Echoes of Grace: 1998

In summer the Rideau Canal in Ontario is full of pleasure boats, for it is a recreational waterway. In the winter the canal is turned into a skating rink, which they call “the longest skating rink in the world.” They keep about seven miles of it clear, so that you can begin at one end and skate seven miles without turning around.

When the warm rains come in spring and the ice begins to melt, sometimes flooding occurs along the canal and river. Occasionally there will be three feet of water on top of a foot or two of ice, so they send men out in boats with sticks of dynamite. Those men place the dynamite in strategic locations in the ice, and then they explode them and break up the ice to keep it from piling up down the canal and causing floods.

Several years ago there was a government worker who was out in his boat. He placed his dynamite in the proper places, and then in his haste to move away from the dangerous location his boat capsized. Imagine how cold two or three feet of water is on top of a foot or two of ice! This man realized very quickly that he wasn’t going to survive long in those frigid waters. He was able to scramble up on top of his overturned boat and began floating down the river. At first it didn’t seem so bad, but up ahead were the Rideau Falls. There were those on shore who saw the plight of this man as he crouched there on the boat. They saw him gently floating along with the current toward the falls, and someone quickly called the fire department.

The man on the capsized boat was helpless. But have you realized that you, with your heart still full of sin and heading for judgment, are also helpless and in even greater danger? God’s Word tells us that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Just above the falls there is a bridge spanning the river, and the firemen rushed to that point. They could see the man coming down the river on his boat. It was moving faster now as the current picked up and approached the falls. They took a rope and as the boat approached the bridge they let the rope down carefully—oh, so carefully!—and held it right in front of the man so that as he passed under the bridge he could reach up and grasp the rope and be pulled to safety.

He came to the bridge—he passed under the bridge—and the rope dangled untouched. It seemed that he made no effort to reach up and grasp that rope! As the crowd that had gathered watched in horror, he went under the bridge and over the falls to his doom. As he went over the falls they heard him cry: “I’m frozen to the boat!”

As he crouched on that boat with his hands supporting him, they became caked with ice from the frigid waters that lapped over the boat, and he was unable—powerless—to reach up and grab that rope.

As he went over the falls to his doom, someone in the crowd was heard to say, “If they had only lowered a man, they could have saved him.” What he needed was not a rope he could grasp; he needed a man on the end of that rope to grasp him and to pull him from that boat to safety.

And that is just what we all need for salvation. We do not need a rope to grasp and save ourselves by our own efforts; we need One who can come down to where we are and lift us up from our everlasting peril. There is One who has come down. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). He didn’t just look down—He didn’t just throw us a rope and tell us to “hold on”—He came down. The Saviour of sinners, Christ Jesus, came into the world to save sinners.

I couldn’t save myself. You can’t save yourself either, but there is One who can save you. That One is holding out His hands now, ready to grasp and pull you from certain doom and to place you safely on the narrow way that leads to life. Are you going to come to that One? “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself came down to rescue you! Won’t you let Him?

“The Son of Man is come to
seek and to save
that which was lost.”

Luke 19:10

"It Can't Be True!"

During the early 1800s a Christian, wanting to spread the good news of the grace of God, went into the backwoods to preach to the settlers. He met there an elderly woman who had never before heard the story of God’s boundless love. She listened intently as the speaker told her how the Lord Jesus came into this world as a lowly baby and grew up for the entire pleasure and delight of God, always dispensing blessing and healing to all who came, and then was crucified and buried and rose again.

As she listened for the first time to this wonderful story the tears rolled down her wrinkled cheeks. When the speaker had finished, she exclaimed, “Say, mister, when did this happen? Last year, or the year before?”

When she was told it happened nearly two thousand years ago, she replied, “It can’t be true, mister; it can’t be true.” The speaker assured her it was perfectly true, but still puzzled, she said, “Why, if that were true, everybody would love Him!”

This was the effect of the gospel story on one who had never heard it before. You can hardly say you have never heard it before. You may have heard it many times and been touched by it but have put off the consideration of this important matter to a future day. Oh, do not, for your own sake, delay a minute longer! Is it nothing to you that the Lord Jesus, that wonderful, loving Saviour, died for you? “The Son of God . . . loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). He died that you might live. You have the opportunity now of accepting Him as your Saviour. Tomorrow may be too late!

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

John 3:16

"I Don't Feel Saved!"

Many people want to feel saved before they have received the Lord Jesus Christ as their own Saviour.

A woman who was making this mistake invited a preacher to tea. When she handed him a cup of tea he made no effort to take it, but said, “I don’t feel as if I had had a cup of tea.” She thought him very strange, but politeness kept her from commenting. She only said again, “Here is a cup of tea for you, Mr. Howe.”

He said again, “But I don’t feel it.”

The woman began to feel a little worried by his strange conduct and said to him, “But Mr. Howe, you cannot feel that you have had a cup of tea until you have received it. Take it, drink it down, and then you will feel you have had a cup of tea.” He replied, “And how can you feel saved, until you have received salvation? Receive Christ, and then you may know you are saved.” She saw her mistake. She had been “putting the cart before the horse”—she had been confusing cause and effect. In Christian things she had been acting in such a way that, when the preacher did so in human things, she thought him to be going out of his mind. The preacher’s little illustration showed her her mistake. She trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, and then she knew she was saved. Many who have believed on the Lord Jesus as their Saviour are not sure of their salvation because, as they say, “I don’t feel saved.”

They make the mistake of not seeing that the believer is saved by faith.

Feelings are internal, and they change with the weather, one’s state of health, the immediate circumstances and a thousand and one things.

Faith is like an anchor; it lays hold upon an object outside of itself altogether, even the Lord Jesus as Saviour. Who would think of dropping an anchor inside the hold of a ship? No, an anchor is always cast outside the ship.

We have something far, far better than our changing feelings for the assurance of salvation. We have the undying, unchanging word of God.

“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).

The way of blessing is not feel saved and believe, but believe and be saved.

A Royal Pardon

On a bright May day in the year 1779, the garrison of Edinburgh Castle was called to assemble on Castle Hill. The “Black Watch,” then known as the “Forty-Second Highlanders,” marched slowly from the Castle with muffled drums. Three empty coffins were carried, behind which walked three soldiers who had been found guilty of desertion and were sentenced to be shot.

In the solemn silence an officer read aloud the sentence, and the three condemned men knelt beside the coffins with their eyes blindfolded and their arms bound. The firing party was drawn up in front of them with their guns raised, waiting for the command to fire.

The commanding officer, Sir Adolphus Oughton, instead of giving the fatal word stepped forward and, holding up in his hand three papers, read: “‘In consequence of the gallantry displayed by the Forty-Second Regiment to which two of the prisoners belong, it has pleased His Majesty to pardon the three soldiers!’ Resume your arms and rejoin your companies!”

The three Highlanders were released and returned to the ranks, to give the lives that had been spared to their king. From that day the three pardoned and grateful men were loyal to their king and faithful in his service.

This incident of over two centuries ago illustrates greater things. The three men who were found guilty, condemned and awaiting execution are like the sinner (this means all of us), for the Bible tells us that “all have sinned” and that the whole world has been found guilty before God. The sinner is condemned already, with only a breath between him and an eternal hell. Nothing that he can ever do, no good deeds or reformation of his, can ever reverse the death sentence. Is there no escape or deliverance?

Yes, thank God, there is an escape and that in perfect justice and righteousness. The three Highlanders were pardoned on the ground of what others had done, because of the bravery of “The Black Watch.” And, because of the perfect sacrifice of Christ for the sake of sinners, God can forgive the guilty. He can do this righteously, for the blood of Christ Jesus was shed to atone for sin and rebellion against God. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

So perfectly, so fully has God been satisfied with what Christ has done that He raised Him from the dead and set Him on high to give forgiveness of sins to sinners. Here is the proclamation of pardon: “Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38-39).

Thousands—millions—have believed it, rejoiced in it, thanked God for it and given their lives a thank-offering to Him—not to earn His pardon, but because they already have it.

“How do you know there is a God?” asked a man of an Arab whom he found praying at the door of his tent.

“How do I know that it was a man and not a camel that went past my tent last night?” replied the Arab. “I know him by his tracks.” Pointing over to the glowing west, where the sun was setting in a sea of crimson fire, he said, “There is the track of God.”

There is a God, all nature cries—I see it painted

on the skies;

I see it where the rivers flow; I see it stamped

on hail and snow;

I see it in the clouds that soar; I hear it when

the thunders roar;

I see it when the morning shines; I see it when

the day declines;

I see it in the mountain’s height; I see it in

the smallest mite;

I see it everywhere abroad—I feel—I know

there is a God

“Between what?” you ask.

Between God and Satan; between heaven and hell; between happiness and misery forever.

“Well,” you say, “I have not thought so much of it as I ought to have done, but there is plenty of time.”

That is a deadly mistake!

Among many who have made that mistake, God gives us a notable instance. There was a man who thought that his life consisted in the abundance of the things he possessed. His crops were large, his barns overflowing and his heart taken up by his possessions.

I don’t doubt that thoughts of God and eternity sometimes stole over his mind, but Satan whispered, “Look at your riches—there is plenty of time to attend to the claims of God.”

He took the bait, believed the lie and said to his soul, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry” (Luke 12:19). He had made a fatal error. Before the morning dawned, life had departed from that pampered body and a hopeless eternity had broken on his God-neglecting soul. He had deliberately made his choice, and God had taken him at his word.

I firmly believe this one thing about him—he never meant to be lost, for he says to his soul, “Thou hast much goods laid up for many years.” It may be he cherished the delusion of turning to God in sickness or on his deathbed, promising himself many years before that unwelcome time should come. How little that poor, procrastinating man thought that death was, as it were, waiting in the next room.

One word from God, and death has calmly walked up to its victim, laid an icy hand upon his shoulder—it may be while he slept—and quietly retreated, leaving behind a lifeless body and freeing his soul to lift up its eyes in torment. He had made his choice—is it possible yours can be the same?

Have you made your choice?

“Well,” you say, “I hope to do so soon.”

Who does not? But are you sure of another day? Your “soon” may be God’s “too late.”

Have you made your choice?

“Not yet, not yet,” you say.

Then, whatever it is that is keeping you back—business, home, fame, family, pleasure—if you place any value upon that soul of yours, set every other consideration aside and give yourself no rest until this question of questions is settled.

God is asking you while you read this: “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).

Have you made your choice?

“I have set before you
life and death . . . therefore
choose life.”

Deuteronomy 30:19

"Jesus"

I’ve tried in vain a thousand ways

My fears to quell, my hopes to raise,

But what I need, the Bible says,

Is ever—only—JESUS.

My soul is night, my heart is steel—

I cannot see, I cannot feel;

For light, for life, I must appeal

In simple faith to JESUS.

He died, He lives, He reigns, He pleads;

There’s love in all His words and deeds;

There’s all a guilty sinner needs

Forevermore in JESUS.

Though some should sneer, and some should blame,

I’ll go with all my guilt and shame;

I’ll go to Him, because His name

Above all names is JESUS.

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

"Lend Me a Loaf"

He eked out a miserable existence doing odd jobs down near the wharves and scavenging anything he might sell to get enough for drink.

Degraded though he was, one Eye pitied him and one Heart yearned over him. “God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:4-5), was about to display those riches of mercy.

A sudden stroke of paralysis laid the old man helpless on his filthy bed. To the wretched shack he called “home” came a messenger of mercy, a Christian who had often tried in vain to reach his ear and rouse his conscience.

As his visitor entered, the afflicted man fiercely demanded: “Who told you to come?”

“No one told me to come. I heard you were ill, and I came to see if I could be of help” was the reply.

“Then you can go again,” the sick man answered roughly. If he had not been helpless, he would have forced his visitor to leave.

“I’m not going until I’ve told you what I came for,” the Christian responded. He was afraid that this might be his last chance to tell the poor man the good news of God’s grace, and in spite of threats and curses he stayed.

“Now that you are paralyzed you have time to think. Think of your wicked life! It is God’s mercy that He did not take you away with this stroke. He is giving you a chance to hear His Word and be saved.” Rapidly he told the helpless man of another paralyzed man who was brought to Jesus when He was on earth. He ended by saying, “You need what he got—his sins forgiven!”

No response but curses did he hear, and he left, thankful for this one more opportunity to tell this slave of sin of a Deliverer. But the warning fell on deaf ears.

