After the anxious heart has accepted the doctrine of atonement, and learned the great truth that salvation is by faith in the Lord Jesus, it is often extremely troubled with a sense of inability toward that which is good. Many are groaning, “I can do nothing.” They are not making this into an excuse, but they feel it as a daily burden. They would if they could. Each one can honestly say, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” (Romans 7:18, ESV).
This feeling seems to make the entire gospel null and void; for what is the use of food to a hungry man if he cannot get to it? Of what benefit is the river of the water of life if one cannot drink? We recall the story of the doctor and the poor woman’s child. The wise physician told the mother that her little one would soon be better under proper treatment, but it was absolutely necessary that her boy drink the best juice regularly, and that he should spend some time at one of the German spas. All this, for a widow who could hardly get bread to eat! Now, sometimes it seems to the troubled heart that the simple gospel of “Believe and live,” is not, after all, so very simple; for it asks the poor sinner to do what he cannot do. To the really awakened, but half instructed, there appears to be a missing link; way over there is the salvation of Jesus, but how is it to be reached? The soul is without strength, and doesn’t know what to do. It lies within sight of the city of refuge, and cannot enter its gate.
Is this lack of strength provided for in the plan of salvation? It is. The work of the Lord is perfect. It begins where we are, and asks nothing from us in order to be completed. When the Good Samaritan saw the traveler lying wounded and half dead, he didn’t ask him rise and come to him, and mount the donkey and ride off to the inn. No, “he came where he was,” and ministered to him, and lifted him upon the beast and carried him to the inn. Thus, the Lord Jesus deals with us in our low and wretched estate.
We have seen that God justifies, that He justifies the ungodly and that He justifies them through faith in the precious blood of Jesus; now we must see the condition these ungodly ones are in when Jesus works out their salvation. Many awakened persons are not only troubled about their sin, but about their moral weakness. They have no strength to escape from the mire that they have fallen into; or to keep out of it afterward. They not only mourn over what they have done, but over what they cannot do. They feel themselves to be powerless, helpless, and spiritually lifeless. It may sound odd to say that they feel dead, and yet that’s what it is. They are, in their own estimation, incapable of any and all good. They cannot travel the road to Heaven because their bones are broken. “All the men of war were unable to use their hands” (Psalms 76:5, ESV); in fact, they are “still weak.” Happily, it is written, as the commendation of God’s love to us:
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” --Romans 5:6, ESV
Here we see conscious helplessness aided-- helped by the mediation of the Lord Jesus. Our helplessness is extreme. It is not written, “While we were comparatively weak Christ died for us”; or, “While we had only a little strength”; but the description is absolute and unrestricted; “While we were still weak.” We had no strength whatsoever that could aid in our salvation; our Lord’s words were emphatically true, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5, ESV). I may go further than the text, and remind you of the great love with which the Lord loved us, even when we “were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1, ESV). To be dead is even more than to be without strength.
The one thing that the poor strengthless sinner has to fix his mind upon, and firmly retain as his one ground of hope, is the divine assurance that “at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Believe this, and all inability will disappear. Like the fable about Midas turning everything into gold by his touch, so it is true of faith, that it turns everything it touches into good. Our very needs and weaknesses become blessings when faith deals with them.
Let’s examine certain forms of this lack of strength. To begin with, one man will say, “Sir, I do not seem to have strength to collect my thoughts, and keep them fixed upon those solemn topics which concern my salvation; a short prayer is almost too much for me. It is so partly, perhaps, through natural weakness, partly because I have hurt myself through indulgent vices, and partly also because I worry myself with worldly cares, so that I am not capable of those high thoughts which are necessary before a soul can be saved.” This is a very common form of sinful weakness. Note this! You are without strength on this point; and there are many like you. They could not carry out a train of consecutive thought to save their lives. Many poor men and women are illiterate and untrained, and these would find deep thought to be very heavy work. Others are so light and trifling by nature that they could no more follow out a long process of argument and reasoning, than they could fly. They could never arrive at the knowledge of any deep mystery if they spent their whole life in the effort. You need not despair: what is necessary for salvation is not continuous thought, but a simple reliance upon Jesus. Hold on to this one fact-- “At the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” This truth will not require any deep research from you, or profound reasoning or convincing argument. There it stands: “At the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Set your mind on that, and rest there.
[Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s classic, All of Grace, has been edited in Modern English by Jon Cardwell]
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment