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Christ Will Do


Excerpted from The Narrative of Surprising Conversions by Jonathan Edwards

Horatius Bonar tells of an awakened soul in Scotland who, in the bitterness of his spirit, set himself to work and pray, in order to get peace. He doubled the amount of his devotions, saying to himself, “Surely God will give me peace,” but the peace came not. He set up family worship, saying, “Surely God will give me peace.” But the peace came not.

At last he bethought himself of having a prayer-meeting in his house, as a certain remedy; he fixed the night, called his neighbors, and prepared himself for conducting the meeting by writing a prayer and learning it by heart. As he finished the operation of learning it, preparatory to the meeting, he threw it down on the table saying, “Surely that will do; God will give me peace now.”

In that moment a still small voice seemed to speak in his ear, saying, “No, that will not do; but Christ will do.”

Straightway the scales fell from his eyes and the burden from his shoulders. Peace poured in like a river. “Christ will do,” was his watchword ever after.

How many dear sinners today, under the burden of the wrath of God, think that by committing good deeds, they can atone for their sins. How many miss the way of salvation because they refuse to humble themselves and acknowledge that they can do absolutely nothing to merit the favor of God by their own acts of goodness. “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:4-5).

 

I will not work my soul to save

For that the Lord has done

But I will work like any slave

From love to God’s dear Son.

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