
                       THE WAY OF SALVATION

      What must I do  to be saved?   Saved from what?   What is it
 you wish to be saved from?   Hell?  That proves nothing.   Nobody
 wants to go there.  The issue between God and man is SIN.  Do you
 wish to be saved from it?
      What is sin?  Sin is a species of rebellion against God.  It
 is self-pleasing; it is the utter ignoring of God's claims--being
 completely indifferent whether  my conduct pleases  or displeases
 Him.
      Before God saves a man,  He convicts him of his  sinnership.
 By this I do not mean  that he says with everybody else  "Oh yes,
 we are all sinners, I know that."  Rather do I mean that the Holy
 Spirit makes  me feel  in my  heart that  I have  been a lifelong
 rebel against God,  and that my  sins are so  many, so great,  so
 black, that I fear I have transgressed beyond the reach of divine
 mercy.
      Have you ever had that  experience?  Have you seen  yourself
 to be totally unfit for heaven?  For the presence of a Holy  God?
 Do you now perceive that there  is no good thing in you,  nothing
 good credited to your account, that all the way through you  have
 loved the things God hates and hated the things God loves?
      Has the realization  of this broken  your heart before  God?
 Has it  made you  mourn that  you have  so despised  HIs mercies,
 misused His blessings, broken  His Sabbaths, neglected His  Word,
 and given Him no real  place at all in your  thoughts, affections
 and life?   If you have  not yet seen  and felt this  personally,
 then at present there is no  hope for you, for God says,  "Except
 ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).  And if you
 die in your present condition, you will be lost forever.
      But if you have been brought to the place where sin is  your
 greatest plague, where offending God is your greatest grief,  and
 where your deepest desire is  now to please and honour  Him, then
 there is hope for you.  "The Son of man came to seek and to  save
 that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).  And He will save you  provid-
 ing you are ready and willing  to throw down the weapons of  your
 warfare against Him, bow to His Lordship, and surrender  yourself
 to His control.
      His blood can wash the foulest clean.  His grace can support
 and uphold  the weakest.   His  power can  deliver the  tried and
 tempted.  "Behold, now is  the accepted time; behold, now  is the
 day  of  salvation"  (2  Cor.  6:2).   Yield yourself to Christ's
 claim. Give Him the throne of  your heart.  Turn over to  Him the
 regulation of you life.   Trust in His  atoning death.  Love  Him
 with all your  soul.  Obey  Him with all  your might and  He will
 conduct you  to heaven.   "Believe  on the  Lord Jesus Christ and
 thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

                                                        A. W. Pink
