It is in looking
upon our sinful condition, and talking and mourning over our wretchedness, that
distress becomes more keen, and pain accumulates. Let the sinner arise in the
strength of Jesus; for he has no strength of his own, and let him assert his
liberty. Let him believe that the Lord has spoken truth, and trust in Him,
whatever may be the feelings of the heart. Let the sinner say, I will look away
from my own misery, from the wound of the serpent, to the uplifted Saviour, who
has said, "Him that cometh to Me, I will in nowise cast out." Look
upon Jesus. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world."
It is your
privilege to believe that Christ has borne your sins; for God hath laid on Him
the iniquity of us all. You are under the shelter of the sure refuge, under the
cover of the atoning blood of the acceptable sacrifice.
All legalism, all
the sorrow and woe by which you may encompass yourself, will not give you one
moment of relief. You cannot rightly estimate sin. You must accept God's
estimate, and it is heavy indeed. If you bore the guilt of your sin, it would
crush you; but the sinless One has taken your place, and though undeserving, He
has borne your guilt. By accepting the provision God has made, you may stand
free before Him in the merit and virtue of your Substitute.
Christ is the
friend of sinners. When the scribes and Pharisees accused Him of eating, with
publicans and sinners, Jesus said, "I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance." If you feel yourself to be the greatest of
sinners, then Christ is just what you need; for He is the greatest of Saviours.
Lift up your head, and look away from yourself, away from the poisoned wound of
the serpent, to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. What
will all your groaning and the torturing of your soul avail? You may entertain
thoughts that condemn you, but in them there is no salvation. Put away your
thoughts, and receive the thoughts of God, through which your mind may be
elevated, your soul purified and uplifted. The Lord says: "For a small
moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a
little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.' Why will you
carry your burden of sin, when Christ has come to be your burden bearer? Roll
your sins at the foot of the cross. Unload! unload! He takes away the sins of
the world. "I, even I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine
own sake, and will not remember thy sins."
You have been
pronounced a sinner, and Christ has announced Himself a Saviour. Accept the
remedy God has provided for you in a sin-pardoning Saviour. How would you have
felt had you been in the camp of Israel, and seen the people groaning and
shrieking in distress because of their swollen and painful wounds, when the
brazen serpent was uplifted, and when by one look they might be healed? Would
you not have exclaimed, "why do they not look at the uplifted serpent? How
strange it is that they do not perform the one simple act by which they may
receive healing!" But is it not as inconsistent for you to refuse to look
at the crucified Saviour? Heed the invitation: "Seek ye the Lord while He
may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord,
and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon."
Why should the
repenting sinner forsake his thoughts?--It is because they are not in
accordance with truth. He is tempted to believe that because of his sins God
has given him up to the will of his enemy, and that there is no pardon for so
great a sinner as he. But all these thoughts are dishonouring to God, because
man is God's possession, both by creation and redemption. "God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
[as his personal Saviour, and accepts Him as the only provision whereby he can
be saved] should not perish, but have everlasting life." You are one of
the "whosoever may believe." But while you cherish unbelief, and
permit feeling to govern you, your case will look hopeless to yourself. Forsake
these unbelieving thoughts. God says: "For My thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways My ways. . . . For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your
thoughts."
"God so
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Moses prayed that
God would show him His glory, "and the Lord descended in the cloud, and
stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed
by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty." This is the character of the God in whom you are
to put your trust. "God is love." Repeat this sentence whenever
temptation presses upon you. Remember that He is just and merciful, true and
gracious, and will by no means clear the guilty. God can be just, and yet be
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. He will accept you just as you
are; for there is no hope of your becoming better until you come to Jesus for
pardon and sanctification. Mourning and weeping will not purify you. You may
mourn your life away in unbelief and in bitterness of soul; but the power to cleanse
the vilest sinner is vested wholly in Him who can save unto the uttermost.
God does not ask
you to feel that Jesus is your Saviour, but to believe that He died for you,
and that His blood now cleanseth you from all sin. You have been bitten by the
serpent, and as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness that the dying
might look and live, so Christ was lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life. Saving faith is simplicity itself.
You must cry no more; you must cease to hang down your head as a bulrush. Look
to the uplifted Saviour, and, however grievous may have been your sins, believe
He saves you. All the remedies and medicines of the world would have failed to
cure one soul who had been bitten by the venomous serpent; but God had provided
a remedy that could not fail. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved." Be not among the number to whom the Saviour said,
"Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life." Oh, how He longed
to save them; for while we were yet sinners (not waiting for us to make
ourselves good), Christ died for us.
Take the word of
Jesus as more sure and valuable than any word that can come from the human
agent. Thank God with your whole heart and soul and voice that you are
barricaded with the rich promises of His infallible word, so that the wicked
one shall not touch you. God will give you the Holy Spirit, even though it may
seem to you that it is too good to be true. "What shall we then say to
these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His
own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely
give us all things?"
Mrs. E. G. White.
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