ON my way to a meeting room, in which the gospel has often been preached, and many precious souls saved, I met an old countryman, one afternoon, this summer, leading a pet lamb by a string. At the side of the road there was a wide strip of grass, on which the lamb was feeding. An irresistible desire took hold of me to go to the old man, and to ask him if he had beheld the Lamb of God. I did go, and after addressing a few words to him about the little lamb he was leading, I inquired― “Have you beheld the Lamb of God? It says in the Bible, ‘Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.’”
“I have,” he replied with emphasis, as tears filled the dear old fellow’s eyes.
“What,” I asked, “have you looked upon Jesus as your Saviour?”
“Yes,” he replied, “I believe, and I’ve shed many a tear, sir.”
“But He shed His blood,” I answered, “and that’s much better, isn’t it?”
“It is,” he said, and then with sudden abruptness, as if a thought had just struck him, he pointed to the meeting room, which was close at hand, “Be you the man that comes there to preach?” he asked, and then began to fumble in his breeches pocket.
“I am one of them,” I replied; “but why do you ask?”
“Because I’ve got a sixpence here.”
“Oh, thank you, my dear old man,” I answered, “keep your sixpence, or give it to some poor soul in need; the Lord has provided for me for time and for eternity.”
I then gave him a little gospel book, which he accepted with thanks, and said, “I love to read those little books and the Bible.”
On subsequent inquiry from some of the Lord’s people who lived in the place, I learned that the dear old man had come for some time to the gospel meetings, and that they believed he was saved.
And now, dear reader, if you were asked if you had beheld the Lamb of God, what should you reply? Could you answer “Yes” as simply as the old man? The Scripture says, ― “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The question is not whether you have heard about Him, read about Him, nor even whether you have preached about Him. Many have done these things, yet never beheld Him by faith, never looked upon Him in faith as their own Saviour, who bore the condemnation of sin for them on the cross (Rom. 8:3).
How many when asked as to the ground of their hope of happiness for eternity will reply that they are church members, or chapel members, or local preachers. Or that they are no worse than their neighbors (as if they could be, when we see that a man’s neighbor is in as desperate a case as can be). So thought the blessed Saviour who came to save him (Luke 10:29-37). And perhaps, if pressed, the people who give such answers, will say a word or two at last about the work of Christ, as if it were a kind of make-weight, thrown into the scale in case their own works or their own goodness were not quite sufficient. And one receives the sad impression that the majority of professing Christians are building on the sand (Matt. 7:26, 27). What will be the result when God tests the foundations of such? What are you building on for your hope of eternity?
I would have you notice what the old man said. “I believe, and I’ve shed many a tear.” He went to the point at once. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). Believing, which is faith, is the way always given for receiving and enjoying the salvation which God offers. Repentance always goes with true believing.
The Apostle “showed, and taught publicly and from house to house, testifying... repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:20, 21). It is due to God against whom we have all sinned, and I take it that this dear old man’s tears were the result of his repentance. Not that tears are repentance, but “godly sorrow worketh repentance.” Repentance is a double change of mind. Whereas we thought God hard, and ourselves all right, we think ourselves all wrong, and we own that the judgment of God against us as sinners is just, while His goodness leads us to repentance. Reader, have you repented towards God? and have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you beheld “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world”?
W. G. B.
“As many as touched were made perfectly whole”
(Matt. 14:36). As many as touched. Oh! let that word rest upon your mind. Your case is not hopeless. It may be bad enough; it is bad enough, ―the case of each one of us is bad enough, ―but there is a value in the Saviour’s blood, a power in His grace, to go to the very bottom of our necessity, whatever it may be. “As many as touched were made perfectly whole.” Whatever may be the soul-disease with which you are infected, remember that there is a perfect Saviour an almighty Saviour, ―One who, if He heals at all, heals entirely, who, if in faith you touch even the hem of His garment, makes you perfectly whole.
Jesus does not save by halves; He is a whole Saviour; and if He saves me at all, He saves me wholly; it must be a perfect cure. Oh! may the Lord draw some heart to Himself while reading this. Life on earth may soon be over, the opportunity for touching Him may soon have gone! “Wherefore, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Heb. 4:7).
W. T.