Preface

There seem to be many, in our day, who are seeking God. Yet they appear to be but feeling after Him, in order to find Him, as if He were either a distant or an unknown God. They forget that he is not far from every one of us (Acts 17:27); for in him we live, and move, and have our being.

That He is not far; that He has come down; that He has come near—this is the beginning of the gospel. It sets aside the vain thoughts of those who think that they must bring Him near by their prayers and devout performances. He has shown Himself to us, that we may know Him, and, in knowing Him, find the life of our souls.

With some who call themselves Christians, religion is a very unfinished thing. It drags heavily, and is not satisfactory, either to the religious performers of it, or the onlookers. There is no substance in it, and no comfort. There is earnestness perhaps, but there is no peace with God; and so there is not even the root or foundation of that which God calls religion. It needs to begin over again.

Acceptance with God lies at the foundation of all religion, for there must be an accepted worshipper before there can be acceptable worship. Religion is, with many, merely the means of averting God’s displeasure and securing His favour. It is often irksome, but they do not feel easy in neglecting it; and they hope that by it they may obtain forgiveness before they die.

This, however, is the inversion of God’s order, and is in reality the worship of an unknown God. It terminates in forgiveness, whereas God’s religion begins with it. All false religions, though outwardly differing very widely, are made up of earnest efforts to secure for the religionists the divine favour now, and eternal life at last. The one true religion is seen in the holy life of those who, having found for themselves forgiveness and favour, in believing the record which God has given of His Son, are walking with Him from day to day, in the calm but sure consciousness of being entirely accepted, and working for Him, with the happy earnestness of those whose reward is His constant smile of love; who, having been much forgiven, love much, and show, by daily sacrifice and service, how much they feel themselves debtors to a redeeming God, debtors to His church, and debtors to the world in which they live (Rom 1:14).

But if this is true religion, how much is there of the false?

It is not good that men should be all their life seeking God, and never finding Him; that they should be ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. It is not good to be always doubting; and, when challenged, to make the untrue excuse that they are only doubting themselves, not God; that they are only dissatisfied with their own faith, but not with its glorious object. It is not good to believe in our own faith, still less in our own doubts, as some seem to do, making the best doubter to be the best believer; as if it were the gold of the cup, not the living water which it contains, that was to quench our thirst; and as if it were unlawful to take that precious water from a poor earthen vessel, such as our imperfect faith must ever be! In this momentous thing, surely it is with the water, and not with the vessel, that the thirsty soul has to do! It is not the quality of the vessel, but the quality of the water, that the thirsty soul thinks of; and he whose pride will not allow him to drink out of a soiled or broken pitcher must die of thirst. So he who puts away the sure reconciliation of the cross, because of an imperfect faith, must die the death. He who says, I believe the right thing, but I don’t believe it in the right way, and therefore I can’t have peace, is the man whose pride is such, that he is determined not to quench his thirst save out of a cup of gold.

Some have tried to give directions to sinners how to get converted, multiplying words without wisdom, leading the sinner away from the cross by setting him upon doing, not upon believing. Our business is not to give any such directions, but, as the apostles did, to preach Christ crucified, a present Saviour, and a present salvation. Then it is that sinners are converted, as the Lord Himself said, I, if I be lifted up . . . will draw all men unto me (Jn 12:32).

In the following chapters there are some things which may appear repetitions. But this could not easily be avoided, as there were certain truths as well as certain errors that necessarily came up at different points and under different aspects. I need not apologise for these, as they were, in a great measure, unavoidable. They take up very little space, and I do not think they will seem at all superfluous to anyone who reads for profit and not for criticism.

Horatius Bonar

Kelso, Scotland

December 1861

1

God’s Testimony Concerning Man

God knows us. He knows what we are; He knows also what He meant us to be; and, upon the difference between these two states, He founds His testimony concerning us.

He is too loving to say anything needlessly severe; too true to say anything untrue; nor can He have any motive to misrepresent us; for He loves to tell of the good, not of the evil, that may be found in any of the works of His hands. He declared them good, very good, at first; and if He does not do so now, it is not because He would not, but because He cannot; for all flesh has corrupted its way upon the earth (Gn 6:12).

The divine testimony concerning man is that he is a sinner. God bears witness against him, not for him; and testifies that there is none righteous, no, not one; that there is none that doeth good; none that understandeth; none that even seeks after God, and, still more, none that loves Him (Ps 14:1–3; Rom 3:10–12). God speaks of man kindly, but severely; as one yearning over a lost child, yet as one who will make no terms with sin, and will by no means clear the guilty. He declares man to be a lost one, a stray one, a rebel, a hater of God (Rom 1:30); not a sinner occasionally, but a sinner always; not a sinner in part, with many good things about him; but wholly a sinner, with no compensating goodness; evil in heart as well as life, dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1); an evil doer, and therefore under condemnation; an enemy of God, and therefore under wrath; a breaker of the righteous law, and therefore under the curse of the law (Gal 3:10).

