THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
by J. C. Ryle
"This is His name whereby He shall be called—the Lord our Righteousness."
Jeremiah 23:6.
The time is short. It is but a little while, and the Lord
Jesus shall come in His glory. The judgment shall be set and the books shall
be opened. "Before Him shall be gathered all nations," "that everyone may
receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether
it be good or bad." The inmost secrets of all hearts shall be revealed; "and
the kings of the earth, the nobles, the military commanders, the rich, the
powerful, and every slave and free person," will stand together on a level
at the judgment, and will see each other face to face, and one by one will
have to give account of themselves to God before the whole world. Thus it is
written, and therefore it is true and sure to come to pass.
And what does each of you intend to say in that hour?
What is the defense you are prepared to set up? What is the answer you
propose to give? What is the cause you mean to show why sentence should not
be pronounced against you?
Verily, beloved, I do fear that some among you do not
know. You have not thought about it yet—you have resolved to think about it
some day soon; or you are not quite clear about it at present; or you have
made out some ingenious, plausible scheme which will not stand the
touchstone of the Bible. Oh, what a fearful case is yours! Life is indeed
uncertain; the loveliest or the strongest here may perhaps be taken next—you
cannot make an agreement with death—and yet you cannot tell us what you are
resting upon for comfort. You do not know how soon the last trumpet may
sound, and yet you are uncertain as to the ground of your hope. Surely these
things ought not so to be.
Did any of you ever happen to visit a court of justice
just before the prisoners are tried? Have you not remarked how anxiously
each one is consulting with his friends and his lawyers as to the defense he
shall make—how earnest they are, how careful to leave no stone unturned that
may help to prove their innocence? And yet the greater part of them are
liable to no more than a few months' imprisonment—or a few years'
restitution; perhaps they may get off altogether by a quibble of the law—or
through lack of evidence.
See now how differently you act in the matter of your
souls. In the great day there will be no lack of witnesses; your thoughts
and words and actions will appear written in the book one after another.
Your judge is a searcher of hearts. And yet, in spite of all these facts,
too many of you sleep on—as if the Bible were not true; too many of you know
not how or why you are to escape God's wrath and condemnation.
Hearken then, if you love life, while I endeavor to give
you some instruction from the words of my text. The great question to be
made known is, "How shall man be just with God? How can I come before the
Lord in innocence?" and I wish this morning, if the Lord will, to make you
understand:
I. That you must have perfect righteousness—or you
will not be saved.
II. That you have no righteousness of your own of any
sort, and therefore by yourself you cannot be saved.
III. That the Lord Himself must be your Righteousness,
and so you shall be saved.
May God the Holy Spirit, who can convert the most aged,
the most careless, the most sinful (I speak that which I do know myself),
accompany the words I am about to speak, and make them seasonable to all
your souls!
I. You must have perfect righteousness—or you will
not be saved.
The Bible says plainly, "The wrath of God is revealed
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." "The unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God." "Let me die the death of the righteous,"
says Balaam, "and let my last end be like his." "The Lord loves the
righteous—but the way of the wicked He turns upside down." "The righteous
has hope in His death." Your people," says Isaiah to his God, "shall be all
righteous." "The cursed shall go away into everlasting punishment—but the
righteous into life eternal." "Have on the breastplate of righteousness,"
says Paul to the Ephesians. And how shall any one presume to say that he can
enter into heaven without it!
But I wish here to expose the folly of all those who talk
in a loose and general way about God's mercy. Men will often say, when urged
to think about their salvation, "Indeed I know I am not what I should be; I
have broken God's law very often—but He is very merciful, and I hope I shall
be forgiven." Truly, I do believe that the religion of many goes no further
than this. This is the only point they can lay hold of; this is the only
rock on which they build: press them for a reason of their hope, and there
is no answer; ask them to explain the ground of their confidence, and they
cannot do it. "God is merciful" is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last, of all their Christianity. Now, I am
bold to say, beloved, this is an immense delusion—a refuge of lies that will
not stand being compared with Scripture, and, more than this, it will not
last one instant in the fire of trial and affliction.
