Echoes of Grace: 2011

It began its blaring less than a minute after one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history struck. For thirty-six seconds, the earth lurched and pitched under Japanese feet like it was a living beast.

Most of the people knew exactly how to react because the Japanese government had conducted numerous tsunami drills along the coast. House doors were flung open and people rushed into the streets. As fast as their feet would carry them they made their way along designated tsunami evacuation routes. Small signs written in Japanese, with a picture of a wave on them, marked out the evacuation routes. These routes lead to nearby hillsides which the government had judged high enough to provide protection.

Approximately five minutes after the earthquake first struck, the tsunami unleashed its terrible fury along the coast. Boaters out at sea would not have noticed the tsunami, but as the tsunami approached the shore it was a different matter. The first indication it was about to strike was when it rapidly drew the water away from the coast like an extremely low tide. Then a faint roaring could be heard in the distance. As the tsunami raced up the sloping coast into shallower depths, the wave grew to monstrous size. The tsunami consisted not of just one giant wave, but of a succession of waves in some places over forty or fifty feet tall. The waves crashed over sea walls, ran over highways, slammed into houses, and battered buildings. Strong structures crumbled into pieces and in an instant were turned into floating piles of debris. Cars, trucks, airplanes and boats were all carried along by the irresistible force of the tsunami. In many places the tsunami spread its path of destruction up to seven kilometers inland.

Tragically the tsunami took a great human toll also. Some people did not heed the warning siren and made no attempt to flee. Others took refuge in large and strong buildings only to have the buildings collapse about them. Yet others, like the aged and infirm, could not move fast enough and were caught by the gigantic surge of water. Some had tried to rescue prized possessions which slowed them down. Others lost their lives when they fled to places which they thought were high enough to give them protection, only to find out to their amazement that the tsunami was far more powerful than they thought.

The earthquake and tsunami of Friday, March 11, 2011, joins the ranks of the greatest natural disasters of all time. Most of us will never experience a natural disaster on such a scale. However, there is the potential for a spiritual disaster in each of our lives that is even greater in magnitude. Each person will have to answer to God about their sins. The Bible says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). People who die in their sins will be swept away into everlasting punishment and the darkness of a lost eternity. God doesn’t want that spiritual disaster to happen in anyone’s life. He wants all to turn to Him in repentance and faith that they might be saved. That men and women might have a way to be saved, God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world.

Nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, God’s precious Son, hung on a cross outside Jerusalem. At any time He could have called out, and thousands of angels would have come to deliver Him. He let Himself be nailed to those awful pieces of wood because He knew that only through His own death might sinners have a way to be saved from their sins. At the cross He gave His life and shed His precious blood so that all who believe on Him might find the one place of safety. The infinite value God finds in Christ’s death is placed on the sinner’s account the moment they believe on His name.

The tsunami safety routes were clearly marked, and a great number of people were saved by following them. The Bible has many verses which clearly mark out the way of salvation. Here are a few of them which clearly show the way we must take to “flee from the wrath to come.”

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

“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39).

“The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: 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. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed” (Romans 10:8-11).

Salvation is offered free to all, and the angels of God rejoice when a single sinner repents and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet it is sorrowful to think that a great many for a variety of reasons will not receive God’s precious offer of eternal life. Many because of unbelief simply refuse to heed God’s warning about the judgment to come. They are like those in the tsunami who heard the warning and ignored it, only to be finally overwhelmed. Others might think they are going to take refuge in good works or religious effort and therefore don’t need faith in the Saviour. Their good works may look formidable and substantial. However, these works will provide no protection for souls in the awful day of God’s judgment, but they will crumble to pieces like many of the buildings in Japan did when struck by the tsunami. Nothing short of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again will ever save a soul. “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). Still others because of the love they have for possessions will never find room in their hearts to trust the Saviour.

God will see that every person receives their proper due. “Who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath” (Romans 2:6-8).

In the entire world there is but one place for the sinner to flee that will keep them safe. It is the place sinners come to when they call out by faith to the Lord Jesus. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). Will you call out to Him to be saved from the judgment that must otherwise overtake you?

The Amazing Rescue

When the U.S. Navy rescued a captain held hostage by Somali pirates, it left an Italian boat owner astounded.

Captain Richard Phillips had been held hostage on a lifeboat for several days. He tried to escape on his own but was soon captured. The U.S. military converged on the site with ships, helicopters and a strong force of highly trained men. Together with an operation led by the Navy SEALs, the United States took swift action and set the captain free.

Silvio Bartoletti, owner of a shipping company, marveled at the rescue, the Associated Press reported. Bartoletti said, “I’m marveling that they’d do that for one American.”

Indeed, it was truly amazing to see the extent to which the United States would go for one person. This story, however, illustrates an event that is even more amazing: God, the creator of the universe, loved us so much that He took drastic measures and went through an extraordinary process to save us from our sins.

Christ said, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, [does] not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” (Luke 15:4). God cares about the world, but He also cares about individuals. Christ said, “Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance” (Luke 15:7).

The Bible, God’s Word, declares that without God we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). We, like the captain, are held hostage by the powers of darkness. We need to be rescued. We might try on our own to free ourselves through religion and good works. But such efforts would be in vain. Why? Because Christ alone is the One who can free us. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved [or rescued]” (Acts 4:12).

Christ, the Son of God, left heaven and all of its glory so He could come to this earth as a man and die for our sins. He rose from the dead to set us free and give us everlasting life. He did all of this for you, me and the entire world. The Bible states, “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).

Because of His love and His great acts of kindness, nobody has to remain a hostage. What about you? Are you still in bondage? If so, then please turn to Christ today! He has promised that anyone who calls on His name will be rescued (Romans 10:13). Those who trust in Him will not be disappointed (Romans 10:11).

Call on Him today, and experience real freedom. Only then will you know the joy of being saved and the thrill of having an amazing rescue.

At Rest?

Beginning at 1:10 a.m. Eastern Time, on May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden’s body was washed, wrapped in white cotton, and then lowered from the deck of the U.S.S. Carl Vinson by an elevator to sea level. By 2:00 a.m., his lifeless body had been placed in a weighted bag, set on a board, tipped up, and sent sliding into the North Arabian Sea. The weighted bag drifted downward through the salty waters to rest in the silted sands of the sea floor.

For many, this has brought a sense of justice, relief, release from fear, and a measure of hope for a safer tomorrow. Few have found rest and certainty. None of the family members of the nearly 3,000 dead on September 11, 2001, have received their loved ones back. Some whose father’s, husband’s, mother’s or brother’s body was never found still long for that elusive sense of “closure.”

In our quiet moments of reflection, we all long for peace, rest and certainty. We would all love to have answers to the questions that burn in our hearts. I can’t give them to you. I can’t promise you the details you crave. But God, in His Word, the Bible, gives His answers to all the essential questions now and a promise to cover the details later.

God presents simply the source of pain and suffering when He says, “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). As much as I’d like to distance myself from a man like Osama bin Laden, I must admit to sharing some essential traits with him. Hatred has flashed through my heart and mind. God says that “whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:22). He doesn’t say we need to speak or act in anger but simply be angry at something other than an offense to God’s holy character. “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). That would snatch “peace of mind” from anyone honest enough to consider it carefully. Who could find a sense of “rest” or “closure” when they candidly confess to being “not perfect” and know they must face a perfect God and give an accounting for that sin?

Anyone willing to simply accept what God says as true can have joy-filled rest of mind today. We won’t find it inside our hearts, lives, actions, intentions or determination to improve. It’s offered to us in this simple statement made by Jesus Christ: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He personally offers to give rest and a cleared conscience as a gift and not as a reward for reform, positive thinking or self-improvement.

His rest is given, never earned. He gives it because neither you nor I could ever pay for it. The Lord Jesus Christ took the punishment that I deserved for my disobedience to God. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). He offers abundant life, freedom for the conscience, and a home with Himself. God couldn’t state the case more clearly than this: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

Ban - the Tsunami Dog

A middle-aged woman made her home in a town located on the northeast coast of Japan. From her window in front of the house, she could see the ocean and the rocky hills that mark the entrance to the harbor. She lived alone with Ban, her small brown dog. On the morning of March 11, before she left for work, she gave Ban a bowl of fresh water and a bowl of rice mixed with bits of meat for food. Then she rubbed the dog behind his ears and said good-bye. It was a morning routine that had been repeated every day since she had brought Ban home as a puppy. Ban had the run of the house and could go into the backyard as he wished through a little pet door.

In mid-morning the earth began to violently shake. One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded anywhere on earth struck the region. For about half a minute the crust of the earth continued to rumble and roll. Items fell off shelves, cracks appeared in walls and streets, and glass broke in windows. Ban, confused by the shaking, ran out into the backyard. Moments later tsunami warning sirens erupted up and down the northeastern coast of Japan. People hurried into the streets and ran along tsunami escape routes. These routes led to places of higher ground where people might find a place of safety from the fury of the incoming wave. Ban heard the siren but didn’t know what it meant. He paced up and down the edge of the fence. He couldn’t have escaped the enclosure of the backyard if he had wanted to.

Minutes after the warning sirens started, the roaring of the approaching tsunami was heard. The wave grew to gigantic proportions as it entered shallower water. Ban couldn’t see it, but he heard it and felt its terror. He heard it as it crashed over sea walls, raced over streets, and toppled buildings, reducing them to rubbish and then swept them along. Ban heard the wave get horrifically loud, and he cowered in his yard. Then in utter pandemonium the wave swept his house off its foundation and swept through the backyard, covering him.

The wave surged inland nearly seven kilometers. Then, when the waters withdrew back into the ocean, they carried enormous amounts of debris and wreckage with them. Mounds of debris formed floating islands as they were sucked out to sea.

The woman was not allowed to return to the site where her home had been. The closest she could get was a hillside on the outskirts of town. In the evening of March 11, she looked down on what had been her hometown and wept. The entire town had been swept away. Everything she owned had disappeared. Looking at the awful scene of destruction before her, it didn’t seem possible for any living thing in the town to have survived, and she held out little hope her dog might be found alive.

Good news was a rarity for the weeks which followed the tsunami. Search and rescue teams combed through the wreckage on land and sea looking for survivors. Three weeks after the tsunami, when rescuers were about to give up hope of finding any more survivors, a Search and Rescue helicopter flew over an island of debris two miles out at sea and spotted something moving on what looked like a floating roof. They flew closer, and from the cockpit they saw a brown dog running nervously back and forth. A Coast Guard boat was directed to the spot and divers were transferred from the boat to the bunch of floating debris. The divers wore helmets, fins and cold water diving suits in case they fell through the wreckage and into the sea. At first the dog wouldn’t come to them, but after a few minutes of gentle coaxing, it changed its mind and let itself be picked up by the workers. They looked for any other signs of survivors among the floating wreckage. When they didn’t find any, they returned to the boat with the dog wrapped up in a blanket.

Videos of the dog that had survived for weeks out at sea were flashed around the world via the Internet and cable news. After spending three weeks on the island of debris with nothing to eat and only rainwater to drink, the dog was remarkably healthy. People liked the story because it brought a small ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak time.

The woman could hardly believe her eyes when she saw pictures of her pet being broadcast during the evening news.

The reunion of the dog and its master was also filmed and shared with others. Ban left no doubt how he felt about his master when they were reunited. He wagged his tail joyously, and his eyes beamed with recognition and love when he saw her.

The entire population of Japan was deeply affected by the events of March 11. The vast extent of the wreckage left by the tsunami reminds us of another event that left long-lasting effects on many people. This event has brought more sorrow into the world than even the tsunami. It occurred when the first parents of the human race sinned and brought in the tidal wave of wreckage in its wake. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Every gravestone, every mausoleum and every morgue gives mute testimony that “death [has] passed upon all men.” Everywhere you look in this world, you see evidence of the wreckage of sin. But the worst effects of sin cannot be seen in the land of the living. The worst effects take place after death. Souls who never repent and turn to God in faith will be cast into hell where they shall never experience a moment’s relief from their suffering. Because there is no end to the conscious suffering of souls in hell, someone once aptly called it “the death that never dies.”

God is good and full of love and doesn’t want anyone to pass into a lost eternity. He wants all to be saved. “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). In order for men and women to be saved, He sent His Son into the world. For three-and-a-half years, the Lord Jesus went about the countryside of Israel healing all the sick, working miracles and preaching the gospel. The works of mercy He did were truly amazing and should be proof enough to convince every heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Then He was taken by evil hands and nailed to a cross of wood. Men meant it for evil, but God overruled the act for good, for when Christ died, He provided the one sacrifice that can take away sin forever. “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

The Lord Jesus, going to the cross to rescue sinners from sin and death, demonstrated like nothing else ever could God’s great love for us. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Because Christ died and rose again, all who believe in Him will escape the power of sin and death. It is only by faith in Christ and the great work He did on the cross that we can be saved from the wreckage of sin. He alone can stop the surging of the waters of death that threatens to overtake sinners.

It was a happy chain of events when Ban was recovered from the wreckage of the tsunami and reunited with his master. It is also a happy chain of events when a sinner repents and believes on the Saviour. The last link in that blessed chain is to have part in the resurrection of the just and dwell in glory where death and sin can never again cast their dismal shadows.

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Will you believe in the Lord Jesus that you might receive the gift of eternal life?

Beauty Is a Blessing

If you were asked to name the most beautiful thing you could think of, what would it be? I suppose there might be as many different answers as there are different types of people in the world.

A mother might say that a child’s smile is the most beautiful sight. A father might say that nothing could be more beautiful than his children respecting one another.

To a hiker, the distant snow-capped mountains might be the most beautiful. A connoisseur of piano music might claim a certain sonata is unsurpassed in beauty. A teacher might respond that a classroom full of bright and eager faces is the most beautiful.

We live in a world that is full of beauty. Where does this beauty come from? Many people in our modern times would not hesitate to answer that this complex, beautiful world is the product of chance. However, the idea of chance doesn’t explain the beauty of a single snowflake, much less anything else. If you were able to observe chance over a time span of a billion years, in all that time you would never see chance create something from nothing, much less something beautiful.

Make no mistake about it, not chance, but God who is infinite in wisdom and power created the world. There is no other reasonable explanation for existence of the beautiful world we live in. “He hath made everything beautiful in His time,” reads a verse from Ecclesiastes.

God making the world is a grand truth that should never cease to amaze us, but it is equally true that each one of us has sinned and deeply offended Him as well. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” There is nothing beautiful about sin. It makes our lives barren towards God and brings about our eternal death. “The wages of sin is death.”

Beauty is a blessing, but not a great blessing, for it never delivered a soul from the punishment their sin deserves. Only the Lord Jesus can do that. The One who spoke a word and the world leapt into existence let Himself be nailed to a cross. He bore in His own body the punishment of the sins of all who would afterward believe. The punishment that should have fallen on them instead fell on Him in blow after blow. He drained the last dark drop from the cup of suffering, so that sinners might not have to drink it themselves.

The greatest blessing a man or woman can possess isn’t physical at all. It is spiritual. It is the gift of eternal life and it is given the moment a person places their faith in the Son of God. “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). Eternal life is a gift procured for them by the suffering and death of the Son of God. All other gifts given to men or women in this life pale in comparison.

Created things might be pleasant, but they can’t bring life to a soul who is dead in sins and trespasses.

Won’t you take the Lord Jesus as your Saviour that you might possess the greatest of all blessings—the gift of eternal life? “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3).

The Bicycle Rider

“What kind of bike do you have?” asked a man in the office where I worked.

“It’s an old 5-speed” I told him.

“That’s no good at all,” he said. “Throw it in the garbage.”

I was not surprised at his reply because it was well-known in our office how much this man liked bicycles. He had a very expensive bike and kept it in perfect condition. “I have two chains,” he told me. “I leave one in oil while I use the other one. That way the next chain is already oiled when I need it.”

This man rode his bicycle to work every day. He had catalogs of bike parts and accessories which he often looked at, and he always ordered the most expensive parts.

One day I went by his desk and saw that he wasn’t looking at his catalog but at a Bible calendar. “Those verses on the calendar are from the Bible,” I told him.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me where it comes from,” he said. “It doesn’t interest me at all.”

He wouldn’t let me say any more to him about the Bible. Not long after this, he went on a holiday to Europe. He had told me how much nicer it was to bike than to go by car or train because he got to really see the countryside. I am sorry to tell you that I never saw that man again. While he was biking through Europe, he had a heart attack and never finished his holiday.

He had prepared his bicycle with great care for his holiday, but as far as I know, he had made no preparation to meet God.

Are you like this man?

Perhaps it is not bikes that interest you, but are you spending all your time thinking about and planning for the things in this world that you enjoy? Have you considered that you also must sometime leave it all behind and go to meet God? The Bible says, “Prepare to meet thy God” (Amos 4:12). The only way to be ready to meet God is to have your sins washed away by the blood of Jesus. “The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

God’s Word tells us that one man said, “I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” God said to him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:19-20).

“Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:40).

Caesar Borgia

Caesar Borgia was a man of purpose. His ambition was to have wealth and power, and he attained both. First, he became Archbishop of Valenza, then a cardinal, and afterwards Duke of Valentinois. But when death claimed him, he left his riches and position, and he took only his sins with him into eternity.

Realizing this before he died, he groaned while dying: “In the course of my life, I have provided for everything except for death. Now I am dying, though completely unprepared for it!”

Is Borgia the only one so foolish? No. The towns and cities of this country swarm with men and women who are unprepared to die. Many people to whom death would mean eternal damnation are totally untroubled about it. They think of everything, provide for everything, except death. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

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

Choose Now

“Someday,” you say, “I will seek the Lord;

Someday I will make my choice;

Someday, someday, I will obey His Word

And answer the Spirit’s voice.”

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

And swiftly the seasons roll;

Today is yours! It may be your last;

Choose life for your precious soul!

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

Oh, what will your answer be?

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

Is made for eternity.

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

Must He for your answer wait?

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

Tomorrow may be too late!

Conviction and Conversion

A Pharaoh said, I have sinned against the Lord your God.

The prophet Balaam said, I have sinned.

The disciple Judas said, I have sinned.

Pharaoh only wanted to be rid of the consequences of his sin.

Balaam only wanted to go on in his own way after he knew it was not the way of God.

Judas was full of remorse, but he did not ask for forgiveness, though he must have known something of the loving heart of the Christ. He did not believe in His love nor seek it for himself.

King David said, I have sinned, and he claimed forgiveness and cleansing.

The prodigal son said, I have sinned, and he went to his father to ask forgiveness.

The publican cried, God be merciful to me a sinner.

The thief on the cross admitted his guilt and pleaded, Lord, remember me.

It is not enough to feel a burden. You must get rid of it.

It is not enough to see yourself as a sinner. You must see Christ crucified for you.

It is not the knowledge of the disease of sin that cures us. It is the Great Physician.

