Mr. R.--He is judging himself unworthy, while God does not so consider him. God says you are welcome to eternal life.
Mr. M.--If any one here wants to please God to-night, how can he do it?
Mr. R.--God delights in mercy. Come to God and claim His mercy in Christ; and you will delight His heart.
Mr. M.--Suppose a man say he is not "elected?"
Mr. R.--Do you remember the story of the woman of Canaan? Poor soul; she had come a long journey. She asked the Lord to have mercy on her afflicted child. He wanted to try her faith, and He said: "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." That looked as if He Himself told her that she was not one of the elect. But she came and worshipped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" and He helped her there and then. No; there is no election separating between the sinner and Christ.
Mr. M.--Say that again.
Mr. R.--There is no election separating between the sinner and christ.
Mr. M.--What is there between the sinner and Christ?
Mr. R.--Mercy!! Mercy!!
Mr. M.--That brings me near to Christ.
Mr. R.--So near that we cannot be nearer. But we must claim it. In John we get God's teaching about election. "This is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose _nothing_; but should raise it up again at the last day." He will do his work, you may depend upon it. Then in the next verse we read: "And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that _every one_ which seeth the Son, and _believeth_ on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." That is the part I am to take: and when I have done so I shall know the Father's will concerning me.
Mr. M.--What do you mean by the New Birth?
Mr. R.--I judge it by what I know of the Old Birth. I was born of human parents into the human family; so I belong to Adam's race by nature and by generation, and I inherit Adam's sin and curse accordingly. The new birth is from my union by faith with the second Adam; but this is by _grace_, not nature: and when I receive the Lord Jesus Christ I am born of God--not by generation, but by regeneration. As I am united to the first Adam by nature and generation, so I am united by faith through grace and regeneration to the second Adam, and inherit all His fullness accordingly.
Mr. M.--What is the meaning of being "saved by the Blood?"
Mr. R.--A gentleman asked me that in the inquiry-room; "What do you mean by the shed Blood?" It is the poured-out life of the Son of God forfeited as the atonement for sinners' sins.
Mr. M.--Is it available now?
Mr. R.--Yes; as much as ever it was.
Mr. M.--You mean it is just as powerful to-day as it was eighteen hundred years ago when He shed it?
Mr. R.--If the blood of Abel cried out for vengeance against his slayer, how much more does the blood of Christ cry out for pardon for all who plead it! "It cleanseth (present tense) from all sin."
Mr. M.--How do you get faith?
Mr. R.--By hearing God's Word. "Faith cometh by hearing; and hearing by the Word of God."
Mr. M.--How do you get the Holy Ghost?
Mr. R.--In the same way as you get faith. The Holy Ghost uses the Word as the chariot by which He enters the believer's soul. The Gospel is called "the ministration of the Spirit."
Mr. M.--Is the Word of God addressed to all here?
Mr. R.--"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches" (Rev. iii 22).
Mr. M.--What is the Gospel?
Mr. R.--"Good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." If our Gospel, proclaiming life, pardon, and peace, is not as applicable for salvation to the vilest harlot here as to the greatest saint in London, it is not Christ's Gospel we preach.
Mr. M.--What reason does the Scripture give tor the Gospel being hid to some?
Mr. R.--It is "hid to them that are lost; in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them." May God open all our eyes, and take away the veil of unbelief with which the devil may be blinding any of us!
Mr. M.--Are there not many who give an intellectual assent to all these things; and who yet have no power, and no divine life?
Mr. R.--An intellectual assent is not faith. I have never found anyone who really believed God's Word who did not get power in believing it. People may _assent_ to it; but I do not admit that that is believing it. I do not think there is any man or woman here who really believes the Gospel of the grace of God, who has not been taught it by the Holy Ghost. I could easily cross-examine any one of those "intellectual believers" who imagines he believes God, but really does not; and he would break down in a few minutes.
Mr. M.--For whom, then, did Christ die?
Mr. R.--For "the ungodly."
Mr. M.--Why is salvation obtained by faith?
Mr. R.--That it might be by grace. "For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace?"