1
Charge at to
My Account
And Other Gospel Messages
By Henry Allan Ironside
B&P
Bibles & Publications
5706 Monkland, Montréal, Québec H4A 1E6
BTP #nnnn
BibleTruthPublishers.com
59 Industrial Road, Addison, IL 60101, U.S.A.
BTP# 9496
3
Charge at to My Account
4
Contents
Prefatory Note ................................................................9
Chapter 1. ..................................................................... 11
“Charge at to my Account” ..................................................... 11
Sam Hadley Finds Jim ...............................................................13
“He Delighteth in Mercy” ..........................................................16
A Gospel Picture .......................................................................19
Chapter 2. ..................................................................... 23
e Way to the City ..................................................................23
e Wrong Train .......................................................................25
Well Marked Roads ...................................................................26
Several Wrong Roads .................................................................27
e Modernism Way. ..................................................................32
Chapter 3. ..................................................................... 37
Will a Loving God Permit Any One be Eternally Lost? ............37
e Reasonings of Men ............................................................. 39
e Time Element Involved ...................................................... 42
Chapter 4. ..................................................................... 47
5
Dreams at will Never Come True ..........................................47
World Dreams ........................................................................... 49
Dreams of Worldly Pleasures .....................................................49
Dreams of World Wealth ..........................................................51
A Beautiful Young Woman Saved .............................................52
Still Other Dreams .................................................................... 56
Chapter 5. ..................................................................... 59
e Chains of Sin ...................................................................... 59
e Indian Prince ......................................................................60
Other Prison Guards .................................................................62
Peter’s Dire Condition ............................................................... 62
Chains that Bind. ........................................................................64
Deliverance rough Prayer .......................................................66
Chapter 6. ..................................................................... 71
e Sinless One Made Sin ........................................................71
No Confession to Make .............................................................73
Tempted in All Points ...............................................................74
Not Physical Suering Only ......................................................77
He is Our Righteousness ...........................................................79
A Religious Woman Lost .......................................................... 80
Charge at to My Account
6
Chapter 7. ..................................................................... 83
Transgression Forgiven .............................................................. 83
“No Afeard of God Noo” ............................................................ 85
Unforgiven Sins Distress ...........................................................86
Story of Robert Bruce ................................................................87
Precious Hiding Place ................................................................88
Playing Big Bear ........................................................................ 89
Prayer in the Wrong Place ......................................................... 91
Chapter 8. ..................................................................... 93
e Greatest Text in the Bible ................................................... 93
Many Truths in One Verse ........................................................94
One Text a Whole Week ...........................................................97
Just Like African Boys ...............................................................99
A Girl’s Horror of God ............................................................100
Just Lippen to Jesus .................................................................102
Another “Whosoever” ...............................................................102
Chapter 9. ................................................................... 105
How to Become a Child of God ..............................................105
Not of Blood ............................................................................106
Not of the Will of the Flesh .................................................... 107
7
Not of Man ..............................................................................109
e One Divine Way ............................................................... 112
Chapter 10. ................................................................. 115
Anathema Maranatha ..............................................................115
e Human Heart ................................................................... 117
Man Totally Depraved .............................................................118
Chapter 11. ................................................................. 125
Inside the Veil and Outside the Camp ....................................125
e Veil of Separation ..............................................................127
e Way into the Holiest .........................................................128
A Pilgrim Path .........................................................................130
True Worship ...........................................................................132
Outside the Camp ................................................................... 133
Sharing His Rejection ..............................................................135
Chapter 12 ..................................................................137
Peace by Christ Jesus ...............................................................137
Peace Better an Happiness ...................................................137
No Peace to the Wicked .......................................................... 138
A False Peace ........................................................................... 139
Two Aspects of Peace ..............................................................140
Prefatory Note
9
213539
Prefatory Note
Because God has been pleased to set His seal of approval
upon these simple gospel messages by using them in the
awakening and salvaon of sinners, they are now put out in
book form in the earnest hope that many who read them may
nd joy and peace in believing.
Charge at to My Account
10
Chapter 1.
11
213540
Chapter 1.
“Charge at to my Account”
“If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.
If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on
mine account; I Paul have wrien it with mine own hand, I will
repay it; albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me
even thine own self besides” (Philem. 17-19).
SOMEONE has said that this Epistle to Philemon is the nest
specimen of early private Chrisan correspondence extant.
We should expect this, since it was given by divine inspiraon.
And yet it all has to do with a thieving runaway slave named
Onesimus, who was about to return to his former master.
The history behind the leer, which is deduced from a
careful study of the Epistle itself, seems to be this: In the city
Charge at to My Account
12
of Colosse dwelt a wealthy Chrisan man by the name of
Philemon, possibly the head of a large household, and like
many in that day, he had a number of slaves or bondsmen.
Chrisanity did not immediately overturn the evil custom of
slavery, although eventually it was the means of praccally
driving it out of the whole civilized world. It began by
regulang the relaon of master and slave, thus bringing
untold blessing to those in bondage.
This man Philemon evidently was converted through the
ministry of the apostle Paul. Where they met, we are not told;
certainly not in the city of Colosse, because in wring the
leer to the Colossians, Paul makes it clear that he had never
seen the faces of those who formed the Colossian church.
You will recall that he labored at Ephesus for a long period.
The fame of his preaching and teaching was spread abroad,
and we read that “all in Asia heard the word.” Among those
who thus heard the Gospel message may have been this man
Philemon of Colosse, and so he was brought to know Christ.
Some years had gone by, and this slave, Onesimus, had run
away. Evidently before going, he had robbed his master. With
his ill-goen gains he had ed to Rome. How he reached
there we do not know, but I have no doubt that upon his
arrival he had his ing, and enjoyed to the full that which had
belonged to his master. He did not take God into account, but
nevertheless God’s eye was upon him when he le his home,
and it followed him along the journey from Colosse to Rome.
When he reached that great metropolis, he was evidently
brought into contact with the very man through whom his
master, Philemon, had been converted. Possibly Onesimus
was arrested because of some further rascality, and in that
way came in contact with Paul in prison, or he may have
visited him voluntarily. At any rate God, who knows just how
to bring the needy sinner and the messenger of the Cross
together, saw to it that Onesimus and Paul met face to face.
Chapter 1.
13
Sam Hadley Finds Jim
Some years ago there happened a wonderful illustraon of
this very thing: the divine ability to bring the needy sinner and
the messenger of Christ together.
When Sam Hadley was in California, just shortly before
he died, Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman, that princely man of God,
arranged a midnight meeng, using the largest Theater in
the city of Oakland, in order to get the message of Hadley
before the very people who needed it most. On that night a
great procession, maybe one thousand people, from all the
dierent churches, led by the Salvaon Army band, wended
their way through the main streets of the city. Beginning at
10:30, they marched for one-half hour, and then came to the
Metropolitan Theater. In a moment or two it was packed from
oor to gallery.
I happened to be sing in the rst balcony, looking right down
upon the stage. I noced that every seat on the stage was
lled with Chrisan workers, but when Sam Hadley stepped
forward to deliver the srring message of the evening, his seat
was le vacant. Just as he began to speak, I saw a man who
had come in at the rear of the stage, slip around from behind
the back curtain, and stand at one of the wings with his hand
up to his ear, listening to the address. Evidently he did not
hear very well. In a moment or two he moved to another
wing, and then on to another one. Finally he came forward
to one side of the front part of the stage and stood there
listening, but sll he could not hear very well. Upon nocing
him, Dr. Chapman immediately got up, greeted the poor
fellow, brought him to the front, and put him in the very chair
which Sam Hadley had occupied. There he listened entranced
to the story of Hadley’s redempon.
When the speaker had nished, Dr. Chapman arose to close
Charge at to My Account
14
the meeng, and Hadley took Chapman’s chair next to this
man. Turning to the man he shook hands with him, and they
chaed together. When Dr. Chapman was about ready to
ask the people to rise and receive the benedicon, Hadley
suddenly sprang to his feet, and said, “Just a moment, my
friends. Before we close, Dr. Chapman, may I say something?
When I was on my way from New York to Oakland a couple
of weeks ago, I stopped at Detroit. I was traveling in a private
car, put at my disposal by a generous Chrisan manufacturer.
While my car was in the yards, I went down town and
addressed a group at a mission. As I nished, an old couple
came up, and said, ‘Mr. Hadley, won’t you go home and take
supper with us?’
“I replied, ‘You must excuse me; I am not at all well, and it is a
great strain for me to go out and visit between meengs. I had
beer go back to the car and rest.’
“They were so disappointed. The mother faltered. ‘Oh, Mr.
Hadley, we did want to see you so badly about something.’
“Very well, give me a few moments to lie down and I will go
with you.”
He then told how they sat together in the old-fashioned
parlor, on the horse-hair furniture, and talked. They told him
their story: “Mr. Hadley, you know we have a son, Jim. Our
son was brought up to go to Sunday school and church, and
oh, we had such hopes of him. But he had to work out rather
early in life and he got into associaon with worldly men, and
went down and down and down. By and by he came under
the power of strong drink. We shall never forget the rst me
he came home drunk. Somemes he would never get home
at all unl the early hours of the morning. Our hearts were
breaking over him. One me he did not come all night, but
early in the morning, aer we had waited through a sleepless
Chapter 1.
15
night for him, he came in hurriedly, with a pale face, and said,
‘Folks, I cannot stay; I must get out. I did something when I
was drunk last night, and if it is found out, it will go hard with
me, I am not going to stay here and blot your name.’ He kissed
us both and le, and unl recently we have never seen nor
heard of him.”
“Mr. Hadley, here is a leer that just came from a friend who
lives in California, and he tells us, ‘I am quite certain that I saw
your son, Jim, in San Francisco. I was coming down on a street
car, and saw him waing for a car. I was carried by a block. I
hurried back, but he had boarded another car and was gone. I
know it was Jim.’
“He is sll living, Mr. Hadley, and we are praying that God will
save him yet. You are going to California to have meengs out
there. Daily we will be kneeling here praying that God will
send our boy, Jim, to hear you, and perhaps when he learns
how God saved one poor drunkard, he will know there is hope
also for him. Will you join us in daily prayer?”
“I said I would, and we prayed together. They made me
promise that every day at a given hour, Detroit me, I would
li my heart to God in fellowship with them, knowing that
they were kneeling in that room, praying God that He would
reach Jim, and give me the opportunity of bringing him to
Christ. That was two weeks ago. I have kept my promise every
day. My friends, this is my rst meeng in California, and here
is Jim. Tonight he was drinking in a saloon on. Broadway as
the great procession passed. He heard the singing, followed
us to the theater, and said, ‘I believe I will go in.’ He hurried up
here, but it was too late. Every place was lled, and the police
ocer said, ‘We cannot allow another person to go inside.’
Jim thought, ‘This is just my luck. Even if I want to go and hear
the gospel, I cannot. I will go back to the saloon.’ He started
back; then he returned determined to see if there was not
Charge at to My Account
16
some way to get in. He came in the back door, and nally sat
in my own chair. Friends, Jim wants Christ, and I ask you all to
pray for him.”
There that night we saw that poor fellow drop on his knees,
and confess his sin and guilt, and accept Christ as his Saviour.
The last sight we had of Jim was when J. Wilbur Chapman and
he were on their way to the Western Union Telegraph oce
to send the joyful message: “God heard your prayers. My soul
is saved.” Oh, what a God, lover of sinners that He is! How He
delights to reach the lost and needy!
“He Delighteth in Mercy”
This same God was watching over Onesimus. He saw him
when he stole that money, and as he ed from his master’s
house. He watched him on his way to Rome, and in due
me brought him face to face with Paul. Through that same
precious gospel that had been blest to the salvaon of
Philemon, Onesimus, the thieving runaway slave, was also
saved, and another star was added to the Redeemer’s crown.
Then I can imagine Onesimus coming to Paul, and saying,
“Now, Paul, I want your advice. There is a maer which is
troubling me. You know my master, Philemon. I must confess
that I robbed him and ran away. I feel now that I must go back,
and try to make things right.”
One evidence that people are really born of God is their eort
to make restuon for wrong done in the past. They want a
good conscience both before God and man.
“Paul, ought I to go back in accordance with the Roman law?
I have nothing to pay, and I don’t know just what to do. I do
not belong to myself, and it is quite impossible to ever earn
anything to make up for the loss. Will you advise me what to
Chapter 1.
17
do?”
Paul might have said, “I know Philemon well. He has a tender,
kind, loving heart and a forgiving spirit. I will write him a note
and ask him to forgive you, and that will make everything all
right.”
But he did not do that. Why? I think that he wanted to
give us a wonderful picture of the great gospel of vicarious
substuon. One of the primary aspects of the work of the
Cross is substuon. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself paid the
debt that we owe to the innite God, in order that when
forgiveness came to us it would be on a perfectly righteous
basis. Paul, who had himself been jused through the Cross,
now says, “I will write a leer to Philemon, and undertake to
become your surety. You go back to Philemon, and present my
leer. You do not need to plead your own case; just give him
my leer.”
We see Onesimus with that message from Paul safely hidden
in his wallet, hurrying back to Colosse. Imagine Philemon
standing on the porco of his beauful residence, looking
down the road, and suddenly exclaiming, “Why, who is that?
It certainly looks like that scoundrel, Onesimus! But surely he
would not have the face to come back. Sll, it looks very much
like him. I will just watch and wait.
A lile later, he says, “I declare, it is Onesimus! He seems to be
coming to the house. I suppose he has had a hard me in the
world. The stolen money is all gone, and now perhaps he is
coming to beg for pardon.”
As he comes up the pathway, Onesimus calls, “Master,
Master!”
“Well, Onesimus, are you home again?”
“Yes, Master, read this, please.”
Charge at to My Account
18
No other word would Onesimus speak for himself; Paul’s leer
would explain all.
Philemon takes the leer, opens it, and begins to read: Paul, a
prisoner of Jesus Christ.
“Why Onesimus, where did you meet Paul? Did you see him
personally?”
“Yes, Master, in the prison in Rome; he led me to Christ.”
Unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow laborer. “Lile
enough I have ever done, but that is just like Paul.” And to
our beloved Apphia. (That was Mrs. Philemon.) “Come here,
Apphia. Here is a leer from Paul.” When Mrs. Philemon sees
Onesimus, she exclaims, “Are you back?” One can imagine
her mingled disgust and indignaon as she sees him standing
there. But Philemon says: “Yes, my dear, not a word. Here is a
leer for us to read — a leer from Paul.”
Running on down the leer he comes to this: Yet for love’s
sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the
aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I beseech thee
for my son Onesimus.
“Think of that! He must have been pung it over on Paul in
some way or another.”
Whom I have begoen in my bonds. “I wonder if he told him
anything about the money he stole from us. I suppose he has
been playing the religious game with Paul.”
Which in me past was to thee unprotable.
“I should say he was.”
But now protable to thee and to me.
“I am not so sure of that.”
Chapter 1.
19
Whom I have sent again.
“Paul must have thought a lot of him. If he didn’t serve him
any beer than he did me, he would not get much out of
him.” He goes on reading through the leer.
“Well, well, that rascally, thieving liar! Maybe Paul believes
that he is saved, but I will never believe it unless I nd out that
he owned up to the wrong he did me.”
What is this? If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought,
put that on my account; I Paul have wrien it with-mine own
hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest
unto me even thine own self besides.
Oh, I think in a moment Philemon was conquered. “Why,”
he says, “it is all out then. He has confessed his sin. He has
acknowledged his thieving, owned his guilt, and, just think,
Paul, that dear servant of God, suering in prison for Christ’s
sake, says: Put that on my account. I will sele everything
for him. Paul becomes his surety.” It was just as though Paul
should write today: “Charge that to my account!”
A Gospel Picture
Is not this a picture of the gospel? A picture of what the
Saviour has done for every repentant soul? I think I see Him as
he brings the needy, penitent sinner into the presence of God,
and says, “My Father, he has wronged Thee, he owes Thee
much, but all has been charged to My account. Let him go
free.” How could the Father turn aside the prayer of His Son
aer that death of shame and sorrow on Calvary’s cross, when
He took our blame upon Himself and suered in our stead?
But now observe it is not only that Paul oered to become
Onesimus’ surety, it was not merely that he oered to sele
Charge at to My Account
20
everything for Onesimus in regard to the past, but he prided
for his future too. He says to Philemon: “If thou count me
therefore a partner, receive him as myself.”
Is not that another aspect of our salvaon? We are “accepted
in the beloved.” The blessed Saviour brings the redeemed
one into the presence of the Father, and says, “My Father, if
thou countest Me the partner of Thy throne, receive him as
Myself.” Paul says, “Not now as a servant, but above a servant,
a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto
thee, both in the esh, and in the Lord?” He is to take the
place, not of a bondsman, but of an honored member of
the family and a brother in Christ. Think of it — once a poor,
thieving, runaway slave, and now a recognized servant of
Christ, made welcome for Paul’s sake. Thus our Father saves
the lawless, guilty sinner, and makes him welcome for Jesus’
sake, treang him as He treats His own beloved Son.
“Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain:
He washed it white as snow.”
And now every redeemed one is “in Christ before God — yea,
made the righteousness of God in him.” Oh, wondrous love!
Jusce is sased. What a picture we have here then of
substuon and acceptance. The apostle Paul epitomized it
all for us: “Who was delivered for our oenses, and was raised
again for our juscaon” (Rom. 4:25).
We are accepted in the Beloved. The Lord Jesus became our
Surety, seled for all our past, and has provided for all our
future. In the book of Proverbs (11:15), there is a very striking
statement, “He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for
it; and he that hateth sureship is sure.” These words were
Chapter 1.
21
wrien centuries before the Cross, to warn men of what is
sll a very common ground for failure and ruin in business
life. To go surety for a stranger is a very dangerous thing, as
thousands have learned to their sorrow. It is poor policy to
take such a risk unless you are prepared to lose.
But there was One who knew to the full what all the
consequences of His act would be, and yet, in grace, deigned
to become “Surety for a stranger.” Meditate upon these
wonderful words: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became
poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
He was the stranger’s Surety.
A surety is one who stands good for another. Many a man will
do this for a friend, long known and trusted; but no wise man
will so act for a stranger, unless he is prepared to lose. But it
was when we were strangers and foreigners and enemies, and
alienated in our minds by wicked works, that Jesus in grace
became our Surety. “Christ also hath once suered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.”
All we owed was exacted from Him when He suered upon
the tree for sins, not His own. He could then say, “I restored
that which I took not away” (Psa. 69:4). Bishop Lowth’s
beauful rendering of Isaiah 53:7 reads: “It was exacted
and He became answerable.” This is the very essence of the
Gospel message. He died in my place; He paid my debt.
How fully He proved the truth of the words quoted from
Proverbs, when He suered on that cross of shame! How He
had to “smart for it” when God’s awful judgment against sin
fell upon Him. But He wavered not! In love to God and to the
strangers whose Surety He had become, “He endured the
cross, despising the shame.”
His sorrows are now forever past. He has paid the debt, met
Charge at to My Account
22
every claim in perfect righteousness. The believing sinner is
cleared of every charge, and God is fully gloried.
“He bore on the tree
e sentence for me,
And now both the Surety
And sinner are free.”
None other could have met the claims of God’s holiness
against the sinner and have come out triumphant at last. He
alone could atone for sin. Because He has seled every claim,
God has raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His own
right hand in highest glory.
Have you trusted “the stranger’s Surety”? If not, turn to Him
now while grace is free.
Chapter 2.
23
213541
Chapter 2.
e Way to the City
“The labor of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because
he knoweth not how to go to the city” (Ecclesiastes 10:15).
IN some respects the book of Ecclesiastes is the saddest in
all the Bible. It gives the search of the natural man for the
supreme good under the sun, leading at last only to bier
disappointment and the heart-broken cry: “Vanity of vanies;
all is vanity … all is vanity and vexaon of spirit” (Eccl. 1:2, 14).
There is a city presented to the eye of faith in the blessed
Bible for which every Chrisan heart yearns, a city toward
which the saints of God in all ages have turned their eyes. We
are told that Abraham, the father of the faithful, looked for
that city “which hath foundaons, whose builder and maker
Charge at to My Account
24
is God” (Heb. 11:10). So dear was it to him that he went forth
not knowing whither he went, and turned his back on all
worldly prospects, that he might be sure of a place in that city.
