What Is It That Saves a Soul? 3
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2. SALVATION- PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
Thus, if we look at salvation, we shall see that it consists of three parts--salvation past, salvation present, and salvation future. Salvation past consists in having our names written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. Salvation present consists in the manifestation of Jesus to the soul, whereby He betroths it to Himself. And salvationfuture consists in the eternal enjoyment of Christ, when the elect shall sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and be forever with the Lord. Now, as none will ever enjoy salvation future who have no interest in salvation past--in other words, as none will ever be with Christ in eternal glory whose names were not written in the book of life from all eternity--so none will enjoy salvation future who live and die without enjoying salvation present. In other words, none will live forever with Christ in glory who are not betrothed to Him in this life by the manifestations of Himself to their soul.
According to the Jewish custom, the man, at the time of betrothing, gave the bride a piece of silver before witnesses, saying to her, "Receive this piece of silver as a pledge that at such a time you shall become my spouse." And the parties then exchanged rings. This meeting of the espoused parties together, who then saw each other for the first time, is a sweet type of the first meeting of the soul with Jesus. The damsel had heard of the youth, but until then had never seen him, as seeking souls hear of Jesus by the hearing of the ear before their eyes see Him. The veil was upon her face (Ge 24:65), as the veil is upon the heart (2Co 3:15), until Jesus rends it in twain from the top to the bottom.
The bridegroom gave his betrothed a piece of silver as a pledge that all he had was hers. And thus Christ gives to the soul, whom He betroths to Himself by His own manifestations--a pledge, a token, a testimony, which in itself is the first-fruits and assurance of eternal glory. The parties exchanged rings as pledges of mutual affection and eternal faithfulness. And thus, when Christ reveals Himself to the soul in His dying love--mutual engagements, mutual promises, mutual assurances and pledges of faithfulness and love pass between the soul and Him. "One will say, 'I belong to the Lord'; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, 'The Lord's.' " Isaiah 44:5
At these seasons, "in the day of the King's espousals", the language of the soul is, "I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste; He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love".
All doctrines, notions, forms, creeds, ordinances and ceremonies--short of this 'manifested salvation'--are as the dust in the balance, and as the driven stubble before the wind. What, for instance, is election, except it be revealed to my soul that I was elected before the foundation of the world? What is redemption to me, except the atoning blood of the Lamb be sprinkled on my conscience? What is the everlasting love of a Triune Jehovah, unless that eternal love be shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit? What is the finalperseverance of the saints, unless there is a blessed enjoyment of it in the conscience as a personal reality? To see these things revealed in the Bible is nothing. To hear them preached by one of God's ministers is nothing. To receive the truth of these into our judgment and to yield to them an unwavering assent is nothing. Thousands have done all this who are blaspheming God in hell.
But to have eternal election, personal redemption, imputed righteousness, unfailing love, and all the other blessed links of the golden chain let down into the soul from the throne of God; to have the beauty, glory and blessedness of salvation in all its branches--past, present, and to come--revealed to the heart and sealed upon the conscience, this is all in all.
And thus all doubts and fears, all convictions of sin, all cutting discoveries of inward vileness, all terrible views of God in the light of a broken law, all groans, sighs and tears, all heart-sinkings, and dismal forebodings of death and judgment that do not lead up to, and terminate in, a revealed salvation and a manifested Jesus before a man closes his eyes in death, have no more to do with religion than the clanking of a madman's chains or the howling frenzy of a maniac. A man's soul must be damned or saved. And as far as inward religion is concerned, a man must have salvation as an internal reality, as a known, enjoyed, tasted, felt and handled possession, or he will never enter the kingdom of heaven. He may be Churchman or Dissenter, Calvinist or Arminian, Baptist or Independent, anything or everything, and yet all his profession is no more towards his salvation than the cut of his clothes, the height of his stature, or the color of his complexion.
