John Newton was comforting a woman who was dying. She reached out and grasped his hand and said, "Are you sure that you are right?" Newton replied, "My soul in thy soul's stead if there be unfaithfulness with God." The poor dying woman then said in reply, "You say true. I know I am right. I feel that my hope is fixed on the Rock of Ages. If you could see with my eyes, you would not wonder at my question."
Surely it should be a certainty when a minister can say, "My soul in thy soul's stead if the gospel I preach, if followed, does not lead you to heaven." But that is the only gospel any man can afford to preach. And it is the only message to which sinners can afford to listen.
When men preach this kind of gospel, their very earnestness and assurance beget faith in the hearts of those who hear. In the song of Moses we have this illustrated:
"How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges." Deut. 32:30, 31.
In this language Moses declares that even the enemies of God's people being the judges, they will admit that the Rock (Christ Jesus) is not as their rock. We think of a rock as one thing of earth that is solid and abiding. It can be depended on as substantial and sure.
To the Christian, Christ is the Rock of Ages. He is everlasting. Isaiah says, "Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." The margin here reads, "Heb., the Rock of Ages." Christ becomes "all in all" to the believer. He is the source of life and power to His children. He is not a mere model—He is life itself, He is power personified.
What good is an example of morality if man has no way to attain to the pattern? If a sinner must ever continue sinning, and cannot cease his transgressions, what is the benefit of a well-patterned life? Christ was perfect and had every attribute of perfection and holiness; but if a poor sinner cannot cease his sinning, what avail is there in beholding perfection?
Said Christ, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." When a believer accepts Christ through faith, he has "the way, the truth, and the life." What more can he have save immortality, which will be his at the coming of Christ? Of course he grows into Christ by an increase of knowledge and experience.
Christ is the sinner's only hope as He is the Christian's only hope. There are not two ways to heaven. Christ is the only way. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad." "This God is our God forever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death."
It is such promises that make the Christian a preacher of certitudes. He knows whereof he speaks, for he speaks the word which has brought to him salvation. The apostle Paul knew whereof he spoke when he said, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day."
Men are entitled to a gospel that gives them assurance of salvation. When a man accepts the conditions of the plan of salvation, he is entitled to know to a certainty that he has the full gospel that will save him. Every believer has a right to ask in all earnestness, "0 man of God, are you sure that you are right?" And every preacher ought to be able to answer such a query, "My soul in thy soul's stead if there be unfaithfulness with God." And the believer must answer, "I know I am right. I feel that my hope is fixed on the Rock of Ages."
Most of us, when ordained, had that very solemn charge read to us as recorded in Ezekiel 3:17-21:
"Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at My mouth, and give them warning from Me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul."
We agreed to its justice; we accepted it as part of our covenant with God and the church. Its very intent is, "My soul in your soul's stead, if you follow what I preach, and fail of heaven."
I. H. E.