Have you not ever heard that God is a God of perfect
holiness—holy in His character, holy in His laws, holy in His
dwelling-place? "Speak unto the children of Israel," says the Book of
Leviticus, and say unto them, "You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am
holy." "He is a holy God," says Joshua; "He is a jealous God; He will not
forgive your transgressions nor your sins." "You are of purer eyes than to
behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity," says Habakkuk. "Without holiness
no man shall see the Lord." And the book of Revelation, speaking of heaven,
says, "There shall never enter into it anything that defiles." "It shall be
called the way of holiness," says Isaiah; "the unclean shall not pass over
it." And will you tell us, in the face of all these texts, that man—corrupt,
impure, defiled—as the best of us most surely is—shall pass the fiery
judgment of our God and enter into the heavenly Jerusalem by simply trusting
in the mercy of his Maker, without one single rag to cover his iniquities
and hide his natural uncleanness? It cannot be! God's mercy and God's
holiness must needs be reconciled, and you have not done this yet.
And have you never heard that God is a God of perfect
justice, whose laws may not be broken without punishment, whose commandments
must be fulfilled on pain of death? "All His ways are judgment," says the
book of Deuteronomy; "a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is
He." "Justice and judgment are the habitation of Your throne," says David.
"The just Lord is in the midst," says Zephaniah; "He will not do iniquity:
every morning does He bring His judgment to light; He fails not." "Do not
think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets," said Jesus: "I
have not come to destroy—but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Until
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law until all be fulfilled."
I cannot find that these verses have ever been declared
useless; I cannot discover any place which says the law is now obsolete, and
need not be fulfilled; and how, then, can I teach you that it is enough to
look merely to God's mercy? I read of only two ways in the Bible: One is, to
perfectly obey the whole law yourself; the other is, to trust in the perfect
obedience of Christ. Show me, if you can, one single text which teaches that
a man may be saved without the claims of the law having been satisfied. An
earthly prince, indeed, may forgive and pass over men's transgressions—but
God never changes. "Has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" I tell
you, then, God's mercy and God's justice must be reconciled; and this you
have not done yet.
You must have the perfect righteousness of Christ to
appear in, at the marriage supper of the Lamb. You would not say a murderer
should be acquitted, because he said he was sorry and hoped to be forgiven;
you must make some amends to justice and to holiness; you cannot shut your
eyes against the plain declarations of the Bible. You must have some good
reason to give, why you should not be judged for all your sins and
backslidings; you must show some cause why the punishment threatened for
breaking God's law is not to fall upon you; there must be satisfaction for
your sins—or you will perish everlastingly.
You tell us fairly you are not what you should be—but you
say that God is merciful. I answer you this will not stand before the Bible:
the wages of sin is death, he who offends in one point is guilty of all. God
loves you—but He will have His demands paid in full: your debt must be
discharged by yourself or by someone else; choose which you please—but one
thing at least is certain—payment must be made. God is indeed all love: He
wills not the death of any sinner—but, however small your iniquities may be,
they cannot possibly be put away until the claims of His law have been
satisfied to the uttermost farthing. By some means, then, you must have
righteousness—or else it is clear you cannot be saved.
II. I promised in the
second place to show you that
we have no righteousness of our own—and therefore by ourselves we
cannot be saved. I trust I need not dwell
upon this point long, and therefore I shall only say a few words to enforce
it on your notice.
Look at the law of God, and measure its
requirements. Does it not ask of every man a perfect, unsinning obedience
from first to last, in thought and word and deed, without one single failure
in the slightest jot or tittle? And where is the son or daughter of Adam who
can say, "All this I have performed"? Who is not conscious of a daily
falling short in everything he does? I do not speak so much of thieves and
liars and adulterers and drunkards and the like—for these are walking
towards hell, leaning on Satan's arm. I speak rather of those who do not
live in gross vices. I would even take the case of the best Christian among
ourselves, and ask him if he can name a single day on which he has not
sinned in many things. Oh, how much he would tell you of wandering in his
prayers, of defilement in his thoughts, of coldness toward God, of lack of
love, of pride, of evil tempers, of vanity, of worldly-mindedness! And all,
remember, in the heart of one of those few who are traveling in the narrow
way which leads unto life. And how shall we then believe, though all the
world persuade us to the contrary, that man can ever purchase his acceptance
in the sight of God? So true are the words of that clear-sighted witness the
apostle Paul, "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified."
