Echoes of Grace: 1984

Malcolm was really worried. He was the owner of a service station, and there had been a wave of station robberies in his area. So he decided to outwit the thieves by taking his cash box home.

Finally the burglars did get around to Malcolm's station, just as he had feared. But when he went to investigate, he was happy to find that they did not get anything more valuable than a few cases of oil.

He went home again, congratulating himself on his cleverness—and got the surprise of his life. The burglars had preceded him. They guessed that he had taken his cash box home, and when he left to check on the robbery at the station they entered his home and took his box of money, along with every other valuable they could see. Malcolm had not prevented the thieves' success, he had only postponed it for a little while.

Like these burglars, Death is making his rounds carrying off people out of this life, and multitudes are being robbed of their most priceless possession—their immortal souls.

Some people think they can outwit Death. Every time they have some little illness they rush to the doctor to get fixed up again. They make every effort to ward off Death, and for years they may succeed.

But no matter how you scheme, you cannot outwit Death. The doctor maybe able to help you this time, and he may help you a dozen times, but when Death finally makes contact, no doctor on earth can help you then.

Death has a claim on every human being, because "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23. As we have all sinned, so we have all earned those wages. "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Heb. 9:27, 28.

Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ paid a fearful price for you when He died for you on the cross. Now, if you will turn to Him and really trust His sacrifice there for you, then all your sins will be forgiven and put away forever and you will receive eternal life. Then you can say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. 15:55.

Why not trust Him now?

It Is Finished!

All that is necessary for your salvation was finished on Calvary. The demands of the law have been fully met and the claims of justice fully satisfied. God has sent His Spirit to make known to you the "Good News." All you need to do is to believe His Word, and enter at once into the enjoyment of His so great salvation.

"I Don’t Want It There!"

A businessman in New Orleans had been raised by a Christian mother who had faithfully taught him the truths of God's holy Word.

When he grew up and moved away from home, however, he associated with a number of men who did not believe the Bible. They were atheists. Eventually he adopted their philosophies and became an atheist too. He gave up going to religious services, and did not have a Bible in his home.

He had, however, a bright little son named Theodore. This was his only child and he loved him dearly.

One evening when he came home, Theodore was lying in bed. He had been naughty and his mother had punished him. She was explaining this to his father as they sat together by the fire in an adjoining room, when suddenly Theodore broke into a loud sobbing and crying.

His father went in and asked him what was the matter.

"I don't want it there, Daddy!" exclaimed the little boy sobbing. "I don't want it there!"

"What, my son—what is it?"

"Daddy, I don't want God to write down in His book all the naughty things I have done today. I don't want them there; I wish they could be blotted out." Then, in great distress, he broke out crying again.

What could his father do? To turn away from his beloved child in his heartbreaking sorrow was impossible. Yet there was nothing in the teachings of atheism that would meet the case and comfort the distressed boy.

In spite of himself, the father was obliged to fall back on what his dear mother had taught him from the Bible.

"Well, you need not cry, Teddy," said his father. "You can have it all blotted out."

"How, Daddy, how?" asked the boy.

"Why, get down on your knees and ask God through Jesus to blot it all out, and He will do it."

He did not have to speak twice. The boy jumped out of bed and was on his knees in moment. He was silent for a while, and then looking up to his father, he said: "I don't know what to say. Daddy, won't you help me?"

What was the father to do? He had not prayed for years. But the boy's distress was so great, and his pleadings so earnest that, big man though he was, he got down on his knees alongside of his sorrowing child, and asked God to blot out his sins. Then they got up and the child laid himself down on the bed again. After a few moments he said: "Daddy, are you sure it's all blotted out?" In spite of his atheism the father was compelled to say: "Why, yes, my dear boy, the Bible says so; if you are truly sorry for what you have done, and if from the heart you have asked God, by Christ, to blot it out, you may be sure He has done it."

A happy smile passed over the child's face, as he quietly asked: "But, Daddy—what did God blot it out with?" Again putting aside his atheism he answered: "With the precious blood of Christ."

The child then lay down and went quietly to sleep.

When the father went back into the adjoining room and told his wife what had taken place, both their hearts were melted. They wept like children. Then kneeling side by side they asked God to blot out their sins and make them His dear children. And God did just that.

"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions... for I have redeemed thee." Isa. 44:22.

God has plotted them out!

I’m happy and glad and free;

God has blotted them out!

I’ll turn to Isaiah and see:

Chapter forty-four, twenty-two and three:

He’s blotted them out,

And now I can shout,

For that means me!

Man's Strange Sense of Values

Most people are looking for all they can get in this world. They will accept pleasures, riches, honors, or anything which will add to their enjoyment here.

But when it comes to accepting true riches from God, pleasures for evermore, and a place with Christ in glory, they are not so ready or willing.

Salvation, forgiveness of sins, eternal life and an everlasting inheritance in glory are freely offered by God to every needy sinner. We either accept these gifts or we reject them and spend eternity in hell. The same God who created us in the beginning also has something much better for us in the end. All that is required is our acceptance.

Yet how few there are who are willing to receive these priceless blessings! How freely God, in His Word, offers His gifts to every believing sinner!

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

"Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. 3:24.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." Eph. 2:8.

No matter what your past life has been, if you will just bow to God in true repentance, and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, then all these blessings and many more will be God's free gifts to you.

If you are not saved, why not? Remember God has told us: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Heb. 9:27,28.

Why not come to Him now? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

”Called”

In a court of law, if a man is "called" as a witness, he immediately begins to make his way up to the witness stand, even though he may be at the back of the crowded courtroom.

Nobody says, "Why is this man pushing in here?" Or, if they should say, "Who are you?" it would be sufficient to answer, "My name was called."

"But you are not rich; you wear no gold or jewels." "No! But that is not my right of entrance; I was called."

"Sir! You are not a man of renown or rank." "That doesn't matter! I was called. Make way." So make way, doubts and fears! Christ calls the sinner: "Sinner, come!"

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28.

You may have nothing to recommend you, yet it is written: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

?Jesus Loves Me?

Often a long-forgotten hymn learned in childhood is remembered years later and used of God to bring someone to Christ. The mighty power of the simple truth contained in the little song "Jesus Loves Me," is shown in the following true story.

The speaker in a gospel meeting noticed the rapt attention of a woman unknown to him, and heard her very expressive "Amen!"

"Why should I not praise Him, when He has done so much for me?" she exclaimed later. "Oh, you don't know the depths from which Christ has brought me! Let me tell you my story.

"I had a good home; I had a good husband and children, but the curse of alcohol came on me and I became its slave. I broke my husband's heart, and our little home became a place of shame.

"I sold our furniture to buy the cursed stuff. In the early morning, when the men were on the street on the way to work, I would be out begging from them for the same purpose.

"But one morning, when the burning thirst was upon me, I felt I would go mad. I had come to the end of everything. Oh, how great is the mercy of our God! I don't know how, but the words of a children's hymn I had learned years ago, when I was a little girl in Sunday school, came into my mind.

" 'Jesus loves me, this I know

For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to Him belong,

They are weak, but He is strong.'

"I flung myself on my knees and bowed my head on a poor rickety chair left from our once happy home, and prayed: 'Oh, Jesus, if there is a Jesus, take away from me this awful thirst and curse. I can do nothing to help myself. Help me to know Thy love and be one of Thy "little ones." '

"I arose from my knees, a free woman. For me, the thirst for drink was gone forever; I came to know the blessed Lord as my Savior. Don't you think I ought to praise Him?"

"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. 1:16.

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28.

Do You Know Grace?

D.L. Moody once took up the study of different words in the Bible. He would look up all references to the word and learn all he could on that particular subject.

One of the words he studied was "grace," and as he looked up reference after reference he marveled at the rich, abounding grace of God to lost sinners. The glorious truth was so exciting to him that he rushed out into the street and stopped the first man he met, asking, "Do you know anything about grace?"

"Grace who?" was the astonished response.

"The grace of God that bringeth salvation!" exclaimed Mr. Moody.

Today we would echo Mr. Moody's question:

"Do you know anything about grace?"

"Well," you say, "I believe God is good, in fact too good and kind to ever punish sinners in hell for all eternity. Isn't this what grace means?"

If this is your idea of God's grace, you do not really know the grace of God at all. God, "who is rich in mercy, " is also "of purer eyes than to behold iniquity." Never can He lower His righteous standard to let one sinner enter heaven unsaved.

But what God in righteousness could not do, God in grace found a way to do, for "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8. We also read in 1 Tim. 1:15, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

With a heart full of love and compassion, the Christ of God came into this scene to make a way of salvation for the guilty. In love He endured "the contradiction of sinners against Himself" during His short life on earth. In love He bore the sorrow of Gethsemane, when His sweat was as it were "great drops of blood falling down to the ground." In love He endured the mock trial before Pilate, the shameful spitting and scourging, the cruel crown of thorns. In love He went to Calvary's cross and laid down His life for sinners, for you and for me.

It was all for us! In love to us Christ Jesus "made His soul an offering for sin." Oh, from the depth of your soul believe that He bore your sins in His own body on the cross, and let this wonderful grace of God bring salvation even to you.

"For 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.

"Saved by grace alone, this is all my plea—
Jesus died for all mankind, and Jesus died for me."

"I'm a Thief"

Johnny had a bad habit of taking money from his mother's purse. His father was determined to cure him of this, and he devised a method which he felt confident would be effective. He marched Johnny off to school wearing a sign which said: "I am a thief I stole my mother's money."

A policeman stopped them, and father and son landed in magistrate's court. Johnny was dispatched to school minus the sign, and his father went home with a suspended $5.00 fine.

Suppose we all had to carry signs saying, "I'm a thief," or "I'm a liar," or "I'm a murderer." It would be painfully humiliating! We should be deeply thankful that such sign-carrying is not compulsory!

But it is not necessary for us to carry signs designating our special sins in order for God to know our character and conduct. "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Heb. 4:13.

Although He knows us as sinners, He still loves us. "God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8.

Those who put their faith in that Savior, in His precious blood which cleanseth from all sin, are so clean in God's sight that if they were compelled to carry signs they would by His grace read as follows:

"I am forgiven" (Col. 1:14).

"I am saved" (1 Cor. 1:18).

"I am justified" (Rom. 5:1).

How Deep May I Drink?

A small boy from the slums came to the hospital with a broken leg. He came from a family where. with seven children to feed, hunger was never quite satisfied.

At his home a glass of milk had to be shared between several children. A finger would be placed at a certain spot on the glass and the drinker would be told: "Only to here!"

At the hospital, when he had been made comfortable and the nurse brought him a large glass of milk, the little boy looked at it longingly and then asked, "How deep may I drink?"

The nurse, with tears in her eyes, exclaimed, "Drink it all darling; drink it all!"

The Lord Jesus, on one occasion, stood and cried: "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." John 7:37.

If a thirsty one should ask: "How deep may I drink?" His answer would be, "O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." Sol. 5:1.

"Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17.

How deep may I drink of forgiveness? Until you have the assurance of complete forgiveness, for He "forgiveth all thine iniquities." Psa. 103:3.

How deep may I drink of peace? Until you know the "peace of God, which passeth all understanding." Phil. 4:7.

How deep may I drink of His love? To the uttermost limit of your heart's capacity, to the end of time, and throughout all eternity; for the Father loves all believers as He loves the Son (John 17:23).

"O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!"

O Word

One word, "JESUS," has set my heart at rest, and filled it with joy. Has that "one word," that blessed Name, filled your heart with rest, peace and joy? It can.

"Be it known unto you therefore... that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things." Acts 13:38, 39.

?Father Forgive?

Often God uses weak things to accomplish His great purposes.

"Small beginnings often have great endings," is a true saying.

A little girl was given a New Testament as a prize at her Sunday school.

Naturally, she was delighted and at once tried to read it. She was very young, and could only read the simplest words.

One day, her father, who had no interest in the Bible, sat near the window reading the Sunday newspaper. The child was reading the story of the cross, and on reaching those deeply touching words of our blessed Lord: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34. The child haltingly spelled out "F-A-T-H-E-R, father."

"Why father!" she cried, "here is your name; Jesus is talking to you here."

"Nonsense," he said, "nonsense," and adding, "go on reading to yourself, child, and don't make so much noise about it," he returned to his paper.

But his attention was caught, and instinctively he listened in spite of himself. "Father, F-O-R-G-I-V-E, forgive—Father forgive him."

"No, child, that is wrong, it is not ME—I mean it is not HIM—it is "forgive them. There now! Don't interrupt me again."

But the little girl, persisted in repeating the words, "Father, forgive, father forgive," then hesitated at the word "them."

Her father, in a tumult of annoyance and vexation, nervously folded his paper and, almost snatching the book from her hand, told her what the word was, and went out of the room.

But an arrow from God had pierced his "armor," and the words echoed ceaselessly in his brain: "Father, forgive," "Father. forgive."

At last he cried, "Yes, it's ME! I have sinned against God, and yet Jesus died for me. Forgive me, my God," he prayed, "forgive my sins."

Did God hear his cry? Of course. Has God EVER turned a deaf ear to a contrite sinner's cry? Never! Even a reviling thief, convicted and repentant, found pardon, and exchanged a malefactor's cross for the crown of glory. "To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." Luke 23:43.

He is the same today. Will you not look to Him in your soul's need and say in the language of the hymn:

“There is none in heaven,
Or on earth like;
Thou hast died for sinners,
THEREFORE, LORD, FOR ME.”

Alligators!

Most people who go to Florida are surprised by the alligators which can be found in almost any lake, pond or river. I remember canoeing down a river and coming across my first one! He was lying in the mud on the bank. What a majestic creature! This one was only about 5 feet long.

Another time I came across a 'gator that was 8 feet long. He looked huge, and as I drew the canoe closer to him he stood up and opened his mouth, almost as if to say, "Now you have come close enough." Needless to say, I did not get any closer!

Alligators, however, will rarely attack a person. They are naturally afraid of people, and the only time they will attack is if they are cornered. Some folks make the mistake of feeding them, and then are bitten.

Unlike the alligator, there is a foe called "the devil" who "as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:8.

He is also called the "prince of this world" in John 12:31. He's that same old serpent who deceived Eve so long ago in the Garden of Eden.

The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to deliver us from the power of Satan. He did this by dying on the cross in our place, to save us from our sins. "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 15:57.

When a person accepts the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for his own sins, he is saved and the Holy Spirit comes in to dwell. He then can say, "greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." 1 John 4:4.

Won't you come today and confess your sins and your need of a Savior? "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. Then, as Christians, we can through God's grace, and in submission to Him. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7.

Jesus Saves!

The storm had raged through during the night, and morning dawned on a scene of fallen trees and downed electric wires. The news photographer grabbed his camera and hurried out into the streets, looking for a picture to dramatize the damage.

He found it. Surrounded by fallen trees—trees large enough to have crushed it—sat a little car, a "compact," safe and sound in the midst of the wreckage. On the license plate a small sign proclaimed:

"JESUS SAVES!"

Now, we are not suggesting that the sign was a sort of talisman or charm that protected the little car in the storm. But the photographer's picture was a good illustration of a great truth: JESUS SAVES!

The Lord Jesus came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost. Even before His birth God said, "Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." Matt. 1:21.

The world is growing darker around us, and the storms of life are raging more fiercely all the time. There is a continuous roar and crash of the "big trees" falling: banks failing, old and established businesses going bankrupt, even governments collapsing.

David, who wrote the Psalms, said, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.... I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest." Psa. 55:6, 8.

David wrote that about 3,000 years ago; escapism is not new! But the prophet Isaiah wrote, "A Man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest... as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Isa. 32:2. Bank, business, government, all may fail—all will fail—but "the Lord... faileth not." Now He says to every one who has put their trust in Him, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27.

"Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation." Psa. 62:1, 2.

A Sudden Call

The call for Tommy was sudden and final. In a moment a major stroke paralyzed his left side and rendered him speechless. A few hours later, he lay on a hospital bed—dying.

Through the mercy of God his powers of sight and hearing were spared and his mind was clear. He was aware that only a few hours of life remained to him and the knowledge terrified him. He was not ready for death, and he dreaded it.

Such utter unpreparedness was surprising, because life insurance had been Tommy's chosen profession. He had worked for years for a big insurance firm, and protection against the uncertainties of life and the certainty of death were his stock in trade.