It is not enough to be convicted of sin and guilt. You must be born again. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

You must become a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

It is as simple as that.

The Darkest Day Since 1638

On Tuesday, December 21, 2010, people around the globe were able to watch the rounded shadow of the earth fall on the moon and then eventually black it out in a total eclipse. The combination of winter solstice and full lunar eclipse made the day the darkest in recent history.

This twenty-four-hour period stands out as the darkest, but do you know the day that is morally the darkest in history? It occurred almost two thousand years ago when the Lord Jesus died on a cross of wood outside Jerusalem. Other innocent people have been unjustly put to death for crimes they didn’t commit, but the Lord Jesus is far different than any others because of who He is. He was not a mere man. He was the Son of God come to earth. The glory and greatness of His person eclipse every other and make the day He was nailed to the cross the darkest day in the history of mankind.

The love of having our own way at all costs, the pride of heart whereby we think we know best, the strong tendency to choose evil over good, the readiness to reject God’s truth and hold fast to falsehoods — all these things were in the hearts of those who rejected the Lord Jesus, and sadly these tendencies reside in our hearts also. The rejection of the Lord Jesus shows, like nothing else ever could, the waywardness of the human heart.

Rather than see men live out their lives in sin’s shame and darkness, God came to this earth in the person of the Lord Jesus and died in the sinner’s place. He did so out of love and pity for His fallen creatures. His becoming a man made it possible for Him to suffer death. Because He is God, His death has an infinite value to cancel out sin. A sacrifice of infinite value to put away sin is exactly what we need.

There is so much value in the blood of Christ that the sins of the world would be washed away in an instant if everyone would only believe on Him. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). What a priceless gift the Lord Jesus obtained for us when He died on the cross!

Forgiveness! ’twas a joyful sound
To guilty sinners doomed to die;
We’d publish it the world around,
And gladly shout it through the sky.

“Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him out into outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:13).

Oh be wise, and turn from the darkness of sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive all that He has to offer. You will never be sorry you did!

Do Not Say …

Do not say you are too young to be saved; Jesus said, “[Allow] little children to come unto Me” (Luke 18:16).

Do not say you are too old. The invitation is for “whosoever will” (Revelation 22:17).

Do not say you are too poor. Jesus said, “To the poor the gospel is preached” (Luke 7:22).

Do not say there is plenty of time yet. “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).

Do not say you are too wicked; “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

Do not say you have not been invited. You have heard the invitation many times. “Come; for all things are now ready.” If you delay and make excuses, one day you will stand before God without excuse.

Evacuation Alert: Will You Heed the Warning

In a blog about natural disasters, a writer asked a question about people in danger: “Why do people still refuse to heed a hurricane warning only to suffer in the end?”

The writer mentioned the threat of fires that were burning in Houston, Texas, and the calls that went out for the people to evacuate. They were calls that some people ignored. The writer noted his frustration about the reaction to this threat and one involving a hurricane.

“I don’t get it,” he wrote. “I really don’t. Houston and Galveston residents were repeatedly told about the dangers of Hurricane Ike, and still some chose to stay?!”

Sadly enough, the same question can be asked about people who refuse to obey God and respond to His warning about future judgment. The warning is clear: God hates sin, and His judgment — eternal punishment — is awaiting those who die in their sins without Christ.

Judgment for sin will be far worse than any natural disaster. Christ will deal out retribution to the people who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel. “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

Even though the warning is severe, people choose to ignore it, and so do those who ignore the warnings about hurricanes, wildfires and floods. Unfortunately, they do this to their peril.

Despite the awful outcome of living and dying in sin, there is a way of escape. God’s evacuation plan is found in Jesus Christ, His Son. We must put our trust in Him alone to save us. He said, “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).

God doesn’t want anyone to die without Christ and suffer (2 Peter 3:9). “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

God’s evacuation plan from judgment is activated by simple faith. Here is what Christ promised: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

God offers us eternal life as a free gift that can only be received by faith, but if we reject it, we endanger ourselves. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).

What will you do? Will you ignore the warning? Will you procrastinate and risk your future? Or will you take heed and trust in Christ to be saved?

Ever-Ready

Unable to enter the jam-packed building, I stood in the crowded courtyard as the funeral service was preached. The hot tropical sun beat down on the village of Fancy, Saint Vincent, and I continually had to mop my brow to keep the perspiration out of my eyes. The preacher was faithful in his sermon, and many heard a clear, solemn warning in the gospel that Sunday afternoon.

I had known the man whose body lay in the casket, and I had often sat on his porch in the heat of the day, enjoying the Word of God and the things of Christ together. Now, at age 89, he was finally with the One he loved, served and longed to see face-to-face — his Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As I stood listening to the sermon and joining in with the singing of several old familiar gospel hymns, I looked to my right and noticed that the name on the funeral coach read,

THE EVER-READY FUNERAL HOME

At first it made me smile, and then it rather startled me. What a name for an undertaking business, yet how appropriately ironic. Yes, Mr. Bowens was ready, and he had been for many years. But what about you? Are you Ever-Ready?

Now is the time to prepare for eternity! The Bible clearly warns us, “Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). The prophet Amos commands us, “Prepare to meet thy God” (Amos 4:12).

In the first thirteen verses of Matthew 25, we read the story of the “Ten Virgins” as told by the Lord Himself when here on earth. Five of these ladies (the bride’s attendants) were ready to meet the bridegroom, and five were not. The five who were ready are called wise, and the five who were not ready are called foolish.

Here’s why: “The bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Matthew 25:10). The wise had made preparation, and the foolish left it until it was too late!

On another occasion, the Lord Jesus said, “Be ye therefore ready also” (Luke 12:40). We do not know how long we have to get ready. Life is short and uncertain; we do not know how long we have to live, and, like the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus is coming very soon!

Perhaps you are wondering how to get ready — how to get saved. It is by repenting of your sins and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. He died on the cross to save us, and when we receive Him as our Saviour, He washes our sins away in His blood, making us ready for that happy home in heaven called the Father’s house. The Lord Jesus Christ is ready to receive you. He says, “Come; for all things are now ready” (Luke 14:17).

Are you ready to receive Him right now?

Finding Peace

A church in Enoree, South Carolina, was holding choir practice when a baby at the gathering began crying. The choir director, who was the baby’s grandmother, took him and tried to comfort him, but to no avail. The baby was uneasy. Several women in turn held him, but he continued to cry. Eventually, his father stepped up and offered to hold him. As soon as he picked up the baby, he stopped crying and soon fell asleep.

“Interesting,” said the grandmother. “He found peace in the arms of his daddy.”

This little episode reminded me of the famous quote by Augustine: “You made us for Yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You.” How true.

So often in life, people do all sorts of things to find peace. Many turn to drugs and alcohol, and others turn to money and fame. Some engage in New Age practices, and some try different religions, or they live an immoral lifestyle. Despite their best efforts, they still come up short and find themselves empty. They find there is a hole or void in their lives that cannot be filled by the things of this world. In all honesty, it is a hole that only God can fill.

The Bible tells us that real peace and lasting fulfillment come through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Jesus came into the world and died for our sins. He arose from the grave and is alive to grant us peace, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. He offers these blessings as a free gift because of His love for us. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Isn’t this wonderful news? God, the creator of the universe, loves us so much that He sent His Son into the world to free us from sin and guilt. He came to also free us from judgment, the penalty of sin, which is eternal separation from God. “God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth in Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he [has] not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:17-18).

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

Are you in need of rest? Have you been searching for peace? Do you need the forgiveness of sins? Then come to Jesus today. Ask Him for forgiveness and the free gift of eternal life. He has promised that all who come to Him will be accepted. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Simply come as you are. Like the baby who found peace in the arms of his daddy, if you believe, you will find peace in the arms of your heavenly Father.

A Forever Home

There has been another foreclosure. There is another little house sitting vacant, another family gone from the neighborhood — gone from what they once called their “forever home.” The last pickup load has gone, we don’t know where.

There was once a teacher who told her class how much she loved her home and said that she hoped to live there the rest of her life. One of her very young pupils came home wide-eyed with astonishment. “Can she really do that?” he asked. “Can she really live there all the years?”

Of course she can! She can live in that one house “all the years” of her life, but who can tell how long that will be?

God knows. He alone can tell the limits of our lives on earth. He knows if we have another home, “a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

“Eternal in the heavens!” Now that’s a “forever house!” The price of that house was paid when Jesus died on the cross. Now that wonderful home forever can be yours, if you will accept it as it really is — the free gift of God. “As many as received Him [Jesus Christ], to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12). It was a terrible, terrible price He paid. All He asks of us in return is that we believe — and receive — and accept that incredible gift of life.

Can you refuse?

Hachiko and the Shibuya Station

The Shibuya Train Station, outside Tokyo, Japan, is one of the busiest train stations in the world. Daily hundreds of thousands of people pass through the station doors on their way to and from work. Outside the main door, on a raised flower bed is a life-size bronze statue of an Akita dog — a sturdy type of large, long-haired Japanese dog. The statue of the dog is situated so that his eyes are looking directly at the doors. The bronze on the top of the statue has been polished to a bright sheen by passersby running their hands over the metal.

If you had visited the station about ninety years ago, in the 1920s, instead of the statue you might have seen a dog of real flesh and blood sitting in the exact same spot. He would have been patiently waiting and watching for his master to step out of the station. The dog’s name was Hachiko, and here is the remarkable story of the dog and his master.

