First Believe.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 275, 23 June 1888, Page 6

First Believe.

BY REV. JOHN* WE^LTTT.

Whosoever therefore thou art who dosirest to be forgiven, and reconciled to the favour of God, do not say in thy heart, 1 1 must t firs( do this: I must /?W conquer every sin. break off every evil word and work, and do all good to all men : or I must #'/V go to church, receive the Lord's Supper, hear more sermons, and say more prayers.' Alas ! my brother, thou art clean gone out the way Thou art still ignorant of the righteousness of God, and art seeking ' to establish thine own righteousness % as the ground of thy reconciliation. Knowestthou not that thou eant>t do nothing but sin till thou art reconciled (o (>'od ? "Wherefore, then, dost thou say, I mu*t do this and this first, and then I shall believe ? Nay, but —

FIRST BELIEVE. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the pro- i pitiation for thy •miis. Let this good j foundation first be laid, and then them shalt do all things well. Neither say in thy heart, ' I cannot be accepted yet, because I am not <jood tnoiojh." Who is good enough — N\ho ever was — to merit acceptance at God's hands ? Was ever any child of Adam good tnouijh for this ?— or will any, till the consummation of all things ? And as for thee, thou art not good at all —there dwelleth in thee no good thing; : and thou never wilt be, till thou believe in Jesus. Rather thou wilt tind thyself worse and worse. But is there any need of being worse in order to be accepted? Art thou not had enough already? Indeed thou art, and that God knoweth. and thou thyself canst not deny it. Then delay not. All things are now ready. ' Arise and wash away thy sins.' The fountain is open : now L^ the time to wash thee white in the blood of the Lamb. Now he shall ' purge ' thee as ' with hyssop,' and thou shalt ' be clean ;' he shall 'wash' thee, and thou shalt 'be whiter than snow. ' Do not say, ' But lam not contrite < nouqh ; I am not acnsibfe enough of my sins.' I know it. I would to God thou wert more j sensible of them, more contrite, a thousandfold than thou art. But do not stay for this. It may be, God will make thee so, not before thou hrlierest, but by heliirni;). It j may be thou icilt not j/vep nun h till thou , love-^t much, because thou ha*t had much forgiven. In the meantime look unto Jesus — behold how he loveth thee. What could he have done moie for thee which he hath not done? • O Lamb of God. was ever pain. Was ever love like thine ? Look steadily upon him till he looks on thee, and breaks thy hard heart : then shall thy ' head ' be ' waters,' and thine * eyes fountains of tears. ' And to what end wouldst thou wait for more before tbj r sins are blotted out ? -to make thee more worthy of the grace of God . Alas ! Thou art still establishing thine own righteousness. Pie will have mercy, not because thou art worthy of it, but because Hi= compassions fail not ; not because thou art righteous, but because Jesus Christ hath atoned for thy sins. Again, if there be any thing good in Miicerify. why dost thou expect it tv/ore thou hast faith, seeing faith itself is the only root of whatever is really good and holy ? Above all, how long wilt thou forget that whatsoever thou doest, or what soever thou hast, before th}' sins are forgiven thee, it avails nothing with God toward the proem ing of th\ forgiveness ; yea, and that it must all be cast behind thy back, trampled under foot, made no account of, or thou wilt never find favour in God's sij^ht ; because until then thou canst not 4 &k it as a mere sinner, guilty, lost, undone, having nothing to plead, nothing to offer to God but only the mei'its of His well-beloved Son, ' who loved thee, and gave himself for thrfi '' To conclude : Whosoever thou art, 0 man, who hast the sentence of death in thyself, who feelest thyself a condemned ncr, and hast the wrath of God abiding on thee, unto thee saith the Lord — not, 'Do thi,s perfectly obey all my command?, and live ;'— but. ' BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED.' ' The word of faith is nigh unto thee :' now at this instant, in the present moment, and in thy present state, sinner, as thou art, just as thou art, believe the Gospel, and 'I will be merciful unto thy unrighteousness, and thy iniquities will I remember no more.