But here I take occasion to answer the reasoning of those
Pharisees, who would have men believe they can assist in the work of
salvation by their own performances. They cannot submit to the idea that we
are naturally so helpless, and so they go about to establish their own
righteousness, and this in a variety of ways.
Some tell us that repentance and amendments
will enable us to stand in the great day—but the Bible does not warrant it.
No doubt, without them none of you will enter into the kingdom of heaven.
But your amendments cannot put away your sins nor endure the severity of
God's judgment; they cannot open that strait gate which must be passed
before you get into the narrow way, although they may lead you up to it;
they cannot blot out one single page of that black book in which your
iniquities are written. John Baptist preached repentance—but he never told
his hearers it would save them.
Some say they put their trust in well-spent lives:
they never did anybody any harm; they have always done their best, and so
they hope they shall be accounted righteous. Beloved, this is miserable
trifling. Let them tell us of a single day in which they have not broken
that spiritual law laid down in the Sermon on the Mount. What! Never thought
an unkind thought? Never had an unchaste look? Never said an uncharitable
thing? Never coveted? Oh, that tenth commandment: how utterly it seems
neglected! And yet, in God's eyes, it goes along with murder and adultery.
Or let them tell us of a single hour in which they have not left undone
something it was in their power to do; and this must be accounted for. They
cannot do it; they are silent; and yet these things are written plainly in
the Bible. Is it not clear, then, that they do not read the Scriptures—or
neglect their precepts if they do, and so, at any rate, they are not doing
their best?
Some tell us that they hope sincerity will carry
them safe through their trial. They may not perhaps have quite clear
views—but still they have always meant well, and so they hope to be
accepted. I cannot find there is any place for them in heaven. I read in the
book of Kings that the priests of Baal called on their God for half a day,
and cut themselves after their manner with knives, until the blood gushed
out upon them. That was sincerity at any rate, and yet, a few hours after,
Elijah commanded them to be put to death as soul-destroying idolaters. I
read that Paul himself, before conversion, was zealous toward God: he
thought within himself he ought to do many things contrary to Jesus of
Nazareth, and shut up many of the saints in prison, and was exceedingly mad
against them. Here was sincerity and earnestness; and yet we find him
saying, when his eyes were opened: "I was a blasphemer and a persecutor, and
injurious. . . . I am the least of the apostles, the chief of sinners . . .
. I am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of
God." And so it seems a man may be in earnest, and yet going towards the
eternal place of torment.
Lastly, some tell us that they go through all the
forms and ordinances of religion, and build their claim to righteousness
on that. "Has not God commanded us," they say, "to honor His word, His
house, His ministers, His sacraments?" All this we do, and surely He will
accept us. I cannot find it written. But I do remember that the Jews had
ceremonies and observances in abundance; and I have found many passages
which seem to show that men may pay attention to these things, and yet be
abominable in the sight of God. Hear the judgment of Samuel: "Has the Lord
as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice
of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than
the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry."
Listen to the voice of Isaiah—Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, you people of
Gomorrah! "What are all your sacrifices to Me?" asks the Lord. "I have had
enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no
desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats. When you come to appear
before Me, who requires this from you—this trampling of My courts? Stop
bringing useless offerings. I despise your incense. New Moons and Sabbaths,
and the calling of solemn assemblies—I cannot stand iniquity with a
festival. I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals. They have become a
burden to Me; I am tired of putting up with them. When you lift up your
hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless
prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. "Wash
yourselves. Cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop
doing evil." (Isaiah 1:10-16)
"I spoke not to your fathers," says the Lord by Jeremiah,
"concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: but this thing commanded I them,
saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people:
and walk you in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well
with you."
