poor, and yet remain unpardoned, and lose our souls. — But if we will only come to Christ as guilty sinners, and believe on Him, our sins shall at once be forgiven, and our iniqui- ties shall be entirely put away. Without faith there is no salvation ; but through faith in Jesus, the vilest sinner may be saved.
If we would have a peaceful conscience in our religion, let us see that our views of saving faith are distinct and clear. Let us beware of supposing that justifying faith is any thing more than a sinner's simple trust in a Saviour, the grasp of a drowning man on the hand held out for his relief. — Let us beware of mingling anything else w^ith faith in the matter of justification. Here we must always remember faith stands entirely alone. A justified man, no doubt, will always be a holy man. True believing will always be accompanied by godly living. But that which gives a man an interest in Christ, is not his living., but his faith. If we w ould know whether our faith is genuine, we do well to ask ourselves how we are living. But if we would know whether we are justified by Christ, there is but one question to be asked. That question is, " Do we believe ?"
These verses show us, lastly, the true cause of the loss of man^s soul. Our Lord says to Nicodemus, " This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
The words before us form a suitable conclusion to the glorious tidings which we have just been considering. They completely clear God of injustice in the condemnation of einners. They show in simple and unmistakeable terms, that although man's salvation is entirely of God, his ruin, if he is lost, will be entirely from himself. He will reap the fruit of his own sowing.
The doctrine here laid down ought to be carefully re-
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membered. It supplies an answer to a common cavil of the enemies of God's truth. There is no decreed reproba- tion, excluding any one from heaven. " God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." There is no unwill- ingness on God's part to receive any sinner, however great his eins. God has sent " light " into the world, and if man will not come to the light, the fault is entirely on man's side. His blood will be on his own head, if he makes ship- wreck of his soul. The blame will be at his own door, if he misses heaven. His eternal misery will be the result of his own choice. His destruction will be the work of his ow^n hand. God loved him, and was willing to save him ; but he " loved darkness," and therefore darkness must be his everlasting portion. He would not come to Christ, and therefore he could not have life. (John v. 40.)
The truths we have been considering are peculiarly weighty and solemn. Do we live as if we believed, them ? — Salvation by Christ's death is close to us to-day. Have we embraced it by faith, and made it our own ? — Let us never rest till we know Christ as our own Saviour. Let us look to Him without delay for pardon and peace, if we have never looked before. Let us go on believing on Him, if we have already believed. " Whosoever," is His own gracious word, — '''-whosoever believeth on Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life."
Notes. John HI. 9—21.
9. — [Nicodemus answered. ..Tiow... these things be?] This is the third and last time that Nicodemus speaks during his visit to Christ, BO far as it is reported to us. His question here is a striking and instructive in>tance of the deep spiritual ignorance which may be found in the mind of a learned man. In four different ways our Lord had brought before him one and the same lesson. First, He had laid down the great principle that every man must be "born again." — Secondly, He had repeated the same thing in fuller words, and brought in the idea* of " water/' to .illuatrate