Echoes of Grace: 1994

Linda was young and popular and pretty. Born into a comfortable home with “everything going for her,” she was at a loss to understand this sudden end to all her happy times. A fall while ice skating had severely damaged her spine and now, brought home at last from the hospital, she still must lie immobile for an indefinite time.

Her continual wail was, “I am doomed to lie here! Doomed to lie here!”

“Doomed to lie and look up!” answered a soft voice one day. Turning her eyes, Linda saw a cleaning woman who was carefully dusting the furniture in her room. As she turned to leave she emphasized her words with a pleasant glance and a smile of sympathy.

What did she mean by that? Linda thought. If it is meant for preaching, I will have none of it!

But the thought stayed with her. She could not see the floor nor the ground, but through her windows she could see a large tree. Because her eyes must rest on something, they began to focus on the view beyond the window. She soon became familiar with the birds who made the tree their home. She noticed the shadows cast by the sunlight, and the drip, drip of the rain. She looked at the clouds and marveled at the beauty of dawn, the glory of the sunsets, and watched the first star that smiled at her with its friendly beams.

Those who took care of her soon noticed the change and were relieved when she stopped complaining so much. Her mind seemed to have a new occupation.

When the cleaning woman and her dust cloths came next, the girl said, “Tell me something more about looking up.”

Promptly the woman replied: “It is a wonderful thing to look up, to see a glorified Saviour on the throne of God. But better yet it is to know Him and trust Him here and now.”

“Where did you learn all this? You seem to be so busy.”

“Work is a blessing,” answered the woman, “for when my hands are occupied with cleaning, my mind is free to be occupied with Him whose blood has cleansed me from all sin.”

Then she went on to tell the story of God’s grace to man in giving His Son to die for our sins. She explained the mighty work He did for us on the cross, a work none other could do, and she gently urged her to accept the peace and joy of simple belief in the Saviour. Gratefully the girl received Him into her heart, and was saved.

“And now,” said the maid, “I want to tell you a wonderful thing that once happened to me. I was doing housework for a lady. One day I was dusting the outside shutters and she called to me to take care of the baby who was sleeping in a cradle under the trees. Then in the kind way she always had toward everybody, she suggested: ‘Lie in the hammock a while, and look up! That is what I like to do when I am tired; I look up to God—I look up and love and trust Him.’

“And that is just what I did for nearly half an hour. Just as she told me, I looked up—and I keep looking up.

“When the lady came back she said, ‘Thank you! I hope you have seen that though each of us have many different duties here, the life above is for us all in equal measure when we are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.’

“Well, I went back to my work a different woman.”

Then she said a surprising thing to Linda: “You were that baby, and the gentle lady was your mother. She lived less than a year after that morning.”

From that time on Linda lay and looked up. Her whole life showed the love of Christ, and through her faith in Him she became a true witness for Christ.

They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. (Psalm 34:5.)

Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:7,8.)

The Helping Hand

The Amtrak “Sunset Limited” rolled on in the night through the bayou country. Bayous, rivers and bridges were the main features of the flat landscape, and the train was making good time. Nearing the end of the long trip from the west coast, the passengers were sleeping in comfortable berths or reclining chairs. Then—the jolt, the shock, the wild “roller coaster” motion, and the terrifying awakening. The train was suddenly plunged into the deep, dark water of Bayou Canot.

One car was only half submerged. The panic-stricken passengers inside were choking and blinded by smoke from a car burning near them. Amid the groans and cries of the injured someone yelled, “We’re all going to die!”

One young man, Michael Dopheide, borrowed a key-ring flashlight from a fellow passenger. Following its faint gleam, he scrambled to the higher part of the car. A piece of timber from the bridge had crashed through a window. Climbing outside, Dopheide clung to the timber and called to the others to follow. Holding on with his left hand, he reached out with his right hand to help people scramble through the window. Grasping firmly, he lowered them feet first into the water—a drop of about six feet. Those who could not swim to safety were perched on pieces of wreckage and floated across to a bridge support.

All told, about thirty people grasped that extended hand and were pulled from the wrecked car to safety. Gus Maloney, whose injured wife was rescued by Dopheide, said, “If there were any way to reward him, I would. We’ll be forever grateful.”

There is another hand stretched out—a hand stretched out to you and to me and to all souls in peril of eternal death. God says, All day long I have stretched forth My hands. All day, all night, those hands have been stretched out to rescue souls in danger. That hand is stretched out still and the way to eternal safety is still open. Only take it and, like Gus Maloney, you will be forever grateful.

Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? (Isaiah 50:2.)

The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save. (Isaiah 59:1.) v

How God Answered Prayer

“Jim, Jim—oh, Jim! Where have you been? Father and I have been up all night waiting for you.”

Jim, pale and shaking, had just stepped inside the door and pulled it quickly shut behind him. It was five o’clock in the morning.

“Mom! I’ve got to leave home! I got drunk again last night, and I—I—did something—I’ve got to leave, and I’d better not even let you know where I am.”

Jim’s mother, Mrs. Ackers, burst into tears. “Why, oh why, did you ever start in with that terrible drinking? We tried to bring you up right, but Jim—” her voice broke. “Oh, how I wish you had never started in with that drinking crowd.”

“Now don’t worry about me; it’s not your fault. I’m no good anyhow. But I’ve got to go now.”

“But Jim, can’t you wait till Father gets back? He went down to the police station to see if they had seen you or heard about you.”

Jim’s face got even paler. “How long has he been gone?”

“About forty-five minutes, I guess.”

“I’ll have to go at once. ‘Bye, Mom—I’ll try to see you again sometime.” And he was off.

“Do leave that drink alone, and start reading—” but Jim was already out of hearing.

Months passed. Not a word came from Jim. Every morning and every evening both mother and father knelt in prayer, pleading earnestly for their Jim. Months grew into years, and still no word from Jim.

“I heard this morning that Sam Hadley is to speak at a meeting downtown today, Mary; I’d kinda like to hear him,” said Jim’s father one day to his wife.

“I would too; I’ve heard so much about him. Let’s go.”

Sam Hadley, converted drunkard and mission worker, told what Christ had done for him: “You’ve often heard testimonies of folks telling how they found the Lord. I can’t tell anything like that,” said Sam. “I never found Him. I wasn’t looking for Him! But He found me!”

After the meeting the Ackers went up to speak with Mr. Hadley. They told Sam about their lost son. “God saved you from drink, and He can save our boy. Mr. Hadley, won’t you pray for him?”

“Indeed I will,” was the emphatic answer.

“You may run across him when you go to the coast; he’s out there somewhere. I got a letter from a friend of mine not long ago, and he told me he was sure he saw Jim in San Francisco. Mother and I have prayed for years for Jim. Let’s be definite, Mr. Hadley, and pray for him every morning at nine o’clock, our time.”

Impressed by the earnestness of the parents, Sam answered, “Yes, God willing, I will pray with you every morning at that hour.”

When Mr. Hadley reached the coast, Dr. Wilbur Chapman was holding an evangelistic meeting in Oakland. Seeing Sam Hadley sitting in the audience, it occurred to him to hold a midnight meeting that night with Hadley as the speaker.

When the hour arrived, every seat in the hall was taken. Dr. Chapman got up to make the introduction. Just then a man came onto the platform from the rear; he stood to one side, behind one of the wings. Evidently he had difficulty hearing there, for he tried to make his way up closer to the speaker without being noticed.

When Hadley began to speak, Dr. Chapman, now seated, saw the man trying to hear. So he stepped over to him and asked him to take the seat—the only one vacant in the house—that Sam Hadley, the speaker, had just got up from. The young man sat down.

When the sermon was over, Dr. Chapman rose to address the crowd for a few minutes. Sam Hadley took the seat left by Dr. Chapman. He edged his chair over to where the young man was, stuck out his hand, “My name is Sam Hadley.”

“I’m Jim Ackers,” was the simple response.

“Jim Ackers!” thought Sam to himself. “That’s the man we’ve been praying for! And here he is right by me!”

“Glad to know you,” he said to Jim. “How did you happen to come in the back way?”

“I heard about this service, and just thought I would come to hear how a drunkard could get saved. I came, and couldn’t get in. Just my luck, I thought. When I do want to hear the gospel, I can’t. But I went around the back and got in. And you know the rest.”

With that introduction it was easy to lead Jim to Christ!

Just as the meeting was about to close, Hadley stepped up and asked permission to say a few words more. Then he told the remarkable story, beginning with his conversation with the parents some time before. Turning around, Hadley said, “Jim, haven’t you got a word for us?”

Hesitantly, Jim came forward. In a voice at first weak and unsteady, but growing steadily stronger as he proceeded, he told the story of God’s mercy to him. In conclusion he said:

“Friends, tonight I’m saved through the grace of God. For years I’ve lived a drunkard’s miserable existence. I’ve been a fugitive from the law. My past is dark and sinful. But tonight, through the prayers of my mother and father, through the prayers of this man, as I have just learned, I have been led in a most unusual way and I have accepted Christ! My desire now is to live wholly for Him, and to right the wrongs of the past, as far as I can. Will you pray for me?”

There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth—imagine the joy in the Ackers’s home that night when they got word that Jim was saved!

The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7.)

Taste and See!

An atheist was lecturing on his beliefs to a large crowd. Having finished his address, he invited any who had questions to ask to come up on the platform. After a few minutes, a man stepped forward and, taking an orange from his pocket, coolly began to peel it.

The lecturer asked him to ask his question, but without replying the man finished peeling his orange and then ate it.

When he had finished his orange he turned to the lecturer and asked him if it was a sweet one.

Very angry, the man said, “How foolish! How can I know whether it was sweet or sour when I never tasted it?”

“And how can you know anything about Christ if you have not tried him?” answered the Christian.

O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. (Psalm 34:8.)

The Plank Bears!

Some years ago a ship was wrecked on the coast of Cornwall. All on board were drowned except one sailor boy who was washed on shore nearly dead. He lay for weeks sick in bed. A young Christian man visited him and spoke the gospel to him.

“When your ship was in pieces around you,” he said to the boy, “and you were sinking, if a plank had floated by you and you had been able to clutch it, and you felt it would bear your weight, would you have thanked God for that plank?”

“Yes,” said the boy, and he was led to understand that the “plank” for his sinking soul was Christ, and that he had only to commit himself to Christ as in drowning he would to the plank.

Many years afterward the same Christian man visited a hospital. A man was dying there, a stranger to him. “Is it well with your soul?” he said as he bent over him.

The dying man turned his head; there was a smile of recognition, a grasp of the hand, and he said, “God bless you, sir; the plank bears, the plank bears!”

The Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. (Psalm 34:8.)

None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate. (Psalm 34:22.)

Faith

There are two kinds of believing: first, a believing about God which means that I believe that what is said of God is true. This faith is rather a form of knowledge than a faith.

There is, secondly, a believing in God which means that I put my trust in Him . . . and believe without any doubt that He will be and do to me according to the things said of Him. Such faith, which throws itself upon God, whether in life or in death, alone makes a Christian.

Martin Luther

Choose Now

“Some day,” you say, “I will seek the Lord;

Some day I will make my choice;

Some day, some day, I will heed His Word,

And answer the Spirit’s voice.”

God’s time is now, for the days fly fast,

And swiftly the seasons roll;

Today is yours! It may be your last—

Choose life for your precious soul!

Choose now, just now! Your soul is at stake!

Oh, what will your answer be?

It’s life or death, and the choice you make

Is made for eternity.

Choose now, just now, for the Lord is here;

Must He for your answer wait?

Choose now, just now, while the call is clear—

Tomorrow may be too late!

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

The Cross and the Resurrection

Nearly two thousand years ago the greatest event of all time took place: the death and resurrection of the Son of God. Read the account of His death in Matthew 27:24-61, and marvel at the love of God in giving His Son to die for the blessing of humanity—for your blessing and for mine!

Though nearly two thousand years have passed since this took place, to the eye and heart of God and to the heart of the believer they are as fresh as though they happened yesterday. And think—whether your eternal destiny shall be in the depths of hell or in the heights of everlasting joy depends on how you receive for yourself the blessed Saviour whose death is here recorded. What is your relation to Him who died and rose again?

God in creation is marvelous, and His Son Jesus as seen by faith in His incarnation is wonderful indeed. His perfect, sinless life fills the soul with reverent awe, but more, far more, is the wonder that He, the Son of God, died. He died for us! Can you say, He died for me?

Consider the Man who is our blessed Lord. He went about doing good, meeting every need, showing by the power of His actions that He Himself was God. Was not every heart attracted to Him?

No! One of the little company that surrounded Him sold Him for thirty pieces of silver—sold Him and betrayed Him to His enemies. Another, though he loved Him, denied Him, and all forsook Him and fled.

The Man, Christ Jesus: behold Him bound, blindfolded, treated with every indignity by His creature, man. Led from one high priest to another, and then to Herod who sent Him back to Pilate. And we read: The same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together. They shook hands, as it were, on a pact to further the suffering and rejection of the Son of God.

Behold the Man, said Pilate—the Man mocked with a crown of thorns, with a reed in His hand, and wearing a royal robe in derision. Further indignity: some wretch smote Him on the head, driving those thorns deeper into His brow and increasing His pain and agony. Pilate could find no fault in Him, yet he gave Him up to His tormentors, to His executioners, to be crucified. He who always went about doing good was now going to die to finish His work of love and grace.

They crucified Him. No more solemn word in all Scripture! They—the polished Greek, the warlike Roman, the religious Jew—they all combined to put Him to death. They crucified Him between two thieves, outcasts of society. But one, even in that shameful hour, confessed, This man has done nothing amiss.

Can you say you have done nothing amiss? No, you cannot and neither can I, but Christ Jesus had done nothing amiss. Then why did He die for the one who had done so much amiss—so much wrong—for you and for me? He died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.

The poor thief looked at Jesus and trusted Him, but the rulers and the people mocked Him. Sitting down they watched Him there. They sat and gloated over His sorrow and suffering! What hearts theirs must have been! But—your heart and mine are exactly the same. We are identified with those soldiers who gambled for His garments beneath His dying eyes, and with the passing crowd who reviled and taunted Him in His agony.

What did they say? Himself He cannot save. That is not true. Himself He would not save, for had He come down from the cross He never could have saved you and me, never could have saved the countless millions He has saved since that day. Christ would not save Himself, that He might save you. There was an agreement between God and His Son that the work should be accomplished by which the guilty sinner might be rescued righteously from eternal judgment. When man proved his total depravity in the blackness of his heart at the crucifixion scene, then was the work of atonement done by which the very worst may be saved.

Then from the sixth hour [midday] there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. Darkness covered the land, with Christ the Creator suspended between heaven and earth upon the cross of shame, creation veiled its face from a scene so awful. Darkness covered the land, and in that darkness man was shut out and God dealt with Jesus about man’s sin, man’s guilt, man’s iniquity. For three long hours silence reigned and darkness prevailed until from that darkness came a desolate cry: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?

In the hours when all were against Him, when everyone had gone, God forsook this blessed One too. He was left alone in the darkness, in His deep sorrow and agony. There was none to take pity, none to share His grief. Denied the sympathy of loved ones, with no hearts to grieve nor eyes to weep with Him, He was left alone.

But the darkness passed. Then there came a mighty cry resounding to the heights of heaven and, I believe, down to the depths of hell—a cry that rent the rocks and shook the earth: IT IS FINISHED! And then another, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.

There upon that cross of shame the Lord Jesus bowed His head and dismissed His spirit. The moment the Saviour died, His work of redemption was accomplished and the power of death was annulled. His body was laid in the grave, in Joseph’s new tomb, and the entrance sealed with a stone.

Could death hold Him? On the morning of the third day, the first day of the week, Christ arose! An angel came and rolled the stone from the door of the sepulchre—not to let the Lord out, most surely, but the stone was rolled away so that you and I might look in. Come, see the place where the Lord lay, said the angel messenger. I know that ye seek Jesus. . . . He is not here: for He is risen, as He said.

