God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
The Gospel is the good news of pardon to the guilty; and it enters into no calculations, in regard to the different degrees of guilt in those whom it addresses. It reveals an atonement sufficient for all; and every sinner of the human race is commanded to receive it as a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save the chief of sinners. The Gospel does not teach us how to lay a foundation for ourselves, but informs us of the sure foundation which God has laid in Zion, upon which all are equally invited and commanded to build their hopes, without any apprehensions of being upbraided for their past conduct by their gracious Creator.
Is there anyone among you who truly thinks their salvation hangs suspended on the thin thread of your own will-power and commitment to righteousness? I know my own soul all too well. Were it not for God’s preserving grace I would have lost my salvation the day after I was born again. “If ever it should come to pass, that sheep of Christ might fall away, my fickle, feeble soul, alas! would fall a thousand times a day!” If you do not believe in the security of your soul in Christ, tomorrow should hold little but fear and misery and perhaps despair for you. For it may well be the day you commit that sin that will forever sever you from the Savior’s love. I can face tomorrow and the day after and the day after that with confidence, because I know that He “will never leave me nor forsake me” (Heb. 13:5).