In the New Testament, our blessed Lord tells us: “In my
Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would
have told you” (John 14:2), and then He adds, “I go to prepare
a place for you.” In that last wonderful book of the Bible,
the book of the Revelaon, the descripon of that city is
beyond anything that these poor nite minds of ours can
comprehend. It is a city with a street of gold, with foundaons
of precious stones, with gates of pearl, and walls of diamonds;
for the jasper of the book of Revelaon is clear as crystal,
and not the opaque jasper that we know, but evidently the
diamond in all its glory. In this way we are given to understand
something of what God has provided for those who love Him.
What a solemn thing to miss the way to that city! We dwell
in this world for some y, sixty, seventy, or even eighty
years, and if, aer we have passed our lile life here, we nd
ourselves going out into a dark eternity, what a tragedy life
will really be!
In this book, Solomon uses a very striking gure. He imagines
a countryman on his way to the city, desiring to go perhaps to
the great capital of Palesne — Jerusalem, or to some other
city upon which his heart is set. But that man starts out trying
to nd his way with neither guidepost to direct him, nor
authoritave informaon to tell him which route to take. He
tries rst one road and then another, only to be disappointed
every me, unl at last, uerly wearied, he throws himself
down in despair as the shades of night are falling, and says,
“It is no use, I cannot make it; I cannot nd my way.” “The
labor of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he
knoweth not how to go to the city.”
If we think of that city as heaven, or as the glorious New
Chapter 2.
25
Jerusalem, then indeed we may see how aptly Solomon’s
words apply to myriads of mankind about us. Speak to men
about their hope of heaven and they will say uncertainly,
“Oh, yes, I trust I shall enter heaven when earth’s short day
is over; I hope I shall nd my way to the city of God; I hope
that someday my feet will walk the gold-paved street of the
New Jerusalem.” If you ask them what assurance they have
that they are really on the road that leads to heaven, you will
nd that they are all in confusion. Many of them will not even
thank you for trying to give them authoritave informaon
from the Word of God. Instead of “Thus saith the Lord,” you
will nd them substung, “I think.” What a common thing it
is to hear men say, “I think that everything will come out all
right in the end; there are many dierent roads to eternity,
many men of many minds, but we are all going to the same
place at last; every road will eventually lead to heaven,
we hope.” But you know that this is not logical, it is not
reasonable. It is a principle that does not work in this life, nor
in this world, and what reason have we to believe that it will
work when we come to another life, and another world?
e Wrong Train
I remember one day leaving Los Angeles by train to go to San
Diego. Shortly aer we passed Fullerton, my aenon was
directed to an altercaon going on near me. I had observed
a lile old lady who got on at a staon some miles back. My
aenon was drawn to her because of the great number of
bundles she carried. In one hand she had a cage, evidently
containing a parrot, some kind of package held by one nger,
a grip, and a bag; but she got in and put them all down about
her, and lled the enre space where she sat. She was nicely
seled when the conductor came around, and said, “Tickets,
please.” She handed him her cket, and he said, “Madam, this
Charge at to My Account
26
is not your train. Your cket calls for San Bernardino, and you
are on the train that goes to San Diego.”
“You needn’t tell me that,” she replied; “I asked a man before
I got on, and he told me that this train was going to San
Bernardino.”
“Well,” he said, “I am sorry, but you have been the vicm of
some wrong informaon, for this train is going to San Diego.”
“I don’t believe it,” she said; “I bought this cket in good faith,
and have taken the train they told me to take.”
“Pardon me,” he replied, “but I am the conductor on this
train, and it is going to San Diego. If you want to go to San
Bernardino, you will have to get o and take a train back.”
Finally as the train drew near to the next stop, she gathered
up her parrot and her packages and bags, declaring that this
was an outrage, and that she would report it to the company
and have the conductor discharged for pung her o the
train. She le, while the rest of the passengers smiled even
though they felt sorry for her.
It is not true that if you take a train going north, you will land
somewhere in the south. It is not true that if you are on the
road leading to everlasng judgment, you will reach heaven.
“The labor of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because
he knoweth not how to go to the city.”
Well Marked Roads
How grateful are those who have done much motoring for the
wonderful way in which the various automobile associaons,
and also the state and federal governments, have marked the
roads all over this great country. We start o in our cars, and
every lile while we see the signs direcng us. When we come
Chapter 2.
27
to a fork in the road, we are careful to take the right one. But
somemes you get into a region where the roads have not
been marked, and how perplexing it oen is.
I remember of the me we were going from Elizabeth, New
Jersey, to California. We were away out in Arizona, and came
to a fork in the road. There had been a sign there, but some
young vandals had evidently used it as a mark for shoong,
and had shot it up so completely that we could not make
anything out of it. My secretary, the young man who was
driving, said, “I think this is the right road,” but I said, “No,
I think this is the one.” Our thoughts did not amount to
anything. We went wrong and got far out of our route, and
had to retrace our way many long miles. The labor of the
foolish wearied us. Why? Because we did not know the way
to the city, we had no authoritave informaon. How many
eternity-bound men and women are content to go on just like
that I What egregious folly when God’s Word has so plainly
marked out the only right way!
Several Wrong Roads
May I indicate some of the roads which men and women take,
and which they think will lead them to heaven?
First, there is Legality Lane. Do you know that lane? It is a
hard, stone road, and many imagine that it will get them
through to heaven. As you pass along you see the frowning
clis of Mt. Sinai, you hear the heavy thundering’s and see the
lightning ashing, and you can almost hear the words: “Cursed
is every one that connueth not in all things which are wrien
in the book of the law to do them.”
But you say, “I will do my best; I will try to keep God’s holy
commands; I will surely get to heaven at last.” Beware, for
Legality Lane will bring you eventually to the place of the
Charge at to My Account
28
curse, for God’s Word declares that if a man shall “keep the
whole law and yet oend in one point, he is guilty of all”
(James 2:10). Again we read, “And cursed is everyone that
connueth not in all things which are wrien in the book of
the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10). No man was ever jused
by the works of the law, and no man ever will be. It is uerly
impossible that man should wash out the stains of sin by
obedience to that holy law. The law tells you how to behave,
but it does not tell you what to do if you have already failed
and become guilty before God. Legality Lane will never lead
you to the New Jerusalem.
Then says some one, “I will try Reformaon Alley. It is true
I have failed, I have been guilty of many gross violaons of
God’s law; I have sinned, but I will turn over a new leaf, begin
henceforth to please God, put away my bad habits, culvate
good ones, and surely all this will bring me at length to
heaven.” But my friend, this road will lead you eventually to
eternal disappointment too, for there is a solemn word found
in this same Book that reads like this, “God requireth that
which is past” (Eccl. 3:15). Even though you were to reform
today, even though you were to turn over a new leaf and
never have another black mark upon the books, the old leaves
with all their sinful record are sll there, and you will have to
face them in the day of judgment, unless some means shall be
found whereby those marks can be bloed out.
“God requireth that which is past.” Your grocer does that, you
know, and it is perfectly right that he should. You run up a bill
for a month or two, and then say, “Dear me, this will never do;
this buying on credit is too easy a way to get head over heels
in debt. I am going to begin to pay cash for everything I buy.”
And so you go down to the grocer with your market basket,
and say, “I am determined to turn over a new leaf.”
“In what regard?” the grocer asks.
Chapter 2.
29
“I have concluded that this buying on credit is all a mistake,
and henceforth I am going to pay cash.”
“I am delighted to hear that,” he replies, “and when will you
be able to sele your old bill?”
“Oh,” you say, “you don’t understand. I am going to pay cash
from now on. Surely you won’t hold the old account against
me.”
“I cannot aord to do business that way,” he replies; “you
received the groceries from me, and I will expect you to pay
for them.”
“But if I tell you that I am sorry, and pay you as I buy in the
future, surely that ought to sasfy you.” But he answers, “I
will be delighted to have you as a cash customer, but business
makes it necessary that I should require that which is past.”
My friend, you may reform, you may turn over a now leaf,
but when you get to the end of Reformaon Alley, you
will nd that you have landed in a district called Eternal
Disappointment, where you hear the sad voice of the Son of
God saying: “Depart from me, I never knew you.”
There is another highway that runs very close alongside this
one, it is called Morality Road. Many excellent people travel
along this way. People whom you would be glad to have in
your home, travel this road. You would nd pleasure in their
society. They are people who eschew all kinds of evil behavior,
and pride themselves upon their morals and their ethics.
They are what the world calls “good people,” but they have
no place in their thinking for the Lord Jesus Christ; and yet
the Word of God declares: “There is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” but
the name of Jesus. My friend, if morals could have saved, if
ethics could have ed you for heaven, Jesus Christ would
Charge at to My Account
30
never have died on Calvary’s cross. Down in Gethsemane’s
garden He cried in the agony of His soul, “O my Father, if, it be
possible, let this cup pass from me,” and if there had been any
other way of saving sinners than through His sacricial death,
it would then have been made known.
Right by the side of Morality Road runs Self-righteousness
Boulevard. It is a magnicent boulevard indeed, and here the
scribes and Pharisees and many church dignitaries walk. Listen
to one of them crooning his own perfecons, as he cries, “I
thank God I am not as other men. I am not a drunkard, I am
not a blasphemer, I am not an adulterer; I fast twice in the
week, I give thes of all that I possess. Surely if anyone gets
to heaven I will.” But hear the solemn declaraon of the Word
of God, “All our righteousnesses are as lthy rags.” And that
expression, lthy rags, does not mean shreds of clothing
that have been contaminated by the dirt of the streets, but it
refers to robes tainted and made unclean through the inward
corrupon that has exuded from the sores of lepers. Naaman,
the leper, wearing his magnicent robes might throw o one
of these garments, and say, “Look, I want to make you a gi,
take this.” Would you thank him for the gi? No, you would
say, “Keep it away from me, it is contaminated by the leprosy
from within.” That is what our own righteousnesses are like.
They all come from a corrupt, evil heart, and therefore, they
can never jusfy a guilty sinner before God. The end of Self-
righteousness Boulevard is the lake of re.
And then akin to this is another road that we will call
Ritualisc Avenue. Did you ever meet any one on that road?
I said to a young lady one day, “I am glad to see you in the
meeng; are you a Chrisan?”
“Yes,” she said, “I have been a member of such and such a
church ever since I was a child.”
Chapter 2.
31
“Pardon me,” I said, “but you did not understand my queson.
Have you ever been born again?”
“I was bapzed when I was only eight days old,” she replied.
“You don’t understand me yet,” I said, “were you ever
converted?”
“Oh yes,” she said, “I was conrmed when I was twelve years
of age, and took the sacrament for the rst me, and I have
been very careful to aend services and take the sacrament
ever since. You can be sure I am all right.”
She was ing down Ritualisc Avenue imagining it was
the road to heaven when it was really leading her as fast as
me could carry her to the pit of the abyss, and if not saved,
she would plunge over the cli of me into the darkness of
eternity only to nd out that bapsm cannot save, sacraments
cannot save, church-joining cannot save. It is Jesus only that
washes away sin and ts us for glory.
Then there is another popular road that many take today. It is
called Delusion Road. The people on this road are those who
will not have the simple gospel of this Book, they will not take
the plain statements of the Bible as to the deity of our Lord
Jesus Christ, as to His sacricial atoning death on the cross,
but are ready to listen to every kind of folly. As they go down
that road you hear them muering to themselves, “God is all
and all is God.” “God is good and good is God.” “There is no
such thing as evil and sin and death.” “Every day, in every way,
I am growing beer and beer.”
Men are deluding themselves, shung their eyes to the
realies of life. Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher, was
wiser than they, for he said, “If any man rejects the tesmony
of the ve senses, there is nothing else on which to build.”
What can you do for a man who is suering from the twinges
Charge at to My Account
32
of rheumasm, but who looks at you, and says, “There is
no such thing as pain, no such thing as suering.” Or, a man
who can be a vicm of all kinds of sinful habits, and yet looks
you in the eye, and says, “There is no such thing as sin.” Or, a
man who can stand by the body of a dead loved one, and say,
“There is no such thing as death”?
Scripture arms, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and
good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
that put bier for sweet, and sweet for bier” (Isa. 5:20).
Delusion Road will end at last in an eternal hell, and men will
wake up too late to nd out that sin is a reality, that death is
a reality, that heaven is a reality and they have missed it, that
hell is a reality and it is to be their place of abode forever.
What a fearful thing it is to turn from God and trust in fables,
to turn away from the sign-post that God has given to point
the way to the city of God and take the opposite direcon,
hoping to reach heaven at last. “If therefore the light that is in
thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Ma. 6:23)
e Modernism Way.
Another road is called Modern Thought Highway. Many of
the intelligencia tread that path. It is doed with universies
and schools of higher educaon, and we nd people peddling
books up and down this highway, for the folk on this road are
the learned of this world. They are too proud to accept, “Thus
saith the Lord,” but bow down before science, before modern
thought, before philosophy, and all the dierent delusions
that are turning men away from God. Let me cad you the
tesmony of a man who admits that lie is treading this road. It
is wrien by Professor Melinowski:
“Personally, I am an agnosc. That is, I am not able to deny
the existence of God: nor would I be inclined to do so, sll
Chapter 2.
33
less to maintain that such a belief is not necessary. I also
fervently hope that there is a survival aer death, and I deeply
desire to obtain some certainty on this maer. But with all
that, I am unable to accept any posive religion — Chrisan
or otherwise. I cannot posively believe in Providence in
any sense of the word, and I have no convicon of personal
immortality.”
In other words, this man says, “I should like to go to the city of
God, if there be such a city. I should like to spend my eternity
there. But I cannot trust the Guide Book, I cannot believe
the sign-post, I cannot put my condence in One who says
He came from there and went back, and is Himself the Way
there.” Yet this man is a great deal more modest than many
who tread this road. He goes on to say:
“Thus, as you see, I profoundly dier from the condent
raonalist or disbeliever of the past generaon or two. We
all know the story of La Place and the discussion which he
had with Napoleon the First about his system of Celesal
Mechanics. The Emperor asked him: ‘What place have you
given to God in your system?’ ‘Sire, was the answer, ‘this is an
hypothesis of which I have never felt the need: It is the proud
answer of a condent atheist, but it does not ring true to the
humble agnosc.”
Men today will tell you frankly, “I never felt the need of God; I
do not need Him now, and I do not feel there will be need for
Him in eternity.” But Melinowski connues:
“On the contrary, I should say that God is a reality and not
a hypothesis, and a reality of which I am in the greatest
need, though this need I cannot sasfy or fulll. The typical
raonalist says: ‘I don’t know, and I don’t care.’ The tragic
agosc would rejoin: ‘I cannot know, but I feel a deep and
passionate need of faith, of evidence, and of revelaon.’
Charge at to My Account
34
Personally, to me, and to those many who are like me, nothing
really maers except the answer to the burning quesons:
‘Am I going to live, or shall I vanish like a bubble? What is
the aim, and the sense, and the issue of all this strife and
suering?’ The doubt of these two quesons lives in us, and
aect all our thoughts and feelings. Modern agnoscism is a
tragic and shaering frame of mind. To dismiss agnoscism
as an easy and shallow escape from the moral obligaons and
discipline of religion — this is an unworthy and supercial way
of dealing with it. Is science responsible for my agnoscism
and for that of others who think like me? I believe it is, and
therefore I do not love science, though I have to remain its
loyal servant. Is there any hope of bridging this deepest gulf
between tragic agnoscism and belief? I do not know. Is there
any remedy? I cannot answer this either.”
The blessed, holy Word of God answers every one of these
quesons, but the modern mind turns away from it all,
and says, “No, I would rather go on quesoning, go on in
uncertainty, than to face the problem of Jesus Christ.”
But Jesus Christ is not a problem, He is the soluon to every
problem for life, for death, and for eternity. Listen to the
poor woman at the well. Wonderingly she gazes at the Jewish
stranger who seems so ready to deal graciously with the
Samaritan, and she says, “I know that Messias cometh, which
is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.”
Oh, the quesons that were welling up in that woman’s
heart — “If I could only see Him maybe He would answer all
my quesons, maybe He would solve all my problems,” and
quietly, earnestly, kindly, Jesus looks upon her, and says, “I
that speak unto thee am he.” She took one long look into
those fathomless eyes of His, and in a moment every queson
was answered, and back to the city she ran, and said to the
men, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever
I did: is not this the Christ?” Yes, He is the answer to every
Chapter 2.
35
problem.
You remember it is wrien in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way
which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death.” All these dierent pathways which have
been indicated are the ways that seem right to man, but end
in outer darkness. When Thomas asked the queson, “Lord,
how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by
me” (John 14:6).
Do you want to know the way to the city? Jesus is the Way. Do
you want to mow the truth in regard to the great problems
of me and eternity? Jesus is the Truth. Do you want to know
where life is found, so that you may be a new creature? Jesus
is the Life And, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasng
life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but
the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). My friend,
surely you want to nd the way to the City. When at last you
lie down and say good-by to your friends and loved ones,
surely you want to be able to say, as one dear saint of God did,
“Earth is receding and heaven is opening.” If you do, you need
Christ, for He alone is the Way to the city of God, and He says,
“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
Are you saying, “I should like to nd the way, I should like to
know Christ, but how may I make His acquaintance?”
“If I ask Him to receive me,
Will He say me nay?
Not ‘till earth and not ‘till heaven,
Pass away.”
If you will come as a sinner, confessing your guilt, forsaking
every other refuge, and put your trust in Him alone, He will
save you according to His Word, and you shall know Him as
Charge at to My Account
36
the only Way that leads to
“Jerusalem, the golden,
With milk and honey blest.”
Chapter 3.
37
213542
Chapter 3.
Will a Loving God Permit Any One be
Eternally Lost?
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasng life: and he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of
God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
OUR theme is in the form of a queson, and the only place
that we can nd an answer to that queson is in the Word
of God. These poor minds of ours are uerly helpless in
answering such a queson. Men may reason as they will, but
their reasonings will not change facts.
Apart from the revelaon that God has given in His Word, we
know nothing about what He will do in the eternal ages. One
man may come to one conclusion, and another may come
Charge at to My Account
38
to a dierent one. We may say, “I think,” or “I do not think,”
but our thinking will not alter the facts of the case. It is in
the Word of God alone that this queson is answered. Even
if we fall back on mere human reason, it seems to me that
no thinking person could come to the conclusion that a man
could live in sin and die in sin, without suering for his sins.
“Be sure your sin will nd you out” is an unalterable law of
nature and of God.
Any argument that might be brought against a loving God
perming men and women to suer throughout eternity
because of sin, could also be brought against a loving God
perming men and women to suer in this life because of
sin. Joseph Cook, that stalwart New England fundamentalist,
who lived before the word “fundamentalist” was coined, said
something like this: One might imagine two angels talking
together before the creaon of the world, when they learned
the divine secret that God was shortly to bring a universe into
existence, and saying to each other:
“You have heard that God is going to create a world?”
“Yes.”
“That He is going to have moral and intellectual beings in that
world?”
“Yes.”
“Not purely spiritual beings like ourselves, but beings with
material bodies, and yet with minds and wills even as we
angels have minds and wills of our own?”
“Yes, I have heard that such is His purpose. But can you
answer this queson? Do you think that our God will lever
permit unhappiness to come into that world that He is going
to create?”
Chapter 3.
39
“Oh, He certainly will not. Our kind, loving God will never
permit unhappiness to come into the world that He is about
to create.”
“Do you think He will ever allow any of those creatures that
He is going to bring into existence to act contrary to His holy
will? Do you think He will ever permit sin to li up its unholy
head in the universe He is about to create?”
“Certainly not! Our God, our loving God, our holy God
will never permit unholiness. He will never permit
unrighteousness or wickedness to spoil that world that he is
going to create.”
“Do you think that God will ever allow man to suer in pain
and anguish in that world?”
“Oh, no! The world that God is going to create must of
necessity be forever the abode of happy beings.”