Time passed. One day the same messenger of God’s grace was called to see a dying barkeeper. The only entrance to the sick man’s room was through the bar, and at the bar he spied the old man, recovered from his paralysis, drinking with another as disreputable in appearance as he.

The building was old and the walls thin, and as the missionary read the Bible and told the dying man of the Saviour, voices in the bar easily penetrated to the sickroom. The missionary soon realized that the two men drinking together were plotting against his life. What a scene! Death rapidly approaching to claim its victim here and murder plotted against him there! His visit over, the Christian confidently commended himself to God and went out to face his would-be murderers. He eventually got safely away, although for nearly an hour they barred his way—the two who, refusing his Master, hated His servant also. Again time slipped by. Walking down the street one night the missionary was suddenly accosted by the same old man, now older and feebler and—yes—dirtier. “Preacher, straight as one man to another, will you do me a favor? Lend me a dollar.”

“And also speaking straight to you as one man to another, what do you want it for? Drink? If so, you have come to the wrong man.”

“No, preacher, I don’t. I’m hungry. I want to buy some bread.”

Like rats deserting a sinking ship, his old companions had turned their backs on him. With advancing years and infirmity, his meager earnings had dwindled to nothing. He had come to an end of all his resources and was indeed in want.

Assuring himself by a few questions that the man was telling the truth, his friend entered a nearby bakery and bought a loaf of bread and handed it to him. Taking it, the man poised it on the palm of his hand. He looked earnestly first at it and then at the missionary.

“Do I understand,” he said at length, “that you lend me this loaf?”

“No, I give it to you.”

“Do you remember coming to see me when I was laid up?”

“Perfectly.”

“Do you remember what happened in the bar when you went to see the man who was dying?”

“Yes.”

“And remembering all that, you will lend me this loaf?”

“No, I give it to you,” repeated the missionary.

“Then don’t be surprised if you see me at the Mission Hall on Sunday!”

“I’m not surprised at anything that happens there!”—and they parted.

Sunday night came. The old derelict was true to his word. Attentively he listened to the news of salvation waiting for and offered to him. His heart had been touched by the kind act of a few days before. That loaf freely given in his dire need by the man whom he had abused and tried to murder made him willing to hear about God’s free gift: “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Now the Holy Spirit could give him understanding of the gift of God from above, and as simply as he had taken the loaf of bread as a gift, he received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour.

He was caught—caught in the chains of divine love. His new life shone out in the old surroundings. Throughout his remaining years he witnessed to all of the free gift of God’s love and brought many other poor souls to Christ.

Jesus said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). His invitation to lost sinners still goes out, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

Rotten Railings

Near Handeck, in Switzerland, two tourists were crossing the narrow wooden bridge over the river. Stopping to admire the view, they leaned against the railings on one side of the bridge. The railings, evidently rotted by exposure to the weather, broke. The unfortunate tourists fell a distance of a hundred and fifty feet into the Handeck cataract and were killed. How much better it would have been if there had been no railings at all, rather than the rotten and untrustworthy ones which caused the death of those who leaned on them!

These rotten railings resemble the religion of thousands, even in so-called Christian countries. Many a man imagines that he is all right because he is a “member” of some church. Many a woman takes it for granted that she is on the way to heaven because she “goes to church” and is perhaps a Sunday school teacher. Young people by the thousands are deluded by the idea that nothing more is needed for salvation than that they should be members of some religious club.

All these things are like the railings at Handeck, if leaned on for salvation. They may be good and useful in themselves, but if people lean on them for salvation they do so at their peril. To depend on anything but Christ and His precious blood is to court certain destruction.

Salvation, it cannot be too strongly emphasized, is a personal matter. It is not a question of environment or of improved social conditions. It is entirely a question of the individual getting into right relations with God through faith in Christ.

See to it that you do not lean upon any unsafe railings! Be sure you build your hopes for eternity upon a sure foundation!

“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

Like a Mother Hen

When the Federal building was bombed in Oklahoma City, Richard Nichols and his wife were nearby, strapping their little nephew into the car.

Nichols said, “There was a terrific explosion. We felt heat and pressure, and it kind of spun us around a little bit. I thought the boilers blew up. I saw this object coming straight at us, spinning like a boomerang. I grabbed my wife, and I grabbed Chad, and I kind of hovered over them—like an old mother hen!”

It was a Ryder truck axle—250 pounds of jagged metal—that crashed into their car. All three were badly shaken, but they escaped with no serious injuries.

“Like a mother hen.” It was a good comparison. Mother hens do shelter their chicks under their wings, protecting them from cold or rain or any danger. Cases are even told of a mother hen being burned to death in a prairie fire to protect the little ones sheltering under her wings.

Even the Lord Jesus used the example of the mother hen when He was here on earth. As He walked the crowded streets of Jerusalem, He looked at the throngs of humanity—young people—old people—little children—all that surging sea of humanity—and He cried: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37).

Now that He has gone back to heaven He still looks at the masses of humanity with longing love. He is still “not willing that any should perish”—but how often must He say sadly, “But you would not.”

Human nature has not improved in the 2000 years that have passed since that sorrowful cry. Our generation is no better than theirs. There are many today who are still saying, “NO!” to the Lord of glory! Yet the offer of pardon is still open, and all who come in faith to the Lord Jesus for shelter are sure of welcome, sure of pardon, sure of an everlasting life with the Lord Himself.

How sad it would be to be one of those who “would not” and rushed on in their own will and way to destruction!

Don’t be one of them. Say, “YES, Lord Jesus,” now!

A Shining Light

Two atheist neighbors lived in the hills of North Carolina. One of them heard the gospel and was convicted of his sins. Soon he believed the Word and accepted the Lord Jesus. A few days later he went to his atheistic neighbor’s house and said: “I have come to talk to you. Perhaps you know that I have been saved.”

“Yes,” sneered the other, “I heard that you had been down to the meetings. And so you went forward for prayers. I am surprised! I thought you were as sensible a man as any here.”

“Well,” said the first, “I have a duty towards you. I haven’t slept much for two nights thinking about it. In my flock I have four sheep that belong to you. They came with your mark on them. I took them and marked them with my own mark. I know you inquired around, but could not find them. They are in my field now, with their increase. I want to settle with you if you are willing, or you can settle with me by the law if you’d rather.”

The atheist was amazed. He told the neighbor that he could keep the sheep—only please go away! He trembled at the thought that something had got hold of his old friend which he could not understand. He repeated, “You keep the sheep, but please go away.”

“No,” said the new Christian, “I must settle this matter. I cannot rest until I do. You must tell me how much I owe you.”

“Well,” replied the other, “pay me the worth of the sheep when they went to you and six percent interest. Then please go away and leave me alone!”

The Christian paid the amount and then doubled it. He went away, leaving his old friend upset and worried. What could have made his neighbor act like that? What could have changed him? It was now the atheist’s turn to be sleepless at night, and he had no rest until he too became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and was an atheist no longer.

“Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.”

Matthew 5:16

Tomorrow

A conspiracy had been formed to kill Archias, an ancient Greek magistrate. A friend learned of it and sent him a note warning him of his danger. He requested him to read it at once.

Archias was in the midst of a feast when the note was delivered, and not knowing the danger he was in, he put it away with the remark: “Serious things tomorrow!”

For him no tomorrow came; he was assassinated that night. “Tomorrow” was too late.

~~~~~

King James I of Scotland felt very secure in his own castle, surrounded by his own subjects and enjoying a banquet. He had little thought of danger that night as he left the banquet hall and went to his room. He little thought that before morning he would be cruelly murdered. Yet he, too, had a chance to escape.

That same evening a woman had come and urgently requested that she might see the king. In the midst of his pleasures, the king only replied, “Let her come tomorrow.” Her message was to be for him a matter of life or death, but he put her off until the next day. Then it was too late.

~~~~~

We have been warned! We have received messages of warning from God Himself: “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). And “he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:18-19).

The warning could not be plainer; the danger is not merely physical death, but eternal condemnation—eternal separation from all that is beautiful and good, from all light and all love. To say “I’ll think about it tomorrow” is too great a risk—the “blackness of darkness forever” is too terrible a fate.

“How shall we escape, if we neglect [put off—postpone] so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).

We can’t count on tomorrow—today is all we know we have.

“Boast not thyself of
tomorrow; for thou knowest
not what a day may
bring forth.”

Proverbs 27:1

164832

It is a joyful message

That God now sends to you,

Repentance and forgiveness—

How old, yet ever new.

It is a joyful message

That Christ for you has died,

That He who once was buried

Is risen and glorified.

It is a joyful message—

For you His blood was shed,

For you He bore the judgment

And suffered in your stead.

It is a joyful message,

So full of grace and love;

It comes from highest heaven—

From God’s own heart above.

It is a joyful message,

Today, oh, hear His voice—

The voice of Jesus calling:

Repent! Receive! Rejoice

Jesus said, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9).

March

The Joyful Message

Lost in the Mountains

On a clear June morning a young man named James Hoskins climbed to the top of Mount Angeles. There he had an unobstructed view of some of the most beautiful scenery in North America. To the north, many miles away, he saw a long band of water known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Across the water he could see the dark green hills and mist-shrouded mountains of Vancouver Island. To the west, south and east from this vantage point he could see the encircling jagged blue peaks of the Olympic Mountains.

Another man and his stepchildren had also hiked up Mount Angeles that morning. Although they were strangers, they asked James to snap their photo. In return they clicked a photograph of him and told him they would send it to him. In the photo James is straddling the tilted, jagged volcanic rock that forms the peak of the mountain. A deep valley, thickly overgrown with hemlock and Douglas firs, seems to be just one step behind him and, yet a greater distance in the background, a line of snowcapped mountains reaches up into the sky.

When James headed down the mountainside, he mistakenly turned off the main trail onto a path formed by wild animals. At first this side trail looked hikeable, but it soon became tortuously narrow and unsuited for people. Maybe James thought that just around some upcoming corner the path would broaden out and be more negotiable.

Three days later James was reported missing, and a search-and-rescue effort was organized to find him. When the man who had snapped his photo heard of the search effort, he told the park authorities that he had seen James on Mount Angeles. The terrain where James disappeared is so rugged that after four days of searching in the area they had not found him.

A pair of rescue workers followed the same trail James had taken. After a short time of winding their way down the path, they could not believe that anyone would attempt to go down the trail because it was so dangerous. However, they kept going because they wanted to pursue even the slim chance that James had tried to follow it. Hiking further, they saw a set of skid marks down a loose bank of shale next to the path. The bank of shale was nearly vertical; about fifty feet along, it ended at a sheer cliff with a drop-off of several hundred feet. They realized the skid marks most likely belonged to James, and by carefully climbing down the mountain they were able to locate his body. He had died on impact after his terrible slide and fall.

Mountains, because of their great height, are always dangerous. They demand our respect. Our lives are like a trip down a mountainside where there are several paths down, but only one safe way. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Jesus said. The Lord Jesus is the way because it is only through Him that any person can know God. Do you want to know God? Then you must know Jesus. He is the way.

He is the way to the forgiveness of sins. “Be it known unto you therefore . . . that through this man [Jesus] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38-39).

And He is the way to heaven and eternal life. “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).

However, if you don’t know the Lord Jesus as Saviour, your walk through this life will eventually end in trouble. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” To live without the Lord Jesus is to miss the best things this life has to offer, but to die without the Lord Jesus is far worse. It means hell and suffering forever.

We might like to think that we don’t need the Lord Jesus—that we can go our own way and our life will be just fine. This attitude stems from the belief that we are self-sufficient, and it always leads to disaster. Read what Jeremiah wrote to plead with people to turn them to God: “Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains. . . . But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride” (Jeremiah 13:15-17).

What is the alternative to coming to the Lord Jesus for salvation? Stumbling upon the dark mountains of unbelief where one future step will be the last one—then death and a Christless eternity. What a tragedy! And most tragic of all, it doesn’t have to happen. Christ died for all, and salvation is offered free to all. The Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Won’t you give glory to God by acknowledging that you are a sinner and need the Saviour? The Lord Jesus is the way. Will you not take the way of salvation He freely offers?