But the fact that the hour would surely come when he too must die and meet God, was something he would not think about. It could wait for that indefinite "tomorrow" which never comes.

Adding to his mental anguish was the memory of a Christian office associate who had often pressed upon him the importance of having to do with God about his soul.

Tommy, however, would not listen. The blood of Christ as the sinner's only insurance against the second death, he had resolutely ignored. He would not have Jesus then: and he thought it was too late now.

But was it too late? "The Lord... is long-suffering... not willing that any should perish," (2 Peter 3:9) and the Lord was still waiting for Tommy.

At this point Tommy's office friend came to his bedside with a message of hope.

"Tommy, you know you will not get better. You know the gospel—I have told you many times. Let me tell you once more, God loves you. He sent His Son to die for you. He wants to save you now.

"Call upon Him while He is near. Pray the publican's prayer. Here, I will read it to you from the Bible: 'And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.' Luke 18:13, 14.

"God knows you cannot speak, but you can believe in your heart. Be like the publican—lift your good arm in faith to God. He will see and hear, and forgive all your sins for Jesus' sake. And I will meet you in heaven."

Tommy tried to speak, but he could not move his lips. So with eyes full of tears, he raised his right hand and struck himself on the chest, then lifted his arm heavenwards.

At this point, Tommy's wife and daughter entered the room, and his considerate friend left.

That night Tommy's soul went to be with his Savior.

At the funeral home Tommy's heart-broken wife told him: "We cannot understand Tommy's actions when he was dying. He kept laying his hand on his breast and then pointing upwards."

Tommy's old friend was glad to be able to tell her what had happened in the hospital the night before, and to tell her that she, too, might learn the way home to heaven as told us in the Scriptures: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life." John 14:6.

The New Helmet

The army has a new helmet made of "Kevlar," a fiberglass-like material. Under actual combat conditions in Grenada one soldier's life was saved when his helmet was hit by a round from an AK-47 (assault rifle) fired from no more than 25 yards away. It made only a small "dimple" in the helmet.

Another helmet was struck by a piece of shrapnel from a 20 millimeter explosive round. Again, the soldier's life was saved.

Of course, the soldiers are all clamoring for the new helmet—aren't they? Well, not exactly. There are some inconveniences; the new helmet is not always as comfortable as the old, and it can't be used as a washing utensil!

Doesn't that sound like some people? They are clinging to their old "wash basins" instead of accepting the salvation God has already provided for them.

Salvation does not come by our own efforts to make ourselves clean. We can wash, we can resolve, we can reform, we can "clean up our act" in today's phrase, but still God says: "For though thou wash thee... and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord God." Jer. 2:22.

We cannot make ourselves clean.

Then what can we do? We can accept the fact that "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. We can accept His sacrifice on the cross for us; we can take "the helmet of salvation," and know ourselves saved for time and eternity.

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." Titus 3:5.

Believing Is Seeing

We've all heard the saying, "SEEING IS BELIEVING." But God says believing is seeing. The saying is familiar enough, yet just as real is the truth that the man who believes shall see. In the things of God there must be faith. The man or woman who trusts shall know. Faith always results in vision.

You say you will not believe until you see. You say, "Show me—give me a sign, and I will believe." God says, "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." 1 John 5:10. Not to take God at His word will be your eternal ruin.

"He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son." 1 John 5:10. God is the eternal GOD, the Creator of all things; not to believe Him is a fatal mistake.

But you say, "I must have some experience of Christ before I can believe." Definitely not. Before there can be a definite knowledge of Christ you must have to do with God about your sins. Sin is against God and must be dealt with. Accept His condemnation and believe His great work on your behalf.

As surely as you do this you will receive the salvation of God. To prove the truth of the gospel, you must try it for yourself. Christianity is a life and that life cannot be understood by one who does not possess it.

The doctor says to the patient, "Here is a medicine that will cure you." The patient replies, "I will take it as soon as I feel it is curing me." Will you dare to trifle with the living God and His remedy for your sinful state?

Come to Christ by faith now, and you will have the witness in yourself, for "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." And, "He that hath the Son hath life." 1 John 5:10,12.

Do not let it be said of you: "Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." John 5:40. "If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." John 8:24.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

"If any man will do His will, he shall know." John 7:17.

Family Trees

Tracing the family tree back to its, roots is an ancient activity which absorbs many today.

Societies are being formed and members are finding the study of their pedigrees fascinating, if not altogether flattering. .

For example, a member of a genealogical society in Ontario claims to trace his family tree back to 495 A.D. and he includes Alfred the Great among his ancestors.

Another traces his bloodlines over centuries to the Doomsday Book, a record of English lands compiled for William the Conqueror about 1086.

Another was elated by his recent discovery that one of his relatives was a soldier in the war of 1812 and took part in the sacking of Oswego.

For various reasons not everyone cares to identify his family tree. The history of the black sheep, or the skeleton in the closet is admittedly often better left untold.

The long, inglorious history of the whole human family leaves no room for boasting. It is the shameful truth that our first parents were guilty, fallen creatures cast out of the Garden of Eden, and that their first offspring, Cain, murdered his brother Abel.

What has been the continuing result for every member of Adam's race to this present day? Let the Word of God answer: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12.

The universality of death only proves the universality of sin. As another has said: "Man has fallen! Not this man or that man, but the whole race. In Adam all have sinned; in Adam all have died. It is not that a few leaves have faded or been shaken down, but the tree has become corrupt, root and branch."

"Climb your family tree!" urges the modern genealogist.

"Look... to the pit whence ye are digged," says the Word of God. Isa. 51:1.

Unless we are prepared to go to the very bottom, the study of our pedigrees is a profitless exercise, but once we see our lost estate, how brightly the gospel shines before our dark and sinful background.

Jesus the One who left the throne

To save a ruined race.

From heaven He came into the world "to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10.

The Savior that God promised on the very day that Adam and Eve fell, is Jesus. He is the Second Adam, the head of a new race. At this moment you are either in Adam or in Christ—saved or lost. If lost, why not come to Him now, confessing your need and claim Him by faith as your own. He waits to receive you just as you are.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." 2 Cor. 5:17.

Spiders That Go to School

No, the spiders don't go to school to study—it isn't necessary to teach a spider anything at all! Little spiders seem to know by instinct all they will ever need to know as soon as they are hatched.

A student found a shiny black spider and took that little spider—just that one little spider—to school for his teacher to identify.

The teacher easily identified it as a highly poisonous black widow, and put it in a closed jar in the classroom where the students could safely watch the spider taking care of her eggs.

Over the weekend the closed jar was left in the classroom. In due time the little eggs opened and out tumbled the tiny baby spiders. Out they came—out of the eggs, out of the jar, out of the classroom and all over the school.

School opened Monday morning as usual and the students clattered into a school building infested by about 400 baby black widow spiders—spiders so small they had slipped right through the tiny air holes in the metal lid of the glass jar.

Such pretty little babies they were, too. Not black like their mother, but striped brown and white and black. Small, and pretty, but just as dangerous as their mother. Soon ten students were on their way to the hospital to be treated for spider bites.

The exterminator was called in, with orders to "spare nothing toward getting rid of the things." Black widow spiders definitely don't belong in school!

It was easy to identify the adult black widow with the ominous red mark, like a little red stop sign, saying, "Don't touch!" And it is easy to identify what we think of as SIN—murder, robbery and such—but it isn't so easy to recognize that the so-called "little" sins—little white lies, half-truths, unkind thoughts, jealousies-as being just as deadly. Sin is SIN, in whatever form it shows itself.

The spiders could not be allowed to remain in the school, and sin will not be permitted to enter heaven. "Big" sins—"little" sins—no sin can enter there.

Then how can anyone be good enough for God's presence? The Bible tells us that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23. All, not just murderers and thieves, prostitutes and drug dealers, but also "the fearful, and unbelieving... and all liars." That covers everybody, doesn't it? "All have sinned."

And such small sins, as we would think them. "Unbelief," for instance, doesn't look very bad, but it is the key to all the rest. The Lord Jesus put it this way: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36.

There is the other side of the story, too, the answer to the old question: "How should a man be just with God?" Job 9:2.

It is: "By Him all that believe are justified from all things." Acts 13:39.

Big sins, little sins, ALL sins are the same in the eyes of God, but "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7.

"Will He Do It Today?"

In a city in China a missionary was speaking to a group of Chinese about Jesus and His power to save.

The good news sounded so strange to them that it was no wonder they did not grasp at once the full meaning of the gospel.

One woman, who seemed particularly dull, interrupted many times saying, "Is it true?"

She was told that it was true, that Jesus Christ could save the most sinful, that He never turned away any, but gladly welcomed all, and pardoned all that truly trusted in Him.

"But," persisted the woman, "does Jesus do these things now?"

"Yes."

"Will He today?"

"Yes."

"Then I will ask Him to receive me."

And He did, greatly to the woman's joy of heart.

A few days later she came to the missionaries and said, "I know now that what you told me the other day was true."

"How do you know?"

"He has done it for me. Are you going to another city where they have never heard of Jesus?" "Yes."

"Are you going soon?"

"Yes, very soon."

"Have you a servant to go with you?"

"No."

"I am going with you. I love you and I love your Jesus."

And this poor Chinese woman, just converted from heathenism, accompanied the missionaries. In a short space of time she was able to tell hundreds of Chinese women and children that Jesus saves now. Her zeal for her Savior was marvelous to see. She never tired of telling forth the old, old story whenever she could find hearers.

"We do not want to go home: we never heard anything like this before," was the testimony of those who listened to her.

Have you ever asked, "Does Jesus do those things today?"

The best answer would be for you to take Him as your Savior yourself. Then you will be able to reply, as did the Chinese woman, "He has done it for me."

"The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20.

Christ Is the Answer

A friend asked me to visit a sick girl in the hospital. When I arrived at her bedside, I found her mind was wandering. All she would say was that she was lost—too great a sinner to be saved—Jesus would not have her. It was distressing to hear her.

For some minutes I just stood, wondering what to do. It seemed useless to attempt to speak to her, for she appeared quite unconscious of things around. Then I remembered: "For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. 4:12.

I thought: What is to hinder its entering even here? So I sat down by the bed, and as clearly and distinctly as I could, though in a low tone, I repeated three verses again and again: "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

The woman in the next bed said: "It's no use talking to her, she has been delirious since last night, and they do not expect her to come around. She has raved about these things ever since she came in."

I knew it seemed useless, but with strong conviction that God's words could find an entrance where man's could not, I still repeated them a great many times—how many I do not know.

After a while she grew composed and quiet. The look of agony and despair went away from her face, and she began to murmur over and over again, "To seek and to save—to seek and to save from all sin."

She died that night, so I never saw her again. But just before she died, I was informed, she opened her eyes and said quite clearly, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." She never spoke again.

Another bed was at right-angles to this girl's, near enough for every word spoken to be heard. In it lay another sick girl.

She called me over and began eagerly to tell me, "Those words were all for me that you repeated. I was lost, and so He came to seek and to save me. I am full of sin, but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. I have come to Him this morning, and He will not cast me out!"

These two girls believed that the Lord Jesus meant what He said. They rested their safety for eternity on the word of Him who cannot lie.

They were like another, a man awakened to a sense of sin, but who in despair cried out that he was too bad to be saved. The words of the Lord Jesus were read to him: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." It was enough.

"That'll do," he said; "I'LL BELIEVE JESUS!" Yes, Christ is the answer. Won't you accept Him as your Savior today?

Only a Step

"There is but a step between me and death." 1 Sam. 20:3. So said David to his friend Jonathan when King Saul was seeking to kill him. It was easy for him to realize his danger in the circumstances. Sometimes we can see and know that there is "only a step" between us and death. Stand at the brink of Niagara Falls. One step more and death will be quick—and sure—and horrible. Or climb over the guard rail at the Grand Canyon for a little better view or a different camera angle and it is easy to see death “only a step” away.

Perhaps not even that much, if the crumbling rock falls! Then, six seconds to the canyon floor, and—? Most of us aren’t about to take such risks.

But suppose that we “watch our step,” guard our health and never take chances. We may live to be a hundred years old and receive a birthday greeting from the president. There is still only a step between us and death, only a breath, only a heart-beat between us and eternity. But if there is only a step between you and death, there is—thank God!—a Savior who is willing to save and able to save and who has said, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

Only a step to Jesus!

Then why not take it now?

Come and your sin confessing

To Him, your Savior, bow.

Only a step to Jesus!

A step from sin to grace—

What has your heart decided?

The moments fly apace.

Only a step to Jesus!

Oh, why not come and say,

"Gladly to Thee, my Savior,

I give myself today"?

The Gospel Message

Christ's words to a ruler of the Jews come ringing down through the ages: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3.

When Nicodemus in deep perplexity asked thoughtfully, "How can these things be?" Christ gave him the gospel message of good news in twenty-five words: "For 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.

I ask: Have you entered into this? Do you know Christ as your personal Savior? If not, will you accept Him now? God's Word says in John 5:24: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

He Made the Coupling

About four o'clock one afternoon I was sitting in the bunkhouse of a logging camp at Swan River, reading my Bible. I glanced up as a tall, well-built man entered, and as he strolled toward me I noticed that he had been drinking heavily. After roughly demanding to know if I were a preacher, he began to curse and swear and belittle God, the Bible, and all Christians.

I answered him quietly with a few words, and returned to my Book.

After stamping about the room he returned, and standing squarely before me, spat a great quantity of tobacco juice over me, with some spattering over the Bible.

I got up carefully, wiped my Bible and clothes, lifting the pages so that they might dry out. My calmness seemed to enrage the man further. He walked up, thrusting his big fist against my nose, and pushed my head back against the wall.

I remarked: "Have a good time, Jack, while you are at it—it may not last long! Remember, I stand for the lowly Nazarene, the One that died for you and me." He turned and left me, cursing as he went.

At one o'clock the next morning I was called to get up and hurry to the office; there had been an accident.

A brakeman, while coupling the engine to the logging train, slipped and fell under the car wheels, and his right leg was completely severed from his body.

As I entered I saw that splendid form of manhood, that had so insulted God and abused me, lying hopelessly crushed and bleeding—pale with the pain and anguish.

Sober now, he held out his hand to me and asked me to forgive him. I quickly assured him that I would, and anxiously asked him, "How is it with your soul, Jack?"

"I am lost," he said unhesitatingly.

With my heart lifted up to God for guidance, I told him of the man who simply said: "God be merciful to me a sinner." Luke 18:13, 14.

Then I told him the story of the thief on the cross, of the heart-cry of the poor suffering thief who had only a few moments between himself and an eternity in the blackness of darkness of the lost and unpardoned soul: "Lord remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." Luke 23:39-43. Only one sentence, but it meant a recognition of Christ and His resurrection and of life beyond the tomb. And Christ's answer was immediate: "To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise."

What a blessed message to a dying soul! God's Word also tells us that, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

With closed eyes the injured brakeman whispered softly, "God be merciful to me a sinner."

Suddenly he reached for my hand and, with his face radiant, he exclaimed, "I see! I see! Tell the boys I—made—the—coupling!" He had made a coupling now with Christ! With a smile on his face he went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ who had loved him and died for him.

A Wrong Diagnosis

Some time ago a nationally known brain surgeon operated on a convict to curb his desire to steal.

"As far as I am concerned, the operation was a failure," said the patient after he had been picked up by the police as he tried to pawn a stolen watch.

When the officers went to his house they found all sorts of items that had been stolen from various places. Much to the disappointment of the patient's lawyer, who had arranged for the operation, the attempt to remedy the trouble by surgery of the brain was a complete failure. Little wonder, indeed, for the diagnosis was absolutely wrong!

In Mark 7:21-23, the Lord Jesus Christ says, "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man."

From this it is clearly seen that theft is produced by the heart (synonym for the soul) of man. The cause is not in the head but in the heart; it is not that which is physical but that which is spiritual.

The heart is the fountain of every evil thing. Jeremiah the prophet declares: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jer. 17:9. It is SIN that has made it so, and the Great Physician who knows man's heart was apparently not consulted before the attempt was made to remedy the condition without getting at the cause.

Many are the efforts being made today to correct the outward condition of the evil that abounds on every hand by physical, therapeutical, psychological and philanthropical means. All these efforts ignore the basic cause and can result in nothing but failure and disappointment.

