God is Able to Save Unto the Utmost

Let us see how God is able to save unto the utmost. I want you to read the 14th and 15th verses of John chapter 3: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” “That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Let me tell those who are unsaved within these walls tonight what God has done for you. He has done everything that he could do towards your salvation. You need not wait for God to do anything more. In one place he asks the question what more could he do. He sent his prophets and they killed them; and then he sent his beloved Son and they murdered him. And at last he has sent the Holy Ghost, to convince us of sin and how we are to be saved. We are all sinners; and every man and woman knows in their hearts that they are sinners. Now we come here tonight to tell you the remedy for sin, and to tell you how you are to be saved from sin. Jesus came into the world to save that which was lost; for you know there is no name given unto men whereby they can be saved but through the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. And again, “He shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” No sinner need die if he but put his trust in Christ. There is no salvation in anything else, or any other name.

Take the 3rd chapter of Acts, and you may read from there on through all the chapters; and there is hardly one but speaks of Christ’s death and Christ crucified; of Christ dying for thee, or rising again for thee, of ascending into heaven for thee, and of coming again for thee. That is the gospel of Paul and of Peter; that is the gospel that Stephen preached when they condemned him to death. Paul preached that at Antioch, Corinth and Ephesus. Yes, Christ crucified – that is the remedy for sin. We hear a great many men murmur because God permitted sin to come into the world. They say it is a great mystery. Well, I say, too, it is a great mystery. You may recollect how it also was a mystery to Horataus Bonar. He said that, although it was a great mystery how sin came into the world, it was a greater mystery how God came here to bear the brunt of it himself. We could speak all the time about the origin of sin; how it came into the world, but that is not going to help us. If I see a man tumble into the river and going to drown, it would do no good for me to sit down and bow my head, and indulge in deep thought and reasoning how he came to get in there. The great question would then be, how he was to be got out. Just look over your own life. You can prove that you are a sinner and have need of repentance; or if you cannot do it to your own satisfaction, there are some of your neighbors, no doubt, who can do it for you.

Bear in mind, sinner, that he died for all. Look in time, sinner; and be you saved, if there is none else. If Christ opened the way, it is the way. What other name is there given whereby we can be saved? We don’t want to look at Moses. Moses is all right in his place; but Moses can’t save you. You need not look to these ministers. They are just God’s chosen instruments to hold up the serpent, to hold up the remedy, to hold up Christ. And so, my friends, take your eyes off from men. Take your eyes off from the church, but lift them up to Jesus, who took away the sins of the world; and there will be life from this hour. Thank God, we don’t need an education to know how to look. That little girl who can’t read, that little boy four years old who can’t read, can look. That little boy, when the father is coming home, the mother says, “Look! Look! Look!” and the little child learns to look long before he is a year old; and that is the way to be saved. It is, “Look at the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world;” and there is life tonight, and this moment, for every man that is willing to look. Not look at the church, not look at yourselves, but look at Christ. Some people say: “There is a man; what faith he has got; I wish I had his faith.” You might as well say, “I wish I had his eyes.” You don’t need his faith. What you need is his Christ. You need not be wishing for his eyes; you have got eyes of your own.

Some men say, “I wish I knew just how to be saved.” Just take God at his word, and trust his Son this very night, and this very hour, and this very moment. He will save you, if you will trust him. I imagine I hear some one saying: ‘I don’t feel the bite as much as I wish I could. I know I’m a sinner and all that, but I don’t feel the bite enough.” How much do you want to feel it? How much does God want you to feel it? When I was in Belfast I knew a doctor who had a friend, a leading surgeon there; and he told me that the surgeon’s custom was, before performing an operation, to say to the patient, “Take a good look at the wound, and then fix your eyes on me, and don’t take them off till I get through.” I thought at the time that was a good illustration. Sinner, take a good look at the wound tonight; and then fix your eye on Christ, and don’t take it off. It is better to look at the remedy than at the wound. See what a poor wretched sinner you are; and then look at the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. He died for the ungodly and the sinner. Say, “I’ll take him;” and may God help you to lift your eye to the Man on Calvary; and as the Israelites looked upon the serpent and were healed, so you may look and live tonight.

~ This is from “How to be Born Again” in The Gospel Awakening