Echoes of Grace: 2001
Table of Contents
Be Prepared!
Bobby Leach was the second person to brave Niagara Falls and live. He performed his death-defying stunt when he was 49 years old - sealed in a barrel. Fifteen years later he met his end in a way least expected, and the following news release records:
“Bobby Leach, who achieved fame when he went over Niagara Falls in a barrel, died today of injuries received when he slipped on an orange peel. Leach, who made the perilous falls journey without receiving a scratch, broke his leg when he slipped on the orange peel. Complications set in following an amputation, causing death.”
The case of Bobby Leach is only one of thousands reported, with many more untold. An officer, hero of many battles, escapes the sword, only to die later from an infected pin. A sea captain, who had weathered many a storm and always reached port safely, was drowned in his bathtub at home.
Ahab, king of Israel who disguised himself in a battle with the Syrians, was brought down by a bow and arrow, shot “at a venture,” of an unknown soldier. Israel’s King Abimelech’s head was crushed when a “certain woman” cast a piece of a millstone upon him.
The preservation or continuance of our natural life often seems - and is by some treated - as a gamble. But could we see with eyes of omniscience, we would be compelled to say, “There is but a step between me and death.”
The moral is plain: Your time may be short - be prepared!
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
A Book in a Bag of Beans
Jesus said: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
The war drums which beat in Europe during World War I found an echo in Angola, Portuguese West Africa. In 1915 Germans from Southwest Africa invaded Angola and the Portuguese prepared an army to expel the invaders.
African carriers were forced to take supplies south to the troops, and hundreds of them left Huambo, each with his load. Among these carriers was a youth named Samusili, who hailed from a village called Kamapenda. He shouldered his box and went off southwards. To his relief he was told, after he had marched a few days, that the war was over and that he might return with his load to Huambo.
Thoughts of his beloved village filled his mind, but great was his disappointment when a labor recruiter informed him that he had to go to Sao Tome. Sao Tome is the famous cocoa- and coffee-producing island on the equator 1000 miles north from Samusili’s home in the highlands of Angola. At that time, “Sao Tome” was a synonym among Africans for disease, death and destruction.
Thrown into a railway freight wagon at Huambo, Samusili, with others, was sent to the coast en route to the cocoa island. There Samusili was assigned to one of the numerous rocas (coffee and cocoa plantations) and set to work. He mourned for his village and his people.
One day a new worker arrived. He told Samusili about a new way of life. He mentioned the name Yesu (Jesus), of which Samusili had never heard. He told him that there was a good book which had pleasant but piercing words which reached the heart. The worker was soon transferred, leaving Samusili to his thoughts. He said longingly, “Oh, that I had a book - that book - to read!”
Far away in Angola a Christian going to a rally in his district took with him his wife and family. The woman carried a basket of beans on her head to barter for a cloth to wear at the rally. The man walked ahead, keeping guard along the path. As the simple caravan wended its way through the bush, the family’s Bible, which had been placed on top of the basket of beans when they left home, began to sink into the beans.
At the trader’s store, in a moment of forgetfulness, the book was poured into the bag along with the beans. That bag of beans was forwarded in the first place to a railway center, and from there it was dispatched to the coast for transshipment to Sao Tome, along with hundreds of other bags. In Sao Tome the bag was assigned to a particular roca, where Samusili was working (and longing for a book - that book!), and he happened to be the one who opened that bag . . .
It happened! As Samusili was working in the barn, emptying bags of beans from Angola into a large bin, to his astonished delight a book fell out. Samusili snatched it up and later carried it to his sleeping quarters; the longed-for book had appeared. Samusili began to look into the book. He recognized that it was in his own Umbundu language. Some of the words were hard and the sense was obscure, but he persevered with his reading. Spelling out letter by letter, he soon recognized that this book dealt with things different from those he was familiar with. He saw the words Ondaka Yiwa (the Good Word) and eyovo (salvation). He had found “the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).
Samusili, in recounting what followed, said, “I felt that God had spoken to me and that He had given me a new heart.”
At this time an interpreter came to help him. A Christian from Chilesso arrived in Sao Tome on contract labor and was later joined by another Christian from Malange. These three met regularly for prayer, but the two were soon transferred and Samusili was left alone. His knowledge was small, but he did not remain silent or idle. Calling the other workers together in a shed after the day’s work was done, he told them what he had found, and great was the rejoicing at the good news of the grace of God.
There were many who were converted to God by the teaching of Samusili, but he himself declined to accept the opportunity that eventually came of returning to his beloved village, Kamapenda, in Angola. When asked how he could overcome the intense desire to return to his native land and to his own people, he quietly said, “Here in Sao Tome I found Christ; here I remain for the rest of my life to help others to know Him.”
The Christian couple in the Angola Highlands lost their book - but what a find Samusili had, and what use he made of it!
The Case of Myson
A woman visiting a military hospital one afternoon came to a bed where a soldier seemed to be asleep. Not wanting to wake him, she selected at random a bunch of violets with a text attached:
“My son, give Me thine heart” - words found in Proverbs 23:26.
Passing on from bed to bed, she was startled by hearing a voice cry out loudly, “I will, Lord! I will!”
Hurrying back to the bed of the supposed sleeper, she found him fully awake and absorbed with the words written on the slip of paper. Holding out the bunch of violets, he said, “‘Myson,’ that is my name!”
On looking at the paper she discovered that she had accidentally joined the word “my” with “son,” and in the wonderful providence of God it had been given to a man whose surname was MYSON. He regarded it as a direct call from God to him: “MY SON, give Me thine heart,” and he responded to it then and there.
Was this chance, think you? The likelihood of such a thing happening, calculated mathematically, according to the laws of probability, is so infinitely small that one accepts it without hesitation as the direct intervention of God. How true are the words:
“God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform!”
Converted by His Own Story
A hometown newspaper where D. L. Moody was preaching ridiculed some of Moody’s stories and illustrations. The reporter admitted they were interesting and that Moody had an appealing way of telling them, but he felt they were untrue and only told to rouse the emotions of the audience.
Having been assigned to report the sermons, he one night asked those in charge of the meeting if he might challenge Moody to supply proof that his stories were true. Permission was granted, and the newsman took a seat near the platform.
Moody’s subject that night was spiritual light, and to illustrate a point he told a story. The reporter had just begun to write when suddenly he laid aside his notebook and listened.
The substance of the story was this:
One evening a man was walking along a street in the shopping center of a city where the stores were all brightly lit and beautifully decorated. At one window he noticed three little girls, two of whom were intensely interested in what they saw in the window. Curiosity overcame him, and he turned aside to see what could so excite them. It was then he discovered that one of the little girls was blind. The other two were trying to describe to her the beautiful things in the window. They seemed to forget that she was blind and almost scolded her for not being as interested as they were.
“Why,” they said, “can’t you see that doll house and the baby doll? And the pretty pink dress she has on?”
But the poor, little, blind girl stood with a blank expression on her face, totally unable to appreciate the beautiful things before her.
“Now,” said Mr. Moody, “this is only an illustration of the efforts which we Christians are making to arouse the unconverted to an interest and delight in spiritual things. The reason we cannot do so is because the sinner is spiritually blind.”
Moody had scarcely concluded his sermon when the reporter was on the platform and demanded where he had heard that story.
“Oh,” said Moody, “I read it in one of the daily papers; I have forgotten which one.”
“Then,” said the reporter, “I wrote that story myself. I was the man who saw that little blind girl. But I never thought of such an application as you have made of it tonight. I see now that I am spiritually blind!”
