born, and which many have so well earned for themselves. But who is it that issues this general invitation? This question brings us to the other part of the text: II. "For I am God, and there is none else." God here gives the reason why we should attend to the call, because it is made by Him who has a right to make it, and who is alone able to save. I. "I am God:" therefore (1.) I am all-sufficient to save. What is there that the most miserable of creatures can stand in need of, that is not to be found in ample measure in the treasure-house of God? When the Creator undertakes to be a Saviour, the creature cannot perish. There is wisdom enough in Him to make the fool wise; light enough to scatter all our darkness; power enough to make the weakest strong in grace, and active in every duty. "I (2.) It is for Me to prescribe the means of obtaining salvation. am God;" look unto Me, therefore, ye sinners, and be saved; I will give salvation to him that looks; he that believeth on Me shall be saved from sin and death. 2. "There is none else," there is none that can save beside Me. The salvation of a sinner is too great a work for any except God. A man cannot change a dead sinner into a living saint; he can make a house, a watch, a ship, foretell an eclipse, calculate the distance of a star; but of God alone can it be said, "You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." It requires a Divine Power to secure one in temptation, to fit him for the society of God and angels, to bring him through death to eternal glory; and yet all this is to be done if the sinner is to be saved. sinners on earth, "Ye shall be saved, if only ye believe," who dare impose painful rites or laborious ceremonies, or human absolution? The faith spoken of must be a vital principle, showing itself in repentance and aiming at holiness; for a dead faith cannot save (H. E. I. 1978-1986). CONCLUSION. How broad and glorious is the salvation of Christ! how it answers to the weaknesses and the wants, the miseries, the dangers, and the fears of the awakened sinner! It reaches not only to us, but to even the savage nations, such as our fathers once were. But we must not trust to wearing the name of Christ; we must learn to look to Him with the eye of faith, the heart of love, and the life of sincere obedience. George Clark, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 279–285. I. THE BLESSING OFFERED: salvation. II. THE PERSONS TO WHOM IT IS OFFERED: "all the ends of the earth;" Gentiles as well as Jews; every one who needs it. III. THE CONDITION ON WHICH IT IS OFFERED. "Look unto Me." IV. THE ARGUMENT THE BENIGNANT SAVIOUR EMPLOYS TO INDUCE GUILTY SINNERS TO ACCEPT IT. "For I am God, and there is none else;" "a just God and a Saviour." The argument is twofold: 1. Sinners may trust Christ without suspicion, for He is omnipotent. 2. Sinners should trust Christ alone, for there is none else able to save. CONCLUSION.--The duty of all immediately to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that they may be saved It is the voice of infinite love that entreats us to be saved. Shall we then turn away from the invitation of such a Saviour? Besides, it is an authoritative command to us to do our duty. It is outrageous folly to trifle with the injunctions of the King of heaven. To those who are looking to Christ, the text is fraught with the richest consolation. "He is able to save you to the uttermost."-W. France: The Scottish Pulpit, vol. iv. pp. 42-48. Give your most earnest thought to these four great facts: I. All need to be saved. II. There is One who can save. III. The salvation He offers is worthy of Him. It is present, ample, certain, complete. IV. There is only one way by which that salvation can be made ours, by looking to Jesus. -J. A. Spurgeon: The Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 351. ye saved, all the ends of the earth. THE NATURE AND AUTHOR OF SALVATION. xlv. 22. Look unto Me, and be The glorious end which the Spirit contemplates in calling upon all men everywhere to look unto Jesus is their salvation. (a) I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THIS WORD, "AND BE SAVED." There is implied in it, 1. Deliverance from the dominion of sin in this world. We argue the necessity of this deliverance from the facts-(1.) That sin is the root and fountain of misery. To remove effects, we must remove the cause before man can be happy, he must be holy; before he can be saved from sorrow, he must be saved from sin. (2). That they who enter heaven must be identified with heaven in character (H. E. I. 2730-2738). (3.) That deliverance from the power of sin is the very purpose for which the Spirit of Christ is given to them that believe. Hereby we dissipate the false and misleading ideas of those who imagine that salvation is a state into which we are not introduced till we die. 2. Deliverance from the consequences of sin in the world to come. These include, (1.) Irretrievable exile from the presence, and the glory, and the joy of Jehovah-the radiating centre of all happiness and peace. (2.) The righteous punishment of all the sinner's transgressions. (3.) The extinction of hope. (4.) That bitter remorse which springs from the recollection of having lost a heaven that might once have been won, and plunged into a misery which might once have been shunned. This is the worm that never dies, this is the fire that is never quenched. II. THE WAY IN WHICH THIS SALVATION IS TO BE SECURED. "Look unto Me, and be ye saved." There is in this verse no preliminary required of man, only a look at the Saviour! No preparatory reformation, no preparatory repentance even! Repentance itself is the gift of Christ (H. E. I. 4225-4231, 4249, 4250). Look! when God commands a work, He presents the might to do it. (3) III. THE CHARACTER IN WHICH THE SAVIOUR PRESENTS HIMSELF TO SINNERS. Look at Christ, 1. As having borne the punishment which you deserved. and thereby made it inconsistent with the equity of God to punish the believer. 2. As our High Priest who pleads for us within the veil, and sends His Spirit forth to seal us to eternal glory. 3. As able to instruct us savingly in all the will and word of God. 4. As the Sovereign King, whose laws we are unreservedly to reverence and obey. 5. As the source and distributor of all blessings, who has a right to all we hold on earth. IV. HOW ARE WE TO LOOK TO JESUS? 1. In looking to Jesus, there is involved a looking away from every other ground of pardon, of salvation, of recovery (H. E. I. 1944-1951). 2. We must look under strong convictions of our helplessness and imbe cility. 3. Look to Jesus, not only under a conviction of your insufficiency, but of His fulness (H. E. I. 934-941). 4. We are to look intently, just as the beggar looks into the face of him who has the world's wealth around him; just as the shipwrecked seaman gazes in the face of him that has the means to rescue. 5. We must look continually. It will not do to look at the Redeemer to-day, and to-morrow forget His existence and His claims; we must look to Him from first to last (P. D. 2313, 2314). VI. WHO ARE PERMITTED TO LOOK TO HIM FOR SALVATION. (8) J Cumming, D.D.: "The British Pulpit," vol. i. pp. 321-334. (a) There is no intended enriching of men with the titles, honours, incomes of earth; there is no intended extension of the span of mortality, or wisdom, or scientific attainments of man. These are beheld by the Creator of men as scarcely worth a moment's reflection, while everlasting concerns remain unknown and unravelled, or disproportionately felt by those whom they wholly concern. . . . If you saw your child sinking amid the waters of the deep, would you feel that the time for gathering pebbles to amuse him, or meditating schemes of improving his mind? Would you not rather dash into the waves, and at the risk of your life rescue the child from his perilous situation? Even so the Almighty sees that the short time that is measured out to humanity needs something better than trifles on which to expend itself.-Cumming. (B) Men's regards have too often been tortured and twisted aside and directed to faith, to repentance, and to a vast variety of preparations for learning and living on Christ, instead of being summoned, without restriction and delay, to Christ the Saviour, who is the dispenser of these most precious graces, not the requisitionist of their previous existence. When you are told to look to repentence, to faith, to previous reformation of any kind, you are told to look to an idol, and you stand as far off from the true worship of Je- (8) H. E. I. 379, 381. We hold the doctrines of election and of predestination to be scriptural and precious truths; but if a man will make these drags upon our efforts to proclaim the everlasting Gospel, and dampers on our zeal in the cause of perishing souls, we will stand up for their defence, and maintain that these doctrines are desecrated and abused, and instead of being, as meant, consolations to all true believers, are made barriers in the way of heaven's going forth to recover the lapsed children of Adam, and to rescue the heirs of eternity from going down to perdition. We are to act upon the principle that there is sufficiency in Christ for all; that His blood can wash the most inveterate stains of guilt; and we are to bound its saving efficacy by nothing short of the limits of the globe. - Cumming. LIFE FOR A LOOK. xlv. 22. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, &c. The precious truth contained in this statement has been put in this memorable form: "We have here the greatest possible blessing, for the greatest possible number, under the best possible guarantee, and on the easiest possible terms." While we proceed along these lines, let us breathe the prayer that God would remove the scales from blind eyes, and unstop deaf ears, that His message of grace may be understood and believed. I. THE GREATEST POSSIBLE BLESSING. Moses was instructed to make a serpent of brass, and set it upon a pole, "that every one that was bitten, when he looked upon it, might live" (Num. xxi. 8). Life and salvation are the same thing, for life is salvation from death, and no blessing can bear comparison with this. A patient may have every attention, but there is one blessing he earnestly desires-to hare his life spared, his health restored. The shrieking passengers in wild commotion on that burning ship are seek ing one thing-to save their lives. And the most urgent need of the soul is life. Every other blessing is included in this salvation. Your sins expose you to the curse of the law; but Christ has redeemed you, being made a curse for you. What greater blessing can there be? It is not mere deliverance from punishment, but also the rectification of your disordered spiritual nature. Nothing deserves the name of salvation which does not purify the heart. Salvation is complete and final (Mark viii. 36). II. FOR THE GREATEST POSSIBLE NUMBER. "All ye ends of the earth," "every one that is bitten," however far gone he might be. What a significant emblem of the Cross in its farreaching efficacy (John iii. 14, 15). Some years ago a terrible story came from sea. Fire was spreading fast along the decks, and left only two boats available for the 477 souls on board. These were soon filled, leaving the large number for whom there was no accommodation to the alternative of death by fire or water. In this fearful plight the captain first threw his wife overboard, and then himself plunged into the waves. If the lost family of mankind were placed in similar circumstances with respect to the salvation of the soul, many of us might with reason plunge into the deeps of despair; but, blessed be God, there is room for all. "All ye ends of the earth." Where can you go to be beyond the sweep of these words? To what end of the earth can you retire where this voice will not reach? (Prov. viii. 4). There is only one place where it is not heard. It does not run, “ All ye ends of hell;" but you are still in a world of hope. III. UNDER THE BEST POSSIBLE GUARANTEE. "For I am God, and there is none else." The serpent on the pole was no human device. It was the Divine method of recovery to the suffering Israelites. Moses might have said, How can healing come from a serpent of brass? but he stumbled not through unbelief. God's ways are not our ways. Jesus was lifted up to draw all men unto Him. Despise the Cross, and there is no other way of recovery, for this is God's way. If He guarantees life and salvation, who shall gain say or oppose His will? Here, then, is the highest possible security. The Almighty gives us eternal life through His Son, and signs the deed with His own hand. Anything short of this would be unworthy of our confidence; but when a faithful God thus binds Himself, we may surely rest on His word. It is no hazardous speculation in which we are called to embark; no doubtful venture, for the highest authority in the universe has pledged His honour and faithfulness to make it sure. IV. ON THE EASIEST POSSIBLE TERMS. "Look unto me." We have but to look to Christ to save us; to depend on Him for salvation; to use a good Scotch word, we have to "lippen" all to Him. He has died to secure your salvation. Why, then, should you distrust Him? Look away from your poor sinful selves, away from all your feelings and strivings, to Him the one source of salvation (John iii. 36). Nothing can be easier, and it has been made thus easy to be within the power of all. We make it difficult by our prejudices, our ignorance, our despair. There is no deficiency in the provisions of the Gospel. All things are ready. Yet there is room. You dare not doubt the efficacy of the Redeemer's sacrifice, nor question the boundlessness of His love. Nor can you plead that you are too sinful to be forgiven. Were you not sinful you would need no salvation. It may be you try to make yourself better before you look to Him; but you cannot make yourself better except by looking to Him. The longer you refuse to look the worse you will become. Come to Him as you are, sinful and wretched, and He will take you as you are (John vi. 37).