Any Man.

 •  12 min. read  •  grade level: 6
 
“Then said Jesus... I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
“IF ANY man." It matters not who he is. “If any man." There is no limit. Any man includes everybody. No one, of course, would argue the point.
None of us are as we ought to be, and none of us know as we ought to know; but the great thing to get hold of is, that “If ANY man be in Christ, he is a new creature.”
There is nothing presumptuous in it; because it is all wrapped up in Christ, in His Person; and Scripture says, "ANY man,” because God is the God of all grace: He is also omniscient, and infinitely wise; and it would be folly, of course, to suppose He is not.
“Any man" means any person. And the Lord Jesus says, “By Me if ANY man enter in, he shall be saved." If it were written over a door, "Any man may come in"; and you stood at the door and saw a poor man coming in, and you said to him, “You must not come in," what would you be doing but making the notice untrue? You would be making the notice a lie.
SAILOR SAM; OR, THE LOST ONE FOUND.
AT a village in Somersetshire there lived a man and his wife named Miller. They had several children, one of whom, named Samuel, ran away at the age of ten years, and his parents knew not what had become of him. They mourned his loss more sadly than if he had died under their roof.
But he had gone to sea; and after an absence of twenty years, spent in the East India and China trade, he returned, a fine, stalwart man; what his companions would call "a jolly sailor.”
On landing, he went to his native place to look for his parents. But they had removed to Langport, and thither he went in search of them. He was told that the man he inquired for worked for a Mr. Stuckey.
When he got to the place of business, he saw an elderly man sweeping the pavement, and said to him, “Does Mr. Stuckey live here?”
“Yes," was the reply;" do you want to see him?”
“No; but I suppose that I want to have a word with a man that works for him," said the sailor.
Twenty years had so changed both, that there was no recognition on either side. The old man then asked the younger, “What is the man's name whom you want?”
"James Miller," said the sailor.
“That's my name," replied the other.
“Well, if you are the man I'm looking for, I'm your Sam," said the broad sailor.
“No! you're not my son," said the father.
“But I am your son," persisted the sailor.
“Well, if you are, your mother will know you; come along with me.”
They went together to the old man's home, and the father sent one of his children into the garden to his wife, with a message that Samuel was come home.
She immediately came in, and looked steadfastly at the stranger for some time in silence.
At length she said, with a significant shake of the head, "That is not our Samuel," and flaunted out of the room.
Presently she returned, and said, “Our Samuel had a piece of wood grown into his arm.
The sailor instantly jumped up, drew off his jacket, bared his arm, and said, "There! will that do? “and sure enough the splinter was there, and as easily slipped about as on the day he left home.
“Yes! oh, yes! it is our Samuel; the lost one is found! “the mother exclaimed; and they fell on his neck and kissed him; rejoicing like the father over the prodigal son in Luke 15 LUK 15
The splinter in his arm was the result of an accident. James was making a fagot-rick, and to please his son, who was just able to run about, he put him on the rick, and thoughtlessly threw the fagots at him. After some time of enjoyment, the little fellow began to cry, and the father, reproaching himself for his folly, took him down, soon succeeded in soothing him, and so the matter passed away.
Some time after, the child said, "Father, the piece of wood is still in my arm," which on examination proved true, and the skin so completely grown over it, that the wood could easily be slipped about.
The parents were concerned, and time after time was proposed for taking him to a surgeon to have it cut out; but the time never arrived, as God in His wondrous love had ordered it, so that at length it became the mark of identity.
The parents, however, soon discovered that their long-absent son had returned to them, not only lost to all sense of his soul's eternal interest, but even to any care for the morality common among men. Deeply grieved, and yearning over him with a parents' love, they sought by words of tender remonstrance and entreaty to win him to some consideration of these things. But all in vain; and his parents' society soon became uncongenial and irksome to the sailor. Two of his brothers had heard of his return, and came from a short distance to spend the day with him, and, as they said, “to have a jolly spree.”
In the providence of God, the gospel of His grace was to be preached in the place that night by a. stranger. The father having heard of it, entreated his son to accompany him to the preaching. But he declined, preferring the company of his brothers, who like himself were "without God in the world,” and "cared for none of these things." So the three brothers started for the tavern to seek congenial company.
Finding him immovable, the father said to his son, “Well, Samuel, if you will not go with me, I will go with you “and there in that evil place sat the swearing, drinking sons, and the praying father.
After a short time, one of the brothers said,
“Come, Sam, let us go to another place.”
They went a little way, the father following with a yearning heart.
Presently Samuel said to his brothers,
“Let's go back, there's no fun in having father about after our heels," and back they went to the father's house.
When there, in reply to further entreaty,
Sam said, “Well, I suppose there'll be nothing but sulks in the house, now I'm come home, if I don't go to hear the preaching tonight; so I'll go.”