By means of the gospel light he saw himself a sinner in need of a Saviour. He learned that God had so loved him as to give His Son to die for him on the cross of Calvary and that God on the third day had raised Him from the dead and made Him both Lord and Christ. He learned that Jesus Christ is not only the Messiah of Israel, but the Saviour of the world.
That night the atheistic reporter accepted Christ as his own Saviour and found joy and peace in believing.
“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
“Open Thou mine eyes” (Psalm 119:18).
Free! Free! Free!
The postman has just passed and left our box full of mail. We can hardly wait to read it all! But as we turn the envelopes and folders over, one by one, the excitement and anticipation fades. What do we find today?
There is one post card from a vacationing neighbor. Two utility bills. Four subscription reminders. All the rest (and an amazing quantity it is) consists of offers trumpeting FREE in the largest possible type.
What are all these FREE offers? “FREE installation”-with a two-year contract. “FREE examination”-with purchase of hearing aid or eye glasses. “FREE grocery item” -with an equal or greater purchase. You know: Buy one, get one free.
All free, at first glance, but with strings attached. Strings, small or large, are always present and the price must be paid. It is easy to feel cynical about everything and to grumble, “Nothing in life is free.”
Nothing?
There is one offer that is real and true. You cannot pay for it; it is offered “without money and without price.” It cannot be earned; “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5). Just believing - just receiving - it seems too good to be true!
For the heart that has been sickened by the flaunting, false offers, what a relief it is to find reality at last - an offer with no “strings attached,” no quibbling, no “hype”; just a simple and firm and FREE offer. Nothing could be plainer; nothing could be more wonderful.
It cost the One who makes the offer untold suffering; it brings the one who accepts unbelievable joy. That does not mean there cannot be pain and sorrow still as long as this life on earth lasts, but through the darkest days the knowledge of who and what Jesus is and that He loves us so much - well! It is just totally beyond words to tell. It must be known and felt - believed and enjoyed personally.
Global Matters
“GLOBAL” is a word we hear often. Men are looking for a global economy and global peace. Large companies are merging with other large companies to form huge worldwide monopolies. Some include the word “global” in their corporate name. Bigger is better, they think.
What does the Word of God tell us about global matters? We are told of an early attempt at such a thing. Men planned and were working on a project to maintain the unity of mankind and to keep from being scattered on the earth. God looked down on this effort to maintain unity without Him and destroyed the effort by confounding their languages. So “did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9).
Their efforts at universal peace are still to no avail. The efforts of the United Nations are constantly thwarted by man’s greed for money and power. The many conflicts around the world prove man’s inability to control himself, let alone others. God says, “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it . . . until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him” (Ezekiel 21:27).
SIN: A Global Problem
At the beginning of man’s existence on the earth, the first man God created sinned. In ancient days it was said, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).
After 40 centuries of testing man, God’s conclusion is, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin . . . so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). This global problem is proven by the fact that in every country of the world you will find a cemetery.
But death does not end it all. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Is there no hope? Does God care for His creature, man?
SALVATION: A Global Offer
Yes, He does! “From heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death” (Psalm 102:1920).
“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
“The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). The death of the Lord Jesus on the cross has answered the sin question. God can now righteously forgive anyone who will come to Him. His offer is truly global, “unto all,” but it is only of benefit to “all them that believe” (Romans 3:22).
God’s global offer is: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). There are no forms to fill out, no buttons to press. Nothing remains to be done. Jesus has done it all. You are only asked to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
What of those that neglect or reject God’s offer?
CONDEMNATION: God’s Global Judgment
Failure to accept this message will bring in God’s judgment. Earlier in man’s history, when men had filled the earth with corruption and violence, it brought on a global judgment - the flood. God had provided a way of escape and all who refused it perished.
“The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment” (2 Peter 3:67).
“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).
“They shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3)!
THE CHURCH: A Global Unity
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and united all the believers into one body, called the church. All believers, Jews and Gentiles, are united in one church. There is one body, the church, and one Spirit. The church is truly a global unity, composed of all who put their trust in Christ. Christ is the head, and believers are the body, the members in it. “God [hath] set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him” (1 Corinthians 12:18).
IN HEAVEN: A Global Company
In heaven believers from every part of the globe who put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will sing His praises. “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9). Some from every part of this globe will celebrate His worth and work.
ON EARTH: Global Peace at Last
The Lord Jesus is the “Prince of Peace.” At His birth the angels announced, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). He was then rejected, but He will reign. God says in Psalm 2:6, “Yet have I set My king upon My holy hill of Zion.” He tells us this King is His Son and that the capitol city is Zion (Jerusalem). Then will be a truly global peace. “In His days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace. . . . He shall have dominion also from sea to sea” (Psalm 72:78).
“When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9).
YOU! How will YOU leave this globe? Are you going to be among those who sing praises to the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, or will you stand convicted at the final judgment at the great white throne and be cast into the lake of fire?
NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION!
God Knows All About You
Some time ago a large liner and a warship came into collision. It is reported that the pilot who was in charge of the liner when the accident occurred made a statement immediately after the collision. This was typed in duplicate, but it was not thought wise to have two copies and so the duplicate was torn up and thrown overboard.
The pieces of paper floating on the surface of the water were picked up by a boatman, pieced together, and forwarded to the commander of the warship. Thinking possibly some accident had happened to the notes, the commander courteously forwarded them to the attorney acting for the liner -but not before he had read the full report.
How worried the attorney and the owners of the liner must have felt when they knew what had taken place! How apprehensively they must have looked forward to the court of inquiry, with the knowledge that opposing parties were in possession of the full facts of the case. Those apprehensions were not unfounded, for the pilot was held guilty of careless navigation, and the owners of the liner were held responsible for all damages.
Of course, had it been known that the torn up statement would be pieced together and the information put into the reach of the commander of the warship, those responsible on the liner would have acted differently. No duplicate would have been made or, if made, care would have been taken that it was really destroyed.
And yet thousands are acting more foolishly than the officials on the liner. Could you be such a one? You know that “whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops” (Luke 12:3). You know that every thought that passed through your mind, every secret intention that fills your heart, every word that passes your lips and every action the members of your body perform are known already by Him who will be your Judge. You are plainly warned of this in God’s Word.
Yet thousands go on sinning thoughtlessly as if there were no omniscient God, no Judge of all the earth, no great white throne, no eternity to spend! Are you one of these?
If you go into eternity with nothing but the record of your sinful life of indifference to God’s claims, your doom is sealed. You will face God upon the judgment seat, and righteousness will overwhelmingly call for sentence to be passed upon you. God must be righteous.
But there is a way of escape, and that of God’s own providing. A Saviour is offered you, even One who by His death on Calvary’s cross met the claims of the throne and settled the demands of righteousness.
Will you not face the question of your guilt, your need, now when God is waiting to be gracious and is abundantly willing to save?
God's Living Word
The Bible not merely was inspired, but it is inspired. The Holy Spirit not only inspired the men as they wrote, but He is still connected with the Scripture. It was originally Spirit-breathed, but the Spirit is still breathing through it.
When the soul, thirsting after God, reads the words, “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters . . . buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1) - when the burdened heart reads the words, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) - the words are breathed again by the Spirit. It seems as if the ink was not yet dry and as if the warm breath of eternal love was even now consoling the troubled soul.
The Spirit makes the Bible a living Word. The Spirit breathes here as in no other book. He makes the writing spirit and life, and man lives by it, because it is the Word proceeding out of the mouth of God.
He who has experienced this can have no doubt about the origin of Scripture, for in his measure he receives it from God Himself, as David, Isaiah, Paul and John received it.
It is to him the divine Word. He knows not merely that it is written, but that it is the living Word and voice of the Lord. In obeying it, he knows he acts in obedience to his heavenly Father and rests on the promises and assurances which he reads in the Bible. He knows he is trusting in the Lord, his God and his Redeemer.
“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
John 4:14
How Do You Cope?
“As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all them that trust in Him” (2 Samuel 22:31).
It is earthquake country. Fault lines crisscross the state, and the danger of a major shake-up is always present. A man working on an article about earthquakes asked one businessman, whose business could be destroyed by a shift in the nearby fault line, how he could live so close to danger.
He answered, “By hoping it won’t happen.”
To another the reporter asked, “How do you cope with living on a fault?”
“We cope by just not thinking about it!”
We used to believe that an ostrich would meet danger by hiding her head in the sand, but even an ostrich is not that foolish! A bird that can stand as much as eight feet high would be a conspicuous target, but in truth an ostrich reacts to an alarm from which it cannot run away (as when sitting on guarding the nest) by lowering that long neck until it is close to the ground. It is then hard to see among even small vegetation.
So much for the ostrich! But what about the human who copes with danger by “just not thinking about it”?
What about the person who knows that his time on earth is limited, who knows not how short that time may be, and who refuses to think of the inevitable end? God has said, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
“Just hope it won’t happen” - “don’t think about it” - what poor preparation for the future!
Contrast it with the certain hope of the Christian: “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle [that is, our bodies] were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1).
Not think about it? Hope it won’t happen? No way! One who has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and knows that he has eternal life can hardly wait to see that wonderful, glorious hope fulfilled. What is your hope?
How Far?
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).
How far is the east from the west? The sun was 95,000,000 miles away when it arose in the east, and still 95,000,000 miles away when it set in the west, but east and west are still farther off than that. Beyond the sun are other stars stretching far away into space, but east and west are farther away than that.
No one can measure it, and yet on the authority of God’s own Word believers in Christ can say, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.”
Human Fly
Rock climbing, the “Xtreme Sport” of climbing sheer rock faces with no support other than hands and feet, has become widely known and popular. There are even imitation rock walls with little niches and knobs where would-be climbers can practice the needed skills. In earlier times there were “dare devils” who would climb up tall buildings with no climbing aids.
One such man came to Los Angeles some years ago. Calling himself the “Human Fly,” he announced that he would climb up the face of one of the large department store buildings. On the appointed day there were thousands of eager spectators gathered to see him perform the feat.
Without the aid of ropes or safety nets, he mounted slowly and carefully, now clinging to a window ledge, sometimes to a jutting brick, and again to a cornice. Up and up he went, and at last he was nearing the top.
The watchers below saw him feeling to right and left and above his head for something firm enough to support his weight and to carry him further. Soon he seemed to see what looked like a gray bit of stone protruding from the stone wall. He reached for it, but it was just out of reach. Gathering his muscles, he sprang for it, grasped the protuberance and, before the horrified eyes of the watchers, fell to the ground - crushed.
In his dead hand they found a dusty mass of a spider’s web. What he evidently mistook for solid stone or brick turned out to be nothing but dried froth!
How many today are thinking to climb to heaven by efforts of their own, only to find at last that they have ventured all on a spider’s web - and are lost forever!
Salvation is “not by works of righteousness which we have done.” Those who “being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3).
We do not ascend (climb) into heaven by anything we can do: The bravest deed - the utmost sacrifice on our part - is not enough. But what does Scripture say? “The word is nigh thee . . . that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:810).
Believes what?
Just this: “God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). Do you believe this?
I Sold My Soul!
In Martin Luther’s house was a servant who, in a fit of anger, left without giving the family any notice. Afterwards she fell into bad company and into immorality and became dangerously ill. In this condition she requested that Luther might visit her.
Taking a seat at her bedside, Martin Luther asked, “Well, Elizabeth, what is the matter?”
“I want to ask your pardon for leaving your family so abruptly,” she replied, “but I have something weighing more heavily on my conscience. I have given my soul to Satan!”
“Why,” said Luther, “that’s of no great consequence. What else?”
“I have done many wicked things,” she continued, “but what oppresses me most is that I have deliberately sold my poor soul to the devil. Oh, tell me, sir, how can such a crime ever find mercy?”
“Elizabeth, listen to me,” replied Luther. “Suppose while you lived in my house you sold and transferred my children to a stranger. Would the sale or transfer have been lawful or binding?”
“Oh, no, for I would have no right to do that.”
“Well, you had still less right to give your soul to the devil - it no more belongs to you than my children do. It is the Lord’s property. He made it; He gave His life to redeem it. It is His with all its powers and faculties. You cannot sell what is not yours. If you have attempted it, the whole transaction was unlawful and void.
“Now do this: Go to the Lord; confess your guilt with a broken heart and contrite spirit, and ask Him to take back what is rightfully His own. And as to the sin of attempting to alienate the Lord’s rightful property, throw that back on the devil, for that is his part.”
The poor girl obeyed, was converted and died full of joy, faith and hope.
“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
A look to Jesus saves the soul,
So boundless is His grace;
One look sufficeth every sin
Forever to efface.
Thousands today have looked to Him
Who mighty is to save,
And proved the truth of God’s own Word:
The soul that looks shall live!
“The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).
In the Depths of the Sea
I will cast in the depths of the fathomless sea
All your sins and transgressions whatever they be;
Though they mount up to heaven, though they
reach down to hell,
They shall sink in the depths, and above them shall
swell
All the waves of forgiveness, so mighty and free;
I will cast all your sins in the depths of the sea.
In the deep, silent depths far away from the shore,
Where they never shall rise up to trouble you more,
Where no far-reaching tide with its pitiless sweep
Can stir the dark waves of forgetfulness deep -
I have buried them there, where no mortal can see;
I have cast all your sins in the depths of the sea.
It Was so Simple
I would like to tell how the Lord met and saved me. There was nothing startling nor outstanding about my conversion, but it was real. The events that led up to it showed the mercy and patience of God in no uncertain way.
I was brought up with all the privileges of a Christian home, yet I was nearly sixteen before I was saved. My first experience of God dealing with me was when I was six. I had been sent to the home of my aunt to take a message from my parents. My aunt was a Christian and, no doubt, was praying for me. I had a great urge then to trust the Saviour, and my aunt began to speak to me about Jesus and His love. I listened to every word.
But Satan is always busy, and he kept whispering doubts into my mind. I was anxious to be saved that day, but the struggle in my heart between Satan and the Spirit of God was so strong that I didn’t quite know what I was doing. I burst into tears, and even while my aunt was still speaking I ran from the house crying. My tears were dried before I reached home, so my parents never knew of my behavior.
As I grew older, I felt I must decide the great question, but I did not know just how to go about it. I was too shy to ask my brother, so I decided to turn over a new leaf and see how it worked first.
I stopped going to see lurid movies (always done in secret), gave up reading trashy stories, and started reading the Bible. I commenced at Genesis and read a chapter, maybe less, a day, but before I reached the end of the story of the Flood I was absolutely disgusted with the whole affair. It was not long until my movie going and reading of trash commenced again. Such is the effect of mere religion without Christ.
