Justification # 6

Justification # 6

3. Let me, in the next place, offer an affectionate entreaty to all who want peace and know not where to find it.

You want peace! Then seek it without delay from Him who alone is able to give it - Christ Jesus the Lord. Go to Him in humble prayer, and ask Him to fulfill His own promises and look graciously on your soul. Tell Him you have read His compassionate invitation to the "laboring and heavy-laden." Tell Him that this is the plight of your soul, and implore Him to give you rest. Do this, and do ti without delay!

Seek Christ Himself, and do not stop short of personal dealings with Him. Seek Christ, and wait for nothing. Wait not until you feel you have repented enough. Wait not until your knowledge is increased. Wait not until you have been sufficiently humbled because of your sins. Seek Christ, and do not fancy you must sit still. Let not satan tempt you to suppose that you must wait in a state of passive inaction, and not strive to lay hold upon Jesus.

4. Let me, in the next place, offer some ENCOURAGEMENT to those who have good reason to hope they have peace with God - but are troubled by doubts and fears.

You have doubts and fears! But what do you expect? Your soul is married to a body full of weakness, passions, and infirmities. You live in a world that lies in wickedness, a world which the great majority do not love Christ. You are constantly liable to the temptations of the devil. That busy enemy, if he cannot shut you out of heaven, will try hard to make your journey uncomfortable.

I say to every believer, that so far from being surprised that you have doubts and fears; I would suspect the reality of your peace if you had none. I think little of that grace which is accompanied by no inward conflict. There is seldom life in the heart when all i still and quiet. A true Christian may be known by his warfare as well as by his peace. These very doubts and fears which now distress you are tokens of good. They satisfy me that you have really got something which you are afraid to lose.

Beware that you do not help satan by becoming an unjust accuser of yourself, and an unbeliever in the reality of God's work of grace. I pray that you have more knowledge of your own heart, of the fullness of Jesus, and of the devices of the devil.

5. Let me, in the last place, offer some counsel to all who have peace with God, and desire to keep up a lively sense of it.

It must never be forgotten that a believer's sense of his own justification and acceptance with God admits of many degrees and variations. Our justification is a fixed, changeless, immovable thing. But our sense of justification is liable to many changes. What then are the best means of preserving in a believer's heart that lively sense of justification which is so precious to the soul that knows it? I offer a few hints:

a. There must be constant looking up to Jesus.
b. There must be constant communion with Jesus.
c. There must be constant watchfulness against enemies of your soul.
d. There must be a constant laboring after humility. Pride goes before the fall. Self-confidence is often the mother of sloth, of hurried Bible reading, and sleepy prayers.
e. There must be constant laboring after holiness in every relation of life - in our tempers, in our tongues, abroad and at home.
f. There must be constant boldness in confessing our Lord before people. 
g. There must be constant diligence about means of grace. Here are the ways in which Jesus loves to walk. No disciple must expect to see much of his Master, who does not delight in public worship, Bible-reading, and private prayer.
h. Lastly, there must be constant jealousy over our own souls, and frequent self-examination. We must be careful to distinguish between justification and sanctification.

I lay these hints before all believing readers. I might easily add to them. But I am sure they are among the first things to be attended to by true Christian believers, if they wish to keep up a lively sense of their own justification and acceptance with God.

I conclude all by expressing my heart's desire and prayer that all who read these pages may know what it is to have the peace of God which passes all understanding in their souls.

If you never had "peace" yet, may it be recorded in the book of God that this year you sought peace in Christ and found it!

If you have tasted "peace" already - may your sense of peace mightily increase!

~J. C. Ryle~

(The End)