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All of Grace
Alas! I Can do Nothing!
AFTER
THE ANXIOUS HEART has accepted the doctrine of atonement, and learned the great
truth that salvation is by faith in the Lord Jesus, it is often sore troubled
with a sense of inability toward that which is good. Many are groaning, "I
can do nothing." They are not making this into an excuse, but they feel it
as a daily burden. They would if they could. They can each one honestly say,
"To will is present with me, but how to perform that which I would I find
not."
This feeling seems to make all the gospel null and void; for
what is the use of food to a hungry man if he cannot get at it? Of what avail is
the river of the water of life if one cannot drink? We recall the story of the
doctor and the poor woman's child. The sage practitioner told the mother that
her little one would soon be better under proper treatment, but it was
absolutely needful that her boy should regularly drink the best wine, and that
he should spend a season at one of the German spas. This, to a widow who could
hardly get bread to eat! Now, it sometimes seems to the troubled heart that the
simple gospel of "Believe and live," is not, after all, so very
simple; for it asks the poor sinner to do what he cannot do. To the really
awakened, but half instructed, there appears to be a missing link; yonder is the
salvation of Jesus, but how is it to be reached? The soul is without strength,
and knows not what to do. It lies within sight of the city of refuge, and cannot
enter its gate.
Is this want of strength provided for in the plan of
salvation? It is. The work of the Lord is perfect. It begins where we are, and
asks nothing of us in order to its completion. When the good Samaritan saw the
traveller lying wounded and half dead, he did not bid him rise and come to him,
and mount the ass and ride off to the inn. No, "he came where he was,"
and ministered to him, and lifted him upon the beast and bore him to the inn.
Thus doth the Lord Jesus deal with us in our low and wretched estate.
We have seen that God justifies, that He justifies the
ungodly and that He justifies them through faith in the precious blood of Jesus;
we have now to see the condition these ungodly ones are in when Jesus works out
their salvation. Many awakened persons are not only troubled about their sin,
but about their moral weakness. They have no strength with which to escape from
the mire into which they have fallen, nor to keep out of it in after days. They
not only lament over what they have done, but over what they cannot do. They
feel themselves to be powerless, helpless, and spiritually lifeless. It may
sound odd to say that they feel dead, and yet it is even so. They are, in their
own esteem, to all good incapable. They cannot travel the road to Heaven, for
their bones are broken. "None of the men of strength have found their
hands;" in fact, they are "without strength." Happily, it is
written, as the commendation of God's love to us:
When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died
for the ungodly (Romans 5:6).
Here we see conscious helplessness succoured--succoured by
the interposition of the Lord Jesus. Our helplessness is extreme. It is not
written, "When we were comparatively weak Christ died for us"; or,
"When we had only a little strength"; but the description is absolute
and unrestricted; "When we were yet without strength." We had no
strength whatever which could aid in our salvation; our Lord's words were
emphatically true, "Without me ye can do nothing." I may go further
than the text, and remind you of the great love wherewith the Lord loved us,
"even when we were dead in trespasses and sins." To be dead is even
more than to be without strength.
The one thing that the poor strength less sinner has to fix
his mind upon, and firmly retain, as his one ground of hope, is the divine
assurance that "in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Believe
this, and all inability will disappear. As it is fabled of Midas that he turned
everything into gold by his touch, so it is true of faith that it turns
everything it touches into good. Our very needs and weaknesses become blessings
when faith deals with them.
Let us dwell upon certain forms of this want of strength. To
begin with, one man will say, "Sir, I do not seem to have strength to
collect my thoughts, and keep them fixed upon those solemn topics which concern
my salvation; a short prayer is almost too much for me. It is so partly,
perhaps, through natural weakness, partly because I have injured myself through
dissipation, and partly also because I worry myself with worldy cares, so that I
am not capable of those high thoughts which are necessary ere a soul can be
saved." This is a very common form of sinful weakness. Note this! You are
without strength on this point; and there are many like you. They could not
carry out a train of consecutive thought to save their lives. Many poor men and
women are illiterate and untrained, and these would find deep thought to be very
heavy work. Others are so light and trifling by nature, that they could no more
follow out a long process of argument and reasoning, than they could fly. They
could never attain to the knowledge of any profound mystery if they expended
their whole life in the effort. You need not, therefore, despair: that which is
necessary to salvation is not continuous thought, but a simple reliance upon
Jesus. Hold you on to this one fact--"In due time Christ died for the
ungodly." This truth will not require from you any deep research or
profound reasoning, or convincing argument. There it stands: "In due time
Christ died for the ungodly." Fix your mind on that, and rest there.
Let this one great, gracious, glorious fact lie in your
spirit till it perfumes all your thoughts, and makes you rejoice even though you
are without strength, seeing the Lord Jesus has become your strength and your
song, yea, He has become your salvation. According to the Scriptures it is a
revealed fact, that in due time Christ died for the ungodly when they were yet
without strength. You have heard these words hundreds of times, maybe, and yet
you have never before perceived their meaning. There is a cheering savour about
them, is there not? Jesus did not die for our righteousness, but He died for our
sins. He did not come to save us because we were worth the saving, but because
we were utterly worthless, ruined, and undone. He came not to earth out of any
reason that was in us, but solely and only out of reasons which He fetched from
the depths of His own divine love. In due time He died for those whom He
describes, not as godly, but as ungodly, applying to them as hopeless an
adjective as He could well have selected. If you have but little mind, yet
fasten it to this truth, which is fitted to the smallest capacity, and is able
to cheer the heaviest heart. Let this text lie under your tongue like a sweet
morsel, till it dissolves into your heart and flavours all your thoughts; and
then it will little matter though those thoughts should be as scattered as
autumn leaves. Persons who have never shone in science, nor displayed the least
originality of mind, have nevertheless been fully able to accept the doctrine of
the cross, and have been saved thereby. Why should not you?
I hear another man cry, "Oh, sir my want of strength
lies mainly in this, that I cannot repent sufficiently!" A curious idea men
have of what repentance is! Many fancy that so many tears are to be shed, and so
many groans are to be heaved, and so much despair is to be endured. Whence comes
this unreasonable notion? Unbelief and despair are sins, and therefore I do not
see how they can be constituent elements of acceptable repentance; yet there are
many who regard them as necessary parts of true Christian experience. They are
in great error. Still, I know what they mean, for in the days of my darkness I
used to feel in the same way. I desired to repent, but I thought that I could
not do it, and yet all the while I was repenting. Odd as it may sound, I felt
that I could not feel. I used to get into a corner and weep, because I could not
weep; and I fell into bitter sorrow because I could not sorrow for sin. What a
jumble it all is when in our unbelieving state we begin to judge our own
condition! It is like a blind man looking at his own eyes. My heart was melted
within me for fear, because I thought that my heart was as hard as an adamant
stone. My heart was broken to think that it would not break. Now I can
see that I was exhibiting the very thing which I thought I did not possess; but
then I knew not where I was.
Oh that I could help others into the light which I now
enjoy! Fain would I say a word which might shorten the time of their
bewilderment. I would say a few plain words, and pray "the Comforter"
to apply them to the heart.
Remember that the man who truly repents is never satisfied
with his own repentance. We can no more repent perfectly than we can live
perfectly. However pure our tears, there will always be some dirt in them: there
will be something to be repented of even in our best repentance. But listen! To
repent is to change your mind about sin, and Christ, and all the great things of
God. There is sorrow implied in this; but the main point is the turning of the
heart from sin to Christ. If there be this turning, you have the essence of true
repentance, even though no alarm and no despair should ever have cast their
shadow upon your mind.
If you cannot repent as you would, it will greatly aid you
to do so if you will firmly believe that "in due time Christ died for the
ungodly." Think of this again and again. How can you continue to be
hard-hearted when you know that out of supreme love "Christ died for the
ungodly"? Let me persuade you to reason with yourself thus: Ungodly as I
am, though this heart of steel will not relent, though I smite in vain upon my
breast, yet He died for such as I am, since He died for the ungodly. Oh that I
may believe this and feel the power of it upon my flinty heart!
Blot out every other reflection from your soul, and sit down
by the hour together, and meditate deeply on this one resplendent display of
unmerited, unexpected, unexampled love, "Christ died for the ungodly."
Read over carefully the narrative of the Lord's death, as you find it in the
four evangelists. If anything can melt your stubborn heart, it will be a sight
of the sufferings of Jesus, and the consideration that he suffered all this for
His enemies.
O Jesus! sweet the tears I shed,
Gaze on Thy wounded, fainting head,
My heart dissolves to see Thee bleed,
I hear Thee for the guilty plead,
'Twas for the sinful Thou didst die,
Convinc'd by Thine expiring eye,
Surely the cross is that wonder-working rod which can bring
water out of a rock. If you understand the full meaning of the divine sacrifice
of Jesus, you must repent of ever having been opposed to One who is so full of
love. It is written, "They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and
they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in
bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."
Repentance will not make you see Christ; but to see Christ will give you
repentance. You may not make a Christ out of your repentance, but you must look
for repentance to Christ. The Holy Ghost, by turning us to Christ, turns us from
sin. Look away, then, from the effect to the cause, from your own repenting to
the Lord Jesus, who is exalted on high to give repentance.
I have heard another say, "I am tormented with horrible
thoughts. Wherever I go, blasphemies steal in upon me. Frequently at my work a
dreadful suggestion forces itself upon me, and even on my bed I am startled from
my sleep by whispers of the evil one. I cannot get away from this horrible
temptation." Friend, I know what you mean, for I have myself been hunted by
this wolf. A man might as well hope to fight a swarm of flies with a sword as to
master his own thoughts when they are set on by the devil. A poor tempted soul,
assailed by satanic suggestions, is like a traveller I have read of, about whose
head and ears and whole body there came a swarm of angry bees. He could not keep
them off nor escape from them. They stung him everywhere and threatened to be
the death of him. I do not wonder you feel that you are without strength to stop
these hideous and abominable thoughts which Satan pours into your soul; but yet
I would remind you of the Scripture before us--"When we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Jesus knew where we
were and where we should be; He saw that we could not overcome the prince of the
power of the air; He knew that we should be greatly worried by him; but even
then, when He saw us in that condition, Christ died for the ungodly. Cast the
anchor of your faith upon this. The devil himself cannot tell you that you are
not ungodly; believe, then, that Jesus died even for such as you are. Remember
Martin Luther's way of cutting the devil's head off with his own sword.
"Oh," said the devil to Martin Luther, "you are a sinner."
"Yes," said he, "Christ died to save sinners." Thus he smote
him with his own sword. Hide you in this refuge, and keep there: "In due
time Christ died for the ungodly." If you stand to that truth, your
blasphemous thoughts which you have not the strength to drive away will go away
of themselves; for Satan will see that he is answering no purpose by plaguing
you with them.
These thoughts, if you hate them, are none of yours, but are
injections of the Devil, for which he is responsible, and not you. If you strive
against them, they are no more yours than are the cursing and falsehoods of
rioters in the street. It is by means of these thoughts that the Devil would
drive you to despair, or at least keep you from trusting Jesus. The poor
diseased woman could not come to Jesus for the press, and you are in much the
same condition, because of the rush and throng of these dreadful thoughts.
Still, she put forth her finger, and touched the fringe of the Lord's garment,
and she was healed. Do you the same.
Jesus died for those who are guilty of "all manner of
sin and blasphemy," and therefore I am sure He will not refuse those who
are unwillingly the captives of evil thoughts. Cast yourself upon Him, thoughts
and all, and see if He be not mighty to
Sadly perplexing is that form of inability which lies in a
supposed want of power to believe. We are not strangers to the cry:
Oh that I could believe,
Then all would easy be;
I would, but cannot; Lord, relieve,
My help must come from thee.
Many remain in the dark for years because they have no
power, as they say, to do that which is the giving up of all power and reposing
in the power of another, even the Lord Jesus. Indeed, it is a very curious
thing, this whole matter of believing; for people do not get much help by trying
to believe. Believing does not come by trying. If a person were to make a
statement of something that happened this day, I should not tell him that I
would try to believe him. If I believed in the truthfulness of the man who told
the incident to me and said that he saw it, I should accept the statement at
once. If I did not think him a true man, I should, of course, disbelieve him;
but there would be no trying in the matter. Now, when God declares that there is
salvation in Christ Jesus, I must either believe Him at once, or make Him a
liar. Surely you will not hesitate as to which is the right path in this case,
The witness of God must be true, and we are bound at once to believe in Jesus.
But possibly you have been trying to believe too much. Now
do not aim at great things. Be satisfied to have a faith that can hold in its
hand this one truth, "While we were yet without strength, in due time
Christ died for the ungodly." He laid down His life for men while as yet
they were not believing in Him, nor were able to believe in Him. He died for
men, not as believers, but as sinners. He came to make these sinners into
believers and saints; but when He died for them He viewed them as utterly
without strength. If you hold to the truth that Christ died for the ungodly, and
believe it, your faith will save you, and you may go in peace. If you will trust
your soul with Jesus, who died for the ungodly, even though you cannot believe
all things, nor move mountains, nor do any other wonderful works, yet you are
saved. It is not great faith, but true faith, that saves; and the salvation lies
not in the faith, but in the Christ in whom faith trusts. Faith as a grain of
mustard seed will bring salvation. It is not the measure of faith, but the
sincerity of faith, which is the point to be considered. Surely a man can
believe what he knows to be true; and as you know Jesus to be true, you, my
friend, can believe in Him.
The cross which is the object of faith, is also, by the
power of the Holy Spirit, the cause of it. Sit down and watch the dying Saviour
till faith springs up spontaneously in your heart. There is no place like
Calvary for creating confidence. The air of that sacred hill brings health to
trembling faith. Many a watcher there has said:
While I view Thee, wounded, grieving,
Lord, I feel my heart believing
"Alas!" cries another, "my want of strength
lies in this direction, that I cannot quit my sin, and I know that I cannot go
to Heaven and carry my sin with me." I am glad that you know that, for it
is quite true. You must be divorced from your sin, or you cannot be married to
Christ. Recollect the question which flashed into the mind of young Bunyan when
at his sports on the green on Sunday: "Wilt thou have thy sins and go to
hell, or wilt thou quit thy sins and go to heaven?" That brought him to a
dead stand. That is a question which every man will have to answer: for there is
no going on in sin and going to heaven. That cannot be. You must quit sin or
quit hope. Do you reply, "Yes, I am willing enough. To will is present with
me, but how to perform that which l would I find not. Sin masters me, and I have
no strength." Come, then, if you have no strength, this text is still true,
"When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly." Can you still believe that? However other things may seem to
contradict it, will you believe it? God has said it, and it is a fact;
therefore, hold on to it like grim death, for your only hope lies there. Believe
this and trust Jesus, and you shall soon find power with which to slay your sin;
but apart from Him, the strong man armed will hold you for ever his bond slave.