For a long time after that thoughts of eternity were far from my mind. I must have been a grief to my parents, as they saw my indifference to the Saviour. Then one night I went to visit my grandfather, an old Christian who had led many to the Saviour. For nearly two hours he reasoned with me, pleaded with me and prayed with me, but I could not see the light. I was not ready to be saved. I can still picture him, down on his knees before me, while I sat silent in a chair. It was all to no avail. I left Grandfather’s house as I went in - unsaved and lost.
My school days were drawing to a close as the next dealings of God became apparent. I was frightened in case the Lord would come and I would be left behind. Satan, as usual, suggested that my friends would mock me if I became a Christian, which was true. So I remember in the quiet of my own room kneeling down and promising the Lord that if He would spare me till I left school, I would see about settling the great question.
In God’s amazing patience He answered my prayer, but when I did leave school it was to go in more and more for the world’s pleasures - with no thought of fulfilling my promise to God.
Then it happened! I had an accident in which my right arm was very badly fractured. I had much time on my hands then, and I did think - think -think. To try and hush the divine voice, I used to read novels by the stack - hundreds of them I read in a few weeks. I couldn’t sleep at night, and I often devoured my fiction until morning.
It was in a gospel meeting in our own village that I waited behind after the meeting and was simply directed to the Saviour. Simply turning to the Lord -simply receiving Him by faith in His name - ended that gigantic battle for my soul by Satan and the Spirit of God. Now I belong to Christ, and I have never regretted taking that step. It was so simple!
Are you enjoying this happiness? Remember, time is short and there is no time like the present to be saved. Come to the Saviour NOW! He will welcome you. He promises: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise [no way] cast out” (John 6:37).
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.
A Letter From the Hospital
Dear Mother:
You will have been wondering and worrying at my long silence, but I will explain everything and you will see how impossible it was for me to write before. I have been in the hospital, and I did not want to worry you.
We were surprised one morning to hear that we were in for fighting that day. The troops were up with the dawn, and we got on the move forward. Things went on all right until we got about 500 yards from the front, when I was hit in my foot by a piece of shell. However, I managed to limp along and keep up.
Then others came up to reinforce and support our company. We moved to the left, but we did not get far before I was struck to the ground. I felt very queer. I remember that someone undid my belt; then I suppose I must have become unconscious.
I must have lain like that many hours, for when I woke up it was dark, and the stars were shining. There was a strange quiet all around me. I thought there was someone lying near me. I spoke to him, but he made no answer. I put out my hand and touched him, and then I realized that he was dead. Then I knew what had happened. The fighting was over, and I was left among the dead with others of my company who had fallen.
Oh, it was a shock to find myself lying helpless there, a dull ache all over me and a sharp pain when I moved. Doubtless there were a great many dead around. How soon shall I be dead too? I can’t tell you the awfulness of that moment! I was all alone and, I believed, within a few minutes of death.
Something that a friend once said to me came to my mind: “You’ll want God one of these days, Tom,” said he, “and don’t forget He is waiting for you, waiting to be gracious to you!” Then I thought of some verses and bits of hymns that I learned as a youngster. I tried to put a verse or two together of this one:
Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me,
Bless Thy little lamb tonight.
You would never believe how there, under the starry sky, those simple words soothed me, but then it made me think that I, Tom Fisher, was no longer a little lamb - I was a black sheep, old in wickedness, a wandering sheep. I sobbed out my sins for Christ’s sake, and He settled it there and then, out in the cold night. It was as if He said, “My son, give Me thine heart” (Proverbs 23:26), and I answered, “Lord, it is Thine!”
The terrors of death left me, for One stood beside me who took away all fear, and I wept again for joy.
Well, they came around in the morning to bury the dead. I remember clutching at an aide’s hand as he was lifting the next poor fellow from the ground, but I had no voice to speak and fainted again. When I awoke I was in the Base Hospital, where they have been very good to me. The nurse would have written to you, but I wanted to tell you the good news myself. I shall soon be with you, for though my wounds are healing I am to have a spell at home.
Your loving son, Tom
A Life Changed
A girl had just accepted Christ as her Saviour. A week later, when asked if her life was changed, she answered, “Something is certainly changed! It may be the world; it may be my heart. There is a great change somewhere, I’m sure, for everything is different from what it once was.”
She was “born again.” That was it.
She had a new life, with new desires and hopes.
She had a new object now - to live no longer for herself, but for Him who died for her and rose again.
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It is a new life altogether.
“What must I do to be saved? . . .
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved,
and thy house.”
Acts 16:30-31
A Little Child of Seven
A faint knock at my bedroom door late Saturday morning did not surprise me; I was in bed much too late for a Saturday morning! I had had the flu the week before and just didn’t feel well yet. I answered that knock: “Come in.”
It was my middle daughter, seven years young, with a very serious look on her face. “Hi, Honey,” I said. “What is the matter?”
“Dad,” she said with both hands on her hips, “how old do you have to be before you can get saved?”
Smiling, I said, “What do you mean - saved?”
She said, “You know, believing in Jesus, saved from you-know-where . . . ?”
I said, “There is a song in the hymnbook that has the answer:
A little child of seven,
Or even three or four,
May enter into heaven
Through Christ the open Door;
For when the heart believeth
On Christ, the Son of God,
’Tis then the soul receiveth
Salvation through His blood.”
She began to smile, “I believe in Jesus!”
I said, “Do you want to tell Him that?”
“Yes, Dad,” she said as we knelt down beside that bed. “Jesus, I believe You died for my sins on the cross, and I want to be saved.”
Only a parent could imagine the feeling I had that morning many years ago! This is a true story; she is faithfully going on with the Lord; she brought her own daughter to the feet of the Lord Jesus at an early age, and with her husband has brought (by the grace of God) her two grandchildren to know Jesus as Lord. How good is the God we adore!
A Motto With Two Parts
We knew of a woman who had, all her life, prided herself on strictly acting upon her favorite motto: “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” She was rich and spent her time in luxurious travel, mostly in Europe.
After a long, God-forgetting course, advancing years caused her to return to England to be nearer her relatives. Soon came failing health, and then she found that having gratified herself to the full in carrying out the first part of her cherished motto she must now, however reluctantly, face the unwelcome latter half of it: “TOMORROW WE DIE.”
Her relatives became anxious about her soul and sent for a woman who was known as a “plain-talking Christian.” She spoke to the dying woman solemnly about soul-need and eternal realities, but, sad to say, the only reply was, “Oh, I am not going to die yet, for I mean to eat and drink and have a merry time of it!”
But her “merry time” was almost at an end. She had exhausted the “merry” first half of her motto and had now to enter upon the dreaded reality expressed in those three words: “Tomorrow we die.”
The bitter quickly followed the sweet, for very soon afterwards she sank into unconsciousness from which she never returned. The morrow came; she died.
A person may live without Christ and without hope in the world, but at the end he will find it “a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). God is not to be mocked. This woman, with her almost unlimited means, could easily gratify herself all over the world in accomplishing the first of that dreadful motto, but all the money in the world could not have saved her from the unwelcome second part of it.
What is still more solemn is that after death comes the still more dreaded judgment. Yes, the judgment! A dying atheist once said that he had plenty of courage to die, but that what made him a coward was the “afterward,” for which he was not prepared. We must all meet God, either in the day of His saving grace or in the coming day of His righteous judgment.
The Apostle Paul had this motto: “To me to live is Christ.” His life illustrated his motto, and he departed to be “with Christ; which is far better.”