Can’t you imagine angels reasoning something like that? But
what are the facts? Six thousand years of human history,
according to the chronology of the Hebrews, prove that a
loving God did permit sin to come into the world, did permit
wickedness to enter into this fair creaon, and did permit
pain, suering, sorrow, broken hearts, unspeakable anguish,
and even death to mar His fair creaon.
e Reasonings of Men
Now just as holy beings might have reasoned before the
creaon of the world that God, because He is loving, because
He is good, and because He is holy, would never permit sin to
spoil this world, and would never permit suering and sorrow
and anguish to come in, so men reason today that a good God
will not allow the eects of sin to go on for eternity. But how
Charge at to My Account
40
can you and I tell what God will permit unless He is pleased to
reveal Himself in His own Word?
People say today, for example, reasoning from man up to God,
“You are a father; would you ever put one of your children in a
place of intense suering, if you could help it? Would you ever
willingly expose a child of yours to a ery ame?”
Of course I answer, “No.”
Then they ask, and they think they have good ground for what
they are about to say, “If you as an earthly father would not
allow a child of yours to suer in this way, can you believe that
a loving God will cast people into everlasng re because of
their sins?”
And I have to answer, “The only way I have of knowing what
God will do is by observing what He has done, and by turning
to the Word to see what He has to say.”
He has permied men and women and even lile children,
during the ages of me, to suer unspeakable anguish. He
has permied innocent lile children to be born into the
world, the vicms of incurable diseases handed down from
their parents, and these diseases are oen the result of the
sins of their forebears. Many of these lile children come into
the world and grow up never knowing a moment without
suering and pain. Would you have expected that of God,
from your idea of who God is and what He should do? Yet
here are the facts, and we have to face them.
The only way we can account for these facts is that God hates
sin, and in order to make men realize what a fearful thing it is
to sin against Him, He allows dreadful consequences to befall
those who commit sin, consequences aecng not only the
one who commits the sin, but aecng generaons yet to be
born.
Chapter 3.
41
Men object to the statement in the law, “For I the Lord thy
God am a jealous God, vising the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children unto the third and fourth generaons of them
that hate me” (Deut. 5:9). And yet the facts prove that the
Word of God is right, for He does this very thing. Sin must be a
fearful aront to a holy God, or He would never have allowed
the awful suerings and horrors that have darkened the
history of mankind. He wants us to understand that sin is the
vilest, the blackest, the most dreadful thing in the universe.
His Word says, “Be not deceived; ‘God is not mocked; for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall The also reap” (Gal. 6:7).
Right in this world some men’s sins are open, going before
them to judgment. Some men suer unspeakably during this
life because of their sins, but, on the other hand, there are
other men of whom this is not true. There are others who sin
just as grievously, and yet there is no evidence that their sin
is followed with anything like proper judgment in this world.
There are men who live in luxury and pleasure upon the earth,
uerly indierent to the condions of those around them,
living selshly for themselves alone, and indulging in all kinds
of sins. Yet as far as this life is concerned, the punishment
does not fall upon them, but if they are not reaping the due
punishment in this life, depend upon it that in another world
there will be a straightening up of the account, for it is wrien,
“whatsoever a man soweth that stall he also reap.” “Some
men’s sins are open, going before them into judgment, and
some men they follow aer.” What does this sentence mean if
God did not intend us to understand that men are not through
with Him when they leave this world inpenitent? Some men’s
sins follow aer them, and like the blood-hounds of hell which
they are, they will track men down and drag them to the
judgment bar of God where they shall give account of all the
deeds done in the esh.
Charge at to My Account
42
e Time Element Involved
But some say, “What sin can a man commit during his brief
years on earth to deserve eternal judgment?” Have you ever
stopped to consider that a man can commit a heinous crime
in a very short me for which we think he deserves to be
punished for all the rest of his natural life? Not very long ago a
man of over seventy years of age came out of a prison in New
England. Fiy years before he had been sentenced to that
penitenary for the horrible crime of murder. Because of his
youth the law did not want to condemn him to be hung, so
he was sentenced to prison. Because of his desire for gain, he
was srred to anger, and in a moment murdered a man, and
no doubt he had many a month and year in which to repent
of that crime. Yet society felt that it was only right that he
should be shut away for y years. You see there may be no
connecon between the amount of me in which a man can
commit a crime and the punishment that bets it.
Down in Kentucky there lived one of those ne southern
gentlemen who had been le a widower. His wife, as she
slipped away, le a darling baby who became all in all to
him. He watched that child grow ll she was a beauful girl,
and then on to budding young womanhood. By and by she
returned from college, and was the very idol of his heart,
and the apple of his eye. Then there came into that home
a man who won the aecon of that young woman and
basely deceived her, luring her into grievous sin, ruined her
sweet young life, and then cast her o, a poor brokenhearted
girl. That father had been what is called a Universalist, but
when that poor girl came sobbing, broken-hearted, seeking
her father’s house aer weeks of wandering, during which
she had been afraid to go home, and told him what had
happened, and when he saw the wreck that had been made
of the idol of his heart and life, he exclaimed, with an oath,
Chapter 3.
43
“If God Almighty hasn’t a hell for ends like the one who has
wrecked my happiness and ruined my child, He ought to make
one I” And this Book says He has one, and it declares that
“whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars”
shall have their part in it for all eternity.
Why is eternal punishment the result of impenitent sin? Our
Lord Jesus has told us in Mark’s Gospel. What He actually said
is obscured a lile in our translaon, but the Revised Version
makes it dear. In Mark 3:28, we read, “Verily I say unto you, All
sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies
wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but he that shall
blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but
is in danger of eternal damnaon.” The Revised Version brings
that out much more clearly: “Whosoever shall blaspheme
against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of
an eternal sin.” There you have it, the man who dies rejecng
the Holy Spirit’s tesmony as to the Lord Jesus Christ is guilty
of an eternal sin. That is why Scripture holds out no hope
for his salvaon in another world. The man who refuses the
tesmony the Holy Ghost has given concerning the Saviour’s
love, His marvelous atonement, and His wondrous grace has
no other hiding place by which he may escape the wrath of
a sin-hang God. And so I come back to the text with which I
began, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasng life: and
he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath
of God abideth on him.”
People say, “Oh, Paul or John or Peter may have believed this
doctrine of eternal judgment for sin, but give me the words
of. Jesus — Jesus, the loving, gentle, tender, gracious, Galilean
teacher — let me hear what Jesus says; His Word will be
enough for me.” Listen, my dear friends, no one ever spoke as
seriously and as solemnly of the eternal consequences of sin
as Jesus did. It is He who said, “If thine eye oend thee, pluck
it out, and cast it from thee: it is beer for thee to enter into
Charge at to My Account
44
life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into
hell re” (Ma. 18:9). It is Jesus who speaks so solemnly over
and over again of that awful pit of woe, “Where their worm
dieth not, and the re is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). It is Jesus
who said of Judas, “It had been good for that man if he had
not been born,” but if there is any possibility of Judas ever
being saved, even aer the lapse of countless ages of misery,
I submit that it would be good for him that he had been born.
But Jesus said, “Good for that man if he had not been born.”
That man sold his Saviour! Suppose you do the same thing?
That man companied with Jesus for three and one-half years,
and yet sinned against the Holy Ghost in rejecng Christ. You
have heard the gospel over and over again, and if you should
reject Him too, could it not be said of you: “Good for that man
if he had not been born”?
But now it is Jesus again who uers these words, “He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasng life.” You cannot
nd fault with the love of God, for it gave Christ, and
thereby provided a way of salvaon. God is not holding you
responsible because you are a sinner; you were born a sinner.
You are not responsible because you have a sinful nature; you
cannot help that. God is not going to cast you away from His
presence simply because that corrupt nature has manifested
itself in sin, for Christ has put away sin, and any man who
will may be saved from his sin through the atoning work of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive a new nature. Why are
men lost? The answer is clear: “He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” You
observe how this one sentence plucks up by the very roots
two modern forms of error in regard to mankind.
There is Universalism. Is there any hope for a man who dies
rejecng Christ in this life, being saved in the life to come? “He
that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of
God abideth on him.” Jesus Himself could not have put it more
Chapter 3.
45
plainly than that. In this world God is pleading with sinners, He
is oering them salvaon, but if men reject His Son, it is the
solemn declaraon of Holy Writ, they shall not see life. There
is no hope in another world for men who reject Christ in this.
But may it not be that the punishment for sin is nothing more
than uer annihilaon? “He that believeth not the Son shall
not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” You cannot
couple annihilaon with abiding wrath. The wrath of God
abideth on men because they are guilty of eternal sin, and so
in the last chapter of our Bible we hear the seer saying, “He
that is unrighteous, let him be unrighteous sll more: and
he which is lthy, let him be lthy sll more: and he that is
righteous, let him be righteous sll more: and he that is holy,
let him be holy sll more” (Rev. 22:11, R.V., margin). Character
tends to permanency.
“Sow a thought, you reap an act;
Sow an act, you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, you reap a character;
Sow a character, you reap a destiny.”
God meant men to understand, and it seems to me there can
be no queson about it, that if men die in their sins, there is
no hope that they will ever be brought into a state of harmony
with Him whose grace they have spurned, or with the Saviour
whose blood they have trampled under foot. And so we read,
“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”
(Heb. 10:31). I know we live in a namby-pamby age when men
make light of iniquity, but according to the Word of God, sin is
a fearful aront to the Divine Majesty. To be uncleansed from
sin means to die in sin, exist forever in sin, and be banished
eternally from the presence of a holy God.
But, thank God, this is sll the day of His grace. One would
Charge at to My Account
46
shrink from proclaiming a truth like this, if he were not
permied to proclaim the other truth: “He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasng life,” and so today, if you are unsaved,
you may have eternal life by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
To believe on Him is to trust Him, rest your whole soul upon
Him as your Saviour, and take Him as your Redeemer.
“My Redeemer, oh what beauties
In that lovely Name appear;
None but Jesus in His glories
Shall the honored title wear;
My Redeemer! oh, how sweet to call ee mine.
“Sunk in ruin, sin and misery,
Bound by Satan’s captive chain;
Guided by his artful treach’ry,
Hurrying on to endless pain,
My Redeemer plucked me as a brand from hell.”
You can say this if you will come to Christ today.
Chapter 4.
47
213543
Chapter 4.
Dreams at will Never Come True
“And the multude of all the naons that ght against Ariel,
even all that ght against her and her munion, and that
distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even
be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth;
but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty
man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh,
and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appete: so shall the
multude of all naons be that ght against mount Zion” (Isa.
29:7, 8).
IT is a recognized principle in homilecs, that is, the science
of preaching, that the preacher should never take a text for
a pretext, and yet I apprehend that is what I will be charged
with doing now, for I do not call aenon to this passage
Charge at to My Account
48
of Scripture with the thought of emphasizing its primary
meaning, but rather to enforce a very important lesson.
Actually, this twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah refers to an
incident in Israel’s history, when Sennacherib and the Assyrian
host gathered about Jerusalem and vainly thought that they
would be able to destroy the city, sweep it out of existence,
put the people of Israel to death, or carry them into capvity;
and so Jehovah contemplates the enemies as coming down
upon their prey. Already it seems to them that their purpose
is accomplished. Jerusalem seems to be uerly defenseless
against them, but the word of Jehovah, who has never
forsaken His people, and who never will forsake those that put
their trust in Him, says that they are not to be afraid of this
great host, for all their evil thoughts will come to naught, and
all their unholy ambions will end in disappointment. “It shall
be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth;
but he awaketh and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty
man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh,
and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appete: so shall
the multude of all the naons be that ght against mount
Zion.” That is, their dream of overcoming Israel would never
be fullled.
But I am not going to occupy you with this thought, except to
say that there is coming another day in the history of Israel
when they will be in dire straits similar to these. They are
already thronging back to Palesne, and have very bright
hopes before them, but they will sll have to face that sad and
terrible me of Jacob’s trouble, called the great tribulaon,
the like of which they have never known in the past and
never shall know again. Once more the Genle powers will
be gathered against Jerusalem and will seek to destroy the
people of God, but again Jehovah will come to their defense
and the Genle naons will be disappointed, and their dream
of destroying Jerusalem and the Jewish people will prove to
Chapter 4.
49
be uerly unreal.
World Dreams
There are so many dreams that will never be fullled — that
will never come true. First, there is the dream of nding heart
sasfacon and soul rest in the things of this poor world.
Have you been dreaming a dream like that? There are many
dierent aspects of that dream. Some people imagine that
they can nd lasng enjoyment and true pleasure in a low
vulgar life of abominable sensuality, and they ing to the
winds decency and self-respect, and go down to the lowest
depths of carnality and iniquity. Is there any real good to
be found in a life like that? If you have tried it, you know in
the deepest depths of your soul that you found nothing but
sorrow and bier disappointment. The incurable disease
wards in our great hospitals all over this land tell what a
wretched blunder men make when they try to nd sasfacon
or happiness in sensual living, “receiving in themselves that
recompense of their error which was meet.” If there is a young
man or young woman who has so far forgoen what is true
and right and pure as to imagine that it makes lile or no
dierence if you swing loose from the restraints of decency
and allow yourself to fall into unclean living, and imagine you
are ministering to the desire for happiness, some day you
will wake up to nd it is a horrid dream, “As when an hungry
man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth: but he awaketh,
and his soul is empty.” There is no sasfacon to be found in
sensuality.
Dreams of Worldly Pleasures
On the other hand, there are many who would look with
abhorrence or disgust on any such life, but imagine they are
Charge at to My Account
50
going to nd happiness and contentment in the respectable
pleasures of this world. These people are of a dierent
character to the grossly sensual. But tens of thousands,
yes, millions have tried this before you, and not one man
or woman has ever yet found heart rest in the things of this
poor world, “All that is in the world, the lust of the esh, and
the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father,
but is of the world; and the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever”
(1 John 2:16, 17). That is why the world can never sasfy the
human heart.
There is a striking passage in Ecclesiastes, in which Solomon
tells us how he tried everything that his day had to oer,
only to exclaim at length, “Vanity of vanies; all is vanity”
(Ecclesiastes 1:2). He gives the reason why the world cannot
sasfy men: “He hath set eternity in their heart” (Ecclesiastes
3:11, R.V.). The Authorized Version does not bring this out; it
reads: “He hath set the world in their heart.” But the original
Hebrew really means “eternity.” How can a man created for
eternity ever be sased with the things of this world? The
old Puritans had a rather nice concepon of it; they said, “The
world is round; the human heart is three-cornered; you can
never ll a three-cornered heart with a round world.” We
somemes use the gure of a triangle to represent the triune
God, and so they used to say, “It takes a triune God to ll a
triangular heart to overowing.”
You may be trying to nd sasfacon in the world. I can
understand that, for I tried it myself. I know something of the
meaning of the hymn:
Chapter 4.
51
“O Christ, in ee my soul hath found,
And found in ee alone,
e peace, the joy I sought so long,
e bliss till now unknown.
“Now, none but Christ can satisfy,
None other Name for me;
ere’s love, and life, and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus, found in ee!
“I tried the broken cisterns, Lord,
But, ah! the waters failed;
E’en as I stooped to drink they ed,
And mocked me as I wailed.
“e pleasures lost I sadly mourned,
But never wept for ee,
Till grace my sightless eyes received,
y loveliness to see.”
Then I found a sasfacon that has lasted now for forty years,
and it will last for all eternity. No, there is nothing in the world
that will sasfy the human heart. The man who imagines that
this world will meet the cravings of his soul, will some day
wake up to nd that he has just been dreaming, imagining he
was nding peace and sasfacon, but his soul will be empty.
Dreams of World Wealth
There are some who dream that if they could just get a
sucient amount of money, they would be sased. Did you
Charge at to My Account
52
ever see any one who had enough money to sasfy him?
Some years ago a newspaper oered a prize for the best
denion for money. The answer that won the prize was this:
“Money is a universal provider for everything but happiness.”
Men may have millions, but money cannot sasfy the soul.
The man who imagines he will nd heart sasfacon in wealth
is doomed to wake up at last bierly disappointed.
Some imagine they will nd peace and sasfacon in fame,
in the plaudits of their fellows. But the great of earth, those
whose names have become household words, would be the
most lonely men of their me if they did not know Christ. No,
dear friend, try what you will, you will never nd lasng peace
outside of Christ.
A Beautiful Young Woman Saved
A number of years ago I was holding special meengs in
the First Bapst Church of Los Gatos, California. On my rst
Sunday morning there, the text was: “Whosoever drinketh of
this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water
that I shalt give him shall be in him a well of water springing
up into everlasng life” (John 4:13, 14). Sing in the front
pew was a young woman whose pale, emaciated face and
great dark hungry eyes aracted my aenon. She listened
so earnestly. Aer the meeng I said to the pastor: “Who was
the very sickly but intensely beauful young woman who sat
in the front pew?”
“She is a very well-bred girl,” he replied, “but some years ago
she threw Chrisanity to the winds. She was brought up in a
Chrisan home. She went in for a worldly career, trying to nd
sasfacon and peace in the things of the world, but within
the last ve months she has been stricken with that dread
Chapter 4.
53
disease of tuberculosis, and she has the kind that we call
galloping consumpon. She has not long to live; she is losing
strength day aer day, and the doctor says she will soon be
gone; and now she is wretched and miserably unhappy.”
I prayed for her, and each night I would nd myself looking
through that audience, hoping she would be there, listening
to the gospel, but I never saw her at another meeng. About
three weeks later a lady came to me, and said: “Do you
remember meeng Miss H — ?” I remembered that it was
this young woman, and she added, “She is very ill, dying of
tuberculosis. She heard you the rst me you spoke, and was
expecng to aend all the meengs, but she has been too ill.
She has sent for you.”
“I will be glad to go,” was my reply. So we went to the room
in which she sat. She excused herself for not standing to greet
us, for she was too weak. I said, “I am glad you have sent for
me.”
“She looked up and said, “Mr. Ironside, the doctor told me
yesterday that I have just three weeks to live, and I am not
saved. I would like to know Christ. Do you think He will take a
girl who rejected Him, deliberately turned her hack on Him in
health, now that I am bierly disappointed, and everything I
have counted on has gone by the board? Do you think there is
any hope for a sinner like me?”
You know things look dierently when you realize you have
only three weeks to live! Many a one, careless now, would be
in dead earnest if he knew that within three weeks he would
have to face God and eternity.
“Well,” I said, “I understand that you have had a very happy
life in some respects; you have been very much sought aer
and admired by the world.”
Charge at to My Account
54
“Oh, please do not talk of that now,” she said, “I am afraid I
have been selling my soul for worldly popularity. I thought I
was going to nd happiness and enjoyment, but now it gives
me no peace, no sasfacon, to look back over those years of
popularity, those years of worldly pleasure. Only three weeks
and I must give an account to God, and I am not saved.”
It was a real joy to my own soul to open the Word of God and
show her how the blessed Lord Jesus in innite grace had
come all the way from heaven’s fullest glory down to Calvary’s
deepest depths of woe for her redempon, and if she would
put her heart trust in Him, confess her guilt, she would have
all the past bloed out. Direcng her to John 3:18, I read: “He
that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in
the name of the only begoen Son of God.” And then I put the
queson to her, “Tell me, do you believe the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Son of God?”
“I do.”
Then I asked, “Do you believe that God the Father sent Him
into this world to die for sinners?”
“Yes, it is in the Bible; I do believe it,” she replied.
“Do you believe He meant you when He said: ‘Him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out’?” I asked.
“It is for everybody, isn’t it?” she said.
“Yes,” I replied,” Tor God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begoen Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasng life’ (John 3:16). Are you
included in that whosoever?”
“Yes,” she said, “I believe I am.”
Chapter 4.
55
“Then tell me,” I said, “what does the Lord Jesus Christ say
about you? Look at verse eighteen again; noce there are only
two classes of people there: the rst class, ‘he that believeth
on him,’ and the second class, ‘he that believeth not.’ Noce
there is something predicated of the rst class and something
of the second class of the rst it is said, Pe that believeth is
not condemned’; and of the second, Me that believeth not is
condemned already.’ Now before I ask you to tell me which
class you are in, let us bow in prayer.”
She could not kneel, but her friend and I knelt in prayer. We
asked God by the Spirit to open His Word and bring it home in
power to her soul.
“Read it again,” I said.
