Horatius Bonar · Scotland · 1864
Are you still without peace? Have you been long seeking it and not finding it? Have you tried many ways of getting it, and failed in all? Let me ask you a few questions, and beg you to answer them honestly.
Are you seeking peace in yourself — in your feelings, your frames, your emotions? If so, you will never find it there. You are looking in the wrong direction altogether. God does not say, “Look within, and live.” He says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved.”
Perhaps you say, “I have no feelings.” What then? Are you to wait till feelings come before you believe God? Is God’s word to be held in suspense till you have worked yourself into a certain state of emotion? That is not faith — that is making your feelings the ground of your confidence instead of the Word of God.
“Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”Romans 5:1
Peace with God is the result of being justified — declared righteous in God’s sight. And we are justified by faith, not by feeling. The peace follows the faith. It does not precede it. You do not wait to feel justified before you believe — you believe, and then the peace comes.
Let me speak plainly. When you refuse to believe God’s testimony concerning his Son, you are treating God as if He were not to be trusted — as if his Word were not sufficient ground for your confidence. You may not mean this, but it is what your unbelief amounts to.
God has declared that “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” Not shall have — hath. Present tense. Now. The moment of believing is the moment of receiving. It is not a process; it is not a gradual thing. It is instantaneous, as instantaneous as the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda — one moment sick, the next moment whole.
You say your sins are too great. But did God say, “He that believeth, provided his sins are not too great”? He said, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” Your sins are not the question. The question is: will you believe what God has said about his Son?
Many are in distress because their faith seems so small, so weak, so wavering. They think that unless their faith reaches a certain strength, it cannot save them. But this is a great mistake. It is not the strength of your faith that saves you — it is the object of your faith. A man may be saved by the feeblest faith, if that faith rests on Christ. And no man can be saved by the strongest faith, if that faith rests on anything else.
A child’s hand can carry a golden vessel, and the vessel is just as truly carried as if a giant had hold of it. Your feeble faith, if it is real faith in the real Christ, lays hold of the same Saviour as the faith of the strongest believer.
“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”John 6:37
He does not say, “Him that comes with strong faith.” He does not say, “Him that comes with sufficient feeling.” He says, “Him that cometh.” The coming is all that is required. And the promise covers the coming: “I will in no wise cast out.” In no wise — under no circumstances, on no grounds, for no reason. If you have come to Christ at all, you will not be cast out.
You have perhaps been dwelling much upon your sins — their number, their greatness, their aggravation. You have been saying to yourself, “How can one so guilty as I am find forgiveness?” Let me direct your eye away from your sins to the blood that cleanses from sin.
“The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Mark the word — all. Not from small sins only, or from sins committed long ago, or from sins which are not very aggravated. From all sin. The blood of Christ is able to cleanse the foulest conscience, to meet the most aggravated guilt, to deal with the blackest record that any man ever carried before God.
God is not asking you whether your sins are great or small. He is asking whether you will trust his Son’s blood as the covering for those sins. The question is not the greatness of the sinner — it is the greatness of the sacrifice. And the sacrifice is infinite.