The woman that we have referred to had hers. In substance it was this: “For me to live is self-gratification; to die - oh, forget it!”
Nevertheless - she died.
What is your motto? What are you living for? Is it for Christ or for yourself? If for yourself, we would warn you, in all love, to beware lest at your closing hour God has to say to you what He said to that rich farmer of old: “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Luke 12:20). Yes, even of you!
No Christians in Hell
There was a young man in Switzerland, the son of a Christian mother, who said that he was “sick and tired of Christians” or hearing them or talking to them. So one day he decided to take the train to a lake where he could be out of their way.
He bought his ticket and took his seat on the excursion train. No sooner had the train started than two men began talking earnestly about the Bible. “Oh, no!” thought the young man, “I’m not going to stay here!”
So he moved to another car and sat down near some old women. To his dismay he found that they were talking about the coming of the Lord Jesus. This was annoying, but the lake was soon in sight and he exclaimed, “Ah, there is the boat!”
On going aboard he saw a crowd of laughing young men and women. “At last,” said he to himself, “I have found what I want!” But hardly had the steamer started when he found that it was a Christian school vacation trip.
Poor boy! He wandered about until he saw the captain sitting and writing. “Good morning, Captain,” he said, “where can I go to get rid of these cursed Christians?”
The captain, a worldly man, looked up with a laugh and said, “To hell!”
It was an answer that the young man could not forget, and God used it in blessing not only to him, but to the captain also, and now they are both Christians themselves.
“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17).
“Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” (Ezekiel 33:11).
Not Fit to Meet God
“I have made a study of different religions, of the teachings of Muhammad, Confucius, Buddha and others, but the tracts you gave me remind me that, with all my sins, I am not fit to meet God.” So said a man in the mountains out west to a servant of Christ.
There are many besides this man who take for granted that peace of soul is to be found in the belief of some creed or the observance of some religion and its rituals. Naturally, they want to know which is the best religion to follow. So they set out to examine the various conflicting creeds. They may find excellent moral maxims in Confucianism; they may find conspicuous examples of unselfishness and devotedness in Buddhism; they may find earnestness to the point of fanaticism in Muhammadanism. But there is one thing for which they search all these religious systems in vain.
What is this one thing that is lacking? It is the knowledge of how a sinner may be made fit to meet a supremely holy God.
Only in Christianity is this knowledge to be found. Yet Christianity, as a mere religion, no more satisfies the need of the soul than Buddhism or any other system. There are those who profess Christianity who are as far from being truly satisfied as any deluded pagan. It is not belief in a creed, however correct, but faith in a living Person, Christ Jesus, that is the way of blessing.
Religion - that is, the mere outward expression of a creed - is no Saviour. Christ alone can save. Confucius, Buddha and Muhammad lived their lives hundreds of years ago and are now dead. But Christ is not dead!
True, He laid down His life upon the cross. He suffered and died for sinners. But His resurrection is a great fact. He lives today. “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth” (Hebrews 7:25).
It is to this living Saviour you are invited to come. On the ground of His atoning work God can blot out all your sins from under His holy eye and thus make you fit for His own presence. Do not let another hour go by without putting your trust in the Saviour that God has provided for you.
13
“Choose you this day
whom ye will serve.”
Joshua 24:15
“But [God] now
commandeth all men
everywhere to repent.”
Acts 17:30
The Officer's Conversion
I was coming home on leave and thinking of nothing but the joys of getting home again. I noticed on board our ship another young officer who was also returning on leave and who always carried about with him a Bible. This seemed to be an extraordinary thing. What could he want with a Bible at all hours of the day? It is certainly not just the book that young men in general hug in that kind of way!
One day he and I happened to be together on deck. He held out the Bible and abruptly said to me, “Do you know what book this is?”
“A Bible,” I replied.
“It is THE WORD OF GOD,” he answered and said no more.
“The Word of God - the Word of God,” I repeated to myself. “Then, if that is so, it is the truth and all it says must be true.”
Several days passed without further contact, and then we met again.
“Do you believe the Word of God” was the next question he asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“All of it?”
“Yes.”
“The fifty-third of Isaiah?”
“Yes.”
“The sixth verse?”
“Yes - but what is it really?”
“‘All we like sheep have gone astray.’ Do you believe that?”
“I do, and I know it’s true. I have gone astray.”
“‘We have turned every one to his own way.’ And that?”
“Yes! I have certainly turned to my own way!”
“‘And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ Notice it says, ‘Hath laid - HATH LAID,’ not ‘shall lay’ at some future time. The work is done! Christ is dead and risen! Atonement was made in the shedding of His precious blood. God asks nothing more from the repentant sinner. Do you believe that?”
I went straight down to my cabin and there, alone on my knees, I poured out my heart to God and thanked Him for having laid my sins on Jesus and for having saved me.”
The change was instant, real, true - and lasting. Thirty-five years later I said to my doctor, “Doctor, there is no death for me; it is only to be absent from the body and present with the Lord - at home with the Lord. No death! No death!”
The Bible was still, and more than ever, the Word of God to me.
Passage to Heaven
It is possible to get to heaven without money. Many a pauper without a cent in the bank has been welcomed to the Father’s house, while many a millionaire has found his wealth a millstone to crush his Christless heart. The Apostle Peter once spoke these burning words to a “money man.” “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money” (Acts 8:20).
It is possible to get to heaven without having a friend in the world. Friendship has never been the passport to heaven, for it is written, “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12).
It is possible to get to heaven without being a social worker or a philanthropist. All men apart from a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are counted as “dead in trespasses and sins,” and it is not expected that a dead man can do anything of living value. All the good works done by men could never fashion a key to heaven, for salvation is “not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:9).
It is possible to get to heaven without being a church member. One can argue endlessly over the idle question, “Which church saves?” It is wasted time. The dying thief could see no church, but he could see Calvary and the dying Son of God, and, churchless though he was, he cried, “Lord, remember me.” And he received the answer which many church members have never heard: “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
It is possible to get to heaven without many things which the world, religious or otherwise, would consider necessary.
BUT - there is one great impossibility! It is not possible to get to heaven without the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). The only key to heaven is faith in His redeeming work. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).
Life is uncertain. In fact, the only thing in life about which we can really be sure is the fact that we can’t be sure about it. But beyond life there is eternity-and there is no need for us to lose our precious souls by being uncertain about that!
There is only one way - the way of the cross. There is only one truth - the truth of God’s Word. There is only one life - the seeking Saviour and loving Lord Himself.
“There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”
(Acts 4:12).
A Poor Drunken Mother
A sad-faced woman was offered a gospel tract.
“What is it?” she asked.
“A little tract that tells you how Jesus died to save poor lost sinners,” replied the Christian worker.
“I am a poor lost sinner,” she replied, “and when I am drinking I am wicked and angry.
“One day when my children came home from school for dinner, I was drunk and had no food to give them. They begged for something to eat, and I beat them and sent them back to school without anything to eat.”
As she told that part of her story, she wept bitterly and said, “Oh, man, do you think that God would save a poor drunken mother that beat her children and sent them back to school without their dinner?”
He assured her that God would save her, proving from the Bible all that he said.
Her reply was, “Oh, man, you wouldn’t deceive a poor sinner like me, would you?”
He then read her Isaiah 1:1819: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing.” Then he added: “God is willing. Are you willing?”
“My God, I am willing!” she cried as she dropped on her knees. She was born again, and her joy knew no bounds.
