January 12

Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. - Psalms 51:13.

HERE we have the importance of the object sought, and the means by which it is to be accomplished. There is no evil from which a fellow-creature can be delivered compared to sin. The conversion of a sinner from the error of his way is an event of far greater importance than the conquest of a kingdom. There is no charity like charity to the soul. The conversion of sinners is not only important, but possible. The work is ascribed to God. He is indeed the efficient agent in every case; but he works by means, and it is by the instrumentality of his people that he principally carries on his cause in the world. They are his witnesses, they are his servants. He first makes them the subjects of his grace, and then employs them as means of communicating it to others. He changes rebels into friends, and then sends them on an errand of reconciliation, and by them beseeches sinners to be reconciled unto a God of mercy. And he has qualified them for this embassy; having “tasted that the Lord is gracious,” their own experience gives them earnestness and confidence in saying to their fellow-sinners around, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”

There are many ways in which Christians may teach transgressors God’s way, and of converting sinners from the error of their own way. By conversation, a word spoken in season, how good it is; by epistolary correspondence, recommending good books; by bringing persons under the preaching of the word-for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” As soon as Andrew had become acquainted with the Saviour, “he findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ; and he brought him to Jesus.” As soon as Philip knew the Lord, he findeth his friend Nathanael, and saith unto him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write.” As soon as the woman of Samaria had found him, and knew the Gift of God, “she left her water-pot and went into the city, and saith to her neighbours, Come, see a man that told me all things ever I did; is not this the Christ?” And we know that great numbers through her instrumentality were subsequently influenced by her statement, and induced to believe on the Saviour of the world.

Thus it is with Christians still-knowing the misery of a state of alienation from God, and the blessedness of a return to him, their compassion to souls is moved and their zeal inflamed, so that, with Paul, their hearts’ desire is that “they might be saved;” and, with David, they will be concerned to teach transgressors the ways of the Lord, and that sinners may be converted unto God.