Are you seeking Jesus? No dead Christ is now on the cross nor in the tomb. He is risen, as He said. On that third-day morning, Christ AROSE, the conqueror over sin, death and the grave.

He arose, and has ascended to God’s right hand. Look up in faith today and see Him there crowned with glory and honor. Let your eyes feast upon Him, your heart cling to Him, and your soul worship Him, for He is worthy.

The Wrong Estimate

A gospel preacher went down into a coal mine during the noon hour to tell the miners of that wonderful grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. He told them the story of God’s love to lost sinners and of the full and free salvation offered to all who will receive it. When the time came for the men to resume work, the preacher returned to the shaft to go up to the outer world again. Walking along with the foreman, he asked him what he thought of God’s way of salvation.

The foreman answered, “Oh, it is too easy—too cheap! I can’t believe in such a religion as that.”

The preacher asked quietly, “How do you get out of this place?”

“Simply by getting into the cage,” was the reply.

“And does it take long to get to the top?”

“Oh, no; only a few seconds.”

“Well, that certainly is very easy and simple. But do you need to raise yourself?” asked the preacher.

“Of course not! All you have to do is get into the cage and it will take you to the top.”

“But what about the people who designed all this and sunk the shaft? Was there much labor, thought and expense about it?”

“Yes indeed! That was a hard and expensive job! The shaft is eighteen hundred feet deep, and it was sunk at great expense to the owners. It is our only way out of the mine, and without it we would never be able to reach the surface.”

“Just so. And when God’s Word tells you that whosoever believes on the Son of God has everlasting life, you at once say, ‘Too easy! Too cheap!’ You forget that God’s work to bring you and others out of the pit of destruction and death was accomplished at an infinite cost, the price being the death of His Son on Calvary.”

Men talk about the “help of Christ” in their salvation—that if they do their part, Christ will do His. They forget that the Lord Jesus Christ by Himself purged our sins, and that their part is only to accept what He has done.

When He [Christ] had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3.)

You and I deserved to die eternally on account of our sins, but Christ died for us. The punishment that we deserved He took. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, and now the Lord declares, By Him all that believe are justified. (Acts 13:39.)

The Convict

“Well, friend, you haven’t much longer to serve,” said a guard to a convict. “What do you think of doing when you leave here?”

The convict straightened himself up and gruffly asked, “What?”

The guard repeated his question, “What will you do when you leave here?”

The defiant answer came promptly: “The first thing I’ll do will be to kill a policeman.”

“Oh! The first thing you’ll do when you leave here will be to kill a policeman?” slowly repeated the guard.

“Yes,” said the convict. “He gave the evidence that sent me up, and he’ll have to pay for it.”

“Well, after you’ve murdered the policeman, what then?”

“Then I’ll be caught and locked up. You know I can’t get far away from the pen,” he said recklessly and with a bitter laugh.

“And after you’re caught and locked up, what then?”

“Then I’ll be tried and sentenced.”

“Yes, and after you are tried and sentenced, what then?”

“Then it’ll be death row and the hot seat, I guess.”

“And after you’re electrocuted—what then?”

There was no answer.

The man’s thoughts had never traveled beyond death, and he was startled.

“Have you a Bible in your cell?” asked the guard.

“Yes, and I’ve read it through, often, to kill time.”

“Well, have you ever read, God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life?”

“No, that isn’t in my Bible! I’ve read it through over and over, and it isn’t there—no, that isn’t in my Bible.”

“Well, when you go back tonight, you look up John 3:16 and you’ll find those words.”

“John 3:16,” the man repeated. “Yes, I’ll look! I’ll look, but it isn’t in there!”

The next morning the guard was watching for the convict, and as soon as he saw him he said, “Well, friend, did you read John 3:16?”

“Yes! I’ve read it,” he answered, “and I didn’t know it was there. But do you mean to tell me that it means me? Me! A con for so many years?”

“Yes, oh yes! It means you. It is God’s Word, and God always means what He says. You are one of the world, aren’t you? And God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!”

The hard and bitter convict burst into tears. When he could speak he said, “I’ve never known what love was since my mother died. I was only five years old then, and later my father kicked me out of the house. Since then I’ve knocked about the world, and every man’s hand has been against me—and I’ve been against them. Yesterday when you spoke to me I had murder in my heart. But I can’t murder the policeman now! God loved me! God gave His Son for me!”

He believed, and he received everlasting life. The same promise is offered to you today. Have you believed it? Have you received the gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ?

Which Thief?

“Oh, of course, I intend to be saved sometime! But there is no use in being in a hurry about it; I’ll take my chance, even at the eleventh hour. Remember the dying thief in the Bible!” This was the careless answer of a young man when spoken to about his soul.

“Which thief?” pointedly asked his questioner.

“Why, I had forgotten there were two. I mean the saved one,” was the reply.

“Yes, one was saved and is in heaven now. The other, who had an equal opportunity for salvation, is in hell. How can you be sure that you will not spend eternity as he will? Remember, those who plan to be saved ‘at the eleventh hour’ frequently die at 10:30!”

Startled, the young man realized the danger of waiting too long, and that night he received the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and was saved for eternity.

Like him, thousands forget there were two thieves. They remember the mercy of God that saved one, while forgetting the judgment of God that condemned the other. Carelessly they wander on, hoping to be saved at last, but oh, how many who have heard the gospel again and again postpone a decision until it is too late and they are lost forever.

One thief believed on the Son of God, and is with Christ now. One thief scorned the Saviour, and went to hell. You must be with one or the other for eternity. DON’T risk waiting for “the eleventh hour”! v

“Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2

The Gospel

Christ’s words to a ruler of the Jews come ringing down the ages: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3.)

When Nicodemus 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.

Have you entered into this experience? Do you know Christ as your personal Saviour? If not, will you accept Him now?

God’s Word says in John 5:24: 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.

And to every doubting Christian comes God’s own assurance: These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; (not that you may think, not that you may hope, but) that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life. (1 John 5:13.)

When the Saviour Came My Way

You ask me why I love the Lord.

Well, friend, just let me say

Life was not worth the living

Till the Saviour came my way.

You say I lose so much in life.

Yes, friend, PRAISE GOD, I do!

lose the sin and sorrow

Which was all I ever knew.

I lose the days spent seeking joy,

The long nights full of tears;

I lose the heavy burdens

Which I carried through the years.

But, friend, I would not have them back

For all that you could pay.

My life was not worth living

Till the Saviour came my way.

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

The Power of the Word of God

A scientist who believed in neither heaven nor hell was constantly irritated by his Christian housekeeper. Continually reading and praying for herself and quoting the Bible and singing hymns in his hearing as she went about her work, she annoyed him greatly.

The scientist tried to argue her out of her belief by telling her of the tremendous power of the human mind. He claimed that man’s intellect and ingenuity could satisfy every human need.

The woman wondered how she could answer his arguments, and prayed for wisdom. At last a scripture came to her mind that she felt sure the Lord had given her for him. Reverently she quoted it: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5.)

Not long after this, the scientist was reading the biography of a well-known atheist. It told the story of how this man, while joking about the faith of a Christian friend, was accidentally struck by a falling brick and lost his reason. A woman who witnessed the scene cried out: “Poor man! Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” As the scientist read the story, he remembered that those were the very words which had been quoted by his own housekeeper.

Restless and uneasy, the scientist went to visit a friend. On a table lay an open Bible. He picked it up, and his eyes fell on that same passage: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Startled, he said to himself: “Three times these same words have come before me. Is it a voice from God? Yes, it must be! Oh God, it is Thy voice speaking to me—a sinner. I confess my dreadful error and sin. Oh, most righteous and holy God, forgive this fool!”

Earnestly he pleaded for mercy, and the Lord graciously pardoned him. What joy there is in the presence of the angels over one sinner who repents!

If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared. (Psalm 130:3,4.)

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7.)

"Tomorrow You Die!"

When the West was young and the web of railroads was first being spread across the country, John Davis held a contract to build a section of one of those railroads. With a gang of about three hundred men, he was working far from civilization.

It was a rough country and most of the men were well suited to it. They were hard workers, and hard fighters too. They distrusted their bosses, and with good reason. There had been many instances of contractors leaving without paying the men’s wages, and it caused them to regard the whole class with suspicion.

However, John Davis had made all his payments of wages to men regularly, and his crew went on with little disturbance. But there came a time when the company which was building the road failed to send the money for payments, and there was nothing he could do but promise and hope from day to day.

At length the storm broke. An indignation meeting was held, in the belief that Davis was somehow holding their money. The men resolved to hang him unless he should produce the cash quickly. A deputation went to him with the decision: “If we do not get our pay, remember this. At nine o’clock tomorrow morning you die.”

There was no hope whatever but that the threat would be executed. There was no possible way of escape, and death by hanging stared him in the face as the inevitable result of the hopeless situation.

The night dragged slowly by and morning came at last. He saw that it was eight o’clock and that only one hour of life remained. Then a faint sound was heard, a sound that rapidly grew louder and became the hoofbeats of a fast-ridden horse down the trail.

It was the courier with the payroll! John Davis’s life was spared, and instead of a hanging, the men rushed for their money and began their usual celebration.

Davis was totally innocent of stealing the money due the men. He had been a good contractor, kind and careful with his men and a prompt paymaster, but they were ready and willing to hang him. If they had succeeded, the general verdict would have been: unjust lynching—a wicked murder.

Right! But what of another murder, a murder far worse than this would have been? It is a murder with which we are all identified, for all the world stands guilty before God of the murder of His Son, Jesus Christ. Do you stand with the Lord Jesus Christ—or with His murderers?

Jesus said, He that is not with Me is against Me. Have you taken your stand on the Lord’s side? It is not necessary to commit an actual murder. According to the law, one who is an “accessory after the fact” can be held to be equally guilty.

The amazing thing about Christ’s death on the cross is that He prayed, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do, and because of that death on the cross, God can forgive the guiltiest of sinners. Why not accept that full and free forgiveness? Why not prove for yourself that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin?

“Away with this Man. . . .
Crucify Him!”

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them!”

Luke 23:18,21,34

Once Too Often

He did it once too often! Who? A boy whose terrible mistake launched him into eternity within the twinkling of an eye.

What did he do once too often? He ran to cross the railroad tracks before the whizzing express train. It was his habit to wait until the last moment and then dash across right in front of the oncoming train, laughing as the engine almost brushed his very heels.

But he did it once too often. A miscalculation of the distance, a slip, a stumble, or the extra speed of the behind-schedule train: somehow or other he was caught and in an instant crushed to death.

Where? In the town of Valparaiso, Indiana.

You may do it once too often! Who? You! You may be sane and rational in everyday affairs, but you may be acting insanely towards your far more important soul.

What may you do once too often? Risk your soul! Once too often you may take a chance with your soul—once too often you may assume that there is plenty of time and that it is safe to postpone the most important decision of your life.

You may take that chance once too often. Where? In a land with Bibles on every side, in a land with privileges unparalleled and where no one need perish in the dark or miss an entrance into heaven because they cannot learn the way.

Jesus says, I am the way. Receive Him as your Saviour now. Don’t refuse His love any longer. Remember, you may do it once too often.

“How shall we escape,
if we neglect
so great salvation?”

Hebrews 2:3

Not Law, but Jesus

When first I thought upon my way,

My soul was dark—I could not pray;

A twilight seemed to break within

And showed my heart was full of sin.

The voice of God came from on high:

The soul that sinneth, it shall die!

And what to do I did not know,

The fear of death disturbed me so.

Before the law I stood condemned,

A sinner—lost—without a friend.

Is there no way—is it too late

To save me from my awful fate?

I then resolved to cease from sin

And have my conscience pure within.

To do good works I tried and tried—

“No mercy here,” the law replied.

The precious Saviour then I saw,

For me He was the end of law.

On His shed blood I then relied:

It was for sinners Jesus died.

“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

My Only Chance

One June day in 1969 the USS Constellation lay out in the Pacific Ocean about 200 miles off the coast of San Diego. Two flight crewmen went out on the flight deck to saddle up on their F-4 twin-engine two-place fighter bomber. They climbed into the aircraft and turned it on; the huffer came up and blew hot air through the turbines as the raw fuel was poured in. The pilot hit the igniter switch; the fuel was ignited; the turbines were tuning up—two General Electrics at 17,000 pounds of thrust each—straining at the cable and ready to launch.

The pilot saluted the flight deck officer; he saluted back and then touched his forefinger to the ground. This was the signal to the man in the tower who then gave the signal to the man underneath. The buttons were pushed and 85,000 pounds of material were hurled off that flight deck into what was supposed to be a flying attitude in less than two seconds—0 to 200 knots.

I was sitting in the back of that airplane. When we came to the end of the flight deck the nose of that aircraft was supposed to be pitching up. It was pitching down. You have 80 feet—seconds—less than seconds. I saw the flight deck rising above me on the right. I saw the gyro getting blacker and blacker and knew there were just seconds left.

I pulled the handle. The back canopy lifted off and I shot out. The pilot in the front seat was yelling, “Eject! Eject!” but he was talking to himself—I was already gone! His canopy went off and he went out too.

There was a rocket seat under me that shot me up 250 feet into the air, and on that June evening I was going around in circles! I saw the stars and then I saw the ocean, and then I saw the stars again. Then my whole seat appendage came off, as it’s programmed to do, and the chute popped open.

I was pretty close to the water, but I was going 200 knots, and when I hit the water, I hit it at a lateral angle with velocity. Somehow I rolled. I popped the two little cords on my life vest that activate the CO2 cartridges to inflate the life vest. I rolled a little bit and I popped the cock fittings to get rid of my chute, but somehow in the roll the shroud line from my chute had gotten caught in the back of my survival vest and I couldn’t get it loose.

I got my equilibrium and looked up and saw the ship going by me. (The ship was 1000 feet long with 5000 men aboard; it was a seagoing city.) As it passed by me I could see the men up on deck throwing their little hand lanterns down. It was just about dark and they saw me down there so they were throwing down their flashlights so that the helicopter crew would know where I was.

I was trying to get the cord untangled from my harness, but it wouldn’t budge. The ship went by and the first wave from the ship swamped me. I went under the water and I didn’t know if I was coming up. I came up for a breath and, as the ship went by, the big screws were right near me.

The helicopter came right to where I was struggling in the water. The pilot could see where I was and, hovering right over my head, he dropped down on a line the harness that I was to get into to be lifted up to the helicopter. He was really close to me so I grabbed the line, but I was still attached to the parachute and it was all under water. The pilot shouted down through his megaphone, “Pilot, get away from your chute!” because he didn’t want to be dragged down into the Pacific Ocean as well.

I didn’t really want to let go of that line, because I’d already been under the water a couple of times, but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to be lifted up with the chute attached. So there I was in the Pacific Ocean, treading water for all I was worth. That was the last place I wanted to be, but I had no choice. I let go of the line and backed off, and the helicopter pilot pulled up the line and sent down a swimmer to come around in back of me and loosen that cord that I couldn’t get loose of myself.

I just got my nose above the water when there was the swimmer right beside me. He wasn’t shouting at me with his megaphone, giving me instructions on how to swim to land 200 miles away—I couldn’t do it.

He wasn’t telling me how to scale the wall of the ship to get back up where I belonged—I couldn’t do it.

I was absolutely helpless and at the mercy of what someone else could do for me. So the swimmer came down and got me untangled and then I was able to take hold of the harness they had sent down.

If you have never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you are in a worse position right now than I was at that moment. You can’t get loose from your sins. You’re going to drown in them. You’re heading for the depths of judgment with your sins still dragging you down. The sins that you have committed have put you where you are today, and the worst is yet to come.

The very things that I had depended upon were dragging me under, and you may be in the same position. Your good intentions, your good works, your accomplishments are all a load on your back which is dragging you down to judgment. I had one chance and one only, and that was to lay hold of what had been provided for me right there at that time.