The Christian had never met her husband, but about four months later he received a letter from him. He wrote to say that he felt he should thank him for the great change that had taken place in his home, and then added, “I don’t understand about being saved and being ‘born again’ that my wife is always talking about, but this I do understand: My home was made miserable for years through my wife’s drinking, but now she is so changed that home has been made a perfect heaven for four months. I hope I may share my wife’s joy soon!”
Saved From Disaster!
“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).
Farmer Lowe was crossing the railway line on his way to a neighboring farm when he noticed a drop in the tracks. The evening train was almost due, and he had no time to notify the railway agents at the nearest station, so there was no one else who could warn the engineer but himself. Swinging a lantern with one hand and a white handkerchief with the other, he stood for a few minutes by the side of the line. He could hear the roar of the approaching train, and, disregarding the possibility of being killed, he stepped between the tracks and brought the train to a standstill.
What a scene met the eyes of engineer and passengers alike. Only two hundred yards ahead was a huge gap. A cloudburst that afternoon had caused a washout, forty feet in depth and sixty-five feet across. The tracks and ties remained intact, swinging precariously across the yawning chasm.
Lowe’s prompt action had saved the lives of many of the passengers. Little did they dream as the train sped its way over the smooth rails that they were going straight on to destruction unless the train was stopped.
For one at least on that train sudden death would have meant sudden glory. A veteran preacher of the gospel was one of the passengers, and he was traveling on an evangelistic tour. Death for him carried no eternal terrors.
But for the lost it would have meant the shortening of their lives and the final settling of where they would spend eternity, for as they enter eternity, so will they spend it. If they enter lost, they will spend eternity lost. Who can measure the horror of that?
When the engineer of the train saw Lowe’s signals, like a sensible man he put on the brakes and was able to stop the train in time. But what shall we say of the lost who disregard the warnings of Scripture? This printed page is a signal flashed across your path. Will you be warned? God grant that you may, for if you refuse to put on the brakes, you will ensure your eternal destruction. Be wise!
A collection was made by the passengers who had been saved from death or injury, and it amounted to $25.00. Counting 200 passengers on the train, this contribution averaged 12½ cents per head. One could wish that the passengers had had no collection rather than express their gratitude in such an ungenerous fashion. We should think whoever handed this paltry sum over must have blushed to think how ungrateful the passengers were!
But what shall be said of the price paid for the sinner’s ransom? Words cannot describe it. Mathematics have no figures to express this sum. It was an infinite price, even the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And on our part, what response have we given? Lowe’s prompt action in flagging the train involved only a little trouble (aside from the risk) on his part, but the Saviour’s action caused His journey from all the glory and joy of heaven to our dark and sinful world. Remember that “Christ Jesus . . . gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:56). It was for all: Therefore, it was for you. His death can save you from eternal disaster. What is your response to Him?
The passengers’ $25.00 was a pitiable sum. Has your response been better? Can you say, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15)?
Something to Settle
“It’s a pity about the young fellow in the next room. We have done all we can for him, but he will be dead before morning.”
“But doctor, you told him he was doing fine. He is expecting to get better.”
“Well, he has put up such a good fight for life that it would be a pity to depress him. He will be unconscious before long and never know that he is dying.”
“Won’t you tell him, doctor? His friends are all far away, and there has been no time for anyone to come down. He may have something to settle, some last message to send. Please tell him.”
“No! I shall not tell him; it is easier for him not to know. You can tell him if you want to.”
After the doctor had left the hospital, the nurse thought, “It is a pity to upset him.” But, as she hesitated, she thought again that he might have something to settle, some message to send. She again entered the patient’s room and sat down beside his bed.
The young man turned his face toward her and said, “It is kind of you, nurse, to pay me another visit. You heard the doctor say that I am doing well. Does he think it will be long before I can be moved? Will you write to my mother and make the best of it to her?”
The nurse was silent for a moment, and then she said, “I am afraid the doctor has let you think what is not true. You are more seriously injured than we at first thought.”
“You don’t mean that I am going to die!” A silent tear rolling down the nurse’s cheek was the only answer.
The young man had faced death in battle before, but now there was no excitement to detract his thoughts. Eternal realities came before him - the awful fact of having to face God.
“How long, nurse?” he asked.
She told him the plain truth.
“I can’t die! I can’t die!” he cried. “I am not ready to die! What must I do to be saved?”
Truly, as the nurse had said, he had something to settle.
“How can I be saved?” was the only question now.
The nurse had thought only of earthly details, and in answer to this burning question she could only reply, “I don’t know how - I’m not saved myself.”
Then, in a pleading voice the patient asked, “Won’t you pray for me, nurse? Please pray!”
But her sad confession was, “I can’t. I don’t know how.”
The nurse was now as upset as the dying man. Suddenly a bright thought entered her mind and she said, “If it will be any comfort to you, I’ll read the Bible.”
He caught the suggestion like a drowning man grasping a lifeline and said, “Do - please do -nurse!”
She hardly knew where to begin, but the Bible fell open at John’s gospel, chapter three. She read about a man who came to Jesus by night, of the great love of God in giving His only begotten Son ( Jesus) to die and then how a woman came to Jesus and received from Him living water.
At the end of the chapter she paused and looked at the patient. The gray pallor she knew so well was stealing over his sad face, but his eyes pleaded for her to read on. She continued until she read chapter five, verse 24: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
As she finished this verse the dying man’s face changed. The haggard, hopeless look disappeared, and he said, “Stop there, nurse - light is coming in. I see! I see! Leave me alone, nurse, but come back soon. Thank you.”
For half an hour he was left alone with God. Returning to his bedside, the nurse found his face shining with a new and heavenly joy, and he exclaimed: “I have heard His word. I believe the Lord Jesus bore my sins when He died on the cross. He has received me. It is not death for me, nurse; it is everlasting life. He has given it to me. I have passed from death to life.” After a moment’s rest he continued, “Nurse, promise me you will meet me in heaven. You cannot say you have not heard the way.”
“I promise you not to rest until I know,” she answered. “But I cannot grasp it as quickly as you have; it’s not clear to me.”
“He knew I had not much time left,” said the dying man, “so He let the light in quickly. He will make it clear to you. Thank God it is settled - and you have been the means. Tell my mother, Christ saved me at the very last.”
Soon afterwards he whispered, “Peace, peace,” and lapsed into unconsciousness - only to awaken with Christ his Saviour. It was four years later, as a preacher quoted John 5:24, the nurse also received peace with God. As the light broke into her soul she, too, exclaimed, “I see, I see!”
Have you something to settle? You may not have an opportunity to be saved in your last hours. Be wise - come to Jesus now. He will receive you, and He’ll give you His everlasting life and everlasting peace.
Sorry! Sorry! Okay?
There was a car in the shade of the trees in the park, and the car door stood wide open. A strange man was leaning in. An older couple who knew the car’s owner suddenly quickened their steps just as he looked over his shoulder.
The door was shut with a bang, and the young man began to stride away at a right angle to the couple. Cutting diagonally toward him, they called, “What were you doing in that car?”
Faster he went, calling back, “Sorry! Sorry! Okay?”
Then, as they still followed, he shouted again, “Sorry! Okay?” and he sounded as irritated as if his “Sorry!” should excuse everything.
Was “Sorry! Sorry!” really enough?
The couple who witnessed the incident didn’t think so. They told the owner and described the would-be robber.
The young woman whose car had been rifled didn’t think so. She pointed him out to the park ranger.