Man has fallen! Not this man nor that man, but the whole race. In Adam all have sinned; in Adam all have died. It is not that a few leaves have faded or been shaken down, but the tree has become corrupt, root and branch. The flesh, or old man—that is, each man as he is born into the world, a son of man, a fragment of humanity, a unit in Adam’s fallen body—is corrupt. The sinner not merely brings forth sin, but he carries it about with him, as his second self; he is a body or mass of sin (Rom 6:6), a body of death (Rom 7:24), subject not to the law of God, but to the law of sin (Rom 7:23). The Jew, educated under the most perfect of laws, and in the most favourable circumstances, was the best type of humanity, of civilised, polished, educated humanity; the best specimen of Adam’s sons; yet God’s testimony concerning him is that he is under sin, that he has gone astray, and that he has come short of the glory of God.

The outer life of a man is not the man, just as the paint on a piece of timber is not the timber, and as the green moss upon the hard rock is not the rock itself. The picture of a man is not the man; it is but a skillful arrangement of colours which look like the man. So it is the bearing of the soul toward God that is the true state of the man. The man that loves God with all his heart is in a right state; the man that does not love Him thus is in a wrong one. He is a sinner, because his heart is not right with God. He may think his life a good one, and others may think the same; but God counts him guilty, worthy of death and hell. The outward good cannot make up for the inward evil. The good deeds done to his fellow men cannot be set off against his bad thoughts of God. And he must be full of these bad thoughts, so long as he does not love this infinitely lovable and infinitely glorious Being with all his strength.

God’s testimony then concerning man is that he does not love God with all his heart; indeed, that he does not love Him at all. Not to love our neighbour is sin; not to love a parent is greater sin; but not to love God is greater sin still.

Man need not try to say a good word for himself, or to plead not guilty, unless he can show that he loves, and has always loved God with his whole heart and soul. If he can truly say this, he is all right, he is not a sinner, and does not need pardon. He will find his way to the kingdom without the cross and without a Saviour. But, if he cannot say this, his mouth is stopped, and he is guilty before God. However favourably a good outward life may dispose him and others to look upon his case just now, the verdict will go against him hereafter. This is man’s day, when man’s judgments prevail; but God’s day is coming, when the case shall be tried upon its real merits. Then the Judge of all the earth shall do right, and the sinner be put to shame.

There is another and yet worse charge against him. He does not believe on the name of the Son of God, nor love the Christ of God. This is his sin of sins. That his heart is not right with God is the first charge against him. That his heart is not right with the Son of God is the second. And it is this second that is the crowning, crushing sin, carrying with it more terrible damnation than all other sins together. He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (Jn 3:18). He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son (1 Jn 5:10). He that believeth not shall be damned (Mk 16:16). And hence it is that the first sin which the Holy Spirit brings home to a man is unbelief; when he [the Holy Spirit] is come, he will reprove the world of sin . . . because they believe not on me (Jn 16:8–9).

Such is God’s condemnation of man. Of this the whole Bible is full. That great love of God, which His Word reveals, is based on this condemnation. It is love to the condemned. God’s testimony to His own grace has no meaning, save as resting on, or taking for granted His testimony to man’s guilt and ruin. Nor is it against man as merely a being morally diseased or sadly unfortunate that He testifies, but as guilty of death, under wrath, sentenced to the eternal curse, for that crime of crimes, a heart not right with God, and not true to His incarnate Son.

This is a divine verdict, not a human one. It is God, not man, who condemns, and God is not a man that He should lie. This is God’s testimony concerning man, and we know that this witness is true. It concerns us much to receive it as such, and act upon it.

2

Man’s Own Character No Ground for Peace

If God testifies against us, who can testify for us? If God’s opinion of man’s sinfulness, His judgment of man’s guilt, and His declaration of sin’s evil, is so very decided, there can be no hope of acquittal for us on the ground of personal character or goodness, either of heart or life. That which God sees in us furnishes only matter for condemnation, not for pardon.

It is vain to struggle or murmur against God’s judgment. He is the Judge of all the earth; and He is right as well as sovereign in His judgment. He must be obeyed; His law is inexorable; it cannot be broken without making the breaker of it (even in one jot or tittle) worthy of death.

When the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of the soul, it sees this. Conviction of sin is just the sinner seeing himself as he is, and as God has all along seen him. Then every fond idea of self-goodness, either in whole or in part, vanishes away. The things in him that once seemed good appear so bad, and the bad things so very bad, that every self-prop falls from beneath him, and all hope of being saved, in consequence of something in his own character, is then taken away. He sees that he cannot save himself; nor help God to save him. He is lost, and he is helpless. Doings, feelings, strivings, prayings, givings, abstainings, and the like, are found to be no relief from a sense of guilt, and, therefore, no resting place for a troubled heart. If sin were but a disease or a misfortune, these apparent good things might relieve him, as being favourable symptoms of returning health; but when sin is guilt even more than disease; and when the sinner is not merely sick, but condemned by the righteous Judge, then none of these goodnesses, whether inner or outer, can reach his case, for they cannot assure him of a complete and righteous pardon, and, therefore, cannot pacify his roused and wounded conscience. He sees God’s unchangeable hatred of sin, and the coming revelation of His wrath against the sinner; and he cannot but tremble.

