It is with our sins that we
go to God, for we have nothing else to go with that we can call our own. This is
one of the lessons that we are so slow to learn; yet without learning this we
cannot take one right step in that which we call a Christian life.
To look up some good thing in our past life, or to get
some good thing now, if we find that our past does not contain any such thing is
our first thought when we begin to inquire after God, that we may get the great
question settled between Him and us, as to the forgiveness of our
sins.
In His favor is life; and to be without this favor is to be
unhappy here, and to be shut out from joy hereafter. There is no life worthy of
the name of life except that which flows from His assured friendship.
Without that friendship, our life here is a burden and a weariness; but with
that friendship we fear no evil, and all sorrow is turned into joy.
How shall I be happy? was the question of a weary soul who
had tried a hundred different ways of happiness, and had always failed. Secure the favor of God," was the prompt answer, by one who
had himself tasted that the "Lord is gracious.
Is there no other way of being happy? None, none, was the quick and decided reply. Man has been
trying other ways for six thousand years, and has utterly failed and are you
likely to succeed? No, not likely; and I don't want to go on trying. But this
favor of God seems such a shadowy thing, and God Himself so far off that I know
not which way to turn.
God's favor is no shadow; it is real beyond all other
realities; and He Himself is the nearest of all near beings, as accessible as He
is gracious. That favor of which you speak has always seemed to me a sort
of mist, of which I can make nothing. Say rather it is sunshine which a mist is hiding from
you.
Yes, yes, I believe you; but how shall I get through the
mist into the sunshine beyond? It seems so difficult and to
require such a length of time! You make that distant and difficult which God
has made simple and near and easy.
Are there no difficulties, do you mean to say? In one sense, a thousand; in another sense, none. How is that? Did the Son of God put difficulties in the sinner's way, when
He said to the multitude, 'Come unto Me and I will give you rest'? Certainly not! He meant them to go at once to Him, as He stood
there and as they stood there, and He would give them rest.
Had you then been upon the spot, what difficulties should you
have found? None, certainly to speak of difficulties when I was
standing by the side of the Son of God would have been folly, or worse.
Did the Son of God suggest difficulty to the sinner, when He
sat on Jacob's well, by the side of the Samaritan woman? Was not all difficulty
anticipated or put away by these wondrous words of Christ, 'If you knew the gift
of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked
Him and He would have given you living water'? Yes, no doubt the asking and the giving was all. The whole
transaction is finished on the spot. Time and space, distance and difficulty,
have nothing to do with the matter; the giving was to follow the
asking as a matter of course. So far all is plain. But I would ask: Is
there no barrier here? None whatever, if the Son of God really came to save the
lost; if He came for those who were only partly lost, or who could
partly save themselves, the barrier is infinite. This I admit; nay, insist
upon!
Is the being lost, then no barrier to our being
saved? Foolish question, which may be met by a foolish answer. Is
your being thirsty a hindrance to your receiving water; or is being
poor a hindrance to your receiving riches as a gift from a friend? True, it is my thirst that fits me for the water; and my
poverty that fits me for the gold. Ah, yes, the Son of Man did not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. If you are not wholly
a sinner there is a barrier; but if you are wholly a sinner there is no
barrier!
Wholly a sinner! Is that really my
character? No doubt of that. If you doubt it, go and search your Bible.
God's testimony is that you are wholly a sinner, and must deal with Him as such;
for the healthy do not need a physician but only those who are sick.
Wholly a sinner, well! but must I not get rid of some of my
sins—before I can expect blessing from Him? No, indeed! He alone can deliver you from so much as even one
sin; and you must go at once to Him with all your sins, however many that
may be! If you be not wholly a sinner you do not wholly need Christ; for He is a
complete Savior of none but complete sinners! He does not help you to
save yourself, nor do you help Him to save you. He does all the saving or
nothing at all.
[Horatius Bonar]
✞✞✞
1 Peter 2:24 ... Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Romans 5:6-8 ... For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
John 4:10 ... Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Matthew 11:28 ... Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.❤
