Resting in Faith

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 cleanses 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 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 to Me, that ye might have life.» O, how He longed to save them! for while we were yet sinners—not waiting for us to make ourselves good—Christ died for us.

Believe now that God loves you, for He hath declared it; and when Satan tries to fasten the burden of sin and horror upon you, take your Bible, and read, «God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.» You can not repulse the enemy by relating your fearful doubts, by telling him that you are horrified by the thought that you are lost. All this is music in his ears. He wants to make you as miserable as he is himself, but you can answer him by proclaiming the promise that you believe in the Son, and therefore shall not perish. As you turn your eyes away to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, the controversy with the enemy will be ended for that season. You can repulse him by declaring that «Christ was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities. The chastisement of my peace was upon Him, and with His stripes I am healed.»

Take the word of Jesus Christ 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 tho 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?» —