FIRST BELIEVE.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 219, 10 September 1887, Page 1

FIRST BELIEV E.

(BY XXV. .101 IN MlNLl'A'.)

Whosoever theiofoie them ail who richest to be forgiven, reconciled to tho fa\our of God, do not say i,u thyheait. " I mu-t first do this : I must first conquer o\cry mii, break oil e\ery evil word and woik, and do all good to all men ; or I nnisfc Hist go to church, leceive the Lord'.s Supper liear mri*e sermons, and bay moie piayers.'' Ala? ! my brother. Hum art. clean gone out ot tho way. Thou ait -till ignoianb of the i'isrhteousne<p of Cod, and ait seeking "to establish thine own lighteousiieW a- the ground of thy reconciliation. Knowe-t thou not that Ihou canst do nothing but sin till thou art reconciled to Gol V Whcivfoie, then, dost thou say. I must do this and this fust, and then 1 shall believe ? Nay, but — FIRST BELIEVE. Belie\e in the Loid Jesus Chi is;., the propitiation for thy .sins. Let this good foundation tir-t l>e laid, and then thou shalr do all things well. Neither say in thy heart, " I cannot bo accepted yet, because I am not. cjood enough. Who i- good enough — who e\er was— to merit acceptance at (IoY-> hands' JW'a-. c\erany child of Adam good enough for this? 'orw ill any, til I the eoiis-ummation ot all things ? And as for thee, thou art not good at. all — there dwelleth in thee no good thing; and thou ne\er wilfc be, till thou belieAe in Jesu.-. Rather thou wilt iind thyself wor^e and wor-e. But is there any need of being wois-ein order to be accepted? Ail thou not bad enough alteady ? Indeed thou iv t, and that God knoweth, and thoa th^seli canst not deny ir. Then delay not. All things aie now ready. " Aiisu and wa-h away thy sin-." The fountain i- open; now i-> the time to wa-h thee white in the blood of the Lamb. Xow lie -hall "puige" thee as •' with hyssop,"' and thou shalt ''be clean ; "' he shall " wash '' thee, and thou shalt "be whiter than snow." Do not -ay, " Bub I am not contrite enough : 1 am not sen-iblc enough of my sin-." I know it. I would to Cod thou wert more sensible of them, moie confute, a thousand fold than thou ait. Bui do not stay for this. It maybe, God will make thee -o, not befoie thou belie'se-t, but by belie\ ing. It may bu thou wilt not weep much till thou lo\e-t much, because thou hast had much forgiven. In the meantime look unto Jesus—behold how helo\eth thee. What could he have done moie for flice which he hath not done ? " O Lamb of God, w as e\ cr pain, Was ever lo\ c like thine ! ' Look steadily upon him till he looks on thee, and bieaks thy haul heait ; then shall thy "•head" be " water-," aiul thine '"ejes fountains, of tear.-.'' Nor yec do thou say, " I must do .-omcthing moie befoie I come to Christ." I grant, suppo-ing thj'Loid should delay h.is coming, it weie meet and light to wait lor hi* appearing, in doing, so tar as thou ha-L power, what-oever he hath commanded thee. But there i-> no nece^-ity tor making such a supposition. Huw Lno\\u c t thou fchat ho will delay? Perhaps he will appear, as the da} -pi ing from on high, befoie the morning light. Oh, do nob se!< him a time ; expect him e\eiyhour. Now he is nigh, e\en at the door ! And to what end wouldslthou wait for more sincerity, before thy sin^ aic blotted out?— to make thee moie woithy of the grace of Uod ? Alas! Thou ait still establishing thine ow n iighteoueiie-3-3. He will luv\e meicy, not because thou ait worth}- of it, but because His companions fail not ; not becau-e thou ait iig]itt.<ni~. but because Je-us Clni-b hath atoned for thy sins. Again, if there be any thing good in sincerity, why dosb thou expect it befoie Ihou ha?fc faith, seeing faith itself is the only root of whatever is good md holj ? Abo\ c all, how long w ilt thou forget that w hafcboever thou doesb, or whatsoever thou ha-b, before thy sins aie foighen thee, it avail-, nothing with Uod towaid the jnocuiing of thy forgiveness ; yea, and that it must all be cast behind thy back, trampled under foot, made no account of, or thou will never find favour in (Joel's, sight; because until then thou canst not ask it as a meie sinner, guilty, 10.-t, undone, having nothing to plead, nothing to oiler to God, but only the mciits of ]li.-> wellbeloved .Son, "who lc\ed Ihee, and ga\e himself for thee !" To conclude : Whosoever thou art, O man, who hast the .sentence of death in thyself, who feelest thyself a condemned sinner, and hast the wrath of God abiding on thee. Unto thee saith the Loid — nob, " Do this, perfectly obey all my command-, and live ; "'—but. " Bflilvk on THE LOTLD JKSI'S C'UIUNT, AND THOU SHALT bi; swfu." "The word of , faith is nigh unto thee : " now at thi.s instant, in the pre sent moment, and in thy present state, sinner, a? thou art, just a.s thou art, believe the Cio&pel, and " 1 will be merciful unto thy unrighteousness, and thy iniquities w ill I remember no more."'