The ranger, the representative of the law, took an even darker view. He stopped the young man, checked his identification, verified it with the police, and let him go at last with the warning that if he should return to the park he would be arrested for trespassing. What seemed like a very minor offense was definitely lawbreaking, and “Sorry! Sorry!” was not “okay.”
Some say there will be millions - billions - of souls before the throne of judgment. Will “Sorry! Sorry!” and an ingratiating smile and “Okay?” be enough to admit them to heaven?
Never!
Every single one of us has “sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Just feeling “sorry” for sin is not enough. The penalty must be paid, and no sinner can possibly do it. Only One who had no sin can be accepted - accepted in the place of the sinner who has put his faith and trust in Him -Jesus Christ, the Son of God. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
It all comes back to that wonderful, well-known verse:
“God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16
The Tale of the Nancy Brig
In the month of September 1799, a trial was in progress in the old Courthouse of Kingston, Jamaica.
A ship had been captured which was suspected of piracy and other crimes calculated to harm the persons and property of the subjects of the King.
The trial had lasted some days, and the case seemed just about to fall through, as there was nothing at all among the ship’s papers that could be used in evidence against her, except for the fact that the papers all seemed perfectly new and had not been handled at all, while the ship was said to have been sailing from port to port for two years.
It seemed evident to all that the prosecution must lose the case, and the sharp gray eyes of the skipper shone with triumph as his lawyer wound up a good speech in his defense by demanding the dismissal of the ship and substantial damages for wrongful detention.
Then the attorney for the Government rose from his seat. He held in his hand a small bundle of papers, crumpled and soiled, which had just a few minutes before been handed to him. His words were few but startling, for turning to the judge he said: “May it please your honor, I am now in a position to prove to you, on the most undeniable evidence and by a most disinterested witness, that the vessel in court is none other than the pirate ship Nancy, and thus save you any further trouble in this case.”
The face of the skipper flushed crimson. He was taken completely by surprise, and, turning fiercely to his men, he demanded to know who had betrayed them. But none of them had. The witness which the Government proposed to bring forward to prove their guilt was not one of the crew, but the bundle of papers which the lawyer held in his hand.
A hush fell on the courtroom as he went on to tell the story of the way in which the papers had been discovered. The British ship-of-war Abergavenny was cruising near the coast of San Domingo when the commander, Michael Fitton, noticed the carcass of a bullock floating on the water. It was surrounded by sharks. One of the sharks was caught, and in its maw was found the true paper of the brig Nancy, and these papers were the bundle that had just been produced in court.
When the ship was first pursued, these had been thrown overboard, and the captain thought they -the evidence of his guilt - were buried in the depths of the sea forever, but instead they had been swallowed by a shark. Now they had a resurrection - a resurrection which proved to be to the confusion and condemnation of the captain and his crew.
What a lesson that sins cannot be hidden away by the sinner! The Bible says, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). And if you miss God’s forgiveness through the name of Christ Jesus, if you do not acknowledge to God that you are a sinner indeed and seek forgiveness in this day of grace, your sin will find you out in eternity. Your sins will meet you at the judgment throne of God, and in utter despair and desolation you will find yourself forever banished from God and heaven and Christ and joy.
The captain of the Nancy gained nothing by pretending to be an honest man, nor will you gain anything by seeking to hide your sins from God. It would be far better for you to make a clean breast of all your guilt and pray like the conscience-stricken publican, “God be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13).
The Saviour did not come to call the righteous. It was for sinners. He came to seek and save the lost. He died for the ungodly. If you trust in this Saviour, your sins will never come against you in judgment. Instead, God will bury them in the deep and fathomless sea of eternal forgetfulness.
The eyes of the Lord
are in every place,
beholding
the evil and the good.
Proverbs 15:3
Tell Him Everything!
God has never yet forsaken one who has trusted himself to Him. But to know God as your Father, you must behave toward Him as His child. You must talk to Him every day. A child that did not speak to its father would soon become estranged from him.
You must never neglect prayer. And if it seems that you cannot make a fine prayer, or that you cannot pray at all, just talk to Him about your needs and cares. He will understand.
“In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6).
12
Time to Choose
The great need at the moment is decision. Young men and young women especially need to decide for Christ.
Can anybody be saved after they are twenty? Yes, but the frequency of conversion diminishes very rapidly after that age.
A survey was once made and these were the findings. Of 1000 Christians questioned, the age when converted was as follows:
Under 20 years of age 548
Between 20 and 30 years of age 337
Between 30 and 40 years of age 86
Between 40 and 50 years of age 15
Between 50 and 60 years of age 13
Between 60 and 70 years of age 1
Dare you wait?
“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed” (Proverbs 29:1).
Tomorrow
“Tomorrow,” he promised his conscience;
“Tomorrow I mean to believe;
Tomorrow I’ll think as I ought to;
Tomorrow the Saviour receive;
Tomorrow I’ll conquer the habits
That hold me in sin’s bitter sway.”
But ever his conscience repeated one word:
“Today, today, today!”
“Tomorrow - tomorrow - tomorrow”
So day after day it went on.
“Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow”
Till youth like a vision was gone,
Till age and his passions had written
The sentence of fate on his brow;
And forth from the shadows came Death,
With the pitiless syllable: “NOW!”
“How shall we escape,
if we neglect
so great salvation?”
Hebrews 2:3
Two Pictures
Let us look at two pictures from the pages of Scripture.
Judas “went immediately out: and it was night” (John 13:30). He went “to his own place” (Acts 1:25).
Stephen “looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus” (Acts 7:55). He was willing “to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Judas was a man who had been in closest company with the Lord Jesus for three years. He had seen all His wondrous works and had heard His gracious words. Yet he turned his back upon Him who was the “Light of the world”; he went out from His presence, out into the night. Controlled by Satan, led captive by him at his will, Judas went to his doom.
Look on the other picture. Alone, in the midst of an angry crowd yelling for his death, Stephen stands undismayed.
Full of the Holy Spirit, he looks up. Heaven opens, and in the center of all the glory he sees a man, the man Christ Jesus, standing on the right hand of God. Lost to everything but that wonderful vision, he does not focus on the cruel stones which his murderers hurl upon him.
He fears not “them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4).
What can they do? They can set his happy spirit free to rise to its own place - where Jesus is. Stephen goes in - into the light, into the glory - to be with Jesus. Happy release!
Which pathway is yours? Which end is yours? Heaven - or hell?
There is no other option!
Two Soldiers
Two British soldiers were talking together. One had been a Christian for some time; the other was recently converted. The new Christian, Joe, looked at Sam and asked, “Have you known the Good Shepherd long?”
“No, hardly two years,” answered Sam. “More shame to me, for I had a good mother who taught me all about Jesus and His love. But I always said, ‘Time enough; I’ll serve Him when I’ve had a bit of pleasure - say when I’m thirty or thirty-five.’”
“What changed your mind?” asked Joe. “You don’t look to be thirty yet.”
“No, I’m twenty-eight,” said Sam. “About two years ago I was with my regiment in India. I was learning some of the conjuring and juggling tricks that some of the natives are so good at. I specially wanted to do one where I should appear to swallow a very small but deadly snake. I practiced it two or three times, but once I handled it badly and its deadly fangs fastened on my shoulder.
“I jumped up to run from the room, crying, ‘What can I do? What can I do?’
“‘Sit down!’ said a quiet voice, and a firm hand was laid on my arm. Almost before I knew what was happening I saw that one of the men was sucking the poison out of the wound. I did not know him well, but I had often laughed at what I called his ‘old woman’s religion.’ Now, as I saw him risking his life to save mine, I realized what a grand thing it was to be a true Christian.