“Do you see the two classes? Which one are you in?” She was
silent for a long me as we knelt there before God, and then
she looked up, the tears glistening in her beauful eyes, and
she said, “I am in the rst class.” “How do you know?”
“Because I do believe in Him. It doesn’t say He won’t take me
in because I come so late. I have come, and I do believe in
Him.”
“And what is true of you?” I asked.
She looked at it and whispered, “Not condemned!”
I said, “Is that enough to meet God on?”
She replied, “That will do; not condemned!”
Three weeks from eternity, but resng upon the Word of God!
I saw her only twice again, and then my meengs ended.
About ve weeks later I met the Bapst preacher on the
street, and he said, “You remember Miss H — ? Do you know
that just twenty-one days from the day you led her to Christ, I
Charge at to My Account
56
was called to her bedside, and I found her just slipping away.”
“Can you hear me?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“And what does He say about you?” I asked.
“Not condemned!” and then she whispered, “If you see Mr.
Ironside, tell him, ‘Not condemned!’ It is all right.”
Oh, I tell you, dear friend, that was something real, because
that young woman had the Word of the living God to
rest upon; but there are many who rest upon their own
imaginaons instead of resng upon God’s immutable Word.
Still Other Dreams
Another dream that will never come true is the dream that if
you do the best you can, if you live a respectable life, if you
join the church, if you give your money for the cause of Christ,
then, when you die, you will go to heaven on your own merit.
That is the worst dream of all, and in eternity men who have
died trusng in something of that character will be “Even as
when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth: but
he awaketh, and his soul is empty.”
Mark this! God has provided the bread of life whereby, if a
man eat thereof, he shall live forever. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if
any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread
that I will give is my esh, which I will give for the life of the
world” (John 6:51). What is it to eat Christ? It is this, receive
Him into your inmost being. Just as you take food and receive
Chapter 4.
57
it into your physical body, so take Christ. When by faith you
receive Him into your own life and heart, you are eang the
living bread, and will never waken to nd out that this is all a
dream.
People of the world think that Chrisans are dreamers. Thirty
years ago when I was a Salvaon Army ocer, they were
having a street meeng, and a poor fellow who had been
deep in sin, but wonderfully converted, was standing out on
the street telling what the Lord had done for him. A great big
burly man in the crowd suddenly shouted out: “Wake up, old
man, wake up; you’re dreaming!”
At that a lile girl stepped up to him, and said, “Oh, please,
sir, please don’t wake him up. That is my daddy, and he is
such a good daddy now. But he used to be so dierent before
he began to “dream,” as you call it. He was always beang
mother, he spent all his money for drink, and we were so
miserable; but when he began to “dream” like this, everything
was dierent. He brings his money home now and provides
for us all. He is so kind to mother and to all of us, and we want
him just like he is now.”
Oh yes, the world thinks it is the Chrisan, the believer, who
is the dreamer, but we know that it is the Christ-rejector who
is dreaming. The unsaved man who hopes that everything
is going to come out all right, when in reality it is all wrong,
and will be so, for all eternity, unless he turns to Christ, is the
real dreamer. Be persuaded that there is no other Saviour but
Jesus; there is no other way but His way. Do you want to know
the Saviour? You have tried the world, and imagined you could
nd peace and happiness in what it had to oer you. May it
not be that today God is awakening you out of your dreams?
You have never found peace in the world, and you never will.
Why not come to Christ?
Charge at to My Account
58
“While we pray, and while we plead,
While you see your soul’s deep need;
While your Father calls you home,
Will you not, my brother, come?”
Chapter 5.
59
213544
Chapter 5.
e Chains of Sin
“And he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying,
Arise up quickly. And his chains fell o from his hands” (Acts
12:7).
LET me draw your aenon to a most interesng incident,
recorded in Acts 12:1-19. However, I do not intend to consider
it from a merely historical standpoint, but as a remarkable
illustraon of man’s lost condion, and God’s marvelous
salvaon. I want you to think of Peter, not as an apostle, nor
as an eminent servant of Christ, but as a picture of any poor
lost sinner. We noce six things predicated of Peter which are
true of every unconverted man.
First, we see him in bondage. He is capve to a tyrant,
Charge at to My Account
60
determined upon his destrucon. Are you out of Christ, and
do you think that you are free, and somemes look with pity
upon Chrisans because you imagine they are in bondage
to certain ancient ideas which keep them from enjoying
themselves in the world, the way you fancy you are enjoying
yourself? The Jews of Christ’s day boldly declared that they
were never in bondage to any man, but Jesus said, “The
servant of sin is the slave of sin.” They were in bondage to sin
and Satan, and that is true of every unconverted person. The
unbeliever is deceived by the devil; he is capve to his will.
You may say, “I am not going to give up my will to someone
else,” but you have already done that very thing. If you are
unsaved, you are a capve to the god and prince of this world,
and what is more you cannot deliver yourself, you cannot set
yourself free.
In the second place, Peter was guarded, Herod had guards
staoned to watch and see that he did not get away. He was
delivered to four quaternions of soldiers. I do not know the
actual names of those soldiers, but I have an idea of what
they suggest. One of them might suggest pride, another
procrasnaon, a third, sinful pleasure, and the last, the love
of the world; for I know that these are the means that Satan
uses to guard men, and keep them in their sins, and hinder
them from geng deliverance. How many there are who
would have come to Christ years ago but for the pride of the
human heart — too proud to acknowledge their lost condion,
to confess their sins, to admit their wrong. “Pride goeth before
destrucon, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
e Indian Prince
I heard a story years ago which illustrates the folly of pride.
There were two Hindu princes in conict one with another.
Chapter 5.
61
One had been defeated, and his son taken capve. The
victorious Rajah was going to march into the city in triumph,
with a great string of capves walking barefoot before the
great elephant upon which he was mounted. This young
prince was brought before him, and told that he was to strip
o his royal garments and walk barefoot with the other
capves. He was very indignant, and exclaimed, “What kind
of faces will the people make when they see me, a prince,
walking like that?”
“You have not yet heard it all,” said the Rajah, “you shall not
only walk barefoot in this procession, but you will carry a bowl
of milk that will be lled almost to the brim, and if you spill
one drop of it, o comes your head. I shalt have guards to see
whether you spill any or not.”
The prince turned deadly pale as he heard that. As the
procession was arranged they handed him the bowl of milk.
You can imagine his predicament. The procession started.
How carefully this young prince walked! But in some way or
another he managed to get through without spilling a drop.
When he was brought before the Rajah, he was sternly asked:
“Well, what kind of faces did the people make?”
“O sire,” said the poor prince, “I saw no one’s face; I saw only
my life that I held in my hands, and I knew that if I dared to
look to the right or to the le, it would be forfeited.”
O friend, you are a poor sinner exposed to the judgment of
God, but now oered a free and full salvaon through innite
grace. Are you too proud to be saved on God’s terms, too
proud to humble yourself and admit your lost condion? Are
you more concerned about what men think than what God
thinks? How well the devil knows how to guard his subjects!
Charge at to My Account
62
Other Prison Guards
Then there is that other guard, procrasnaon, “The road of
By-and-By leads to the town of Never.” A great many people
are not saved, because they are always saying, “There is
plenty of me,” and the devil puts old Captain Procrasnaon
on duty to guard them, and if they get exercised, he says to
the young, “There is plenty of me; you are young yet.” To
those in middle life, he says, “Go on and make your fortune,
then you can think about your soul.” But old age comes and
they are sll in their sins. The me for them is gone, and they
pass into eternity — lost. “The harvest is past, the summer is
ended, and we are not saved” (Jer. 8:20).
How well Satan knows how to use the third and fourth
guards — the pleasures of sin and the love of the world — to,
keep people from coming to Christ. If they besr themselves
and are anxious to be saved, these guards are there to say,
“You will lose all your good mes, if you become a Chrisan;
you will have to be long-faced and you will be miserable and
wretched. You won’t be able to go to this, or to that; you
won’t be able to enjoy this or that; put it o; wait unl the
world has lost its charm.” And so, because men love the world
and think more of the pleasures of sin than they do of their
eternal salvaon, they remain in bondage — some of them
unl it is too late to be saved.
Peter’s Dire Condition
Then noce the third thing: Peter was in darkness. That is the
condion of every one by nature: “Having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their
heart” (Eph. 4:18). You cannot see in the dark. How oen you
will hear this said, “I have heard of this salvaon for years,
Chapter 5.
63
but I cannot see how God can save a sinner through the
death of His Son; I cannot see how the blood of Christ can
wash away my guilt; I cannot understand how I can be sure
that the Bible is the Word of God?” Of course you cannot!
You are in darkness, and what you need is light. The great
apostle to the Genles declares, “But if our gospel be hid, it is
hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:3, 4). If you make the confession, “I
cannot see; I cannot understand how the blood of Jesus can
wash away my sin,” that is all that is needed to tell the true
condion of your soul. You are in the dark, away from God,
and in dire need of a Saviour.
Then noce something else: Peter was not only in bondage,
guarded, and in darkness, but he was sound asleep. That
is the condion of men in their sins today. But the voice of
God sounds forth: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from
the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14). The
business of the evangelist is to go to men, asleep in their
sins, and awaken them. Real hard sleepers do not like to be
awakened. I have two boys, and both of them, when they
were at a certain growing age, did like to stay up late at night;
but oh, how hard it was to get them up in the morning! What
a job it was to awaken them. Listen to the sleeper in Proverbs
“Yet a lile sleep, a lile slumber, a lile folding of the hands
to sleep” (Prov. 6:10). My friend, a lile more sleep and you
will awaken in hell to sleep no more for all eternity! It is only
the omnipotent power of God that can awaken poor sleeping
sinners.
Then there is something else: Peter was bound with two
chains. Are you bound with the chains of your sin? You may
remember the story of the Grecian tyrant, who looked with
suspicion upon a certain metal worker, who was able to
Charge at to My Account
64
make the nest chains of any man in his dominions. This
tyrant had an idea that the man was a traitor against his
government. One day he sent for him, and aer aering
him, said, “I understand there is no one in my kingdom that
can make as ne or as strong a chain as you can. Let me see
you make one.” With the tyrant looking on, the smith made
a magnicent chain. He nished it, and as he handed it over
to the tyrant, he said, “If you were to take two elephants, and
fasten one to each end of this chain, they could not tear it
apart.”
The tyrant said, “Are you certain of that?”
“Absolutely,” the man replied.
Then, turning to two of his ocers, the tyrant said, “Take him
and bind him with it, and cast him into prison.” He was bound
with the very chain he had made.
Sinner, you have been forging a chain, the chain of your sins,
link by link throughout the years, and if you are not saved
soon, you are going to be bound with that chain, and be cast
into that awful place “prepared for the devil and his angels!’
You will have no one to blame but yourself. You will remember
how you forged that chain, link by link; haw you fell into this
or that parcular sin, and then said to yourself, “Oh, well, I will
not repeat it; I will do it just once.” Then in some way there
was an unaccountable urge to commit the same sin again
and again and again, and you found out at last that you were
forging the links in the chain that has bound your soul. You
have tried and tried to break it, but you are not able to do it.
Chains that Bind.
You know what chains are binding your soul today. The awful
chains of lust, untruthfulness, pride, indelity, dishonesty,
Chapter 5.
65
greed, and unbelief. These are the things that are going to
bind men’s souls for eternity, and sink them down into outer
darkness. It is said of the fallen angels that they are bound in
everlasng chains under darkness; and that will be true also of
men and women who reject Christ.
The chains of sin! You remember how you tried to break
them! On New Year’s Day, you said, “Now I am going to swear
o; I am not going to commit this sin or that sin any more. I
am losing my willpower; these things have robbed me of my
self-respect; I am ashamed to think of the habits of which no
one knows, but myself and God; I will surely break loose.” And
you tried and tried, and then fell back into the same old ways.
Or, you may have said, “It is of no use to try; I cannot free
myself; I am bound with chains that I cannot break.” And
so far as your own strength is concerned, that is perfectly
true. But that is not the whole story. What have we seen of
Peter? We have seen that he was a capve; he was guarded
by Satan’s soldiers; he was wrapped in darkness; he was
sound asleep; he was bound with chains; and there is one
other word to complete the vivid descripon, he was under
sentence of death, condemned already. There he lies in that
prison, a picture of any poor sinner.
Why was the sentence against Peter not carried out? Herod
was waing unl a more propious me, when he was
going to bring him before the people and put him to death.
That suggests what God says about you, if you are sll
rejecng the Lord Jesus Christ. “He that believeth on him
is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begoen Son of God” (John 3:18). Noce, that you
are not merely in danger of being condemned in the day of
judgment; not only in danger of condemnaon, if you die
rejecng Christ; but you are condemned already. And why?
Charge at to My Account
66
Because you are even now a Christ-rejector. “He that believeth
not is condemned already.” Again in John 3:36, we read, “He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasng life: and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him.” Just as the wrath of Herod was abiding on
Peter, and he was waing the me for the sentence to be
carried out, so the wrath of a righteous God abides upon the
Christ-rejector, and soon the sentence will be carried out.
Deliverance rough Prayer
But now a word to Chrisans: You are interested in sinners,
you know they are in the darkness, you understand that
they are capves of. Satan, bound by the chains of their
sins, guarded, and under condemnaon, and yet you have
a resource, have you not? The people of God oered prayer
to God connually for Peter’s deliverance. O Chrisan, be
encouraged when you pray for those in bondage. The ear of
God is open to your cry. There are dear boys and girls who are
sll unsaved, and you realize they are in the dark; you long
that they should be brought to the light. Keep on praying for
them! As the saints prayed for Peter, God wrought; as we pray
for sinners, God saves today!
What happened as they prayed for Peter? Seven things took
place.
First, as they were praying, a messenger from God came to
Peter. You know how oen God does just that very thing.
Somemes he sends a human messenger, somemes a word
from the Book, somemes convicon by the Holy Spirit. Peter
was sound asleep, and suddenly there appeared a messenger.
The angel of the Lord is able to awaken, to arouse, to give
deliverance to those who desire to be delivered.
Second, a light shone in the prison. It is the truth of God that
Chapter 5.
67
dispels the darkness. “The entrance of thy words giveth light;
it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Psa. 119:130). The
messenger came, and the light shone! O unsaved sinner, have
you heard the gospel message, the message of light? You say
in your darkness, “I cannot see; I cannot understand,” Listen
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptaon, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I
am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15). Does that not give you a lile light?
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasng life, and shall
not come into condemnaon; but is passed from death unto
life” (John 5:24). This is God’s own Word. May it bring light to
your darkened mind.
Third, the angel smote Peter on the side. He was a real “Billy”
Sunday. Some folk do not like “Billy’s” abrupt way, but in this
case the situaon was desperate, and the angel said, “Wake
up,” as he smote him, and Peter wakened to nd the angel
pounding him. Some of us remember how the Spirit laid hold
on us, and aroused us from our deathlike sleep. The Word
came home with convicng power, and we were saved. I
would to God that you, unsaved one, might be smien by the
convicng power of the Spirit of God, that you might realize
your lost condion, and your need of a Saviour; and that you
would turn to Him who awakens, and be delivered.
Fourth, there was no resistance on Peter’s part. The message
came, “Get up!” and Peter obeyed immediately. Why, you
know, a lile while before, that word would have meant
nothing to him; but now he is awake. When men and women
are awakened, the message comes: “Believe the Word; arise,
He calleth thee.”
Fih, then his chains fell o. Do you want to be delivered from
your chains? Believe the Word! I have a friend who years ago
was a vicm of that dreadful habit of smoking and eang
Charge at to My Account
68
opium. He had fallen into that vice when very young, and the
thing had goen such a grip on him that he could not break
it. At last, at twenty-two years of age, he was such a wreck
that he had made up his mind that he might as well end it all
by suicide, for there was no hope for him, But one night in
Fresno, California, he was going down the street, crying out,
“What a fool I have been to form a habit like this that I cannot
free myself from,” when he heard a lile group of Salvaon
Army folk singing,
“He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His Wood can make the vilest dean,
His blood avails for me.”
He said, “What’s that?” They sang it again. That poor
young fellow stood there trembling, for he had hardly
strength enough to stand erect. “I wonder if it is true — ‘the
vilest’ — that’s me!” and he followed them into their hall.
When they invited sinners to come to Christ, he went forward
and knelt at the penitent bench, but he was so loathsome
that they said, “Oh, he is too far gone.” However, they were
faithful, and knelt with him and pointed him to Christ. By and
by, as he arose, he said, “I will trust Him,” and went away. One
of them said to another, “You beer go and see if he has any
lodging tonight; he has no will power, there is no hope for
him, if he gets away.” Somebody did take an interest in him;
he got him a lodging, and helped him in other ways. When
he put his trust in Christ, he was delivered, and he has oen
tesed since, “I am free; Christ has delivered me; I never
even had a struggle to get rid of that habit.” In two weeks you
would not have known him. He was a new creature, physically,
mentally, and every way. Whatever your sins are, come to
Christ, trust in Him, and nd deliverance. Peter’s bonds fell o;
Chapter 5.
69
he was freed from his chains — you too may be free.
Sixth, “Get your things on,” the angel said, and he dressed him
up. That is what the Lord does. O with the prison garments,
on with the new garments. Then they went through one door
and another, and nally through the great iron door. If Peter
had gone through that great iron door in his chains, he would
have gone through to die. If he were taken through in his
feers, he would go out to be executed. And if you go through
the door of death in your sins, you go through to your doom.
Peter might well have trembled as he passed through that
door, if he sll had his chains on; but as he drew near, the
door opened of its own accord, and he went through as a free
man. A believer in the Lord Jesus can say, “I have died already;
I am free!” You may ask, “How can you say that?” “Well, we
have been crucied with Christ; we went through death with
Him!”
Seventh, then Peter said, “I must hunt up some place where
I can nd some Chrisans who are interested in me.” They
were all having a prayer meeng in Mary’s house, praying
for Peter’s deliverance. The Lord had answered and he was
delivered, but they were sll praying. A lile girl came out in
response to Peter’s knock, and she got so excited when she
heard his voice, that she forgot to open the door. She rushed
back, and said, “You don’t need to pray any more; Peter is
outside, he is at the door!”
“Nonsense,” they praccally said, “God doesn’t do anything as
quickly as that.”
Is that not just like us? Somemes we pray and pray, and
when God answers, we can hardly believe it. But she insisted,
“I know he is there.”
“It is his ghost,” they said, “he has gone through in his chains,
and that is his ghost.”
Charge at to My Account
70
“Well,” she replied, “there is no use arguing; come and see!”
And to the door they went where Peter connued knocking!
What an illustraon this is, dear unsaved one, of God’s
salvaon. Have you seen your own picture? Have you been
asleep in your sins? Are you in darkness and guarded by
Satan? Do you want to be delivered? Listen to the Word of
God, and do not be angry if the Spirit of God has to smite
you. Believe the Word, act upon it, and you will enter into the
fullness of blessing. You will be delivered from the chains of
your sins.
Chapter 6.
71
213545
Chapter 6.
e Sinless One Made Sin
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor.
5:21).
I WANT you to consider with me one of the great texts of
the Bible, a verse that brings before us the most remarkable
transacon that has ever taken place in the universe, when
the holy, spotless Son of God took the sinner’s place, and
oered up Himself in expiaon of our sins. Let me ask you to
think rst for a few minutes of the meaning of the words, “He
knew no sin.” Aer that we will meditate upon the expression,
“He was made sin,” and then we will consider the rest of the
verse, “That we might be made the righteousness of God in
him.”
Charge at to My Account
72
“He knew no sin.” These words suggest three things regarding
the perfecon of the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the
rst place, He never made the acquaintance of sin by actual
disobedience to the law of God. He never swerved from the
path of rectude in the slightest parcular. In all His life down
here, He was ever the unsinning one. “He did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth.” He could turn to His bierest
enemies, and ask without the slightest hesitaon, or fear that
they would dare aempt to answer, “Which of you convinceth
me of sin?” Neither they nor any of the thousands since who
have invesgated the records have ever been able to point to
one aw in His behavior.