The preacher (not knowing of his presence) had read the fifteenth chapter of Luke, and chosen for his subject the lost son, or the father's love to the prodigal.
During the preaching his attention was arrested, for God had evidently spoken to him in the secret of his heart, convincing him of his state as a sinner; and his guilty soul trembled at the thought of God's judgment for sin.
He returned to his father's house in this agitated and alarmed state, and someone asked the preacher to call and see him, which he did, and found the fine-looking sailor seated, and evidently under much emotion, his chest moving heavily.
“I dare say it's all true enough what you say," replied Sam, "but Christ will have nothing to do with me; I'm too bad a fellow for Him.”
The preacher answered, “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to seek and to save that which was lost, even ' the chief of sinners.' He died for sinners. Such was His grace, that in order to save them from the curse of the law which they had broken, He bore the curse in His own blessed Person. God will now receive you, if you accept Jesus, and trust in Him as your Saviour.”
“Yes, but you don't know," said the sailor, “how had a, fellow I am. For twenty years I have not entered a church, or read a word of the Bible, or any good book; and in the worst crew of wicked sailors that I ever shipped with I was so much worse than the rest that they named me ' the ship's devil.' Why, sir, in the midst of a storm, when every plank seemed to tremble as the thunder broke and the lightning played around us, I have stood on the deck and madly cursed Him who sent the storm. No, no! He'll not save me.”
The preacher only rejoined, "JESUS came to save real sinners, even the chief; His blood can wash the foulest clean"; and then he said good-night. He did not tell him to pray for mercy, but rather to believe in a mercy already provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. The fountain was there, and he was to be shown its waters rather than be told to ask for them.
The next evening there was another preaching, and again. Sam was present, and heard, as the night before, the same gospel of present, perfect, and eternal salvation, through simply trusting in the Person of Christ and His precious blood.
The following morning, while the preacher was at breakfast with his hosts just before leaving the town, the door-bell rang, and the servant, who was a believer, came in and said, “Samuel Miller is at the door, sir; and he told me to say, that he loves the preacher better than the preacher loves him.”
The message was easily interpreted, and he was shown in.
“Oh, my dear sir!" said he, " I'm not the sailor you saw on Tuesday night; I'm another man, A NEW MAN. I heard the good news again last night, and my heart was opened to receive it, but the peace and joy didn't come just then. After we went home, one deeply interested for me said, Let us pray together; and so he prayed, and then I prayed; and as we rose from our knees, I found myself filled with peace and joy. And when I went to bed (no! bed indeed! I didn't go to bed; who'd think of going to bed on such a night as this?), but I went up to my room, and there I rejoiced, and gave thanks to the Lord for my salvation. But all at once I thought, Ah! but is it possible, all those dreadful sins of so many years gone, and in a moment? '
And I turned round and said, Ah, Satan, that's you, is it? Come, come, you've had your way long enough. Yes! they are all forgiven, for 'the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin.' So the old enemy had heard enough, and he fled. My dear sir, I feel as light as a cork; why, I could clear that table at a spring with only one hand upon it. Why, there are two of vs here now! "striking himself on the breast." Yes, two of us, one holding with the Lord, and the other still holding with the devil. Even this morning, that one that holds with the devil said, Come, Sam, let's put on our hat, and take a stroll'; but the other said, directly, No, no, Samuel, we'll go and see the servant of Christ, and tell him what the Lord has done for us.' So here I came. Oh! how I should like to be able to go and tell my old shipmates that Christ has sought me and found me; and tell them about Him. But there! I suppose I must stay, and have my own faith and hope strengthened, and know more about the Lord, before I try my hand at that; hut can pray for them.”
It was then said to him, “Samuel, you are indeed saved by grace; and now the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, teacheth us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and ... ” “Oh, yes!" interrupted he. "Why the grace of God has been talking to me all this morning about that, just like a father would talk to his child. It said to me, Samuel, my boy, we have no more now to do with the old ways. It is our business now to please Christ, and to follow Him.”
The profligate sailor, "the ship's devil,” was enabled to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God; and in believing he received the knowledge of salvation full and free. He was translated out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Oh! glorious translation, wondrous change! "A brand plucked out of the fire.”
After four days the gospel was once more preached by the same servant of Christ at a neighboring village, about four miles distant. Samuel was present, and he did indeed look like another man, not at all like the rough sailor of a few days before.
Some Christians gathered around him after the preaching, and asked him some questions, and he, in his quaint way, said, "I don't know, I am sure; for I'm only four days old.”
Speaking after the manner of men he was now about thirty years of age, but he was reckoning from his second birth, which had only just taken place. From this time he lived in the power of the new life begotten in him; following faithfully the Lord who had redeemed him at so great a cost.