When the Lord uplifts His dear Son before the sinner, that sinner should take Him without hesitation. If you take Him by, faith, you have Him, and none can take Him from you. Out with your hand, man, and take Him at once!
Two inquiring ones came to me. They had been hearing the gospel for only a short season, but they had been deeply impressed by it. I asked them, "Have you in very deed believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you saved?”
One of them replied, "I have been trying hard to believe.”
"No," I said, "that will not do. Did you ever tell your father that you tried to believe him?”
After I had dwelt a while upon the matter, they admitted that such language would have been an insult to their father.
I then set the gospel very plainly before them in as simple language as I could, and I begged them to believe Jesus, who is more worthy of faith than the best of fathers. One of them replied, "I cannot realize it; I cannot realize that I am saved." Then I went on to say, "God bears testimony to His Son, that whosoever trusts in His Son is saved. Will you make Him a liar now, or will you believe His word?”
While I thus spoke, one of them started as if astonished, and she startled us all as she said, "O sir, I see it all! I am saved! O, do bless Jesus for me! He has shown me the way, and He has saved me! I see it all!”
One of the two sisters, however, could not see the gospel as the other had done, though I feel sure she will do so before long.
Now, does it not seem strange that, both hearing the same words, one should come out into clear light, and the other should remain in the gloom? The change which comes over the heart when the understanding grasps the gospel is often reflected in the face, and shines there like the light of heaven. Such newly enlightened souls often exclaim, "Why, sir, it is so plain; how is it I have not seen it before this? I understand all I read in the Bible now, though I could not make it out before.”
The fact is, the truth was always plain, but they were looking for signs and wonders, and therefore did not see what was nigh them. Christ Jesus is before our faces, and we have only to look to Him and live; but we make all manner of bewilderment of it, and so manufacture a maze out of that which is plain.
The little incident about the two sisters reminds me of another. A much esteemed friend came to me one Sunday morning after service to shake hands with me, "for," said she, "I was fifty years old on the slime day as yourself. I am like you in that one thing, sir; but I am the very reverse of you in better things.”
"Then you must be a very good woman, for in many things I also wish I could be the reverse of what I am.”
"No, no," she said, "I did not mean anything of that sort; I am not right at all.”
"What!" I said; "are you not a believer in the Lord Jesus?”
“Well," she said, with much emotion, "I I will try to be." I laid hold of her hand and said, "My dear soul, you are not going to tell me that you will try to believe my Lord Jesus! I cannot have such talk from you. It means blank unbelief. What has He done that you should talk of Him that way? Would you tell me that you would try to believe me? I know you would not treat me so rudely. You think me a true man, and so you believe me at once; and surely you cannot do less with my Lord Jesus." Then with tears she exclaimed,
"O! sir, do pray for me!”
"I do not feel that I can do anything of the kind. What can I ask the Lord Jesus to do for one who will not trust Him? I see nothing to pray about. If you will believe Him, you shall be saved; and if you will not believe Him, I cannot ask Him to invent a new way to gratify your unbelief." Then she said again,
"I will try to believe;" but I told her solemnly I would have none of her tryings, for the message from the Lord did not mention "trying," but said.
"He that believeth on Him hath everlasting life;" and its terrible reverse "He that believeth not, is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
I urged her to exercise full faith in the once crucified but now ascended Lord, and the Holy Spirit there and then enabled her to trust. She most tenderly said,
"O, sir, I have been looking to my feelings, and this has been my mistake! Now I trust my soul with Jesus, and I am saved." She found immediate peace through believing.
Faith is so simple a matter that, whenever I try to explain it, I am very fearful lest I should becloud its simplicity. I will, however, make one trial, and pray to the Lord to make it clear. I am told that on a certain road there was a disputed right-of-way. The owner wished to preserve his supremacy, and at the same time he did not wish to inconvenience the public; hence an arrangement which occasioned the following incident. Seeing a sweet country girl standing at the gate, a tourist went up to her and offered her .25c to permit him to pass.
"No, no," said the child, "I must not take anything from you; but you are to say: `Please allow me to pass,' and then you may come through and welcome." The permission was to be asked for; but it could be had for the asking.
Just so, eternal life is free; and it can be had yea, it shall be at once had by trusting in the word of Him who cannot lie. Trust Christ, and by that trust you grasp salvation and eternal life. Do not sit and bother your poor brain. Just believe Jesus as you would your father. Faith will not long seem a difficulty to you; nor ought it to be, so, for it is simple.