A FARMER was busy in his barn, when he suddenly discovered that he had lost a five-pound note that had slipped out of his pocket. He was not a well-off man. The loss of five pounds was a serious matter to him. He was certain that he had the note in his pocket when he entered the barn.
" Then it must be somewhere in the barn," he exclaimed, " and I will turn over every straw in the place rather than lose it."
He commenced his search, turning over the straw most carefully, looking out for anything white like paper. The second day found him still searching. The third day he continued the effort to find the missing note.
At last he was rewarded, he discovered the lost note. His anxiety was over, and he went home rejoicing.
Some time later the farmer was in a far greater trouble. It was not now a question of his possessions, but of HIMSELF. The question came home to him, " What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and LOSE his own soul? " (Mark 8. 36). The questions rang in his ears night and day, “Where am I going? What will become of me? "
Have such questions filled your mind up to now? They may well do so. What would you say, if you knew for certain that when you finished reading these lines, you would pass out of time into eternity? Would you read them with easy indifference, or crumple them in your hand and fling them from you? You know you would read them with eagerness and care. Remember, your LAST opportunity WILL assuredly come, Read this message with care.
The farmer at any rate was in dead earnest, and well he might be. Oh! the tragedy of men and women drifting on to eternity, careless of their souls immortal.
The gospel was set before him. He was told of the Son of God, who came from glory, who became a Man sinless and spotless, who offered Himself as the sinner's Substitute, and how he had finished the work of salvation on the cross, and that all that is left for the needy sinner to do is to trust the Savior. Scripture says, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16. 31). He Himself says, " Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out " (John 6. 37).
This is the only message that can give a guilty sinner hope of salvation. Make no mistake about that. Nothing that you can do, no effort of yours, no religiousness of yours can save your soul. You need a Savior, and One sufficient for your needs is presented to you, One willing here and now to save you.
The farmer was slow in accepting the gospel. He found his heart hard and unbelieving. “I wish I could believe on the Savior" said he to his wife, " but alas! I cannot find Him."
His wife replied, "Do you not remember, when you lost that five-pound note in the barn, that you gave yourself no rest, but searched until you had found it? Look for the Savior like that, and you will find Him."
" I will," earnestly responded the farmer, and it was not long before he was rejoicing in the knowledge of a personal Savior and of the forgiveness of his sins.
And what of you? Are you concerned about the one thing that you should be concerned about? Life is very brief! It must come to an end.
If men knew that the world would come to an end at midnight, what would be the result? I make bold to say the cinemas and theaters would be empty. The churches and chapels and mission halls would be crowded, especially where the old-fashioned gospel was preached.
Will you not read this appeal with the same earnestness? If it is not a question of the world coming to an end to-night, the world must come to an end, and long before it comes to an end, an end will have come for you. You say this is gloomy talk. I know that if you got to know the Savior as your Savior, and received His pardon and love into your heart, you would not be gloomy.
You may be saved eternally the moment you believe on the Lord Jesus as your Savior. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be SAVED" (Rom. 10. 9). There is Scripture for you.
Trust that blessed Savior, even as your eye scans these lines. He will save you. Let Him do so.