“‘Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ Is this clear to you? Do you understand it?”
“Yes,” she replied, “but that’s so simple, I don’t think I ever saw it like that before; but have I nothing to do?”
“Nothing but to take your place as a lost sinner, to own that you can do nothing for salvation, to believe that Christ bore the judgment in your stead, and that therefore you are free.”
“But I always felt as if I ought to do something.”
“If you could add anything to Christ’s work you would spoil it, for anything you could do would have to be rejected. If a man is in prison for murder, and is sentenced to be hanged, however well he might behave in prison, it could not alter the sentence of death he is under; so it is with us, we are under God’s judgment, and all our good behavior can make no difference; we can only be saved by accepting God’s salvation, thus owning that we can do nothing for ourselves. Surely you won’t refuse salvation because it is free?”
“O, no,” she answered, “I should be only too glad to know I was saved, but isn’t there a verse somewhere which says, ‘Work out your own salvation’?”
“Yes, there is, it is in Philippians 2:1212Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12). But first we will see who the epistle is written to. The very first verse says, ‘Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus.’
A saint is not an unconverted person. In writing to these saints, these saved ones, He says, ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;’ the salvation was theirs before they were told to work it out. Working for a dress is not the same as working at it, when once the material is yours. God gives us the salvation, and we have to work it out.”
“I think I see it now,” she said; “I always thought it meant that we were to work for our salvation.”
“Well, we have found out that God wants to save you, that He has given you the will to be saved, and that you have nothing to do but to believe on His Son; is there anything to keep you from being saved now?”
“But I do believe on His Son.”
“Do you really believe that He came to save you?” I asked.
“Yes, He came to save sinners, and I’m a sinner.”
“Then He must have come to save you. Did He perform what He came to do?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“And are you saved?”
“O, no, I should be afraid to say that.”
“Do you doubt God’s Word? He tells us that those who believe in His Son shall never perish; and the Lord says ‘He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life;’ is that true?”
“The Bible says so,” she answered, “only I don’t feel is if I were saved.”
“But God doesn’t want feelings, He wants faith, you will find nothing in His Word about feeling saved, we are saved by believing on the Lord Jesus, and we rejoice, not because we feel saved, but because of what God says about us.”
“But, I should like to feel it.”
“Now just answer me this question,” I said, “If I had put a $5 bill in your pocket, would it not be there whether you felt it or not?”
“Of course it would.”
“And don’t you think you can be saved by faith in Christ, if God says so, whether you feel it or not?”
“I see it now,” she replied, “we have to believe what God says, only it seems like presumption to think I’m saved; there are many people ever so much better than I am who would not like to say that.”
“Don’t you think it is more like presumption to doubt His Word, as if He did not speak the truth?”
“Yes,” said she, “I should not like to not believe Him.”
“Then you must honor Him by taking Him at His word, and trusting to what He says, won’t you do so?”
“Yes, I will; I will trust Him, only I’m afraid that if I sin after this, I shall begin to think I am not saved after all.”
“That would be very wrong,” I replied, “and very dishonoring to Christ’s finished work, as though its value depended on your walk. We who are saved ought not to sin, but we read that ‘Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor, height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom. 8:3939Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)). Once His, we are His forever.”
Dear reader, perhaps you have been harboring doubts of God’s willingness to save you. Perhaps you have thought that some change of life was needed before He could receive you. Never were you more mistaken.
God can accept nothing from you until you have accepted His salvation. His Word says
More than this, He cannot save you unless you accept the salvation He offers. If He did, He would not be perfectly just, and if He were not perfectly just and true, how could we trust His Word and expect the fulfillment of the promises He has made. It is the perfection of His character that gives us confidence in what He says. He has done His part, He can do no more, and you are now responsible to accept His offer. Will you refuse it any longer?