“He knew no sin” means that He never commied sin, and
in this He stands apart from other men; for of every other it
is wrien, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God.” Therefore the need of repentance. “God commandeth
all men everywhere to repent,” for all men have dishonored
Him and are guilty in His sight. But our blessed Lord never
repented of anything. He never retracted a word He said. He
never confessed the slightest failure. He never apologized for
anything. He was never sorry for any act or word. He never
lied His heart to God in confession of failure.
Let me ask you, if you profess to be a Chrisan, how did
your life of piety begin? Did it not start with repentance?
When you rst came to God, did you not bow before Him
a penitent, confessing your sins, and seeking forgiveness
because of your iniquies? In the case of every godly man or
woman, contrion and confession have a large place. But how
dierent was the piety of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Bushnell
so strikingly expresses it, “In Him you see piety without one
dash of repentance.” He never shed a tear because of His
blunders or mistakes. He never on any occasion recalled one
thing He ever said. His most devoted followers failed: Peter
denied Him; James and John would have called down re from
Chapter 6.
73
heaven upon those who refused the ministry of their Master;
Thomas doubted Him; Philip quesoned; Paul brought railing
accusaons against the high priest in Israel, and immediately
aerward apologized for it; Barnabas lost his temper; Mark
proved untrustworthy on more than one occasion. But our
blessed Lord moved on in perfect serenity through every
experience of life. He was the sinless One. And yet He was
truly man, but He was more than man. He was God incarnate,
and therefore absolutely without sin.
No Confession to Make
Noce the prayer life of our blessed Lord. Because He
became man, He prayed to the Father. He took the place of a
dependent. He trod the path of faith, and drew His strength
from above. He was oen found at night on a hillside, or in a
garden, pouring out His heart in prayer. But His prayer never
took the character of confession. Hence He always prayed
alone. He never prayed in fellowship with anyone else. He
prayed for others. He did not pray with them. We never
nd Him kneeling with Peter, James, and John, His inmate
disciples, and joining together with them in intercession, nor
with anyone else. We who serve Christ today have some of
our most blessed experiences as we mingle our prayers and
supplicaons with those of our brethren, and bow together
before God in acknowledgment of our common sinfulness
and our common need. He never did this with any one. He
taught His disciples to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as
we forgive those who trespass against us,” but He could not,
in the very nature of things, pray that prayer with them. He
stood altogether apart. They were sinners; He was sinless, the
Saviour of sinners. “He knew no sin.”
The Word of God teaches that He not only never made the
acquaintance of sin, by actual failure, by transgression, by
Charge at to My Account
74
disobedience in thought, word, or deed, but He knew no sin
in the sense that His humanity was never contaminated by an
inward tendency to sin. He was absolutely, from the moment
of His incarnaon, the holy One. The angel said to the blessed
virgin mother: “That holy thing which shall be born of thee
shall be called the Son of God.” In Adam, unfallen, we see
humanity innocent; in all his children since, we see humanity
fallen; but in Christ Jesus we see humanity holy. We are told
that He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without
sin. Some people have taken this last expression to mean,
“Yet without sinning.” That was true as we have seen, but it
is not all of the truth. That verse really means this: He was
tempted in all points like as we are, apart from sin. He was
never tempted by inbred sin. He could say, “The prince of this
world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” You cannot say that;
I cannot. When the enemy comes at me from without, there
is a traitor inside who would gladly surrender the citadel, if he
could; but with my Lord it was quite otherwise.
Tempted in All Points
If any ask how He could be tempted in all points like as we are,
if He did not possess a sinful nature, I would remind you that
our rst parents were sinless when temptaon rst came to
them. They were tested on three points, the lust of the esh,
the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. These are the only
three ways in which man can be tested. Temptaon either
comes in the form of eshly suggeson, the temptaon of the
body; or, it comes along esthecal lines, the temptaon of the
soul; or, it appeals to the mind, the temptaon of the spirit.
When Eve looked upon the tree, she saw that its fruit was
good for food — the lust of the esh; that it was pleasant to
the eyes — the lust of the eye; that it was desired to make one
wise — the pride of fe. She capitulated on every point. Adam
Chapter 6.
75
shared in her sin, and thus the race became fallen. To Christ
in the wilderness among the wild beasts, Satan said, “Make
these stones bread.” It was the appeal to the lust of the esh.
He showed our Lord all the kingdoms of earth and the glory
of them — the lust of the eye. He suggested His leaping from
the pinnacle of the temple to be sustained by angel hands
and thus be accredited to the people — the pride of life. But
each temptaon failed, even as an arrow is turned back by a
steel plate. He was without sin. He suered being tempted.
The very presentaon of temptaon to Him was in itself so
obnoxious that it caused Him the keenest suering. It is the
very opposite generally with us. Peter tells us that “He that
hath suered in the esh hath ceased from sin.” Sin in our
eyes is alluring. It is presented to us as something aracve
and delighul. Our corrupt natures respond to the temptaon
from without, and we have to suer in the esh in order to
resist. But it was never so with Him. He suered when sin in
any form was presented to Him.
Let me illustrate this. Suppose that a young man of
high principles is associated with his own father in the
management of a bank. He loves and honors his father, and
nothing means more to him than his father’s success, and
the recognion of his integrity by his business associates. But
suppose someone in the bank should make the suggeson to
this son that, if they would act together, they might rob the
bank of thousands of, dollars, and cover up their wrong-doing
temporarily, and be far out of the country before the evil deed
could be discovered. Can you imagine the indignaon of this
young man, and the mental suering that he would endure, to
think that any one would think him capable of doing anything
so vile, so low, when he was his father’s trusted son? He
would be humiliated and ashamed to think that anyone would
dare to present such a temptaon to him. So in a far higher
sense, the temptaons of our Lord Jesus Christ meant the
Charge at to My Account
76
keenest suering, for He was absolutely free from all inward
tendency to sin.
But we may go farther: “He knew no sin” in the sense
that it was unthinkable that He ever could sin, for He was
God manifest in the esh. He did not change His glorious
personality when He became man. God the Son from all
eternity, became in grace the Son of Man, when He was born
of a virgin mother, without human father. He was ever the
eternal God. Now just as truly as God ex-carnate cannot sin, so
He who was God incarnate was absolutely above anything of
the kind. If any ask, “How then could His temptaon be real,
if there was no possibility that He would fall?” the answer
is clear and simple — the temptaon was not permied in
order to nd out if He would fall, but to prove that He would
not. It was thus demonstrated that He was an acceptable sin
oering.
In the Old Testament we read again and again of the sin
oering, “It is most holy.” How carefully God manifested this in
regard to His Son. The temptaon proved it, and then on the
very day of His crucixion disnct tesmony was given four
mes to the same wondrous fact. The wife of Pilate besought
her husband, “Have thou nothing to do with the blood of this
just one.” Pilate himself washed his hands, and said, “I nd
no fault in him at all.” The penitent thief hanging by His side
on the cross declared, “This man hath done nothing amiss.”
When He at last yielded up His spirit to the Father, the Roman
centurion exclaimed, “Certainly this was a righteous man.”
“He knew no sin.”
“He was made sin.” In both the original languages in which the
two Testaments were wrien, the same words were used for
sin and sin oering; so we may understand this expression to
mean, “He was made the sin oering.” We read in Isaiah 53,
“When thou shalt make his soul an oering for sin, he shall
Chapter 6.
77
see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hand.” How tremendously solemn! He
upon whom the law had no claim whatsoever poured out His
soul unto death in the sinner’s stead.
Not Physical Suering Only
Let me remind you that it was not simply the physical suering
which our blessed Lord endured upon the cross that made
expiaon for iniquity. It was what He suered in His holy,
spotless soul, in His sinless being, when the judgment that
our sins deserved fell on Him. For six awful hours He hung
suspended upon that cross. God Himself seems to have
divided the me into two halves. From the third to the sixth
hour, that is, from nine o’clock in the morning unl high noon,
according to our way of reckoning, the sun was shining down
upon that cross. But from the sixth to the ninth hour, that is,
from noon unl three o’clock in the aernoon, a supernatural
darkness enshrouded the enre scene.
In those rst three hours there was no evidence of any special
perturbaon. He was suering and agonizing, but He gave
no evidence of the least self-pity. Not one word was uered
by those holy lips that indicated for a moment that He was
suering. He looked down at the foot of the cross and saw
His mother and John, the beloved, standing near. He said
to her, “Behold thy son,” and to John, “Behold thy mother.”
John then took her, and led her away from that awful scene.
He looked at the great throng gathered all about Him, and
listened to their cries of hatred and blasphemy: “If thou be
the Christ, save thyself; come down from the cross.” He lied
His heart to the Father and pleaded, “Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do.” Then He heard the prayer
of the dying malefactor by His side, “Lord, remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom.” That was faith. The thief
Charge at to My Account
78
could discern in that thorn-crowned Suerer, earth’s coming
glorious King. But Jesus said, as it were, “I will do beer than
that. You do not need to wait for me to come in my kingdom.
‘Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.’” All His words have
to do with the blessing and happiness of others.
During those rst three hours, while the sun was shining down
upon that cross, He was suering from the hand of man. But
what Jesus endured at the hand of man would never put away
one sin. Then suddenly, at high noon, the sun seemed to be
bloed out of the heavens. Appalling darkness spread over all
the scene. The early Chrisans used to say that Dionysius the
Areopagite was addressing a class of students in Alexandria at
that moment, when this supernatural darkness spread over
the world, and he suddenly exclaimed, “Either a god is dying,
or the universe is about to go into dissoluon.”
Yes! He who is both God and man was dying. God was then
entering into judgment with Him regarding our sins. In those
three hours of darkness, darkness which no human eye could
pierce, alone upon the cross, the judgment which our sins
deserved was visited upon Him. Then His soul was made an
oering for sin. Then “He was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquies; the chassement of our
peace was upon him.” Then He could cry, as in the words
of the Psalmist: “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of
thy water spouts; all thy waves and thy billows are gone
over me.” Then it was that He was made to be sin for us.
In some way that our nite minds cannot now understand,
the pent-up wrath of the centuries fell upon Him, and He
“sank in deep mire where there was no standing,” as He
endured in His inmost being what you and I would have had
to endure through all eternity, had it not been for His mighty
sacrice. Then His soul was made an oering for sin, and as
the darkness was passing away, we hear the cry of anguish
predicted in the twenty-second Psalm, “My God, my God,
Chapter 6.
79
why hast thou forsaken me?” Do you know the answer? In
order that you and I might have eternal life, He, the holy One,
the sinless One, took our place in judgment that we might be
forever delivered from condemnaon. He went into darkness
that light might ever shine upon us. He bore our heavy load of
guilt that our sins might be removed as far as the east is from
the west.
He is Our Righteousness
“That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
We who believe are now through grace the display of divine
righteousness; God has shown how He can be just in jusfying
all who trust in Him who took our place in judgment. Upon
the cross our sins were imputed to Him. He endured what
we deserved. He drank the bier cup of wrath which should
have been ours. That was the cup from which He shrank in
Gethsemane’s garden. He could not have been the holy Son
had He been able to look upon it with equanimity. But He
emped that cup. He exhausted the wrath of God against our
sins, and now divine righteousness demands that all who trust
in Him be freed from every charge, and thus fully jused
before the throne of God. Seated high in heaven’s glory, on
the right hand of the Father, He is there as our Representave.
His acceptance is ours. God sees us in Him.
Looking back to the cross, the believer can say: “Blessed Lord,
there Thou wert made sin for me; there Thou didst bear my
judgment; didst endure my desert; I myself am the answer to
the cry, ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’”
Looking up to the throne where He now sits exalted, the
believer can cry in faith, “Blessed Lord, there upon the throne
Thou art my righteousness.” This indeed is full salvaon, and
it is all based upon the blessed fact that “He who knew no
Charge at to My Account
80
sin was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.”
Any aempt of ours to provide a righteousness which will
sasfy God is doomed to end in failure, yet thousands today
who bear the Chrisan name have never faced their sins
before God and found their righteousness in Christ. Nothing
is sadder than profession without possession; nothing more
solemn than having a name to live, when actually dead in
trespasses and in sins. Yet this, alas, is true of all whose
hope of salvaon is based upon the fact that they have been
brought up to respect Chrisanity, and in a sense to reverence
its Founder, but have never taken their place as lost, guilty
sinners before God, looked in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ,
once made sin for them, and received Him as their own
personal Saviour.
Let me aeconately ask you the queson, “Have you done
so?” Remember that in the life of every one who is saved,
there has taken place, at some me or other, that great
change described in Scripture as conversion (Ma. 18:3). To
be sure, the change is not so marked in some as in others,
nor could all point to the day and hour when it occurred; but
all who are truly born again have been children of wrath on
the road to destrucon who came to the place where they
received Christ in faith, and thus were saved.
A Religious Woman Lost
Some me ago I heard of a lady living in a country place
where modern conveniences in the way of lighng and such
like were not to be had. She had never been very wicked,
as man would say. Frequently she aended church, said her
prayers regularly, even read her Bible, and in short hoped that
all was right for eternity, yet was seldom concerned about
Chapter 6.
81
the queson of salvaon, for her conscience had never been
reached. She had no realizaon of the sinfulness of her own
heart. Wrapped in her rags of self-righteousness she was
contentedly hastening on to judgment. Peace in a sense she
had, but a false peace, not peace with God. She was simply at
peace with herself, for she had never known true soul trouble.
She was alone in her room one night when suddenly the lamp
which she had lighted went out, leaving her in the darkness.
Almost involuntarily she exclaimed, “There is no oil in the
lamp!” Then she added, “I’ve heard that before. Ah, yes, the
parable of the ten virgins (Ma. 25:1-12). Five of them had no
oil in their lamps when the bridegroom came, and they were
shut out of the feast.” Her mind became troubled. For several
days and even nights, the thought was ever with her. She
would oen cry out in anguish of soul, “No, I have no oil in my
lamp. My God, what will become of me? I have not the grace
of God in my heart!”
A horror of great darkness came upon her. She longed to be
saved, yet knew not how. In great distress she began to pray,
and God opened her eyes to see her uerly lost, undone
condion in His sight, and showed her that she could do
nothing to save herself. She searched His Word for light as to
how she might obtain the longed-for “oil,” and at last was led
to realize that the work that saves had all been nished long
ago when the Lord Jesus bore her sins in His own body on the
tree (1 Peter 2:24); that all she had to do to possess eternal
life and to know that she had it, was to believe on Him (1 John
5:13). Glad she was indeed to be saved so simply, and yet in a
way that brought such sasfacon. Sin had all been judged on
Another, and she was jused from all things (Acts 13:38,39).
She rested in simple faith in Christ, and now rejoices that she
is His for me and eternity.
Before, she had a profession; now, she has Christ. Before,
Charge at to My Account
82
she was dressed in the rags of self-righteousness; now, she is
clothed in the righteousness of God (1 Cor. 1:30). Before, she
had an empty lamp only; now, she is a possessor of the oil of
the Spirit, who has sealed her for heaven (Eph. 4:30).
Let me earnestly entreat any reader who is without oil in
his lamp to face his true condion now, without any further
delay. Hesitate not to tell out everything into the ears of a holy
God. Then look up by faith to the One who was made to be
sin for you, that you might become the righteousness of God
in Him. He was lied up on Calvary’s cross “that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Saved then by sovereign grace, you will nd every need met
for me and eternity in the risen Christ, “who of God is made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanccaon, and
redempon.”
Chapter 7.
83
213546
Chapter 7.
Transgression Forgiven
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (Psa. 32:1, 2).
THOSE who read the Bible with any degree of care, noce that
when the apostle Paul quotes from the thirty-second Psalm in
the fourth chapter of Romans, showing the great doctrine of
juscaon by faith, it is in perfect accord with the revelaon
given in the Old Testament. He cites Abraham’s case rst, a
man of whom it was wrien, “He believed God, and it was
counted to him for righteousness,” and then says, “Even as
David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom
God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquies are forgiven, and whose sins are
Charge at to My Account
84
covered.” So then, the thirty-second Psalm may well be called,
as Luther said, a Pauline Psalm. It is in exact accord with the
truth set forth in the Epistle to the Romans.
This Psalm is a wonderful record of redeeming grace, and is
David’s own experience. He is telling how he has been brought
into the knowledge of the blessedness of transgression
forgiven and sin covered.
You will noce that in the rst two verses we have four disnct
expressions relang to the blessed man who is right with God.
Blessed is he:
1. Whose transgression is forgiven.
2. Whose sin is covered.
3. Unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.
4. In whose spirit there is no guile.
These four things are true of all believers in our Lord Jesus
Christ.
David wrote this long before Christ came into the world.
He wrote it as he was looking on in faith to the coming
Saviour and His sacrice. He exclaimed, “Blessed is the man
whose transgression is forgiven.” He had no thought of God
arbitrarily forgiving sins, or passing sin over, as though it were
of no moment, but he had in view the work of the Cross,
predicted from the very beginning and on down through the
ages. You will remember that in Psalms 51, where he makes
his great confession, he recognizes the fact that no sacrice
that might be oered upon the Jewish altars could avail to
lay the basis of righteousness, but he cries, “Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow.” In other words, the thought in David’s mind was
Chapter 7.
85
this, “I cannot oer a sacrice sucient to atone for my sins,
but on the basis of that sacrice which Thou Thyself art about
to provide, blot out my transgression and pardon my iniquity.”
So looking on to the Cross, he could exultantly cry, “Blessed
is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered,” in the sense of being atoned for.
“No Afeard of God Noo”
When I was a boy they used to tell of a lad who lived in the
north of Scotland, who was in great distress whenever he
thought of meeng God. He was not very bright — the Scotch
called him da. This wee lad was greatly worried whenever
he thought of the fact that some day he would have to give
account to God for his sins. Many mes his elders heard him
crying to himself, “Oh, I dinna want to meet God. I am afeard
of God. I canna’ meet Him.”
People tried to comfort him, but they were not able to make
clear to him how anyone could be at peace with God. Finally,
in a very simple way, the gospel was explained to the lad, and
his joy was unbounded as he saw something of the love and
grace of God in giving His Son for him, One day the lile fellow
was heard crooning to himself, “I am no afeard of God noo, for
I am going to heaven noo.” Someone said, “Lile John, what
makes you talk like that? Why are you not afraid of God? Have
you not commied sins?”
“Why, I have sinned many mes, but I am no afeard of God
noo.”
“But do you not know that God is righteous and will punish
sin?”
“Yes, I have sinned and all that, but I am no afeard of God. He
will not punish me.”
Charge at to My Account
86
“Well, what makes you so sure? Can you explain the great
doctrine of the atonement?”
Lile John scratched his poor, muddled head a moment, and
then he said, “Well, someday I am going’ up to meet God, and
He will have a big Bible-book in front o’ Him, and He will have
the sins of all the people wrien Boon in His book. When lile
John comes up to God, He will turn over the pages of that
Bible-book unl He nds the one with lile John’s name on it,
but before He can read out the sins, Jesus Christ will be there
with His bleeding hand, and He will put it down quick over all
the page, and God will look at it, and say, ‘I canna nd a sin on
this page.’ The blood will blot them all out, and lile John will
gang into heaven.”
Lile John knew more than many of our doctors of divinity,
but there was one thing wrong with his theology. We don’t
wait unl the day of judgment for the blood to blot out our
sins, but it is done here and now in this world. The moment a
poor sinner comes to God owning his guilt and trusng in the
Lord Jesus Christ, his sin is atoned for, covered, never to be
made manifest again, bloed out forever.
The Word of God is, “As far as the east is from the west, so
far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Again God
declares, “I have bloed out as a thick cloud thy sins.”
It is only through the atoning work of Jesus Christ that God is
enabled thus to be just and the juser of him who believes in
Jesus Christ.
Unforgiven Sins Distress
Listen again to what David says, “Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” He goes
on, and tells of the many weeks and months in which his
Chapter 7.
87
conscience was in great distress because of his sin. “When I
kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the
day long.” There is nothing on earth that will so oppress one,
or that will so distress the soul, as a sense of unforgiven sin
pressing down upon the conscience. We nd in the Scripture,
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso
confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy.”
Have you unforgiven sin resng on your conscience, and have
you been hoping to hide it? Be certain that the Word of God is
sll true: “Be sure your sin will nd you out.” Some men’s sins,
we read, are going before them to judgment, and some men
they follow aer. Some men’s sins are so manifest that they
can’t he hidden. Everyone knows just what they are. Other
men manage to keep their sins hidden so that very few on
earth know anything about them. By and by, at the judgment
bar of God, their sins will seem to leap up and drag their souls
to the lowest depths of the pit, when it will be too late to put
them away.
