The late Doctor Chalmers lay dying. As his end was approaching, he said to one that stood near him, "Now just give me a little bit of naked truth to die upon."
He himself had often preached the gospel with all the charms of his own natural eloquence; but now he wanted to hear it in all the majestic sweetness of the naked word of God, without any of these human embellishments. He knew well that this was the only safe ground upon which the soul may drop its anchor for full assurance of eternal salvation; for "the gospel of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. 1:1616For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16).
It is in such a moment as this that the false hope of a Christ-less religion is shattered, and infidel theories collapse like a child's sand-castle before the rising tide. When the death wave rolls up to you, dear reader, then you will want, and want badly too, what the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has.
"We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll:
Fastened to the Rock that cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love."
A young married woman, brought up in a truly Christian home, had for years made some sort of religious profession. She was suddenly taken ill. A doctor was called in who diagnosed her malady. From him she got a very serious "bit of naked truth" about herself.
Her case was most critical. An operation was imperative if her life was to be spared, and yet it was of such a nature that ninety-nine out of every hundred died under it. Of course, she might be the hundredth, and come through.
Upon this slender chance, humanly-speaking, she decided to stake her life. The operation was arranged for, and on a beautiful morning, in a private hospital, it was performed.
This is her story: "As I lay upon my bed before the operation, I was made for the first time in my life seriously to take my bearings. What will it mean for me to wake up in eternity? Where shall I spend it? How can I meet God?
"These were questions that demanded an answer, and promptly, too. All I had rested upon in the way of religious profession was giving way under me, for I realized that it had left the question of my sins unsettled. Going into the presence of God possibly, and my sins unforgiven! What stern realities these!
"Oh, how I longed for some little bit of the bare word of God upon which I could rest for peace and assured salvation! But who could give it at that moment?
"I gripped it with all the eagerness that a drowning man would grip a lifebuoy that had been thrown to him, knowing well there was no time to lose. I said to myself, I will meet God with that! As I hung by simple faith upon God's testimony to the virtue of that precious blood, a sudden peace filled my troubled soul, such as I had never known before. I went to the operating table as calm as I would have been had I been going to my breakfast.
"I was, through God's mercy, the hundredth case, for I was brought safely through; and I have come back from the very gates of death able to say that, trusting in the precious blood of Jesus, the vilest sinner can meet God without a quiver of the conscience or doubt in the heart."
Friend, a little bit of naked truth about yourself is that behind you is a lifetime of sins all unforgiven. You may forget them, but God has not forgotten. "God requireth that which is past." Eccles. 3:1515That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. (Ecclesiastes 3:15).
This night thy soul may be required of thee! Lose no time about this matter. There may be but a crumbling moment between you and a lost eternity. The naked truth of the gospel is, "NOW is the accepted time; NOW is the day of salvation."
Sinner, nothing will meet your case but this same precious blood. It alone can cleanse a sinner in the eyes of God. Trust it and you trust that which "satisfies God, silences Satan, and saves the sinner."
"Precious, precious blood of Jesus, Let it make thee whole; Let it flow in mighty cleansing O'er thy soul!"