I trust it will not seem to you unprofitable to have
taken up so much time in exposing these delusions. In one way it is very
useful. They all show that conscience tells every man he must have something
wherewith to appear before God. Now, I wish to show you plainly that we have
no perfect righteousness of our own; the doctrine may seem hard and
disagreeable, and yet there are few who do not allow it at one important
period in their lives, if they never did before. I mean the hour of death.
Mark then how anxious almost everyone becomes, whom God permits to keep
possession of his senses. The judgment day appears then in its true light.
Man feels naked and empty. He knows he is about to be asked that solemn
question, "What have you to say, why you should not perish for this long
list of sins?" and if he has not furnished himself with the only answer that
can be given, the view before his eyes cannot possibly look anything else
than dreary, black, and hopeless. Ask those who have been brought to death's
door by sickness, whether this be not true, and they will tell you.
In short, both Scripture and your own experience prove
most fully that nothing we can do will stand God's holy and just
examination. Our repentance, good works and services, all necessary and
useful in themselves, are so tainted, so infected and imperfect, that they
cannot justify us. We have no righteousness of our own, and therefore by
ourselves we cannot be saved. "We are all as an unclean thing," says Isaiah,
"and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a
leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
III. "But what are we to
do?" perhaps you will ask. "You seem to have shut us up without hope. You
told us first that we must have a perfect righteousness; and now you have
told us further that we have no righteousness of our own. What are we to do?
Which way are we to turn? What would you have us say? To whom are we to
look?" Praised be God, beloved, I am not obliged to leave you here. I will
not lead you into the wilderness and terrify you, and then point out no path
towards the heavenly Canaan. I promised in the third place to tell you
how God can be a just God—and
yet show mercy and justify the most ungodly?
And this is all contained in the words of my text, "The Lord" must be "our
righteousness."
I show you here a mystery of wisdom and of love. The Lord
Jesus Christ has done what we ought to have done—and suffered
what we ought to have suffered. He has taken our place and become our
substitute both in life and death, and all for the sake of miserable,
corrupt, ungrateful beings like ourselves. Oh, is not His name then rightly
called, "The Lord our Righteousness"?
Beloved, I ought to dwell upon this point. It is so
highly important to have a clear view of it, and Satan does so much to
prevent your seeing it distinctly, that I must try to unfold it before your
eyes, that all of you may be able to understand what a minister means when
he urges you to trust in the Lord Jesus as your righteousness.
Consider now: there were two things to be done before
guilty man could be saved. The law was to be fulfilled, for we had all come
short of it; justice was to be satisfied, for we had all deserved
punishment. And how was this effected? Hearken! The Lord Jesus Christ,
pitying our lost estate, covenanted and engaged to become our surety and
substitute; and when the fullness of time was come, He left the bosom of His
Father and took upon Him the form of a servant here on earth, being born of
the Virgin Mary. In that form, by a sinless obedience to the whole law, He
wrought out and brought in a perfect and everlasting righteousness. And this
He is both willing and ready to bestow on all who will put their trust in
Him. And more than this: to complete the mighty work, He consented to offer
up Himself in our place as a victim to the wrath of God, to suffer instead
of us, to bear that punishment which we had deserved—and this He did by
dying on the cross. It was there He satisfied the claims of justice. It was
there He paid the heavy debt written against our names. It was there that
God the Father laid upon Him the iniquity of us all, and made His soul a
sacrifice for sin. It was there that He redeemed us from the curse of the
law, being made a curse for us. Here, then, you see the plan of salvation
which is offered to all the world. The believing sinner's guilt is taken
away and laid upon Christ, for He has bore our transgressions. And all the
merit of Christ's life and death, and all the value of His sufferings, are
then made over to the sinner.
But see how great and glorious is this exchange between
Jesus and our souls: the Father sees us now as members of His dear Son, in
whom He is well pleased; He deals with us as if we had never sinned, as if
we had ourselves fulfilled all righteousness; He looks on us as one with
Christ, and acknowledges us as dear children and heirs of eternal glory. Do
I say more than Scripture warrants? I think not. Listen to Paul: "God has
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him." Are not these words strong? But so it is.