Now imagine the situation if I were treading water there and saying, “I’m going to try a little longer,” or, “I’m going to wait for another helicopter.” How long are they obligated to sit there and wait in patience and grace for me to take hold of what was perfectly suitable for me? How long is God obligated to strive by His Spirit with the world of men? I can guarantee that God’s offer of salvation is available to you right now, but I can’t guarantee you tomorrow.

I took hold of that harness and they lifted me right up into the helicopter and took me back to the ship. And I was thankful—I was really thankful. And I’m thankful that God has reached right down to where I am and given me the Saviour. 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.

It cost the Navy a certain amount to provide that helicopter to rescue me that day. What did it cost God to provide the Saviour of sinners for you and me? The Lord Jesus went to Calvary’s cross. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. And He is still inviting you to come to Himself and offering you a free and perfect salvation and an eternity with Himself in heaven.

It is all free to you, but it cost God the death of His Son to make it available. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. He is available today that you might be saved. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

The Despised Book

A young Jewish Rabbi was visiting a friend who was an atheist. This young man prided himself on being broad-minded, and filled his bookshelves with a mixture of writings to prove it. On the shelves he even had a small copy of the Bible, which attracted his friend’s attention.

“What is this?” the Rabbi asked, picking up the volume.

“Oh, that is the Christian’s book,” came the answer in disparaging tones. “Don’t trouble yourself with it.”

But the young man had already glanced at the Book, and had seen the opening words of the gospel by Matthew: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

Those few words had made the despised book interesting. What! Jesus Christ, a son of David and a son of Abraham? As his friend noticed him still regarding it thoughtfully, he repeated: “It is the Christian’s book, and of no account.”

“But I should like very much to read it,” replied the Rabbi.

“Very well, then,” said the unbeliever with a mocking smile; “take it. I give it to you as a present.”

Not to be discouraged by the remarks of his friend, the Rabbi put the scorned book in his pocket and went home. There, in a quiet place where he would not be disturbed by anyone, he devoted himself to the study of the remarkable Book.

He read the whole of the New Testament to the end. Then he resolved to compare it with the Old Testament, so he began reading through it as well. He did this with increasing excitement. When he came to Daniel 9:26, he read: Messiah [shall] be cut off, but not for Himself.

“Here,” he said, “is absolute certainty. The despised, crucified Jesus of Nazareth is none other than our promised Messiah!”

When he again read the New Testament from beginning to end, it became clear to him that not only did he, in his heart, believe in this Christ, but that he must confess Him with his mouth. He did not hesitate to do so. He went to his friends and announced to them that the rejected Nazarene was indeed the Saviour whom Jehovah had promised to His people in the Holy Scriptures.

Great blessing has resulted from that little Book, which was considered “of no account” by the atheist. Hundreds have thereby heard the glad tidings of Jesus, the Saviour for Jews and Gentiles, and many of them have departed this life with the precious name of Jesus on their lips.

God has said in His Holy Word: So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11.)

A Delinquent Reclaimed

By the time Leonard Dean was seven he was familiar with juvenile court. At ten he was living in reform school. “Graduating” from there, he was just a drifter. Somewhere along the way he had gained a wife, but at last he beat her so brutally that he was sent to prison.

Coming out of prison during World War II, at once he enlisted. After a quick training, he was sent overseas. He rather hoped a sniper’s bullet would end his miserable life, but while others fell around him, he was spared.

One night behind the lines he heard the singing of a hymn he had learned in his early years. Nightly services were being held by a group of Christian servicemen. The deep-toned voices of the men were not like the clear, bright notes of long ago, but old memories crowded into his mind. He wished he could go back to childhood and start afresh! But this was impossible! Any day he might be lying in some bullet-riddled spot. The old hymn was not for people like him!

In fact, if these people only knew what he was, they would order him away. He wouldn’t wait for that, so he started to leave. Just at that moment he caught the words of the hymn:

Tell me the story softly,

In earnest tones and grave,

Remember, I’m the sinner

Whom Jesus came to save.

He felt as though some kind friend had spoken, and he waited until the hymn was finished. Again he was on the verge of leaving, but he was held back, as by an invisible hand.

The softly spoken word of the text was: “Come.” The speaker seemed to be speaking to him when he commented: “This is the mother word. We think of her outstretched hands teaching us to walk, and inviting us to her arms for comfort or forgiveness. It is the voice of Jesus who speaks it now to you, whoever you may be. His is a greater love than a mother’s. He lived for you and died for you—COME! He will forgive and bless and make you a blessing. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Come!”

“Oh, dear Jesus, I do come—just as I am.” At that moment the soldier opened his heart to the Lord and passed from death to life. Could such a cry from his heart go unheeded? Didn’t the Saviour say, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest?

After the meeting he said, “This is the happiest day of my life. Now I can write to my wife and tell her the good news. It will be the best she has ever heard.”

That same night, putting his hand on the shoulder of another soldier, he urged him to turn to the Saviour of sinners. Without a word the man followed him into the after-meeting.

“Here’s a fellow who wants to come, too,” said Leonard. “I know he does.”

Leonard was right, and soon he had the joy of seeing his friend come to the Saviour.

Have you heard by faith the Saviour’s voice, “Come unto Me”? He is not asking you to DO anything. The work is DONE. Listen to His dying words: It is finished. The work of redemption was completed on the cross, and the Victim on the cross is now the Victor on the throne of God.

“Come!” ’tis Jesus gently calling,

“Ye with care and toil oppressed,

With your guilt howe’er appalling—

Come, and I will give you rest.”

For your sin He “once has suffered,”

On the cross the work was done,

And the word by God now uttered

To each weary soul is “Come!

"I Need Thee, Oh, I Need Thee"

A Christian mother was up late one night, unhappy and almost desperate. Over the radio came the sound of a gospel broadcast. The hymn being sung was:

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord,

No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Peace? This woman felt no peace. For four months her husband had been ill with a heart problem and he was unable to work. Tonight her little daughter was fretfully tossing with a fever. The house was not as warm as it should be. With her husband disabled, the bills had been mounting up. The fuel company refused to give her any more credit until she paid what she owed. A letter had come that day from her son who was in the service. He was coming home on leave before being sent to a faraway troubled spot. Weary, and with no one to turn to for help, she felt she could not bear it any longer.

The choir sang on:

I need Thee, oh, I need Thee; every hour I need Thee!

Oh, bless me now, my Saviour—I come to Thee!

Automatically, the mother’s voice joined in the chorus. Her singing was shaky, for tears were close, but the words were a cry from her heart. The Saviour who had saved her was at hand to help, even now. He heard her cry for help, and His tender voice did bring peace to her heart. As she tried to sing the familiar words, a spasm of crying relieved her tension and she was calm again.

“I still have my husband,” she reminded herself. “Things may be hard now because he can’t work, but the Lord will take care of us. Susie will probably be much better in the morning. Though my boy is sent so far away, I am to have 21 days with him before he goes. And the Lord can keep him as safe there as at home.”

The matter of the fuel seemed like an impossible mountain just a few minutes ago. Now it wasn’t. She asked the Lord for wisdom, and then visited the company’s office and arranged to pay her bill in small payments, and they sent more fuel!

How quickly all that had seemed so hopeless was cleared up! She had renewed her trust in her Saviour, and He had fulfilled His promise of peace to her heart.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27.)

Have you received that gift of peace? v

In the Zinc Mine

“It happened in the old Pacific Zinc Mine, Missouri Pacific Depot, at Carthage, Missouri. I was in the habit of going over to the mine and sometimes would go down underground to see how things were progressing. (My father was one of the owners at that time.)

“I went down one day about noon, and the men were preparing a blast which was to be set off just before the lunch hour, so as to give the smoke time to clear away before they resumed their work after dinner. I was lowered in the bucket and reached the 200-foot level. I started down the drift, which was high enough to let me walk with ease, and passed the point where the drift diverts in two sections.

“I was examining the walls for shines, as the little patches of ore are called, when I was startled by a warning cry from the miners. I started to run to the other drift and had just reached it when a heavy blast went off. It shook the ground and filled the whole mine with smoke and the odor of powder.

“Stunned by the explosion, I groped around trying to find the shaft. I finally reached a place where a ray of light could be seen in the distance. It was the hole that connected the main shaft with the level and air shaft beyond.

“The hole was just large enough to permit a man to crawl through, and this was what I tried to do. I made a good beginning, but when my head protruded in the drift beyond, I realized that I was stuck. In roaming about the main level I had gathered a number of specimens of ore and had put them in my pockets, and this had caused the trouble.

“I could not move forward or backward—I was really stuck. I called for help and struggled for what seemed a long time. Then I fell asleep from exhaustion. I was awakened by a roaring sound, and realized it was a train passing over the drift nearly 200 feet above.

“A new danger came into my mind. What if they should turn loose another blast? Wedged in that ventilation hole as I was, the concussion of an explosion might well be fatal. I shuddered to think of it, and made a desperate effort to release myself. I could not. I shouted for help with all my might; at last someone heard me. It was not long before I was on top of the earth again, and that was my last time in a zinc mine!”

Most of us don’t have pockets full of zinc ore, but we do have our pockets figuratively filled with possessions—with hopes and plans—with duties. Little things, perhaps, harmless in themselves, but they must not be allowed to keep us from obeying the words of the Lord Jesus: Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

Nothing—nothing else comes first.

If those samples of zinc ore could have been miraculously changed to pockets full of diamonds, would the man in the tunnel have said, “Forget about being saved! I’ll stay here with my diamonds”?

Not likely! And wouldn’t he have been a fool if he did? He would have given every stone to save his life; how much more important is the saving of an immortal soul!

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26.)

He Loves You!

Do you ever long for love, for a friend who can sympathize with all your troubles, and whose love will never fail? Jesus is such a friend. He loves you! Just think of that. Jesus Christ loves you!

What will you do with that love? Reject it? Neglect it? Slight it? Scorn it? Wouldn’t you rather come now to Him who loves you so much?

The love of Jesus is the most precious thing you can have. He loves you! He comes to you now in His mercy and calls you to Himself—calls you to receive His love.

Sin in your heart keeps you unhappy. It makes you proud, hateful, envious. Sin will destroy you forever if you are not saved from it. Do you not want to be set free from the dominion of sin? Jesus only can save you, for the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What will you do with the love of Jesus? It is for you; it is yours to receive or refuse. Will you receive it, or will you refuse it? Will you come to Him now and let Him save you? This One who loves you, wants you to come to Him, to trust Him, that He may save you and take all your sins away. Will you trust in Him as your Saviour—your Lord—your Deliverer from sin?

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.)

Happiness

People all around us are seeking for happiness, hoping to find just one thing more that will make them perfectly happy. But they are looking in the wrong direction.

Happiness is only to be found in the knowledge of God; it cannot be attained by any amount of fame and fortune on earth. I once asked a current, popular sports figure if he found his life a happy one. He answered: “Yes—when I’m winning!”

A pretty temporary happiness, isn’t it?

Now, what about yourself? Are you happy?

No, I know you’re not, if you are still a stranger to Jesus. Happiness—real, true, lasting happiness—is not to be found in the world—not in pleasure, nor money, nor position in the world. It is to be found in Christ alone.

Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace, and happiness can be yours.

Storm Clouds

In storm clouds gathered darkly ’round,

My great Deliverer I’ve found.

He brought them so that I would seek

His mighty hand, for I am weak;

So in the greyness of the morn,

My re-awakened faith is born!

If there were no clouds in view,

If my trials were too few,

I might forget to take my place

Around the blessed throne of grace.

But, praise His name forevermore!

He keeps a few clouds hovering o’er!

“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.” 1 John 5:13

"Rejoice, for the Lord Brings Back His Own!"

But all through the mountains, thunder riven,

And up from the rocky steep,

There arose a glad cry to the gates of Heaven,

“Rejoice, I have found My sheep!”

And the angels echoed around the throne,

“Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!

The song came ringing out on the frosty air of the late October morning, and the hills sent back a triumphant echo.

Around a bend of the road appeared the singer, tall and strong, carrying in his arms the sheep he had spent the hours of the night seeking. The animal was trembling with cold. The man looked at it with a smile, saying, “You poor sheep, why did you wander away? Did you think the rocks and stones on the bare hills were more nourishing than the green grass in the valley? Did you think you were safer among the wolves than with your friends at home? Why did you turn your back on your shepherd who never turned his back on you?”

Here he paused as he discovered a man standing near one of the buildings, a young man—a stranger.

He looked him over, and then asked: “Who are you?”

“Who? Me? I’m nobody.”

“Where are you from?”

“Everywhere.”

“Where are you bound for?”

“Anywhere.”

“Where do you belong?”

“Nowhere.”

“Do you want a job?”

“I would be glad of a job, if I could only get away from my present boss.”

“Who is your boss?”

“Satan.”

“Does he pay good wages?”

“Good wages? No. But big wages, yes.”

“What kind of wages?”

“Hunger enough for a dozen men. Rags, desolation, shattered nerves, ruined character and a burning appetite for the thing that brought about my ruin.”

The shepherd stood for a moment in deep thought and said to himself: I’ve spent half the night in trying to rescue a four-legged sheep. Dare I drive this two-legged one from my door and make no effort to save him?

Looking up, he said to the tramp: “You look to me as if you could eat some breakfast. How about it?”

The young man straightened up and said, “Thank you, sir. I’m very hungry, but I don’t deserve anything.”

“Young man,” was the reply, “I never turned a hungry man from my door, and I never will, by God’s grace.”

After putting the sheep with the others, the shepherd led the young man up to the house where his wife stood in the doorway. His coming she had known when she heard, a half hour before the welcome news, “Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!” ringing out throughout the valley. After both men had washed, they sat down to the table to eat the bountiful breakfast. Robert West, the shepherd, very reverently asked the Lord’s blessing on the food.

While West gave his wife an account of his search for the lost sheep, their guest ate as only a hungry man can. Plainly, he was thinking as well as eating, and thinking with a purpose.

When the meal was over the host read, from the fifteenth chapter of Luke, the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son and offered up an earnest prayer for all wandering ones. During this prayer the young man, kneeling with the others, was deeply moved. At the close when the Wests sang together, “Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!” the wanderer burst into tears.

“Friend,” he said, “for nearly two years I have wandered over the country with the shadow of my wretched self falling on the path ahead of me. This morning, bowing here, I acknowledged my sin and put my trust in the Lord Jesus. Sir, the shadow of myself is behind me since I have turned my face and heart to the light, and I ask your prayers and help that God will strengthen and keep me till journey’s end. It was His will that you should bring back this wandering sheep, as well as the one you brought back earlier this morning.”

With joyful tears the three could now sing together, “Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!”

There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke 15:10.)

You Can't Take It With You

Big headlines proclaimed:

“HEIR TO FOUR MILLION DOLLARS
LIES IN PAUPER’S GRAVE.”

A newspaper writer commenting on it said, “Every heir to four million or four hundred million, lies in a pauper’s grave. Every corpse is a pauper. There are no pockets in shrouds, no bank accounts in the place to which we go from here.”

This is only partly true. So far as taking earthly possessions along when we pass out of this world, a poet has expressed it this way:

Out of this life I never shall take

Things of silver and gold that I make.

All that I cherish and hoard away,

After I leave, on the earth must stay.

All that I gather and all that I keep

I must leave behind when I fall asleep,

And often I wonder just what I shall own

In that other life, where I go alone.

But to say there are “no bank accounts in the place to which we go from here,” is the very opposite to the verse from the Bible, the Word of God, that commands us to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

In the same connection we are told to lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.

What does it mean? You have a soul! What is it worth to you? This is the great question. 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?

To lose your wealth is much;

To lose your health is more;

To lose your soul is such a loss

As no one can restore.

You must face the responsibility, either here or in another world; it cannot be evaded. The Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, said, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. You may amass the wealth of the world, only to leave it behind when you die.

The Lord Jesus spoke a parable about a certain rich man who possessed fields which brought forth plentifully. The bountiful yield of this man’s ground caused him to consider how he could bank his possessions.

What shall I do, he asked himself, because I have no room where to bestow [store] my fruits? . . . This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

What a solution to the problem that would affect him for all eternity! He had not reckoned far enough. Just as he prepared to live he was called to die!