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

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

Proverbs 14:12

Twice Saved

I am a sailor—have been one for years—just an average, careless sort of a fellow. But my last trip out really woke me up. I got a horrid feeling of being unsafe, of some unseen danger very near me, and I couldn’t shake it off. I didn’t speak of it to anyone. I kept it secret, and it bothered me more and more. Through all our outward passage it clung to me and I could not shake it off. At last we were on our way home again. It was my midnight watch. The sea was rolling in mountainous waves in the pitchy darkness, and I was alone on the head of the ship looking out.

Suddenly, a huge wave swept me from the deck and far out on the rolling waters. I could feel that I was being carried forward on the crest of a great wave as helplessly as a straw. I knew that I would not be missed from my station for a short time or seen if I was missed. The roar of the wind and waves drowned out my attempt to cry out, and I knew that there was no hope for me.

Oh, the horrible, heart-shaking agony! My wife a widow! My children fatherless! Only a great void where I had been! The awful upspringing of unknown horrors arose within me—my life flashing at once in a blaze of strong blinding light upon me! I thought of the sermons I had heard, of my lost chances and my death close at hand, all the while struggling fiercely with the dashing water and the wave that was blinding and choking me.

No hope! No hope! A grave in the black, unfathomable, raging sea, and then from the black water to the scarlet fire of the unforgiven—and it was near me, close upon me. A matter of a few seconds, and then eternal darkness and sorrow! Oh, how I struggled with the choking waters. I was going fast; my strength was failing me; a little struggling, and it would all be over.

Then my heart went up in a mighty cry for pardon. All that there was in me of life and sense and feeling was in that cry. I had given up all hope of being saved, but I struggled on that I might cry and pray. Prayer after prayer, as swift as lightning, went from my heart as I strove more and more feebly with the raging wave that was killing me.

My senses were fast going; all hope of life had left me, when I suddenly felt something near my hands, and I clutched it in desperation. It was one of the ropes of our ship trailing behind in the water. She had forged ahead while I was in the crest of the wave. I climbed the rope and again reached the deck. Except for the fright I had passed through, I was safe and uninjured.

I had not been missed, but when my watch was out and I could go below, the first thing I did in the presence of all the watch was to fall on my knees and humbly and heartily thank God that my life was brought again from the dead. No one mocked; the men all stood in respectful silence, feeling that I was doing that which it was right to do. The Lord had said, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15).

And since then I have always prayed; my prayers have been to the One who was out upon the wild waters that night with me and whose loving, pitying hand snatched me from water and from fire and has led me safely home. I was not saved only from the sea that night; I was saved from going into the “blackness of darkness forever,” and death has no more terrors for me. I know my Saviour!

“Out of the depths
have I cried unto Thee, O Lord.”

Psalm 130:1

“They called upon the Lord, and
He answered them.”

Psalm 99:6

The Two Sons

It is an old, familiar story, that story of the “Prodigal Son”—the wayward son. We have read in the Bible of the prodigal’s return; we like to hear how the wanderer was welcomed back to his father’s house, but too often we stop at the end of that and forget that “a certain man had two sons.” What about the elder son? What became of him?

We read in Luke 15 that “he came and drew nigh to the house,” and, hearing the music and dancing, he wanted to know what it was all about. Have you ever wondered what made your Christian relatives and friends so happy? And have you asked yourself what it all meant?

They have told you how they were once in “the far country” but have now been brought to God, and they are glad. Well, then, how about you? Are you still near the house, listening to the music, but outside? Why? The door is open for you, the same door by which the younger brother was taken in.

The elder brother “was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him.” The servant stands aside, and the master of the house comes out himself to “entreat.” “As though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).

How blessed! God can thus “come out” to entreat, for the Saviour has been right down into the very depths of death to enable a holy God to come out in righteousness as well as grace and save all that “come unto God by Him.”

Do you join hands with this poor elder son in his answer to his father’s entreaties? “Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends.” Look at what his answer is made up of: pride, self-righteousness and selfishness. Pride, in his length of service—self-righteousness, in his claim never to have transgressed—and utter selfishness, as shown in his complaint that his father had never given him a kid that he might make merry with his friends. He did not want his father’s company; he wanted only the gift that he might enjoy it with his friends.

Pause and think! You are either inside, rejoicing in company with the Father and happy in His joy at having His lost one back, or else outside, refusing to come in. “Angry, and would not come in”: proud, in standing up in your own strength before Him; self-righteous, in clinging to your own morality apart from Him; and selfish, in refusing Him the joy of blessing you according to His own heart.

You may know all this; you may have often heard “the old, old story” from some relative or friend, and sometimes you like to think of its sweetness, but you don’t like “to make a profession.” You are young, maybe, and life is before you. Take care! The day is near when that door, now kept open by the mercy of a God of love, will be closed forever on those who would not go in. Oh, now, before it is too late, let Him have His joy in blessing you with all that He has.

“Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with His stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee” (Job 36:18).

A Lawyer's View of the Resurrection

A Christian lawyer has said that legally the question of Christ’s resurrection was beyond doubt, and any court of law would be compelled to admit it.

He said: “I can easily prove my case. If you read your Bible you will see there are thirteen witnesses, unimpeached and unimpeachable, whose names are known. They were well acquainted with Christ. They had met Him many times before His death, and they saw and talked with Him after the resurrection. Five hundred persons also saw Him at the same time.

“One witness (not an accomplice) is sufficient to prove the highest offense known to the law—murder. Two witnesses are required to prove treason, and three witnesses are the highest number required to prove the execution of a will.”

A listener objected: “But they might have been mistaken.”

“No, no!” answered the lawyer. “There could have been no case of mistaken identity. It is urged that the five hundred witnesses were liable to err through prejudice, but where was the motive? Their cause was condemned, their leader killed, themselves outcasts. Would they swear falsely to His identification? It is incredible! The witnesses to the resurrection of Christ never contradicted or denied their testimony in relation to it, but told the same story as long as they lived. Their subsequent conduct is totally consistent with the truth of their story.

“This is always competent evidence, especially where the number of witnesses is large. These witnesses all led exemplary lives. As long as life lasted they lived in poverty and virtue, as their Master had taught. Most of them suffered martyrdom, after preaching the gospel all their lives long at great personal hazard and discomfort. Had they not been sincere, they would not have persisted as they did to the end.”

“Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures;
and . . . He was buried, and . . . He
rose again the third day
according to the scriptures.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

A Message of Peace

The gospel of God is a message of peace. How sweet to the anxious heart is the first experience of “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

There is no reason why this should not be your happy experience now. Peace has been made by the blood of the cross. The Son of God, the great Peacemaker, died—the Just for the unjust—to bring us to God.

“The chastisement of our peace was upon Him,” and He became our surety. In His atoning sacrifice, offered to God, He satisfied every claim that offended justice had against the sinner.

Blessed be God, peace has been made. It is now made known in the gospel. The great question for you to ask yourself is: Am I at peace with God?

There need be no doubt about the matter. Peace has been made at the cross. Peace is offered through the gospel. And peace is possessed and enjoyed by all who believe and receive that gospel as God\qs good news for them.

The Cross Was His Own

They borrowed a bed to lay His head

When Christ the Lord came down;

They borrowed the ass in the mountain pass

For Him to ride to town,

But the crown that He wore

And the cross that He bore

Were His own.

He borrowed the bread when the crowd He fed

On the grassy mountainside;

He borrowed the dish of broken fish

With which He satisfied;

But the crown that He wore

And the cross that He bore

Were His own.

He borrowed a room on the way to the tomb,

The passover lamb to eat;

They borrowed the cave, for Him a grave;

They borrowed the winding sheet.

But the crown that He wore

And the cross that He bore

Were His own.

The thorns on His head were borne in my stead;

For me the Saviour died;

For guilt of my sin the nails drove in

When Christ was crucified.

Though the crown that He wore

And the cross that He bore

Were His own,

They rightly were mine!

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

Does the Key Fit?

Sharon had just finished lunch and gotten back into her car in the crowded parking lot. She turned to see if she could back out safely and saw a worried-looking elderly woman standing behind the car.

Sharon opened her window and offered, “May I help you with something, ma’am?”

“Oh, no. I’m fine. I parked my car somewhere here. I just need to find it.”

Although the woman’s answer made it sound as if there were no problem, the look on her face clearly told that she was deeply troubled.

“Perhaps,” Sharon offered again, “I could drive you around the parking lot until you find your car.”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” she replied without hesitation, but after a short pause she changed her mind and got into the passenger seat beside Sharon.

“If you tell me what your car looks like, I will help you look for it,” the younger woman told her as she slowly cruised the parking lot.

“Oh, my! I am not at all sure” was the sheepish response. “I think it is a silver Buick! ”

Growing old and making the transition from being self-sufficient to becoming dependent on others for assistance is a change that most people make great efforts to resist. Just for a moment, consider another area of life where this resistance to acknowledging our need is remarkable. This has to do with the salvation of our souls. The Bible says, “When we were yet without strength . . . Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Each one of us is absolutely without strength when it comes to producing some righteousness which will make us acceptable to God. It is only when people see themselves as sinners without strength to please God that they turn to the Saviour.

The Lord Jesus died on the cross. He paid the ultimate penalty for sins. He did it for real sinners who had no possibility of saving themselves. People don’t like to think of themselves as helpless creatures who need a Saviour God. This is their loss! For sinners who were marred and scarred by sin the Lord Jesus has provided a perfect salvation. It will take eternity for the riches of this salvation to unfold, but God gives it freely to all those who believe on the Lord Jesus.

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Notice that it is not man’s righteousness that is talked about here. It is God’s righteousness. That is, it is righteousness suited to His holy nature. And it is revealed to those who have faith, and by faith we share in it. What a wonderful thing to take the place of a needy sinner and then to accept the truth that God sent His Son into this world to save sinners!

After the two women had driven around the parking lot for several minutes, traveling at a snail’s pace, they spotted a silver Buick.

“Is that your car?” Sharon asked.

“I’m not sure” was the uncertain answer.

“Why don’t you see if the key fits?”

With that the older woman got the keys out of her purse and went to the car and tried the key in the door. The key did not fit. She returned forlornly to the passenger seat of Sharon’s car.

“Look, why don’t I drive you to the other section of the parking lot? Maybe your car is there.”

“No, it can’t be there. I didn’t have any business there.”

“Well, what stores did you go to?”

A pained expression passed over the face of the other woman. Now thoroughly confused, she could only say, “I don’t remember.”

“Then let’s try the other parking lot.”

As soon as they drove into the adjacent parking lot they saw another silver Buick.

“I think that’s my car,” she said hopefully. This time when she tried the key in the door the key fit, the lock turned, and the door was open. It was her car. After saying good-bye, the two parted.

The key didn’t fit in the door of the first silver Buick. Isn’t this like a lot of people who think that the way to unlock God’s favor is by trying to find some good thing in themselves? But it’s not the way, and all they can do is to open up themselves to lots of disappointment. The real key to finding happiness and God’s favor is recognizing that you are a lost sinner and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour of sinners. This is the key that will open up the treasures of God’s grace. Won’t you let Him save you today?

“Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners.”

1 Timothy 1:15

Billy the Diver

Billy was a professional diver. He was a good worker when sober, but a different man when he drank—which was whenever he wasn’t actually working. He had been jailed forty times for fighting and drunkenness. Every time he got into prison he would mourn over his condition and make a lot of good resolutions. He would vow within himself that he would never touch another glass. Well, Billy’s good resolutions soon faded when he got out of prison, for his old friends would gather around him and soon persuade him to “take just a little drink” again.

When drunk, he had a habit of going out into the street and calling for any man within hearing to come and fight him. He would drag his coat up and down the street, while crying out, “Let any man come and tramp on the tail of my coat.” Very rarely was the invitation accepted, as Billy was feared by all. One day a man accepted the challenge and they fought, but the man soon fled from Billy and ran into a house and locked the door behind him. Billy ran and dived straight through the window glass into the house to continue the fight!

For years Billy went on in this way, unable to break the chains of sin which bound his poor soul. Sometimes he went on recklessly, and at other times he tried to change his ways. But every effort was vain. Christ alone can deliver from that bondage.

One Sunday, some time after Billy had served his fortieth term of imprisonment, he was going down to the bar for his usual drink. On the way he saw a crowd of people listening to a man preaching the gospel of Christ. Stopping to listen, he heard the good news of the love of God—that God had sent His Son to save poor, lost and wretched sinners. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9). Words of grace and love such as this came from the preacher’s lips, and the Spirit of God revealed to Billy, right where he stood, his need and his terrible condition before a holy God.