Story of Robert Bruce
My heart was srred as I heard A. H. Stewart tell a story of
Scotland’s great king, Robert Bruce. On one occasion he was
eeing from the English soldiers of King Edward. They were
almost upon him, and he realized he was not maintaining the
speed he should, so he le the path and started through the
thick forest, hoping to escape. He ran mile aer mile thinking
that perhaps, at last, he had eluded the vengeance of his foes,
when suddenly he heard a sound that caused his heart almost
to stand sll. It was the baying of his own bloodhounds. He
knew the English had let loose his hounds, and put them on
their master’s track, and the animals which might be supposed
to be doing Robert Bruce a favor in running him down, were
leading his foes to the place where he was hidden. He knew
Charge at to My Account
88
now that all was over with him, unless he was able to put
something between himself and the dogs to throw o the
scent. Spent and worn, he toiled on several more weary miles
unl he came to a clear, rapid, mountain stream. He plunged
in and then hastened down the stream a mile or so, and came
out on the other side of the forest. There he hid from the sight
of his pursuers and listened as the hounds came to the water,
and ran up and down, baying and crying out for the scent. The
water had washed it away. They were unable to follow their
master, and Robert Bruce escaped from the vengeance of the
enemy.
O my friends, there is only one stream that will wash out the
scent of sin, and that is the precious blood of Christ which
cleanseth from all sin. All who come to Jesus, all who trust
in Him, are forever free from the judgment which their sins
deserve. So David tells us that the me came when it was
impossible for him to hide his own sin, impossible to cover his
own transgression, and he says, “I acknowledged my sin unto
thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my
transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin.” We read that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Precious Hiding Place
Then you will noce as you drop your eyes down to the
seventh verse, that he exclaims, as he looks up into the face of
God whom he had sinned against, “Thou art my hiding place;
thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me
about with songs of deliverance.” Think of it! For a long me
David had been hiding from God, but now we nd him hiding
in God. Which are you doing today? Are you hiding from Him,
or have you lied to Him for refuge and found a safe hiding
Chapter 7.
89
place? We read in the book of the prophet Isaiah, “And a man
shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from
the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow
of a great rock’ in a weary land” (Isa. 32:2).
I remember when we were working among the Indians, a
lile group of us had gone into an Indian village to present
the Word. When we were on our way back to another village,
we were overtaken by a tremendous thunder storm. We were
near a great, overhanging cli with a cave within, and our
Indian guide led the way hasly through the pouring rain to
this great rock, rising up from the oor of the desert, and in
that cave we all found shelter. There were nearly thirty of us,
and we stood looking out as the lightning ashed, and the
water poured down all about us. There together we sang the
hymn, “Rock of Ages.” We were safe in the rock.
Oh, David knew something of the meaning of this, “Thou art
my hiding place.”
Playing Big Bear
My eldest son taught me a lesson along this Line when he was
just a lile fellow. There was nothing he liked to play more
than bear. First, we had to put some chairs in one corner of
the room, with an opening between them. That was the bear’s
den. Then I had to get down on all fours, with a big shaggy
overcoat over me and be the bear. The lile fellow would walk
past the den, trying to look as if he had no idea that a bear
was anywhere near, when suddenly the savage beast would
take aer him, and we would run through one room and into
another. The lile fellow was prey eet on his feet, but, of
course, he would always be caught at last.
The last me we ever played bear, he had run right into the
corner of the kitchen, but the corner didn’t open. He had
Charge at to My Account
90
his face right in the corner, and was so excited, that he just
screamed. Suddenly, you know, the bear was about to spring,
when the lile fellow wheeled right about face, caught his
breath, and said, “I am not a bit afraid. You are not a bear;
you are just my own dear papa,” and he jumped right into my
arms.
I got to my feet, held the lile fellow close to me, and tried to
quiet him. I said to myself as I walked up and down with him,
“Blessed God, it was just like this with me once. I was running
away from Thee. I was afraid of Thee. I thought you wanted to
destroy me. I tried to nd a hiding place from Thee, but Thou
didst never give me up.”
I remembered the me years before when God ran me into a
corner, and I couldn’t get away; and instead of trying to run,
I turned to Him in repentance, in confession, and said, “I am
not afraid of Thee. Thou art not my enemy. I throw myself into
Thy loving arms. Thou art my refuge. In Thy tender care and
loving mercy, I nd a hiding place.”
“Rock of Ages, deft for me,
Let me hide myself in ee;
Let the water and the blood,
From y riven side which owed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save me from its guilt and power.
“Not the labor of my hands
Can fulll y law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever ow.
All for sin could not atone;
ou must save, and ou alone.”
Chapter 7.
91
Have you come to Him like that? Have you realized something
of your own helplessness? Have you realized your own
sinfulness, the uer hopelessness of your ever making
atonement for your own guilt? Have you turned to Him as
David, and said, “I will confess my transgressions ‘unto the
Lord.” Then you have a right to add, “Thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin.” He says, “For this shall every one that is
godly pray unto thee in a me when thou mayest be found.”
Prayer in the Wrong Place
Somemes people put prayer in the wrong place. They have
an idea that it is necessary to come to God and plead with
Him, and pray to Him to put away their sins, and save them in
His mercy. Dear friends, Scripture turns things just the other
way. Paul says, “As though God did beech you by us, we pray
you in Christ’s behalf, be ye reconciled to God.”
I can remember the night I was converted. I can recall,
though I was just fourteen, kneeling in my own room in the
presence of God. I began to beseech Him to look upon me
in grace, and save my soul. Then I thought, “What is it that
I am asking God to do? I am asking Him to do something
that He has been oering to do for years, but I have been
refusing to permit Him to do it. I am asking Him to give me
something — salvaon, eternal life — which He has been
oering me for years past, and yet here I come pleading for it.
Why not simply accept His salvaon and thank Him?”
I remember the words that came home to my soul, “He that
believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not
is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the
name of the only begoen Son of God.” Kneeling there I said
to Him, “Blessed God, I do believe in Thy Son. I trust Him now
Charge at to My Account
92
as my Saviour, and Thou past told me, ‘He that believeth on
him is not condemned’.” I knew then and there that He had
saved me in His innite love and kindness. I knew something
of the meaning of David’s expression, “Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
If you are thinking seriously of these things, but do not
know that your sins are forgiven, are covered, or that your
soul is saved, let me say to you, just look up by faith to the
Lord Jesus Christ, and He will save you right now. “He that
believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not
is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begoen Son of God.”
Chapter 8.
93
213547
Chapter 8.
e Greatest Text in the Bible
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begoen
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasng life” (John 3:16).
WHY do so many people think this is the greatest text in the
Bible? There are other wonderful texts that dwell on the love
of God, that show how men are delivered from judgment, that
tell us how we may obtain everlasng life, but no other one
verse, as far as I can see, gives us all these precious truths so
clearly and so disnctly. So true is this that when the gospel
is carried into heathen lands, and missionaries want to give
a synopsis of the gospel to a pagan people, all they nd it
necessary to do, if they are going to a people that have a
wrien language, is to translate and print this verse, and it
Charge at to My Account
94
tells out the story that they are so anxious for the people to
hear. If they do not have a wrien language, invariably one of
the rst scriptures that they are taught to memorize is John
3:16.
I have a slip of paper sent to me by my friend, Allan Cameron
of China. In those odd characters this same message is
wrien, and that message put into the hands of the Chinese
has oen been used to lead a soul to Christ. Not immediately,
of course, for he does not understand it all at once, but it has
led him to ask upon what authority is this statement based,
and so eventually he is led to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many Truths in One Verse
How many truths are wrapped up in that one verse! In the
rst place, there is the personality of God — “God so loved.” A
God who can love is a person. We had a woman in the United
States who invented a religion a few years ago, and she said
it was all love, and yet she said that God is impersonal. But
that is not possible. Just imagine falling in love with a cloud,
or thinking that a cloud is loving you! It is something uerly
impossible; you cannot do it. Behind love there must be a
person with a warm, loving heart. “God so loved.”
This Chinese translaon which my friend Cameron sent me,
says, “God so passionately loved the world, that he gave.” It
was a divine passion, a heart in heaven throbbing in loving
sympathy with men in all their trials and dicules here
on earth. What a wonderful revelaon that is, and it is all
wrapped up in this one verse.
Then there is the truth of the divine Fatherhood. This God so
loved men “that he gave his only begoen Son.” There cannot
be a son without a father. If God gave His Son, God Himself
is a Father, and that is a revelaon the pagan world never
Chapter 8.
95
dreamed of.
Then again, there is the lost condion of mankind. God gave
His well beloved Son, “that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasng life.” An unsaved man is in
grave danger. You, dear unsaved one, are in grave danger
of being so uerly lost that you may be banished from the
presence of this God of love forever, and yet He it is who has
provided a means whereby His banished ones may return to
Him. God gave Him up to a sacricial death on Calvary’s cross
for all men, “that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasng life.”
The universality of the oer of mercy is also here. It is a
“whosoever” message, and what does “whosoever” mean? A
gentleman came one me to my former home city and took
an enre week for a series of lectures on John 3:16. Dung
that me he labored every night to prove that the world that
God loved was the world of the elect, and that “whosoever”
was simply the “whosoever” that God had chosen from
the foundaon of the world. No wonder it took him a week
to try to make out that kind of a thing. Any child can see
the dierence between a doctrine like that and that which
is revealed in this text. Any one of school age knows the
meaning of “whosoever.”
You may have heard the story of the old Scotchman who had
been brought up with the idea that God had predetermined
just so many people to be saved, and all the rest were created
to be damned. He felt that he ought to be willing to say, “O
God, if it is Thy will to damn me, I do not want to be saved”;
but he did want to be saved, and was in the deepest agony of
soul about it. But sll they all said, “If you are not one of the
elect, you cannot be saved.”
One day he was out in the eld plowing, when he found a
Charge at to My Account
96
piece of paper with a large text on it. He tried to spell it out,
but he was not very good at reading, and so he read slowly:
“For — God — so — loved — the — world — that — have —
his — only — be-got-ten — Son — that — who-so-ever.” He
wondered what that meant, but as he did not know, he passed
on to the next part. “That — who-so-ever — believeth — him
— should — not — perish — but — have — ever-last-ing —
life.”
“Man!” he said, “here’s good news for somebody. God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begoen Son, that
who-so-ever! I wonder who is meant by that word. Here is
somebody who can have everlasng Life, elect or not elect.”
And while he was pondering the queson, he saw a lad going
by with a bunch of books under his arm. He called to him,
“Here, laddie, can ye read?”
“Aye, that I can,” he replied.
“Well, will you read this?”
Wanng to impress the old man with his great ability, the boy
read like a race horse; “For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begoen Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasng life.”
“O laddie, laddie, don’t read it so fast; read it again, and read
it slowly so I can get every word, and be careful with that long
word,” said the old man. And so the boy read it again.
“Does it really say there that somebody can be saved by just
believing?” the old man asked. “What does that long word
mean?”
“Oh,” said the boy, “whosoever means you, or me, or any
other body; but there goes the bell, I have to run,” and away
he went.
Chapter 8.
97
The old man stood there, and read it again, “For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begoen Son, that you, or
me, or any other body believeth in him, should not perish, but
have everlasng life.”
“Man!” he said, “that’s good news for a sinner like me; I don’t
need to nd out whether I am elect or not,” and he dropped
down between the plow handles, and there confessed himself
a sinner for whom Jesus died. He took God at His word and his
soul was saved.
One Text a Whole Week
One of the earliest stories I ever heard about D. L. Moody
was one with which some of you are familiar. When he was
in Great Britain, he met a young Englishman by the name of
Henry Moorhouse. One day Moorhouse said to Moody, “I am
thinking of going to America.”
“Well,” said Moody, “if you should ever be in Chicago, come
down to my place, and I will give you a chance to preach.”
Now although Mr. Moody was not two-faced, he was merely
trying to be polite, for mentally he was saying, “I hope he
won’t come.” There are so many people, you know, who
want to preach, although God never meant them to, and Mr.
Moody was not quite sure of Mr. Moorhouse. He was rather
taken back one day when, just before leaving for a series of
meengs, he received a telegram, “Have just arrived in New
York. Will be in Chicago on Sunday.”
“And now,” thought Moody, “I am going away, and I told
him he could preach here.” So he said to his wife and to his
commiee, “Here’s this young Englishman coming; let him
preach once, and then if the people enjoy him, put him on
again.”
Charge at to My Account
98
When Moody returned, he said to his wife, “Well, what about
that young preacher?”
“Oh,” she said, “he is a beer preacher than you are, Why, he
is telling sinners that God loves them.”
“He is wrong!” said Moody, “God doesn’t love sinners.”
“Well,” she said, “you go and hear him.”
“Why, is he sll preaching?’ asked Mr. Moody.
“Yes, he has been preaching all week and has taken only one
text, John 3:16,” was her reply.
When Mr. Moody went to the meeng, Moorhouse got up,
and said, “I have been hunng and hunng all through the
Bible, looking for a text, and I think we will just talk about
John 3:16 once more.” Mr. Moody always tesed that it was
on that night that he got his rst clear understanding of the
gospel and the love of God. Think what it meant in Moody’s
life, and in the lives of tens of thousands who were reached
through his ministry, to know that God loves sinners. Are
you one of those who has been saying, “If I were only a lile
beer, I could believe that God loves me?” O dear friend, hear
it again:
“Sinners Jesus will receive;
Sound this word of grace to all
Who the heavenly pathway leave,
All who linger, all who fall.”
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptaon, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I
am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15).
Chapter 8.
99
Just Like African Boys
I remember when I was a boy, going to a missionary meeng.
A missionary was there from Africa, and was showing us a
whole lot of curious things, and then he said, “Now boys, I
want to tell you the kind of gospel we preach to the people
in Africa. How many good boys have we here?” A lot of us
thought we were good, but our mothers were there, and so
not one of us dared hold up his hand. “Well,” said he, “not
one good boy here; then I have the same message for you that
we have for the heathen in Africa; God loves naughty boys!”
“My,” I thought, “he is geng all mixed up,” for you see I
had heard people say, “If you are good, God will love you.”
But, dear friends, that is not true. God is not waing for you
to be good so He can love you; God loves sinners, and has
proven His love for them by the gi of His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he
loved us, and sent his Son to be the propiaon for our sins”
(1 John 4:10). Instead of waing for people to be good, “God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Do you believe it, dear
friend?
The diculty is that men have this wrong idea about God, and
are always trying to make out that they are beer than, they
are. “Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness:
but a faithful man who can nd?” (Prov. 20:6). You will nd
people down in the depths of sin, but they are always ready
to compare themselves with other folk, saying, “I am as good
as they are.” But God has no message and no blessing for men
who are trying to jusfy themselves.
As long as you try to make a good name for yourself, God can
only condemn you; but when you come into His presence
and confess yourself a lost, guilty sinner, God has a message
Charge at to My Account
100
and a blessing for you. “God so loved the world” — a wicked,
corrupt, and ungodly world, and you and I belong to it. “As in
water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man”
(Prov. 27:19). God’s Word declares that “The heart is deceiul
above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I
the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every
man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his
doings” (Jer. 17:9, 10). Yet, knowing all the wickedness of
which my heart and your heart is capable, God loves us and
gave His Son to die for us.
My! what a gospel this is; what a message to bring to poor,
needy sinners! We do not come to men, and say, “Turn over a
new leaf; quit your meanness; give up this, and give up that”
We do not ask anyone to give up; we ask you to receive the
gi of God, and when you receive that gi, “the things of the
world will grow strangely dim in the light of Christ’s glory and
grace.”
A lad tried to preach on John 3:16 one day. He was asked to
give his tesmony, but thought he had beer get up a sermon.
He divided his text into four heads:
1. God loved.
2. God gave.
3. I believe.
4. I have.
Could you make a beer division than that?
A Girl’s Horror of God
A lile girl who lived in Luther’s day had been brought up
with a perfect horror of God. She thought of Him as always
Chapter 8.
101
watching her, taking note of every wrong thing she did, and
just waing to visit judgment upon her. Her parents could not
get that fear out of her mind. Her father was a printer, and
was working on Luther’s rst German Bible. One day she was
in his shop, when just a corner of one of the sheets of the
Bible caught her eye. She looked at it, and as she read it, her
whole atude toward God changed, and she said, “Mother, I
am not afraid of God any more.”
“Well, my dear,” said the mother, “I am glad of that, but why
are you not afraid of God?”
“Oh,” she replied, “look what I found, a piece of the Bible, and
it says, ‘God so loved, that he gave.’ “ It was just a part of two
lines.
“Well,” her mother said, “how does that take away your fear
of God? It doesn’t say what He gave.”
“Oh, but if He loved us enough to give anything, I am not
afraid,” said the child. And then her mother sat down and
opened up the whole truth to her.
People are stumbling over the simplest things. Take, for
instance, that word believeth. You would think that was plain
enough for anybody, but all my life I have heard people say, “I
have always believed, and yet I am not saved.” It does not say,
“Whosoever believeth the Bible, or creeds, or even the gospel
story,” but it does say, “Whosoever believeth in him.”
What is it to believe in Him? It means to put your soul’s
condence in Him, to trust in Him, God’s blessed Son. When
in Toronto, I picked up a copy of a broad Scotch translaon of
the New Testament, and the rst thing I noced was that this
word believeth is not found there at all. Instead of believeth
there is the Scotch word, lippen, and it means to throw your
whole weight upon. This is the way it reads, “Whosoever
Charge at to My Account
102
lippens to Jesus should not perish, but have the life of the
ages” — the life that runs on through all the ages.
Just Lippen to Jesus
One day Dr. Chalmers spent hours with a poor, anxious soul,
trying to lead her into peace, but she could not understand
what it was to believe, and nally he had to leave her. On the
way home he had to cross a creek with a shaky old bridge
over it, and as he was feeling his way across in a very careful
manner, one of his parishioners who saw him, called out, “Can
you nae lippen the bridge?” Immediately he said, “That’s the
word for the old lady I have just le,” and he went back to her,
and said, “I have got the word for you, can you nae lippen to
Jesus?”
“Lippen?” she said, “is it just to lippen? Aye, I can lippen to
Him. He will never let me down, will He?”
“Yes, that is it,” he replied, “He will never let you down.”
Have you been struggling, trying, working; have you been
promising and trying to give up this and to do this, that, and
the other thing? O dear friend, hear it, “Whosoever lippens, to
Jesus shall not perish, but have everlasng life.”
Another “Whosoever”
But now noce the alternave. They who trust in Jesus will
not perish, but what about those who do not trust in Him?
There is another whosoever. In Revelaon 20, where we have
that solemn picture of the last judgment, we read, “I saw a
great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven ed away; and there was found no
place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand
Chapter 8.
103
before God; and the books were opened: and another book
was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were
judged out of those things which were wrien in the books,
according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which
were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them: and they were judged every man according
to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of
re. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found
wrien in the book of life was cast into the lake of re” (Rev.
20:11-15).
Listen to it, sinner, whosoever in the day of judgment “was
not found wrien in the book of life was cast into the lake of
re.” Who are found wrien in the book of life? “Whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasng life.”
There they are, those who believed, and those that did not
believe; those who received the gi of God, and those who
spurned the gospel, trampling under foot the grace of God.
They stand in the judgment as poor, lost, trembling souls to
hear their dreadful sentence. You may be saved now without
money and without price.
“ere is life for a look at the Crucied One,
ere is life at this moment for thee;
en look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved,
Unto Him who was nailed to the tree.”
Look, sinner, look to Jesus just now and be saved.
Charge at to My Account
104
Chapter 9.
105
213548
Chapter 9.
How to Become a Child of God
“He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the esh, nor of the
will of man, but of God” (John 1:11-13).
HOW does a man become a Chrisan? The verses of the text,
I believe, answer the queson, and they do so rst negavely
and then posively. There are three ways indicated by which
one cannot become a child of God, and only one way by which
he can. Look at verse 13, “Which were born, not of blood, nor
of the will of the esh, nor of the will of man.”
