314
Selected Messages Book 1
away from ourselves, believing that Jesus is a living Saviour. We
must not think that our own grace and merits will save us; the grace
of Christ is our only hope of salvation. Through His prophet the Lord
promises, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man
his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy
upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (
Isaiah
55:7
). We must believe the naked promise, and not accept feeling for
faith. When we trust God fully, when we rely upon the merits of Jesus
as a sin-pardoning Saviour, we shall receive all the help that we can
desire.
We look to self, as though we had power to save ourselves; but
Jesus died for us because we are helpless to do this. In Him is our hope,
our justification, our righteousness. We should not despond, and fear
that we have no Saviour, or that He has no thoughts of mercy toward
us. At this very time He is carrying on His work in our behalf, inviting
us to come to Him in our helplessness and be saved. We dishonor Him
by our unbelief. It is astonishing how we treat our very best Friend,
how little confidence we repose in Him who is able to save to the
uttermost, and who has given us every evidence of His great love.
My brethren, are you expecting that your merit will recommend
you to the favor of God, thinking that you must be free from sin
before you trust His power to save? If this is the struggle going on in
your mind, I fear you will gain no strength, and will finally become
discouraged.
[352]
Look and Live
In the wilderness, when the Lord permitted poisonous serpents to
sting the rebellious Israelites, Moses was directed to lift up a brazen
serpent and bid all the wounded look to it and live. But many saw no
help in this Heaven-appointed remedy. The dead and dying were all
around them, and they knew that without divine help their fate was
certain; but they would lament their wounds, their pains, their sure
death, until their strength was gone, and their eyes were glazed, when
they might have had instant healing.
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,” even so was
“the Son of man lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life” (
John 3:14, 15
). If you are conscious of