Thou fool, the voice from heaven declares: this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

God so values the souls of men that He gave His only begotten Son to die, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And what does He require in return? He says, My son, give Me thine heart.

Here, in this life, everything is uncertain and perishable. There, in that life, everything is certain and sure. Banks do not fail there; no thief approaches there, neither does moth corrupt. Is your treasure there? If so, that is the dwelling-place for your heart, and soon, in that eternal day, you will know the fulness of His great gift.

Your soul, your love and your heart are the treasures that God requires and values. Have you given into His keeping the eternal welfare of your immortal soul?

At Any Moment

When Is He Coming?

No one knows. It may be at any moment, for Jesus said: But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only. . . . Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Why Is He Coming?

To receive His own unto Himself, that they may ever be with the Lord.

How Is He Coming?

In person: I will come again.

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Where Shall We Meet Him?

In the air. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.

Are You Ready to Meet “the Lord Himself” at Any Moment?

If not, you will be left behind to go through the great tribulation that is coming upon the earth. That terrible time is already foreshadowed in world conditions—increasing natural disasters, increasing conflict and crime. Do you want to see the coming horrors? Escape now. There may be very little time left!

"For Me to Live Is - ?"

“For me to live is—?” Answer, friend, what is it?

For some, it’s fame;

For others, sin, or wealth or passing pleasure;

Where is man’s heart, there is his one chief
treasure.

It’s well, while there is time, to weigh and
measure

Your life’s real aim;

For in that judgment day when God shall visit

In praise or blame,

“According to their works,” what shall it say—

The answer of your life, in that last day,

For you, will death be loss,

Eternal shame?

Or gain—through Calvary’s cross

And Jesus’ name?

“For me to live is—?”

“To die is—?”

What shall the answer be?

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
(Phil. 1:21.)

"How Many Gods Are There?"

“How many gods are there?” Honoré Willsie asked her older brother. Brought up on Greek mythology, she had never been to Sunday school nor had any Christian training in her home. Her brother knew no more than she did. When she asked, “How many gods are there,” he could only answer, “I don’t know for sure, but there’s an awful lot of them!”

Her childhood was darkened by the death of a little sister, and then came the accidental death of her brother’s friend. By that time, Honoré had heard something about God, and she prayed that the boy might live. But so far as she could understand, the prayer was useless and the boy died. She came to feel that there was nothing but sorrow and useless suffering in the world.

At last she found a real friend, a teacher. Honoré was in her Latin class, and on a certain day each pupil was asked to translate the quotation she liked best. She chose one from Horace. Putting it into English, it read: “He must have a heart thrice bound with bronze who puts forth on the world’s wide sea.”

The teacher asked, “Why did you choose that?”

“Because life is like being on a ship that has no captain,” she answered.

The teacher looked at her. “There’s always God,” she said quietly.

But Honoré shook her head and sat down.

The teacher asked her to stay a few minutes after school. Looking at Honoré sympathetically, she said, “That was the saddest thing I ever heard a child say.”

Honoré was silent.

“Have you ever told anyone how you felt?”

The pupil shook her head again.

Then the teacher took out a little New Testament and opened it to John 14. “My dear, before you go to bed tonight, will you read this chapter through three times?”

Honoré promised.

That night she began reading as her teacher had asked, and she discovered the great words of Jesus: In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. . . . I am the way, the truth, and the life. . . . I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. . . . Because I live, ye shall live also. . . . Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Her heart was thrilled by the beauty of the words of the Lord Jesus, and she found the one true God who could satisfy her heart as the Greek myths and legends had never done.

The Question

It was a strange question to ask at a dinner party. A senator turned to the guest seated next to him and said, “Suppose you are driving in the country tomorrow afternoon and run over a man. You stop to see how badly he is hurt, and a country doctor runs up and bends over the prostrate but conscious man. He exclaims, ‘Dying! Will be dead in five minutes.’ The man cries out, ‘Am I dying? What must I do to be saved?’ The question is: What would you tell him?”

Everyone waited for her reply. “I would tell him to pray,” was her answer.

“But the man never prayed in his life, and only four minutes to live!”

Turning to a man, the senator asked, “What would you tell him?”

“I would tell him to see a minister.”

“But there is no minister within three miles, and the man has but three minutes to live.”

To another he asked the same question, and their response was, “I would tell him to do the best he could under the circumstances.”

What would you have answered?

Would you have answered as the Apostle Paul answered the Philippian jailer when he asked, What must I do to be saved? . . . Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. That is the one right answer!

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.

Even that dying man could have done that much.

Just as I am—poor, wretched, blind,

Sight, riches, healing of the mind,

Yea, all I need in Thee to find:

O 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!

Life

Life is alone in Jesus found,

In Him who came from heaven,

To those who trust His precious blood

This life is freely given.

By faith the one, now dead in sins,

Believes in Christ and lives,

For ’tis to such the Saviour God

This life eternal gives.

In Him believers are secure,

Their sins are washed away;

Sealed by the Holy Spirit too,

Until redemption’s day.

And so they’re linked with Christ on high,

The Church’s glorious Head,

Who soon will come to claim His own—

The living and the dead.

Eternal is the life He gives

To all who do believe,

To all who feel their need of Him,

And Jesus Christ receive.

And soon within that happy land,

Before His feet will fall

All those who sing th’ eternal song,

And crown Him Lord of all.

An Unquenchable Thirst

It was the first night of a new play and the house was crowded. A famous actress was the leading lady, and everyone seemed confident that it would be a big success. Although just a small boy, I was doing my part by running errands. Called to make a delivery to one of the boxes, I found there the actress herself talking with some of the patrons about the crowded condition of the house. Suddenly she remarked, “Oh, how terrible if the gallery should give way!”

“There would be a good many souls in hell, I am sure, if it should,” someone answered.

Though said jokingly, these words seemed to go straight to the heart of the actress. Turning impulsively to me, she said: “Oh, young man, leave this place—leave it! You are too young to be here. There is something better for you than this! Leave now before it gets into your blood and it is too late.”

Oh, the look that was in her eyes! I can’t forget it, for it told of a burning thirst in her soul that could never be quenched. She had been to the well of fame, oh, so often, and had drunk again and again, but that thirst had never been satisfied. She would never get her fill of the pleasures of the world, and she knew it!

Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again are Christ’s own words, and they are so true of those who live for the applause of the world.

Her words cut me to the heart, for I too, even though I was young, was stage-struck and dreamed of being a great actor. I left, and it was the last night I ever drank of those waters.

If you are drinking of the waters of this poor world, its pleasures or anything else, stop! There is a spring where you may drink and be satisfied—be filled—yes, to overflowing. He has said, I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. And again, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.

The water given by the Saviour’s blessed hand alone can satisfy—none other ever can. Drink, then, while there is still time. Hear once more the invitation of His love extended to us. It is for you: If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.

Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

"I Don't Believe the Bible!"

A winter drizzle made the streets both cold and unpleasant, but it did not dampen the fervor of a veteran Christian who for more than fifty years had been an open-air preacher. On that Sunday evening we went with him to tell the gospel story on the streets before going into a nearby hall for a further service.

As the old preacher proclaimed salvation through the Lord Jesus, a young medical student drew near and listened. He had come to the university from a Christian home, but contact with other students who laughed at religion had shaken the faith that he had held. It may have been through his own reasoning, or his desire to be like his new friends, I cannot tell, but be that as it may, that night he was an atheist in thought and intention.

But the plain words of the rugged, old speaker made an impression on him. Here was not lighthearted inexperience toying with the realities of life and death, God and eternity, like a juggler tossing his balls at the circus. The student had grown used to that kind of thing in the class and dissecting room, but now he heard one who, near the end of a long life, was telling the story of what had given him peace and joy in time, and a certain hope for eternity. This impressed him, and when an invitation was given to all to come to the service in the hall, he came with the others.

The preaching in the hall deepened the impression of reality that had been made upon him in the street, and he remained in his seat when the meeting ended. A Christian man sat down by him, but after a few minutes’ talk with him, the student stood up to leave.

I had noticed him intently listening to the preaching. Holding out my hand to him at the door, I asked him what the trouble was.

He said, “That man refused to talk with me because I do not believe the Bible. I don’t believe it is God’s Word.”

“Oh,” I said, “you do not believe that this book is the Word of God?”

“No,” he said, “I don’t, for even if there is a God, I do not see how He could write a book for us; it is the work of men.”

“I see. Then it is evidently useless to discuss that question, so I will put my Bible in my pocket. Now tell me, are you happy?”

He admitted that he was not, so I said: “If you don’t mind, I would like to introduce you to some of my friends here.”

I called two young men to come and sit beside us. Having introduced them to him I said, “Do you think that my friends look happy?”

He thought they did. Then I said, “I am going to ask them to tell us how God made them happy.”

Glad of the opportunity to tell of his experience, the older of the two told how he had attended a certain gospel preaching. The text was that wonderful word from the lips of Jesus: 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.

He told how he had seen that there was room for him in that great and blessed WHOSOEVER, and that salvation and the gift of eternal life were for him— yes, more truly for him than if his own name had been in the verse, for there were many with the same name, whereas God’s “whosoever” stretched out its long arms of blessing to embrace all who would simply believe, no matter what their name or nation. He had known from that time on that he had a Saviour in heaven who would never let him perish.

The younger man told us that it was at home that his father pointed out to him a beautiful verse in the Bible: If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus [or, Jesus as Lord], and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. The younger man read and believed that Jesus had not only died for his sins, but He had been raised again from the dead—positive proof that the work was finished, the debt paid, that God was satisfied in all His holy claims and that his sins were gone forever.

I too had a story to tell—a story of sin and need on my part, but of love and mercy and cleansing blood on the Saviour’s part—a story such as every saved soul delights to tell for the glory of God.

The student listened to us with growing interest, and before we finished our tales of grace he had ceased to be an atheist. He felt that his need was what ours had been, and that the Saviour who had saved us could also save him. So we knelt together, just the four of us, and we found the Saviour very near to us as that anxious sinner sought Him.

Our kneeling there together was an incident that would not have interested the ordinary man of the world, but at that moment that young man’s sins were forgiven and his soul was saved and he could say:

’Tis done, the great transaction’s done,

I am my Lord’s, and He is mine.

This is the greatest event that can happen in the history of any man.

“Come unto Me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28

Seeking the Messiah

Born and bred in the very heart of Orthodox Judaism, Leopold Cohn says: “I did not know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ or His claims; I did not even know of the existence of a New Testament.”

Being a devout Jew, he knew well the writings of old: the law, the prophets, and the Psalms. In the study of these Old Testament books, he became convinced that Messiah had already come, but he was completely in the dark as to who He was.

Traveling to New York one day, Cohn found himself outside a mission in that great city. A brother Jew drew him away saying, “You had better come away from there. There are some apostates there who mislead our Jewish people.”

“How? How?” asked Cohn.

“They say,” was the reply, “that Messiah has come already.”

After hearing this, Cohn couldn’t rest until he had interviewed the leader of that mission. He stayed with him for a time, and by constant prayer and searching the Scriptures (the Bible), he said: “I became convinced in my own soul that Jesus of Nazareth is my blessed Saviour and mighty Redeemer.”

Blessed it is when a son of Abraham is drawn to see the great light of God’s love, and in Christ to find his promised Messiah. In this day when many are turning from God and His Son, John 3:36 is still true.

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.

“Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away
the sin of the world.”

John 1:29

“This is My beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3:17

All the Way

Richard Weaver, a simple man but a great evangelist, used this plain illustration. “When I was over in Dublin, I wanted to get to my wife who was in Liverpool. I hadn’t any money. Without money, I hardly knew how I would manage it. However, one of my friends came and said: ‘Now Weaver, I shall give you a first-class ticket from Dublin to Liverpool, all the way through.’

“We went to the station, and I did not pay anything at all, for I had my ticket given to me. I got into a first-class coach and rode alone until we came to Kingstown, and then we sailed across. But I did not need a fresh ticket, for the one I had was a ticket all the way through, even to the journey’s end.

“Now,” said Richard, “when the Lord Jesus

Christ came to me, I was a poor, lost sinner. I wanted to get to heaven, but I couldn’t. Then He said to me, ‘Trust Me, and I will give you a first-class ticket to heaven, all the way through.’

“I did trust Him, and He gave me the ticket! I never paid a penny for it, but He paid for it with His blood and gave me a first-class ticket all the way to heaven.

“That is simple faith and trust in Him. I have not had to get out to get a fresh ticket yet, and I never will. Some people think you must get a great many new tickets before you get to heaven, because they think the first one will run out and that you may be lost. But I know better; the ticket I had to start with was a first-class ticket all the way through.”

In John 14:6, Jesus says: I am the way. When He proclaims Himself the Way, He gives a perfect direction. He is not only the road by which we must travel, but He is the end to which we must press. He is all the way.

“On that journey from Ireland to Liverpool, nobody came and said, ‘Now then, Richard Weaver, you are only a poor man; you have no business riding first-class; you must get out!’

“No, no. If anybody had said that, I would have said, ‘Here is my ticket.’

“When the porters came, they said, ‘Show your tickets; show your tickets,’ but they didn’t say, ‘Show yourselves.’ It didn’t matter to them who I was. As long as I had a ticket—that was the thing.

“Now,” said Richard, “the devil sometimes comes to some of you and says, ‘What! You a Christian? You a Christian? Why, just look at yourself!’ But you must not listen to him. You must show your ticket; that will answer all questions. Just say, ‘I do believe that Jesus Christ died for me, and I trust in Him.’ That is your ticket, blessed be God!—a first-class ticket all the way through, and there isn’t a porter in heaven that can turn you out. Your ticket is valid even to the journey’s end.”

Christ is the way, the only way, all the way to heaven, perfectly. He is the way NOW. Just where you are, just as you are, Christ says to you, I am the way.

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18.)

He is our all-the-way-home Saviour!

“My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me:
and I give unto them eternal life;
and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand.”

John 10:27,28

Say "Yes!"

Say “No!” Say “No!” Just say “No!” Say “No!” to this—say “No!” to that—don’t do this—don’t do that—negative—negative—negative! So tiresome!

And if we follow all that negative advice and say “No!” to everything hurtful and harmful, will it guarantee us a long, happy, prosperous life? Can we escape all pain and grief and loss and live happily-ever-after?

You know better.

Even if we were totally successful with our negatives and lived a long and healthy life with a painless death at the end, where would we be?

We would be far, far short of heaven, alone in the darkness of eternity without God and without hope. Truly negative!

There has to be a better way—and there is one. Instead of endlessly repeating “No! No! No!”—take the positive side.

Say “Yes!” to God.

Say “Yes!” to the Lord Jesus.

Say, “Lord, I believe!” Say, “I choose life—now and forever.”

Receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and begin to know all the joy and peace which only He can give. The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Say “Yes!”

What Then?

When the great busy plants of our cities

Have turned out their last finished work;

When our merchants have sold their last order,

And dismissed the last tired clerk;

When our banks have raked in their last dollar,

And paid out their last dividend;

When the Judge of the earth shall say, “Closed for

the night,”

And calls for a balance—WHAT THEN?

When the choir has sung its last anthem,

And the preacher has made his last prayer:

When the people have heard the last sermon,

And the sound has died out on the air;

When the Bible lies closed on the pulpit,

And the pews are all emptied of men,

And each one stands facing his record,

And the books will be opened—WHAT THEN?

When the bugle’s call sinks into silence,

And the long marching columns stand still;

When the captain repeats his last order,

And they’ve captured the last fort and hill;

When the flag has been hauled from the masthead,

And from far fields all men are called in;

When each man who rejected the Saviour

Is asked for a reason—WHAT THEN?

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.”
1 John 5:13

Your Faithful Heart

What a faithful little organ is the human heart! Every day this little engine keeps on pumping. It is pumping during our waking hours, and pumping while we lie helpless in sleep. It doesn’t complain about the weather, seeks no pay, and never asks for a vacation. It will work best when treated well, but will still do its best to give good service when working conditions are unduly taxing its strength.