-William Guthrie, M.A. It is to the second person in the Godhead-to our Lord Jesus Christ-that we are to look (John iii. 14, 15). In the language of metaphor, the mind, as well as the body, has eyes. We say, "Look at this fact; look at this or that other historic personageat Julius Cæsar, Luther, Abraham;" and we all understand what is meant when such language is employed. It is in some such way that we are told to look at the Saviour. I. If you look unto the Lord Jesus, you will see God manifest. How shall we find out the Almighty unto perfection? How shall we know the dispositions and character of that great Being with whom our eternal destiny is linked far more intimately and enduringly than with the dearest friend of our bosom? Philosophy answers: "In nature" (H. E. I. 361). But the Gospel replies: "You will see Him better still in Jesus Christ" (H. E. I. 847, 855-857, 1495-1497, 2243). II. You will see not only God manifest, but Divine love incarnate. According to the medium through which it shines, the same light gives a radiance of a very different colour and influence -it cheers or depresses; through a a clear or gold-tinted glass of a lantern it sheds a bright and summer-like ray, through a blue glass of the same lantern it darts a cold, pallid beam. In a sinful world like this, we could easily imagine an awful incarnation from which the Divine attributes should have shone out upon us cold, lurid, or ghastly, just as they do when viewed through that sin-smoked glass which guilt holds up when it tries to look upon God; an incarnation in which the vindictive attributes of the Almighty had come on errands of severity into the midst of our sinfulness. But what was the actual fact? (John i. 14, iii. 17). Look to Jesus, and you will see that God is love. III. Looking unto the Lord Jesus, there is yet another sight with which the penitent sinner is regaled, and that is righteous reconciliation. We behold a Saviour who so completely made satisfaction for us that God's very righteousness is declared in the remission of the sinner's transgressions. The Son of God offered a sacrifice so infinitely acceptable that no other offering, no further supplementary sacrifice on the part of the sinner, nay, nor on the part of the Saviour Himself, will ever be required. Now forgiveness is offered to each one of us. Do we accept it? God has set forth His Son as a propitiation for our sin, and whenever the sinner puts forth as his plea, that Christ hath died, the controversy is ended, and God sees no iniquity iniquity in the now humble and penitent transgressor. This is the atonement, the at-one-ment: God pacified toward the sinner, and the sinner reconciled to God by the peace-speaking Cross. IV. Whoever looks at the Saviour long enough, will find life transmitted from Him into his own soul. The moment that God's injunction is obeyed, and the sinner casts himself on Christ for salvation, that moment he is safe; but it may be a long time before he can realise his safety-before the blessings of the Gospel, which are actually his, are also his in conscious possession. When the serpent-bitten İsraelite obeyed God's command, and gazed at the serpent of brass, he lived; in that very look the virus of death was miraculously countervailed, and his recovery began. But just as you can imagine the anguish so intense that one moment could not charm it into ease and ecstasy-nay, the smart so keen that the stings which had been received would mingle for a time with the throbs of convalescence, and in half-slumberous moments the patient might dream that he was still deathdoomed; so when you reflect what a malignant malady is sin, how deep it has dug its fangs into our inmost nature, and how long we have been tossing in its consuming torture, you can scarcely wonder that the surviving smart or the returning twinges of the old death-stroke sometimes startle the believer, and make him question if he can be really recovered, or dread a fatal relapse. But what would you have advised the man in such a case to do? To look again, look constantly, eagerly, till every qualm of doubt, every fear of death was drowned in the tide of transmitted life and healing. And you who still feel the dis |