When the truth of God's diagnosis of man's sinful condition and absolute ruin is refused or ignored, there can be no other end than death and judgment. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. 14:12.

Because of sin, man is helpless to do one thing to remedy his condition. So far as human efforts are concerned, his case is hopeless. Is there no hope? Is there no remedy?

Yes, thank God, there is! The very One against whom man has sinned has provided a remedy. An operation was needed, truly, but it was an operation of divine judgment against sin. The blessed Lord Jesus came to be made sin for us, and underwent on Calvary the knife of God's righteous wrath against sin, as the Substitute for sinful men. He "suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." 1 Peter 3:18.

His death and the shedding of His blood met all God's righteous claims. Now God in grace can make an offer to all: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." Ezek. 36:26.

This is the real remedy! This is what the Lord Jesus proclaimed to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.... Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3:3, 7.

A Life Changed

A young Scottish girl had just accepted Christ as her Savior. A week later when asked if her life was changed, she gave a beautiful reply.

"Something, I know, is changed! It may be the world; it may be my heart. There is a great change somewhere, I'm sure; for everything is different from what it once was."

What made the change? She had been "born again" from above.

What had she now received? She now had a new life with new desires, and new hopes, far superior and happier than the old.

And she now had a new object—to live no longer to herself, but to Him who died for her and rose again, and who waits to have her with Himself in that happy place above.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17. It is a new life altogether.

”Death With Dignity”

Considerable publicity is given today to a so-called "modern philosophy" on death. According to this concept, when death is imminent the terminally ill patient may decline all artificial devices designed to

prolong life and let death take its course.

Such an approach to the end of life permits what is now called "death with dignity."

When it is remembered that "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12), the question arises: what dignity can be attached to the death of anyone, since death is the wages of sin?

How wonderful to be able to say, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." 2 Cor. 9:15. And, "For 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.

For though "the wages of sin is death," the one who takes Christ as his Savior can know that "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

No stoic philosophy, natural bravery, nor human fortitude can match the "dignity," calm submission and confidence of the Christian in the hour of death. He is sustained of God. He knows the "Everlasting Arms" are underneath. He knows and trusts the One who has promised: "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee." Isa. 43:2.

The dignity, with which a true child of God may die, who had made her peace with God, is told in the following story.

A Christian girl in a small town had suddenly fallen sick. A short time before she had felt well and happy. She never dreamed that she would soon be in the place from which there is no return.

She and her only brother were orphans. She had just called him to her bedside and asked him to sing once more her favorite hymn. And so he sang:

"The Lord of life in death has lain,
To clear me from all charge of sin;
And, Lord, from guilt of crimson stain
Thy precious blood has made me clean."

Having concluded the first and second verses, his voice failed, but seeing the pleading look on his sister's face, he managed to sing on.

"Clad in this robe, how bright I shine!
Angels possess not such a dress;
Angels have not a robe like mine—
Jesus, the Lord's my righteousness."

A heavenly smile stole over the dying girl's face. All was peace as she whispered, "Thank you." Only a few more minutes and she was free from all sorrow and pain—with Christ, her Savior.

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36.

Lost at Sea

It started out to be a real pleasure cruise, an all-day deep sea fishing trip. But the little boat ran out of gas and, with two men aboard, drifted—and drifted—and drifted.

At last that night a 23-foot cabin cruiser saw the helpless small boat and took it in tow.

"Saved," they thought.

But no. The cruiser was soon out of gas too, and now there were two boats and six people out in the Atlantic drifting helplessly.

There was no ship-to-shore radio on either boat, but they were confident that they would soon be rescued. Cheerfully they shot off their distress flares and waited to be found.

After three days of drifting, they came to the realization of their plight. Sure of early relief, they had not been careful with food and water. Now there was no food left and, far more serious, no water. They could find only one pack of canned drinks. They were able to catch two fish—which they ate raw—and the drinks they rationed at the rate of one can a day between the six of them.

At this point one survivor said, "If we had had a gun, we would have shot ourselves!"

Several times they saw freighters pass in the distance, but the two small boats still drifted on unnoticed and helpless.

With hope almost gone, on the fifth day they found one more flare. No careless confidence this time! The six sent their distress call where it would certainly be heard—they prayed!

After they prayed they sent the last flare up. Would it flare and fade as the others had done? Would they be left drifting on until they died?

A navy plane noticed the flare and sent word to the USS John Hancock, already on its way to Cape Canaveral. Soon help was on the way. They were picked up by the destroyer, saved after six days of drifting. Another day, and they were reunited with their families. They had drifted two hundred miles.

Are you like the six in the boats? Hungry-hearted, thirsty of soul and drifting ever farther from safety? God knows all about it! For the hungry the Lord Jesus says, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger."

Thirsty? He says, "He that believeth on Me shall never thirst."

To the weary, endlessly drifting ones He says, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:35, 37.

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." Heb. 6:19.

Why drift helplessly on, when He is only waiting for you to call on Him for help? "He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee." Isa. 30:19.

Try, and see!

"Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." Psa. 50:15.

You Are a Marked Man

In the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the early 1700's, convicted men and women literally became "marked men." For a designated number of years they were required by law to wear, sewn to their sleeve, a large letter made from scarlet cloth revealing the sin which they had committed. A stood for adultery, B for blasphemy, D for drunkenness, F for forgery, I for incest, R for rape and T for thievery.

That law was later repealed as being "too inhumane" for our society. Today, people seem to believe that because the law was repealed and the letters banished the crimes they stood for also have been removed.

Tragically, however, sin has not decreased—only public concern about sin. Though those letters have long ago disappeared, the sins they indicate still touch every home, family and life in some form or other.

Yes, the letters are gone, but in God's sight we wear them yet!

If a scarlet letter were to appear suddenly on your sleeve, what would it be?

"Impossible!" you say.

Don't be too sure. The Word of God tells us that that very thing shall happen before all the universe: "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known." Luke 12:2. What a terrible moment that will be when you stand before God and men to have all of the past revealed!

But there is good news for you. There is One who has died to free you from the guilt and penalty of your sins. Listen to these glorious words: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23. Because of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, because at Calvary His precious blood was shed, you may be free forever from the scarlet letter of sin.

Think of it! Christ, the very Son of God, took all the shame and ignominy of sin upon Himself. Today, as He looks at you, what does He see—a life branded with the guilt of sin, or a heart cleansed by faith in Him?

If you have never before looked to Him for forgiveness, for cleansing, for the assurance of eternal life, why not look to Him and trust Him right now? Why should you continue to wear a letter of shame? The choice is yours—the crimson blood or the scarlet letter.

"Be it known unto you therefore... that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things." Acts 13:38, 39.

New Life―A "Must"

About the year A.D. 33 there lived in the city of Jerusalem a man by the name of Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jewish nation and a member of a respectable denomination called the Pharisees, a people extremely careful of keeping the law and meticulous in observing all its fasts, feasts and ceremonies.

During Passover week, when a great number of strangers from all over the civilized world were in the city, there was much excitement about one Jesus of Nazareth who was at that time in Jerusalem. He had been healing sick people and feeding the multitudes who followed Him. Now it was reported that He had turned out of the temple a number of men who had been making a market of it. This caused a sensation among the people, especially among the denomination to which Nicodemus belonged.

Nicodemus, however, was troubled in his mind. He would not be led by public opinion, but was determined to go and hear for himself. So after dark one night he set off alone to have an interview with Jesus.

Before Nicodemus had been long in the company of Jesus, he was told that, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

This startled Nicodemus; it was something entirely new to him. He believed in being religious and keeping the ordinances, but of being "born again" he knew nothing.

He had not long to puzzle over the new doctrine before Jesus told him something else more startling still: "Marvel not that I say unto thee, Ye must be born again."

Not only wicked men like murderers and thieves need to be born again, but YOU—your own self.

This cuts at the root of all human religion. It doesn't matter how "good" people are, or "what church" they belong to; Jesus says they must be born again or they can never enter God's kingdom. They may "say their prayers," "read their Bibles," and "do the best they can," yet if they are not born again they "cannot see the kingdom of God." It is a "must," you see.

It is not because you are worse than your neighbors or because you sometimes lose your temper. It is not even if you are a very wicked person, but because you are a child of Adam—a sinner by birth, and with a sinner's nature.

"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." Job 14:4. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" No.

So with man. He cannot be reformed so as to please God; he cannot be improved so as to gain heaven. He needs to be made a "new creature." It is not a little counseling that he needs to make him all right; it is not a "good religious education"—it is a new life. And this new life must come from somewhere outside himself. He cannot find it within himself; he cannot earn it by his good works. He must be born again.

Now, if any man could have gone to heaven by virtue of his respectability, that man was Nicodemus. And yet to him the Savior said, "Ye must be born again."

"Marvel not that I said unto THEE, Ye must he born again." John 3:7.

The Black Sheep

Jim was the "black sheep" of his regiment. In and out of the guardhouse he always managed to be the ringleader in everything that was against the regulations.

One day the chaplain came to him with a serious and sympathetic expression. "James," he said, "your mother has sent you her last present."

"Ah!" he replied heartlessly, "is she gone at last? I hope she sent me some cash!"

"No, but she has sent you something of more value than silver or gold." Giving his mother's Bible to him, the chaplain said, "James, it was her dying request that you would read one verse at least every day. Can you refuse your mother's dying wish?"

"Well," said Jim, "it doesn't seem like too much to ask, so here goes."

He opened the Bible and read Matt. 11:28: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

"Well," he said, "that's odd! I have opened to the only verse in the Bible that I could ever learn by heart when I was in the Sunday school. I never could for the life of me learn another. But what does it mean?"

Gladly the Christian explained it to him, and told him of the Savior who gave His life to save poor lost sinners and who could now promise rest to all who would come to Him. Only one verse, but Jim came to believe it, accepted it, and found that rest for his soul.

He trusted in the Lord Jesus as his Savior and could rejoice in the knowledge that his sins were forgiven through the work of the Savior on the cross. He had passed from death to life, and the old restlessness that had kept him always in trouble was gone. He never entered the guardhouse again!

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28.

"All's Well That Ends Well"

"All's well that ends well" does not mean that a person may live a wicked life and still be all right at last, for the wrong road will never lead to the right goal.

Most people want to be on the right road, but they also like the wrong one. They remind me of a little boy who made some very fine mud pies and was sitting beside them crying bitterly. Someone asked why he was crying.

"I want to go home to dinner," he sobbed.

"Well, sonny, it's dinner time; run along home at once."

"But I want to stay here!" cried the little boy. And because he could not do both he sat and wept.

This is a true picture of many people: they would like to have both—the mud pies of this world, and the Bread of Life, the one now and the other hereafter. But it is clear that the prodigal son of Luke 15 could not sit by the swine trough and the father's table at the same time. One must be left, if the other is to be enjoyed. If you would walk in the road that ends well, you must leave the road which ends in death.

The Lord Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Do not be afraid to commit yourself in simple trust to Him.

If the past troubles your conscience, bring it to the Lord Jesus. His blood can cleanse away all its stains.

If you fear as you look into the future, bring your fears to Him. He can make you safe forever.

If the present is full of difficulties, bring them all to Him, for He can clear the way and give you peace and joy from day to day.

Come with your past, present and future to Him; all will then be well along the road, and all will be well at the end of it too.

"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass." Psa. 37:5.

Profit and Loss Statement

"What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:36, 37.

You say it will cost much to follow,

But what will it cost to refuse?

You may gain the world and its glories,

But what if your life you thus lose?

The Election

It's election time again. On every level—city, county, state, all the way up to the national election for: he president of the country—people are deciding how to vote, which choices to make.

You may cast your vote for the winner, or you may see your candidate lose, or you may not vote at all. Life is full of decisions, but there is one decision and one vote that you cannot evade. The issues are of far greater importance to you than the issues of this election year. In fact, the eternal future of your soul is at stake. Perhaps you have already cast your vote for the only Man who can completely satisfy the longings of your soul... the only Man who can promise you the forgiveness of sins, peace with God and eternal life. If you have already "voted" for the Lord Jesus Christ, He is your Lord and Savior and by faith you have become a child of God.

But perhaps you have never voted or pledged your allegiance to the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. Perhaps 'on have decided that you would put it off until some nore convenient day.

Friend, the time is short. You cannot be neutral in he matter of your soul's salvation! Either you cast your vote for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, or you are actually voting for His enemy, Satan. ("He that is not with Me is against Me.") No room for fence-sitting here!

"What will you do with Jesus?
Neutral you cannot be,
Someday your heart will be asking,
What will He do with me?"

The Seeking Soul

"Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" Job 23:3. "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth." Psa. 145:18

"Lord, why castest Thou off my soul?" Psa. 88:14. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." Isa. 59:2.

"If a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him?" 1 Sam. 2:25. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. " 1 John 2:1.

"Mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me." Psa. 38:4. "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matt. 11:28,30.

"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness." Psa. 51:1. "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." Psa. 103:8.

"What must I do to be saved?" Acts 16.30. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. " Acts 16:31.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God." Psa. 51:10. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." Ezek. 36:26.

"Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." Psa. 51:2. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7.

"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Acts 9:6. "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." Mark 5:19.

"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation." Isa. 12:2.

Playing With Death

The show was packed. There was "standing room only" in the arena, and the alligator show was running on as smoothly as usual.

In the 'gator lagoon the big reptiles looked so harmless—sluggish, sleepy, and lethargic. As he had done for months, Ron Chandler sat confidently on the back of one of the largest, a 250 pound-seven footer, pointing out particular features to the spectators.

Suddenly, without warning, the alligator attacked. Seizing Ron's wrist in his teeth, he jerked him into the water and began to pull and twist his arm.

A 'gator's teeth can close with a 2,000 pound-per-square-inch grip, and Ron was helpless in those jaws. What had seemed to be a well-rehearsed "playing with danger" routine suddenly became the reality of facing death, a particularly horrible death in the mouth of the alligator.

Two on-lookers jumped over the glass partition separating visitors from the lagoon and, grabbing a shovel, they crammed it down the 'gator's throat to release Ron. Losing his grip on his intended victim, the furious 'gator lunged at the rescuers until he was beaten back with the shovel and retreated at last into the water.

Ron Chandler had escaped death, but suffered severe cuts and fractures to his wrist and arm.

Neither Ron nor anyone who watched that show and saw the sudden, unprovoked attack will ever trust an alligator again! They may look too slow and sleepy to be dangerous, but—!

How many other things in this world look safe enough but can only bring disaster to one who permits himself to be deceived by them!

It is so easy to say, "There's no harm in this," and "I don't see anything wrong with that." "I only want a little fun—just a few harmless thrills."

Oh, be careful! Sometimes people are thinking "Peace and safety," but instead they meet "sudden destruction... and they shall not escape."

Ron Chandler played with death, and escaped. But he did not do it alone. Rescuers came, at great risk to themselves, and saved him. You must have a Rescuer too, one who can save you from the "sudden destruction" that is hiding under the innocent appearance of things.

Who is He?

He is "the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all." 1 Tim. 2:5-6.

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12.

Excuses

She was 51 years old, a mother and a grandmother, yet she stood before the judge convicted of poisoning one man and the admitted killer of three others.

"I blame it all on drugs," she said in self-defense. "These things never happened in my life until I got involved with drugs."

The judge did not say, "Oh, that's too bad! We'll have to excuse you for all those murders. Of course, it was all the fault of the drugs."

No, nothing like that! He sentenced her to be executed for murder. Her excuse was no good in court.

You too will stand before a Judge one day to answer for refusing to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. What will your excuse be?

Will you claim to have been "not so bad"? Will you say, "I joined the church"? "I did the best I could." "I wasn't as bad as others!"

God says, "There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:22, 23.

Will you blame God? But God "is long-suffering... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. Will you try to blame the Lord Jesus? "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. 1:15. He wanted to save you too! You can't say, "Nobody ever told me." You are reading God's warning to you right now. And this warning may be the last warning you will ever receive.

You will be without an excuse! The responsibility of spending eternity in hell is yours, and yours alone.

"What wilt THOU say when He shall punish thee?" Jer. 13:21. Won't you accept the Lord Jesus today as your Savior? If so, you will never have to face Him as judge.

"The Latter End"

The poem below was found among the papers of a man who had lived only for honor and fame in this world. The lines speak for themselves, as they stand as a solemn warning to all those who put the world first and walk in ambition's pathway.

