ST. MARK 87
a cheque in my hand, and as I stood before the window I should hold the cheque, and say, " I want money for this." " Give me the cheque and I will bring you the money." " No ; I cannot trust you that far." " Yes ; but I will go right to the counter and bring you the money." " No ; I will try to trust you " (and still I hold on to the cheque). " But my good man," my friend says, " I cannot get you the money without the cheque." " 1 cannot give you the cheque ; that is the only evidence of value I have, and when I give you that it is all gone. I will try to trust you ; bring me the money." I am turning the tables on the teller ; I am asking him to trust me, instead of trusting him The act of trust is to give instantly all that we have that is imperilled into the hands of the One from whom the redemption and the provision are to come. And so when the sinner, believing the Word of Jesus Christ, just gives himself in prayer to Christ, and leaves himself, so far as his present safety and his eternal salvation are concerned, that man trusts and believes the gospel. With penitence, then, there must come belief. And it must be belief, in the sense of trust. And it must be trust in a person who is trustworthy. I am to enthrone the Saviour in my soul. Deliberately, definitely, and decisively, I am to proclaim Him King. I am to bow to His will, and trust His power and grace. I am to commit my way to Him, and stake my all upon Him, to venture life and death, the present and the future, upon His fidelity and holy covenant. Then is the Kingdom founded, and gradually rioting will change into order, rebellion will pass into harmony, and some day I shall be able to say with the Psalmist, " All that is within me, bless his holy name." ^
^ In this, His first sermon, Jesus added a new word to the Baptist's message, and the substance of the things to be received had now gained from His life the title, which ever since it has held, " Believe the gospel." These three words were the love tokens with which He came to seek and save the lost. In the repetition of these three words He fulfils the embassage of peace upon which He came from the Father.^
^One of our visitors went to a poor home of suffering not \on<y
since, and in a dark chamber of the tenement lay stretched on a
pallet of straw a poor woman, whom God had strangely afflicted by
the loss of sight, and then by paralysis of one side — a poor, helpless
1 J. H. Jowett. 2 S. H. Tyng.
88 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
creature, so far as the offices of this world are concerned. He ministered to her in the necessities of her body, and then asked her how her soul was related to God ; and, as Joshua with the children of Israel, he did it in the way of rebuke, at first : " Are you truly saved ? " (for she had already professed that she was a Christian). The voice answered with meekness, " Why not ? " " But what good thing have you done, to pretend to be saved ? " And the only answer from the pallet of suffering was, "Why not ? " " Yes ; but perhaps you are presuming. How do you know you are saved ? " The answer of faith came, " Jesus Christ came to seek and to save sinners, and I am a lost sinner ; why am I not saved ? " Ah ! there was wealth there which no possessions of this earth can gain, for a sinner had taken God at His word. She propounded a question to which all the wise men of this age can give no answer. If a sinner, why not saved ? This is the gospel, and this it is to believe the gospel.^
The phrase, " believe in the gospel " is imique. Nor do we elsewhere hear of believing the gospel. Faith is always regarded as due to the Person of whom the gospel speaks. Yet faith in the message was the first step. " A creed of some kind," says Swete, " lies at the basis of confidence in the Person of Christ."
^ A poor woman once came to Dr. Barnardo with a broken heart, telling a sad story of the wandering life of an only daughter in the great metropolis, and implored his help. After considering the situation for a moment Dr. Barnardo said : " Yes, I can help you. Get your photograph taken, frame a good many copies, write under the picture, ' Come Home,' and send them to me." The pictures were soon in his hands, and were placed by him in the places frequented by such friendless outcasts. One night the unhappy girl saw the picture, and was greatly startled to see her mother's handwriting welcoming her home. That very night she returned repentant and forgiven to her mother's arms. It is this turning from a life of sin to a life of love that Jesus enables us to accomplish in response to His good news of proffered love and forgiveness.^