Charge at to My Account
106
Not of Blood
Observe, it is not of blood. You may inherit a great many
natural characteriscs from your parents that men may
admire; you may inherit tastes, features, and disposions in
some measure at least, but you cannot inherit the grace of
God. It is just as true of the children of Chrisan parents, as it
is of any other people born into this world, that they, must be
born again.
I remember a few years ago my wife and I and our children
were on our way West. We were passing through Colorado.
My eldest son, who was just a lile boy at the me, was fond
of going through the train, playing that he was the news
agent. He said, “Father, have you any tracts I could give out?”
I had some, and so handed them to him. They somemes stop
me when I go through the train giving out tracts, but I thought
they would not stop the lile fellow. He handed everybody
one of these gospel tracts, and soon most of the people were
reading them. A lile later I was passing through the car and
a lady occupying one of the secons stopped me, and said, “I
beg your pardon, sir, but I think it was your child who gave me
this tract, was it not?”
“Yes,” I said, “it was.”
“Won’t you sit down a moment?” she asked.
So I introduced my wife, and we sat down.
“You cannot imagine,” she said, “how pleased I am to know
that there are other religious people on this train.” “You are
interested in these things?” I inquired.
“Yes indeed,” she said, “I have been religious all my life.”
“When were you born again?” I asked.
Chapter 9.
107
“Oh,” she replied, “my father was a class-leader, and an uncle
and two brothers of mine are all clergymen.”
“That is very interesng,” I said, “and may I ask again, have
you been converted yourself?”
“Why, you don’t seem to understand; my father was a
class-leader, and my uncle and two brothers are earnest
clergymen.”
“But you don’t expect to go to heaven hanging on their coat-
tails, even if they are born again, do you? Have you been truly
converted to God yourself?” I asked.
“Not at all,” she replied, “but I thought if I put it that way you
would understand that religion runs in our family.”
“Religion may run in your family, but religion and Chrisanity
are two very dierent things,” I said. “There are a great many
people who are intensely religious, but they are not saved.
Our blessed Lord was speaking to a very religious man when
he said, ‘Ye must be born again.’”
I had great diculty geng that lady to see that salvaon is
not of blood. She could scarcely understand how a family such
as hers needed regeneraon. Perhaps you have rather prided
yourself in the fact that you too came from a line of Chrisan
progenitors, and have taken it for granted that because your
parents were Chrisans, you are. “Which were born, not of
blood.” You are not a Chrisan simply because you were born
into a Chrisan family.
Not of the Will of the Flesh
Then we read, “Nor of the will of the esh.” What does that
mean? It just means that you cannot make yourself a Chrisan
by any self-determinaon. Suppose that you said to yourself,
Charge at to My Account
108
“I have made up my mind that from tonight on I am going to
be a Chrisan,” that would not make you one. It is very good
to come to a decision like that, to come to the place where
you make up your mind to become a Chrisan, but that will
not make you a child of God. If I were born in some country
where they have a hereditary monarchy, I might say, “I am
red of being just one of the commonalty; I have made up
my mind that from now on I am going to be a member of the
royal family.” I might go to a tailor, show him a picture of a
royal person, and say to him, “Now, dress me up like that.”
And I might begin to sign myself as a royal highness, or some
other high-sounding tle, but I would only be a fraud, for no
man ever became a member of the royal family by the will of
the esh; he has to be born into the family.
No one ever became a child of. God by simply making up
his mind that he would be a Chrisan. You could do that
according to your own standards, if Jesus had never died on
the cross. You could make up your mind that from a given
me you would call yourself a child of God, try to live as a
child of God should live, even though Jesus had never suered
and bled and died for your sins upon the tree. Why did He go
to the cross, if simply by an act of your will, you could make
yourself a Chrisan?
You have no more power to make yourself a Chrisan than I
have to make myself the president of the United States. If I
should go into polics, no maer how favorably the people
might look upon me, nor how able I might be, I could never
become president of the United States, because I was born on
the other side of the line. I was born in Toronto, Canada, and
the Constuon of the United States says that no man can be
president who was not born in this country. I might make up
my mind to become a polician, and do my best to ingraate
myself with the people, but I never could become president of
the United States, because although I am a naturalized cizen,
Chapter 9.
109
I was born an alien. No man can ever become a child of God
by making up his mind to be a Chrisan. You have to be born
a child of God, and it is too late to be born that way the rst
me; but thank God, you can be born again.
Not of Man
In the third place, we read, “Which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the esh, nor of the will of man.” From
the humblest clergyman up to the pope of Rome, or, if you
want to turn it around the other way, from the pope up to a
Protestant parson, there is no man on earth so holy and so
closely in touch with God that he can make a Chrisan of you
by anything he can do for you. He might bapze you, he might
conrm you, he might recommend that you be received into
church membership, but he could not make a Chrisan of you
by vong you into the membership of the church. If you came
in without being born again, you would be just a poor lost
sinner with a false profession.
I remember some years ago when that mighty man of
God, Henry Varley, was in California having meengs in a
large church. One night he said to me, “I want you to come
downstairs with me; they are going to have a church meeng,
and they have some applicants for membership. I would like
to get a line on them, see how careful they are about receiving
people, for this will help me to know how to preach.” There
were four candidates for membership. The minister said, “We
are glad to have our brethren here to apply for membership
in this church, and we want them to give us a word, and then
they will be voted on.”
The rst man stood to his feet, and said something like this;
“My friends, you all know me; my father and mother have
been members of this church for years. I have oen felt I
Charge at to My Account
110
should join the church, and so I made up my mind that if you
would accept me, I would like to feel that I am a member of
the church of my parents.”
A gentleman spoke up, and said, “May I ask the young man a
queson?” and the minister said, “Well, if it is a proper one,
you may.”
“I would like to ask if you have ever been born again.”
The minister jumped to his feet, and said, “I object; I do not
want our brother to aempt to answer that queson. That is
downright impernence; that maer is enrely between the
individual and his God.”
And so they voted him in; but I remembered that my Bible
said, “Not of blood.”
The second young man stood to his feet, and spoke somewhat
as follows: “Well, friends, you know me. I haven’t always been
what I ought to be, but last New Year I made up my mind to
turn over a new leaf, and try to do beer. I think it would help
me to join the church, and so I have applied for membership.”
And they voted him in.
My friend had found it did not pay to ask quesons, so did not
try it again. I remembered then that my Bible said, “Nor of the
will of the esh.”
The third young man arose, and with choice English accent
said, “You know, my friends, I haven’t been in the habit of
aending a church of this nomenclature. Over in England
I aended the state church. When I was a lile child, I was
bapzed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. But since coming
to America, I have enjoyed coming down here, and thought I
would Like to join with you.” So they voted him in.
But I remembered again that my Bible said, “Nor of the will of
Chapter 9.
111
man.”
There were the three of them. One of them thought he was
a Chrisan because his parents were, the second because
he had turned over a new leaf, and the third because he had
been bapzed by a great church dignitary.
There was one other man sing there, older than these
others, and I could see the marks which sin had le upon his
brow. When he was introduced, he spoke with great fervency:
“My friends, I do not need to say very much; you know my
story. My dear wife and children have been members with you
here for a number of years. You know what a life I have led; I
have been a drunkard, a poor sinner; I alienated my wife and
children from me so that they had to leave me. I was going
down, down, down in my sins, and it seemed there was no
power to stop me. About six months ago, I made up my mind
there was no help for me, and started down Market Street
toward the water front, intending to jump in and end it all;
but as I got to Seventh and Market, the Salvaon Army were
having an open air meeng. I went over and they were singing
of the cleansing power of the blood of Christ.”
“Oh! precious is the ow
at makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
“I listened! They sang it over and over, unl they sang the
words right into my soul, and I said: ‘I wonder if it is true, if
there is hope for a sinner like me’; and then I listened to one
and another tell how they too had been lost in sin, and Jesus
had saved them, and when someone invited any poor sinner
to come and kneel with them at the old drum, I threw myself
down, and cried, ‘O God, if there is hope for a sinner like me,
Charge at to My Account
112
save me tonight.’ Something happened that night; I trusted
Christ; He took me in; He made me a new creature; I was born
of God; and all has been dierent ever since; we have a happy
home now” — and then he burst into tears. Well, they voted
him in, but I could not help but wonder why he wanted to get
into an ice-box like that.
There you have three ways by which you cannot become a
child of God, and there is the way and the only way, by which
you can become a child of God. This geng converted is a
divine thing; it is a divine work — something that the Spirit of
God does for the poor sinner who comes to Christ. How is it all
brought about?
e One Divine Way
“He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But
as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” You
see that is very dierent from simply making a lip confession
of Chrisanity; that is a very dierent thing from turning over
a new leaf, joining a church, being bapzed, or something
like that. “As many as received him” means just this, that the
poor sinner comes to the place where he gives up all hope
of saving himself, and says, “O Christ, come in and dwell
with me alone.” No one ever invited Him to enter who was
disappointed. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any
man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him,
and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Is your heart’s door bolted against Him? Have you lived up to
the present moment with Christ outside? Will you open the
door?
You say, “How can I receive Him? I cannot see Him. In what
way can I receive Him?”
Chapter 9.
113
“As many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Do
you believe on His name? What does it mean to believe on
His name? It means to put your trust in Him. His name speaks
of all that He is. “Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall
save his people from their sins” (Ma. 1:21). John Hambleton
used to say, “There are just ve leers to our English word,
Jesus, and they mean just this: Jesus Exactly Suits Us Sinners.”
We are poor, lost, guilty men and women, but He is the holy
One, God’s blessed Son, and He went to Calvary’s cross and
died for us, bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and
now God says, “Will you receive my Son? Will you trust Him?
Will you believe on His name?” If you will, He will save your
precious soul, and will give you the right to call yourself a
child of God. No one has that right unless he is born again.
Peter says, “Being born again, not of corrupble seed, but of
incorrupble, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever … And this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you.” (1 Peter 1:23, 25).
What is it then that you need to believe in order to be saved?
“Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). What is the
gospel? It is God’s “good news” about His blessed Son. He tells
us that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3,4). And again: “If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvaon” (Rom. 10:9, 10).
The sinner who addresses you was once hurrying down in his
sins to a lost eternity, but when Jesus called, he came to Him,
put his trust in Him, and He saved his soul forty years ago.
He is waing now to save you. There is no reason why you
Charge at to My Account
114
should go on longer without seling this vital maer. When
I write to you about being saved by believing, I do not mean
that you are simply to credit the gospel story in an intellectual
kind of way, and go right on in the same life; but if you realize
you are a lost sinner, and want to be saved from the guilt and
power of your sins, I beseech you to yield to His entreaty, and
put your trust in the One who died for you. God will work the
miracle of regeneraon in your soul, and you will know that
you are born again. “Which were born, not of blood, nor of
the will of the esh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Chapter 10.
115
213549
Chapter 10.
Anathema Maranatha
“If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be
Anathema Maranatha” (1 Cor. 16:22).
THIS is one of the most incisive and challenging statements
in all the Bible. Incisive because there is no possibility of
misunderstanding it. In the fewest possible words, it declares
the inevitable doom of all who do not love the Lord Jesus.
Challenging, rst because of its very incisiveness; and second,
because of the fact that it contains two untranslated foreign
words, Anathema Maranatha, taken from two dierent
languages, and which by their very strangeness compel our
aenon.
Charge at to My Account
116
Anathema is Greek and means “accursed,” or “devoted
to judgment.” It is the same word that the apostle uses in
Galaans 1:8,9: “But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before,
so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto
you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” The man
or angel who misleads others with a false gospel is under the
ban of the Eternal God; — Anathema, “accursed,” “devoted
to judgment.” He uses the same word again when speaking
of himself: he says, “I could wish that myself were accursed,
(Anathema, R.V.) from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the esh.” It implies then clearly a denite
separaon from Christ, banishment from God, without any
hope of restoraon.
Then the other word, “Maranatha,” is a compound word, an
Aramaic expression of Chaldean origin, translated “our Lord
come!” or “the Lord cometh I” It is a vivid reminder that the
rejected Christ is to return in glory as Judge of the living and
the dead.
So then the strange compound expression, this
Greco — Aramaic term, “Anathema Maranatha,” might really
be rendered “devoted to judgment; our Lord cometh.” Slightly
paraphrasing the enre sentence, it would read, “If any man
love not our Lord Jesus Christ, he will be devoted to judgment
at the coming of the Lord.” What a tremendously solemn
statement and how seriously we should consider it!
Noce that according to this passage unless you are a lover of
Christ, unless He is precious to you, you are not really saved;
and if you are unregenerated, you do not love Him. More
than that, you cannot love Him even if you try. It is not in your
power to make yourself love Him. You do not have in your
heart one atom of love for Christ in your natural condion.
Chapter 10.
117
And yet if you do not love Him, you must be accursed at His
coming. Could anything be more solemn?
e Human Heart
Our Lord Himself sounded all the depths of the human heart,
the heart which is “deceiul above all things, and desperately
wicked,” which God alone really knows. He tells what He
found in it, what proceeds out of it, and there is no hint of
anything good; no righteousness, no holiness, no love. You
cannot get good things out of the natural heart because they
are not there. Hear what He, who spake as “never man spake,”
has said concerning this: “But those things which proceed out
of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they dele the
man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornicaons, thes, false witness, blasphemies:
these are the things which dele a man: but to eat with
unwashen hands deleth not a man” (Mahew 15:18-20).
Then again in Galaans 5:19-21, the Holy Spirit gives us a
long list of the works of the esh, but you search the record
in vain to nd anything about love or goodness. Listen to the
appalling list: “Now the works of the esh are manifest, which
are these; Adultery, fornicaon, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcra, hatred, variance, emulaons, wrath,
strife, sedion, heresies, envying’s, murders, drunkenness,
revelling’s, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I
have also told you in me past, that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
This is what you and I are capable of by nature. These are the
things that abound in our hearts. Decency may keep us from
following out all our evil inclinaons, but these are the sins
to which we are liable, one person just as much as another,
if exposed to temptaon. It is wrien: “As in water face
Charge at to My Account
118
answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.” And again,
“There is no dierence, for all have sinned, and come short of
the glory of God.”
If then the great test of salvaon is love for the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you do not possess that love, you are lost, no
maer how respectable your outward life may be. And if you
say to yourself, “From now on I am going to love Him; I refuse
to spurn Him; I will make myself devoted to Him,” let me warn
you not to try, for your eorts will end in disappointment
and despair. You do not love the Lord Jesus Christ if
unregenerated, and you cannot love Him unless God Himself
produces that love within your soul.
By this we see the absolute necessity of a second birth. Now,
indeed, we understand why it is that “except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born
of the esh is esh,” and there is no possible way by which it
can be changed into spirit. The works of the esh are unholy;
the will of the esh is ever opposed to the will of God. “The
carnal mind,” which is the mind of the esh, “is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Hence man as born
aer the esh is hopelessly lost, unless God intervenes.
But blessed be His Name, that “which is born of the Spirit is
spirit.” It is possible for man, totally depraved though he is
by nature, to be regenerated by divine power, born again by
the Word of God and the Spirit of God, and so become a new
creature in Christ Jesus, producing fruit for God.
Man Totally Depraved
Some of you may object to that old theological term, “total
depravity.” You do not like to think of yourself as quite so
far gone. But I beg you to remember that man as created by
God is triparte — spirit, and soul, and body. If in every part,
Chapter 10.
119
man has been aected by the fall, then he has become totally
aected, and inasmuch as he has been aected not for good,
but for evil, he is totally depraved.
Your body is depraved. No man possesses today the splendid
physique that our rst parents possessed from the moment of
their creaon. Your body is subject to all kinds of ills, sickness,
weakness, pain, and death. And moreover, everyone of your
natural appetes or propensies is depraved. There is not
one of them that is today funconing exactly as originally
intended. “God hath made man upright, but they have sought
out many invenons.” Every physical appete is capable of
perversion, and with this perversion comes sure and certain
ill eects, all the result of sin: “Receiving in themselves that
recompense of their error which was meet” (Rom. 1:27).
Your soul is depraved. The soul, according to Scripture, is the
seat of your enre emoonal nature. But what man would
dare to say that his emoons are all under divine control? He
cannot trust himself when under the power of strong emoon
even for one moment. Your very aecons can no longer be
depended upon. You wound and injure the very ones you
profess to love the most. How true the words of that wretched
man, who himself was one of the most striking illustraons
of the very fact I am stressing, Oscar Wilde, who wrote,
“Each man kills the thing he loves.” I venture to say that if
you were to follow your natural aecons and the desires of
your emoonal nature to the limit, your whole life would be
wrecked and ruined.
Your spirit is depraved. The spirit is the highest part of man,
that which disnguishes him from the brute creaon; that
which gives him the ability to form judgments, and above all
else to hear the voice of God speaking to him. “The spirit of
man is the candle of the Lord, searching the inmost parts of
his being.” But what man is constantly obeying the voice of
Charge at to My Account
120
the Lord? Have we not all turned away from Him in our pride
and our folly, preferring our own will to the will of God? “The
lusts of the mind” are as vile in His sight as “the lusts of the
esh.”
And yet it is to such men that the Spirit of God says, “If any
man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema
Maranatha” — devoted to judgment at the Lord’s return! How
solemnly this reveals our true condion, and how it ought
to sr our hearts, and lead us to cry to God to do for us that
which we cannot do for ourselves; to create in us a clean
heart; to implant His divine love; to subdue these stubborn
wills of ours; and to claim us for Himself.
And this is exactly what He oers to do in the gospel. In order
that He might eect this change in us, that He might impart to
us a new life, the very nature of which is love, the Lord Jesus
Christ went to the cross and there tasted death for us. The
only way whereby we can begin to love Him is by believing the
gospel message, and trusng Him as our personal Saviour. It is
when I learn that “the Son of God loved me, and gave himself
for me,” that my heart cries out, “We love him, because he
rst loved us.” Oh, I beg of you take me today to stand in
faith at the foot of Calvary’s cross By the aid of the Word of
God which so clearly depicts that awful scene, x your eyes
upon the wounded, bleeding Suerer, the thorn-crowned
Saviour, hanging there upon the nails for you. Listen to His
tender pleading: “Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do.” Hear His cry of anguish as He took the lost
sinner’s pace, and bore the lost sinner’s judgment, “My God,
my God„ why hast Thou forsaken me?” and say to yourself
over and over unl you believe it with all your heart: “It was
all for me; He died that I might live; He loved me even unto
‘death.” As you thus put your heart’s trust in Him, and believe
in Him as your own personal Saviour, you will nd He imparts
a new nature, and this nature manifests itself in love. You will
Chapter 10.
121
love Him, and you will love His people, because the love of
God will be shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost given
unto you.
See how this blessed truth is illustrated in the history of John
Newton. He was a blackbirder, slave trader, drunkard, uerly
godless, and lost to all decency unl, broken down by grace
divine, he gazed by faith upon the suering Saviour. Hear him
sing:
“In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear;
Till a new Object met my sight
And stopped my wild career.
“I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agony and blood;
He xed His dying eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.
“Sure never till my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
ough not a word He spoke.
“My conscience felt and owned my guilt,
And plunged me in despair;
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.
Charge at to My Account
122
“A second look He gave, which said,
I freely all forgive;
is blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou may’st live.”
An John Newton was a new man; the old vile life was ended
forever, and from that hour he loved the Lord Jesus Christ
above every earthly friend, above everything this world could
oer. And so at last he could say:
“en I, who trembling learned to see
at I my Lord had slain,
Was lled with peace, because for me
He bore that grief and pain.
“us while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue;
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.”
Oh, that every unsaved person might see what John Newton
saw, might believe what John Newton believed, and then he
too would love the Lord Jesus Christ, and be forever freed
from the danger of judgment at His coming.
It is a common saying among men that “love begets love.”
Surely if this is ever true it ought to be true in connecon with
the love of God to mankind. We are told that “He so loved the
world, that he gave his only begoen Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasng life.”
And again, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us,
because that God sent his only begoen Son into the world,
Chapter 10.