Everything of an outward nature, no--truth itself, is a bed too short and a covering too narrow. And thus all a man's consistency of life, soundness of creed, walking in the ordinances, long and steady profession, and everything on which thousands are resting for salvation, of a merely external nature, can no more put away sin, satisfy the justice of God, and give the soul a title for heaven, than the oath of a common swearer, or the lewd conversation of a harlot.
3. WHAT SALVATION IS NOT
If, then, we are asked what it is which saves a soul, we answer that it is not works of righteousness which we have done or can do; nor the use of our free-will, which is only free to choose and love evil; nor receiving of offered grace, to do which we have no natural power; nor watchfulness, prayer and fasting; nor self-denial, austerity and outward sanctification; nor any duties and forms; nor, in a word, any one thing singly, or multitude of things collectively, which depend on the natural wisdom and strength of man. Nor, again, is it head-knowledge, nor firm conviction of truth in the judgment, nor such workings of natural conscience as compel us to assent to a free grace salvation, nor a life outwardly consistent with the gospel, nor membership in a gospel church, nor natural attachment to the children and to the ministers of God, nor zeal for experimental religion, nor sacrifices made to support truth. Nor, again, does salvation consist in doubts and fears, tribulations, temptations, workings of inward corruption, legal terrors, fits of gloomy despondency and heart-rending despair.
All these things "accompany salvation," and are to be found in all the heirs of glory; but some of them or all may equally be found in hypocrites, apostates and reprobates. Nor, again, does salvation consist in desires, for "the sluggard desires, and has not"; nor in tears, for "Esau cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry" Ge 27:34; nor in merely seeking, for "many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able" Luke 13:24; nor in wishing, for "it is not of him that wills"; nor in running, for "it is not of him that runs," and though "in a race run all, one alone receives the prize." Neither does salvation consist in outward gifts, as preaching and praying, as a man may "taste of the heavenly gift," and yet "his end be to be burned"Heb 6:4,8; while Saul prophesied, Judas preached, and the sons of Sceva adjured devils by the name of Jesus.
Nor does it consist in natural faith, as "Simon Magus believed, and was baptized"; nor in natural hope, as there is "the hope of the hypocrite that shall perish"; nor in natural comforts, as there is "a walking in sparks of our own kindling"; nor in vain confidence, as "the fool rages, and is confident"; nor in talking about religion, for "a prating fool shall fall"; nor in being thought well of by others, as Paul once thought well of Demas, "who loved this present world"; nor in the children of God feeling a union with us, as David "took sweet counsel with Ahithophel, and walked to the house of God in his company".
To sum up the whole, salvation does not consist in anything of the flesh, that is, "in anything earthly, human and natural," as "the flesh profits nothing." "In other words, it is not thenatural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring" Romans 9:8. Thus, no man can deliver his own soul, nor give to God a ransom for himself, or his brother; but all "flesh is grass," fit only to be cut down by the mower, and to be cast into the oven.
We come, then, to this conclusion, to which God sooner or later brings every elect soul, that those who are saved are saved, because God will save them; that "He has mercy on whom He will have mercy," and on them alone; that He saves them not from any foreseen goodness in them, but of His own discriminating, sovereign grace; that He loves them freely, eternally and unchangeably; and that they are redeemed, justified, quickened, sanctified, preserved, and glorified, only because they are the objects of the undeserved love of a Triune Jehovah.
4. SALVATION OUTWARDLY AND INWARDLY
Here, then, is the answer to the question. "What is it which saves a soul?"
1. Having a saving interest in the electing choice of God the Father, in the redeeming blood and justifying righteousness of God the Son, and in the quickening, sanctifying operations of God the Holy Spirit. That is the inheritance sealed to the elect as eternally theirs, by "a covenant ordered in all things and sure." This is salvation outwardly, and he that has neither part nor lot in this salvation will perish in his sins under the tremendous wrath of a just and holy God. But there is,
2. the salvation inwardly which consists in the manifestation of Jesus to the soul, whereby electing love, atoning blood, justifying righteousness, and an eternal inheritance beyond the skies are sealed home upon the soul, and made personal, individual realities. To this inward enjoyment of salvation all the children of God are predestinated, and none of them die without a greater or less share of it. Some of them, indeed, are now being plunged into the terror of the law, others doubting and fearing, others cutting themselves off as hypocrites, others groaning beneath the weight of sin, others overcome by the power of their lusts, others harassed by the devil, others fainting by reason of the way, and all engaged in a terrible conflict with the old man of sin.
Some, again, are cut to the heart on account of their backslidings, others abhorring themselves in dust and ashes, others buffeted with the sorest temptations, others filled with rebellion and fretfulness, others entangled in Satan's snares, and others sitting in stubborn silence, or well-near swallowed up with despondency. Some have never found their Savior, and others have lost Him; some have never felt pardon and deliverance, and others have been "again entangled in the yoke of bondage"; some are shut up, and others cannot come forth; some are hoping against hope, and others doubting against evidences; some are "plagued all the day long, and chastened every morning"; and others are fearing they are bastards, because "the rod of God is not upon them."
But as all the family of God have a common interest in the salvation that is external, so do they all agree in this point with respect to the salvation that is internal, that it must be asupernatural religion, a manifested Savior, a revealed righteousness, a sprinkled conscience, a sealed pardon, a shed-abroad love, an enjoyed redemption, that alone will satisfy or save. And thus all their strippings, emptyings, chastisements, temptations, conflicts, sorrows, sighs, groans, and tears; all their doubts, fears, terrors, quakings, gloom and despondency; all their views of the justice of God in a holy law; all their ups and downs, changes, vicissitudes, guilt, condemnation, and bitter feelings of anguish on account of sin; in a word, all their experience of the depths of a desperately wicked heart--all, all serve in the hands of the blessed Spirit to bring them to this point, that salvation is in the blood and righteousness of Christ alone, and that this salvation must be revealed to them, and in them, to deliver them from the flames of hell.
5. THE ONLY TRUE SOURCE OF FRUIT
"But," say the Arminians, "if salvation be such as is here described, what becomes of the interests of morality, what provision is made for good works, what security is there for holiness of life? Will not a belief of his election make a man presumptuous, a confidence in his final perseverance render him careless, and a persuasion that he cannot sin himself out of the covenant, lead him to licentiousness?" To this we answer--"Yes; such will be, and are the fruits and effects of the doctrines of grace, when they are not wrought by the hand of God in the soul; but are learned, as hundreds learn them, in the understanding and judgment only." But this effect does not prove the doctrines to be untrue, but is rather a fulfillment of the Word of God.
"Let their table," that is, the doctrines spread before them on which they profess to feed, "become a snare, and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap" (Psalm 69:22). We read of "spots" in the primitive believers' "feasts of charity, feeding themselves without fear." These drank into the doctrine of election, etc., unmixed with holy awe, unattended with a trembling at God's word, and a spiritual reverence of His awesome majesty. Now, these individuals are said "to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and to deny," that is, by wicked works, "the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ."
But because ungodly men pervert the right ways of the Lord, and abuse truth to their own destruction, does it follow that the same effects follow the same doctrines where they are spiritually taught and spiritually received? The rays of the sun draw up disease and fever from the pestilential marsh, and turn a dead carcase into carrion. But is the sun less pure, are his beams less bright, are his rays less cheering, is his genial warmth less fostering to every herb, fruit and flower, because he draws putrefaction out of what is in itself putrid, and corruption out of what is in itself corrupt? And thus, because the doctrines of grace received into a corrupt heart serve only to draw forth its natural corruption, it does not follow that it is so where the word of life is received "into an honest and good heart"; that is, a heart made honest by the shining in of heavenly light, and made good or like unto God by the impress of His divine image. In this prepared soil the doctrines of grace take deep root, and being watered from time to time by the dews and rains of the blessed Spirit, bring forth fruit abundantly.