Dr. Ueno was the Professor of Agriculture at the University of Tokyo in Japan. In the morning, when Dr. Ueno would leave for work, Hachiko, his dog, would walk with him to the station and watch him go through the doors to board the train. After the train pulled out of the station, the dog would turn around and walk home. There were far fewer people back in the 1920s, and the roads were not as congested with cars. Then in the evening, a little bit before the train was due to return to the station, Hachiko, who had an uncanny sense of time, would leave home and walk back to the train station to await his master’s arrival. The dog would position himself near the flower bed in order to keep a vigilant eye on the double doors of the station. When the dog saw his master, he would jump for joy, prance up to Dr. Ueno, and give him a hearty welcome. Then the two, happy to be together, would stroll home.

One morning, Dr. Ueno said goodbye to the dog at the station, never suspecting it would be for the last time. Later in the day, while teaching at the University, he suffered a major stroke and suddenly died. Hachiko had no way of understanding his master had passed away, and he went to meet him at the train station. When his owner didn’t show up, the dog continued to wait for him at the train station through the long night. Relatives of Dr. Ueno found the dog at the station the next morning and brought him home with them to care for him. They lived several miles away in a different neighborhood. They meant well; however, Hachiko was not happy with his new home and soon ran away. He made his way back to the station where he felt it was his duty to wait for his master’s return on the train. Day after day, he waited at Shibuya Station, searching the faces of people coming out of the doors, hoping to see the one he loved. It was a routine the dog would invariably follow every day for the remainder of his life.

For the next nine years, Hachiko took up his post near the flower bed to await his master’s return. The dog’s heavy fur protected him in the rain, sleet, snow, and every type of weather. Friendly shopkeepers, knowing of the loyalty and faithfulness of the dog, were happy to provide him with food and water. Hachiko was a young dog when Dr. Ueno died, and he lived to an old age for a dog, yet he never missed a day watching for his master’s return.

Commuters who saw the dog every day watching the doors of the station could not help but admire his loyalty. When Hachiko grew old, these people took up a collection of money to have a statue made to commemorate the dog that they had come to admire. The bronze statue that stands outside the station doors today honors Hachiko for his steadfast faithfulness.

Loyalty is a character trait that is highly admired wherever it is found. We desire friends and family to show loyalty, and we find bitter disappointment when it is lacking. Perhaps the worst disappointment is when we find it lacking in ourselves.

Would you like a friend who is faithful and true, who loves you and would never let you down? Of course you would, and I know One for you. His loyalty far exceeds all others. In undying loyalty to the human race, He came to earth and gave His life at Calvary’s cross. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ, and although you may be a stranger to Him, He is no stranger to you. He knows all about you, from the inner workings of your heart to the number of hairs on your head. He knows your every need and is willing to help in every situation.

The greatest need we have is due to the fact we have sinned and earned the wages of death. Sin has left a crimson stain on each one of us. The Lord Jesus shed His precious blood to wash away the stain of sin for all those who believe. “The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

“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” (Isaiah 1:18). When a sinner believes on the Lord Jesus, the stain of sin on his soul is totally cleansed away, and their debt of punishment is completely paid. All who believe in Him receive the gift of eternal life. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

The Hachiko story is a remarkable and beautiful story of loyalty. Few other animal stories can rival it. However, it pales in comparison with the story of the Saviour who came from heaven to die in His creature’s place.

Dr. Ueno didn’t know he was going to die that last day he boarded the train. And none of us can say for certain when our last day will be either. Once this life is over, it will forever be too late to trust in the Saviour. This is why it is so urgent for souls to hear the gospel message and believe while they can. We are not guaranteed a long life or even another day. Right now is the time to believe in Christ and be saved, because tomorrow may never come. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Won’t you consider the great truth of the gospel and put your faith in Jesus Christ today that you might be saved? No one can compare to the Lord Jesus Christ in love, loyalty and faithfulness — no one. Men may disappoint, but the blessed Saviour — never!

Have You Ever Read the Bible?

Have you ever read the Bible? Really read it? Not just to learn a verse for Sunday school in a distant childhood, but thoughtfully and seriously read it?

It is the best seller of all time, but it is said that ninety million Americans have never read it! (Are you one of them?)

Among high school students, polls have shown that nine out of ten believe in God — but only one in ten reads the Bible. Believing in God, how can one not read His Book? It is the only way to learn about Him — and to really learn about oneself as well.

The whole picture of humanity is there in the Bible — the entire scope of history, past and future, the best and only true guide through this present troubled world.

And ninety million Americans haven’t even read it!

Heroism and Tragedy

The school day was finished. The children, ranging in age from six to fourteen, under the watchful eye of the bus driver were boarding the bus for their usual ride home. The bus driver closed the door, and the bus began its trip to take the children home.

In the other end of the city, another vehicle was being loaded, but not with children. Very carefully it was loaded with high explosives. Then the driver gave his load one last inspection. Satisfied, he stepped into the van and started off down the highway to meet the bus.

Alongside this highway on a small hill sat a jeep with two soldiers in it. Like policemen, it was their duty to protect and preserve those who used this highway. From their vantage point, they could see the drama that was taking place right in front of their eyes! Without any hesitation or thought for their own lives, they drove straight for the van that was loaded with high explosives.

This suicide van driver had every intention of ramming the bus and killing every child on it, including the bus driver. But the soldiers who were on guard had every intention of stopping a tragedy like this.

The jeep, with the two soldiers in it, smashed into the suicide van. There was a tremendous explosion! Parts of the van and the jeep were found everywhere. Even the side of the school bus was blackened.

Every child on the bus was saved! The suicide driver was instantly killed. Miraculously, one soldier survived. When the children eventually arrived home, they would have a frightening story to tell their parents! “Mom and Dad, a suicide bomber tried to kill us today, but two soldiers saved us all!”

Did these children know the name of the soldier who died for them? No, but I’m very sure that they would try to find out who he was, so that they could somehow show their love and thankfulness to his family for the ultimate sacrifice he made to save the children.

Friend, like you, I was not on that bus, but I was on the wide way that leads to death and then the lake of fire. Like those children on the bus, I did not realize the fatal position I was in. Then someone carried the sweet sound of the gospel to my ears. That gospel message reached my heart, and I was saved!

Now, like those children on the bus, I have a wonderful story to tell, and that is, “Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Those children did not know the name of the soldier who died for them, but, thank God, I know the name of my Saviour who died for me — it is the Lord Jesus Christ. “There is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Hopelessly Trapped

A recent article about the “Cocoanut Grove Fire” brings sad memories to the few still living who remember the tragedy that occurred in Boston many years ago. On the night of that terrible fire, the building was filled with many more guests than was considered safe. Then when fire broke out in the basement, it spread up the stairs so rapidly that the crowd was panic-stricken. To make matters worse, the side doors were locked, and the main door was a narrow revolving door allowing only one person to get out at a time. With so many people pushing to get out that door, it soon became blocked from revolving. Then nobody could get out until firemen dismantled it. Nearly five hundred people died there that night — truly a terribly dreadful night to remember.

Being trapped is one thing, but being trapped without hope is far sadder. This reminds us of what we read in the Bible, declaring how people are held by the “cords of ... sins.” Sin is something that God hates very much. But the good news is that while God hates sin, He loves the sinner and He does love you! In fact, God has made full provision for setting men and women free, who are trapped in the cords of sin. What God did was to send His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to suffer and die on a cross as a perfect substitute for the consequences of our sins. We sin because we like to. When we try to live our lives without any reference to God and live to please ourselves, we cannot be happy. The Bible tells us that “if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

It is a wonderful thing to have our sins forgiven and to be delivered from the wrath to come. The people in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub were very much in earnest and tried to flee, but many could not escape. But for you, while you’re reading this message, you have an opportunity to flee to Christ and be eternally saved. God now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

His word to you is, “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God; for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).

The Ignored Warning

One summer morning in 1959, a routine delivery of explosives turned into a sad disaster that affected many residents of the town of Roseburg, Oregon. This is a story of a warning that was unheeded. The truck driver, George Rutherford, had parked his truck with a cargo of 13,000 pounds of dynamite and other explosives in a downtown area next to a building supply, and he felt it would be safe to leave it parked overnight while he slept in a nearby hotel. What seemed to be such an innocent act made national news when a fire broke out in the adjacent building in the middle of the night and ignited the cargo in the truck. The resulting explosion leveled seven city blocks and did heavy damage to an additional twenty-eight city blocks in the downtown district. The crater formed by the blast was fifty-two feet in diameter and about twenty feet deep! Fourteen people died and over one hundred were injured. In today’s economy, the damage done would be over one hundred million dollars!

What most people did not know when they heard of the “lack of wisdom” in parking such dangerous cargo in a downtown area was the fact that, two days prior to the blast, its driver and the powder company who owned the truck had been issued a warning never to allow their loaded trucks to park in congested areas, nor were the drivers to leave them unattended.

Like many true stories of disasters that could have been prevented, this one reminds us of ignored warnings in the lives of many people who have turned a deaf ear to the faithful warnings in the Word of God as to their having offended God by their sins and deserving eternal punishment.

We read in the Word of God how “God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not” (Job 33:14). We also read, “God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man [Christ Jesus] whom He hath ordained” (Acts 17:30-31). These warnings found in the Bible are of a far more serious nature than all of the damage done in Roseburg. God’s warnings have eternal consequences but also have your very best interest in mind.