The meeting ended and Billy left, but not to go on to the bar and to his drinking. All desire for drink was gone. There remained only that awful sense of having to meet God, the sense of being under the overwhelming wrath of the God whom he had despised.

He went home to pray—to cry out to God in his need and deep distress of soul. For several days he was under such conviction of sin that he could not sleep at night. And then one day in the middle of the week, as he was at work on a scow in the harbor, he was overwhelmed with a sense of his guilt and he fell on his knees and called upon the Lord. There and then he saw that Christ had paid the mighty debt for him and had died for him on the cross. He rose from his knees knowing by faith that his guilt was gone—washed away in that precious blood shed on Calvary. “The blood of Jesus Christ . . . cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Immediately after his conversion Billy started to tell to others what a Saviour he had found, and many an evening he would stand on a box or barrel in front of his old drinking corner and proclaim the good news of a Saviour. Many of his old acquaintances were brought to Christ and saved by grace.

God also saved the man that Billy had dived through the window to reach, and in later years they both preached Christ from the same platform.

You may think, “That man needed salvation. He was so wicked, but I have never lived a life like that.” But God says, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” That takes everyone in. He also says, “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 commendeth His love
toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

Sheltered by the Blood

God’s people are always safe, but God’s people are only safe through the blood of Christ. Nothing can hurt them, because “the blood” shelters them. When God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, He spared the life of the oldest in each house where the blood had been sprinkled on the lintel and side posts of the door. And so it is with us.

In the case of the Israelites it was the blood of the passover lamb. In our case it is the blood of the Lamb of God—the blood of a divinely appointed victim. Jesus Christ did not come into this world by chance; He was sent by His Father. Jesus is God’s chosen Saviour for men.

Christ Jesus, like the lamb, was spotless. Had there been one sin in Christ, He would not have been capable of being our Saviour, but He was without sin. Turn then your eyes to the cross and see Jesus bleeding there and dying for you.

For a moment try to picture to yourself Christ on the cross. Lift your eyes and see the three crosses upon that hillside. See, in the center, the thorn-crowned brow of Christ. See the hands nailed fast to the cross. See His face, more marred than that of any other man. See it now, as His head bows upon His chest in the agonies of death.

He was a real man, remember. It was a real cross. Do not think of these things as fancies and romance. He lived, and He died as I have described it. Sit still a moment and think: The blood of that Man, whom now I behold dying, must be my redemption if I would be saved. He “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” He bore our sins “in His own body on the tree.” He “redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

My prayers, my tears and my good deeds cannot save me. Sacraments cannot save me. Nothing but the blood of Jesus has the slightest saving power. But we may say that the blood of Christ is all-sufficient. There is no case which the blood of Christ cannot meet; there is no sin which it cannot wash away. “The blood of Jesus Christ . . . cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

He that believes shall be saved, no matter how many sins he has committed; he that believes not shall be damned, even if his sins are few and his virtues are many. Trust in Jesus now. Jesus only can save.

“For He [God]
hath made Him
[the Lord Jesus Christ]
to be sin for us,
who knew no sin.”

2 Corinthians 5:21

The Gift

Suppose God charged a thousand dollars, or a hundred or even one for eternal life—would it be a gift? No.

Suppose He charged only one cent—would it be a gift? No.

Suppose He charged the person who needs eternal life so many prayers, or so many good works, or so much love—would it still be “the gift of God”? No.

Whatever else God may have put conditions upon, He has put no conditions, no price, on eternal life. It is His prerogative to give it, and He freely gives it to every one who comes to Him acknowledging his need.

Do you know what eternal life is? It is the life which God gives to everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, who receives Him in their heart—the life which makes one as truly the child of God as children are their parents’ children by natural birth.

Think of it! The man, woman or child who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a child of God! Such a one now has a life which cannot see death and which thrives and grows only in the things which God loves and enjoys.

It is not at all an improvement of the sinful nature. No, that was born of the flesh and remains the same, but this new life is born of the Spirit and it is spirit. It is not the restoring of man to his innocent state, as in Eden. No; it is making him “a new creature” in Christ Jesus. It is not gradually cultivating him, until he gets up to a high standard of goodness. It is an immediate, absolute passing from one thing to another: “from death to life.”

“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

If you perish, it will be because you were too good in your own eyes to need eternal life or too blind to see the grace of God or too proud to accept the gift. And what will you do in the day when such grace has ceased to call, and you must face the eternal realities of sin and judgment?

“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

Do You Feel Better?

At the close of a gospel service a young girl, anxious about her soul, was being spoken to by a woman who with the best of intentions tried to help her. After a few sentences she laid her hand on the girl’s arm and asked gently, “Do you feel any better?”

“No, I don’t,” sobbed the girl.

“Then get down on your knees with me.” Both of them having done this, the woman added, “Now I want you to say this after me. Are you ready?”

“Our Father, which art in heaven.”

“Our Father, which art in heaven,” murmured the girl as best she could between her sobs. And so they went through to the end of the disciples’ prayer.

Rising from her knees at the end, the woman cheerfully said, “Now you feel better, don’t you?”

The poor girl felt no better; she wept on.

Plainly the woman was trying to “put the cart before the horse.” The truth is that the girl needed to get “all right” with God before she could hope to feel truly better.

The important thing is not what you feel, but what you are. Feelings are often deceptive; facts are stubborn things. The only right course is to go straight to the root of the matter and get really right with God.

Perhaps you do desire to be truly right with God, but you find that in spite of doing your best and repenting and asking to be forgiven, you do not feel any better. You must remember that nowhere are we told to repent and do our best, nor even to repent and ask to be forgiven. The words of the Lord Jesus were, “Repent . . . and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

The great theme of the gospel is Jesus—the risen Lord and Christ—but the gospel also tells of His work, the great work of atonement: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.” “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

It presents the infinite value of that work to the sinner so that “through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43).

It declares the complete clearance before God of the sinner—be he ever so ungodly—who believes in Jesus: “Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38-39).

Even then you will not say, “Now I feel better,” meaning, “I feel more good and holy and better pleased with myself.” No. You will say, “I feel better because I rejoice in the knowledge that the blood of Jesus has cleansed me from all sin and that I am cleared forever in the sight of God.”

What Are the Wild Waves Saying?

What are the wild waves saying?

They splash along the shore;

Their voice is full of meaning,

So listen—and adore.

They say the wicked, sinning,

Are like the troubled sea;

They restless are and raging;

At rest they cannot be.

They say the Lord is gracious,

For in the sea He casts

The sins of the believer;

He cancels all the past.

They speak of Christ the Saviour,

On whom the billows fell,

When on the cross He suffered

To save our souls from hell.

They sing of time that’s coming

When sea shall be no more,

When Christ shall come in glory,

So listen—and adore.

“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Caught in a Storm!

Exploring the world by boat had been their dream for years, so when a forty-foot sailboat was offered for sale the husband-and-wife team sold everything they owned and bought it. After outfitting it, they left from the Pacific coast of Russia and six months later were sailing up the northwest coast of the United States. Suddenly the weather took a turn for the worse.

The man listened to the marine weather forecast. In previous travels he had picked up a smattering of English—enough to enable him to understand the words “wind” and “storm,” but most of the message was meaningless to him. He didn’t understand what the English-speaking people all up and down the coast understood clearly—that this was going to be a major storm system, lasting several days. There would be winds gusting up to seventy-five miles an hour—hurricane force. Confident that he could ride out the storm and unaware of its predicted severity, he passed up harbors where he might have found safety.

This Russian’s predicament is not so different from a danger many people are in today. God’s Word, the Bible, tells of judgment to come. However, for one reason or another, the message gets so garbled up in the hearing that men don’t realize the severity of this judgment. God’s judgment against sin is severe. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). People who choose to live in sin and never come to Christ will be sent, when they die, to a place of outer darkness where they will suffer forever and ever.

To save sinners, the Son of God went to Calvary’s cross where He was crucified. Don’t let the message of the impending storm of God’s anger, which is certain to fall on every person who has not accepted Christ, become garbled and meaningless to you. Rather, turn to the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour of sinners and find that one safe harbor where you will find protection.

The weather continued to deteriorate. The sailboat was driven at an incredible speed by the wind. The wife retreated into the cabin, where she was tossed around and battered black and blue. The husband clung tenaciously to the wheel of the ship and to the hope that he could save his ship and their lives. They raced out of control, driven by the wind along the coast of the state of Washington. (On shore, people listening to the wind blow through the trees likened it to standing next to a jet plane rushing down the runway.) In a matter of hours the sailboat covered a distance which would normally take days of sailing.

Both husband and wife were near exhaustion. Hoping to escape the terrific winds, they turned into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. However, the winds blew as hard in the Strait as they had in the open waters of the Pacific. The last sail was torn to shreds. A sea anchor was tossed out. Both husband and wife, deeply fatigued, were losing hope of saving their lives.

Meanwhile people along the coast became aware through television that a life-and-death drama was being enacted in the Strait. The Coast Guard dispatched a rescue helicopter to follow the boat, but the boat was tossing and pitching so wildly in the storm that lowering a rescue basket to the two was out of the question. They also found a translator who could communicate with the pair on board, but still there seemed no way to rescue the couple. At any moment they expected the boat to go under.

At this time a Chinese super-freighter was headed toward Seattle. The captain, hearing of the plight of the two on board the sailboat, devised a plan to save them both. He steered his ship windward of the sailboat and then turned his giant ship broadside. Turning the boat sideways blocked the terrific winds, and the current brought the sailboat alongside the freighter. A rope ladder was lowered and the two had just enough strength to scramble up the ladder. The helicopter then picked them up off the ship and brought them to a nearby hospital to receive medical attention. The sailboat was released; after the storm, men searched for it but were unable to find it.

The Chinese freighter turned sideways so that the gale-force winds would spend their energies on it instead of on the sailboat. This reminds us of what the Lord Jesus did on the cross for sinners. There in His own body He bore the sins of all those who would believe on Him. God’s anger against sin fell on the Lord Jesus. God is holy and righteous and cannot let one sin in this whole universe go unpunished. On the cross the Lord Jesus took the awful punishment that we deserved for sin. Because He loved us and would rescue us from the punishment of our sins, He died in our place. First Corinthians 15:3 reads, “Christ died for our sins.” Because He did this, the most degraded of sinners can turn to Him and receive the free forgiveness of sins. It is free, because it has been paid for. Won’t you believe on the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour of sinners? Then you can say like the songwriter:

The tempest’s awful voice was heard;

O Christ, it broke on Thee;

Thy open bosom was my ward,

It bore the storm for me.

Thy form was scarred, Thy visage marred,

Now cloudless peace for me.

For or Against?

“I tell you I didn’t steal it. I bought it,” he kept on repeating until at last the judge was obliged to silence him.

It appeared that Kelly was arrested on the charge of stealing a watch. There was no doubt that the watch had been stolen and found in his possession, which was sufficient in the opinion of both policemen and magistrates to convict him.

Just as the judge had apparently arrived at a decision, I stepped into the witness box to be sworn.

“What do you want?” asked the judge.

“I want to give evidence in this case, sir.”

The moment Kelly heard that, he turned on me in a rage. “Don’t listen to him. He knows nothing about it. He has only gone into the box to tell a lot of lies. He wants to make it hot for me.”

It was useless my telling Kelly to keep quiet and listen. He seemed to think, because I was in police uniform, that I was bound to be against him. At last they got him to keep quiet and I was able to proceed.

I said: “Some weeks ago I was on duty escorting two prisoners to the penitentiary. I heard one say to the other, ‘I did old Kelly the other day!’

“ ‘How was that?’ asked the other.

“ ‘I sold him a watch for thirty dollars that wasn’t worth one!’ ”

What a change on the faces of all in court! As for Kelly, he looked as if he could have kissed me. Of course, he got off, for he was proved innocent in spite of all the circumstantial evidence against him. The little bit of evidence I gave for him more than counterbalanced all that was against him. But, if he had had his way, he would never have known what was in my heart towards him.

That is just the way some people treat God. They will not listen to Him, because they think He is against them, whereas He is for them.

“God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).

Kelly was innocent, but God’s heart can justly clear a guilty man and let the guilty go free. That is more than any court of justice can do without sacrificing its name and character. But God can be “A JUST GOD AND A SAVIOUR” at one and the same time. He can be “just, and the JUSTIFIER of him which believeth in Jesus.” He can JUSTIFY the ungodly!