How dependent we are on the heart! If one eye is blind, we see with the other; if one ear is deaf, we can turn our head and listen with our “good ear”; if one leg is gone, an artificial one can help us along through life. But one’s earthly existence depends, we all know, on the heart.

This most interesting “machine” is about the size of one’s fist and weighs somewhat more than half a pound. It is divided into four chambers and enclosed in a sack called the pericardium. It beats 70 times a minute, 4200 times an hour, 100,800 times a day and 36,792,000 times a year.

While this little organ that keeps our blood constantly circulating can be weakened by disease and abuse, if given a fair chance, it will render excellent service until, weary with the years of ceaseless toil, it finally stops.

This brings us to a very personal but also a very important question. That is—if your heart should stop five minutes from now and your soul should enter eternity, where would you be? Would you be in heaven with the redeemed, or in hell with the lost?

It may be you can say with God-given assurance: “Yes, I know where I shall be in eternity. There came a time in my life when I turned in repentance toward God and received the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. Then and there I put my trust in the atoning power of His precious blood that was shed on the cross of Calvary for my sins. In doing so I received the gift of God, which is eternal life. So I know I would be in heaven if the little pump you have been writing about should cease to function.”

On the other hand, it may be you will say, “No, I do not know where I should be in eternity if my heart should stop only three minutes from now, but I should like very much to know.”

God’s Word, the Bible, declares that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. All includes you. Because you have sinned, you have come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23.)

But—Christ . . . died for all. Therefore, Christ died for you.

The fact that Christ died for all saves no one, unless one receives Him and trusts Him as one’s own Saviour. Read carefully the following verse: He [Jesus] came unto His own, and His own [the Jewish nation] received Him not. But 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 1:11,12.)

Will you, right now, ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your life, take your sins away by His precious blood, and help you to live for Him? If you will do this, you will be saved. You will be with Christ if, one minute from now, your heart should stop beating.

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.

Romans 10:9

God's Answer

“I am such a helpless, hopeless, miserable man! There is no hope for me. I have prayed, and promised, and tried, and resolved until I am sick of my useless efforts.” This was the discouraged complaint of one who attended the gospel meeting.

“Do you believe that ‘Christ died for our sins . . . and . . . rose again’ ?” was the reply.

“Of course I do.”

“If He were on earth, in bodily and visible form, what would you do?”

“I would go to Him at once.”

“What would you say to Him?”

“I would tell Him that I am a sinner.”

“What would you ask Him?”

“I would ask Him to forgive my sins and save my soul.”

“What would He answer?”

The man was silent.

“What would He answer?” The question was repeated.

At last the light dawned for him, and a smile of peace came over his face as he whispered, “He would answer, ‘I will.’ ”

And the man went away believing. He knew He was forgiven of God, saved through the work of Christ on the cross, and could rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

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

The Right Kind of Faith

Mrs. Nisbet was a kind and moral woman. Resting comfortably on her religious profession, she was happy to talk about spiritual matters with a Christian. From him, she learned that religion was not enough; she needed a Saviour. When she realized this, she turned to a friend and exclaimed: “With all our religion we have never been born again! We are lost, and going to hell!”

She was so upset at this discovery that she became seriously ill, and asked for the evangelist to come to visit her. He came, and she eagerly began to talk about her spiritual need. The nurse, fearing that conversation on eternal matters might excite her patient, began to praise Mrs. Nisbet’s goodness. She ended by saying, “You have nothing to fear, Mrs. Nisbet. Think what a good woman you have been!”

“No! No!” she exclaimed. “That’s all wrong. I’m lost!” Turning to her visitor, she said, “Tell me what I have to do to be saved.”

“You have nothing to do but believe what Christ has already done for you.”

“Yes, that’s it. Oh, if I had the least grain of faith!”

“I believe you have faith, Mrs. Nisbet.”

“Oh, don’t mock me!” she pleaded.

“Who made the world, Mrs. Nisbet?” he asked.

“God.”

“How do you know?”

“From His own Word—the Bible.”

Opening his Bible, the Christian read Hebrews 11:3: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.

“And I am to believe the same way for salvation?”

“Most certainly; there are not two ways of believing. You believe that God made the world because He says so in His Word?”

“Yes.”

“In the same way I believe that Christ died for me, and that I cannot come into condemnation, because He says so in His Word. 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.”

As the grand old gospel was explained to the worried woman, she stopped looking within for peace and comfort and became absorbed with God’s matchless love to her. As the light streamed into her anxious mind, she cried, “Oh, how simple! Thank God, I see it! I’m saved!” Then, her face shining with joy, she exclaimed, “Blessed Jesus! He bore it all for me. How blind I have been.”

Soon recovering from her illness, Mrs. Nisbet became a very active Christian. She often tells the lost whom she meets that she tried to gain salvation on the ground of her own good works, then on the ground of her faith, and how at last she received it on the ground of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

What must I do to be saved? . . . Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. (Acts 16:30,31.)

The One I Needed

My Dad was a man who ruled his home with an iron hand—or, rather, a rawhide whip! When one of us got out of line or did not appear in church, he would march us down to the basement and flog us with that whip.

Down in my heart there was revolt. I thought, You just wait! Some day I’ll grow up and show you what I’ll do with your old religion. But I went to church and Sunday school, and even received a Bible for regular attendance.

From the time I was seven years old, I sold newspapers on the street corner every morning and after school. We needed the money. The time finally came when I had to leave school to go to work.

I got a job driving a delivery truck. At the end of the first week I went home with a total of $23.50. I thought I was a millionaire and that my chance had come, so I waited until Mother was by herself in the kitchen, handed her some money, and said, “Mother, I’ll give you ten dollars a week for my room and board, and I’ll do what I want about church.” For a long time I was not seen around church.

A rebellion against my parents began. They told me not to smoke, so I smoked. “Don’t let us catch you in a pool room,” said the folks, so I started to play pool and gamble. They warned me never to go into a dance hall, so I took dancing lessons. Many a night I got home so late that I had to climb a pole to my bed on the back porch so no one would know what time I got in.

I was still in my teens when I left home and drifted around the Pacific Coast. I went to Los Angeles, and as I walked down Broadway with my bags, not knowing where to go, I met two girls I knew.

“Haven’t you a room yet?” they asked. “Why not try the Bible Institute? They have a hotel for men and one for women.”

A Bible Institute surely did not appeal to me, but they persuaded me to try. Setting my bags down in the lobby, I walked over to the desk and asked for a room. The clerk looked at me and said, “Young man, are you a Christian?”

Well, I had not come to be interviewed and, since I thought I was a good deal better than many Christians I knew, I said yes. I thought that because I had not killed anyone, or held up any banks, I was entitled to call myself a Christian. He said he could accommodate me for a few days. That was Thursday.

That night I went to a dance; Friday, I went to a party; Saturday I went to another dance. On Sunday morning I thought it would be nice to go to church to keep up the spiritual side of my life, so I went.

It was a large church, seating over four thousand, and I knew no one would know me. I sat near the door, just in case I did not like the preacher. The service started, and did that man preach! I had never heard anything like it in all my life!

The preacher talked of hell and heaven and sin, and told me Christ was the One I needed. He seemed to pick me out of that huge congregation and speak directly to me. At the close an invitation was given for those who wanted to accept Christ to raise their hand. I raised my hand—and took it down quickly for fear someone would see me. They sang a hymn and asked those who had raised their hands to come forward. I would not, but one who had seen my raised hand put his arm around me and walked with me to the front—and there I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Saviour!

What a joy the Lord has been to me ever since! That is why I travel forty thousand miles a year to talk to other young men and women about the Saviour.

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

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth;
and let thy heart cheer thee
in the days of thy youth, and walk
in the ways of thine heart,
and in the sight of thine eyes:
but know thou, that for all these things
God will bring thee into judgment.

Ecclesiastes 11:9

Pay up!

Remember the time when the policeman stopped you and asked to see your driver’s license? You knew you had just made an illegal turn. You were nervous—and repentant. He was very polite, but you still ended up with a little yellow ticket. You had to report to traffic court in ten days.

It was a twenty-six dollar fine—normal penalty for such an offense.

Suppose you say to the officials: “I’m short of money this month. Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll attend church every morning and evening for the next two months.”

“Well, that’s a wonderful idea,” would be the reply; “but that’s not the penalty.”

“Okay, I’ll try to be a better husband than ever before. I’ll take special care of my children.”

The answer would likely be: “You’re a fine man. There is always need for improving family relationships. But the penalty is twenty-six dollars.”

There’s only one thing that would satisfy them: the twenty-six dollars. The church attendance and good life will not satisfy. Either you or someone else must pay your debt to the law.

God says the penalty for sin is death. Every other solution is no payment. Either you must pay it or someone must step up and pay it for you.

That’s precisely what has happened. The proof of God’s amazing love is this, that it was while we were sinners that Christ died for us.

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.) v

But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on Him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
counted for righteousness. . . .
Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, and whose sins
are covered.

Romans 4:5,7

Left Behind

Christ is coming! One of two things will happen to you when He comes—you will either be caught up to be forever with Him, or else you will be left behind for judgment. Think of it: left behind for judgment!

Jesus said, As it was in the days of Noe [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. How was it in the days of Noah? A world of sinners, ignoring God’s warnings and unprepared for His judgment, was swept away to eternal destruction by the terrible floodwaters of wrath.

So shall it be when Christ comes. Wickedness will be rampant, and multitudes will be unprepared because their sins have not been washed away in His blood, and, therefore, they will be lost throughout all eternity. Will you be one of them?

Yes, the Judge is coming! Still His voice comes to us, still pleading with sinners in tones of the tenderest love: Come unto Me . . . and I will give you rest. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. But even as we listen, the voice changes to a voice of sorrow and we hear Him grieving, Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.

Are those words of sorrow prophetic of the doom of your Christless soul? Or will you this instant come to the feet of Him who died that you might live and who, in patient grace, still lingers to receive you and forgive you through the saving power of His blood?

The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7.)

Who Loved Me?

One has loved me, would you know

Who He was who loved me so?

Would you learn His precious name,

Who He is, and whence He came?

I can tell you, will you hear

Of the One to me so dear?

Jesus! this His blessed name—

Son of God! from heaven He came.

For my gain, He suffered loss,

Died upon the shameful cross;

Conqueror o’er the grave He rose,

Triumphed over all my foes.

Now at God’s right hand He lives,

Peace and comfort thence He gives;

Listens to my faintest call,

Holds and keeps me lest I fall.

He is mine and I am His;

What a blessed portion this!

Soon I shall His glory see,

Dwell with Him who died for me.

Jsus said to the unbelievers: “If ye believe not that I am He [the Christ], ye shall die in your sins.” John 8:24

Capsized!

When I was a boy at school I was often troubled about my soul, but I would not accept Christ, for I did not see how I could be a Christian in the school. I was a leader in all kinds of mischief, and to stop all at once and say I was converted was more than I could do.

By-and-by I got very indifferent, and on leaving home for college, I left all my convictions behind me. After school I went home to begin business, professing to be a Christian, but knowing well I was just a hypocrite. Often my conscience would be uncomfortable, but fear and pride kept me away from Christ. At last God brought me to a deciding point.

I loved boating, and kept a skiff on the river near my home. The river was in high flood on the morning of February 7, and a strong wind blowing against it. It was madness to go out in the skiff in such weather, but when someone suggested it, we all caught up the idea. In a few minutes we were in our places ready to pull away. My cousin was steering, my brother was stroke and I had the bow oar.

We had only got about 200 yards up the current when I saw it was getting too much for us, but to turn was a certain upset, so we pulled on. All of a sudden I felt the water rushing past my feet. The bow had gone under the water and my cousin, who was facing the bow and saw what was happening, dived into the water and made for the bank. His leaving caused the bow—and me in it—to go down, and the boat capsized.

At first I was not beyond my depth, and tried to reach the boat, now going down the river keel up. But as I was carried down it got deeper and deeper, till at last I was under the water and had to spring up to get a breath. Soon I could not even do that, and down with the current I went.

How long I was under water I cannot say, but it seemed an age. My past life, and thoughts of eternity, flashed confusedly through my mind. Was I now going to die, and to be lost forever? It was what I surely deserved. But God was going to give me one more chance.

I was thrown against a bank, and got my head out of the water, and now the others were able to help. They drew me out, and I lay on the bank. I was nearly unconscious, but soon came around a little. I got home and went to my room, undressed and dried myself, and was partly dressed again when the thought struck me that God had given me my last warning, and I must get saved now. I had escaped death by a hair’s breadth.

I shook like a leaf. I got down on my knees, and for the first time in my life I prayed. I confessed to God what a wretched sinner I had been, and how I had rejected His Christ. I thanked Him for giving me another opportunity of salvation and then and there, as a poor lost sinner, I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my own, my only Saviour. Before rising, I thanked Him for having saved me.

Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. (Isaiah 55:6.)

I had often heard the gospel—I now believed it, and received everlasting life.

Al's Dentist

Al was a clerk in a grocery store, and well thought of by everyone who knew Him. He was a “good living” chap too, and a member of the local church which he attended regularly. There was also another young man in the same town who was respected by all. He was the local dentist. People said they liked him, except for one thing. He . . .

But to start at the beginning of our story, it was because of a bad toothache that Al first became acquainted with the dentist. When he went to his office, he found a little gospel tract lying on the table and he began to read while waiting for his appointment.

When he was finally seated in the dental chair, the friendly dentist asked him if he liked the gospel tract he had been reading.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Are you saved?” was the next question.

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Al. “I go to church and Sunday School too, and no one ever asked me that before.”

That was all he had time to say, for he had to open his mouth wide and let the dentist begin his work. While the dentist worked, he talked, explaining earnestly that the Lord Jesus is the only Saviour of sinners. It is not optional. It is necessary. God commands us to repent, and to turn to the Lord Jesus and accept Him as our Saviour.

Al’s mouth was wide open as the dentist worked on his teeth, so he could not talk, but he could think. He thought himself good enough, treasurer and librarian of the Sunday School, and no one had the right to talk as if he needed to be saved. Now he knew what it was that people did not like about the new dentist, and he felt the same! When his tooth was fixed he strode out of the office. It would be a long time before the dentist got a chance to talk to him again!

It was a long time too. If he saw the dentist coming he would cross the street rather than say “Good morning” to him. But another tooth began to ache, and there was no other dentist as handy as this one. He put if off as long as he could, but finally he just had to be seated in the same dental chair and have it attended to.

The dentist guessed the feelings of his patient. He knew there were many who did not like him to speak to them about the Lord Jesus, but he was not discouraged. Very gently he opened the subject again, for this was more important to him than dentistry. He reminded Al that it was God who had said, All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. It was not just his opinion. He told Al that he was either a saved sinner or a lost sinner. His patient could not answer, but he began to see that it was God who was speaking to his soul and not just the dentist.

After a few unhappy days, during which the dentist was praying for Al, they met on the street and Al did not try to slip away as he had before. He wanted to have peace with God.

“Will you come with me to a meeting?” asked the dentist.

Perhaps this would give him the peace he longed for, and so off they went together. As the speaker told simply and earnestly the good news of salvation through faith in Christ alone, the light broke into his soul. He saw that he was a sinner, and that his “good works” in which he had been trusting were of no avail in the presence of a holy God.

At last by faith he saw the Lord Jesus taking his place and bearing his sins on the cross of Calvary. He heard that cry, “It is finished”—he believed it, and was saved. The finished work of Christ was just what he needed, and oh, what peace filled his soul as he trusted in the Word of God telling him that he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.

Therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:1

John 3:16

One cold winter night a boy stood in the street of Dublin, homeless, friendless and cold. He had begun to run with a street gang, and that very night they had agreed to meet in a certain street, at a certain hour.

As he stood at the appointed place, waiting, shivering with cold, a hand was suddenly laid on his shoulder. Was it the police? In the dark he could only see a tall form standing by him, and he shook with fear. But a kind voice said: “Boy, what are you doing here at this time of night? You have no business in the streets so late; go home—go to bed.”