“‘Why do you do this?’ I asked him. ‘You know it may kill you!’
“‘If it does, I’m not afraid to die,’ he said quietly.
“‘But I am,’ I said. ‘I know all about the better way. But I’ve scorned the Saviour and His love. If I die today, I’m lost!’
“I’ll never forget the earnest way he looked at me as he slowly repeated the words: ‘The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost’ (Luke 19:10), nor the emphasis he laid on the last word.”
“Tell me more,” said Joe. “Did that brave man recover? Of course you did - for here you are today -but did he?”
“Yes, he did. He was sick for several days, but he did get well. I heard from him yesterday. I tell him that, under God, I owe to him both my natural and my spiritual life, for he never rested till I knew the Lord Jesus as my own personal Saviour.”
“And now it was you that pointed me to Him,” said Joe. “All my life long I shall thank God for this sickness and time of quiet that forced me to think. Ah, the Good Shepherd did find me sick and helpless and ready to die.”
“But He didn’t leave you there,” said Sam.
“No, He didn’t,” said Joe decidedly. “It seems to me I can only say, ‘My cup runneth over,’ when I think of all that He’s done for me!”
The Two Sons
“A certain man had two sons. . . . Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant” (Luke 15:11, 25-26).
We often read the parable of the prodigal son and his return to his father, but we stop at the end of that and forget that “a certain man had two sons.” We like to hear how the younger son was received back, but do we ever ask, “What about the elder son? What became of him?”
The elder son came near to the house, and hearing the music and dancing, he wanted to know what it was all about. Have you ever wondered what makes your believing relatives and friends so happy? Have you asked yourself what it all means? God the Father rejoices in the return of the lost ones; they have confessed that they were once in the “far country” but have now been brought to God, and they are glad.
But the elder son “was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him.” The angry elder son stood on the outside, and his father came out himself to entreat. God entreats you, too. His Word says, “As though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” The Saviour has been down into the very depths of death to enable a holy God to come out in righteousness as well as in grace and save all “that come unto God by Him” (Hebrews 7:25).
We are all either inside, rejoicing with the Father in His joy and with the returned son, or outside in company with the elder son. The door was as open to the one as to the other, and today it is still kept open by a hand of love. Why not enter?
The elder son had his reasons for anger: “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.”
Now he revealed his character in his complaints. He was proud of his length of service, self-righteous in his claim never to have transgressed, and utterly selfish in wanting a gift only that he might make merry with his friends. It was not his father’s company he desired, but his friends’.
There are many like that today who are angry and will not come in. They are proud in standing up in their own strength before God, self-righteous in depending on their own morality apart from Him, and selfish in refusing Him the joy of blessing them according to His own heart of love.
The door of God’s mercy stands wide open; all that God has of blessing is there for all who will take it. Won’t you come in?
What Does It Mean to Come?
There is nothing mysterious or mystical about “coming.”
It is one of the simplest of words; a child understands it. If Christ were standing before you now, and you heard Him say, “Come,” would you have to ask what He meant?
When the Lord walked upon the Sea of Galilee, Peter requested, “Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water” (Matthew 14:28). Jesus said to him, “Come.” It was the simplest of things to obey, though the circumstances were contrary to nature.
His promise is: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).
Do you still feel puzzled about it? Give a quiet hour to the records of how others came to Jesus. Begin with the eighth chapter of Matthew, and trace out all through the Gospels how they came to Jesus with all sorts of different needs. Trace in these cases your own spiritual needs of cleansing, healing, salvation, guidance, sight and teaching. They knew what they wanted, and they knew whom they wanted. And consequently they just came.
Come then to Him with all your need, and if you
Ask Him to receive you,
Will He tell you, “Nay”?
Not till earth, and not till heaven
Pass away!
What Is It That Redeemed Me?
Judas, with the priests, was ever so bold
As Jesus, his friend, for silver he sold;
Then went and hanged himself, Scripture has told,
But this is not what redeemed me!
To the smiters Jesus gave His back;
They “made long their furrows,” a vicious attack;
In spite of such hatred He never turned back -
Yet this could never redeem me!
And His cheeks to them who plucked off the hair
He gave - the One who is of God the heir;
Thus Roman justice was forfeited there,
Though this is not what redeemed me!
The soldiers a crown of thorns plaited
And put on the head of Him whom they hated;
The injustice went on unabated,
But this is not what redeemed me!
My sins’ heavy load He bore on the tree
As the Lord laid on Him the iniquity;
He can now righteously set us free,
And this is how He redeemed me!
“It is finished,” He cried, and then bowed His head;
A soldier who knew He was already dead
Thrust a spear in His side; thus was His blood shed;
This it was that has redeemed me!
What Will You Say?
Sixteen-year-old Thomas Hoopoo, freshly out of a mission school for Indians, was introduced to a famous lawyer and, along with several others, spent the evening with him.
The lawyer, who was not a Christian, entertained the company for a long time by asking Thomas questions. He quizzed him unmercifully about his people and their customs, their manners, their pleasures, and specially their religion as compared with Christianity. When at last he stopped, Thomas spoke out before them all.
“I am a poor Indian boy,” he said. “It is not strange that my answers should seem amusing to you. But soon there will be a larger meeting than this. We shall all be there. Then there will only be one important question: ‘Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?’
“Now, sir, I think I can say, ‘Yes.’ What will you say, sir?”
He stopped. Silently, the group separated, each going home for the night.
But there was no rest for the great attorney. The question asked by Thomas Hoopoo kept ringing in his ears: “What will you say, sir?”
The Spirit of God had touched his conscience, and he found no rest till he could answer, “Yes,” to the searching question asked by that young Indian.
“If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha [accursed; the Lord cometh]” (1 Corinthians 16:22).
When the Saviour Came My Way
You ask me why I love the Lord;
Well, friend, just let me say:
My life was not worth living
Till the Saviour came my way.
You say I lose so much in life;
Yes, friend, praise God, I do!
I lose the sin and sorrow
Which was all I ever knew.
I lose the days spent seeking joy,
The long nights full of tears;
I lose the heavy burdens
Which I carried through the years.
But, friend, I would not have them back
For all that you could pay!
My life was not worth living
Till the Saviour came my way.
When the Saviour Came My Way
You ask me why I love the Lord;
Well, friend, just let me say:
My life was not worth living
Till the Saviour came my way.
You say I lose so much in life;
Yes, friend, PRAISE GOD, I do;
I lose the sin and sorrow
Which was all I ever knew.
I lose the days spent seeking joy,
The long nights full of tears;
I lose the heavy burdens
Which I carried through the years.
But, friend, I would not have them back
For all that you could pay!
My life was not worth living
Till the Saviour came my way!
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).
Which Side of the Cross?
“They crucified Him, and two other with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst” (John 19:18). “So there was a division among the people because of Him” (John 7:43).
What a moment in the world’s history - the crucified Son of God dividing the malefactors (evildoers, or criminals) the one from the other. From that day the crucified Lord Jesus separates the inhabitants of the world into two distinct peoples.
No one can be neutral! On which side of the cross are you? Are you on the side of him who only “reviled Him,” or are you with the one who acknowledged his guilt and said, “Lord, remember me”?
“O taste and see that
the Lord is good:
blessed is the man that
trusteth in Him.”
Psalm 34:8
“He [Jesus] is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God
by Him [Jesus].”
Hebrews 7:25