We can well imagine the driver saying to himself after the blast, “Look what you’ve done!” What remorse! While he felt terrible, he was powerless to change the history of what took place. Think of how God felt in placing man on this earth with the intention that people would enjoy fellowship with Him and the blessings He has in store for those who love and obey Him. But mankind has sinned and turned their backs on the God who loves them. Yet it is wonderful to read in the Word of God what He has done to bring us the offer of the forgiveness of sins. God the Father has sent His Son to become a man so that He could be the Saviour of the world. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Today God wants you to turn to Christ and believe that He died on the cross of Calvary to bless you with the forgiveness of sins and a wonderful salvation.

There was another warning during the Roseburg incident, but it was a warning that was unnoticed until it was too late. That warning was found in the large words on the side of the truck that said, “Explosives.” The firemen and policemen at the scene of the fire were too busy to notice this truck with its plain indication of what was inside, for their attention was focused on taking care of the fire. George Rutherford also had good intentions when he was awakened by the fire truck sirens, and he headed for his truck to see if it needed to be moved away from the fire. Sadly, he was too late to do so and received injuries from the blast.

As you read this account, you are responsible before God as to your response to His loving offer of mercy. For you, it is not too late to put your trust in Christ as your own Saviour. It would be sad if you allow this message of glad tidings to go unnoticed. The God who created you loves you more than you can imagine, and He is pleading with you to be wise and consider your latter end. The Lord Jesus Christ said that “him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). May you heed God’s warnings and be forever blessed! 

The ice on the Baltic Sea off the east coast of Sweden looked splendid: clear and flat, unspoiled by ridges and fissures for as far as the eye could see. It looked like the kind of ice that a good skater could fly across. And fly the young Swedish couple in their thirties did. Long-distance ice skating on the frozen ocean is a type of extreme sport in Scandinavia that is growing in popularity. The two skaters, rhythmically swinging their arms and legs, put many kilometers behind them through the hours of the early afternoon. They enjoyed the scenery of low-lying snow-covered hills and the solitude of being out on the expanse of ice alone. By three in the afternoon the shadows were lengthening, and the sinking sun filled the gloam with an eerie golden yellow light that is peculiar to the northern latitudes.

The husband and wife team of skaters were a few kilometers from shore enjoying the almost ethereal beauty when, unknown to them, further out to sea a powerful ice breaker ship was clearing a path so that the shipping lanes might remain open. The ice breaker, battering the ice at a high speed, shattered the ice for several kilometers on either side of its path. What had once been a solid piece of ice broke up into thousands of pieces each about the size of small city lots. It was as if a giant pane of glass had been smashed by an equally giant hammer. Rifts of open water quickly formed between these small islands of ice. From above, at a bird’s eye view, the frozen sea, which had looked as smooth as a mirror seconds ago, now looked like great pieces of a jigsaw puzzle all laid out with a gap between adjacent pieces.

The skaters felt and heard the ice buckle and snap beneath them. They instinctively stopped their forward motion, which saved them from tragedy. If they had continued for a fraction of a second longer, they would have skated into the frigid water which had opened up as if by magic before them. They turned away from the frail edges of the broken sheet of ice and carefully skated to its center where it seemed safer. But neither of them was under any illusions of security. The ice beneath their skates felt like it might break up at any moment and send them to their watery deaths. Straightaway they realized that they needed help urgently.

Fortunately, one of the pair carried a cell phone, and on it they placed a call to the Coast Guard. Using landmarks on the distant shore, they described their position as best they could and then hoped the rescue helicopter would be able to spot them before the darkness of night settled in. Twelve minutes after making the call a helicopter arrived, and, lowering a basket, it was able to rescue them off the ice. It was not a minute too soon either, for shortly after evacuating the pair from the ice it broke up into smaller pieces.

The pair of skaters had been in a life-and-death situation and needed help urgently. Not all of us are interested in extreme sports that may put us in the way of bodily harm, but all of us are in a life-and-death situation because of our spiritual condition and are in urgent need of God’s grace. Sin has put all persons at imminent risk of a lost eternity. The depth of the sea surrounded the skaters on their small ice island, and the depth of a lost eternity surrounds those who have not yet come to Jesus Christ for salvation. Ever since the fall of man, the spiritual environs of man have been shattered, and no amount of human fixing can remedy the situation. The unity that once existed between God and man when man was created has been irreparably broken, leaving a gulf between them and a holy God.

Only One is mighty enough to help you find salvation, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 10:13 reads, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The Lord Jesus can save all who call on Him, because He gave His life at Calvary. His death as the “lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:9) is the one sacrifice that God will accept for sin. God will not leave any soul in danger who trusts in His Son for salvation, but He will keep them safe for time and eternity so that they never perish. Faith in Jesus Christ is the way for a sinner to be restored to a relationship with God the Father. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” the Lord Jesus said. “No man cometh to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

Where will those who don’t know Christ be when God’s judgment against sin overtakes them? It is wishful thinking of the worst type for a person to entertain the illusion they will not come into judgment for their deeds. “The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed” (1 Samuel 2:3). In eternity each individual will get their full and proper due from “God, who will render to every man according to his deeds” (Romans 2:5-6).

Can you say you have continued patiently in doing good throughout your life? Of course not! That is why you need the Saviour of sinners. The blood He shed on the cross can wash away your every stain of sin. And as the Victor over sin and death, He is able to help those who believe in Him so that they may walk as children of God.

Not only does God judge individuals, He is coming back sometime soon to judge the entire earth and set it right. With irresistible power He will shatter everything and everybody that is against Him. The time is coming when what is described in the following verses will surely come to pass: “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

The first time the Lord Jesus came, His enemies nailed Him to a cross, and He was rejected. The second time He comes, He will overcome His enemies with irresistible power, and He alone will be exalted. Their defenses and all the things they trusted in will be irrecoverably shattered. All those who know not God and obeyed not the gospel call to repent and believe will be punished with everlasting destruction. Everlasting destruction doesn’t mean annihilation where the soul has an end of existence. What it really means is that souls who reject Christ will spend eternity in the miseries and darkness of hell, where all is in a never-ending state of destruction.

As sure as the Lord Jesus came the first time and died and rose again, He is coming the second time to judge the earth. We don’t know when His second coming may happen, but we do know it will come like a snare or a trap on the face of the earth, and millions will not be ready for it. “As a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:35).

Between His two comings He is calling people out of this world to believe on Him and receive the gift of eternal life. Through the preaching of the gospel, God is inviting all men and women, no matter what their background may have been, to believe on His Son. “Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Won’t you respond to this invitation and come to the Lord Jesus by faith and be saved? Only by so doing may you find safety and security for your soul and escape the judgment that must fall. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3). 

In 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 may sneer, and some may blame,
I’ll go with all my guilt and shame;
I’ll go to HIM because His name,
Above all names, is JESUS.

Intensive Care

In intensive care units in hospitals all across the country, at all hours of the day and night, the irregular green line on the screen above the patient’s head is tracing out the faint shadow of life fading away. Families gather in the hospital and pray and wait. The doctor comes in and says that “it is only a matter of time.”

That soul at the door of eternity, where is it going? Death is not the end; it is the beginning — of what? Either that soul is almost “absent from the body ... present with the Lord,” or it is going out into the blackness of darkness forever.

At the moment when that thin green line flattens out and the little peaks and hollows of heartbeats cease to race across the screen, as life here on earth stops, that soul enters eternity. From that moment its destiny is settled, and settled forever. There can be no change, no second chance then. “In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be” (Ecclesiastes 11:3).

Then, why wait? Why take a chance on coming to the intensive care unit unprepared and unready to meet God? It takes so little to snuff out a life — so little to end life’s day. Why not believe and accept God’s Word? He says, “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Tomorrow may be too late!

Is the Earth Crumbling?

What a strange thought! But the many tragic disasters of just one recent year can suggest such thoughts. It isn’t happening — no, not now — not yet. The succession of tragic disasters that have hit our world recently are certainly cause for thought: earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, tornados, floods and fires — the list could go on and on.

We can see why people should be questioning the stability of the earth. BUT the time will come when, as the Bible (the Word of God) tells us, the Lord shall rise “to shake terribly the earth.” And the people, the inhabitants, men and women like you and me, will be trying to hide in the dens and caves of the earth for fear of the things that are coming on the earth.

After that time comes, there will no longer be the gentle Saviour pleading for you to come to Him, but the stern Judge saying, “I never knew you: depart from Me.” The gospel of God’s grace will not be preached then; there will be no repetition of “God so loved the world ... ” and another plea to “come to the Saviour.” The day of God’s grace will be past. What will be left? Only a “fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation” (Hebrews 10:27).

How terrible! And how hopeless!

Jasmine

Jasmine! What a pretty name! It makes you think of flowers, or perhaps an expensive perfume. It certainly did not suggest the dirty, hungry, shivering little dog who was brought to the Wild Life Sanctuary. But perhaps the workers there looked beyond her circumstances and saw the loving little heart inside. They bathed her and fed her, and she was soon a normal, healthy and happy little dog.

Clean, well fed, cared for, she was not content to be a pet herself, but must pour out kindness and care on other poor, abandoned little creatures. As more and more little homeless animals were brought to the shelter, Jasmine welcomed each one with a loving lick. Now fully grown herself, she would pick up the shivering little newcomer by the scruff of the neck, lift him to a safe place, and then cuddle up with him to keep him warm.

She went on to care for all the baby animals received at the Sanctuary. Although she was a greyhound and might be expected to chase rabbits naturally, she gave them the same gentle and loving care. Fox and badger cubs, rabbits and guinea pigs — all were welcomed and cherished.