"Christ was accounted as a sinner, and therefore punished for us. We are
accounted as righteous, and therefore glorified in Him. He was accounted as
a sinner, and therefore He was condemned. We are accounted as righteous in
Him, and therefore justified." (Beveridge)
God's law has been satisfied, and now we may be saved. Sin has been
punished, and now sinners may go free. God has shown Himself a just God, and
yet He can be the Savior of guilty men.
Beloved, are not these things wonderful? Are not these
glad tidings to the laboring and heavy laden? The Lord Himself is our
righteousness. Who is there among you that is groaning under the burden of
sin, trembling under a sense of innumerable transgressions? Fear not—but
come to Jesus; He has paid your debt in full; believe, and you shall be
free. Who is there among you that is tried with manifold
temptations—slipping, stumbling, walking in darkness and seeing no light,
and often ready to say with David, "I shall one day perish!" Fear not—but
look to Jesus; He has secured your entrance into heaven; He has fought and
won the battle for you. The Lord is our righteousness. This shall be our
defense and plea—when earth and its works are burned up, and the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and the Chief
Shepherd shall appear to judge the sons of men.
Who shall lay anything then to the charge of those
who have laid hold on Christ? Shall anyone presume to say they have not done
everything required? The Lord, we will answer, is our righteousness; He is
our substitute; we have done nothing—but He has done everything; He is our
all in all. And who is he that can condemn us? shall death or hell or Satan
lay a finger on us, and dare to say that justice has not been satisfied? The
Lord, we will answer, is our righteousness; we have indeed sinned—but Christ
has suffered; we have deserved wrath—but Jesus has died and shed His blood
to make atonement in our stead. "Blessed," says holy David, "is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin." "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,"
says Isaiah; "my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with
the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of
righteousness—as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorns herself with her jewels."
Now, I have preached to very little purpose, beloved, if
you do not this very morning ask yourselves, "Is the Lord my
righteousness—or is He not?" Remember this mighty gift is offered unto
all—but it is only placed upon those who believe. "Faith is the only hand
which puts on Christ to justification. Christ is the only garment which can
cover your defiled nature, and present you blameless in the sight of God.
Without this faith it is clear you have neither part nor portion in this
righteousness." (Hooker)
I know not that I can put into your heads a more important inquiry; and yet,
I sadly fear too many of you will not think I am in earnest—or else you will
suppose the question may be useful to your neighbors—but not so very
necessary for yourself.
Indeed, I am persuaded there are many people in every
congregation who flatter themselves they are in a kind of middle path. They
do not, to be sure, pretend they are in the number of the godly people—but
they would be very sorry to be thought ungodly. They have a great respect
for religion, and some time or other they intend to take it up more
seriously—perhaps when they are married and have a home of their own (so the
young say)—or when they have not so many cares or so much trouble about
their families and their relations—or when they get on in years (so the
middle-aged say)—or by-and-by—or when they become ill (so the old and
grey-headed say). But in the meantime, they live on and move forward in a
comfortable state of mind, take all the promises of God and all the smooth
parts of a sermon to themselves, and leave the addresses to the unconverted
and the careless for others.
But, once for all, I say to such people—your middle path
seems right in your own eyes—but I have searched the Scriptures, and I
cannot find it. I cannot meet with more than two descriptions of character:
I read of a broad way, and I read of a narrow way; I read of converted men,
and unconverted men; I read of heaven, and I read of hell; I read of those
who are in Christ, and I read of those who are not in Christ. But nowhere
can I find that road in which you put your trust—and I do not hesitate to
say you will find it in the end to be nothing better than a piece of that
broad way that leads to destruction. Think not I wish to hurt your
feelings—but I do wish to awaken you, to convince you of the folly of this
sleepy, half-and-half religion, and to show you the necessity of being
decided and in earnest on the side of Christ, if you would not be lost
forever.
I say this much by way of warning, and I now repeat to
every man, woman and child here present, the plain question: "Is the Lord
your righteousness—or is He not?" I know that there are here, two parties.
One would reply, if honest, "I fear He is not"; and the other would answer,
"I trust He is." I purpose, therefore, to conclude this sermon by a few
words to each of these two classes.
