“BE IT KNOWN.” So commences the glorious proclamation of forgiveness in Acts 13:38, 3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39). It is a well-known scripture. Scarcely any other has had more Gospel addresses preached from it, and never once too often. Thousands are with Christ through it! May the number be much augmented, by God’s grace, through these feeble lines, and to Him be all the praise.
“Be it known” is God’s emphatic statement. Be it unknown, hidden, covered with rubbish, be it got rid of altogether, if possible, says Satan. Alas! how successful he has been in stopping souls both from reading and believing it. God says, “Be it known.” It is His blessed and eternal Word. It prefaces the most glorious news. “Be it known” ―what wondrous grace!
Now, if the Queen of England, or the President of America, were to indite, and publish a proclamation, who would not stop to read it? If we were suddenly confronted with a proclamation in every house in the realm, beginning with “Be it known,” and signed by the highest in the State, who would dare to treat it as a thing of naught? This proclamation comes from Him who is higher than all. God says, “Be it known.” And it is in every Bible, in almost every house in the land. Who was it to be made known to?
“Unto you, therefore, men and brethren.” Who were they? You may reply, “Well, they were Jews.” True. “Ah, but I am a Gentile.” Read verse 42, “When the Jews were gone out... the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them.” Are you a Gentile of that type? The mass of the Jews despised it; and the Lord’s servants preached it to the Gentiles. The testimony has gone on from that day to this. Unto you, therefore, it comes today. It matters not who you are, or where you are, it comes to you. Be it known unto you. It is a proclamation for every nation, and for every sinner under the sun. It is the announcement of grace, and grace flows to all. It is no question whatever of your nationality, or your position in society, or your moral or religious state. You may be a professing Christian, a heathen, or a Jew; you may rank among the highest or the lowest; you may be a model of outward religious consistency and of unimpeachable moral conduct, or you may have sunk to the lowest depths of degradation and rebellion against God, ―but His proclamation begins, “Be it known unto you.”
“What am I to know?” replies some unknown reader.
“That through this man is preached unto you.” This Man! What man? The Man Christ Jesus, Himself the Son of the Living God. The Man who died for the guilty; but who will damn the impenitent (Matt. 3:1212Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:12)). The Son of God, who became a man, to die a felon’s death that such as you might escape an eternal hell and dwell with Him in glory. The lowly Jesus, the perfect, holy, spotless Lamb of God, who gave Himself a sacrifice for sin on Calvary; who took and drank to the bitter dregs the cup of judgment that you, sinner, so richly deserve. Jesus, who exhausted the flames of Divine wrath, by Himself being made sin, who knew no sin. The one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:5, 65For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:5‑6)). The spotless Man who died at Golgotha, amid the derision and scoffs of the world of the ungodly, abandoned by God and man. Through this Man is preached. Through Him, and through no other. Through Him, and Him alone, in that He has finished redemption’s work, is preached unto all, preached canto you, what? The very thing of all others that every sinner needs, and which every sinner must have or perish eternally. What is that?
“The forgiveness of sins.” Sinner, you need forgiveness; you know you need it. You must have it, or your case is hopeless. How do you think to get it? Maybe a vague hope is floating in your mind, amid thousands of foolish and sinful thoughts (every one of which, if unpardoned, such is the holiness of God, would damn you eternally), that somehow or other you may get off in the judgment day! So Satan befools thousands. Forgiveness in the judgment day! Now, now, Now, NOW, says the everlasting Word, is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)). Did you never read or hear that? Now; you must have salvation now. Not in the judgment day, but now. Now, sinner. Do you not know what now means? It means now, the present moment. And why? For tomorrow may be forever too late!
The devil whispers, “Time enough yet.” Ten days ago a Christian, who had learned the value of now, was sitting writing a letter, his wife by his side. Suddenly his head fell back, and he was gone. Where? To be with Christ forever.
A young woman last spring was walking hurriedly through the crowd in a large city. She dropped suddenly on the pavement. She was dead, gone from this world-where? We heard nothing of her state; God knows it. If unforgiven, lost; if forgiven, saved. Another was waiting on the railway platform. She dropped down also; dropped dead. Dead!
Suppose you were to drop dead just now, are you forgiven? No? Then you would be lost. After death the judgment (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). And all who die in their sins, will be raised in them, judged for them, and damned forever, without a ray of hope. “Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.” Sinner, think of it; consider it now. The forgiveness of sins―all thy sins; all those horrible sins, deep-dyed as scarlet or crimson―sins in thought, word, or deed, ―that maybe (unless your conscience has been seared) have often filled you with shame and sorrow, but against which you have again and again found yourself powerless to cope.
Without forgiveness, and that now, your case is utterly hopeless. Through Christ it is preached unto you. Not through what you are, have been, or hope to be; not through what you do, have done, or hope to do; not through your religion or your works, either of the present, past, or future; not through your baptism, or your confirmation, or your partaking of the Lord’s Supper; not through your tears or your prayers (however right all of these may be in their place),―but through this Man, Christ Jesus, who died for the guilty, the hopeless, and the lost, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins this day, this hour, this moment—now!