"Why labor for honor? Why seek after fame?

Why toil to establish a popular name?

Fame! aye, what is fame? a bubble—a word,

A sound that's worth nothing, a hope that's deferred;

A heart-sickening hope that's too often denied

Or withheld from the worthy, to pander to pride.

"Then out upon fame! let her guerdon be riven,

Nay—hold—let me strive as I always have striven.

Out, out upon fame! too late will she come;

Her wreath mocks my brow; will it hang on my tomb?

Too much have I labored, too willingly gave

My thoughts to the world, AND HAVE

EARNED BUT A GRAVE."

Such lines need no comment and we would turn from them to an extract from the last writing of one who had renounced the most ambitious tamer in order to take up the cross and to follow the Lord Jesus in a path of rejection.

At the end of a trial and suffering such as few are called upon to endure, he was cast into a Roman dungeon. Almost all his earthly friends had forsaken him; he had appeared once before that cruel tyrant Nero, and before him lay the lions or perhaps some other fiendish torture. Truly it was a "latter end" to be naturally dreaded.

But what a reward he had earned! No thoughts of the grave filled his soul when he wrote to his young friend, Timothy.

"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." 2 Tim. 4:6-8.

Now consider the end of these two men. Remember that you cannot serve two masters. It must be Christ or self. "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." Josh. 24:15.

God wants you to be wise. "Hear counsel... that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end." Prov. 19:20. "Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death." Jer. 21:8. "I have set before you life and death... therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." Deut. 30:19.

Marooned!

Physically and mentally exhausted, Mrs. Bernice Brown was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard from bleak, uninhabited Anacapa Island where she had been marooned for fourteen days. Her husband and a friend who sailed with them out of Santa Monica Harbor were drowned in the mountainous waves which sank their boat, and she was left alone.

"We ran into a heavy storm," Mrs. Brown told her rescuers. "Our little boat was whipped around like a feather in a windstorm. Then a huge wave flooded the engine and, with our power off, we had no chance. When the boat was swamped, I clung to the bow. But I was washed away as the men were. I didn't see them again."

Tossed from the tops of giant combers to the depths of the troughs, Mrs. Brown was strangling with sea water when she floundered to a gas drum. She hung onto it for hours until, at nightfall, she saw a big rock. With her strength almost gone, she struggled to it and lay there exhausted until the next morning, when she was able to swim three hundred yards to Anacapa Island.

On Anacapa she might well have expected to starve, for it is uninhabited and there is no natural means of existence. Nevertheless, she found a hut once used by the navy with emergency rations, barrels of rain water, blankets and a battery radio set.

Cut and bruised in the wreck of the boat, exhausted by the long struggle, Mrs. Brown collapsed and for a while was barely able to move enough to feed herself. At last on the third day she was able to build a fire on the beach, and she kept it lighted until she was rescued.

Imagine yourself in Mrs. Brown's place, washed "as a fly" from the bow of the boat and floundering for hours in the storm-tossed sea and you will realize something of her exceeding joy at spying that great rock in those turbulent waters—and later at finding food and water and shelter on that barren island!

You may never be caught in a storm at sea, but you may have discovered that, as far as your spiritual existence is concerned, the sea of life all about you is roaring and you have been swept helplessly from every ship of good works and religious rites and ceremonies to which you have desperately sought to cling. And, at the present moment, you may be floundering desperately between hopes and fears as the deep darkness threatens to engulf you.

But see, directly before you, unshaken and unshakable, is the great Rock of Ages, Christ Jesus. You may hide safely in Him and see the storm give place to a great calm as you sing:

"Oh, safe to the Rock that is higher than I,
My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly;
So sinful, so weary, Thine, Thine would I be;
Thou blest Rock of Ages; I'm hiding in Thee."

You will find in Him the shelter and supplies needed for all time until He leads you at last to the heavenly haven of rest. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom. 8:32.

There Is a Path

"There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen." Job 28:7.

We are almost at the end of 1984. Has it turned out as you had planned? Has the old year lived up to your expectations? Has it been a succession of fulfilled hopes and dreams? Or has disappointment followed disappointment? Trouble and trial and sorrow and failure, are these the key words of the year that has passed?

Well, whatever!—It is all in the past now and we are looking forward to a new year. Is it going to be more of the same? Will it be better? Or worse?

We can't see into the immediate future, but we can be very sure that there will be changes and then more changes. There is only one certainty: the Word of God can never change—can never fail and it tells us that there is a path for us to take.

"The word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." 1 Peter 1:25.

Isn't that wonderful! It is one certainty to cling to, one absolute surety to rest on, and it is for every one who will just believe and accept the gospel of the grace of God.

"I am the Lord, I change not." Mal. 3:6. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." Heb. 13:8.

The Crossing Guard

Geraldine McBride was a school crossing guard. Her own children being grown, she "mothered" all the children who passed. As her son said, "Every kid who came across that street was hers!" She buttoned their coats and tied their shoelaces and saw them safely across the street.

One day as she was at her post she stopped a car to let two little boys cross the street. Suddenly a pickup truck swerved around the car and veered toward the children.

Mrs. McBride reacted instantly, pushing the boys out of the way. One six year old was just grazed by the truck, but it struck and ran over the guard. She was killed instantly, but "her children" were saved.

"I saw her body tonight as they laid her out," said her son, "and the look on her face was one of satisfaction."

Satisfied—the children were saved.

Satisfied—though the cost was her own life.

And "satisfied" is what the Bible says of the Lord Jesus. "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied... He hath poured out His soul unto death... and He bare the sin of many." Isa. 53:11,12.

Satisfied! "Jesus... who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb. 12:2. What is the joy? Well, one part of it is the "joy... in heaven over one sinner that repenteth."

For that joy the Lord Jesus went to the cross and laid down His life, a willing sacrifice, for your sake and mine. Shall that sacrifice be in vain? Can we refuse to accept what He has done for us?

Yes, we can refuse Him that joy and that satisfaction, but there is no "salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12.

We can refuse—and there will be no joy in heaven for us.

We can refuse—and go to a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Or we can accept the Lord Jesus and spend an eternity of joy with Him in heaven.

Which is it to be?

God's Universe

Traveling among the mountains we may see something of the Creator's might and skill. But the universe above us tells more of His power and Godhead.

It is said by astronomers of note that Alcyone, the brightest of the stars of the Pleiades, is actually, as far as is known, the center of our whole solar system—the hinge or pivot around which our sun with all its attendant planets is believed to revolve.

Do you know that Job in the Bible speaks of this about 1520 years before Christ? "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" Job 38:31.

Now when we remember that the sun is more than three thousand billion miles away from Alcyone, we get some idea of how marvelous must be the "influence" of the Pleiades which swing these planets—the earth included—around it at the rate of more than one hundred and fifty million miles a year, in an orbit so vast that one circuit would take thousands of years to complete.

Who can contemplate without a sense of solemn awe the mighty power of God in this verse written so long ago, in what is probably one of the oldest books in the Bible, and which recent astronomical discoveries enable us only dimly to appreciate?

As the ages roll on the heavenly bodies are always in motion: the moon revolving around the earth; the earth, with other planets, revolving round the sun; the sun, with all the solar system, revolving round Alcyone, Alcyone, with its myriad attendants, revolving around some other unknown center—all these, and countless other creations all unknown to man, revolving in mightier grandeur around the center of centers, the throne of the Almighty.

Moreover, it is worthy of notice that this "influence" is said to be "sweet," a word which in this connection is full of significance as we think how our vast solar system (with all the untold myriads of stars) is ever moving at such an amazing pace, like some complex and mighty machinery, yet with a regularity and eveness that can only be described as "sweet"—the very word which engineers use today to describe a perfectly smooth-working machine.

That same God who created the universe has made a way of salvation through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that "whosoever will" may spend a happy eternity with Him.

"For 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.

Do You Know God?

Of course you know there is a Supreme Being, the Creator and Upholder of all things. But do you know God, the holy and righteous God with whom you must have to do? Do you know that He cannot look upon sin, or allow the sinner to go unpunished? (Hab. 1:13)

This is not the popular God, but this is the God of the Bible, the God of Revelation, the God before whose judgment throne you will one day stand. Can you look forward to meeting that God, calmly and without fear? No unpardoned, unconverted sinner can.

Men may talk loudly and long about the "universal Fatherhood of God." They may speak of His mercy in a general way, as if He had ceased to notice iniquity or to punish sin, but when it comes to meeting God, or going into the presence of the Searcher of hearts, they shrink and shudder. WHY? They "know not God."

God has revealed Himself to men in the Person of His Son. Christ's mission to earth was to declare the heart of God, to make known His hatred of sin and His love for sinners.

God so loved the world that He gave the dearest object of His heart, His own Son! He so hated sin that He forsook Him when He became our sin-bearer and our surety on Calvary's cross. There our blessed Savior vindicated God's majesty, satisfied His justice, declared His righteousness, and manifested His love.

In virtue of that cross and the work accomplished on it, God is now shown to be "just and the justifier" of the ungodly when they put their trust in His Son Jesus. (Rom. 3:23-26.) Do you know God in this way?

"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou halt sent." John 17:3. To know God through Jesus Christ is to have eternal life and salvation.

"They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee." Psa. 9:10. And all who know Him say: "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid." Isa. 12:2.

Do you know God? Or do you say as some of a former time, "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways." Job 21:14. When judgment strikes, it will fall with awful force first upon "them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 1:8.

Are you sure that this does not include you? DO YOU KNOW GOD? Before it is too late, "Acquaint now thyself with Him [God], and be at peace." Job 22:21.

Make up Your Mind

If I could take you by the hand and lead you to the brink of hell where you could have just one look at the eternal state of the damned, and then take you to the portals of heaven and show you the happy lot of the redeemed, I am sure you would quickly make up your mind to which place you wanted to go. You would not rest satisfied until you were sure of going there.

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. 1:15. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10.

The Lord Cometh!

In these morally dark days the Second Coming of Christ is merely an uncomfortable rumor to many. Many more have read or heard about it directly from the Bible perhaps long ago but only to forget, neglect or refuse to believe it.

But often the forgetters, neglecters, unbelievers and scoffers receive grim reminders from things happening all around them, from so-called "current events."

The headlined report of some disaster or death often comes as a voice from God to the careless, to recall the warning of His Holy Word.

Perhaps a fitting example of this is found in the following Associated Press release of an incident which happened at Pomona, Kansas.

A boating party was cruising on Lake Pomona in the showboat Whippoorwill, looking forward to a pork chop dinner and the performance of a musical. Suddenly a tornado struck, capsizing the boat, and pitching most of the forty-six passengers and thirteen crew members overboard.

At least nine people were killed and six were missing and feared dead. Fourteen were injured.

To quote one survivor: "There were enough life jackets aboard but it happened so fast, there was no time. We were starting to turn back because of the weather, and it just hit, like in a matter of seconds."

While our sympathies go out to the victims of this disaster, the circumstances serve to recall a most solemn warning issued to all by the Lord Jesus: "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:37-39.

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." 2 Peter 3:9,10.

One Sin

One sin shut Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden forever, and one sin will shut you out of heaven forever—unless you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Have you come to Him about your sins?

If not, why not now? Satan says, "Wait awhile." God says, "Come NOW."

God’s Time Is Now

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.

"I must wait God's time to be saved," say some.

GOD'S TIME IS NOW! Yes, an ever present "now."

Tomorrow may be too late. "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Prov. 27:1.

Every tick of the clock,

Every beat of your pulse,

Every breath that you draw,

brings you nearer, nearer and NEARER to ETERNITY!

Where would you spend it if you were to die this moment?

In light or in darkness?

In heaven or in hell?

With Christ or with Satan?

What assurance God gives to those in the Epistle to the Romans who have taken the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior!

They are:

"NOW justified by His blood." Rom. 5:9.

"NOW... made free from sin." Rom. 6:22.

"NOW... delivered from the law." Rom. 7:6.

"NOW no condemnation... in Christ." Romans 8:1.

Thousands are already in eternity, LOST! They failed to discern the importance of that little word, "NOW." They meant to repent and believe the gospel, but they put it off, and put it off, until it was too late.

NOW is God's time; trifle with it and it may be NEVER!

Three Men on a Cross - Luke 23:37-43

UK 23:37-43{

When Christ was crucified there were two others who were crucified with Him. Those two men were thieves, so it was according to the word of the prophet Isaiah, "He was numbered with the transgressors." Isa. 53:12.

The Scripture tells us that one of these men turned to Christ and called upon His name in confession of his guilt, while the other died in his sins, or in other words, with his sins still upon him. The following hymn speaks to the consciences of many.

"There is a stream of precious blood,
Which flowed from Jesus' veins,
And sinners washed in that blest flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That Savior in his day,
And by that blood though vile as he,
Our sins are washed away."

Many have proved the virtue of that precious blood from that day to this, while thousands still reject it, and go on to meet God in judgment. How about you?

We trust the following plain statements may be of special interest to some troubled soul.

The man on the left-hand cross had sin in him and on him. He never repented and acknowledged his sin.

1. The Man on the center cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, had sin on Him, but never had sin in Him. He bore on Him the sin of every believer.

2. The man on the right-hand cross had sin in him, but not on him, for his sin was on the Lord Jesus. He confessed the Lord on the cross, was saved and was received into the presence of the Lord that very day. Jesus said to him, "To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." Luke 23:43.

3. How wonderful is the grace of God that meets the guilty sinner in all his need, and that blesses him beyond all that he could hope or ask for!

All this could only be through the death of the Lord Jesus and the shedding of "the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter 1:19.

The Hiding Place

"A man shall be as a hiding place." Isa. 32:2.

When Adam sinned he tried to hide himself from God, but there was no thicket in the garden of Eden dense enough or dark enough for that. From that day to this, men have been looking for a hiding place and, apart from God's mercy in Christ, looking in vain.

One who had been a prisoner in a maximum security cell said that the most painful circumstance of his confinement was an opening in his cell where he knew a guard would watch him night and day. He was haunted by that ever-seeing eye, and could never lose the consciousness of being watched.

Even so, the eye of a holy and all-seeing God is always upon us. Just as the prisoner could see that watchful eye with his own, so our conscience within us reminds us that "Thou God seest me." "There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." Job 34:22.

There is no place for the sinner to hide, except in Christ. He would like to run away from God, but what does he gain by all his efforts to hide? The Lord Jesus said, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." John 3:19, 20.

Out of Christ, all the hiding places are "refuges of lies." It was Augustine who said, "If you want to run away from a sin-hating God you must run to Him; if you would hide from Him you must hide in the arms of His love and mercy."

Christ is the true and only hiding place. He is the Man who is a "hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest." No wonder that the one who hides in Christ and knows the peace and joy of forgiveness finds Him to be the one hiding place through all the troubles of life.

All of Mankind

All of mankind are sinners, because they have disobeyed God. No created being could pay the penalty for his own sin, much less for others. Yet God has said, "the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23.

Only the death of a Perfect One could satisfy the demands of God's justice. And God's love provided that perfect One: The Lord Jesus Christ! Jesus died in our place to give us His eternal life. "Christ... once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust." 1 Peter 3:18.

Was It Justice?

Robert Lucas was less than thirty years old when he murdered a man and was sentenced to life in prison. After serving seven months of his sentence he escaped and went into hiding.

In a different state he adopted a new name and began a new life. Using his new name, he got a driver's license, held jobs and even got married.

The years went by, and Robert Lucas lived the life of a model citizen. Ten years—twenty years—and still he lived quietly with his wife and "maintained a low profile."

Twenty-three years after his escape, plainclothesmen came to his door and asked if he were Robert Lucas. One agent later reported, "He didn't say much. He just stuttered and stammered for a while, then he said he had a heart condition.

The heart condition was real: two months later he died of a heart attack while still fighting extradition to the state from which he had escaped.

Friends from his new life bitterly blamed the authorities who ordered his re-arrest. "Going to jail and worrying about it—that's what killed him," they said.

But a State Bureau of Investigation official said agents had no choice but to arrest the man. "You've got to understand he killed a man," said the head of the fugitive squad. "It's our job to find him whether he's been gone one, two, ten or thirty years. You can't just forget a man who killed another man. It's our job. The law says we've got to do it."

Was it justice? Was it justice to take a man who lived an apparently blameless life for 23 years and to put him in prison for a long-ago murder? Was it justice to take him from his wife of 20 years? Was it justice to discount all the good things he may have done in that time?

