Do you not think there was quite enough on the mind of the Lord without troubling about this poor solitary man? But it is just the way of the Lord to meet a soul in sorrowful surroundings.
“Jesus heard.” He took the place of a Servant. We sometimes begrudge our indebtedness to those who tell us anything. Not so He, though as God He knew all thoroughly. “He heard,” and “He found”; therefore He had sought. Was the man worth anything? The Lord delights particularly to reveal Himself to those cast out by the world. It was not an uncertain, questionable search.
“He said... Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” We are so selfish in our desires content, it may be, if only our needs be met. But the Lord loves to go beyond our expectations, and to reveal Himself. What are all His gifts, compared with Himself? “Forget not all His benefits!” But what are they in comparison with Him, the Benefactor? Think of His grace! Does His eye see all through which I am passing? And does He delight to whisper in my ear what He is? We can all say, if we think of ourselves, we are not fit for His presence; but we who believe give “thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:12-1412Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:12‑14)). This is not an imagination, an idea, but a fact, a possession.
Oh, if you are clinging to one single thing except the Saviour, how deceived you are! If by “doing what you can” you think you can make yourself acceptable to God, drop it, I beseech you! “Dost thou believe on the Son of God,” and find in Him an Object for your heart an Object for your worship, and the Only One? The devil is always catering for the worship of your heart. It may be by “only a picture,” or a crucifix, but it is an idol. The Lord Jesus Christ stands out alone the Transcendent One.
We have the Divine presentation of the Saviour in the wonderful Gospel of John. Who is the Lord? Do you not want some one to worship? If you have tasted that the Lord is gracious it is not enough to be ever feeding on the Gospel you want to feed on the Saviour! I want to see my Saviour; I want to praise Him face to face for His goodness! We have not seen Him yet with our natural eyes, yet “Whom having not seen, ye love.” Divine love can be real though the Object be unseen as yet.
You think perhaps, “If the Lord were here I’d go to Him and tell Him all that I feel, the weight of my sins, and all my need.” Well, would you have gone? You need not go out of this room! You do not need to move from that chair! “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)).
To Him then look Who hung on Calvary’s cross. Believe on Him, the Son of God. Give thanks to the Father Who has made us accepted in the Beloved. Bow down and worship Him, the all-worthy One, Who has redeemed us to God and made known the Father’s name, “that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
God, who has loaded me with benefits innumerable from the moment of my birth, has told me He gave His only begotten Son, that, believing on Him, I might have everlasting life! Not living forever here, but in heaven, where all is holy, pure and good, and to know, love, and be forever with, the Saviour who loved me, AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME!