Several years ago I read a tract by Horatius Bonar, a minister in the Church of Scotland in the nineteenth century. The tract was titled, “How Shall I Go To God?” The first sentence of the tract boldly answered the question. It may be the most profound statement I have ever read outside of Scripture. It is succinct. It states a truth that I had never before considered in such a way as Bonar stated it. It is fundamental to the Gospel. It is such good news - clear, pointed, refreshing. It is soothing to the soul. I delight in it because it teaches man’s awful predicament and the salvation that only God can provide. Everyone who has ever come successfully to God came in this manner. The statement….
It is with our sins that we go to God, for we have nothing else to go with that we can call our own.
What understanding! What relief! No one can come to God bringing anything of value. Why? No one has anything of value to bring. The one coming to God thinking that he has something of value to present to Him is deceived. And I quickly add, this is the state of most people. Those coming to God usually have something that they consider will appease God. Something they bring will be sufficient to show God that He should receive them. It has not, does not and never will happen. God saves sinners, not those who provide an offering which is a product of their own degenerate will.
But one will say that he comes to God with his faith, for it is faith that pleases God. It is true that faith pleases God. But where will a sinner get this faith? The sinner cannot do good, for there is no one that does good (Rom. 3:12) And if he cannot do good, then he certainly can’t produce faith or anything else that pleases God. The sinner may have the same faith that the devils have (James 2:19). But that faith is of no use for it is not of God. The faith that saves is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8). It is not of yourself. Just as Paul told the Philippians, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake (Phil. 1:29). To believe on Christ is a gift, just as suffering for Him is a gift.
And where will you get repentance? Will you dredge it up from within your carnal being? Then it too will be of no value. For the repentance that is necessary to please God comes from God. It is the goodness of God that leads one to repentance (Rom. 2:4). If the repentance is of yourself then you testify that you despise the riches of God’s goodness, forbearance and longsuffering. Your need is for God to give you “repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (II Tim. 2:25).
This is the mystery of the gospel. Jesus Christ saves sinners. He does not save sinners who bring their own worthless sacrifices. These are repugnant to God. I repeat, He saves sinners. The kind of sinners He saves are those that come with nothing but their sins. For in coming with nothing but their sins they demonstrate that they come in the repentance and faith that God has given them.
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