18
Steps to Christ
5:31
. We can no more repent without the Spirit of Christ to awaken
the conscience than we can be pardoned without Christ.
Christ is the source of every right impulse. He is the only one that
can implant in the heart enmity against sin. Every desire for truth and
purity, every conviction of our own sinfulness, is an evidence that His
Spirit is moving upon our hearts.
Jesus has said, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men
unto Me.”
John 12:32
. Christ must be revealed to the sinner as the
Saviour dying for the sins of the world; and as we behold the Lamb of
[27]
God upon the cross of Calvary, the mystery of redemption begins to
unfold to our minds and the goodness of God leads us to repentance.
In dying for sinners, Christ manifested a love that is incomprehensible;
and as the sinner beholds this love, it softens the heart, impresses the
mind, and inspires contrition in the soul.
It is true that men sometimes become ashamed of their sinful ways,
and give up some of their evil habits, before they are conscious that
they are being drawn to Christ. But whenever they make an effort to
reform, from a sincere desire to do right, it is the power of Christ that
is drawing them. An influence of which they are unconscious works
upon the soul, and the conscience is quickened, and the outward life is
amended. And as Christ draws them to look upon His cross, to behold
Him whom their sins have pierced, the commandment comes home
to the conscience. The wickedness of their life, the deep-seated sin of
the soul, is revealed to them. They begin to comprehend something of
the righteousness of Christ, and exclaim, “What is sin, that it should
require such a sacrifice for the redemption of its victim? Was all this
love, all this suffering, all this humiliation, demanded, that we might
not perish, but have everlasting life?”
The sinner may resist this love, may refuse to be drawn to Christ;
but if he does not resist he will be drawn to Jesus; a knowledge of the
plan of salvation will lead him to the foot of the cross in repentance
for his sins, which have caused the sufferings of God’s dear Son.
[28]
The same divine mind that is working upon the things of nature is
speaking to the hearts of men and creating an inexpressible craving
for something they have not. The things of the world cannot satisfy
their longing. The Spirit of God is pleading with them to seek for
those things that alone can give peace and rest—the grace of Christ,
the joy of holiness. Through influences seen and unseen, our Saviour