Personally, I could never have overcome my own sinfulness. I tried and failed.
My evil propensities were too many for me, till, in the belief that Christ died
for me, I cast my guilty soul on Him, and then I received a conquering principle
by which I overcame my sinful self. The doctrine of the cross can be used to
slay sin, even as the old warriors used their huge two-handed swords, and mowed
down their foes at every stroke. There is nothing like faith in the sinner's
Friend: it overcomes all evil. If Christ has died for me, ungodly as I am,
without strength as I am, then I cannot live in sin any longer, but must arouse
myself to love and serve Him who hath redeemed me. I cannot trifle with the evil
which slew my best Friend. I must be holy for His sake. How can I live in sin
when He has died to save me from it?
See what a splendid help this is to you that are without
strength, to know and believe that in due time Christ died for such ungodly ones
as you are. Have you caught the idea yet? It is, somehow, so difficult for our
darkened, prejudiced, and unbelieving minds to see the essence of the gospel. At
times I have thought, when I have done preaching, that I have laid down the
gospel so clearly, that the nose on one's face could not be more plain; and yet
I perceive that even intelligent hearers have failed to understand what was
meant by "Look unto me and be ye saved." Converts usually say that
they did not know the gospel till such and such a day; and yet they had heard it
for years. The gospel is unknown, not from want of explanation, but from absence
of personal revelation. This the Holy Ghost is ready to give, and will give to
those who ask Him. Yet when given, the sum total of the truth revealed all lies
within these words: "Christ died for the ungodly."
I hear another bewailing himself thus: "Oh, sir, my
weakness lies in this, that I do not seem to keep long in one mind! I hear the
word on a Sunday, and I am impressed; but in the week I meet with an evil
companion, and my good feelings are all gone. My fellow workmen do not believe
in anything, and they say such terrible things, and I do not know how to answer
them, and so I find myself knocked over." I know this Plastic Pliable very
well, and I tremble for him; but at the same time, if he is really sincere, his
weakness can be met by divine grace. The Holy Spirit can cast out the evil
spirit of the fear of man. He can make the coward brave. Remember, my poor
vacillating friend, you must not remain in this state. It will never do to be
mean and beggarly to yourself. Stand upright, and look at yourself, and see if
you were ever meant to be like a toad under a harrow, afraid for your life
either to move or to stand still. Do have a mind of your own. This is not a
spiritual matter only, but one which concerns ordinary manliness. I would do
many things to please my friends; but to go to hell to please them is more than
I would venture. It may be very well to do this and that for good fellowship;
but it will never do to lose the friendship of God in order to keep on good
terms with men. "I know that," says the man, "but still, though I
know it, I cannot pluck up courage. I cannot show my colours. I cannot stand
fast." Well, to you also I have the same text to bring: "When we were
yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." If Peter
were here, he would say, "The Lord Jesus died for me even when I was such a
poor weak creature that the maid who kept the fire drove me to lie, and to swear
that I knew not the Lord." Yes, Jesus died for those who forsook him and
fled. Take a firm grip on this truth--"Christ died for the ungodly while
they were yet without strength." This is your way out of your cowardice.
Get this wrought into your soul, "Christ died for me," and you will
soon be ready to die for Him. Believe it, that He suffered in your place and
stead, and offered for you a full, true, and satisfactory expiation. If you
believe that fact, you will be forced to feel, "I cannot be ashamed of Him
who died for me." A full conviction that this is true will nerve you with a
dauntless courage. Look at the saints in the martyr age. In the early days of
Christianity, when this great thought of Christ's exceeding love was sparkling
in all its freshness in the church, men were not only ready to die, but they
grew ambitious to suffer, and even presented themselves by hundreds at the
judgment seats of the rulers, confessing the Christ. I do not say that they were
wise to court a cruel death; but it proves my point, that a sense of the love of
Jesus lifts the mind above all fear of what man can do to us. Why should it not
produce the same effect in you? Oh that it might now inspire you with a brave
resolve to come out upon the Lord's side, and be His follower to the end!
May the Holy Spirit help us to come thus far by faith in the
Lord Jesus, and it will be well!
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