Yes, it was justice. It was THE LAW. The law cannot forgive. Like the mirror, it can show you how dirty your face is, but can do nothing to clean you up. Whether man's law or God's law, it can only judge and condemn; it cannot forgive. It has nothing to do with mercy!

God's law says that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Ezek. 18:20. And, "the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23.

There is no escaping that law. The sentence has been pronounced on every soul that has ever sinned and, postpone it though we may, in time we must face the fact that "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Heb. 9:27.

The law can do no more, but God can! No, He cannot change His law, which is "holy, and just, and good," but He can cleanse that sinful heart because "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."

"For what the law could not do... God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the, flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." Rom. 8:3-4.

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.... For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. 10:4,10.

"God could not pass the sinner by;
His sin demands that he must die,
But in the cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet righteous be!"

How to Have a Happy New Year

On the night of the Savior's birth, angel voices proclaimed, "On earth peace, good will toward men." Yet in the so-called anniversary of that great event, the holiday season of goodwill just passed, how little "peace" was experienced! Everywhere there is war, or rumors of war, and men are fearful at what they see coming upon the earth.

When we think of the angel's message of "on earth peace, good will toward men" we must remember one outstanding fact: when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, although the heavenly host proclaimed Him as the "Savior, which is Christ the Lord," there was found "no room" for Him at His birth, and when He grew to manhood He was still not wanted. He Himself said: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." Matt. 8:20.

Isaiah in his prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus said: "He is despised and rejected of men." On earth He was hated, reviled and crucified. The world still says in effect, "We will not have this man to reign over us." Luke 19:14.

How can there be peace on earth when the Prince of peace has been cast out? Instead, bloodshed, misery and poverty are prevalent. Vice and crime are increasing, and man, like "the fool" referred to in the book of Proverbs would say, "No God"! Man was created to be upright and to glorify God, but almost immediately he disobeyed Him and sinned.

God is holy, and His holiness demands that He must punish sin. But "God is love," and that love desires to bless His creature, man. Because of this great and blessed fact the Lord Jesus Christ, who is truly God, came down to earth that He might be the Savior of sinful men and women. He died on Calvary's cross that He might bear the punishment that was due to our sins. Scripture says, "Christ died for our sins." 1 Cor. 15:3. He died, "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." 1 Peter 3:18.

This is a troubled world, a world that knows no peace. As a wise man has said, "On earth there's a kingless throne, and in heaven a throneless King. Until that throneless King is on that kingless throne, there can be no peace on earth. "

But every individual can have real peace—peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Each one can face the New Year without dread or fear. How? Turn to God from your sinful condition. Repent of your rebellion toward Him, and believe that Christ died to cleanse you from all sin.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

That is God's way to peace and happiness throughout the year.

Let Us Alone

"Why can't they let us alone? They never come to the house without tormenting us about our souls, and I don't understand the idea behind it all." So said a proud, unconverted young man to his mother. Possibly you have thought the same thing, even if you have not said it.

Now, shall I tell you why we do not let you alone, why we speak to you, and why we write to you? It is because we see you standing upon the slippery brink of everlasting hell, heedless of your danger!

You live as though there were no God to meet, no sins to answer for, no hell to shun, and no heaven to reach. How can we let you alone? We would be heartless if we did.

"Let us alone!" So said the poor, devil-possessed sinnerto the Lord Jesus in the days of old, as mentioned in Mark 1:24. But Jesus did not let him alone, and the unclean spirit had to come out.

Just think of one in such terrible misery saying to the only One who could deliver him and who came for that purpose—"Let us alone!" And yet men follow his example.

Friend, if you are still unsaved, thank God that you have a body not yet in the grave and a soul not yet in hell, and do not say to Him any longer: "Let us alone," or He may answer your prayer.

"The Lord is... long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish." 2 Peter 3:9.

"For 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.

Your Greatest Need

Herbert and Elaine were as nice young couple as you could wish to meet. Both of them had been brought up in a Christian home and they lived an outwardly good, moral life. Of course, they entered into most of the pleasures which are generally considered clean and respectable, always maintaining that there was no harm in them.

They attended a place of worship, and also read their Bibles occasionally, though they admitted they did not get much out of it. If you had asked them if they believed in Christ, they would have said "yes," but it would have been more to the point if they had said they believed about Him.

The facts of His life, His death and His resurrection they had never questioned, but as for their own need of Christ's redemptive work, of this they knew nothing. They thought they were good enough.

Elaine had at one time been concerned about eternal things, and had visited a religious leader in whom she had a good deal of confidence. He listened as she confessed her difficulties, and then assured her that she was all right as she was. He advised her not to take these things too seriously, that she was doing all that was required of her, and that there was no need for concern.

With this sort of false peace, Elaine went back to her old way of living. Her conscience was quieted somewhat, but she was still troubled from time to time.

About this time, Norman, Elaine's brother, was saved and he began to speak to his sister at every opportunity about God's way of salvation. He longed that she and her husband might know the peace and joy which he had found in Christ.

At last they were persuaded to attend a special gospel service, "just to hear the singing" as they said. However, the Lord ordered that they heard more than the singing. They heard the story of redeeming love told out in a freshness and power which they had never known before, and God by His Spirit spoke to their hearts. They saw themselves as sinners before a holy God and realized that they needed a Savior.

They found out that they were not "good enough" for God as they were, no matter what their friends might say or think. They knew now that they had to do with a God who measured sin by the standard of His own holiness, and not by the opinions of sinful men. Sin must be judged, for God cannot pass it over.

But they also found out that the very God against whom they had sinned had Himself provided a Savior—His own Son. They learned that God had taken up the question of sin at the Cross and settled it according to His holiness. They heard that those blessed words of the Savior, "It is finished," assure us that redemption has been fully accomplished, and now the One who did the work is seated at God's right hand in heaven.

Herbert and Elaine laid hold of this for themselves, and that very night they both accepted Christ as their own personal Savior. They had always believed about Him, now they believed on Him and on Him alone. They were saved, and they knew it, for God's Word says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

What peace, what assurance filled their hearts as they rested upon the infallible Word of God for their salvation. Before they retired that night they thanked the Lord from full hearts for what He had done for them.

During the next few days they began to realize more fully that old things had truly passed away. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17.

The worldly pleasures which they thought they could never give up seemed so empty now. They did not even want them, for they had found real joy and happiness in Christ. As they tell others of their new-found joy, their happy faces tell what He has done and is doing for them.

The Lord Jesus can do for you what He has done for Herbert and Elaine. Perhaps you do not realize your need of salvation, but it is your GREATEST NEED. Only Christ can save you from your sins, and this He waits to do. We urge you not to reject Him, for if you do you will find yourself among the lost in "everlasting punishment." Why not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today?

"He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already." John 3:18.

Resting in Jesus

It is man's need that brings him to God, and Jesus is the One given of God on purpose to meet the case of each needy heart on—purpose to meet your case, if you are in need.

God wants the needy heart just to turn to Him, and have its need met; not only does it have its need met, but the moment when the heart meets Jesus is a moment of deepest, richest blessing for time and for eternity.

It is a real thing to meet Christ, to know Christ. Have you met Him? Do you know Him? Can you say, "Oh yes, I have met Him, and there is no one I know—no one I trust—like Him; no one I am on such intimate terms with as Jesus"? Each heart that knows Him would say that.

The heart that has not met Jesus has no rest. No doubt you have tried to find rest—tried to find it in good works, in pleasure, in many things. But it is all of no use; there is no rest for the human heart till it gets to Jesus, and His rest is perfect, and lasts forever. When He takes up your case it is an entire cure.

If He has picked me up and saved me, it is for time and for eternity. If He has pardoned me (and He has), it is once and forever. His pardon can never be canceled. The Lord give you to know the sweetness of resting in Jesus!

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Matt. 11:28, 29, 30.

"Jesus! I rest in Thee

In Thee myself I hide;

Laden with guilt and misery,

Where can I rest beside?

'Tis on Thy meek and lowly breast

My weary soul alone can rest.

"Thou Holy One of God!

The Father rests in Thee,

And in the value of that blood

Which speaks to Him for me;

The curse is gone—through Thee I'm blest;

God rests in Thee—in Thee I rest.

"Soon the bright glorious day,
The rest of God, shall come!
Sorrow and sin shall pass away,
And I shall reach my home.
Then, of the promised land possessed,
My soul shall know eternal rest."

Settled Peace

The moment you begin to rest your peace on anything in yourselves you lose the enjoyment of it. Nothing can be lasting that is not built on God alone. How can you have settled peace? Only by having it in God's way, by not resting on anything within yourselves, but on what Christ has done for you and without you. Then you will know peace—conscious unworthiness, but yet peace.

In Christ alone God finds that in which He can rest, and so it is with His people. The more you see the extent and nature of the evil that is within, as well as that without and around, the more you will find that what Jesus is and has done constitutes the only ground on which you can rest.

Can Water Burn?

Can you burn water? You sure can! All you need is a little pure potassium. Thrown into the water, it unites with oxygen and produces heat so intense that it ignites the hydrogen in the water. So—burning water!

It makes an impressive demonstration in a chemistry class, and students at the high school crowded around the instructor in the laboratory. One boy, David, noticed a tiny piece of potassium that had been overlooked. That silvery bit, no bigger than the end of his finger, was just irresistible! Almost before he realized what he was doing he slipped it into his pocket and was off to his next class satisfied that he had "gotten away with it."

But does anyone ever "get away with" sin? No, never. The Bible warns us, "Be sure your sin will find you out," (Num. 32:23), and "There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." Matt. 10:26.

David learned that the hard way! Pure potassium must be stored very carefully, as it can even combine with the oxygen in the air. Jeans' pockets are not air-tight—and the inevitable happened.

That Friday afternoon the class was quiet, everyone concentrating on the assignment (or dreaming of weekend plans) when suddenly the silence was shattered by screams. The potassium burst into flames in David's pocket, setting his clothes on fire. He was rushed to the hospital and then to a "burn center," where he was faced with a long and painful convalescence and weeks of skin grafts to replace the scarred tissue that covered the extensive burned section of his body.

Not all sins meet such instant retribution. In fact, all the world around there is sin going on—all day—all night—men, women and children are sinning against each other, against themselves, against God, and they think they are getting away with it. But "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. 12:14.

Sooner or later every sin will be brought to the light of God's just judgment, and it will be plain to all that "he that covereth his sins shall not prosper." Prov. 28:13.

Only God can "cover" those sins. Another David, the one who wrote the Psalms, wrote that: "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." Psa. 32:1. He did not mean "covered" as in a pocket—or in a closet—or in the dark of night—but forgiven.

When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary, He died "to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Heb. 9:26. Now "through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things." Acts 13:38, 39.

It is that simple. John 3:16 tells us that "whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Do you believe? Can you say to the Lord, "Thou hast forgiven my iniquity, Thou hast covered all my sin"?

Trapped!

"Downtown" was losing out to the new shopping malls. Store after store was moving out and there were no new tenants moving into the big old buildings. One building had stood empty and abandoned for a long time. Dust settled softly, plaster crumbled and fell, and the only footprints on the dusty floors were the tracks of busy rats and mice.

One day there was something new. A flutter of wings caught the eyes of a passing social worker named Marilyn, and she saw a beautiful pigeon flying against the plate glass windows in the old storefront, trying desperately to escape.

Marilyn was a bird lover, and her heart went out to the little pigeon. First she tried to find where the pigeon had gotten in. Failing in that, she found a little crack in one of the big doors and slipped in some crackers and bits of apple from her lunch.

The pigeon ate greedily but, no nearer to getting out than before, soon returned to slamming itself against the glass.

Then Marilyn tried to get help. She stopped a policeman who said, "If it flew in, it could just fly out!"

She called the Humane Society. They only suggested she call someone else.

For five days she stuffed food through the crack and kept trying to find someone who would be willing to rescue one trapped little bird.

At last, success! The owner of the building was found and came with the key to open the door. The pigeon was free!

Doesn't it remind us of the parable of the Good Samaritan? The priest and the Levite "passed by on the other side." They had no comfort to offer the wounded man.

The law could not help, just as "keeping the ten commandments" (if anyone could!) cannot save us now.

The Humane Society did not help, nor will any amount of good works or humanitarian deeds save us.

But One, the Lord Jesus, came "where we were." He had the key and the door stands wide open. We have only to walk through into liberty, the "glorious liberty of the children of God."

The Lord Jesus Himself said that He came "to preach deliverance to the captives... to set at liberty them that are bruised." Luke 4:18.

Wouldn't it have been a foolish pigeon if, after looking out the door into liberty, it had deliberately turned back into the dusty old building? Be wise. Accept the Lord Jesus Christ today.

"The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10.

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36.

Christ or Self?

One evening I met an old man resting by the roadside. Though he was about eighty years of age he was still able to work daily, breaking stones for the highway. I stopped to speak with him and, to open the conversation, asked him his age.

"Nigh on to eighty year," he said.

"You cannot expect to be long in this life now," I said.

"No, sir, I cannot," he agreed.

"Then tell me what your hopes are for eternity."

Then came the story—the old, old story—of trusting self, poor self, hard-working self, suffering self, religious self—always self. There was no Christ in all his hopes.

We were close to the side of a canal and, after telling the old man that Christ and His work is the one way of salvation, I said to him: "Do you see that lock?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Well, suppose that you wanted to cross that canal. To do so you took two wooden boards—one sound and firm, the other rotten—and you placed them side by side. If you tried to cross on the weak, rotten plank what would happen? It would break under your weight and you would be plunged into the canal.

"That rotten board is self; if you attempt to get to heaven on or by self, you must perish forever.

"But suppose that you had put one foot on the good plank and one on the bad and tried to get across that way. The result would be the same. The good plank might and would bear you, but the bad would break. You would be plunged into the water as surely as in the first case.

"That would be like partly trusting Christ and partly trusting yourself. The end would be the same— death, eternal death."

The old man was listening with close attention, and I continued: "Now, suppose that you trusted to the good plank alone. You would get across in perfect safety. That good plank is like the Lord Jesus Christ; if you trust solely to Him—to His blood for pardon—to His work alone—you are safe, yes, and saved forever."

"I see, I see!" exclaimed the poor old man. His woe-begone eyes lit up with intelligence. "I see it all."

There are thousands like that old man—thousands who are trusting self for salvation rather than the Lord Jesus Christ. They are sure that they, alone and unaided, can gain salvation at last by their own efforts.

How terrible! They will be lost forever—lost as surely as if they trusted to an idol of wood or stone—if they continue to exclude Christ.

May we ask, are you trusting Christ, or yourself? Are you trusting Christ, for peace, forgiveness, life, righteousness, and eternal security? Can you say—

"On Christ the solid rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand"?

Christ in Japan

In Japan, "the land of the rising sun," the light of the glorious gospel of Christ was late in casting its beams into the darkened hearts of idol worshipers and priests. But now amid its thousands of Shinto and Buddhist temples there are many buildings devoted to the service of the one true God, and here and there may be found a simple gospel room, with an invitation to come and hear the "yesu-no-michi."

Even in Buddhist temples the gospel sound has been heard, and some of the priests have been brought to the Lord. There is an open mind among some, but even as in the early days, others are bitterly opposed to the spread of the gospel among the people.

Soon after Japan was opened to the gospel, a Buddhist priest named Yohoi was present at a great ecclesiastical function in Niigata. A discussion sprang up among the priests there assembled as to the most effectual methods of attacking and thus hindering the spread of this new "religion."

Yohoi contended that in order to oppose it successfully, each priest must study its doctrines personally and become acquainted with them. To encourage others in practicing what he advised, he went directly from the conference and purchased a New Testament for himself.

For months he studied it diligently, first delighting in its beauty as literature, and then, becoming convinced of its divine origin and true character, he saw his own sinfulness and need of Christ as his Savior.

A few days later Yohoi handed in his resignation to the chief priest, saying that he could no longer serve under him. Returning to his northern temple, he gave up his charge and set off for Tokyo, a distance of 180 miles, which he traveled on foot.

Arriving at the capital in deep distress of soul, he sought out a Christian missionary from Scotland who gave him further knowledge of God's holiness, His justice, and His righteous judgment of sin.