First, then, I shall offer some counsel to those among
you who say: "The Lord Jesus is, we trust, our righteousness." I say then,
and I think it safe to do so—You have made a good profession. But I would
have you daily search and see that you are not deceiving yourselves. See
that your tongue does not lay claim to more than your heart has received and
knows of; see that your life and lips are thoroughly agreed. Show all the
world that He in whom you trust is your example no less than your
righteousness; and while you wait for His second appearing endeavor daily to
become more like Him. Study to be holy, even as He who has called you and
washed you in His own blood is holy. Let not the righteousness of the Lord
be evil-spoken of through you; let not Jesus be wounded in the house of His
friends. Think of His love; let that constrain you to obedience—having much
forgiven, love much. Beware that you give the Lord's enemies no occasion to
blaspheme. They are watching you much; you cannot be hidden. Be always
saying to yourself, "What shall I do, and how shall I behave, to show my
gratitude to Him who has carried my sins and given me His righteousness?"
But know you for a certainty, if the world says "What do
these people do, more than others?" if those who live with you cannot take
knowledge of you that you are much with Jesus; if you have no fruit to show
of any sort; if you are not habitually and daily sober, just, holy,
temperate, humble, meek, loving, watchful, fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord, hungering and thirsting after righteousness; if you have none of these
things, you are little better than sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, you
are ruining your own soul, and in the day of judgment you will plead in vain
the name of Jesus. The Lord will say, "I know you not; you never really came
to me; I cannot see my seal upon your forehead, of which my servant Paul
spake—Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
"There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
It only remains now to speak to all among you who cannot
say "The Lord is my righteousness." Indeed, beloved, I am distressed for
your condition. I cannot understand, I never can, what arguments you use to
quench the striving of God's Spirit, to stop the piercings of your own
conscience. In truth, I do suspect you never argue, you never reason; you
shut your eyes and try to forget your own perishing souls. But don't you
know that verse of the Bible which declares "the wicked shall be turned into
hell, and all those who forget God,"—not ridicule—or insult—but simply all
who forget. And don't you know the verse "How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation?" It does not say abuse—or disbelieve—or deny—but simply
"neglect," and this, I fear, is a charge you cannot turn aside.
Oh, think of death—it may be near at hand. Your
careless indifference will alter then—but without Christ you will find a
sting in that hour which no power of your own will ever remove. Think of
eternity in hell—no merry companions, no comfortable gossiping,
no noisy revelling at night, nothing but unchanging misery, unceasing
torment, and unutterable woe. Think of your judgment—your name will
be called in turn, and you will stand in the sight of assembled
millions—ministers, father, mother, wife, children, relations, all will see
you—you will have to give account of your actions, and you know that you
will be condemned. But who will then pass sentence? Not an angel, not even
God the Father—but the Lord Himself (Oh! cutting and heartrending
thought)—the Lord Jesus, whose blood and righteousness you now refuse, will
pronounce your condemnation.
These things perhaps sound dreadful; perhaps they may be
treated with ridicule—but the day is at hand which will bring everyone to
their senses, and make everybody sober—and you will then find that they are
true. Knowing, therefore, the terrors of the Lord, let me persuade you to
close with the gracious invitation of your Savior, and never rest until you
can say from your hearts, "The Lord is my righteousness."
I know not anything that should prevent your salvation if
you are willing and obedient. I cannot see in what respect your happiness on
earth would be diminished. You are discontented with yourself, and I offer
in the name of Christ—joy, pardon, and peace. You are poor, and I offer
unsearchable riches. You are naked, and I offer you a spotless robe in which
you shall sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and never be cast you
out.
But mark, I will not promise you anything beyond today.
"Now is the accepted time." Thus far I can go—but one step further I cannot
proceed upon sure ground. If you reject the counsel of God now, I cannot
promise even the youngest of you another opportunity. Before tomorrow your
'long home' may be fixed unalterably; tomorrow death may interfere—or Jesus
may return to judgment, and it would be too late.
Go home, then, if you value your soul—and turn the words
of the text into a prayer, and entreat the Lord to receive you and become
your righteousness.
Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly into every heart. Amen
and Amen.
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