“I have no home, and no bed to go to.”

“That’s sad, poor fellow. Would you go to a home and a bed if I provided one?”

“That I would, sharp!” replied the boy.

“Well, in such a street, and at such a number, you will find a bed.”

Before he could finish, the boy had started off. “Stop!” cried the voice, “how are you going to get in? You need a pass, no one can go in there without a pass. Can you remember that the pass is ‘John 3:16’? Don’t forget, or they won’t let you in. ‘John 3:16.’ There, that’s something that will do you good.”

Joyfully the boy rushed off, repeating the words, and soon found himself at the place indicated and looking up at a pair of large iron gates. Then his heart failed him, they looked so grand. How could he get in there? Timidly he rang the bell. A gruff voice asked, “Who’s there?”

“Me, sir! Please, sir, I’m John 3:16,” in very shaky tones. “All right, in with you; that’s the pass,” and in the boy went.

He was soon between sheets in a warm bed, and as he curled himself up to go to sleep, he thought, “This is a lucky name, I’ll stick with it!”

The next morning he was given breakfast before being sent out into the streets, for this home was only for the night. He wandered aimlessly, hoping to avoid meeting his old companions and thinking about his new home when, carelessly crossing a street, he was run over. A crowd collected. The unconscious boy was placed on a stretcher and carried to the nearest hospital. He revived as he entered, but asked his name and address he could only answer “John 3:16.”

After his injuries had been attended to he was carried up into the accident ward. In a short time his injuries brought on fever and delirium. Then was heard in ringing tones and often repeated, “John 3:16! It was to do me good, and so it has!”

These persistent cries aroused the other patients. Bibles were pulled out to see what he meant. Here one and there another read the 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.

As those poor, suffering patients read the loving words and heard the unconscious cry—“It was to do me good, and so it has!”—their hearts were touched and God used that text then and there for the conversion of souls.

Consciousness returned, and the boy gazed around him. How clean it looked, and how quiet it was! Where was he? Presently a voice from the next bed said, “John Thr-ree Sixteen, and how are you today?”

“Why, how do you know my new name?”

“Know it! You’ve never ceased with your John Thr-ree Sixteen, and I for one say ‘blessed John Thr-ree Sixteen!’ ”

It sounded so strange to the boy’s ears to be called blessed—he for whom no one had ever cared.

“Don’t you know where it comes from? It’s from the Bible, God’s Word to man.”

“Read it to me,” he said, and as the words fell on his ear he muttered, “That’s beautiful! It’s all about love, and not a home for a night, but a home for always.”

He soon learned the verse, saying, “I’ve not only got a new name, but something with it.”

On a bed near him lay an old man who was very ill. He groaned aloud, “I’m such a sinner. I’m not fit to die. What shall I do? Oh, what will become of me? God, have mercy!”

The boy heard his miserable words. Poor old man, he thought. He wants a pass. “Patrick,” he called, “I know something that will do you good—quite sure—it done me good.”

“Tell me, tell me quickly,” cried Patrick. “If only I could find something to do me good.”

“Here it is! Now listen, John 3:16. Are are listening?”

“Yes, yes; go on.”

“John 3:16: 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.”

Through these words Patrick found peace in his dying hour, and entered into everlasting life—another soul brought to Christ in that hospital by means of a single verse blessed by the Holy Spirit.

“John 3:16” recovered. God blessed his simple faith, and when he left the hospital, friends placed him in a school and made education possible. He became an earnest worker for the Master, with John 3:16 as his favorite text.

Come unto Me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

Safety First

“Safety First!” is a good motto, but many seem to say, “Safety Last!” If you saw a man sleeping on the railway track, would you not do your best to save him? But one need not lie on the railroad line in the way of a train to be near death, for what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. And, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.

It is possible to act on the motto “Safety First!” as far as life and property are concerned, taking every available precaution to preserve both, without giving one thought to the soul’s eternal welfare. As to that, “Safety Last!” is Satan’s motto and his most successful device to lure men and women into hell. He has no objection to your believing in heaven so long as you take no steps to get there.

If “Safety First!” is a good principle to act on where the welfare of your body is concerned, how much more so should it be concerning your soul. The soul must exist forever, either in heaven or in hell, and you must choose where you will spend that vast forever: eternity.

Hell is out of date with many people, but it is not out of the Bible. God said, The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. Which are you choosing: eternal bliss in heaven, or eternal torment in hell? If you will trust in Christ’s redeeming blood, you will have a place of safety from the wrath of God. Safety is of the Lord, as we find in Proverbs 21:31.

The way of life and the way of death are set before you. Choose life now—make sure of your eternal safety first.

I have set before you life and death,
blessing and cursing:
therefore choose life.

Deuteronomy 30:19

I will say of the LORD,
He is my refuge and my fortress:
my God; in Him will I trust.

Psalm 91:2

"I Don't Want to Be Gloomy!"

Many people believe that a Christian is one who goes through life hanging his head, heaving sighs, drawing a long face, and looking very sanctimonious. This is one of the biggest and most widely believed lies of the devil.

Real, lasting happiness is for every believer. “Gloomy!” What is there in the gospel calculated to make one gloomy? Does it make one “gloomy” to know that all his sins are forgiven? Will it make one “gloomy” to be assured that he is going to spend eternity with the Lord Jesus in glory? Will the condemned criminal who has received a full pardon feel sad?

The only one who has a right to be happy is the Christian—he and he alone being delivered from the bondage of sin, death and judgment. The writer of the Psalms says, Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.

In Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

An Unconditional Invitation

All shapes and all sizes,

Every color and race,

From all kinds of homes,

And from just any place—

The rich and the poor,

Their need is the same—

And for all such as these

The Lord Jesus came!

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.)

There is no God else beside Me. . . . Look unto Me, and be ye saved . . . for I am God, and there is none else.“ Isaiah 45:21,22

Too Cheap?

I was holding gospel meetings in a small mining town. A middle-aged miner came to me at the close of one of the services and said, “I would like to be a Christian, but I cannot believe what you have said tonight.”

I answered, “Why not?”

“I would give anything,” he said, “to believe that God would forgive my sins, but I cannot believe He will just forgive them if I turn to Him. It is too cheap.”

I looked at him and said, “My friend, have you been at work today?”

“Yes.”

“Where have you been working?”

He stared at me, slightly astonished, and said: “I was down in the pit as usual.”

“How did you get out of the pit?”

“The way I always do. I got into the cage and I was pulled to the top.”

“How much did you pay to come out of the pit?”

He seemed surprised at the question as he said, “Pay? Of course I don’t pay anything.”

Then I asked him: “Weren’t you afraid to trust yourself to that cage? Wasn’t it too cheap?”

“Oh, no,” he said. “It was cheap for me, but it cost the company a lot of money to sink that shaft.”

And without another word being said, the truth of that admission broke upon him. He saw that he could have salvation without money and without price. It had cost the infinite God an infinite price to sink the shaft of salvation and draw lost men and women into the light of His love and grace.

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.)

“Ho, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that
hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat;
yea, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price.”

Isaiah 55:1

“ Ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold . . .
but with the precious
blood of Christ.”

1 Peter 1:18,19

This Is How I Know It

A young husband was saved, and joy and peace filled his soul along with an intense desire that his wife might also be saved. One evening he wanted her to go to a gospel meeting, but there was the baby to think of. This was a difficulty.

As he urged her to go, she protested. “The baby is so little; I can’t leave.”

He insisted, “If you will only go, I can take care of the baby.”

At last she went, and as soon as she was gone he got down on his knees and pleaded with God to save his dear wife.

He felt assured in his heart that his prayer would be answered. He said, “I fully expected her to come home saved.” Faith honors God, and God honors faith.

Soon his wife returned, her face beaming with joy, and her Bible in her hand. She said to her delighted husband, “I am saved!” Opening her Bible she pointed to John 5:24, and said, “And this is how I know it.”

Yes, she had the assurance of her salvation. What was it—her happy feelings? No. Her repentance? No. Her prayers? No, none of these gave her assurance.

What did then? Something far better than all these put together—it was the word of the Lord Jesus: 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. (John 5:24.)

Can you say like her, “I am saved, and this is how I know it”?

“ Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord
shall be saved. . . .
Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by
the word of God.”

Romans 10:13,17

The Lord Is Coming

There is a growing conviction on the part of Christians all over the world that the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is near at hand. There is also a general feeling in the world, apart from Christianity altogether, that the world’s affairs are nearing “meltdown,” and that extraordinary events lie before us. How true are the words of the Bible: Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. (Luke 21:26.)

The fact is that this world must go from bad to worse just in proportion as the world gives up God. The only way to get right with God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. He must be known first as a Saviour.

Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18.) There is no other way to God.

If the Lord Jesus were to come today, would you welcome Him? Are you ready for that coming? He is coming quickly. He may come today!

The Man Who Liked History

History was the only subject that interested Dave Burton. Books of history were his only reading. Kings and their deeds, statesmen and their debates, nations and their revolutions, wars and rumors of wars had complete possession of his mind. The past had for him far more interest than the present, and as to the future—well, he was “no prophet.”

One day a friend persuaded this historian to read a portion of an ancient writing of which he knew nothing. Much persuasion and persistence were needed before he would take the book which contained this bit of history; at last, however, he said only, “I will read it to please you.”

The part of the book which he had been asked to read was a letter addressed, To all that be in Rome, but as he read the letter, Burton discovered that it concerned everyone. This is what it said: There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Romans 3:10-12.)

He could not pretend not to understand the meaning of the words. All the history that he had read had not touched him personally, but in the pages of this brief writing he saw the portrait of everyone, for there were also these words: all the world may become guilty before God. (Romans 3:19.)

The details of this portrait impressed him deeply. They were:

The eyes: There is no fear of God before their eyes.

The mouth: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

The lips: The poison of asps is under their lips.

The tongue: With their tongues they have used deceit.

The throat: Their throat is an open sepulchre. (Romans 3:13-18.)

It was all summed up in the statement that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23.) He had never seen such a history of the human race expressed in so few words! And the brief outline of all that he had read was “sin, and sin, and yet sin.”

When his friend came back to see him, he asked him what he thought of the book.

“What a dreadful picture,” said Burton. “It has haunted me like a nightmare.”

“Will you read another portion of the book?”

“Yes, if you will promise me that it will be more cheerful.”

“Certainly. You have read the third chapter of Romans, now read the third chapter of John’s gospel.”

As soon as he was alone, he took the Bible and opened to the chapter suggested.

“Another bit of history” was his thought as he read the first lines about a night visit of a man named Nicodemus with Jesus, but the third verse puzzled him: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3.)

“It is evident,” he said to himself, “that Nicodemus did not understand these words,” and he was glad that Nicodemus asked an explanation.

Then he read the sixteenth verse: 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.) The Holy Spirit showed him all the world, though guilty before God, was, in spite of all, the object of the love of God who gave His only and well-beloved Son.

“How beautiful this sixteenth verse is!” he said to his friend at their next meeting. “If I could only believe that it is for me.”

“You believe that the passage which you read in Romans is true, do you not?”

“Yes, and it has made me unhappy.”

“Well, the second passage comes to you with the same authority as the first.”

Dave Burton believed in the love of God for a guilty world. He believed that Jesus died for sinners—died for him; he understood that he would never perish but now had eternal life.

He became a man of a single book, and that book was the Bible. The Word of God was his constant study. The Word of God had been the means of saving his soul; he could not help but love it. He knew he was born again, born of the Spirit, and had eternal life.

“ The righteousness of God . . .
is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe:
for there is no difference:
for all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God.”

Romans 3:22,23

"What Think Ye of Christ?"

(Matthew 22:42)

YOUTH:

Too happy to think—there’s time enough sure;

MANHOOD:

Too busy to think—of gold I want more;

PRIME:

Too anxious to think—toil, worry and fret;

DECLINING YEARS:

Too ill now to think—weak, suffering and lone;

DEATH:

It’s too late to think—the spirit has flown.

ETERNITY:

Forever to think. God’s mercy is past

And I into hell am righteously cast

To mourn for my doom, which forever must last.

Thomas Bilney

A.D. 1530

During the sixteenth century there was a young doctor of divinity, a student at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was much given to the study of canonical law, and being of a serious turn of mind, he tried hard to fulfill the commandments of God.

Anxious about his soul’s salvation, the young man, Thomas Bilney, applied to the clergy whom he looked upon as physicians of the spirit. Kneeling before them, humbly and self-accusing, he told them all his sins and even those he only might have committed. They prescribed, at one time, fasting, at another, prolonged vigils, then pilgrimages and other devotions which cost him dearly.

The poor doctor went through all these practices with great devotion, but found no consolation in them. Being naturally weak in body, he wasted away by degrees; his understanding became confused, and he ran out of money.

“Finally,” he said to himself, “my last state is worse than the first!”

One day Bilney overheard his friends whispering about a new book. It was the Greek New Testament, recently translated, which they highly praised. Attracted by the beauty of the book, rather than by the divinity of the subject, Bilney sought to see the book for himself and stretched out his hand for it. Just as he was going to take the volume, superstitious fear overcame him and he quickly withdrew his hand.

Then came the thought: Was it not the testament of Jesus Christ? Might not God have placed in it some words which perhaps might heal his soul?

At last Thomas Bilney took courage. He slipped into the house where the volume was sold in secret, bought it with fear and trembling, and hurried back and shut himself up in his room.

As he opened it, his eye caught these words: This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15.)

“What! Saint Paul is the chief of sinners, and yet Saint Paul is sure of being saved?” He read the verse again and again.

This declaration continually haunted him. He could not tell what had happened to him; it seemed as if a refreshing wind were blowing over his soul, or as if a great treasure had been placed in his hands. “I am a sinner like Paul,” he cried, “and like Paul, the greatest of sinners.” But Christ alone saves sinners. His doubts were ended, his sins forgiven, and he was saved.

Bilney never grew tired of reading and proclaiming the wonders of his New Testament. A true witness to Jesus Christ had been born again by the same power that had transformed Paul sixteen centuries before. Today, more than four centuries later, that power to save is still the same.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9.)

God, or Man?

(These lines were found written on the back of a
promissory note.)

This piece of paper in your hand

Declares to you that on demand

You twenty dollars shall receive,

This simple promise you believe;

It puts your mind as much at rest

As if the money you possessed.

So Christ, who died but now does live,

Does unto you the promise give

That if you on His name believe

You shall eternal life receive.

Upon the first you clearly rest;

Which is the surest and the best?

The bank many break; heaven never can!

It’s safer trusting God than man.

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

Loved

The hospital visitor stopped by the bed of a young man. Seeing how very sick he seemed to be, she asked if there were anything she could do for his comfort.

“No,” he told her, adding that he was too sick for help and nearing the end of life.

Speaking gently, she asked him about his hope for eternity. His face darkened and his voice rose angrily as he said, “Lady, don’t talk to me of Christianity! I hate Christians! My father claimed to be a Christian, but I hate him. I will never forgive him for all the trouble he made for me. No, I don’t want to hear about your Christianity. I hate it.”

Quietly she replied: “Yes, we Christians often disappoint and fail even those we love best. I am sorry to have to admit that, my friend. But you don’t understand why I am here. I don’t want to talk to you about Christians or religion.”

He looked up with an expression of surprise and relief as she went on: “I want to talk to you about a Person who is fully able to meet your need even at a time like this.”

He thought about her words for a moment. Then with a little more interest he asked, “Who is that person?”

“He is the Son of God,” she continued. “He said about Himself, 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. You have blamed Christians for hurting you. I don’t know whether that is right or wrong, but I ask you, Can you bring any such charge against the Son of God?”

He considered her question, then answered hesitantly: “I don’t know that He ever harmed me.”

“Well, I know that He never, never harmed you. He loves you even now, just as you are, with your heart full of hatred.”

Then without interruption she told him the old sweet story of God’s love. She told him of the love that took Christ to Calvary to die for sinners, even those who hated Him. She explained how He cried out in agony on the cruel cross: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?

