By Dr. Heyman Wreford.
WATCHING the Cross of Christ were all kinds and conditions of men and women. The vilest of the vile were there, and others who had led decent lives, doubtless, but the One Who was hanging upon that Cross, was the only One that could bring men and women to heaven.
“Sitting down they watched Him there.” That is the attitude of the world today, that of millions concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners that dwell at ease, sitting down, caring nothing for Christ, occupied with their own plans and pleasures, with their own hopes and desires. Jesus is passing by but they see Him not, He is calling but they hear Him not, He appeals but they steel their hearts against Him, sang, “we will not have this Man to reign over us.” Pilate said, “Behold the Man!” Jesus stood before them, a crowd of people around the Cross, or where the Cross was to be.
“Behold the Man!” We have often had a picture drawn for us of the crucifixion. We have seen the crown of thorns placed upon His brow. We have seen the nails driven into His hands and feet, and the spear of the Roman soldier in His side. We have seen it all, we have watched Him, and some of you, I trust, will watch Him tonight to your eternal salvation. Oh, look to Him! “I look to Him, till sight endears the Saviour to my heart.” May it be so with all of you.
“Sitting down they watched Him there.” Rise from your place of case, fall down before those pierced Feet, clasp those wounded Hands, cry from the depths of your soul, “Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief,” “I need Thee, oh, I need Thee.”
How often have I stood by the place called Calvary and gazed upon my dying Saviour, with the tears streaming down my face as I gazed upon His sorrows and His woes. I have said, “He loved me and gave Himself for me.” God gave His Son—John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). He gave Himself for me. Think of the wonder of Calvary. The tragedy of the Cross has passed before us. Think of the wonder of it—the Son of God, Who thus became the Saviour of the world. There is nothing to equal the Cross of Christ.
We are expecting the most momentous thing to happen. At any moment the Lord may come! He may come, the One Who was crucified to take those who have been redeemed by His precious blood, who have been saved by His atoning sacrifice, who have accepted His invitation “Come unto Me.” He is coming. There is no prophetic thing to happen to prevent His coming. “Behold I come quickly”— He may be here tonight.
When I was a boy, that brought me to Christ. It was not the fear of death. A boy does not think of death, he is only thinking about life. What troubled me was “if the Lord comes tonight you will be left behind, because He is going to take every believer Home to be with Himself.”
I shall never forget one night, midnight. I was only a boy about eight or nine years old. The devil came into my room, and his presence awoke me. His voice said, “How still the house is. You cannot hear a sound. The Lord has come and you are left behind. You will never be saved now.” Oh, the horror of that moment! I had been brought up in a godly home―thank God for that. I had been told of Christ’s coming as an event that might happen at any moment, and I felt therefore that He had come, and I had been left behind.
Just pause a moment. Suppose the Lord comes now, within the next five minutes. How many of you are ready for His coming? How many seats will be empty if Jesus comes within a few minutes? How many are ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is a reality.
Well, what happened to me, a frightened boy in the middle of the night? I knew my father and mother would not be left behind if Christ came. So I got out of bed, trembling, and with perspiration streaming down my face. I opened my bedroom door and went clown over the stairs quietly, a little white-robed figure in the middle of the night, all physical fear removed because of this terrible fear that possessed me as to my future. I got downstairs and stood outside my father’s room, and I listened. Has he gone? Has my mother gone? The devil said, “There is no sound, they are taken and you are left behind.” Then I heard my father cough—a simple thing, but oh, what a relief to me!
“Thank God,” I said, and I crept upstairs, went down upon my knees and cried to God to save my soul; and if the Lord had come it would have been to take me Home to Himself, and so He will.
If the Lord comes tonight, and He may do, who would be surprised? Not those who are waiting and watching for Him. If He comes, will you be taken? May God grant you may all be able to say, “Bless the Lord, I am ready. I can look up to heaven and say ‘Lord Jesus, come.’ “How many of you would dare to do that?
I know some feel they would not like Christ to come until their children are converted. The husband says, “I want my wife converted before the Lord comes,” and the wife says, I hardly like the thought of going to heaven and leaving my husband behind. We want to go all together.” My father was a godly man, and when he was dying, with his children gathered round him, he looked up to heaven and lifted his hands and said, “Forever, all together.” So it was, and a prayer like that at the gates of heaven is bound to be answered.
Oh, may God bless you! The tragedy of Calvary has been enacted before you. You have wept over the crown of thorns, the sorrows of your crucified Redeemer but do you believe on Him? Is He your Saviour? If not, He will be your Judge. One thing or the other. I wish you would all say: “Christ for me, Christ for me.”
May God bless you each one. May He grant that, as you gaze upon the Lord upon the Cross, you may see what you have never seen before, the Son of God giving Himself for you. “He loved me and gave Himself for me.” Gave Himself, not heaven, or glory, not principalities and powers, not all the riches of heaven and earth, but Himself, the Maker of heaven and earth. He “Who spake and it was done, Who commanded and it stood fast.” He Who was the “Word made flesh and dwelt among us.” He gave Himself for you, for me. What I have to do is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved.
If tears would save you, willingly would we weep over you. Often in the night I pray with tears for my unsaved loved ones and friends, but my tears and cries, real as they are to me, cannot save them. There is only One in heaven Who can. He has wounded Hands and a thorn-scarred brow and there is a wound in His side. That is the One Who has died, “the Just for the unjust to bring us to God,” and He will bring our loved ones if we have faith to believe― “thou and thy house.”
I am not going to say more but I do ask you, every one of you, to be ready for the Lord when He comes. The imminence of the coming of Christ is a thing that people think little of, but there are millions of Christians who every morning expect Him before the night, and every night expect Him before the morning. May God bless you, and bless these solemn words to you.