6. INWARD AND OUTWARD FRUITS
Thus they bring forth– INWARD fruit.
Of these the first is conversion, which consists in a change of heart, a change of affections, a change of feelings, a turning from formality to spirituality; from free-will to free-grace, from self-righteousness to self-abhorrence, from hypocrisy to honesty, from self-justification to self-condemnation, from profession to power.
The second is godly fear, which realizes God's heart-searching presence, trembles at His frown, dreads His displeasure, is afraid of His judgments, feels His chastening hand, and seeks above all things His favor and the light of His countenance.
The third is humility, which springs from a knowledge of God and a knowledge of one's self, and consists in a spiritual acquaintance with the deceit and wickedness of the heart, in esteeming others better than ourselves, in feeling how little grace and real religion we possess, in confessions to God and man of our vileness, in sitting at Jesus' feet to be taught by Him, in taking the lowest room among the children of God, in being a babe in helplessness, weakness, foolishness and nothingness.
A fourth inward fruit is godly sorrow, which springs from a view of a suffering Savior, and manifests itself by hatred of self, abhorrence of sin, groaning over our backslidings, grief of soul for being so often entangled by our lusts and passions, and is accompanied by softness, meltings of heart, flowings of love to the Redeemer and of indignation against ourselves, and earnest desires never to sin more.
A fifth fruit is hope, which springs up out of despair, and is raised up in the soul by a spiritual discovery of the compassion, the mercy, the forbearance, the loving-kindness, and the pity of the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. This opens the heart in prayer, melts down its sullen obstinacy, enlarges its narrow, selfish, jealous, contracted views of God, holds it fast as a sure and steadfast anchor amid storms and tempests, and encourages it to wait at mercy's door until full deliverance comes.
A sixth fruit is love, which consists in love to God, on account of His tender mercies, loving-kindness and forbearance in the midst of, and in spite of, all our crookedness, obstinacy, perverseness and dreadful wickedness--in love to Christ as a Savior, so suitable to our miserable condition as filthy, polluted, justly damned wretches; in love to the exercised, harassed, and tempted children of God, as fellow-sufferers and fellow-heirs; in love to the ministers of Christ, as messengers with a message to our guilty souls, as interpreters of our experience, as stewards of heavenly mysteries and discoverers of the secrets of our hearts; in love to the truth of God, which makes us free; to the word of God, which has entered our hearts; and to the promises of God, which have from time to time encouraged us. These are only a few of the inward fruits which the doctrines of grace, spiritually received into the soul, invariably produce.
But besides these there are, secondly, OUTWARD fruits. Such are--separation from a profane world; separation from a professing world; honesty and boldness in the cause of truth; liberality to the poor and needy of God's family; general consistency of life and conversation; abhorrence of all the tricks of trade, lies of business, and frauds of commerce; hatred of flattery, given or received--in a word--a life agreeable to the precepts and ordinances of the gospel.
Such are the fruits, inward and outward, which are produced by the doctrines of grace when applied to the soul by the blessed Spirit. God being the only fountain of life, grace and fruitfulness, the soul that is brought into His blessed presence, to walk with Him, to have communion with Him, and to enjoy access unto Him, derives, for the time, from this holy nearness, faint marks of resemblance unto Him.
And thus, eternal election revealed to the soul, personal redemption applied to the heart, imputed righteousness sealed upon the conscience, and never-failing faithfulness manifested within, so far from leading to licentiousness, are the only truths which will produce real fruit. And, on the contrary, all self-denial, outward sanctification, mortification of the flesh, long prayers, and all the good works of the Arminian catalogue, are nothing but counterfeits and imitations of the fruits of the Spirit, and will therefore leave their deluded owners to the just vengeance of Him who is a consuming fire.
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