“And by him all that believe.” Note it well. Make no mistake. The salvation of your never-dying soul and your eternal welfare depends upon it. By Him, the Christ, the Lord, the glorified Saviour on the throne of God, ― “by him ALL.” Note, too, that word “all.” “All that believe.” There is the link. The work of redemption is accomplished; the Saviour is on high; and by Him all that believe. That is the all-important question for you this moment. Do you believe? Not, do you merely credit it as a fact; millions do that, and are not one whit nearer salvation or the glory of God. You may believe it with the head from the earliest moment of knowledge till your dying breath, yet sink forever in the depths of hell. Demons believe, says the Scripture, and tremble (James 2:1919Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. (James 2:19)). Maybe not a reader of these lines ever doubted for a moment the facts of the Gospel, ―but do you believe? Do you believe what God says from the heart?
Some may say, But are there two ways of believing? Yes, there are, the wrong way and the right. Millions believe in Christ, and millions believe in Mahomet, and millions believe in Buddha and other false gods. But will that meet the soul’s need? Never! But if you shall verily and truly take God at His word, ―if you believe God as Abraham, as David, as Paul, as Peter, or John, ―then what saith the Scripture? “By him all that believe are justified.”
“Are justified from all things.” Oh, the magnificence of God’s grace, and the simplicity of God’s Gospel! Do you believe? Yes. Then the link, so to speak, is on. Belief is not the Saviour; Christ is that. But by believing, Christ is ours; He is our known Saviour. He died for all (2 Cor. 5:14, 1514For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14‑15)). The sinner who believes can say, “Then I know He died for me. I believe what God says about Him, because He says it, and cannot lie. I trust the truth of God. I rest on His infallible and eternal word. I believe.”
And then comes the magnificent declaration of the great and universal proclamation of the God of all grace. “By him all that believe are justified from all things.” Note it well again. Not simply forgiven; it takes in all that, and how much more? But justified. Cleared, freed, discharged by God Himself from all things; and accounted just by a just God, as though no guilt had ever been incurred. Justified from what? All things. Reader, let it sink into the depths of your soul. May the Holy Ghost indite it there indelibly, eternally. “Justified from all things.” All that believe are. We think we see the transports of your joy, poor believing sinner, as we remember our own when we first realized this blessed, wondrous fact.
God proclaims now to any and every sinner in this poor lost world, “By him all that believe are justified from all things.” Sinner, hear it. Sinner, stop and think. Whither are you bound? On the broad road to eternal perdition? You are going down the inclined plane to hell. Singing, dancing, joking, sporting, it may be, on the broad, easy way to hell! “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matt. 6:1313And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matthew 6:13)). And Satan takes good care to keep that gate wide open. He never slumbers at his post. He keeps that road well paved and lit. You have only to keep straight on, sinner; it is easy walking, always downhill, and plenty of false light. But “if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:2323But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:23)). And the end, the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 1313Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 13)).
Stop, traveler, stop; there is danger ahead! We warn you by the horrors of hell, and beseech you by the mercies of God, stop! Not another step, as you value your life. Stop! Have you stopped? Well, now read this proclamation of God. Read it slowly, carefully, attentively; note every word; every word, mind: ― “Be it known unto you, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38, 3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)).
Now, have you read it? Yes. Carefully? Yes. Now think, that is the Word of God, who cannot lie (Titus 1:22In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (Titus 1:2)). And if you judge yourself as a guilty lost sinner before God, and believe that, you may have been hitherto the deepest-dyed sinner that ever trod the soil of Europe or America, ―the biggest hypocrite that ever entered a church, chapel, or meeting, ―the darkest heathen in Asia, Africa, or elsewhere, ―yet God says, and means, you are justified from all things!
You may doubt, fear, twist, turn, or wriggle in your thoughts, as you probably will, and Satan will help you, but there stands the nearly nineteen-century-old proclamation, inscribed with indelible letters on the everlasting page of the everlasting Word of the everlasting God, as true today, and forever, as when the Holy Ghost indited it; and every self-judged sinner who believes it, is one of the all. And all that believe are, are, ARE justified from ALL THINGS!
Now, tell us, friend, is there a flaw anywhere to be found in that document? Many a man has been pauperized, and many a man has been enriched, through a written document. Here, so to speak, is a Gospel document, that will make you richer than Crcœsus, or all the Rothschilds together. Eternal riches are found here, the present and eternal portion of every one that believeth. Guilty, lost one, you who are burdened, troubled, heavy laden with sin, believe God. “It is finished.” Jesus died. Jesus rose. Jesus lives. By Him, the living Saviour, triumphant on God’s throne, all that believe are justified.
How blessed to go on till the end of your days with those soul-emancipating words, “are justified,” following Him through whom they come, and then to carry them with you into His Own presence forever. And “from all things,” every sin, every transgression, every iniquity, every offense, every failure, every shortcoming, everything. And “from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
Troubled one, have you believed the glorious proclamation of God?
E. H. C.