Chapter 14
Strange to say, the majority of those who are saved are the most unlikely people in the world to have been saved, while many of those who perish were once the very people whom we would have expected to see in heaven. There is one who as a child found himself in trouble and in foolishness all the time. His mother often wept over him, and cried and groaned over her son’s wanderings. With his fierce spirit that could not be bridled and with his constant rebellions and eruptions of fierce anger, she said, “My son, my son, what will you be like in your later years? Surely, you will smash law and order to pieces and be a disgrace to your father’s name.”
He grew up. In his youth he was wild and shameless, but wonder of wonders, all of a sudden he became a new man, altogether changed. He was no longer like what he was before, any more than angels are like lost spirits. He sat at his mother’s feet and cheered her heart, and the lost, fiery one became gentle, mild, humble as a little child, and obedient to God’s commandments.
You say, wonder of wonders! Here, though, is another man. He was a beautiful child and often talked of Jesus. Often, when his mother had him on her knee, he asked her questions about heaven. He was a great example and a wonder of piety in his youth. As he grew up, tears rolled down his cheeks under any sermon. He could scarcely bear to hear of death without a sigh. Sometimes his mother found him alone in prayer.
What is he now? He has become a slave to sin. He has become a corrupt, desperate lowlife. He is deeply entrenched in all types of wickedness, lust, and sin, and has become more corrupt than others could have ever imagined. His own evil spirit, once confined, has now developed itself, and he has learned to play the lion in his manhood, just as he used to play the fox in his youth.
This is very often the case. Some abandoned, wicked fellow has had his heart broken and has cried to God for mercy and renounced his vile sin, while some nice church-attending young girl by his side has heard the same sermon, and if there was a tear, she brushed it away. She still continues just as she was, having no hope, and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). God has taken the low things of the world and has picked His people out from among the very roughest of men, in order that He may prove that it is not natural disposition, but that saving comes of the LORD alone (Jonah 2:9).
With sinners, this doctrine is a great battering ram against their pride. I will give you an example. The sinner in his natural condition reminds me of a man who has a strong and nearly impenetrable castle into which he has fled. There is the outer moat, a second moat, and high walls. After that, there is the dungeon and main tower, into which the sinner will withdraw. The first moat that goes around the sinner’s trusting place is his good works. “Ah!” he says, “I am as good as my neighbor. I have always paid my debts; I am no sinner. I give to some charities. I’m a good respectable gentleman indeed.”
Well, when God comes to work with him, to save him, He sends his army across the first moat. As they go through it, they cry, Salvation is of the Lord, and the moat is dried up, for if it is of the Lord, how can it be of good works? But when that is gone, he has a second entrenchment – that of ceremonies.
“Well,” he says, “I will not trust in my good works, but I have been baptized, I have been confirmed, and I religiously take the sacrament. That will be my trust.”
“Over the moat! Over the moat!” And the soldiers go over again, shouting, Salvation is of the Lord. The second moat is dried up, and the trust in ceremonies is gone. Then the soldiers come to the first strong wall. The sinner, looking over it, says, “I can repent. I can believe whenever I like. I will save myself by repenting and believing.”
Up come the soldiers of God and His great army of conviction, and they batter this wall to the ground, crying, Salvation is of the Lord! Your faith and your repentance must all be given to you, or you will neither believe nor repent of sin.
The castle is now taken. The man’s hopes are all cut off, and he feels that salvation is not of self. The castle of self is overcome, and the great banner upon which is written “Salvation is of the Lord” is displayed upon the battlements.
But is the battle over? Oh, no. The sinner has withdrawn to the tower in the center of the castle, and now he changes his tactics. “I cannot save myself;” he says, “therefore, I will despair. There is no salvation for me.”
This second part of the castle is as hard to take as the first, for the sinner sits down and says, “I cannot be saved. I must perish.” But God commands the soldiers to take this castle, too, shouting, Salvation is of the Lord. It is not of man, but it is of God. He is able also to save to the uttermost, even though you cannot save yourself (Hebrews 7:25).
This sword, you see, cuts two ways. It cuts pride down, and then it cleaves the skull of despair. If anyone says he can save himself, it cuts his pride in half at once; if someone else says he cannot be saved, it dashes his despair to the earth, for it affirms that he can be saved, seeing that salvation is of the Lord.
What is the opposite of this truth? Salvation is of God; therefore, damnation is of man. If any of you perish, the blame will not lie at God’s door. If you are lost and cast away, you will have to bear all the blame and all the tortures of conscience yourself. You will lie forever in hell and reflect, “I have destroyed myself. I have made a suicide of my soul. I have been my own destroyer, and I can lay no blame on God.” Remember, if you are to be saved, you must be saved by God alone, and if you are lost, you have lost yourselves. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11).