God, who seems to be against man, loves man, and now the great question is this: How can God righteously let the man go free when He Himself has proved his guilt?

The only answer: by substitution.

In the cross we see God’s love to the sinner displayed in the gift of His Son (the only One who was capable of taking the sinner’s place, being without sin Himself), who bore the sinner’s sin—suffered for them—and DIED FOR THE UNGODLY. Therefore the ungodly can go free, if he accepts that sacrifice and receives that pardon.

The Old Witch

The old woman certainly had a very bad reputation, so bad that her neighbors usually spoke of her as “the old witch.” Children were afraid of her and ran at the very sight of her, always passing her house on the far side of the street.

I was new in the neighborhood and felt sorry for anyone who was so alone and so shunned by everyone, so I went over to her house and knocked at the door. I found her ill and in bed, a pitiful creature. Surely, I thought, if looks betray character, she certainly is a witch!

I asked her how she felt and if she expected to get better.

“No,” she replied shortly.

Then I asked, “But if you die, where will you go?”

She stared at me fiercely, like a tiger about to spring, and she screamed out: “I’m going to hell! I’m wicked! I’m going to hell! I’m wicked!”

“But why do you want to go to hell?”

“I don’t want to go, but I’ve got to go,” she screamed again.

“Who can force you to go to hell?”

“The devil,” she said. “I have served him all my life.”

“Did you never hear of God and His Son Jesus Christ, the blessed One who came down from heaven to save poor sinners from going to hell?”

“No.”

“Have you never heard of God?”

“No! I’m wicked!”

“Don’t you know what love is? Did you ever have a child?”

“Yes, I had eight.”

“Don’t they love you?”

“No, they robbed me of all I had.”

“Didn’t your husband love you?”

“No; he turned me out of doors.”

“Don’t you love anyone?”

“No. I’m wicked, I tell you. I hate everybody.”

Finding her heart so hard, I tried another course. I asked her if she would like a few nice things to eat.

“I can’t have them. No one will give anything to me.”

“Oh, yes, I will,” I said. “This very night I will send a good dinner to you.”

Her amazement was equal to her anger before. “Will you, sure?”

“Yes, I will. Now you see that somebody loves you. And I want to tell you that Someone else loves you! He sent me to tell you about His love.”

“Who is that?”

“It is the great God, the King of all the earth. This great King made all things. He made you. This great God has only one Son, whom He loves very much. Yet this great God loved you so very much that He sent His dear Son all the way down from heaven to die for you and for all who, like you, have been committing sins all their lives.”

Then I read John 3 to her and tried to make her understand that the King of glory would not turn away from her.

“But would He listen to a poor old thing like me?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said, “He will.”

“But what could I say to Him?”

“Just tell Him what you have told me. Tell Him all your fears and that you know you are wicked.”

She at once looked straight up to the ceiling as if she saw someone there. In desperation she cried out: “Lord, have mercy on a wicked old woman like me! I have been a wicked old woman all my life.” She said this over and over, until she was crying too bitterly to speak.

Then I taught her that beautiful passage in 1 John 1:7: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

This she repeated after me till she had it firmly in her mind. I left her then but soon went again and I asked her if she knew who Jesus Christ was.

“He is the dear Son of the great King of the earth and sky,” she answered.

“Has He done anything for you?”

“Oh, He has died for me!”

Wicked, hell-deserving though she knew she was, she had learned of the Saviour’s love to her. She had met “the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Now the peace of God had entered into her heart, and it soon followed that she loved everyone.

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

John 3:16

Saved by the Lamb

On the front of a building in the north of England a lamb is carved, and there is a story told about it.

Many years ago when that building was being built, a workman stepped back on the scaffold to look at his work. He stepped back too far and fell. Workers at a distance saw the fall and rushed to pick him up, expecting him to have been killed instantly. To their amazement, they found him sitting up and apparently only shaken by the fall.

One of the workers, a friend, helped him to rise and walk away. “Now, Tom,” he said, “tell me what happened—why weren’t you killed? What saved your life?”

“Why, that lamb, to be sure,” he answered.

It was true. Just where the accident occurred, some sheep were lying down, and he had fallen upon a lamb. The lamb was killed on the spot, but the man’s life was saved.

“Tom,” said his friend, “if you had not fallen on that lamb—if you had been killed—where would you have been now?”

“Ah,” said Tom, “what has happened today has opened my eyes to the danger of waiting to get right with God.”

Then said his friend, “You may thank God there is another Lamb, the Lamb of God, who suffered death upon the cross. He died that you may live.”

By the mercy of God, Tom was able to see that the way in which he had been saved from death was a picture of the only way in which he could be saved from eternal death. That day he trusted in Christ, the true Lamb of God, as his Saviour, and could say, He “loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

A lamb was carved in stone outside that building, and for many years afterwards, whenever Tom looked at that lamb, it reminded him of the day on which he had been saved from death twice—from physical death and eternal death.

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

John 1:29

What Will You Do With Jesus?

What will you do with

Jesus, the Lord?

Too long this question

You have ignored!

Soon comes the judgment day—

“Depart from Me,” He’ll say;

Come sinner, while you may;

This moment, come!

What will you do, then,

With Jesus Christ?

Be not by Satan’s

Wiles enticed.

Do not God’s love reject;

Do not His plea neglect;

His pardon now accept,

Through Jesus Christ.

What will you do with

God’s only Son?

Calvary stands, the

Work fully done.

The blood can cleanse away

All sin; oh, yield today!

He calls, come while you may

To Jesus Christ.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

June

"Danger! Keep Out!"

One bright summer afternoon, Mark and Andy were making their way cautiously down a steep mountain trail near Pike’s Peak, a mountain in the western United States. As they rounded a curve they noticed the entrance to a cave. It was boarded up, and over it was a large sign: “DANGER! KEEP OUT!”

Mark stopped to peer between the boards into the darkness, exclaiming, “I would like to explore this cave! Will you go with me?”

“Certainly not!” replied Andy, and he begged him not to try it. But Mark was determined.

At the foot of the trail Mark picked up a flashlight, said good-bye to his friend, and returned to the cave. Pushing aside the barriers, he boldly entered the deep, dark cavern. At first his light seemed barely to penetrate the dense darkness, but as his eyes became more accustomed to the darkness he could make out rough walls and rocks and a path, down which he cautiously moved. All seemed to go well for a time, but suddenly he stepped off into space and fell down a steep place, where he lay unconscious.

There are many today who, like Mark, are groping their way through life using the flickering light of reason as their guide. They expect the end of their lives to be “a leap in the dark,” not knowing where they are heading. But the Lord Jesus has promised, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).

When Mark came to, he found himself bruised and sore, his flashlight in pieces at his side, and engulfed in thick darkness. In his pocket he found a few matches which he struck, one by one, only to see them flicker and go out. Their light had shown him the cliff over which he had fallen, but no way to climb back up.

Shaking with cold and terror, he hardly dared to move for fear of falling again, so he crept carefully along on hands and knees until his trousers were worn through and his knees bleeding. He felt as though he were buried alive.

In his despair the sins of his past life came before him, and he cried to God for mercy. It was not for the rescue of his body that he prayed, for that seemed impossible, but to save his never-dying soul. Bible verses which he had often heard, but never heeded, came flooding into his mind: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” These wonderful verses, like warm sunshine, illuminated his dark, cold heart, and he accepted the Lord Jesus as the Saviour who had died for his sins.

Still his plight was unchanged. He decided to keep moving as long as his strength lasted. He had no idea of the passage of time, as he painfully and hopelessly dragged himself over rocks and stones. He thought of his mother, and, finding a piece of paper and a pencil in his pocket, he scribbled a note to her as best he could, telling her not to mourn for him but to rejoice because this dreadful experience had been the means of bringing him to his blessed Saviour, who loved him and had given Himself for him. He wrote her address, asking that his body be sent to her.

Still creeping wearily about, he felt a rope. With wondering hope he followed it until something—was it fresh air?—touched his cheek. On he went; then a pale glimmer of light appeared, which gradually increased until he could dimly see, in the distance, an opening. At last he reached it and emerged into the light! The sun was shining brightly. He had entered the cave at 4 p.m., and it was now noon of the next day.

When picked up by a search party he was a pitiful sight—ragged, bleeding, dirty and weak. He soon recovered from the ordeal, but his spiritual change could never be erased from his soul. He was turned “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:18).

I Don't Care

As far as his soul was concerned, young Steve began his career in anything but a hopeful manner. As a boy, he was the despair of his schoolteachers and neighbors. Even his own parents could do nothing with him. It seemed that he came to Sunday school for the sole purpose of displaying the most outrageous conduct. It was often a question with his teacher as to how long his disturbances ought to be endured. There is no denying the fact that when he finally left home and disappeared, the neighborhood sighed with relief.

Years went by. No word came from the troublesome boy. Then one weekend, about a month before World War I broke out, he returned to his hometown for a visit. He found the same preacher, as usual, holding an open-air service. “He careth for you” was the text, and twice over, in a ringing voice, the preacher repeated the four wonderful words. Ignoring a low whistle almost in his ear, he proceeded to tell the old, old story of God’s love and pity.

“Remember this: however careless you may be about the future of your soul, God cares what becomes of you. He cares so much that He sent His only Son to die, so that He might make a way from earth to heaven for those who sinned.

“ ‘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).

In simple words the preacher tried to reach the heart and conscience of the crowd around him. All the while the whistling grew louder and more insistent. Finally it merged into a definite song: “I don’t care what becomes of me!”

Obliged to turn around at this, the preacher saw that the disturber was a young sailor, with H.M.S. Pathfinder on his cap. Beneath the gilt letters, in spite of added years and the new uniform, were the unmistakable features of his old, unruly pupil. As he had gone, so had he returned, precisely the same wild, reckless spirit that in the past had created so much trouble.

Delighted with the attention he was receiving, our sailor renewed his charge with added vigor. “I don’t care what becomes of me,” he chanted. “I don’t care what becomes of me,” and he accompanied his song with a dance.

The preacher dismissed the interrupted meeting. Before Steve could make his escape, he grasped him by the arm and led him away. Once clear of the crowd, he began to reason with him about his behavior. The only response to his appeal was the same refrain: “I don’t care what becomes of me.”

“Do you care about nothing?” the preacher finally asked. “Wouldn’t you care if you knew you must die tonight?”

“Not I” was the answer. And again the song began: “I don’t care what becomes of me!”

Feeling that words were useless, the preacher turned sadly away. A second thought came to him. “Wait a moment,” he said, and from his pocket he produced a little book. On the back of the book he wrote in large clear letters: “IF I DIE TONIGHT, I SHALL GO TO H_______.”

He handed it to the sailor. “If you really do not care what becomes of your soul,” he said, “before you go to bed tonight finish writing that last word. Then sign your name to it. Only remember, there are two ways in which that last word can be spelled.

Defiantly, the young fellow took the little book and swaggered down the street, still singing, “I don’t care what becomes of me.”

Sadly the preacher went his way, praying with his whole heart and soul that the rebellious young life might be transformed by the grace of God.

To tell the truth, not much faith was in that prayer, but it is not always according to a man’s faith that answers are given. The very next day who should be at the morning service but the heckler of the previous evening! At the close of the meeting a very subdued young man made his way down the aisle and followed the preacher into his study. He wasted no time on preliminaries.

“I’m just miserable,” he said with a shudder. “I couldn’t go to sleep last night. I couldn’t finish that last word, for I do care what becomes of me. I know where I should go, if I died now.”

Sin lay like a heavy burden on his mind: sin that deserved punishment. “If I died tonight, I would go to hell,” he added miserably.

“But Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners from hell,” answered the preacher triumphantly. “He knew the horrors of that awful place, and He died to deliver us from it.”

Glancing down at the letters on the young man’s cap, which was revolving nervously in his hands, he went on: “The Lord Jesus is our Pathfinder. He found a plan by which He could make a path for sinners from earth to heaven. It cost Him His very life to make that way, but He thought it worthwhile to die in our place and open the gates of heaven to all believers.

“Listen to this: ‘I am the Way,’ says the Saviour Himself. You see, He Himself is the way that leads to heaven, and the wonderful part is that ‘whosoever will’ may come to Him.”

Not all at once, but little by little the worry-lines faded from Steve’s face. By the grace of God he gradually saw that faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is all that God requires from sinners for admission into His family and His home. After a few broken words of humble, thankful prayer, the forgiven sailor went on his way rejoicing.