It sounds a bit like the Garden of Eden, doesn’t it? But that wonderful garden was soon spoiled. The very first man and woman, who were given that garden to live in and enjoy, chose to obey Satan’s suggestion and disobeyed God. They tried to blame each other for their sin (how very “human” that was!) and then tried to hide from God. So sin was brought into that lovely, perfect garden.

This world has been a place of sin and sorrow and death ever since. But there is a sanctuary for us too. There is the One who has loved us and has come all the way from His home in heaven to save us even by His death on the cross. Now He can take His washed and blood-bought people to His everlasting home to be with Him forever. The Garden on earth was a wonderful place, but sin entered in and ruined it. Sin will never ever enter that glorious home in the heavens.

Know the River

Three fishermen from a different part of the country traveled to the Sol Duc to go steelhead fishing. The Sol Duc River has its origin in the snow-capped peaks in Washington’s Olympic Mountains and then descends very swiftly, winding through valleys, tumbling over boulders, and racing through rapids before it empties into the sea. The name Sol Duc comes from the Quileute Indian words meaning “sparkling water.” The river is home to the prized game fish called the steelhead. The steelhead spends most of its life in the ocean and then swims upstream in the river where it was born. It puts up a huge fight when hooked, giving a sport fisherman a real thrill.

The men shoved off in a drift boat loaded with fishing tackle and ice coolers with high hopes of an exciting trip. The three were experienced fishermen, but they had never negotiated the Sol Duc before, and they had decided against hiring a guide. A drift boat is a type of row boat with high, steep sides and a curved bottom designed especially for drifting down fast-flowing rivers. These boats don’t need motors, since the current carries them swiftly downstream. A man standing or sitting in the middle of the boat and pulling on the oars can guide the boat away from rocks or fallen trees.

The trio of fishermen had looked forward to their trip with great anticipation; however, recent rains and melting snow had swollen the river into a wild mass of brown, churning, racing water. Once they entered the main stream, they had the uncomfortable feeling that they might have “bitten off more than they could chew.”

They drifted with the strong current for several miles, looking for a smooth stretch of water where they might begin casting. They entered a series of rapids called the “Double Run” for the double rows of boulders which obstruct the river. Pulling on the oars, they tried to avoid the rocks and stay in the mid-stream, which seemed like the safest path. Many of the boulders remained hidden just beneath the surface of the roiling water. The drift boat suddenly lurched sideways and, with a jolt, smashed up against a giant boulder. Water rushed over the sides of the boat, swamping it and carrying away equipment. The boat didn’t sink because it had become firmly lodged between some rocks. The men held on for their lives. Surveying the situation, they judged the current would carry them away if they tried to wade through the chest deep water to shore, so they wisely decided to stay with the boat. After a couple of uneasy hours of sitting in the swamped boat, another boat came down the river. This boat was manned by an experienced river guide. He called for help on his cell phone to another fishing guide service. Soon another boat was on the scene. This second guide brought along a coil of strong rope. They threw the rope to the stranded men and stretched it tightly between the drift boat and shore. Clinging to the rope, the stranded fishermen were able to wade to the safety of the shore. The men were not able to retrieve their boat, but they were deeply relieved no one had died or been seriously injured in the incident.

Larry Thomas, one of the fishing guides who helped in the rescue, had this to say: “These guys didn’t know the river, and that is why they got into trouble. The number-one thing I’ve learned in twenty-five years up here is that you need to know the river before you try to row the Sol Duc, because it is just a different animal.”

For a moment, I would like you to stop and consider that life is like a swiftly flowing river with windings, rapids, and submerged obstacles. Larry Thomas’s advice — to know the river — is excellent advice for humankind as they journey through life. By “knowing the river,” a person can avoid pitfalls and dangers and arrive safely at the journey’s end.

“Know the river.” It is important to know that all life originates with God. He is the Maker of all things. See the beautiful order, the incredible variety, and the way things work and fit together. They are proof of His unerring power and master craftsmanship. God is the source of all life in that He gives life to all things and holds the breath of every living thing in His hands. He made man, too, and made him a very special creation by giving him a spirit. This quality makes man so like his Creator that it is said, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him” (Genesis 1:27). Since man has a rational mind, he can look at the natural wonders of the world that surround him and, by his spirit, arrive at the conclusion that an all-wise, all-powerful God must have created him. The Book of Romans in the Bible says it this way: “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20). All men have sinned and been wrecked on the rocks and rapids of life. Our condition is so dangerous that we cannot save ourselves. Like the men stuck midstream in the river, we need someone to come and save us. Such a Saviour has come in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. By His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, He stretched a line from our sin-wrecked condition to the safety of heaven’s shore. By taking hold of the offer of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can avoid being swept away to the destruction that is ahead of sinners who reject the Saviour.

“Know the river.” The Sol Duc is a relatively short river, running only seventy-eight miles before it empties into the sea. Life, too, is short. The average lifetime of an American male is, coincidently, seventy-eight years also, but no one is guaranteed they will live to old age. Life, at best, is uncertain. One lifetime is what God has given to every person to make the all-important decision to trust Christ. Therefore, the only wise course of action is to take hold of Jesus Christ and the salvation He offers right now. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Putting off the decision to trust in the Saviour till a future date may make you forever too late.

“Know the river.” Although the river is short, it empties into the vast expanse of the ocean, and the same is true of our lives and eternity. After a relatively short life, each man or woman will pass into the vast expanse of eternity. Those who have repented of their sins and taken hold of the Saviour will pass into an eternity of bliss where all sorrow and suffering will be replaced by unclouded joy. God is not willing that any man should perish, but those who reject His help will be swept away into everlasting darkness. The Bible uses words like “everlasting torment,” “destruction,” and “punishment” to describe the place where the unrepentant will spend eternity. It is a place to avoid at all costs.

Trusting in the One who came to save, a person can ride through the river of life with God’s richest blessings and find the expanse of heaven at their journey’s end. For the good of your never-dying soul, take hold of God’s salvation through Christ!

Lost in the Woods

We have often read accounts of men lost in the woods, and a typical one would relate how a man wanders aimlessly in the dark hoping to find his way out. And then, to his joy, he sees a light approaching, hears men’s voices and the barking of dogs. In earnest, he rushes toward the light and is happily greeted by a search party who ushers him home to his loved ones.

In contrast to such a typical story, consider another man who is also lost in the woods at night, wandering aimlessly. After some time, he, too, sees a light approaching, hears men’s voices and the barking of dogs. He is in real earnest — but not to go to the light! Instead, he quickly runs away from the search party as fast as he can go. He would much rather continue to be lost in the woods than to be found. Why? What is wrong with such a man? The simple answer is, He is a wanted criminal. Typically he would much prefer to wander hungry and thirsty, for he obviously values freedom more than the common necessities of life. This second man who is lost reminds us of what we read in the Word of God, “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3:19-20). Yes, this criminal chooses to avoid the light, knowing he would lose his freedom. Sin in our lives has very real consequences. God tells us that “every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). We may hide from men, but we cannot hide from God.

How few of us realize that the very God we have sinned against is the One who has not only created us, but has loved us and proved His love by sending the Lord Jesus Christ to become a man and die. Christ paid the ultimate price in laying down His life as a sacrifice for sin, and now He offers you the forgiveness of sins as a free gift.

You may ask, “How can God offer me such a wonderful gift?” The good news is, “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). Such love should cause each of us to repent (have a great change of mind) about our sinful condition before a holy God. Along with this goes faith, which is a simple trust that Christ Jesus bore the judgment you deserved for your sins. God has your best interest in view and has provided the way of salvation whereby Christ can set you free. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). How much better it is for you to “seek ... the Lord while He may be found, call ... upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6) rather than hide from God and go on in darkness toward a lost eternity. Don’t be like the man who preferred to hide in the woods with his guilty conscience. Come to the light while the offer of mercy is free and find the Lord Jesus to be a wonderful Saviour and friend.

A Meditation

Musing on God’s revelation,
And the Son’s full exaltation,
Brings a warmer meditation,
Grows a brand new veneration.

Soon I feel His consolation,
All His love and approbation,
Resting in His confirmation,
Lean upon His acceptation.

Hearing His new intimation,
(Wonderful His invitation!)
Open, free communication,
Leads my thoughts to exultation.

Give His Word deliberation,
Give His life consideration,
You’ll receive emancipation,
Seeking His felicitation.

My Eyes

My eyes are priceless! They are marvelous examples of a delicate and intricate mechanism. They are constant reminders of the Creator’s wisdom and power. Through them I look out upon the world in which I live.

My eyes have been fair to me under the most exacting conditions. They have stood the test again and again. I use them constantly from waking until bedtime. In all that I have attempted, my eyes have had their part.

My eyes have enabled me to enjoy the work of artists, authors and poets. My eyes have enjoyed the wonders of God’s creation: the birds, flowers, trees, seas, mountains and plains.

My eyes have seen my loved ones: parents, sisters, relatives and friends. My eyes have looked on multitudes of people, among whom were some of earth’s notables.

But the most marvelous sight of all is yet future, for my eyes will one day see the Lord Himself! The unfailing Word of God says, “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him” (Revelation 1:7).

The eyes of those who believed on Him here will see Him as SAVIOUR. Yes, my eyes shall “see the King in His beauty.” They will see the One “who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).

But the eyes of the unbelievers will see Him as JUDGE. To meet Him as judge will mean to perish, for as judge He will have to say, “Depart from Me.” “Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).

The greatest of all sights is still ahead of me. “We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”

Face to face, oh blissful moment!
Face to face — to see and know,
Face to face with my Redeemer,
Jesus Christ, who loves me so.

