Chapter 177—“Worthy is the Lamb!”
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
Revelation
5:12
.
We are not worthy of God’s love, but Christ, our surety, is worthy, and is
abundantly able to save all who shall come unto Him.
Christ delights to take apparently hopeless material, those whom Satan
has debased and through whom he has worked, and make them the subjects
of His grace. He rejoices to deliver them from suffering and from the wrath
that is to fall upon the disobedient.
If the enemy can lead the desponding to take their eyes off from Jesus,
and look to themselves, and dwell upon their own unworthiness, instead of
dwelling upon the worthiness of Jesus, His love, His merits, and His great
mercy, he will get away their shield of faith and gain his object; they will be
exposed to his fiery temptations. The weak should therefore look to Jesus,
and believe in Him; they then exercise faith.
The Son of God gave all—life and love and suffering—for our
redemption. And can it be that we, the unworthy objects of so great love,
will withhold our hearts from Him? Every moment of our lives we have been
partakers of the blessings of His grace, and for this very reason we cannot
fully realize the depths of ignorance and misery from which we have been
saved.
Many make a serious mistake in their religious life by keeping the
attention fixed upon their feelings and thus judging of their advancement
or decline. Feelings are not a safe criterion. We are not to look within for
evidence of our acceptance with God. We shall find there nothing but that
which will discourage us. Our only hope is in “looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith” (
Hebrews 12:2
). There is everything in Him to
inspire with hope, with faith, and with courage. He is our righteousness, our
consolation and rejoicing....
A sense of our weakness and unworthiness should lead us with humility
of heart to plead the atoning sacrifice of Christ. As we rely upon His merits
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