The question, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? is not one which can be decided by an appeal to personal character or goodness of life, or prayers, or performances of religion. The way of approach is not for us to settle. God has settled it; and it only remains for us to avail ourselves of it. He has fixed it on grounds altogether irrespective of our character; or rather on grounds which take for granted simply that we are sinners, and that therefore the element of goodness in us, as a title, or warrant, or recommendation, is altogether inadmissible, either in whole or in part.

Man is bankrupt, totally so; his credit in the market is gone. If, then, he is to carry on his trade, he cannot do it in his own name. He must have a better name than that, a name of note and weight, for his security. For the transactions of the heavenly market there is but one name given under heaven, the Name of names.

To say, as some do at the outset of their anxiety, I will set myself to pray, and after I have prayed a sufficient length of time, and with tolerable earnestness, I may approach and count upon acceptance, is not only to build upon the quality and quantity of our prayers, but it is to overlook the real question before the sinner, How am I to approach God in order to pray? All prayers are approaches to God, and the sinner’s anxious question is, How may I approach God? God’s explicit testimony to man is, You are unfit to approach me; and it is a denial of the testimony to say, I will pray myself out of this unfitness into fitness; I will work myself into a right state of mind and character for drawing near to God.

Were you from this moment to cease from sin, and do nothing but good all the rest of your life, it would be of no avail. Were you to begin praying now, and do nothing else but pray all your days, it would not do. Your own character cannot be your way of approach, nor your ground of confidence toward God. No amount of praying, or working, or feeling, can satisfy the righteous law, or pacify a guilty conscience, or quench the flaming sword that guards the access into the presence of the infinitely Holy One.

That which makes it safe for you to draw near to God, and right for God to receive you, must be something altogether away from and independent of yourself; for God has already condemned yourself and everything pertaining to yourself; and no condemned thing can give you any warrant for going to Him, or hoping for acceptance. Your liberty of entrance must come from something which He has accepted, not from something which He has condemned.

I knew an awakened soul who, in the bitterness of his spirit, thus set himself to work and pray, in order to get peace. He doubled the amount of his devotions, saying to himself, Surely God will give me peace. But the peace did not come. He set up family worship, saying, Surely God will give me peace. Again the peace did not come. At last he thought of having a prayer meeting in his house, as a certain remedy; he fixed the night, called his neighbours, and prepared himself for conducting the meeting by writing a prayer and learning it by heart. As he finished the operation of learning it, preparatory to the meeting, he threw it down on the table saying, Surely that will do; God will give me peace now. In that moment a still small voice seemed to speak in his ear, saying, No, that will not do; but Christ will do. Straightaway the scales fell from his eyes, and the burden from his shoulders. Peace poured in like a river. Christ will do, was his watchword ever after.

Very clear is God’s testimony against man, and man’s doings, in this great matter of approach and acceptance. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, says Paul in one place (Ti 3:5); to him that worketh not, says he in a second (Rom 4:5); not justified by the works of the law says he in a third (Gal 2:16).

The sinner’s peace with God is not to come from his own character. No grounds of peace or elements of reconciliation can be extracted from himself, either directly or indirectly. His one qualification for peace is that he needs it. It is not what he has but what he lacks of good that draws him to God; and it is the consciousness of this lack that bids him look elsewhere, for something both to invite and embolden him to approach. It is our sickness, not our health, that fits us for the physician, and casts us upon his skill.

No guilty conscience can be pacified with anything short of that which will make pardon a present, a sure, and a righteous thing. Can our best doings, our best feelings, our best prayers, our best sacrifices, bring this about? No! Having accumulated these to the utmost, the sinner feels that pardon is just as far off and uncertain as before; and that all his earnestness cannot persuade God to admit him to favour, or bribe his own conscience into true quiet even for an hour.

In all false religion, the worshipper rests his hope of divine favour upon something in his own character, or life, or religious duties. The Pharisee did this when he came into the temple, thanking God that he was not as other men (Lk 18:11). So do those in our day who expect to get peace by doing, feeling, and praying more than others, or than they themselves have done in time past; and who refuse to take the peace of the free gospel, till they have amassed such an amount of doing and feeling as will ease their consciences, and make them conclude that it would not be fair in God to reject the application of men so earnest and devoted as they.

The Galatians did this also when they insisted on adding the law of Moses to the gospel of Christ, as the ground of confidence toward God. Thus do many act among ourselves. They will not take confidence from God’s character or Christ’s work but from their own character and work; though in reference to all this it is written,