Will you see Him as Saviour — or as judge? Three things you will certainly do:

1. Every eye (including yours) will see Christ (Revelation 1:7).

2. Every knee (yours too) will bow to Christ (Philippians 2:10).

3. Every tongue will “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11).

Why wait? Make Him your Saviour and friend. Do it now!

The New Boat

The powerful new motorboat was the pride of Bill’s heart. He could hardly wait to put her in the water and “open her up.” Lost in a dream of the thrills ahead, he started out for his first day on the water with his family.

As they ran down the river, he made one stop to set his wife and the picnic basket ashore at a park. Then with his two boys he roared on out into the bay and open water. It was great! Wind and spray blew in their faces; a white wake spread out behind them — this was really living!

Far out now, beyond the sight of any watcher on shore, Bill revved the motor once more to squeeze the last bit of speed from it. He got the last drop of gasoline instead. There was a sputtering and a coughing and then silence as the big motor stopped. In the sudden quiet the boat slowed, lost way, and soon was rocking gently in the water. Little waves slapped the sides of the boat, a gull cried overhead, and they became conscious of the hot sun beating down on their heads.

Frantically Bill worked at the motor, but there was no gas. In his rush to get going, he had neglected to fill a spare gas can.

There was no other boat in sight; they had left them all behind. Perhaps they could call for help, but a quick search of the boat showed they had no emergency flares. There was no ship-to-shore radio either. They had not even shipped an oar with which they might have made a little headway. The picnic basket, with food and water, had been left behind at the park, and acute thirst soon added to their discomfort.

All day they rocked and sweltered in the sun; all night they drifted, chilled now and miserable. Not until the next morning did the Coast Guard find the boat and bring it and three weary, blistered and dehydrated would-be sailors to shore.

Only a little forethought and preparation would have saved them from an experience that might well have proved fatal to all three. One can full of gasoline would have brought them back to land. How could they have been so foolish as to go out without it?

How much more foolish it is to go on as millions are doing every day, living their lives “as though there were no tomorrow,” no eternity ahead, no day coming when they will leave the shores of this life and have to meet God — a God whom they have neglected and ignored. How much more foolish it is to make no preparation for that coming day!

When God has warned to “prepare to meet thy God,” how foolish it is to ignore that warning. The Coast Guard rescued Bill and his boys, foolish though they were in all their unpreparedness, but there can be no rescue for anyone who goes out of this life without preparation for the next. “As the tree falls, so it shall lie” — no change, no hope, no way back to God.

“NOW is the accepted time ... NOW is the day of salvation.” There will never be another. When once this present day of grace has ended, there will never be another opportunity for the salvation of those who rejected—or merely neglected—God’s offer of salvation.

No Thanks

You probably hear the words “Pardon me” often, and you understand just what they mean, but have you ever heard anyone say, “Don’t pardon me”? That would be strange indeed, but I am going to tell you about a man who actually made that strange request. It happened a long time ago, in the year 1829, when a man named Wilson got himself deeply into debt. Trying to get some money quickly to pay his debts, he robbed a U.S. mail coach. He was caught, found guilty by the court, and sentenced to death.

Before I continue about this man, I would like to remind you that, because all of us have sinned, we too stand guilty before One greater than the court and are, like Wilson, condemned to suffer the consequences, for God says the wages of sin is death. We too stand in need of someone to change our hopeless situation and deliver us from certain death.

Happily for this man, a change did come from a very high source. About three weeks before the date of execution, the President of the United States issued a pardon to Wilson. To the amazement of all, he refused the pardon. Nothing like this had ever happened before, so the case went to the Supreme Court. A decision was reached that the Court could not force the pardon on him if he refused it. He could only benefit from it when he accepted it. He continued to refuse the pardon, was condemned, and by that decision lost his life.

Do you think he was a very foolish man, refusing such an offer? God, the highest source of all, sent His Son to take the punishment we deserve. He offers us a pardon that we can accept or reject, and the Lord Jesus confirms it by saying, “He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation [or judgment], but is passed from death unto life.” If the offer is refused, condemnation will follow.

How do we accept this offer? By admitting we have sinned before God and our only way out is a pardon, by believing that Jesus took the punishment that was coming to us when He died on the cross and set us free from our guilt, and by simply accepting this amazing gift with thanksgiving.

Today, as you read this, God is offering a pardon to you. Will your answer be, “Thank you!” or, “No thanks”?

No Time for God?

No time for God?

What fools we are, to clutter up

Our lives with common things

And leave without heart’s gate

The Lord of Life, and Life itself —

Our God!

No time for God?

As soon to say, no time

To eat or sleep or love or die;

Take time for God,

Or you will dwarf your soul!

No time for God?

That day when sicknesscomes,

Or trouble finds you out

And you cry out for God,

Will He have time for you?

No time for God?

Someday you’ll lay aside

This mortal self and make your way

To worlds unknown,

And when you meet Him face to face,

Will He — should He —

Have time for you?

The Only Guilty Inmate in the Prison

Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States during the difficult days of the Civil War. History tells us he was fond of telling stories. Sometimes he would tell a story with a little twist in it. One story he told was about a governor who went to the state prison to inspect it and see how the state funds were being spent. While at the prison, he stopped and talked to each prisoner. When the prisoners found out that the man who had come to visit them was no less a person than the governor of the state, each one loudly proclaimed his innocence. Inmate after inmate told the governor that he was wrongly convicted and pleaded with him to release him. Finally, after walking the long halls of the penitentiary, the governor arrived at the last cell. Unlike the other prisoners, this man confessed his guilt and, with tears in his eyes, said he was sorry for what he did. The governor was so surprised at this confession that he pardoned the man on the spot. When the warden asked why he chose to pardon this man, the governor responded, “I pardoned him because he was the only guilty man in the place, and I didn’t want him to be a bad influence on all those other innocent men.”

I imagine the people who heard Abe Lincoln tell this story probably chuckled when they heard it, but at the same time the story powerfully drives home the truth that men seldom own up to their wrong actions. This reluctance to take responsibility for our actions is especially true when it comes to God.

The governor was a person of authority who had the power to pardon criminals and set them free. However, One infinitely greater in authority came to this earth to pardon sinners. The governor had the power to pardon criminals as long as they lived, but that is where his power ended. The One who came from heaven has power to pardon sinners for time and eternity. There is no ending of His power. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, and through His death and resurrection from the dead He has made a way for sinners to return to God and be completely, utterly and everlastingly saved.

He did many wonderful things in His life while on earth, but His main purpose in coming was to give His life a ransom for all. “The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). He made this ransom payment on Calvary’s cross when He died for sinners, and by His death on the cross the debt of sin is completely wiped away for every person who places their trust in Him.

“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). To the guilty sinner, nothing could be so wonderful as being abundantly pardoned through faith in the Lord Jesus. To those who never own up to their guilt before God, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus will remain, at best, an enigma — or an unsolvable riddle.

In the story Abe Lincoln told, the governor went through the entire state penitentiary, and only one prisoner out of the hundreds confessed his guilt and found pardon. How sad that so many of those imprisoned men clung to their innocence. Yet it is just like this world where thousands of people cling to a notion of their goodness and never realize their need of the Saviour. The prison story reveals how hard it is, not only for inmates in a prison but for all persons, to own up to their guilt. The reluctance to take personal responsibility is seated deep in the human heart.

Don’t let this reluctance to own up to a misspent life be the cause of your missing out on the best gift God has to offer. Those who missed out on the governor’s pardon had to spend more time in prison. Those who never come to the Saviour will spend eternity in the prison house of hell. They will never be released from its dark confines even though they plead their innocence with all their might.

Hell might be called a prison house, but it should never be called a penitentiary. A penitentiary, according to the meaning of its name, is a place where criminals are sent in the hopes they might come to penitence, or sorrow and grief, over the wrongness of their deeds and change their ways. Souls that end up in hell will grieve bitterly over their sins, but they can never escape the abysmal emptiness of the place. And their grief will never lead them to change their ways. They chose sin over God, and after their sins, they will go into the endless ages of eternity. The place for penitence is this life only.

How sad for a person to go through life never coming to the point where they realize their true condition before God. Without this realization, that person will never receive the gift of eternal life. “[Unless] ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” are the solemn words of the Lord Jesus. There will be sorrow and heartbreak in hell but never any true repentance. The time to repent is now in this life.

In a world that largely disowns any responsibility for their actions before God, won’t you be different and confess your guilt and fall at the Saviour’s feet? “The Lord is ... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Surely He will abundantly pardon you if you turn to Him with all your heart.

Profit or Loss?

What will it profit, when life here is done,
Though gathering riches and fame,
If gaining the world, I lose my own soul,
And in heaven unknown is my name?

What will it profit, when life here is done,
Though earth’s fleeting love has been mine,
If seeking its gifts I fail to secure
The riches of God’s love divine?

What will it profit? My soul, stop and think
What balance that day will declare!
Life’s record laid bare, will gain turn to loss
And leave me at last to despair?

Progress

How terrible! And how hopeless!

The Puppy in the Pipe

All day there had been little yips and yelps — and sometimes even a forlorn little howl. There certainly must be a dog somewhere near. Two women listened — and looked — but could see no sign of a dog on the busy street. They went down to the basement of the office building where they worked. There was no dog, but weren’t the sounds just a little louder down there?

Back to the street they went, and this time they noticed a small opening that opened to a storm drain. And there they found the unhappy, trapped little dog. Then began the search for rescuers, but no volunteers came forward.

At last they had to leave the unhappy little animal overnight; they could do no more for him than tossing down little bits of meat.

