch of our subject, we must close this paper by a brief reference, in the third place, to the question
TO WHOM IS IT SENT?
“The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles.” This surely is broad enough for anyone who knows himself to be a Gentile. At the first, as we know, salvation was confined to the Jews. They, in the dispensational wisdom of God, were to have the first offer. The Lord Jesus, in sending out His messengers, in the days of His flesh, expressly told them not to go “ in the way of the Gentiles.” But now all barriers are gone—swept away by the rising tide of God’s salvation. We dwell not now upon the fact that Israel is, for the moment, set aside; but upon the fact that God’s salvation is sent to us Gentiles, as such. There is no condition, no limitation whatsoever. Every Gentile, from pole to pole, and from the river to the ends of the earth, to whose ears the sweet story is wafted, may possess this priceless treasure of full, free, and everlasting salvation. If a letter or parcel is sent to any one, through the post, he receives it, reads his name on the back, and, without a question, proceeds to open it, and appropriate the contents.
We all understand this. It is simple enough if only we are willing to be simple likewise. God sends salvation to the Gentiles. I am a Gentile; therefore God sends salvation to me—yes, to me. How do I know? Because I am a Gentile. It is impossible to refuse the application. Ere I can question the fact that salvation is for me, I must deny the fact that I am a Gentile. I may reject the offer, and have to answer to God for that rejection; but I cannot possibly deny the application. God has sent salvation to the Gentiles, and, if I am a Gentile, He has sent salvation to me, as distinctly and as absolutely as though I were the only Gentile on the face of the earth.
But some will say, “What about election?” We reply, it is a most precious truth of God; but there is not a syllable about it in that glorious charter winch now lies open before us. If it had been said, “The salvation of God is sent to the elect Gentiles,” then, most surely, we should seek to ascertain whether we belong to such a class, and if not, of course there is no salvation for us. But, thanks be to God, nothing of the kind appears. There is no hindrance, no difficulty, no question. We are simply told that “ The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles.” Alas! alas! men refuse it—will not have it—their hearts are full of other things. Nevertheless, there stands the precious casket of God’s salvation ready for their acceptance, and if they will not have it, their blood shall rest eternally upon their own guilty heads. Let no one shelter himself under the plea of God’s hidden purposes and counsels, for no such plea will stand for a moment. Man is not held responsible on the ground of secret decrees, but on the ground of a salvation which is sent to him from the very heart of God, through the precious blood of Christ, and on the authority of the Holy Ghost.
Beloved reader, have you accepted this salvation? Mark what the apostle saith, “The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, and they will”—what? “ They will hear it.” Have you heard it? Have you bowed your heart to it? Have you believed in the love that sent it—in the blood that sealed it—in the record that brings it to you? Turn not away from these questions we beseech thee. Time is running on. The year 1869 is closing upon us. Are you saved? If not, why not? If not, what then? Oh! think of thy precious immortal soul! Think of a never ending eternity! Think of the untold joys of heaven—of the unutterable horrors of hell! Why wilt thou die? Why perish eternally when there is actually nothing to hinder thy being, at this moment, the happy possessor of “The salvation of God?”
Lo! to thyself I left mire eye,
Thy promised aid I claim;
Father of mercies, glorify
The risen Jesu’s name.
Salvation in that Name is found,
Cure for my grief and care;
A healing balm for every wound,
All, all I want is there.