Two days later the young sailor appeared again. This time he came to say good-bye. His whole attitude spoke of the miraculous change that had taken place. He gave every evidence of one who did most earnestly repent and was heartily sorry for his misdoing. By the grace of God he intended to lead a new life in Christ. With a last handshake, a last “God bless you,” the boy was off to rejoin his ship.

For just one month after the outbreak of war the Pathfinder did her share in guarding the coast. Then, torpedoed off Harwich, she sank immediately, and two hundred and fifty men perished with her. Among them was the once “don’t care” Steve, now caring so deeply for his Lord and for his shipmates that several of them were convinced to follow his example and to look to the Saviour as their own hope of eternal salvation.

"Where Is the Little Starling?"

Mr. Marsh once had a little starling in his home. Finding that the bird would likely never be able to survive as a wild bird, he kept it as a pet. Over time he taught it to say a few very human-sounding words. When Mr. Marsh would call out, “Where is the little starling?” the bird would answer, “Here I am.”

Next door there lived a little boy named Charles, who was intensely interested in the little “talking bird.” One day he came to see it, and found Mr. Marsh was not at home. Catching the starling, he slipped it quickly into his pocket. Just at the moment when he turned to slip out the door, Mr. Marsh appeared!

Seeing Charles there, Mr. Marsh thought to please the boy by coaxing the bird to talk. He called out, “Where is the little starling?”

The bird’s answer came promptly—from the depths of Charles’ pocket! “Here I am!”

Charles learned that day the truth of God’s Word: “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

We learn from the Bible that “ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” But there is another verse—a wonderful verse: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from ALL sin” (1 John 1:7). If we own we are sinners and come to the Lord Jesus by faith, believing that He died for our sins, then we can truly know that He has washed all our sins away.

“Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7).

“The eyes of the Lord
are in every place,
beholding the evil
and the good.”

Proverbs 15:3

"My Mother's Been Praying!"

A gale was raging along the coast. While the storm was at its height, a ship, the Rising Sun, struck on Longrear Rock, a reef extending a mile from one side of the bay. She sank, leaving only her topmost masts above the foaming waters.

The shore lifeboats were away to the rescue of another wrecked crew. The only means of saving the men clinging to the swaying masts was the rocket apparatus. Before it could be adjusted one mast fell. Just as the rocket bearing the lifeline went whizzing through the air, the other mast toppled over.

Sadly, the rocket men began to draw in their line, when suddenly they felt that something was attached to it. In a few minutes they hauled onto the beach the apparently lifeless body of a young sailor. Trained hands worked quickly, and in a short time he regained consciousness.

Wildly he stared around at the crowd. He looked up into the weather-beaten face of the old fisherman nearest him and asked, “Where am I?”

“You are here, my lad.”

“Where’s the cap’n?”

“Drowned, my lad.”

“The mate then?”

“He’s drowned, too.”

“The crew?”

“All lost, lad; you are the only one saved.”

The shock overwhelmed him for a few minutes, but suddenly he raised both his hands and cried out, “My mother’s been praying for me! My mother’s been praying for me!”

Then he turned his face to the wet sand and wept for his lost mates.

He knew his mother well; he knew she would be praying for him and counted on God answering her prayers for his safety. We can hope that he went on to trust God for his eternal safety! The most loving mother could not pray her son into heaven; he must make that choice himself.

It is a blessing to have a praying mother, but not everyone can remember a mother who prayed. In fact, there are many who cannot even remember a mother! Does that mean that their chances of heaven are any less?

Absolutely not! The door is just as open to the orphaned, the neglected, the abused. All are equally welcome to enter the Father’s house.

It is true that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” but it is just as true that He offers “the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference” (Romans 3:22).

It is still “whosoever will.”

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

Revelation 22:17

Himself

Once it was the blessing,

Now it is the Lord;

Once it was the feeling,

Now it is His Word;

Once His gifts I wanted,

Now the Giver own;

Once I sought for healing,

Now Himself alone.

Once ’twas painful trying,

Now it’s perfect trust;

Once a half salvation,

Now the uttermost;

Once ’twas busy planning,

Now it’s trustful prayer;

Once ’twas anxious caring,

Now He has the care.

Once I hoped in Jesus,

Now I know He’s mine;

Once my lamps were dying,

Now they brightly shine.

Once for death I waited,

Now His coming hail,

And my hopes are anchored

Safe within the veil.

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

Former Champion Freed!

Many times I heard the shouts urging me on to victory; many times I left a fight arena with a victory to my credit and with thousands of dollars to add to my bank account. According to the world’s way of thinking I should have been a very happy man. But my shipmates on the U.S.S. Mississippi and thousands of friends and fight fans throughout the country little realized that I was a defeated man—not a victor. How little the world knows of the heart’s longing!

Money and fame alone will not give peace to the heart. I have had both, but they never gave rest to my soul—never!

The records will show that I never lost a fight in the Navy while climbing the fistic ladder to the “All Navy Belt.” I made tens of thousands of dollars in the prize rings of the nation as I fought and defeated some of the “top notch” fighters in the game.

I heard the roar of the multitudes as the victory was acclaimed in prize fight fashion time after time, but only God knew how empty it all was. While the crowds shouted and the press headlined the news of “The Sailor, the Winner,” and while I enjoyed momentarily the flush of victory, still it all seemed empty. I suffered periods of depression which I could not understand at the time. With all the praise of the crowd, still I knew that deep within I had no peace of heart or mind.

The dearest girl in the world to me, my wife, and I often talked about God, and we would each pray. Like children lost in the dark, we would plaintively cry and grope, seeking we knew not what. While we had money, we would often send some of it to a church in Los Angeles, thinking that possibly this act of giving might help us in some mysterious manner; in other words, we were trying to buy peace and rest of heart and mind. It can’t be done.

Six years after leaving the ring, destitute of money (for the dollars had slipped all too quickly through my careless fingers), I found myself walking the streets of Long Beach, California, in great discouragement. My home life was crashing on the rocks that line the shores of sin. My drinking and gambling had broken the heart of my wife, and she threatened to leave me if I did not change.

On this particular day I was recovering from a drinking bout. Someone handed me a booklet entitled, “From Crime to Christ.” After a little hesitation, I opened the booklet and read of Dan McNally, alias Joe Kenny, No. 19294. This man was an ex-convict from the Missouri Penitentiary. It was a remarkable story of deliverance from sin through faith in Christ. The story deeply impressed me, and I determined to learn more of this deliverance from sin. I had to know more!

When my wife came home that evening, I suggested that we should go to a little mission nearby. I shall never forget my impressions as I sat in the mission on the following Saturday night and listened to the stories of those men. One after another, I saw men, most of them ill-clad and destitute of this world’s wealth, stand on their feet and, with a light on their face that made one forget the shabbiness of their clothes, tell of the redemption in Christ. One could not help but recognize the sincerity of the “twice-born men.”

While I listened to the testimony of those men, I said to myself, “If Jesus Christ can save these men, surely He can save me.” Without telling my wife, who sat next to me, or any other, I lifted my heart to God and prayed, “Oh God, if you can save these men you can surely save me, and I pray for Christ’s sake to have mercy on me and save me right now.”

Immediately I knew that a change had been wrought. I could not explain how it happened, but I felt my heart grow light and I knew that a heavy burden had been taken away. I was saved through faith in Jesus Christ at that moment, and I have never experienced the old sense of bondage again.

My wife was quick to follow me to the Lord, and we both found a joy that we had never known before. Today, by the grace of God, we are trying to tell the sweet story of a Saviour’s love to others. Drinking and gambling days are over and gone, for I have learned that the “husks” of this world cannot satisfy the hunger of the soul. The shackles of sin have been stricken from me, for which I praise God and His dear Son—my Saviour, Jesus Christ.

I desire to say to everyone who is captive to sin that there is freedom for you. There is one who “is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him” (Hebrews 7:25), and “if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Lost - and Found

Ruth Aberle was lost in the hilly, heavily timbered country east of her home. Starting out from Kelso, Washington, a group of young people—Ruth among them—had set out in search of greenery for holiday decorations. In the course of the afternoon Ruth became separated from the others. They soon realized that she was not with them, and with growing alarm they began to search. Ruth was not to be found.

At last they returned to Kelso and reported the missing girl. A massive search was begun immediately, for night was drawing on, snow was falling and the temperature was dropping fast. Four hundred persons united their efforts to locate the missing one. Bloodhounds were brought in, and every help possible was employed to continue the search. After 96 hours, hope of her survival in the rugged wilderness was abandoned by most of the searchers; only her mother would not give up hope of her safe return.

Finally a farmer and his son, searching independently of the main group, saw a young woman crossing a clearing near an abandoned cabin. They called, “Are you Ruth Aberle?”

For a moment she was speechless with joy. When she was able to speak she said simply, “Yes! Will you take me home?”

The signal was quickly given that the lost one was found, and with rejoicing she was transported to Kelso to her overjoyed parents. Ruth thanked all who had devoted their time and energy to the search, and she thanked God too.

Telling her story afterwards, she said that when she became separated from her party in the afternoon she had found an old logging road. Here she started walking in a direction that seemed to be right, not knowing that it was leading her further and further away from home and friends. On this she trudged for many miles until she reached a dilapidated cabin. Remembering lessons from a campfire group not to waste needed energy in fruitless wandering, she settled down in the cabin and waited to be found.

How many lessons we can learn from this little incident! First, Ruth was lost! Then she chose the way on the road which led her away from home and friends—a reminder that the Bible says that “there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

This is the downward course that all of us by nature pursue, the broad way that leads to destruction. The end of this course is death, and after that the judgment, if we are not rescued from it by the Saviour’s grace during our life here.

Second, she knew she was lost and wasted no strength in vain efforts to save herself. She waited for deliverance, depending on the kindness and ability of others. How vain, and how often fatal, are the efforts of people to save themselves! We all need to realize that it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done” that salvation comes, but “according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5). Also we read, “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).

Think of the labor and self-sacrifice and toil in that difficult country, amid wet and cold, on the part of those that searched for Ruth. But how this pales into utter insignificance in view of the sufferings of Christ! He, the holy One of God, came into a world of sin and suffering and sorrow and finally went to the cross of Calvary. There He gave His life that we might live—there He bore the judgment against sin that God in righteousness might set free the sinner who trusts Him.

The joy of Ruth Aberle’s deliverance reminds us of the joy over the lost one in Luke 15. We read, “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” If Ruth’s parents were overjoyed, how much greater is the joy of the Father’s heart over one repenting sinner! Have you given Him this joy? And have you, like Ruth, thanked your benefactor?

“Thanks be unto God for His
unspeakable gift.”

2 Corinthians 9:15

The Lady's Rock

On the west coast of England there is a steep rock that is known as “The Lady’s Rock.” At low tide it is on a sandy beach; at high tide the waters surround it.

Once there was a lady who sat down by the rock at low tide to read a book. She did not notice the tide was coming in until she heard the shout of a coastguard on the cliff. Then she saw that the waves with their white foam were between her and the shore. There was no boat, and the watchers who quickly gathered on the cliff could not reach her.

The coastguard shouted, “Climb the rock!” It was the only way out of the waters, but the rock was steep. Even the boys who climbed its face to get sea bird eggs had trouble getting up to the nests. How could she climb it? As she hesitated, an incoming wave splashed spray at her feet. She could see that the sea was coming closer to her. She began to climb, little by little, until she reached a ledge. She looked down at the sea; it was rising higher and higher, and she was getting wet with its spray.

“Climb higher!” shouted the people on the shore.

Again she inched her way upward, hanging on with bleeding fingers and finding footholds in crevices, until she was able to grasp a tuft of grass at the top and to pull herself up. She collapsed on top of the rock while the people shouted, “She’s saved! Thank God she’s saved!”

There was no one who could save her from the rising sea, but there is someone who can save you from the wrath of God before it comes in like a flood upon this world. Like the lady of the rock, you may be so interested in the things of the world around you that you do not realize that you may be lost in that sea.

You cannot save yourself, but if you cry to the Lord Jesus Christ, He will save you—He will deliver you “from the wrath to come.” The lady of the rock saved herself by climbing up the rock, but there is no way to climb from earth to heaven. There must be a deliverer, and that deliverer is the Lord Jesus Christ.

