In the City of Brooklyn, some years ago, a detective went into a drug store, laid his hand upon the shoulder of a young man about thirty years of age and said,
"You are wanted.”
"What do you mean?" asked the man.
"You know what I mean. You were in the Albany Penitentiary some years ago; you escaped, and went West. You married out there, came back here and settled; and we have been on your track ever since. Now we have you. You need not deny it.”
"That is true; I won't deny it; but I would like to go home, and say good-bye to my wife and child.”
They went to his home. He met his wife and little child, and said, "Wife, haven't I been a kind husband Haven't I been a good father, and worked hard to make a living?”
"Yes," replied the wife. "What do you mean?”
"I mean that I am an escaped convict from the penitentiary. Since I met you, your love for me has made a different man of me; but I am an escaped criminal, and must go back to jail.”
He was all right in his relations to his wife and child, in his business relations, and among his neighbors, but he was all wrong in his relations to the State of New York.
So, reader, you may be a kind husband, a loving father, an obliging neighbor, a good citizen, but allow me to ask you very seriously, "Are you right with God?”
Many a man boasts that he is not a drunkard, a cheat, or a liar, but that will not suffice for the presence of God. You must have something more than that to say.
I was chatting with a young man after a gospel meeting not long ago. He was attracted by the gospel message, wished to go to heaven, but told me that he thought he was all right, that he lived a straight life, went to church, and was a communicant.
"Did the Lord Jesus die for you?”
"Yes," was the ready answer. He was rather startled when I asked him, "What dreadful crimes have you been guilty of that required the Son of God to die for you?”
If I were to take you to a neighboring cemetery, and showed you a certain grave in it, and told you that there lay the body of a dear friend, who, to satisfy the claims of the law, had died for me, I think I can see you start in horror and surprise from my side, and ask in frightened tones, "Why, whatever awful crime have you committed?”
O! friend, there is an empty grave in Judea, where the body of my Savior lay. He died to save my soul from hell, He died to satisfy the claims of the law, He died to bring me to God. I can tell you with humble gratitude that I am right with God now, but not apart from the atoning death of my Savior and Lord.
Nay, further, I can point you to a filled throne, the complement of the empty grave, the proof that God is satisfied with the work done by His beloved Son, and the assurance that my sins are forgiven for "His name's sake.”
Can you say as much? Are you right with God? What have you been guilty of to cause Jesus to die for you? Have you been forgiven by trusting that wonderful Savior? A last question, Are you right with God?
Have you been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ?