Can God save me?

When the sinner draws near to God now, in the faith of his own worthlessness, and the worthiness of Christ, he is accepted. "Accepted in the beloved." And Christ is ready to receive all that come to Him. He casts out none. Oh! then, unpardoned, unsaved sinners, whether you have made a profession or not, at once, with your whole heart, turn to Jesus, in the full assurance of His pardoning love. Be assured that He is waiting, ready to receive you. Oh! doubt Him not, believe Him, trust Him. He is able, He is willing, to save the chief of sinners. Oh! at once, without delay, flee to the arms of Jesus. Flee from your evil habits, and from the awful doom of outer darkness. As a lost sinner, take refuge in Him who was nailed to the cross for sinners, for you, and yet, as another has said,

GOD SAYS clearly and distinctly, “thou shalt be saved.” Now it comes very close to you, it could not come closer. Without moving an eyelash, without rising from your seat, you can be saved. In this blessed gospel verse there are three shalts which go together—if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, and shalt believe in thine heart, thou shalt be saved. An old lady in England, who had been saved for fifty years and more, said to me the other night—“Thank God, Mr. Pollock, for those three shalts.” That dear, aged saint, just waiting at any moment to go home, found her joy and comfort in those three immutable shalts. God has linked them together—a three-fold cord, which cannot easily be broken. Again let me repeat the golden text. “If thou SHALT confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and SHALT believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou SHALT be saved.” God grant some here the simplicity of faith, to believe, to confess, and to rejoice on the authority of God’s word in a known salvation.

And to the anxious inquirer we would say with equal earnestness, Let nothing stand in your way in coming this moment to Jesus. Let theology speak as it may, you are to listen to the voice of Jesus, who says, "Come to Me." Be assured there is no hindrance, no difficulty, no hitch, no question, no condition. You are a lost sinner, and Jesus is a full Saviour. Put your trust in Him, and you are saved forever. Believe in Him, and you will know your place amongst the "elect of God" who are "predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son." Bring your sins to Jesus and He will pardon them, cancel them by His blood, and clothe you in a spotless robe of divine righteousness. May God's Spirit lead you now to cast yourself simply and entirely upon that precious, all-sufficient Saviour!

May God in His infinite mercy deal with any unsaved souls in this hall tonight! He still preaches peace through Jesus Christ. The arms of Jesus are wide open to welcome poor sinners. His gracious words are as fresh, as fervent, as attractive as ever — "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." If any sinner on the face of the earth, however deeply plunged in guilt, desires salvation, that blessed sinner-loving Jesus in glory is still able to save, and still delights in mercy. But when once He has risen up, and has shut to the door, many who are now deaf to His voice of mercy, and refuse His words of grace, will come knocking in bitterest anguish, and find it is too late

A great many persons are not aware of this terrible disease of sin, but sometimes we do come across people who have been aroused to the fact that they are sinners, and they come to us and say, often with tears running down their faces, “Preacher, I am afraid I am too bad to be saved.” Thank God, there never could be a case too bad for the Great Physician. His words are:—“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” Another says, “I feel the burden of my sins, but I am too black a sinner to come to Christ.” It is our deepest joy to tell such that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from ALL SIN,” and to cry out at the top of our voice, “There never was a case too bad for the Saviour, too dark and desperate for Him to cure.” This very night

Do you plead your powerlessness? God has anticipated this also in His grace, as you may see for yourself in this very verse. "When we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly." Were you making efforts first to reform yourself and to please Him, the Holy Spirit would in no way help, save to convince you of utter weakness and sinfulness. In such a condition He treats such efforts as self-righteous and Satan's substitute for genuine repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him only look as you are, and because you are both weak and ungodly He can and will save every one that calls on His name.

"Willing and able to save" — let these words fasten themselves on your memory, for they are so true of Jesus. If He had not been willing to save, He would never have come down from heaven to die. If he had not been able to save, He would never have arisen from the dead; but His resurrection proves that He has finished the work which He came to do. He has come out of the storm yea, He has quelled it for ever for those who trust in Him. He is now in heaven; yes, Jesus the Crucified is now enthroned at God's right hand, and He is there as a Saviour, willing and able to save even to the uttermost.

You are not too far away; you are not too great a sinner. He is greater than your sins, greater than the judgment your sins deserved; and this great Saviour is waiting to be your Saviour. Oh, will you not trust Him now? "He is willing, He is able Doubt no more."

If we are to be saved our Saviour must be both willing and able. It is not enough that He is willing. If I owed £1, 000 and was terribly distressed about it, and you came to me and said, Tom Jones says you must not worry about that debt, he will see to it, I would answer, What's the use of talking to me about Tom Jones, don't you know that I owe ten hundred pounds and Tom Jones is not worth ten shillings; he may be willing but he is not able to help me. Now Jesus, our Lord is willing to save. We cannot question that. He would not have come down from the eternal throne to the cross if He had not been willing, but is He able? Yes, thank God, He is able. How do we know? He has come up from among the dead: He has broken the power of death; He has triumphed over the grave, and best of all His resurrection is the proof that His work is indeed a finished work: the price He paid for our salvation is enough; the just claims of the throne of God have been met, and God has shown His infinite satisfaction in what He has done by raising Him from the dead. The devil is silenced and all who believe are saved.

Hence, believing in thy heart as well as confessing with thy mouth, the blessing is thine. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in thy heart that God raised Him from among the dead, thou shalt be saved. It will be observed that there is here no mention of death, but of resurrection. Death does not of itself imply resurrection; but resurrection does necessarily involve death. Jesus then is confessed to be Lord: why fear, why be anxious, if He who has undertaken to save is above all? You believe in your heart that God raised Him from among the dead. It is not only then that love came down to meet you and suffer for you, but power has entered, where Jesus was crucified in weakness. God entered the grave of Jesus in power and waked Him up — has raised Him and given Him glory, that our faith and hope might be, not in Christ only, but in God. He is for thee. He has proved it in raising up Jesus from among the dead. "Thou shalt be saved," — not forgiven only — but "saved." "If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

Thus the soul's salvation is based, not upon man's doings, such as obedience to the law, nor even upon God's unconditional promise, such as Abraham was given, but upon fully established facts: the Son of God has come: He has died, and risen again. This is sound, settled truth, appropriated and clearly understood by honest faith. What more can be desired to prove the perfect settlement of the sin question? What more sure and perfect ground for the eternal salvation of every soul who trusts Him?