“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

Written in Heaven

Some time ago I spent an afternoon looking through old court records in a small New England township. The pages were yellow and faded, but here and there one could make out a name and the recording of a deed or a title or a transaction. Some appeared to be important and others hardly worth the mention. Some told of rich people, and others of the poor. But they were names of people, and those who possessed them had once lived and loved and labored in the township.

As I leafed through the pages of these long-forgotten names “written on earth,” my thoughts went back to this word of the Lord Jesus: “Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). But how many of those recorded names were written above?

I once knew a scientist who had spent all his life in the hope of earning a line or two in “Who’s Who” and would call that the crowning point of his life! Of the gospel he knew nothing and cared less. But the poor man has since passed along into a Christless eternity, and he never did get his name on the desired record. “Written on earth” appears to be such a good thing to so many!

After all, what is written and done on the earth will soon be over and finished, and the soul will leave the body to depart into eternity. The uncertainty of life is the only thing in life one can be certain of. “For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14).

Striving after importance on earth adds nothing to the welfare of the soul, nor does it supply the answer to the questions which constantly arise and perplex. The busiest men are not always the happiest, nor does rest come with riches. That which is “written on earth” may often be written with the acid of grief and despair.

I rejoice because my name is written on the heavenly record; it may not mean much to the men of earth, but it means everything to me. It speaks of forgiven sins and a heavenly hope and a blissful eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks of peace and brings rest to the soul, and the value of that can never be computed by earthly measurements.

I invite you, here and now, to share in the blessedness of this—to know the pure joy of having your name written above and experiencing to the full all that the Lord Jesus has in store for those who believe. Your own name written free and clear through the blood of Calvary, each letter “pressed deep” by the infinite love of the Saviour and sealed by the Holy Spirit . . . there is nothing in all this world that can compare with the blessing of that!

What Does He Gain?

If a person is a believer in Christ, what does he gain? He gains the pardon of all his sins.

What more does he gain?

He gains acceptance with God.

Anything more?

Yes, the Holy Spirit to sanctify him.

Anything more?

Yes, all things become blessings. The curse is turned into a blessing.

Anything more?

Yes, all the strength he needs by the way, and then an entrance into heaven.

Anything more?

Yes, the resurrection of the body, made like unto Christ’s glorious body.

Anything more?

Yes, to sit with Christ on His throne—to reign with Him.

Anything more?

I will tell you in eternity!

This Offer May Be Withdrawn Anytime

A lifetime of eating . . . cannot satisfy;
A lifetime of looking . . . does not fill the eye;
And all of the listening . . . of years upon years,
Has never been known . . . to fill up the ears.

No heart has been able . . . to find peace and rest,
By searching this earth . . . for its brightest and best.
In all of creation . . . just one Source is known
That can meet every need . . . just Jesus alone.

With arms now inviting . . . all who would be blest,
He says, “Come unto Me . . . I will give you rest.
If you thirst, come and drink . . . of the water I give;
If hungry, eat the bread . . . from heaven, and live.

“This eternal life . . . is a gift free to all,
For the rich and the poor . . . the great and the small,
The wise and the foolish . . . the whole and the lame;
Whosoever may come . . . just call on My name.

“For no other name . . . has been given to men,
Whereby they are saved . . . from God’s judgment for sin.
All your sins, small and great . . . charged to your account,
When totaled up came . . . to a goodly amount.

“But fear not, for I . . . have paid the full cost,
And now there’s no need . . . that any be lost.
Hesitation is danger . . . don’t risk delay!
This offer of grace . . . may end with TODAY!”

Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

The Danger Months

Destructive hurricanes roar through the West Indian Islands nearly every year. These most often appear in the months of August and September, so they are known as the “danger months.” During this time of the year boats are pulled up where it is hoped that wind and water will not reach them in case of storm. At this time of year people are very cautious about going out to sea, for experience has taught them to avoid the risk.

Yet we always find people who will not listen to warnings; we see some like this spoken of in the Bible. They do not believe that the Son of God is coming to this earth again. They say, “Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” What a terribly bold thing to say in the face of the words of the Lord Jesus: “I will come again” ( John 14:3), and, “Surely I come quickly” (Revelation 22:20).

In the first week of October a vessel, the Valley, set out from Nassau to go to Cat Island. The crew decided to sail in spite of frantic protests on the part of loved ones. The men thought that the season for hurricanes was over, but a falling barometer and threatening skies warned that danger was by no means past. Also word reached Nassau that a hurricane was moving northwest from Puerto Rico. In spite of the warnings, they put to sea.

The Valley carried only one mainsail and was dependent wholly on the wind for power. All went well until it neared the shores of Cat Island. Moving up the shoreline of this island they began to encounter contrary winds, and it was evident that the hurricane was really coming their way. The wind was offshore, and they tried to keep as close to the shore as possible to avoid the roughest sea. Their hope was to reach a certain creek ahead where there would be shelter for the boat.

On land their distress had been seen, and it was evident to the watchers that the Valley could never reach the creek. They knew that there was only one way for those on the vessel to save their lives, and they cried to the captain of the boat, “Run the boat aground and save yourselves!”

But the captain would not consider such a proposal. To him the loss of the vessel seemed so serious that he was willing to risk the loss of his own life and the lives of the thirty-five passengers on the boat!

The captain shouted back, “We can easily reach the creek; we have plenty of time.”

Another frantic appeal was made from shore to run aground on the sandy beach and be saved, but again the captain ignored it and the sail of the vessel was reset to take it further out to sea. Swirling mists and fitful gusts of wind carried the boat onward, and like some doomed spectral object, it disappeared from the sight of the people on shore, never to be seen again.

Time has passed by, and not even a fragment of any kind has the sea yielded up to give a clue as to what happened to the ship. We can only think of it as the tragedy of the Valley.

How sad it is to realize that every person on the boat could have been saved! Twice they were warned and told what to do. It reminds us of the verse in God’s Word which says, “God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not” ( Job 33:14).The captain apparently thought more of his boat than of the lives of others. He certainly was willing to risk his own life to preserve his ship, but “what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

How foolish we are not to listen to the voice that speaks from heaven. Hebrews 12:25 tells us, “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.”

But what a different Captain those have who know the Lord Jesus as their own personal Saviour! He is able and willing to save all those who come to God by Him. “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.”

Should you die without being under the shelter of Christ’s blood, there is a storm before you. Will you not at this moment commit your soul into the hands of the One who will see you safely through to the other shore?

"Eight Bells": A Personal Testimony

It was a midwinter night in the city of San Diego. Down along the waterfront there was little or no activity; occasionally, a darting taxi would flash into view, only to disappear around the corner of a deserted street. The riding lights of varied types of craft, against a foggy sky, moved in monotonous rhythm with the rise and fall of restless water. Intermittently the weirdly protesting groans of the hulls of vessels chafing against their moorings could be heard. Chill fingers of mist began to settle down here and there. As far as I could see, I was alone—not another human being in sight. Still on and on I trudged.

Long hours before I had begun this aimless wandering, and now, weary in body and mind and sick of soul, I still was as bewildered and lost as ever. Memories followed my every footstep. The faces of my wife and children kept appearing again and again upon the screen of my consciousness. How were they tonight? I had left them alone, and now here I was, a wanderer and a derelict! Wave after wave of self-condemnation swept my very soul.

A nearby piling offered a seat that I might rest my aching feet. The cardboard I had placed in my shoes to protect them where the soles were worn through had long since ceased to serve its purpose. Only the lapping of water against the wharf broke the stillness of the night. The sudden clanging of a ship’s bell startled me. Two! Four! Six! Eight! Eight bells! That must be four o’clock in the morning. I had walked all night in a kind of alcoholic stupor, for I had been drinking heavily in the effort to forget.

Shivering with the cold I sat there. Suddenly a trick of memory carried me back across the years. Echoes of all-but-forgotten old hymns came drifting out of the distant past. How vividly now I recalled the many times my Christian wife had pleaded with me to accept as my personal Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ whom she knew and loved so well. Her prayers and those of my children had followed me, I knew. All the years of my life, so far, my proud heart had rebelled against a full and complete surrender. I had gone my own willful way, and to a marked degree I had been successful in business, finally becoming executive manager of two radio stations. Now all this was a thing of the past. I was face to face with the dead-end street of life, at “eight bells in the morning watch.”

Eight bells! That was the end of the long night watch, and soon it would be morning. Morning to me meant just another dreary day. All at once it dawned on me that this morning would be Sunday morning. That was it! I needed God! I remembered mother’s often-told tale of the prodigal son. If ever there was a prodigal son, it was I.

I found my way back to the cheap room where I had been staying. I expected to be refused admittance, for I already owed a week’s rent, but I made it. I was desperate! Suddenly my eyes focused on a book, a Bible. I had hardly noticed its presence before, but now it seemed to hold out to me a faint ray of hope. Opening its pages, I placed it on a chair and knelt before it. I do not recall reading a single word. I simply began to pour out my heart to God, acknowledging my guilt as a sinner and declaring my faith in Jesus Christ to save my soul. “For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee” (Psalm 86:5).

Then and there I passed from death to life. I became a “new creature” in Christ Jesus. An indescribably wonderful peace settled down upon my soul. The load was lifted; my weight of sin rolled away, and the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God” burst in upon my sin-sick, sin-cursed soul. I had found that “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8), which is the sweetness of the indwelling presence of the Christ of God.

I tried to sing, but I could not, for my voice was completely gone. For almost a year and a half, my speaking voice was just a husky whisper. But prayer and praise do not depend on a human voice; they come from the heart, and God looks at the heart. “Oh God,” I prayed, “if You’ll only straighten out my life, I’ll serve You all the rest of my days.”

God began to work that very moment in my life. Would my wife take me back? I couldn’t blame her if she didn’t! I’d go back to Los Angeles and see. Carfare home? I didn’t have a penny. I’d have to hitchhike. I didn’t know how God was going to work it all out, but I had the absolute assurance that whatever came in my life would be best for me, and it was well with my soul. I had given my heart and my soul to my Lord, and the rest was up to Him.

So, at last I came back home to my wife and children. God alone knows how many sleepless nights she had prayed for my soul’s salvation. With the wonderful love of Christ in her heart she took me back. He is not only the healer of broken lives and broken hearts, but the healer of broken homes as well! How often since that day have I seen Him bring together estranged husband and wife in the sweet bonds of Christian fellowship!

“Him that cometh to Me [Jesus]
I will in no wise cast out.”

John 6:37

Fifty Years Looking Down

“A young man once found a five-dollar bill on the street,” says William Feather, a writer. “From that time on he never lifted his eyes when walking. In the course of years he accumulated 59,516 buttons, 54,172 pins, a bent back and a miserly disposition. He lost the glory of the sunlight, the shining of the stars, the smiles of friends, the blossoms in the spring, the blue skies and the entire joy of living.”

This man is not the only one who has suffered loss because of looking down. How many have looked to this earth for satisfaction, pleasure, wealth and happiness and have never in their lifetime looked up to God for the good things He gives! How many have laid up treasure on earth and have neglected the salvation of their never-dying soul! How many have meant to be saved tomorrow or on their deathbed and have gone into eternity without knowing the Saviour!

The Bible says, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

The most important step one can take in life is the step of looking to God by faith and accepting His Son as Saviour.

When you look to Christ for salvation you will not be disappointed; He will give abundantly more than you can ask or think.

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

Look up!

“Look unto Me,
and be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth: for I am God,
and there is none else.”

Isaiah 45:22

John Harper of Glasgow was crossing the Atlantic to conduct services in the United States and was a passenger on the Titanic on her first—last—and tragic voyage.

Three or four years after the wreck, a young Scotsman rose in a meeting in Hamilton, Canada, and said, “I was on the Titanic when she sank. Drifting alone on a spar in the icy water on that awful night, a wave brought John Harper near to me. He also was holding on to a piece of the wreck.

“ ‘Man, are you saved?’ he shouted.

“ ‘No, I am not!’ I answered.

“He shouted, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved’ (Acts 16:31).

“The waves bore him away, but a little later he was washed back alongside of me.

“ ‘Are you saved now?’

“ ‘No, I can’t say that I am.’

“Once more he repeated the verse, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.’

“Then, losing his hold, he sank. And there, alone in the night and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper’s last convert!”

But few get saved at such an “eleventh hour” as this. Do not wait until death and eternity are staring you in the face. Even if you do get saved on a deathbed, you will have missed the joy of serving the One who died for you. Believe on Him now!

