To believing, there must be a clear conviction of sin, and the merits of the blood of Christ, and of Christ’s willingness to save upon this consideration, namely, that you are a sinner; things all harder than to make a world. All the power in nature cannot get up so high in a storm of sin and guilt as really to believe there is any grace, any willingness in Christ to save. When Satan charges sin upon the conscience, then for the soul to charge it upon Christ, that is gospel-like; that is to make Him Christ. He serves for that use, to accept Christ’s righteousness alone. His blood alone for salvation, that is the sum of the gospel. When the soul, in all duties and distress, can say, “Nothing but Christ, Christ alone, for righteousness, justification, sanctification, redemption,” (I Cor 1:30); not humblings, not duties, not graces; that soul has got above the reach of the billows. Thomas Willcox
Not only must the heart be convicted of sin and convinced of the merits of the blood of Christ in order to truly believe, it must also be convinced that Christ is willing to save simply upon the fact that all that can be found in the person needing to be saved is sin. This is a profound truth that should be shouted from the rooftops, written in the sky, and proclaimed on television as special new reports. This is the wonder of wonders. If someone could build a new universe in which a new earth could be made, that is nothing compared to the Gospel of grace alone. It would be harder for a man to make a new planet than it would be to make a man believe that Christ is willing to save solely and only (in terms of the person saved) on the basis that the man is a sinner.
The Gospel of Christ alone and of grace alone is so watered down and covered over with various things that this part of the Gospel is simply not heard or perhaps covered up. We want to save God the trouble of saving sinners so we try to get them to clean themselves up before they can be saved. Now this is not a denial that sinners should repent of sin (externally) as far as it is possible with them and seek the Lord, but they are not to do those things in order to make them more worthy of salvation. God saves sinners, as far as what is found in them, based solely on the fact that they are sinners. Oh how this makes people cry out that it cannot be true and some crying out on how dangerous this is because it would give men a license to sin. That is sheer nonsense and a gross misunderstanding of the nature of the Gospel of grace.
What is it that the sinner needs to come to God in order to help God take away his or her sin? How much sin does the sinner need to take away before God will save the sinner? How much sin did God leave for the sinner to turn from before He poured out His wrath upon His beloved Son on the cross? On, how here is hope for the sinner. God does not save me from my sin because I have made my sins less, but because He poured out His full wrath upon His Son who took all my sin upon Himself and satisfied the full wrath that was poured out upon Him. The greatness of Christ is such that there is not one sin that He left for me to overcome on my own and for me to flee from in my own power. No, Christ saves the worst of sinners and He is willing to save the worst of sinners who come to Him with nothing in their hands or hearts to try to help Him save them. He saves them, as far as what is in them, on the sole consideration that they are sinners.
Can this be true? Can it be true that Christ truly saves sinners based simply upon Himself and the glory of God rather than anything that can be round in sinners? Can it be that the Lord of glory set aside that glory in appearance and took human flesh to Himself in order to suffer and die for sinners just because they are sinners? Could it be that Christ loved the Father so much and the glory of His Father so much that He died for Him and so did not need for sinners to provide Him a positive motive to die in their place? Could it be that such a Gospel of such blinding glory could be true? Can it be real that God is so God-centered that He would save sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace and not for anything found in sinners? Could it be that God loves His own glory so much that He would save sinners and make them instruments of grace and glory simply to manifest His glory to Himself and to a watching spiritual world? Oh sinner, know that your sin cannot stand between you and such a Savior unless you want to contribute to your salvation. Christ is willing to save sinners as sinners, but He will not save them if they hold on to their pride and self-righteousness. Seek Him for conviction of sin and a sight of the merit of the blood of Christ and come to Him without any hope in yourself at all. Look to Christ and Him alone and know that even your looking is by grace alone.
God Loves... Himself 
Leave a comment