SERMON VII.

BELIEF IN CHRIST NECESSARY TO SALVATION.

JOHN viii. 24.

I said therefore unto you that you should die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in our sins.

OUR Lord addresses himself in these words to the unbelieving Jews, who, though he spake as never man spake, and gave proofs of being sent from God by signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds, refused to receive him as the Redeemer promised of old, and heard with but little attention the solemn truths which he delivered.

Among all the truths uttered by him, none makes a stronger appeal to our feelings, than that conveyed in the text; namely, that we have no other hope of

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being saved from everlasting misery, but by believing in Jesus Christ.

It becomes then a subject of the last importance to enquire what is meant by believing in Jesus Christ. If we can suppose that it means no more than to acknowledge, that a little more than eighteen hundred years ago, a person of that name lived and died in the land of Judæa, we shall fall into a dangerous mistake. For if this were all, what difference would there be between a belief in Jesus, and the persuasion that Alfred once sat upon the throne in this country, or that in later ages Elizabeth was Queen of England?

To believe in Jesus Christ is not only to feel assured that there really was a person of that name, but that he came into the world to save sinners; that he gave himself for us as well as for others, to “ redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

When our minds have been once led into this train of thought, we shall be

a Titus ii. 14.

prompted to ask what is required of us by Him who has done so much for our benefit. For, to suppose that Christ would come down from heaven, lead a life of suffering upon earth, and die at length on the cross to procure blessings for those who will make no use of them, nor even take the pains to enquire what they are, is a notion so full of absurdity, that no man of common reflection, one would think, could permit himself to entertain it.

The great evil we have to lament is, that men will pay no attention to the subject; they suffer the pleasures, the business, and even the cares and sorrows of life to take such full possession of their thoughts, as to leave no room for that awful question, which the jailor at Philippi put to Paul and Silas, "What must I do to be saved?"

There are then three points, arising from the text, which deserve our consideration,

1. We have no other hope of being saved but through Jesus Christ.

2. What Christ has done for us.

Acts xvi. 30.

3. What he requires us to do.

The first point is so plainly declared by St. Peter, "speaking as he was moved by the Holy Ghost," that no one, who receives the Bible as the word of God, can feel the least doubt upon the subject. St. Peter's words are, "the name of Jesus Christthere is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved"." All other dependence therefore is vain, and worse than vain; for what would this be but to declare that we paid no regard to the words of Almighty God, and put no trust in the assurances he has been pleased to give us? Whoever therefore acknowledges the Bible to contain the will of God, is bound to believe that man can be saved through Jesus Christ only.

II. Let us now consider more at large what the Lord Jesus has done for mankind, and what he requires from them in

return.

When our first parents, Adam and Eve, had fallen under the displeasure of their Maker, by eating of the forbidden fruit,

Acts iv. 12.

God, even in his anger remembering mercy, promised that the power of Satan, who, in the form of a serpent, had led them astray, should be crushed by one descended from Eve, the mother of mankind. The promise was contained in these words, "it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his beeld." At the time appointed by his heavenly Father, Jesus Christ was "born of the Virgin Mary." By teaching the way of truth, and opening to man the path to heaven, he struck a deadly blow at the power of that evil spirit, who had brought death into the world, and whose earnest wish was to bring endless ruin upon all.

As a teacher, he made known to us the will of God; and in his own conduct gave us an example of obedience. He made known also promises which were designed for our encouragement, and threatenings which were intended to keep us in the right path.

Nor was this all. To strengthen our weakness, he declared in the plainest terms, that