WHATEVER men may say or think about the Bible, and Christianity, the fact of conversion cannot be ignored or explained away. However men may try to explain it away, the fact stands — clear and unassailable. It produces not simply a, Change, but a revolution in character. No moral treatise no medicine, no Act of Parliament no improved environment can change a radically bad man into a radically good man. But the Gospel can and does reclaim: the habitual drunkard, uplift the fallen, and even transforms the criminal into a useful member of society, whilst the mere professor when converted becomes a, real possessor through its power.
J―A―of S―is a remarkable instance of this miraculous power which the Gospel of God possesses. Naturally headstrong and impetuous, he early went astray, and fell into open sin. Like many a promising young fellow, he was not proof against the alluring “pleasures of sin,” and with all his heart he went in for them. His physical prowess was such that for years he held the boxing championship of the district, and the godless society into which he was thrown drew him farther and farther away from God.
But God had His eye of compassion upon him. It was at an open-air preaching that he first remembers being greatly moved about his soul’s eternal interests. The meeting was held at the street corner, and our friend lingered to the close. He was “almost persuaded,” ‘but the “pleasures of sin” had not yet lost their charm, and after a struggle he turned from the Saviour’s pleadings to plunge only deeper into the vortex of sin. For years he tried to stifle the voice of conscience by throwing himself into gambling, drink, and almost every form of vice.
He told me that as he now looks back on his past life, his deepest feeling is one of haunting, vain regret that he did not decide for Christ on that memorable evening. What burning shame, what degradation, what remorse he would have escaped had he then taken the gift of God!
Young reader, be warned! Decide for Christ in thy youth. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now 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)). Even should you eventually be converted, you will never Image to regret that you withheld the beat of your years from God.
As the years went by, J―A―sank deeper and deeper in the mire of sin. Often the week-end, day and night, was spent at the card table, whilst his dissipation brought him to the verge of delirium tremens. Yet in his sober moments he was a keen man of business.
One Sunday, in his forty-sixth year, he unaccountably wandered into a building where he heard a faithful preacher of the Gospel speak about the efficacy of the blood of Christ. The thought struck him, “I’m not sheltered by the precious blood: the wrath of God hangs over me,” and for three months he was profoundly miserable. Then someone lent him a well-known book, “The Traveler’s Guide from Death to Life,” and a short exposition of John 3:1818He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18) was used to his conversion. The peace-giving words God used were― “He that BELIEVETH on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already.” “Well!” said he, “I believe on Him, therefore I’m not condemned. Thank God! I’ve got it!”
At once he sought his wife, and told her the good news., Soon she, too, was rejoicing “in a new-found gladness.”
From that day, over six years ago, J―A― has gone on telling others of the Saviour who has saved him, and God has wonderfully used him in soul-winning. Some of his former associates, seeing his transformed life, and hearing his joyful testimony, were likewise induced to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Reader, what about your soul?
You may not have been a drunken profligate like J―A―, but you need converting every bit as much as he.
“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is the word of faith which we preach;
E. A. M.