Your Saviour or Your Judge?

The world has crucified the Son of God!

Now God has to say to the world, What have you done with My Son? What has He done for you? Nothing but good.

Then why did you spit in His face and crucify Him? Man has done this, and when the light shines in, he confesses he has done it and that he cannot answer one charge in a thousand.

The world is in for judgment. We all know it.

How about the law? It tells a man what he ought to be: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart” (Matthew 22:37), and, “Thou shalt not covet” (Romans 7:7). But I know I have not loved God, and I have lusted. Having offended in one point of law I am no longer guiltless, though I may not have committed all the sins of which man is capable.

People talk about mercy, which means they hope God will think as little about their sins as they do. A man has committed, say, ten sins; he hopes to go to heaven. If he has committed eleven, he thinks that is not too much; if a hundred, he hopes still—he has no thought of holiness. One sin shuts out from God, but the door is not shut to any who now own all frankly.

What is sin? Do you like doing your own will? This is what sin is.

The law claimed the debt. Christ paid it and that is grace. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

I turn to the cross of Christ. What is He doing there? Judging the repentant thief? No, he is dying that our sins might be forever put away.

There is that blessed One whom I have been despising all my days, and I see He has died to be the Saviour. He says, “It is finished”—perfectly finished. Nothing can be added to it; the work was done.

He has gone back into glory, because He has finished the work. The Holy Spirit brings it home to my heart, and I say, “He has done it all for me!” He died for our sins and was raised again for our justification. His resurrection is proof that God has accepted the work and that we who believe have been “accepted in the beloved.”

So, instead of putting me away, God has put my sin away. He has met me in the day of grace, instead of my meeting Him in the day of judgment.

Feelings

Feelings come and feelings go,

And feelings are deceiving;

My warrant is the Word of God—

Naught else is worth believing.

Though all my heart should feel condemned

For want of some sweet token,

There is One greater than my heart

Whose word cannot be broken.

I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word

Till soul and body sever,

For, though all things shall pass away,

HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER!

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

Streets of Silver

Imagine one evening hearing a commotion in the street. Imagine opening the door of your house and seeing the street covered by silver coins. This is exactly what happened to a community in Miami, Florida, one December evening. People raced out of their homes to gather up as many coins as they could carry off. Some even stripped off their shirts so that they could pile the money and carry more. An armored truck carrying a small fortune in coins had tipped over, spilling coins everywhere for a block. By the time police had cordoned off the area, nearly $500,000 had disappeared.

One bystander who had watched the frenzy told police, “I believe the poor people in this community deserved what they got.”

Another man from the neighborhood told reporters, “The cash was a gift from heaven for hard-working people.”

Perhaps you are thinking that these people didn’t have any shame. But think for a moment. Are the hearts of these people so different from the rest of us? We live in a world that has been created by God, and everything in it belongs to Him. Instead of acknowledging Him and His ownership of all things, including us, we have lived our lives as if He didn’t exist.

All of us at least part of the time have pushed Him out of the picture, even as those people pushed the lawful owners of the money out of their minds. All that we have, even our lives, has been given to us. Yet in a thousand ways we have said, “Our lives are our own; we will do what we want with them.”

Only one Man has lived a life in which He perfectly acknowledged God in all His ways. That Man was the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived His whole life of about thirty-three years for God. He did miracles the likes of which the world had never seen before. He raised the dead, He gave sight to the blind, He commanded a storm to stop and it obeyed Him. In Him, love and power combined as in no other man. He went about preaching God’s Word to the poor. He did not despise anyone. A poor blind man begging by the side of the road was as important to Him as an army officer who commanded a hundred soldiers. He took time to talk to a sinful, despised Samaritan woman as well as to a respected religious leader.

In the eyes of men who sought position, wealth or power, He was of little worth. He did not fit into their plans. They saw no beauty in Him. However, God gave a far different account of Him when He spoke from heaven and declared, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him” (Matthew 17:5).

One of His followers betrayed Him, leading His enemies to Him. They took Him, gave Him a false trial and condemned Him to death. They led Him down a dusty street outside the city of Jerusalem and nailed Him to a cross to die.

After six hours He said, “I thirst.” A soldier filled a sponge with vinegar and put it into His mouth. After receiving the vinegar He said, “It is finished.” Then He bowed His head and died.

Now, what was finished? He finished being the only sacrifice that God will ever accept for sin. On that cross He bore the punishment for the sins of all who would trust in Him.

Good works can never undo the sins we have done. Those who dare to think so underestimate God’s hatred of sin. But one look to the Saviour, in faith, is all that is needed to make the vilest sinner clean and fit for eternity—an eternity where there will be joy unspeakable in the presence of the One who died for them—an eternity where praise will swell up in every heart, because they understand with a marvelous fullness the love of God—an eternity in a city where the street and city are of pure gold and where only those whose names are written in the Saviour’s “book of life” may enter.

Would you have your name written in this book and walk the street of gold? Then you must believe in the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour of sinners—the Saviour for you. The moment you believe is the moment your name is written in the book of life. However, if you never come to the Lord Jesus by faith, you will bear the penalty of your sin in “outer darkness: [where] there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” You will never enter the city where the street is gold. “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

With so much to lose and so much to gain, don’t delay. Come to Christ at once. “This man receiveth sinners” (Luke 15:2).

Neglect

Neglect—what a deadly mistake!

The businessman does not have to commit forgery or robbery to ruin himself: he has only to neglect his business, and bankruptcy is ahead.

The woman who has just heard the diagnosis of “cancer, but it is still early enough to treat successfully” does not have to rush to suicide; she has only to neglect the lifesaving treatment to expect an early death.

A man floating in a skiff above Niagara Falls need not move an oar or make an effort to destroy himself; he has only to neglect using the oar for too long, and he will certainly go over the falls without hope of rescue.

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

Hebrews 2:3

Lost for Want of Water

An explorer in the Australian Outback was found where he had died of thirst. The party who discovered his body found these words scratched on his empty canteen: “The last thing I remember is pulling the saddle off and letting the horse go. My tongue is sticking to my mouth—lost for want of water—I can say no more—God help me.”

Now, if at that moment someone could have come to that man with water, do you think he would have hesitated to take it until sure he could drink in the right way? Would he have questioned whether he was thirsty enough or wondered if he might be unworthy of receiving it? Would he have tried to clean himself up a bit first?

No! Enough for him to see the water he so desperately needed, and he would grasp it at once.

It is so with the thirst of the soul. Whether it is from sin felt or God’s wrath feared or your disappointment with this weary world, one thing is sure: Your soul is thirsty and longs for happiness and rest. In this state of things Jesus Christ our Lord meets you with His full salvation. He invites you to come to Himself as water for the thirsty. “In Me,” He says. In Him alone you will find your desires met; you will find all that stills the guilty conscience and fills the empty heart. This is the “water of life.”

The Holy Spirit sees and takes care of your act of coming; you do not need at that moment to think or observe it at all. The Holy Spirit is at such a time pressing you to think altogether and simply of the Lord Jesus. The Spirit’s way of bringing a soul to Christ is to increase its thirst (that is, the unhappy, unsatisfied feelings of conscience and heart) to the point where the soul cannot take a deep interest in anything but Him who will relieve it by what He is as the Saviour. At such a time you are not intended to think much of what you are feeling and doing; your part is to be thinking of the “water.” “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

Listen to the good news from God Himself, the story that is “as cold waters to a thirsty soul,” the story of the One who bore our griefs, carried our sorrows and opened the floodgates of divine love. Listen to this good news till your satisfied soul can thank Him for the “water of life” He has provided.

The Robin's Message

One snowy winter day I began to take stock of my life. Everything was dull without and within, and I was in misery of body and mind. I had tried to forget what I had learned at home in my childhood about God and eternity. In fact, I did not want to believe it; I wanted to enjoy “the pleasures of sin.” That is what makes many turn to atheism; it makes them feel free to go on in sin. “No God! No judgment! No hell!” Then you can go on and do anything you want to!

I was never altogether comfortable with this. The things I had learned as a child often came back to haunt me in the hours of night, and I would lie awake.

That cold Sunday I sat alone in my room. Thinking and wondering where my life would end, I said half aloud: “Is there a God? If there is, let Him send me some proof that He lives and that He can provide for me in time and eternity—if there is an eternity!”

Just then a robin alighted on the windowsill. He picked up a few scattered crumbs and hopped about, chirping as merrily among the snowflakes as if it had been a sunny day in May.

“There is a God,” I exclaimed. “Who but He could give that little bird so cheerful a song on a day like this?”

I arose and went into town, and for the first time in years I went to a place where the gospel was preached. Praise God, I was saved that night!

“Hast thou not known?
hast thou not heard,
that the everlasting God,
the Lord, the Creator of
the ends of the earth,
fainteth not, neither is weary?
there is no searching
of His understanding.”

Isaiah 40:28

The Journey and Its End

We are all journeying. One may be flying across the Atlantic in the Concorde, another trudging down a dreary, rain-swept street to a soup kitchen, but both are traveling to a final destination: eternity.

When the big TWA plane lifted off the ground in a normal takeoff, the passengers confidently expected a flight of a few short hours to their destination. They little thought the end would be a flaming, crashing DEATH.

Passengers on the great Titanic were enjoying the “thrill of a lifetime” on the ship’s maiden voyage. How could they worry? It was “unsinkable,” wasn’t it? Who could foresee a bitter, icy DEATH?

Even the careless motorist, secure in his own car—seat belts, air bag and all—can still trust in his own skill and quick reflexes and take one chance too many and meet DEATH at the next corner.

Travelers all, and destinations reached unexpectedly, but where? Heaven? or Hell? There are only two places, and the choice must be made in time.

It is true that we are all sinners; we have all deserved hell, and frankly—sadly—that is the only end of the unbeliever. But it is still possible, “while it is called today,” to turn away from that road and receive Christ as the Saviour of sinners. You will find your whole life changed both now and forever. This is the “good news” from God—what a glad and glorious message it is!

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

What could be easier than that?

10 Brokenhearted Men

The men stood in the street of a village of Samaria—ten brokenhearted men.

The eastern sun lit up mountain and valley with a splendid glory. But what charm had this for them? The sunshine had faded out of their lives, the sun of their hopes had set forever.

The notes of singing birds sounded sweetly from bush and tree. What had they to do with singing? The music had died out of their hearts long ago.

The sound of children’s laughter came ringing up the street and reached where they stood. The sound awoke old memories not yet dead, touching hearts almost turned to stone, but not quite.

There, amid the sunshine, the singing of birds, the laughter of children, they stood—ten wretched outcasts—ten blighted lives.

So the ten lepers stood.

Through the village gate came a little band of strangers. The eyes of the ten turned toward the group for a moment and then turned away.

Their ears caught the sound of a name, a wonderful name, the name of Nazareth was great Physician: JESUS.

Then from ten pairs of eyes a new light gleamed, the light of newborn hope, and from ten tongues a piercing cry leaped forth: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:13)! Instantly, without delay or question, the answer came: “Go show yourselves unto the priests.” The word of grace went forth, and with it divine power, for “it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.”

The ten stepped out of the shadow of their misery into the brightness of a new life; the sun shone on the hills and valleys of Samaria as they had never seen it shine before.

And the birds still sang, but to the ten they sang as they had never sung before.

And the children still played and laughed, and as they laughed the cleansed ten laughed too, a happy, joyful laugh, for had they not met Jesus, and had He not turned their sorrows into joy and their night into morning?

Jesus meanwhile journeyed on with His face set towards Jerusalem—the city of the cross—towards the place where His life would be given in the lepers’ stead, but as He journeyed, that heart gathered refreshment from the knowledge that He had lifted the shadow off ten lives and had flooded ten weary hearts with a joy that had never been there before.

Blessed, wonderful Saviour! Have you met Him yet? Has He turned your sorrow into joy and your night into morning? Has His blood cleansed away your guilt, and is His love flooding your heart with its heavenly sunshine? Jesus said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

Survival of the Fittest?

If we were to believe in the survival of the fittest, there would not be much chance for some of us. But the glory of the gospel is this, that God comes to the unfit, to the marred and spoiled, to those who have thwarted and resisted Him, and that He is prepared to make them over again. If you will let Him, He will make you new too.

“At that time ye were without Christ, being aliens . . . and strangers . . . having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12-13).