The young man listened, spellbound, until she stopped speaking. Suddenly his face changed and he said defiantly, “I don’t believe you! No, I don’t believe that God loves me. Nobody loves me. Don’t talk of love to me! There’s been no love in my life!”

At the angry outburst the heart of the visitor was suddenly filled with pity. She imagined what it would be like to be lying there sick and helpless, with only a few brief days between her soul and eternal condemnation. The horror of it all and her own helplessness brought great, scalding tears to her eyes.

The tears just came, try though she did to control them. She tried to speak, but her voice was so choked with grief that she could not say a word. After standing beside him for a few minutes, crying silently, she turned away in defeat and embarrassment and left the hospital.

After a few days she visited again. Asking about the young man, she was taken to the isolation unit where he had been moved. What a sight met her eyes! Those large bright eyes which had gleamed with hatred and defiance a few days before were now shining with happiness. His pale face was radiant with a heavenly joy as he lifted a thin hand in recognition.

His greeting was: “Oh, lady! I am so happy in here!” He dropped his hand over his heart, patting his hollow chest. “Yes, so happy,” he went on. “The hate is all gone now and when I think of my heavenly Father I feel so good in here.” Again he touched his chest.

The visitor was so happy as they spoke of the love and grace of God in sending His Son to die for the lost. Then with a few comforting promises from God’s Word she turned to go, but he said, “Wait a minute! Do you know what broke me up and led me to this peace?”

“No, I have no idea,” she answered.

“It was your tears that melted me down. That day you stood crying by my bed I began to ask myself the question: Does that stranger love my soul so much? Does she really care about me?

“At last I had to admit that you must love me, and at once came the conviction that the things you had told me about God loving me and giving Christ to die for my sins were true too. I believed it, and peace came into my heart. Now I am so happy.”

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.) v

“ Hereby perceive we the love of God,
because He laid down
His life for us.”

1 John 3:16

When the Time Comes

“Yes, I expect to be saved when the time comes.”

Is this a good excuse for not accepting Christ now? Of course not! How strange that people try to keep God from blessing them, that they choose death instead of life, that they cling to evil and refuse the good.

Sometimes they add, “God knows whether I am going to be saved or lost. If I am going to be saved, I shall be when the time comes.”

That is Satan’s lie. God speaks the truth, and He says, Today if ye [you] will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Where in the Word of God does He say, “Wait to be saved”? Is there anything like that? God’s time is NOW. He never says tomorrow. The thought of waiting for any future time is only delusion.

It is dishonoring God to say, “The time has not come for me to be saved.” It is almost like saying, “God wants me to continue in sin!” He does not want anyone to continue in sin. Every warning and every invitation in the Bible means, “Be saved now.” Not tomorrow, not some future time, not any future time, but NOW.

Today, God says, is the day of salvation. There is no promise of tomorrow.

Dan, the Socialist

It was our custom to go out early on Sunday mornings visiting among the ships in the harbor. It was a motley congregation we had to preach to there: sailors of various nations, laborers who hung about the docks, and frequently a number of the homeless who slept out of doors and were found early in the morning near to the back doors of the bars, waiting for them to open.

Among those who came around, more to argue than to listen, were a few who confessed themselves to be socialists. They did not believe in this “religion that kept the poor man down.”

One of them, whose name was Dan, the spokesman of the group, declared that if we “were not handsomely paid for it, none of us would be there at that early hour” to preach the gospel.

Holding up his Bible in a hard and calloused hand, one of our company said, “Yes, we are handsomely paid by our Master in heaven for all that we do for Him. He is no tyrant such as is yours. He gave us salvation and eternal life for nothing, before we did a single stroke in His service. Now He gives us daily peace, and joy unspeakable, and when our service here is done, He will take us up to live beside Him in His palace home. Do you know anyone who treats his servants like that? But if you refer to the earning of our daily bread, look at these hands! They are witnesses that we earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. We work for our daily bread, and serve the Lord Jesus for nothing insofar as dollars and cents are concerned, because we love Him.”

Dan looked astonished, then said, “That’ll do!”

From that day Dan was a respectful listener to our message. His arguments were gone, for he found that we were working men and not “handsomely paid” in the sense that he meant. It was a surprise to all to see him seated in a corner of the little mission room on a Sunday evening, listening to the gospel—and more, to hear him confess with his lips that he was “all wrong, a great sinner, fit for nothing but the judgment.”

One who had known Dan for years, and often prayed for him, took his arm and walked home with him, speaking to him about Jesus all the way.

“I’m too far gone, Jamie. He can’t save me!” said Dan in despair.

“He can, and what’s more, He will, as sure as His name is Jesus, if only you are willing to let Him. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15.)

The sin-wrecked man, who had faithfully served the devil for half a century, stood under the night sky with tears streaming down his cheeks and owned his sin before the great God. No sinner who reaches that point is held long in the “bond of iniquity.”

The same Jesus is able and ready to save you. He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him. (Hebrews 7:25.)

"You're a Fool!"

Years ago a Christian woman lay dying. Her husband had already died, and the sick woman was anxious for her soon-to-be-orphaned little girl. Realizing that her little daughter would have to be given over to the guardianship of her grandfather, who was an atheist, she prayed earnestly that God would protect her. Calling the little girl to her, she begged her to promise that, for her sake, she would read at least one chapter of the Bible to herself every day—and the child promised.

Soon the little girl was taken to the home of her grandfather. Faithful to her promise, she read each day portions of God’s Word and, consequently, was found by him one day reading to herself in the garden. He asked what book it was, and she replied that it was the Bible.

At once he began to laugh at it, declaring that it was useless to read such a book. “For,” said he, “what good is it?”

She answered that she read it that she might learn about God.

“God!” he exclaimed; “there is no God!”

For a moment she seemed petrified with fright and shock, but recovering herself, she cried, “Oh, Grandfather, then you’re a fool! You’re a fool! You’re a fool!”

The old man tried to hush the frantic child, but she continued to cry, “The Bible says so, Grandfather; it says you’re a fool! The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1.)

Hurrying away, he tried to forget his granddaughter’s distress. It was impossible. Wherever he went, night and day, every waking moment seemed to bring to his mind, You are a fool! The Bible says so!

Before long the one-time atheist became miserable and unhappy and broken down before God. In repentance he admitted his sinfulness, and received the Son of God as his Saviour.

The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20.) v

“ The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom.”

Proverbs 9:10

“Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Proverbs 1:7

"A Miracle"

I was invited to have lunch with Bob and his wife last week, and I accepted. We had a real nice time over the Bible.

When I was ready to leave for home, Bob’s wife said, “Vern, you just have to go and visit Al. Did you know he is dying of cancer?”

Well, I knew the man—at least, I knew him to be an atheist or the same as one. So Bob said, “Let’s pray about your going.”

We got on our knees and earnestly asked the Lord to give courage and wisdom. So when we rose from prayer, Bob said, “Vern, I’m going to stay home and keep praying for you. You go, and I’ll pray.”

I realized then that I was on the spot, and could not refuse to go. I knew too that this man had been visited by a number of persons interested in his welfare. He was reported to be a terrible character, cruel to his family, and had even chased his wife from the room because she tried to read the Bible to him. He would have nothing to do with God in any way.

To make a long story short, I went to Al’s home. His wife greeted me very coolly at the door. I said, “May I visit your husband for a few minutes?”

She said, “Yes, I guess you can; he is in the back room.”

I went in, and what a sight! Al was just skin and bones—a terrible sight to look at.

Al greeted me with an oath, and kept on cursing. He was not going to give me a chance to say even a word. So I thought, “How am I ever going to speak to this man about his soul?”

Then I thought of Bob at home praying, and I just said very timidly to myself, “Lord, please help me.”

The man stopped talking! His cursing ceased, and I spoke to him very gently and tenderly about the love of the Lord Jesus.

At first there was a look of hatred on his face. His eyes were cold and steely—he even made a terrible face at me! But he never spoke a word, and I kept on talking. After some minutes of this he looked up at me, and such a helpless look it was!

Before long Al began to cry. He confessed what a terrible man he had been. I could only quote some Bible verses, especially part of Romans 3:22: For there is no difference, and the first part of verse 23, for all have sinned.

Soon I left him, but not before he made me promise that I would see him again the next day. I knew that the Spirit of God would do the rest, and I need not press him further.

The next day I went back and his wife greeted me at the door, all smiles. She at once invited me to his room. Al took my hand and, with tears flowing down his cheeks, said, “At three o’clock this morning I took your Saviour as my Saviour.”

Such a change had come over this man. No fear of death anymore. No more cursing and blaspheming, but just simply trusting in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus. I was with him for about two hours, and we read and talked together. I went back the next day and took Bob with me to see this work of God. Even his wife said it was a miracle. People who lived nearby who knew him could not understand the change that had come over him—that is, the unsaved ones, but we know that it was the Lord’s work and it was marvelous in our eyes.

He lived only a few days after this, and went to be with the Lord, rejoicing in his new-found Saviour. How wonderful to know that we shall see Al again when the assembling shout gathers all the redeemed ones home!

Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6.)

Stop - Look - Listen

STOP, for judgment lies before you

And a holy God you face,

If you still refuse His mercy,

And despise His offered grace.

LOOK to Him who once was lifted

On the cross for you—for me—

Bore the storm of wrath and judgment

That the guilty might be free.

LISTEN to His call of mercy,

“Come, and I will give you rest,”

Trust in Him who died to save you,

And believing you are blest.

STOP, and LOOK, and LISTEN, sinner,

For you soon will pass away

Either into outer darkness,

Or to heaven’s eternal day.

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

He Hid for Half His Life

Early in 1978 the Belgrade police discovered a fugitive soldier who had lived in fear in his attic since 1945.

He had served three months in 1943 with the partisans of Joseph Broz, who became Yugoslav President Tito. Then he was captured by occupying German forces and joined the White Guard that fought the Communists. But President Tito won.

Fearing punishment for his wartime activities, the soldier decided to hide. He was then thirty-two; when found he was sixty-four. He had lived in fear of discovery and punishment for half of his life!

It was only when discovered that he learned that no charges ever had been filed against him. He had sentenced himself to a punishment which no court could pass upon him, hiding in his workshop and the attics of his house and barn.

This fugitive is like one who does not know the pure gospel of the grace of God, one who does not realize that the heart of God is full of love towards all mankind. While God hates sin, He loves the sinner.

If you are a sinner, filled with enmity and fear and hiding from God, come to Him now by Christ Jesus. This is God’s day of grace. He does not have one hard thought about you. He is ready to receive you, forgive you, cast out your fear and give you lasting peace in the assurance that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7.) Why not come to Him now? Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2.)

“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.”

John 5:24

Afraid of God

I was looking for a house to rent and went to look at one that was advertised. A very pleasant woman was in charge and kindly showed me over the place, answering all my questions.

As I was looking, my eye caught sight of an old torn Bible lying on the stairs. It looked as if it said, “They didn’t think me worth taking away. So here I am, the good Book, containing most blessed news from God about His Son.”

I picked it up and asked my guide what Book it was.

“Oh,” she said, “I’m sure it’s a very good book.”

“How do you know it’s a very good book?”

“It tells us good things about heaven, about God.”

“Are you afraid of God?”

“Yes I am!” replied the woman. Then added, “About the only One I am afraid of.”

“That shows you do not know Him,” was my answer. “He is the One who gave His Son to die for just such as you and me. Why are you afraid of One who did that for you?”

I read her one or two passages, and she promised to take the old Bible home and look into it for herself. She asked me to mark a couple of verses that had particularly impressed her. They were, 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.) And, The blood of Jesus Christ HIS SON cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7.)

Are you afraid of Him? Do you mentally say, “I am! I dread the thought of meeting a holy God, I am such a sinner”?

Take comfort! Christ died for sinners, and if you go to Him He will never cast you out.

Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37.)

“Remember now thy Creator
in the days of thy youth, while the
evil days come not, nor the years
draw nigh, when thou shalt say,
I have no pleasure in them.”

Ecclesiastes 12:1

Attacked by Rottweilers

Feeding time! Bruno and Brutus waited impatiently for the familiar sounds of dishes being filled and food brought out to them. Not yet a year old, the two Rottweilers roused up eagerly at a sound inside. No—not yet. They sank back to the ground, their eyes fixed on the door.

Finally the back door slowly opened and their owner stepped out, carrying their food. At last! Quivering with excitement, they leaped up to greet their familiar friend.

But what was this?

There was someone else, a stranger. A stranger in their yard—their territory. Their owner’s 13-year-old granddaughter, Melissa, ran out “to help Grandma” feed the dogs.

“Go back! Go back! You aren’t supposed to be out here!” the grandmother cried.

It was too late. As Melissa turned to run back into the house, the two dogs threw themselves upon her and pulled her to the ground, biting and clawing.

The horrified grandmother tried to pull the dogs away, but she was no match for two 90-pound dogs. Inside the house, 11-year-old T.J., Melissa’s younger brother, heard them and ran out. Seeing the two attacking his sister, he knew he had to help.

“I knew if I didn’t do something, she would have gotten really hurt,” he said. “I tackled one, and kept kicking the other”—and the dogs turned their attention to him.

“They started biting me and pushed me against the fence,” he said, but he wasn’t thinking of what might happen to him. He said, “I was just scared for her.”

T.J. escaped when his shirt was ripped off and the dogs were momentarily diverted, giving him a chance to get away.

Melissa and the grandmother suffered bites and scratches, but T.J. had deep puncture wounds and slashes that had to be stitched up and would take months to heal. Faced with a whole summer “stuck” in the house, unable to swim or to ride his bike, he only said, “I’m glad that I got what I got and she didn’t.”

There is someone who has suffered far, far more to save others than T.J. did to save Melissa. When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, suffering and dying for sins He did not commit, the people standing and watching mocked Him and said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. . . . Let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. (Matthew 27:42.)

Did Christ have the power to come down from the cross?

Of course He did.

But would He come down, stop the torture and go back to His Father in heaven—alone? Never! Never!

He came into the world to save sinners, and nothing could change His purpose. He came to offer salvation from sin to everyone who would receive it and, as John the Apostle wrote, As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.

As T.J. knew that his sister would be hurt—perhaps killed—unless he helped, so the Lord Jesus knew there was no help for us, lost and sinful as we were, unless He, the sinless One, came and gave His life on the cross for us.

T.J. could say that he was “glad” that he suffered instead of Melissa. The Bible says of the Lord Jesus, after He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, that He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. He will justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:5-11.)

Are you one who has been justified, whose sins have been pardoned, who has received the Lord Jesus Christ and become a child of God by receiving Him? You can be—the offer of salvation is still open, but we cannot say for how long. The Bible says only that now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2)—it never says “tomorrow.”

God's Way to Be Saved

A tent meeting was being held in a town about two-and-a-half miles from my home. I had been there several times and would have given myself to Jesus if pride had not kept me back. I was afraid of what people might say.

Yes, through pride I yielded to Satan, who whispered: “There is plenty of time! You are young. Besides, you are a great deal better than many other girls. You go to church and read your Bible and say your prayers twice a day; what else could be expected of you?”

But my heart was not satisfied. I often thought of that verse: Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. (Daniel 5:27.) Yet I did not know what I lacked, for surely I was good enough!

I decided I would not go to the tent again, but my sister, who had been a Christian for some years, persuaded me to go just once more with her. On our way she spoke of the joy of salvation, and I made up my mind that I would give myself to Christ.

At the close of the service the speaker offered some gospel books to any who were anxious to be saved. How my heart raced! Should I, or should I not, accept one? I thought of all the things that I believed I would have to give up if I became a Christian. Then I thought, “This might be my last chance to accept Christ. He has called me many times, and I have always refused.”

Oh, no one but myself and God knows what a battle was fought in those few moments. God, who is always ready to help those who ask Him, helped me then, and the verse, My grace is sufficient for thee (2 Corinthians 12:9), flashed through my mind. With an effort I got up in front of all the people—I knew almost everyone there—and went up and took a book. How I shook!