So intense was Yohoi's own conviction of sin, that this added knowledge only plunged him into deeper despair. Indeed he was sorely tempted by Satan, the great adversary of souls, to throw away the Book of God and return to idolatry.

But he continued to read the beautiful writings, and the entrance of that Word gave him light. Burdened with a sense of his guilt before God, he came across the words of the Lord Jesus in Matt. 11:28, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

These wonderful words, full of grace and tenderness, filled his heart with a strange sense of peace. He read them over time after time, meditating upon each word and committing them to memory.

All through the silent hours of that night he lay awake; he thought of them; he weighed each word; he believed them. The "eyes of his heart" were enlightened and he experienced the "rest" of which the verse speaks. Yohoi was saved, and he knew it.

He did not hide his light, but confessed Jesus as his Savior and his Lord. He often delighted to tell of these words which were used by the Spirit of God in leading him to Jesus and in giving rest to his soul. But his greatest joy was to tell of the Savior Himself by whose precious blood he was cleansed from sin.

Now, you are no heathen. You have been born in a land where the gospel is preached. You have heard of Jesus, the Savior who is able and willing to cleanse you from every stain. Will you not, like Yohoi, "rest" in Him, receive Him and know the joys of sins forgiven?

"As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1:12.

God's Way of Salvation

"If a man does the best he can, he will be saved."

Is this what you would say? Well, have you done the best you could? Haven't you, again and again, done what you ought not to have done, and failed to do what you should have done?

"I don't pretend to be perfect."

Of course not, but this admission removes every possibility of your being saved by your doings. One sin is enough to condemn you! What is the use of saying, "If a man does the best he can," when God has told us that no one has ever done so?

"All we like sheep have gone astray." Isa. 53:6. "There is none that doeth good, no, not one." Psa. 14:3.

The "best" that you can do is to admit that you are helpless and can do nothing to save yourself. If, from this day until the day of your death, you did not commit a single sin, you could not be saved, for sinners are not saved by what they do, but by what Christ has done for them.

"To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Rom. 4:5.

Time Its Short

A young man came to a Christian, an old professor in a college. He asked the teacher: "How long before death should one prepare for eternity?" The professor's answer was: "A few minutes." The youth, glad of this reply, determined to have his fling, sow his wild oats, and "see life" in all its aspects. Then, a few moments before death should close his selfish eyes, he would ask God to have mercy on him!

"But," asked the professor, "when are you going to die?"

The young man answered: "I don't know."

"Then," said the dear old man, "GET READY NOW, for you may have only a few moments to live."

I have traveled widely over this country and have yet to meet a man who wishes to go to the lake of fire, there to endure the "eternal judgment" of God. All have hoped to be saved some day, and to escape that awful doom.

Many persons would like to be saved, but they say they are waiting God's time. Surely GOD knows the best and proper time for a man to be saved. HE says it is NOW.

There is no promise in God's Word that a man may be saved next week, or next month, or next year, or when he comes to his death-bed, or at the eleventh hour, as some people foolishly say.

God's pledge is that He will save a man when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, not when he says he believes, but when he does believe. His word in Acts 16:31 is: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

"THE TIME IS SHORT." Eternity is near. Christ is coming for His own, all who have believed and are saved. It will then be too late for those who have heard the gospel and have refused its message. It is nearer than we realize. For the believer it will be a wonderful event, but for the lost it will mean an eternity in hell.

But before this takes place the voice of God rings out: "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.

Isa. 1:18 is unequaled in Scripture for tender graciousness. "Come NOW, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

God's word is "COME," and He tells you when to come: "NOW." He concludes this magnificent verse with the promise of cleansing you from all your sins.

Another strikingly earnest verse is Job 22:21. "Acquaint NOW thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." Again the word NOW confronts us. It tells us that THIS IS THE MOMENT to make the acquaintance of God by Christ Jesus to be at peace with God through Christ.

He has made peace for us with His precious blood, and only by its cleansing power can good be our portion in Christ Jesus.

The invitation of Jesus is: "Come; for all things are NOW ready." Luke 14:17. There is nothing left for the poor, helpless sinner to do in the matter of the soul's salvation but to believe. Christ did on the cross all that the glory of God required to be done, and. then He said: "It is finished."

He is in that glory today as proof that it is finished, and that God is satisfied. NOW He can make known to you by the Holy Ghost through the Scriptures His present salvation for all sinners.

The devil tempts you to put off the salvation of your soul until tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late! Tomorrow may bring death, the grave, the lake of fire, the eternal wail of a damned soul.

God would not say "NOW" so frequently in His Word if He did not mean it, or if there were not awful danger in delaying, or if tomorrow would do. It may be now or never for you. God grant that it may be NOW.

Salvation now, this moment;

Then why, oh, why delay?

You may not see tomorrow!

NOW is salvation’s day.”

"Runaways, Get Free Ride Home

That’s what the sign said: “Runaways, get free ride home. Call 000-0000.” What a welcome word to a lost and lonely runaway! Think of one who has, in a moment of rebellion perhaps, left a comfortable home and loving family to "be independent," "to live his own life," "to do his own thing."

Then think of that one as the glamor of independence wears off in the daily effort to obtain the necessities of life. Cold and hungry and alone, home begins to look more inviting all the time.

But—how can he return? He left in anger—will he be received? He has no money—how can he travel?

And then that wonderful sign: "Runaways, get free ride home!"

Hardly believing the good news, he finally gathers the courage to go to the nearest phone and dial the toll-free number.

A voice answers, a warm and caring voice, and arrangements are made, transportation is provided, and then—HOME. The sign told the truth; the promise was real.

We are all, in one sense, runaways. The Bible says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." Isa. 53:6.

Like the runaway, we have nothing with which to pay our way home. Lost, lonely, and in despair, what hope is there for us?

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself has given us the promise. "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out," and "He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." John 6:37 and Heb. 7:25.

Just where we are, just as we are, we can "call... upon Him while He is near," because "the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.... He also will hear their cry, and will save them." Isa. 55:6 and Psa. 145:18,19.

The Lord Jesus will never, never refuse to accept the penitent runaway while the day of grace lasts. Even now He is waiting and longing to share with you all the love and light and joy of His Father's house. Won't you turn back to Him and receive your own "free ride home"?

Oh, turn ye! Oh, turn ye, for why will you die,

When God in great mercy is coming so nigh?

Now Jesus invites you; the Spirit says, "Come,"

And angels are waiting to welcome you home!

The Way Made Plain

It is a wonder that any remain unsaved when God 1 has shown so clearly and fully in His Word how salvation is to be received. Many, instead of being guided by the Word of God, go by what Mr. So-and-So thinks. So they are ignorant of the gospel of God's matchless grace. If you wish to be saved, hear what God says to you in the following scriptures: "For 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. "All that believe are justified from all things." Acts 13:39.

"Whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Acts 10:43.

"He that believeth on Him is not condemned." John 3:18.

The first-born child in every blood-sprinkled house in Egypt was preserved from the destroyer because God had said: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." Ex. 12:13.

Salvation can be had only by faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Take it now and learn that it is: "Salvation without money, salvation without price; Salvation without labor! Believing doth suffice. Salvation now this moment; then why oh why delay? You may not see tomorrow; now is salvation's day."

"Where To?"

At the bus station the traveler stood at the counter to buy a ticket.

"Where to?" asked the agent.

"I haven't decided," replied the man.

"Then you had better make up your mind," was the prompt answer of the clerk.

Good advice! Before you laugh at the traveler, ask yourself the same question. You are here today, but you are going—"Where to?"

Have you thought that eternity with its unending ages must be spent either in God's bright home in heaven or in the gloom of eternal darkness? To which are you going?

You don't know?

Then you had better decide at once!

But, you say, I don't mean to be lost forever.

Then you had better decide at once for Christ. One day's delay may mean hell forever. For the sake of your precious soul, "Flee from the wrath to come."

"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.... therefore choose life." Deut. 30:15, 19.

There are only two choices. Once more: "Where to?"

The Big Question

Two soldiers were having a heart-to-heart talk about eternal things when an earnest Christian officer came on the scene and asked the subject of their conversation. They answered, "We are counting the cost of accepting Christ."

The officer replied: "Have you counted the cost of NOT accepting Christ?"

That is the question! Have you counted the cost of NOT accepting Christ? The cost is eternal loss. No, it is more—it is eternal damnation.

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36.

Are You Ready?

Christ is coming! Are you ready?

The first trumpet has blown. Has it awakened you out of your sleep of sin and vanity?

The second has sounded. Have you fallen into line? Are you numbered with those whose "blessed hope" is the expectation of Christ's return?

Soon the last trump, "the trump of God," will call all His own into His presence. Will you not challenge yourself three times over, "Am I ready?"

"Are you ready" in conscience? Is the question of your sins settled? Are you at peace with God?

"Are you ready" in heart? Are your affections set on Christ, "on things above" where He is? Are all your matters in such order that you would gladly welcome Him this hour?

Perhaps as you read these lines, "the Lord Himself" may "descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." Are you ready?

"We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. 15:51, 52.

Living With Danger

In the year 62 A.D. two small towns in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius were severely damaged by an earthquake. For sixteen years the citizens of the two towns worked to rebuild their towns bigger and better than ever. They were still building in A.D. 79, when Vesuvius erupted and buried both towns. Of the estimated 20,000 people living in Pompeii, at least 2000 died, and the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were totally destroyed.

Coming nearer to our time, in 1631 Vesuvius erupted again and killed 4000 people.

Closer still, in 1980 an earthquake struck Naples, in the shadow of Vesuvius, and claimed 3000 lives.

Asked about the possibility of a really gigantic upheaval in that unstable area, a great scientist answered, "We prefer to forget about that prospect!"

Where there were only 20,000 in A.D. 79, the whole area may contain 2,000,000 today. 2,000,000 souls living in the shadow of total catastrophe! Of course they "prefer to forget"—but can they?

Every tremor of the earth, (one town has counted 100 tremors in a single day) every rumble from Vesuvius, is a warning. Would you like to live "on the edge" like that?

It may be that you are living in even more deadly danger every day of your life! You may stand on firm ground; you may never have experienced an earthquake nor even seen a volcano, but you have still no guarantee of safety even one hour ahead.

We read in God's Word that "now is the accepted time... now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2. Nowhere does God say to you, "Put it off today; there will always be tomorrow."

No, never! He says instead, "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Prov. 27:1.

Oh, please don't say, "I prefer to forget about that prospect!"

The people who live in the "Fiery Fields" near Vesuvius may feel that they must stay there; they were born there, perhaps, their families are there, all that they have is there. They may not think that they have any choice. But you do have a choice. Your immortal soul is in danger, was born in danger, but you may still "flee from the wrath to come."

You have only to turn to the Lord Jesus and receive the salvation He freely offers you and you can know that you are safe, forever safe, on the Rock that can never be moved or shaken. "For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God?" Psa. 18:31.

The choice is yours!

"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life." Deut. 30:19.

Why Am I Not a Christian?

1. Is it because I am afraid of ridicule, and of what others may say of me? "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words... of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed." Mark 8:38.

2. Is it because of the inconsistencies of professing Christians? "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." Rom. 14:12.

3. Is it because I am not willing to give up all to Christ? "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36.

4. Is it because I am afraid that I shall not be accepted? "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

5. Is it because I fear I am too great a sinner? "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven." Luke 7:47.

6. Is it because I am afraid I shall not hold out? "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." Heb. 7:25.

7. Is it because I am thinking that I will do as well as I can, and that God will be satisfied with that? "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10.

8. Is it because I am postponing the matter without any definite reason? Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Prov. 27:1.

"For 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, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Prov. 29:1.

Why Was the Epistle of John Written?

"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life, and that ye may BELIEVE on the name of the Son of God." 1 John 5:13.

"Just as I Am, Without One Plea?

Charlotte Elliott, 1789-1871

Many unsaved souls imagine it is difficult to come to Christ.

And this at first was the thought of Charlotte Elliott, who wrote the hymn, "Just As I Am, Without One Plea."

Shortly after she became an invalid with a helplessness that lasted nearly fifty years, a servant of the Lord talked with her about her soul's salvation. At first she resented this, but afterward she repented and asked him how she could find the way to Christ.

He replied: "Dear Charlotte, cut the cable. It will take too long to unloose it. Cut it! It is a small loss anyway. You must come to Christ just as you are."

And so, just as she was, she came and found the "peace that passeth all understanding," enabling her to bear her illness with patience.

Twelve years later, while everyone about her was busy preparing clothing for the poor, she was burdened with the thought that as an invalid she was utterly useless herself.

She brooded over this through the long hours of the night, but the next day her courage was renewed. She remembered the words which led to her conversion: "Come to Christ just as you are."

Taking up her pen, she wrote the wonderful hymn beginning, "Just as I am, without one plea." Through it many souls have found the way to the Savior, and out of her helplessness Charlotte Elliott has been used of God for the blessing and encouragement of many.

Just as I am—without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bid'st, me come to Thee,

Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am, and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot,

To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,

O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am, though tossed about,

With many a conflict, many a doubt,

Fightings and fears within, without,

O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind,

Sight, riches, healing of the mind,

Yea, all I need, in Thee to find,

Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,

Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;

Because Thy promise I believe,

Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am, Thy love, I own,

Hath broken ev'ry barrier down;

Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,

O Lamb of God, I come!

The Believer’s Destiny

When you accept the Lord Jesus by simple faith as your Savior, you have God's testimony to the fact that you are justified—forever cleared of every charge of guilt. Then your destiny will be to be in glory with Christ. You will be able to sing truthfully:

"I have a home in heaven above,
From sin and sorrow free;
A mansion which eternal love
Designed and formed for me."

This is the destiny of every truly saved soul, and nothing can change it. The blessing comes on the ground of the precious blood of Christ and His blood can never lose its value. The source of the blessing is the free grace of the blessed God, and His grace can never change.

Christ Himself will be the center of all the redeemed in God's many-mansioned home, and to dwell in the sunlight of His presence will be the blessed portion of all His blood-purchased people.

We read, "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout." Then all believers who have died, and those who are alive at His coming, will rise to meet the Lord in the air. "And so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:16,17. Also, "When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John 3:2.

Are you ready to meet Him? Are you saved? Do you know your sins forgiven? "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near." Isa. 55:6. "Behold I come quickly.... Surely I come quickly." Rev. 22:12, 20. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

A Waste of Time

A father and son were out on the sea in their small fishing boat one day, looking for hawksbill turtles. (At that time their shell sold for a high price to be used in the manufacture of "tortoise shell" combs, brushes, and other small and expensive items.) Soon they spotted one, clearly visible in the beautiful transparent waters of the Bahamas. Anxiously they pursued it, estimating that its shell would sell for considerably more than $100.00.

But the turtle eluded them, vanishing among the corals of the reef, and all their efforts proved to be in vain. They went again to the same spot the next day, and the next, but in spite of hours of searching, they saw no more of their wished-for prize.

At last the father gave it up as a waste of time. The son, however, decided to continue the search alone. He told his father that if he stayed home and the turtle was captured, the father would lose his share of the money it brought, but the father was not to be persuaded.

The boy pled with his father, saying, "You know, Dad, very often the day you stay home is the very day you would succeed, so you had better come."

But the older man said, "No," and he meant, "No." The boy urged and coaxed, but he finally had to go alone.

As it turned out, that very day he caught the turtle. In triumph he returned to the little village with his catch. The news had preceded him by another boat, and so, when he landed his prize on the wharf, quite a number of the villagers were there to see it. Among them was the father, who had forfeited his share of the prize money. If he had only gone out that morning—but it was too late.

"Say, Son," he cried, "why didn't you take me with you?"

"You know I asked you, Dad."

"Yes, but you should have urged me to go," replied the disappointed old fisherman.

"I did, Father—you know I did."

"But why didn't you plead with me," the old fisherman insisted.

"You know I tried as hard as I knew how to get you to go, Father, but you just simply wouldn't."

"But Son," wailed the old man, "you should have made me go!"

The loss of the prize money was a severe loss to the old man, for money did not come easily in his life. But after all, his loss was only money. Do you ever stop to think that you are in danger of losing your precious soul?

Your soul stands for your life, your real living. You are in danger of losing forever the blessedness of really living—of knowing eternally the joy of life, divine life, a life of perfect joy and peace and glory.