123
that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we
loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propiaon for our sins.” Because we were dead in trespasses
and in sins, the love of God caused Him to send His blessed
Son, that in Him we might receive eternal life. Because we
were guilty and deserving of His judgment, He sent His Son
to be the propiaon, the atonement for our sins. It is as the
Holy Spirit brings these truths to bear in power upon our souls
that we become partakers of the divine nature, and we love
Him who has so wondrously undertaken for us.
Apart from the manifestaon of God in Christ, there is no
revelaon of divine love. We see the power and wisdom of
God manifested in creaon. In His provision for man’s need
and comfort, we have many evidences of His goodness, but
His love is shown in the Cross. “God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us.” Who can fathom the wickedness of the man who
tramples such grace beneath his feet, and persists in sinning
against love like this? Need we wonder that the Holy Spirit
has said, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be Anathema Maranatha” (devoted to judgment at the Lord’s
coming)?
Charge at to My Account
124
Chapter 11.
125
213550
Chapter 11.
Inside the Veil and Outside the Camp
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his esh;
and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:19-
22).
“Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sancfy the people
with his own blood, suered without the gate. Let us go forth
therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach”
(Heb. 13:12, 13).
THE Old Testament is a very wonderful picture book of New
Testament truths. No uninspired writer has ever produced
Charge at to My Account
126
a volume of gospel illustraons that compares with the Old
Testament in type, shadow, or symbol. All through the sacred
pages of the earlier books we have set forth the wonderful
truths that have been made known to us by our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Those of you who are familiar with the Tabernacle will
recall the place which the veil had in connecon with its
furnishings and ordinances. By it the sanctuary was divided
into two parts; the rst was called the Holy Place, and into
that parcular room the priests went ministering from day to
day. In it there were three pieces of furniture — the golden
candlesck, speaking of Christ as the light of the world; the
golden table of show bread, speaking of Christ as the One who
maintains and sustains His people through their wilderness
journey; and the altar of incense, which speaks of Christ ever
living to make intercession for us.
Then there was the inner sanctuary on the other side of the
veil, called the Holiest of All, and in this room there was just
one piece of furniture, the ark of the covenant, surmounted
by the mercy seat. This was the dwelling place of God, and the
mercy seat on top of the ark was the meeng place of God
and man. An uncreated light, the Shekinah glory, shone above
the mercy seat between the golden cherubim, whose wings
were spread out over it. Into this sacred enclosure, where the
presence of God was manifested, the ordinary priests were
not permied to enter; only the High Priest, and that just once
a year. He went in carrying a golden basin lled with atoning
blood, which he sprinkled upon the mercy seat and before it,
where he himself took his stand.
This was God’s gure for the me then present, we are told
in the Epistle to the Hebrews, when no man could have
immediate access to God. There was a priesthood provided
through which people drew nigh unto God in a ritualisc way,
Chapter 11.
127
but God commanded that the people should stand afar o to
worship Him, and the man who drew near was put to death.
The only excepon was the High Priest once every year.
e Veil of Separation
The veil which hung between the Holy Place and the Most
Holy was most signicant, for we are told in Hebrews that
it represented the esh of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is,
it represented Him as a man here on earth. The veil was
composed of ne twined linen, ornamented with threads
of blue and purple and scarlet, and cherubim were wrought
upon it, seng forth the jusce and judgment of God. The
ne twined linen pictures, as it always does in Scripture,
perfect righteousness, the spotless and righteous life of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless One, in whom is no sin, for He
knew no sin. The blue suggested His heavenly character. He
was not a mere man, born as other men are; He was the Son
of man from heaven. The purple spoke of royal dignity. He was
the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the One who came to
reign on earth, the righteous King.
The scarlet is most signicant. It literally means, “The splendor
of a worm.” This seems a strange expression to us, but it need
not be. In Mexico there is a lile insect that feeds on cactus,
called the cochineal. It is ground up in a mortar and its blood
makes a crimson dye. Also in Palesne, there was a lile worm
called the tola. When it was crushed, it produced the scarlet
dye which was used in making the beauful garments that
clothed the nobility. In Psalms 22:6, the Lord says, “I am a
worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the
people.” He took the lowest place, the place of a worm, and
was crushed in death that you and I might be clothed with
the beauful garments of righteousness and glory. The scarlet
speaks of suering and of glory. Think, then, how wonderfully
Charge at to My Account
128
that veil sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly One, the
kingly One, the suering One, the righteous One.
e Way into the Holiest
But the unrent veil shut man out from God, and the holy
spotless life of Jesus was in itself a barrier rather than a means
of approach to God. The unrent esh of Jesus only served
to shut God in and to shut man out. Jesus said, “Except a
corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone;
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Men
seem to think that our blessed Lord came to earth as an
example to show us what man ought to be or do in order to
obtain God’s favor. The life of our Lord, instead of being an
example which unconverted men may follow in order that
they might nd their way into the presence of God, is simply
the condemnaon of all men everywhere, for in Christ we see
what man should be, but what no man ever was, “For all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
The unrent esh of Jesus was a barrier into the presence
of God. No man is perfect as Jesus was, and therefore no
man has a tle as He had to enter into the presence of God
uncondemned. But now the glorious gospel is this, that the
holy One, the perfect One, the righteous One, the heavenly
One, the kingly One, went to Calvary’s cross, and there His
esh was rent; there He took the place of guilty sinners; there
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for
our iniquies, He, the sinless One, was made sin for us.
“All our iniquities on Him were laid;
All our indebtedness by Him was paid.”
He took the sinner’s place, and bore the sinner’s judgment.
He drank the cup of wrath that sinners so justly deserve to
Chapter 11.
129
drink, endured the awful forsaking of God, and cried out at
last, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Then,
having drained that cup to the bier dregs, having borne the
judgment that you and I so richly deserve, He cried in triumph,
ere He surrendered His spirit to the Father, “It is nished!”
When He died, we read that “the veil of the temple was rent
in twain from the top to the boom”; not from the boom
to the top as though some priest might have torn it asunder,
but from the top to the boom. It was the hand of God that
rent that veil, in order to declare that now the way into His
immediate presence has been opened through the rent esh
of His beloved Son. We read in the New Testament, “Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he consecrated
(or dedicated for us) through the veil, that is to say, his esh”
(Heb. 10:19, 20).
“The Holiest we enter
In perfect peace with God,
Through whom we found our center
In Jesus and His blood.
Though great may be our dullness
In thought and word and deed,
We glory in the fullness
Of Him that meets our need.
“Much incense is ascending
Before th’eternal throne;
God graciously is bending
To hear each feeble groan.
To all our prayers and praises
Christ adds His sweet perfume,
And Love the censer raises
Charge at to My Account
130
These odors to consume.
And there into the immediate presence of God, He who died
upon the cross to put away our sins has entered as our great
High Priest. We are told in Hebrews that He is entered within
the veil as our forerunner. His place in the Holiest is the pledge
that all who believe on Him shall be there. He has gone in
as our representave. He has gone in to announce to God
the Father that through the virtue of His shed blood untold
millions shall also be there.
A Pilgrim Path
In the meanme, we are walking the sands of the desert. We
are sll down here on earth, and while we are here we have
our trials, our sicknesses, our suerings, and our sorrows to
endure, but that loving heart of His feels for every one of His
people in their trials and griefs, and presents the incense of
His own constant intercession there in the presence of God on
our behalf. We may well say:
“O God, we come with singing,
Because y great High Priest
Our names to ee is bringing,
Nor e’er forgets the least.
For us He wears the mitre,
Where ‘Holiness’ shines bright;
For us His robes are whiter
an heaven’s unsullied light.”
In spirit we are invited, yea, we are urgently commanded, to
enter into the Holiest of All as purged worshipers. Where do
Chapter 11.
131
you worship? If somebody were to ask you this queson what
would your answer be? Would you say, “In Moody Church?”
That is a poor place in which to worship. How could you
worship in the Moody Church, or any other church, if the veil
were not rent?
Oh, dear Chrisan, do understand that they who worship the
Father “must worship him in spirit and in truth.” As we do
this, where is the place of our worship? Not in any sanctuary
made with hands, no maer how beauful, how glorious, how
grand, but only inside the veil. Your body may occupy a seat
in some building, but if in spirit you come to God through the
rent veil, the death of Jesus, and bow before Him in adoraon,
in love, in thanksgiving, in the name of His blessed Son, that is
worship.
“e veil is rent; — our souls draw near
Unto a throne of grace;
e merits of the Lord appear,
ey ll the holy place.
“His precious blood has spoken there,
Before and on the throne;
And His own wounds in heaven declare,
’ atoning work is done.
“‘Tis nished! here our souls have rest,
His work can never fail:
By Him, our Sacrice and Priest,
We pass within the veil.
Charge at to My Account
132
“Within the Holiest of All,
Cleansed by His precious blood,
Before the throne we prostrate fall,
And worship ee, O God!
“Boldly the heart and voice we raise,
His blood, His name, our plea;
Assured our prayers and songs of praise
Ascend, by Christ, to ee.”
True Worship
When people talk of worshiping in some building on earth,
and think of a ritualisc service as worship, and talk of
worshiping God in music, it simply shows that they do not
understand what is involved in the rending of the veil. The
worship that is acceptable to God is the music that rises up to
Him as His Spirit touches the heart-strings of His redeemed
people and we bow before Him, the Holiest of All, singing and
making melody in our hearts unto the Lord. It is not merely
that on Sunday mornings we press our way inside the veil;
no, that is the place where we should be abiding in spirit
constantly. Somemes I go into a meeng where there is a
very good atmosphere and some well-meaning brother rises
to pray, and says, “O God, we thank Thee that this morning
we have been sing together in heavenly places in Christ.”
But it is not just when a good meeng is going on, but in every
moment of the believer’s life, he is sing in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. The place of our abiding is inside the veil, in the
immediate presence of God with nothing between. All that
once shut God in and shut man out has been removed in the
death of Christ.
Chapter 11.
133
Outside the Camp
But we must now consider the other expression, “Outside the
camp,” for what the old hymn says is true:
“Our Lord is now rejected,
And by the world disowned;
By the many still neglected,
And by the few enthroned.”
Just as His place in glory is our place, so His place on earth is
our place, as we go through this sinful world. What is His place
down here? It is the place of rejecon, for “He came unto his
own, and his own received him not.” These two expressions,
“His own,” are not absolutely the same in the original. The
rst is the neuter; the second is personal, and the passage
may be rendered: “He came unto his own things and his own
people received him not.” Think of it, He came to His own city,
Jerusalem, the city of the great King. If there was any place
on earth where He might have expected to be received with
gladness and acclaim, it was Jerusalem. He came unto His own
temple, every whit of it uered His glory, the very veil spoke
of His perfect humanity, and every piece of furniture pictured
Him. There was the altar, the laver, the candlesck, the table
of show bread, and everything spoke of Him; but as He came
to His own things, the very priests in the temple joined in the
cry, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” and they led
Him outside the gate, the rejected One.
Charge at to My Account
134
“Our Man’s rejected, don’t you know
It happened many years ago,
Yea, centuries have passed away
Since it was great election day
In Salem’s city, e’en the same,
Where God the Lord had set His Name.”
There were two candidates that day, Christ and Barabbas. The
people chose the murderer and rejected the Saviour.
He accepted the place they gave Him, and with lowly grace
allowed them to lead Him outside the city, away from the
temple, away from the palace, outside the gates, unto the
place called Calvary,
“And there, He died,
A King crucied,
To save a poor sinner like me.”
As far as the world is concerned it has never reversed that
judgment. He is sll the rejected One, and the place the world
has given Him should determine the place that you and I will
take. He was rejected, not merely by the barbarian world, not
merely by those who were living low, degraded lives, but also
by the literary world, the cultured world, the religious world.
It was the religious leaders of the people who demanded His
death, and all the world acquiesced. The world sll connues
to do so. It has its culture, its renements, its civilizaon
(oen mistaken for Chrisanity), its religion (one that has no
place for the cross of Christ, or the vicarious atonement, or His
glorious resurrecon), but our blessed Lord is apart from it all,
and the Word to us is this, “Let us go forth therefore unto him
without the camp, bearing his reproach.”
Chapter 11.
135
Sharing His Rejection
Do you rejoice in the salvaon He purchased on the Cross,
but shrink from parcipang in His rejecon? Are you sll
seeking a place in the world that had no place for Him? Or,
does your heart say, “We would not have joy where He had
woe; be rich where He was poor”? Inside the veil — that is,
the place of privilege; outside the camp — that is, the place of
responsibility. A beauful lile hymn puts it this way:
“rough y precious body broken
Inside the veil:
O what words to sinners spoken
Inside the veil.
Precious as the blood that bought us;
Perfect as the love that sought us;
Holy as the Lamb that brought us
Inside the veil.
“When we see y love unshaken
Outside the camp;
Scorned by man, by God forsaken,
Outside the camp.
y loved Cross alone can charm us;
Shame need now no more alarm us;
Glad we follow, naught can harm us
Outside the camp.
“Lamb of God, through ee we enter
Inside the veil;
Cleansed by ee we boldly venture
Inside the veil.
Charge at to My Account
136
Not a stain; a new creation;
Ours is such a full salvation;
Low we bow in adoration
Inside the veil.
“Unto ee, the homeless stranger,
Outside the camp;
Forth we hasten, fear no danger,
Outside the camp.
y reproach, far richer treasure
an all Egypt’s boasted pleasure;
Drawn by love that knows no measure
Outside the camp.
“Soon y saints shall all be gathered
Inside the veil;
All at home, no more be scattered,
Inside the veil.
Naught from ee our hearts shall sever;
We shall see ee, grieve ee never;
‘Praise the Lamb!’ shall sound forever
Inside the veil.”
Chapter 12
137
213551
Chapter 12
Peace by Christ Jesus
“That in me ye may have peace” (John 16:33, R. V.).
HOW long it takes many of us to learn that peace is found in
Christ alone. We seek for it everywhere else, but seek in vain,
unl at last, disappointed, disheartened and distressed in soul,
we come to the Lord Jesus, and lo, at His feet our quest is
ended!
Peace Better an Happiness
Peace is far beer than happiness. Happiness is primarily that
which comes from a good “hap.” “Hap” is an old English word
for chance. Tennyson wrote of one “who grasps the skirts of
Charge at to My Account
138
happy chance!” This expresses it exactly. If the “haps” are
good, the worldling is happy; if evil “haps” befall him, he is
unhappy. But peace is something deeper. It is the opposite of
struggling, of warfare and of soul-unrest. It is freedom from
strife, or from mental agitaon. It is spiritual content such as
the Lord promised to the heavy laden, when He said: “Come
unto me … and I will give you rest.”
“O God,” said Augusne, “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and
our souls will never be at rest unl they rest in Thee.” And yet
most of us spend years in restless seeking before we learn this
lesson.
No Peace to the Wicked
This message is twice repeated in the book of Isaiah: “There
is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.” In chapters
forty to forty-eight of this marvelous book, we have Jehovah’s
controversy with idolatry. His people had sought in vain for
peace, because they turned from Him, the true and living God,
unto the senseless works of their own hands. Jehovah, the
covenant-keeping God, stands in contrast to all the idols of
the heathen. Therefore at the end of the forty-eighth chapter,
there is this plain statement: “There is no peace, saith the
Lord, unto the wicked.” Then in chapters forty-nine to y-
seven we have the great Messianic secon of Isaiah, and we
see the true Servant of Jehovah, the anointed Saviour, coming
in lowly grace to His own, to open prison doors, to unstop
deaf ears, to impart strength to feeble knees, and to give
new life to those who are dead in trespasses and sins. But,
also, we see Him spurned and rejected by those whom He
loved so dearly, and in chapter y-seven, we hear the grave
pronouncement: “There is no peace, saith my God, to the
wicked.”
Chapter 12
139
How solemn all this is! No peace for the man who puts aught
else in place of the Lord Jehovah in his heart and life! No
peace for the self-willed rejector of God’s blessed Son! In the
New Testament, where we have the enre world brought
in guilty before God, the solemn declaraon concerning all
who turn away from the Word of the Lord is this: “The way of
peace have they not known.”
A False Peace
There is also a false peace by which many are deceived.
They mistake their ease of mind for peace of heart. Deluded
by a false peace, and daubing their consciences with the
untempered mortar of their own vain imaginings, they cry:
“Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” These are they who
dri down the river of me, unaware of the awful precipice
over which it will sweep them at last into the great sea
of eternity, where they will be forever without peace and
without hope of all such it is wrien: “When they shall say,
Peace and safety; then sudden destrucon cometh upon
them … and they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5:3).
If you try to awaken such from their deadly sleep and their
false security, they are likely to turn on you with indignaon.
They do not want to be disturbed. Like the slothful man in the
book of Proverbs, they cry: “Yet a lile more slumber, a lile
more sleep; a lile more folding of the hands in sleep.” Alas,
alas! If not awakened soon they will nd out too late the folly
of their assumed self-condence.
One day, when walking along Broadway in Oakland, California,
I saw ahead of me a man whom I knew was blind, making his
way through the crowds with remarkable dexterity. He did
not even have a sck, or a dog, to guide him. He had been
over the same route so oen that he felt sure he needed no
Charge at to My Account
140
help. Suddenly, I saw a cellarway opened just in front of him.
In another moment he would have stepped down into the
yawning mouth of a store basement. I sprang forward, caught
him by the shoulder, and told him of his danger. Do you think
he was angry with me for disturbing his false peace? Not at
all! He thanked me profusely. But how dierent it oen is with
the unsaved man and woman. They go on heedless of their
danger, and oen resent the warnings of God’s servants, unl
the Spirit of God awakens them to a realizaon of their true
condion, and leads them to accept peace through the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Two Aspects of Peace
In the fourteenth chapter of John, we learn that our blessed
Lord, before He le this earth, said to His disciples: “Peace I
leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” Here we have two
very disnct aspects of peace. One is that which He le as a
seled thing when He went back to the Father’s right hand,
and is the result of His sacricial work upon the cross, while
the other is that which He imparts from day to day to those
believers who live in fellowship with Him.
Somemes people use expressions that will not always bear
the test of Scripture. Let me give an instance of this: A number
of years ago an earnest young Chrisan and I went to a
mission in San Francisco. At the close of the meeng, a kind,
motherly woman came to me, and asked: “Are you a Chrisan,
sir?”
I replied immediately, “Yes, I am.”
“Thank God,” she said, and then turning to my friend, she
asked: “And have you made your ‘peace with God,’ sir?”
Rather to my astonishment, he answered, “No, madam, I have
Chapter 12
141
not.”
I knew he was a Chrisan, and I wondered at his replying in
that way.
She said to him rather severely, “Well, if you don’t make your
‘peace with God,’ you will be lost forever.”
With a bright, happy smile on his face, he replied, “Madam,
I can never make my ‘peace with God,’ and I never expect to
try; but I am thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ has seled
that for me, and through what He did for rue I shall be in
heaven for all eternity.” He then put the queson to her, “Have
you never read that remarkable passage: ‘Having made peace
by the blood of his cross’?”
As he went on to explain it to her, the truth gripped my own
soul. I saw then, and have realized it ever since, that sinners
are saved through the “peace” which He made at the cross.
And so we read in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being jused by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This peace is not of our making, and is not of our keeping
either. We enjoy the peace He made as we accept by faith the
tesmony of His Word.
His Peace is Given
But we also read, “My peace give I unto you.” What does
the Lord Jesus mean by this? It is another aspect of peace
together. It is that quiet rest of soul which was ever His the
midst of the most trying circumstances. He shares His grace
with us. It is of this we read in Philippians 4:6, 7: Be careful
for nothing [or, In nothing be anxious, R. V.]; it in everything
by prayer and supplicaon with thanksgiving let your requests
be made known unto God. And the grace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds
Charge at to My Account
142
through Christ Jesus.” “The peace of God,” you see, is very
dierent from “peace with God.” he laer has to do with
the sin queson, the former with the trials of the way. It is
the believer’s privilege to bring everything that troubles and
distresses his soul to God in prayer; to lay down every burden
at the feet of the blessed Lord, and to exchange them all for
this wonderful “peace” which is the poron of all who live in
communion with Him,
“Oh, the peace my Saviour gives,
Peace I never knew before;
And the way has brighter grown,
Since I learned to trust Him more.”
Chapter 12
143
Charge at to My Account
144