When the people were going out I went to the evangelist and asked him if I might talk to him. He said, “I am so glad to see you; you have taken a step tonight in the right path, and I thank God for it.”

Then he showed me, as clearly as possible, God’s way of salvation. But it seemed too simple, for I thought that I must do something to earn salvation instead of having only to trust the Saviour. Many, many people make this same mistake. If there were some great thing to do before we could be saved, how cheerfully we would do it, but what can we do to save ourselves? Absolutely nothing!

Then the evangelist said to me: “You must look to God, and not to yourself.”

He took a key out of his pocket and said, “Now, suppose you were to ask me for that key, and I offered it to you. Would you keep on asking for it when you could take it any minute? You have only to accept.”

Thank God, I did so, and though I have often been assailed with doubts and fears, yet I know that “I am His, and He is mine.” I hope and pray that I may never be ashamed to own Him as my Lord and Saviour.

Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32,33.)

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

Will It Pay?

“Will it pay?”

“What’s there in it?”

“What’s it worth?”

“What will it yield?”

Common, everyday questions on common, everyday matters. With pencil and paper—or calculator or computer—we work out the answers. But when we are confronted with profit or loss for eternity, the answer can only be found in the Word of God—the Bible. It says plainly that we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. (1 Timothy 6:7.)

What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Matthew 16:26.)

Several years ago a very rich woman was so fond of money that she could hardly be persuaded to pay her debts. For weeks before her death, this woman kept a glass full of gold coins constantly on a table beside her bed. Until her sight was gone her eyes were always focussed on these coins. But the summons came at last; her soul was required of her, and she had to go.

What did her glittering coins profit her then? Simply nothing! What did she lose by having her heart set on money as her idol and object in life? If she lost the Saviour of sinners, she lost her own soul also.

How truly does God say, The love of money is the root of all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10.)

Satan uses many ways besides the love of money to keep souls from being saved. He tries to hinder in every possible way the light of God’s good news about the crucified and risen Lord from reaching hearts, but this wonderful gospel light is always shining, just as the sun in the heavens is always shining, though its direct rays may sometimes be obstructed by clouds.

The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ . . . should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4.)

For many years, well-meaning Saul of Tarsus was kept from the Saviour by religion. Religion? Yes, but it was a religion without Christ, and Saul’s heart was in darkness all the time. Afterward, when light from heaven had reached him and the Saviour had drawn him to Himself, he said, What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. (Philippians 3:7.)

Whether it is a right thing, in itself, or a wrong thing that is hindering you, if you have not the Lord Jesus Christ as your soul’s satisfying object, you are being shut out from the enjoyment of the heavenly sunshine and one of Satan’s clouds is overshadowing your soul.

Only through Christ may you secure everlasting gain and escape everlasting loss.

It is written: Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9.)

Still Unsaved?

After all the Spirit’s leading,

After all God’s tender pleading,

After all of Calvary’s cross

To redeem your soul from loss;

While His grace and love abound,

Can it be that you are found

Still unsaved? Still unsaved?

Will you still refuse His pardon?

Still in sin your conscience harden?

Still reject till death o’ertakes you?

Then when every hope forsakes you,

Dare you face your God at last?

When your every chance is passed?

Still unsaved? Still unsaved?

Sinner, stop and look before you!

See the storm clouds gathering o’er you;

Ere they burst in judgment on you

And in endless woe o’erwhelm you,

To the cross of Jesus fly,

Lest forever you will cry—

STILL UNSAVED!

“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6

Ten Years' Warning - Ignored!

This was the headline of a London newspaper after a disaster at a suburban railway station.

When a large holiday crowd of people rushed for shelter from a coming storm, they ran down the stairs leading to the station. They found a barrier at the bottom locked against them.

The weight of the crowd pressed the foremost of them against this barrier, and crushed to death eight women and children besides seriously injuring several others.

As we read this short account of the tragedy, we cannot avoid the thought that the headline writer was bitterly regretful that no responsible person had listened to a warning, given off and on, for ten years. All of this suffering and loss of life could have been avoided.

How unpardonable it all seemed in the case of such prolonged warning. The predicted had happened, and the consequences had fully justified the persistent warning given, but no one had listened. Broken hearts and death-stricken homes were the result. How bitterly such neglect is felt by those who have been made to suffer because of it!

“Why didn’t someone call out?” was the cry of a dying young railroad worker. He had been fatally injured when someone moved his engine without giving him warning. “If I had only been warned, I could have escaped this!”

Poor fellow! Who would not pity him and condemn the carelessness that failed to warn him?

It has always been part of the goodness of God to sound an alarm in approaching danger. Even if the danger is the stroke of His own righteous judgment, that blow was never delivered until warning had been given and a way of escape made possible.

God was careful in His mercy to appoint watchmen in Israel, and their duties are clearly stated in His Word: Thou shalt hear the Word at My mouth, and warn them from Me. (Ezekiel 33:7.)

Not for ten years, but for 2000 years, God has been warning men and women of coming judgment, but, thank God, He who said, Warn them from Me, also says, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. (Job 33:24.)

In the days of Noah there was not only the warning voice heard saying, I will destroy, but a way of escape was pointed out: Make thee an ark. (Genesis 6:13,14.) He who was warned of God was sheltered by God.

So in Israel’s time, God said, I will execute judgment, yet also added, And the blood shall be to you for a token . . . and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. (Exodus 12:12,13.)

The type has given way to reality, and it is now no longer, Make thee an ark, or, Take you a lamb! The ark has been provided. The Lamb has been slain. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1.)

You have heard the warning; oh, take shelter in that only Refuge where every soul may hide and be assured, on the authority of God’s unchanging Word, that 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. (Romans 10:9.)

A prudent man forseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. (Proverbs 22:3.)

“How shall we escape,
if we neglect
so great salvation?”

Hebrews 2:3

“ There is a way which seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof
are the ways of death.”

Proverbs 14:12

The Gospel Through the Keyhole

Lok Heng, a native of Malaya, was a member of the Penang Flying Club. When war came to the Malay Peninsula, he and other members of the club were mobilized in an Auxiliary Flying Corps which operated against the Japanese.

When Singapore fell to the Japanese, these native airmen were sent back to their homes. But the efforts of the Japanese intelligence department eventually led to their arrest and imprisonment.

Once in prison, it was not long before Lok Heng found that the man in the next cell was one of his old comrades. This neighbor soon developed a simple but highly effective system of communication between the two. It consisted of tapping messages at the keyhole of the door separating the two cells, using the Morse code. Arrangements were made to hold daily talks when no guard was near.

One day Lok Heng’s friend signalled that he was feeling depressed and did not want to talk. Now, Lok Heng was a true Christian, so his coded reply to his depressed friend was: “If depressed—pray—to—God.”

Answer: “I—don’t—know—what—you—mean.—How—can—I—pray—in—this—place?—To—whom—shall—I—pray?”

Lok Heng’s answer was: “Pray—to—the—God—of—heaven—in—the—name—of—Jesus—Christ.—Just—tell—what—you—feel.—He—will—understand.”

The reply was: “I—do—not—know—how.—Please—teach—me—to—pray.”

So the Christian taught his friend a simple prayer. Then little by little he tapped out with his fingers God’s way of salvation.

God did not shake the prison as He did in the days of Paul and Silas (Acts 16:26), but by His mighty power He caused the light of the gospel to enter that poor prisoner’s conscience and heart. Within those terrible prison walls came the day when he accepted Christ as his Saviour. He had found Him through the keyhole!

Some months later a native preacher speaking to his congregation used as his text the following verse: Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. (Joshua 3:5.)

The parents of the two prisoners were listening. They had prayed many prayers for their sons’ release; now they felt the answer was at hand. Sure enough, on the next day their sons were released!

So the gospel is spread. Not always by the eloquence of preaching, nor the printed word, nor by any other well-known medium, but sometimes by a means unheard of before. The channels vary, but the truth never alters: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3.)

“The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth,
and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.”

Deuteronomy 30:14

Maybe I'm Not Trusting Right!

“I’m glad you have come today; Alice was wishing so much to see you,” and as the mother spoke she placed a chair for me close to the bedside of the sick girl I had come to see.

“And why are you wishing so much to see me today, Alice?” I asked as I took her hand.

“I’m afraid maybe I’m not trusting right.”

“Who is it you are trusting?”

“Jesus.”

“Well, He does not tell you to trust Him right, but only to trust Him. To trust is just to leave all to Him, and nothing to yourself.”

“Yes, but—the evil thoughts still come,” she replied.

“Fears and doubts can come when we just look into ourselves, instead of looking straight off to Jesus. But you must remember that the blood of Jesus Christ . . . cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7.)

A peaceful look came into the girl’s face, and she lay quietly for a little while. Then the shadows came back again.

“What is the matter now, dear?” I asked gently.

“When I pray to Him, I cannot get just the right words that I would like,” she said.

“But the Lord Jesus does not tell you to pray with ‘right’ words, Alice. He says, All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. (Matthew 21:22.) In fact, He speaks to God for you! Listen to what is written: He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25.) You know already what He has done for you on the cross, but think what He is doing for you now in the glory. He is living to make intercession for you! What else do you need?”

Peace and joy filled her heart. She saw now that nothing depended on her, but only on Christ. We thanked Him together for His matchless love and grace.

You will never find comfort or rest of heart in looking at yourself, or in looking around at others, but what rest and peace and joy you will find in looking to Jesus! Why think of yourself at all? Look away from yourself and all that you are to the One who suffered, bled and died for you here and now lives in the glory above.

“Look unto Me, and be ye saved . . .
for I am God, and there is none else.”

Isaiah 45:22

You Choose

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

But what does it mean to believe?

One must have faith in Him.

But what is faith?

Faith—saving faith—consists of your believing that Jesus Christ came to save the lost—acknowledging yourself as a lost creature—accepting Him as your own personal Saviour. In your helplessness, your dependence is entirely on the faithfulness of God and a firm trust that He will fulfill all His promises.

For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6.)

It is not trusting to services, rituals or sacraments. Saving faith believes the gospel record, accepts the gospel offer and trusts God for its complete fulfillment.

But—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.)

“Saving faith”—or “making God a liar.” Which do you choose?

The Worst of Both Worlds

The waves were crashing on the beach, and the boatmen were all agreed that it was far too rough to take anyone out on a tour that day. But as they were commiserating with each other on losing a day’s pay because of the weather, a young man appeared who was determined to go out. All the men refused, insisting that it would not be safe to go on the water in their small boats, but he would not be dissuaded.

He offered to pay double the usual charge, if anyone would go, and this tempted one sailor. Against his better judgment, he consented, and they both put out to sea. Hardly had they cleared the pier when a great wave swamped them and the boat was capsized and both men drowned.

Poor sailor! He thought to get two fares instead of one, but he lost both them and his life. He was trying to make the best of both worlds, as the dog in the fable who saw in the water the reflection of the meat he was carrying. Catching at the reflection, he let go the substance and lost them both.

Another man had a friend who was very kind to him. His name was Judas, and he was the familiar friend of Jesus the Saviour. Others hated Jesus and wanted to kill Him, and they wanted this Judas to sell Him to them for money.

Judas knew well the Master’s power and thought He could take care of Himself, so he agreed to sell Him to them for thirty pieces of silver. He thought to get the money, and supposed that Jesus would deliver Himself.

He got the money, but Jesus did not deliver Himself, and when Judas saw it he was overcome with remorse and brought back the money, threw it down in the temple, and went and hanged himself. He, too, had thought to make a good bargain, but he lost the Saviour, the silver and his soul!

Do you think to have the world now, and the Saviour when you must leave it? Be warned against the experiment. The “double fare” may cost you your life. Before Judas left the world he lost the silver for which he had sold the Saviour, and his soul. No man can serve two masters. . . . [You] cannot serve God and mammon [material wealth]. (Matthew 6:24.)

You may come to a moment before you leave the world when you will feel that all the things for which you bartered your soul are no longer yours to enjoy. You will be through with this world, and it will be through with you—but what about the other world? Be wise in time. Eternity is near.

"It Laughs All the Time"

I am an Indian. I lived beyond Turtle Mountain. I knew that I and my people were perishing. We had no hope. I never looked into the face of my child without my heart being sick with fear for him. My father and the old chiefs told me there was a Great Spirit. Believing them, I have often gone to the deep woods and cried to him for help. For answer, I only got the sound of my own voice.

Do you know what I mean? Have you ever stood in the dark and reached out your hand and took hold of nothing?

One day an Indian came to my house. He told me he had heard a great revelation at Red Lake. He had heard that the Great Spirit had a Son, a beloved only Son, and that He had come to earth to help and to save those who needed Him.

Then I said, “I must see the man who told this.”

I came 350 miles and I heard the sweet story of Jesus. I have the story in my heart. Now, wherever I am, I can reach out my hand. Jesus is there. My heart is no longer dark and sad. It laughs all the time!

Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37.)

He Came - But Why?

Do you know that the Lord Jesus Christ did not come to earth just to teach us how to live? Nor did He come to show us how to die. God tells us why He came. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (1 Timothy 1:15.) This is the reason for His coming—He came TO SAVE SINNERS.

It is also truly said of Him, This Man receiveth sinners. (Luke 15:2.) His call, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28), is directed to those who realize that they are sinners and need a Saviour.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the wonderful Saviour God sent to save sinners. He saves them now and for eternity, for He has said, Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37.)

Ask the Lord Jesus to be your Saviour now and, according to His own Word, He will save you.

Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. (Hebrews 7:25.)

“The Son of man came
not to be ministered unto,
but to minister, and to give His life
a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45

Surely I Come Quickly

(Revelation 22:20)

SURELY come; My yearning heart

Is longing for My bride;

The pearl of greatest price to Me,

For whom I bled and died.

I, Jesus, testify these things,

Behold, I quickly come

To call My blood-bought saints away

To dwell with Me at home.

COME, even so, come, Jesus Lord,

Thy face we long to see;

Nothing can satisfy our heart

But being, Lord, with Thee.

QUICKLY, that cheering word of Thine

Has touched a hidden chord;

Our longing hearts responsive cry;

E’en so, come, Jesus Lord!

Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” Isaiah 55:6

Echoes of Grace: 1994

Table of Contents

Look up!

The Helping Hand

How God Answered Prayer

Taste and See!

The Plank Bears!

Faith

Choose Now

The Cross and the Resurrection

The Wrong Estimate

The Convict

Which Thief?

The Gospel

When the Saviour Came My Way

The Power of the Word of God

"Tomorrow You Die!"

Once Too Often

Not Law, but Jesus

My Only Chance

The Despised Book

A Delinquent Reclaimed

"I Need Thee, Oh, I Need Thee"

In the Zinc Mine

He Loves You!

Happiness

Storm Clouds

"Rejoice, for the Lord Brings Back His Own!"

You Can't Take It With You

At Any Moment

"For Me to Live Is - ?"

"How Many Gods Are There?"

The Question

Life

An Unquenchable Thirst

"I Don't Believe the Bible!"

Seeking the Messiah

All the Way

Say "Yes!"

What Then?

Your Faithful Heart

God's Answer

The Right Kind of Faith

The One I Needed

Pay up!

Left Behind

Who Loved Me?

Capsized!

Al's Dentist

John 3:16

Safety First

"I Don't Want to Be Gloomy!"

An Unconditional Invitation

Too Cheap?

This Is How I Know It

The Lord Is Coming

The Man Who Liked History

"What Think Ye of Christ?"

Thomas Bilney

God, or Man?

Loved

When the Time Comes

Dan, the Socialist

"You're a Fool!"

"A Miracle"

Stop - Look - Listen

He Hid for Half His Life

Afraid of God

Attacked by Rottweilers

God's Way to Be Saved

Will It Pay?

Still Unsaved?

Ten Years' Warning - Ignored!

The Gospel Through the Keyhole

Maybe I'm Not Trusting Right!

You Choose

The Worst of Both Worlds

"It Laughs All the Time"

He Came - But Why?

Surely I Come Quickly