Instead, you are facing eternal death, eternal woe, the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth of which our Lord Jesus speaks. And in the day of judgment you might think of the Christians you have known and wail, "Why, oh why, did they not ask me to come to Christ—why did they not urge me—why didn't they make me go?"

If we only could, we surely would. We can't make you go, but we can plead with you. Once more we urge you to come to Christ as a guilty sinner and trust Him as your Savior. He died for you that you might live forever with Him.

Come to Him now; make no delay. Today is the day of salvation!

"COME NOW, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18.

No One Ever Cast Out

I have never yet heard a single person say: "I came to Jesus and He cast me out." There never was such a case. If you are not saved and happy in the love of Christ, it is because you never have come to Him.

For more than nineteen hundred years His own words have been standing on record: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

Though all unworthy, yet I will not doubt;

For him that cometh He will not cast out;

"He that believeth"—Oh, the good news shout!

"Hath everlasting life."

The Gobi Miner

It was a tragedy—a bitter, unnecessary tragedy. Roy Madsen had twenty-seven years of mining experience; he knew all the dangers; he had all the necessary safety equipment, but he was brought out of a gas-filled gold mine—dead.

What could have happened?

He was wearing the required safety belt. The safety lines were all in place. But—he hadn't bothered to attach the lines to his belt. When he ventured into a new section of the mine and encountered poisonous gas he was overcome. Not being attached to the safety lines, he could not be pulled at once to fresh air and fell to his death in the depths of the mine.

The mine owner said later: "He had the proper belt, and the safety lines were there, but for some reason he didn't attach them to himself... he evidently felt secure in what he was doing; it wasn't attached, and they couldn't pull him out."

Do you recognize any parallel between the story of this miner and your own life? Are you busily mining "gold" in the polluted and sin-poisoned air of this old world? Have you made sure that the safety line is attached?

There is one, you know. God has provided a way of escape for all who will take it. We have only to "attach it to ourselves," to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our own and only Savior, believing in Him and His work for us, and we will be able to say as David did in the Psalms: "He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." Psa. 40:2, 3.

But what if you, like the gold miner, fail to attach the safety line? What if you do not receive the salvation God is offering to you?

Then, when that last day comes for you, you will sink down into the pit of darkness and despair because you never bothered to be sure of the safety of your never-dying soul.

What a tragedy that would be! What a heart-breaking, unnecessary tragedy!

Attach the safety line today. Accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior now before it is too late.

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.

The Most Beautiful Book

Would anyone pay ten million dollars for one book? It sounds incredible, but—"We got a real bargain," said one of the buyers who paid that price. "We would have gone higher—up to ten million pounds (about $14.4 million). It is quite simply the most beautiful book... in the world."

What book was it? A "lavishly illustrated 12th century book of Gospels" set this world-record price. The previous highest price for a book was $2.4 million in 1978 for one of the 21 known copies of the Gutenberg Bible.

"The most beautiful Book," "the most valuable Book,"—what is the real value of that Book?

It is not valuable because of its rarity, as the Gutenberg Bible. It is not simply because of the exquisite illustrations in the 12th century copy. Its real worth does not lie in the most beautiful or the most costly binding ever conceived.

No. None of these constitute the real value of this Book. It is the Word of God, and God says, "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth forever." 1 Peter 1:24, 25.

The cheapest copy of that matchless Book, tattered and worn though it may be, is still the Word of God.

"And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." 1 Peter 1:25.

Unto us! That wonderful Book was written for us. It gives us the "words of eternal life"; it is a light for our path, and by it we know that "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.

It is life, and light, and love. Unquestionably, the most beautiful book in the world!

The Only Way

There are not many ways of salvation—only one. That one way has been appointed by God, and is revealed in His Word. Man has many religions, many creeds; God has just one. This makes the question of how a sinner may be saved both simple and sure.

Since God has appointed the way of salvation, man has no voice in the matter. He has made known in His Word what that way is, and there is no room left for others.

God's salvation is in Christ alone. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12.

"Salvation is of the Lord." Jonah 2:9. It is obtained through the atoning death of the Lord Jesus on the cross. Salvation thus procured is proclaimed in the gospel; it is "the gospel of your salvation" to every creature. There is salvation for all, without merit, without price.

"The way of salvation" is clear and plain. It is not left for each to choose his own way. It has not been given to "the church" to devise or appoint how sinners are to be made possessors of God's salvation.

He has caused it to be recorded in the Word, that all may know it, and He will never alter, never modify, never add to His plan.

It is this: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:31.

Do You Have Peace With God?

There are many persons who are weary and tired of everything in this life, and yet have nothing to cheer them in looking forward to the life to come. Are you one of these?

There are many who are thoroughly unhappy in their hearts, although they will not confess it—unhappy because they know they are not living as God would have them—unhappy because they know they are not fit to die. Does this describe you?

I am sure that much of what is called happiness is utterly hollow and unreal. Loud laughter often comes from the lips of people who are inwardly heavy at heart. There are many who are always seeking rest and finding none.

I feel deeply sorry for those whose treasure is all on earth. When I see unrest and confusion on all sides, when I see nations shaking to the very foundation, I grieve for those who have no better portion than this world can give them.

But there is rest for the weary of heart, even in this world, if they will only seek it. There is real, solid, lasting happiness to be had on this side of the grave, if people would only inquire for it where it is to be found.

Where is this rest? Where is this happiness? It is to be found in Christ Jesus. It is given by Him to all who will confess their need and trust Him to relieve them. "Come unto Me," He says, "all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28.

It you want to be happy, then turn to God from a world which will never really satisfy you, and from sin which will lead to death. Come to the Lord Jesus as a lowly sinner, and He will receive you, pardon you and fill you with peace. This will give you more real comfort than the world has ever done. There is a void in your heart which nothing but the peace of Christ can fill.

"The peace of God, which pas Seth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:7.

The Holiness of God

God never mistakes the guilty as being innocent; He discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12). He may forgive sin, and receive the cleansed sinner; that is His joy. But He cannot act as if sin did not exist when it does, nor be indifferent to it while He remains Himself, a holy God.

He may have sins entirely put away and blotted out, and He may chastise for good, and deal governmentally according to His own nature—and this is salvation for us. But He cannot overlook sin anywhere as not existing, nor view it with indifference.

God could not pass the sinner by,

His sin demands that he must die,

But in the Cross of Christ I see

How God can save, yet righteous be.

"God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8.

?When I Survey the Wondrous Cross?

Sir Isaac Watts, 1674-1748.

The hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," perhaps our most tender and reverent poetical vision of the crucified Savior, has been dear to the hearts of Christians for about two hundred and fifty years. And who can say how many hearts hardened by sin have been touched by its solemn message? One heart God touched through the hymn was James Delaney.

James Delaney, a British artilleryman, went to India and became, by his hard life, utterly calloused to everything beautiful and good. He appeared to be insensible to religious influence and shunned everyone who gave any evidence of respect for the things of God. His very hardness made him volunteer for many jobs that others would have avoided. He seemed to glory in taking part in certain affairs of military life which, while necessary, would be quite revolting to more sensitive souls.

Yet God had His eye on Delaney. While detailed to be among those who must execute a fellow soldier accused and convicted by military tribunal of a cruel and cold-blooded murder, James Delaney first heard a simple, heart-felt prayer. In amazement he listened to a fellow man appeal directly to Almighty God to save the soul of one of His poor lost creatures.

Knowing himself to be as vile as the man condemned to die, Delaney began to examine his own wicked heart. He was compelled to accept the Bible's verdict that he was: "altogether become filthy." The thought came: if he were the one facing the firing squad, what would be his outlook? Where would be his destiny? God was mercifully softening this heart of stone.

Delaney listened for the first time in his life to the simple gospel. Then he heard the touching words as the hymn was sung:

"When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Lord of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

"Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast

Save in the death of Christ my God:

All the vain things that charm me most

I'd sacrifice them to His blood.

"See, from His head, His hands, His feet

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

"Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were an offering far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my life, my soul, my all!"

James Delaney's hard heart was broken. He gazed by faith at the crucified One and saw in Him his own Sin-bearer, his Savior. The words of the hymn had laid hold of him so deeply that the whole course of his life was changed.

As soon as the years of his army service were ended, Delaney became a devoted missionary. Even as he had previously served Satan with a whole heart, James Delaney found "joy unspeakable and full of glory" in telling out the virtues of that One of whom he could now say: "The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20.

Not Sure of Tomorrow

"I am not sure of tomorrow, I must have it settled tonight." These were the words of a young man at the close of a meeting where Christ crucified had been preached, and an immediate acceptance of Him had been urged upon all who had listened.

A companion was trying hard to persuade him to leave, telling him he could come back and hear the message again tomorrow. But the anxious lad would not risk the chance of waiting until "tomorrow." He accepted Christ and was saved that night.

How many put off their acceptance of God's gospel until a "tomorrow" that never comes? The devil seeks to ruin souls, getting them to delay—to trifle with God's gospel—until death and judgment overtake them.

Are you putting off your salvation until some fair tomorrow? "Today" is God's appointed time; tomorrow you may be in a lost eternity.

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.

The Artist and the Gypsy Girl

Many years ago the artist Stenburg stood in his Dusseldorf studio. He had just promised to provide a painting of the crucifixion for a church building. It was to be a masterpiece, and he would be paid a big price for his work.

In the weeks that followed, Stenburg searched out all he could of the facts of the death of Jesus. He was talented; he was famous; he was becoming wealthier every year. 1 But Stenburg did not have peace.

The first brushful of color touched the canvas, then another, and another. One day the cross stood stark and upright on Calvary's hill. Day after day Stenburg's brush caressed the canvas.

Then suddenly he was tired. "I'll forget this," he declared. "I'll walk out to the country and sketch."

It was spring and the woods were green. At the edge of the forest Stenburg stopped. There a gypsy girl plaited a straw basket. Blue-black hair reached her waist; her red dress was faded and torn. Her eyes were black, large and restless.

"What a painting!" thought Stenburg.

The girl stared up at the artist. She smiled, threw her straw down, sprang up and raised her hands high above her head, twirling and dancing gaily in front of him.

"Stand," cried Stenburg. The girl dropped her arms. "This week you must come to my studio; I'll paint you."

"But, Signor," the girl said shyly, "I'm only a poor gypsy girl."

"Come," he said. And she came, in her red dress, with her hair tucked back with a flower. Stenburg was ready. "Sit!" he commanded.

Pepita had never been in an artist's studio before. Her questions amused Stenburg. But suddenly her eyes stopped at the painting of the crucifixion. It was almost completed.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"The Christ," the artist said carelessly.

"But what are they doing to Him?"

"Crucifying Him," he answered.

"But who are those cruel people?"

Stenburg threw his brush down. "Now look here," he said. "You stand there... still... and do not move your lips to speak."

Pepita closed her lips. But her eyes never left the crucifixion.

Posing for the day was over. At the door, Pepita stopped. "Was He bad?" she asked.

"No, no; very good," Stenburg said. "Remember! Be here the day after tomorrow."

Each day that she came, she asked another question. "If He was good, why did they do it?"

Stenburg tipped his head to one side. "Listen! I will tell you once for all." Hurriedly, he repeated the facts of Christ's death, and as he talked he saw her black eyes fill with tears.

One day, both paintings were finished—the one of the crucifixion and the gypsy dancing girl. For the last time Pepita came to the studio. When she saw herself on the canvas, she clapped her hands with pleasure. Then she walked over to the other painting and stood silently. She turned to Stenburg. "You must love Him very much, Signor, when He has done all that for you; do you not?" Then she was gone.

Stenburg stood looking after her, but the street noises refused to drown out the sound of Pepita's voice: "Love Him very much when He has done so much for you."

All week he heard the question: "You must love Him very much, do you not?" His restlessness, his dissatisfaction grew. He could stand no more. He tried going to church, and the vicar gave him absolution. "All will be well," he said, but when Stenburg left his heart was still tormented.

He determined to present his masterpiece to the church at a fraction of its cost. He found the vicar and told him his decision. "For what you have done," said the vicar, "God be with you." But even such a wonderful gift as this brought him no peace. Stenburg knew God was not with him. All that was with him was the question: "You must love Him very much, do you not?"

He walked night and day up and down the streets of Dusseldorf, trying to shake off his sadness of spirit, but in vain. One night he idly watched a group of people hurrying through a low doorway. It was curious, he thought, that the people who entered looked so happy. One day Stenburg decided to go to the house. He entered and sat down with the happy people. He listened to the preacher, a man who seemed to have found what Stenburg was looking for.

That night Stenburg found the answer to the restlessness in his life. No church-going, no gift was enough! Jesus Christ had died on the cross for Stenburg; and at last the artist could say, "And how much I love Him!"

The next morning, he could not keep this joy to himself. "How can I tell others?" he asked himself. "I can paint," he said with decision.

And soon a great masterpiece was presented to the Dusseldorf gallery for every visitor to see, a sermon for all to hear.

One day he found in front of his picture a girl, weeping. She turned, and it was Pepita. "It is you, Signor," she cried out. "Oh, Signor, if He had but loved me so!"

They both sat in front of the painting and he told her the story of that wondrous death, and the glorious resurrection. "For all men, for gypsies, for everyone —Christ Jesus has suffered and bled on the cross. All this He did for thee, Pepita."

The gypsy girl was quiet. Then she looked up. "I believe it," she said simply.

Two years later Pepita died, trusting in Jesus. Her last words were, "All this I did for thee."

"The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20.

"I've Got Ten Years!"

William J. Schroeder, the recipient of the second mechanical heart, exclaimed exultantly from his hospital bed that the machine was "just a-pumping away" and it felt "like an old-time threshing machine." He added happily, "I've got ten years!"

Ten years—tethered to a plastic and metal pump.

Ten years—monitored and watched over and protected, surrounded always by medical technology, even though the best that science can offer.

Ten years—of life?

Yes, life. Not the way he would choose to live, but still life. "All that a man hath will he give for his life." Job 2:4. The human heart clings to life, struggles to live; sometimes we hear that "only the will to live" is keeping someone alive after all hope is gone, medically.

But ten years. One decade. The Seventies, for instance. That was one decade, and it wasn't so very long ago. We can remember it, can't we? And looking back, it doesn't seem very long. Will the next decade be longer? No.

The older we get, the faster the years fly by. "Soon shall I find, in passing on Time gone!" Then what?

Then, for us, time will cease to be. The old clocks will still be ticking, the days and months and years will be going on, but we shall have passed on into the timelessness of eternity.

And then?

Then LIFE, eternal life, "life everlasting," if we have received "the gift of God" which is "eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

Yes, that is what God has promised to all who will believe in His Son. "For 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.

Psa. 16:11 tells us, "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

What are ten years—or twenty years—or a lifetime—compared to that?

But there is the other side. While it is true that "he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," it is equally true that: "he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36.

You may not have ten years. You may not have even one year. If you have not already made your future sure do it now. Don't delay. Don't take a chance with your eternal existence.

"Acquaint NOW thyself with Him, and be at peace." Job 22:21.

The Silent Smoke Alarm

The firefighters were horrified when they entered the house. There in the bedroom were the lifeless bodies of a young mother and her two small sons. All three had died from a lack of oxygen as the fire blazed fiercely in their home. Fire department spokesman John Hansen held in his hands the charred remains of a smoke detector that had failed to sound the alarm.

"The battery wasn't in it," he said.

What a tragedy! Three lives were lost which might have been saved if only the smoke detector had had a battery in it.

No one likes the sound of a smoke alarm. Its strident shriek sets the nerves on edge and fills the hearer with alarm. But the noise, however unpleasant, is necessary if lives are to be saved.

Perhaps the warnings of the gospel message, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:4) and "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27) grate on your ears.

Perhaps you try to shut out the sound by saying, "That's for the alcoholic or the drug dealer; I'm O.K. "

Maybe you feel that there is plenty of time yet for you and you can postpone consideration of serious matters for a few years yet.

The warnings, however, are necessary. If they are ignored, or if their loud call of alarm is dulled or obliterated, the result is tragedy. Because of a smoke alarm which contained no battery, and so sounded out no warning, three people died. And if you close your ears to the warnings of judgment to come, the end result will be terrible—an eternity in hell without Christ.

Listen to the warning today. God warns you that "The wages of sin is death," but He goes on to tell you lovingly that "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

Won't you accept His gift right now and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior? He loves you and wants you to accept the forgiveness He is offering you.

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.

God Revealed

Nature reveals God as a God of wisdom and power; death as a God of judgment; and the cross, as a God of love. Gaze on that cross, and what does it say to you?

The Life Vest

Just imagine for a minute that you are a cement finisher standing on a narrow scaffolding. You are working on one of the trestles leading up to the main span of the Sunshine Skyway that towers far above your head. Below you is only the blue-green water of the Gulf of Mexico.

Suddenly you drop your concrete bucket and it falls into the water ten feet below. What do you do?

It happened just like that a few months ago. A construction worker on the bridge dropped his concrete bucket into the water, and what do you suppose he did?

Why, he threw off his life vest and jumped into the swirling water below. He came to the surface and co-workers threw him a rope, but it fell out of his reach. He sank below the surface again, and did not reappear.

Soon the company boats and the U.S. Coast Guard were searching the waters, but when at last a diver found the body it was just that—a body. Life had gone.

Now you are thinking that you wouldn't have thrown the life vest away; have you disregarded the "life vest" God has provide for us? That young worker lost his life because he trusted in his own strength. Are you trusting in something you can do for your own salvation?

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." Prov. 28:26. But he also says, "Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." Prov. 29:25.

We must "trust in the Lord." There is no other way of safety either here or hereafter. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12.

God’s Way

Many well-meaning persons think they will get to heaven by doing good, by going to church, or by being religious. They hope to merit heaven by something they can do or be, but that is not God's way.

Good as these things may be in their place, they are not the way to heaven. The way to heaven is Jesus. He said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." John 14:6.

?Take Me as I Am?

Oh, take me as I am;

Oh, take me as I am,

My only plea Christ died for me;

Oh, take me as I am.

The sweet voice sang on as the singer busied herself about her household duties. In an adjoining room lay her sick husband, a scoffer and unbeliever in the love of God.

During his long sickness, time hung heavily upon his hands. Anything that broke the monotony was welcome. Often his wife's tuneful voice was a source of entertainment and cheer to him. He listened idly as she sang her favorite songs. One hymn particularly she liked to sing.

Helpless I am, and full of guilt,

And yet for me Thy blood was spilled;

And Thou canst make me what Thou wilt,—

Oh, take me as I am.

Over and over the words were sung. At first it was only the melody that attracted the attention of the sick man, but then he began to think of the message expressed in the poetry.

Though he judged himself clever in his power of argument, these tender words condemned him as they sank deep into his conscience. He began to feel the need of something which he had never known.

God, by the Holy Spirit, was working, and little by little his self-confidence was shaken, and he began to see his sins and that he was guilty before God. As his wife sang on,

My only plea, Christ died for me;

Oh, take me as I am,

he broke down and cried out: "Will He really take me as I am? Will He receive one who has so often spoken against Him, and lived all his life in hatred and opposition to Him?"

Turning to the Lord he said: "Take me as I am!" In simple trust he cast himself upon Him who said: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.

And so it was that a blasphemous atheist was at once received and blessed. Joy and peace in believing filled his soul. He had passed from death to life from Satan's power to God. Thus the grace of God was shown, and another trophy of God's long-suffering was won.

"This Man receiveth sinners," (Luke 15:2) was said to the Savior in derision. But the message is blessedly true.

Have you come to Him?

"The Rest of His Time"

A young man is driving his motorcycle. He is 300 feet from work; he has the right of way; the street is clear. A car pulls out from a stop sign, then the squeal of brakes and the grinding impact of metal and flesh.

Now the sound of the ambulance, the skill of the doctors and nurses as they desperately try to save the life of a 20-year-old man. A few words of good-bye from anxious parents as he is transferred to a larger city hospital. All attempts fail. The sad news must be told to family and friends... DEAD.

If you had asked this young man the night before, "How long is the rest of your time?" could he have told you? No, he could not.

And now I want to ask you this same question. "How long is the rest of your time?" More solemn yet, where are you going when you do end this life? I am happy to tell you that for this young man it was to be with Christ, which is "far better." Yes, he knew the Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal Savior. Do you?

But you may say, "I am not such a bad person. I've never done anything really seriously wrong. I think everything will be all right with me when I die. I hope so, anyway."

The Word of God says, "There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:22, 23.

This takes us all in, you and me and also the young man in this accident. Have you ever in the presence of God told Him that you were a sinner? He loves you, my friend, and has provided a way that all your sins can be put away forever: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7.

This young man was my own son. I loved him so much, but I could do nothing to save his life. When he left home that bright sunny morning in June he just said good-bye and left. I did not send him out to die. I did not plan on the sad events of that day. But I know a Father who loved His Son with a deeper love than you or I can imagine. Yet He sent His Son to die! You know whom I am talking about: "The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." 1 John 4:14. Marvelous love!

The young man I am telling you about did not willingly give up his life. No, as we stood by him in that emergency room, we could sense the effort to live as his precious life ebbed away. But the blessed Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of the living God, gave His life for you and me. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. 1:15.

Now I want to be very personal with you. If your father were writing this paper about you, what would he say? Could he truthfully say of you, "He is 'with Christ; which is far better' "? Or would he have to say: "I don't know"?

Wouldn't you really like to have the question settled? Wouldn't you like to be saved? You can be. All the work for your salvation has been done for you by another. "Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things." Acts 13:38, 39.

God has made the way of salvation so simple and plain. We read, "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.

The title of this article is taken from 1 Peter 4:2: "That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." If you have accepted the Lord Jesus as your own personal Savior, I would encourage you to read your Bible daily, to be faithful to the One who died to redeem you and to live the rest of your time to the will of God.

Soul Satisfaction

Only God can satisfy your soul. When Alexander the Great conquered the whole known world, he was not content, but sat down and wept like a baby because there was no other world to conquer. The whole world did not satisfy him.

A Roman emperor who had exhausted the whole round of the world's pleasures offered a large reward to anyone who discovered a new one. Would that have given him lasting joy?

No, dear friend. Be assured of this one thing; without the love of Christ in your heart there is no peace, no joy, no happiness for you. Having Him, you will have that which alone can satisfy the yearnings of your soul, and afford you in every scene and circumstance abiding peace and joy and happiness.

"For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness." Psa. 107:9.

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.... Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matt. 11:28, 29.

"I Am the Lord's"

What comfort the true Christian finds in these words! The Lord Jesus has redeemed us with His own precious blood. "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:14.

He set such a value upon us that He bought us for Himself. "Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men." 1 Cor. 7:23. He will surely keep us. "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:5.

None shall pluck us out of His hand. "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand."

John 10:28. Our life is safe whatever may happen, for it is "hid with Christ in God." Col. 3:3. "Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." Rom. 14:8.

Tossed about though we may be by ever-changing circumstances, trusting in Christ we are entitled to say, "I am the Lord's." That will keep us in abiding peace. Come what will—pain or weariness, poverty or persecution, bonds or imprisonments, fire or flood—still the sweet words, "I am the Lord's," should enable us to say: "None of these things move me." Acts 20:24.

What strength it will give if these words, "I am the Lord's," are always in our thoughts! It will detach us from an evil world. It will keep us calm and patient amidst its confusion and disturbances. It will raise us above earth's pleasures, and protect us from Satan's dangerous devices.

We can then be anxious about nothing, careful only to please our Father. Whatever troubles may threaten, we can come with confidence, making our requests known unto God, and His own peace, according to His Word, "shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:7.

Death itself is not death to the believer. It is the entrance into life, free of all the hindrances that press us down here in this world.

Not only will peace be our portion, but joy will be ever bubbling up, knowing that, "He that shall come will come, and will not tarry," (Heb. 10:37): and "so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:17.

That blessed hope will soon be realized by all who are the Lord's. Is it not wonderful to belong to the Lord?

Are you the Lord's?

How Many Baths?

It is hot in India, hot and humid. The blazing sun beats down on the steaming land at midday, but in the early morning hours there is still a little of the night's coolness left. In the morning light the Ganges River flows softly, its waters reflecting the red and gold of hundreds of minarets and towers on the temples and shrines of the great city, for this is Varanasi, the holiest city in India. It is a peaceful, picturesque scene.

Beautiful, at least from a distance. A closer look reveals that the river is serving as an enormous sewer for the city and for the towns and villages above it. All sorts of trash float by, along with an occasional dead goat or monkey, a half-burned body from the ghats above or even a not-at-all-burned body of some beggar that was simply thrown into the river.

Now there is beginning to be a stir and movement along the banks of the river, and women are beginning to come down to the water walking alone or in groups. Surely these women will not touch that polluted water! But yes, one by one they go down to the river and unhesitatingly immerse themselves in it.

Who are they, and why do they do this?

They are widows, Hindu widows, and they are seeking to wash away their sin of widowhood.

All other Hindus are permitted to wash away their sins with one dip in the river, but a widow must do it daily every—single day—for as long as she lives.

When she is too old and feeble to go to the river friends will still bring her a copper urn of the sacred water every day.

About 10,000 widows live in Varanasi. Most are living in abject poverty, struggling to earn just enough to stay alive, but fervently and devoutly washing to make themselves clean.

Can water, no matter how clean and pure, applied to the outside of the skin make the heart inside clean?

Job says it this way: "If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me." Job 9:30, 31.

No; the purest water, the most frequent bathing, cannot wash away one sin. David, who wrote most of the Psalms, understood this when he prayed to the God he had sinned against, "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.... Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Psa. 51:2, 7.

A lifetime of washing in the Ganges can never cleanse the heart; the poor widows of Varanasi are throwing their lives away as surely as if they had followed the old Hindu custom of burning to death on their husband's funeral pyre. It is a hard, sad life they are doomed to, and all for nothing—for nothing.

The Word of God tells us that "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7. Yes, God offers cleansing from sin: "Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things." Acts 13:38, 39.

If only the widows could know that!

The Right Ticket

"So, John, you're really saved. You have been seeking salvation for a long time. How did you get saved at last?"

"Oh, it was the simplest thing in the world! I just presented the right ticket. I held it out; the door was opened and I entered in.

"The strange thing is, I found that the ticket of admission had been in my possession since childhood. I have been carrying it in my breast pocket for the last twelve months and never had the sense to use it."

"That is strange, for you were anxious to be saved. What kind of ticket was it, and what was written on it?"

"Why, it was as plain a ticket as you ever bought. It had nothing on it but the words: 'Admit the Bearer, A Sinner.' " (Luke 18:13,14.)

"Was that all?"

"Yes, and what kept me so long from being saved was that I always added something to the words on the ticket when I presented it. Whenever the Lord saw anything of my adding, it was refused.

"The first time I went, I wrote at the bottom: 'But not so great a sinner as many of my neighbors.'

"That did not admit me, so I rubbed it out and put down: 'But is doing the best he can to improve.'

"That would not do either, so I became more anxious. I prayed and wept awhile, and then under the words, 'Admit the bearer, a sinner,' I wrote, 'who is praying and weeping for his sins.'

"Even that wouldn't do. After that I began to despair, and wrote down: 'too great a sinner to be saved.'

"That only made matters worse. I had almost given up when I looked at Christ and heard Him say: 'I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.' John 10:9.

" 'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.' John 6:37.

" 'And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.' John 5:40.

" 'Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.' Rev. 22:17.

"I looked again at the parable of the Pharisee and publican, and saw that it was simply as a sinner that the publican went and was justified. He did not make his sins too great to be forgiven, nor too little to need forgiveness. He went just as he was, 'a sinner.' Trusting to the promised grace of God he went down to his house 'justified.'

"I remembered that Jesus had said: 'I came to call sinners to repentance.' So I pulled out the old ticket, and without adding a word, I presented it. It was accepted, and I entered."

"We Are Left - We Must Die"

This was the cry of one of the five left on the wrecked "S.S. Berlin," when they saw what they thought was the last lifeboat pulling away from the ship. It was leaving these poor, helpless creatures to face what they thought was certain death.

But an event is about to happen where a similar cry will be heard. We refer to THE COMING OF THE LORD for all His redeemed people.

The five were afterward rescued; they did not die, but when the Lord comes for His own the day of grace will end and the door will be shut. (Matt. 25:10.)

The effect on the world will be indescribable. Human language will fail to express in its terrible reality the fact that the last call has been given, and was neglected or rejected.

Those who are left behind will include all classes of unbelievers who would not receive God's offer of salvation—the fools who say in their heart that "there is no God"; the moral and the immoral; the sober and the drunkard.

Money, position in life, science, education, nothing under the sun will help in that day, for the universal cry will surely be: WE ARE LEFT! WE MUST DIE!

And you, where will you be? Among the raptured hosts in glory singing praises to the Lamb of God who bore your sins away? Or will you be with those who cry: "We are left! We are left! We must die!"

Left in your sins. Left for the grave. Left for judgment at the great white throne, where there will be no mercy. Left for an eternity with the devil and his angels, and in the very company you now try to avoid—in hell!

We urge you to settle this all-important question: the destiny of your immortal soul. A decision is necessary, for the Lord will soon come to take His own home to Himself. God Himself is speaking: "I would not have you to be ignorant... EVEN AS OTHERS WHICH HAVE NO HOPE. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus [Christians which have died] will God bring with Him.... For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout... then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:13, 14, 16, 17.

Time has nearly run out, for the "coming of the Lord draweth nigh." He is very near! "Behold, I come quickly." Your only hope is Christ. Come to Jesus NOW, for "now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2.

Do not wait any longer, for soon "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 1:7, 8.

Do not become one of these but "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18.

It's No Joke

How blind we are sometimes! When I was visiting a relative I met her daughter who was an earnest, faithful Christian. I had heard strange stories about her, of what seemed to me to be an extreme devotedness to the things of God. This had prejudiced me against her as I loved the world, and I thought her to be a "religious fanatic."

In her room one day I noticed she had her Bible lying on her table. I took it up and read on the flyleaf: "Helen Saunders; born 1895, born again 1916."

I laughed outright and said, "What a strange inscription!"

"I am glad to be able to say that it is true," she quietly remarked. To this I replied with a sneer: "They should put it in the newspapers."

Quietly again she answered, "Ah, Mary, it is too important and solemn to joke about. The new birth is real, and I can thankfully say it was the beginning of a new life of peace and happiness to me."

No more was said, but it was enough. That testimony to the reality of being born again stuck to me. God blessed it to me in making me think seriously of my lack of knowledge in eternal things, and I was never satisfied with my weak religious profession after that.

Through His mercy I was brought to know that I was a sinner, needing to believe on the Savior, to be "born of God," as we read in 1 John 5:1: "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." Now too, I can say, through grace, that in Christ I know what true happiness is.

"In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psa. 16:11.

Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.

Echoes of Grace: 1984

Table of Contents

Hold-Up!

It Is Finished!

"I Don’t Want It There!"

Man's Strange Sense of Values

”Called”

?Jesus Loves Me?

Do You Know Grace?

"I'm a Thief"

How Deep May I Drink?

O Word

?Father Forgive?

Alligators!

Jesus Saves!

A Sudden Call

The New Helmet

Believing Is Seeing

Family Trees

Spiders That Go to School

"Will He Do It Today?"

Christ Is the Answer

Only a Step

The Gospel Message

He Made the Coupling

A Wrong Diagnosis

A Life Changed

”Death With Dignity”

Lost at Sea

You Are a Marked Man

New Life―A "Must"

The Black Sheep

"All's Well That Ends Well"

Profit and Loss Statement

The Election

The Seeking Soul

Playing With Death

Excuses

"The Latter End"

Marooned!

There Is a Path

The Crossing Guard

God's Universe

Do You Know God?

Make up Your Mind

One Sin

God’s Time Is Now

Three Men on a Cross - Luke 23:37-43

The Hiding Place

All of Mankind

Was It Justice?

How to Have a Happy New Year

Let Us Alone

Your Greatest Need

Resting in Jesus

Settled Peace

Can Water Burn?

Trapped!

Christ or Self?

Christ in Japan

God's Way of Salvation

Time Its Short

"Runaways, Get Free Ride Home

The Way Made Plain

"Where To?"

The Big Question

Are You Ready?

Living With Danger

Why Am I Not a Christian?

Why Was the Epistle of John Written?

"Just as I Am, Without One Plea?

The Believer’s Destiny

A Waste of Time

No One Ever Cast Out

The Gobi Miner

The Most Beautiful Book

The Only Way

Do You Have Peace With God?

The Holiness of God

?When I Survey the Wondrous Cross?