The next morning the women were there early to check on the dog. One said, “There he was, just sitting there, looking at us with sad little puppy eyes.” But help was near. Two officers from the County Animal Control arrived and went to work. For two hours they coaxed the puppy to come within reach of their equipment and at last — snap! — they had him. They drew him up through the little hole he probably had fallen in. One interested observer said he was “emaciated,” which enabled him to fall into the narrow drain, and he had a broken leg, which prevented him from scrambling out.

Now, though thin and dirty and hungry and in need of a veterinarian’s care, he was a happy little doggie. He was RESCUED! He was LOVED! And he would soon be at HOME!

It is a dim little picture, but we can understand and relate to it. We too can be rescued from a dark pit of sorrow and despair, leaving sin and guilt behind forever. We too look on to a glorious home, a home where sin can never come, with the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. That love is beyond understanding, but it is for “as many as received it,” and it will go with us through life and the ages of eternity.

Understand it? No. But accept it? Oh yes, Lord! YES!

Rescued From Above

Standing in their boat on Saturday, June 18, 2011, the two American policemen could hear the roar of the great waterfalls on one side and the clatter of the helicopter just overhead. The Canadian, Shawn Black of Niagara Parks Police, had just dropped off two rescue harnesses which they were now eagerly donning.

I’m sure they carefully adjusted each strap and buckle, checking again and then once more to be sure. They would have been fools to discard the harnesses and ask instead for a book about swimming in fast currents. They were perched just 270 meters from the edge of Niagara Falls.

Swimming lessons, or other self-help therapies, were not about to interest them as they realized their helplessness. The rescue would come from above and not from within the confines of their boat, gripped by the current and scarcely held by a rope and anchor.

They would be rescued only by doing what the rescuer told them to do. Everything that was needed was provided — the compassion, skill, helicopter power, and the harness. They only needed the resolve to obey. If they neglected the harness, then all the skill and compassion in the world could not prevent their inevitable short plunge to eternity.

I am reminded of a certain king who made a marriage for his son. So begins the story recorded in Matthew 22, which is in the Bible. Everything was provided for each guest; they only had to show up at the free banquet. In the story, each person had an excuse; they had other things to do, and so each one neglected the kind offer of the king and, in so doing, dishonored his son.

The Lord intended that we should learn from His story about the complete provision that God has made for the needs of a person’s soul through the gospel message. Pardon, peace, a living hope in this world, and glory and joy in the next are all set before us as a rich provision.

A renowned preacher said, “The gospel is an offer of food to the hungry, of joy to the mourner, of a home to the outcast, and of a loving friend to the lost. It is glad tidings.”

He also says, “In the gospel, we learn that the Father is ready to love and welcome, the Son is ready to forgive and wash the guilt away, the Spirit is ready to enlighten and renew, angels are ready to rejoice over the returning sinner, grace is waiting to assist him, and the Bible is ready to instruct him. Only one thing is needful, and that is — the sinner must be ready and willing to come.”

Have you ever thought about putting on God’s rescue harness? The rescue of our soul comes from above, from the Lord Jesus Christ who came into our world to rescue sinners.

It’s too late once the slight cord holding the tired anchor of life lets go. That’s why the Bible says, “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

The Rose Bowl Game

I was a real football fan! One summer, I’d been in charge of a threshing crew near Glendive, Montana, and I’d been able to save over $500. That would be enough to take me all the way to Pasadena, California, for the Rose Bowl game, and I was itching to be on my way.

After a few stops here and there, I arrived at Seattle and decided to go the rest of the way by boat, so I bought a ticket to San Francisco, since that’s where the boat was going to stop.

I got so sick on that boat that I thought I was going to die. I got to the point that I was so sick I wanted to die! So I decided I’d better get off when the boat docked at Coos Bay, Oregon. I bought a train ticket from there to San Francisco.

San Francisco was interesting. I looked around for a day or two and then bought my train ticket to Los Angeles.

I was hot-footin’ it down the street to the train station with my luggage when a big, burly policeman stopped me. He thought I was some kind of a crook. Wait! Let me change that a bit ... the Lord stopped me. When that policeman finished going through my suitcase and let me go, I’d missed my train. There was no way I’d get to Los Angeles now in time for that game!

I did finally get to Los Angeles ... after the game was all over. There was a little park there close to the station. I sat down on a bench; I was kind of grouchy and wondering what I should do. I felt in my pocket, and there was a gospel tract in there that I’d picked up while I was on the train. I read it over and found it pretty interesting, so I just prayed to Jesus and asked Him to show me where He wanted me to go.

I was sort of restless, so I went for a short walk and found myself at the corner of 6th and Main, listening to some gospel preachers — good gospel preachers. I listened for about an hour.

When they were finished preaching, one of the men got hold of me and asked if I was saved. I said, “No.” So he asked me if I would like to be saved. I said, “Yes.” We talked for a little while, and I accepted Jesus as my Saviour right there on the street.

One of the men took me home for supper, and I went to a gospel meeting with him. After the meeting was over, I was invited to another man’s house. He rented me a room, and I stayed there for quite a while doing carpentry work and repairing things for him.

I’m not one bit sorry I missed that Rose Bowl game ... no, not one tiny bit! What I found instead is so much better that there’s no comparison ... and it lasts for all eternity! You can have it and enjoy it, too. It costs nothing, because Jesus paid the price for me when He suffered and died on the cross. He set me free from my sins when I accepted Him as my very own Saviour. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Would you like to meet Jesus and have Him set you free? “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).

Run for Your Life, Coleman

There were two railway dispatchers working in the Halifax train station that morning. One was the dispatcher who shouted the urgent warning as he ran out of the station, and the other was Vincent Coleman. But instead of running for his life, Coleman ran over to the station’s telegraph office ... he had an urgent message to send!

The dangerous situation began to unfold in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, at 8:40 on the morning of December 6, 1917. In the Halifax harbor, a French cargo ship, the Mont-Blanc, was carrying wartime explosives and entering the right channel at a leisurely four knots. The captain spotted the Norwegian ship Imo through the haze, traveling in the wrong direction, and it was approaching in the path of the Mont-Blanc. The Imo was moving at almost seven knots, which was exceeding the speed limit of the harbor. That particular part of the Halifax harbor was narrow and left little room for ships to change course.

The Mont-Blanc blew its whistle once, which was the standard signal to claim right-of-way. The Imo blew its whistle twice, signaling that its captain intended to hold his ship on its present course, even though it was traveling in the wrong direction for the channel it was in. Both captains refused to yield and continued blowing the same signals at one another.

At the last minute, both captains gave orders in an attempt to avoid a collision, but it was too late. The Imo’s prow struck the starboard side of the Mont-Blanc!

As the steel hulls scraped across one another, a shower of sparks ignited the vapors from the barrels of benzol fuel on the deck of the Mont-Blanc. In ten minutes’ time, the ship was ablaze, which threatened the rest of the ship’s 2700 tons of explosives — TNT and picric acid — all of which was intended for use in World War I that was then raging across Europe.

A naval officer sent sailors ashore to warn the crowds of people gathering that the burning ship was full of explosives and could explode momentarily. The harbor staff knew of the ship’s cargo and the danger it posed to the city and quickly warned workers in waterfront businesses, including the Halifax station, to leave immediately.

You and I have been given warning messages at times by a parent, a teacher, a police officer or someone else in authority that made us change our minds. God, our supreme authority, has given us a warning message in the Bible. “There is a way which [seems] right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). People have their own ideas about their sins, often thinking that God will overlook the little ones and hoping that doing their best will cancel out the big ones. But what does God say? “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). God doesn’t label sins as big or little. He says the penalty for any sin is eternal death, but He does offer a remedy to everyone.

Although Vincent Coleman was aware of his extreme danger, he also knew that two passenger trains were inbound for the Halifax station, which was located only a few hundred feet from the harbor and the burning ship. He quickly telegraphed a Morse code message along the rail line: “STOP TRAINS. MUNITION SHIP ON FIRE. MAKING FOR PIER 6. GOODBYE.” It was the last thing Vincent Coleman ever did.

Thankfully, his warning was sent in time, and trains stopped all along the line. His sense of duty and selflessness saved the lives of three hundred passengers.

At 9:04 a.m., the burning Mont-Blanc’s massive cargo exploded, and the resulting blast was enormous! It was estimated that 1,000 people were killed instantly. The blast tore buildings to pieces and shattered every window for many miles. Doors were blasted open and wood stoves were toppled, setting fires throughout the city. Almost a full mile of Halifax was completely flattened. And then the twisted, red-hot remains of the blown apart Mont-Blanc began to rain down on Halifax, setting entire city blocks on fire. The tragic human loss that day was 2,000 men, women and children, with another 9,000 injured.

Vincent Coleman’s bravery saved those three hundred train passengers, who would learn later about his unselfish sacrifice for them. He is still remembered as a heroic figure from the disaster. But have you read or heard about God’s beloved Son who gave up even more to become the greatest sacrifice that heaven and earth have ever known? He willingly left heaven to be born into our sin-filled world and lived a sinless life, healing many diseases and even restoring life to some. Instead of being honored, He was hated and mocked. But God intended that the death of his Son would become the wonderful plan of salvation for sinners.

God cannot accept sin into His perfect heaven, and there is nothing sinners can do to pay the penalty for their sins and be accepted by God. But God’s beloved Son, Jesus, said He would pay the penalty for the sins of any sinner who would accept Him as Saviour, which is what He accomplished on the cross. He says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” Those who carelessly ignore or outright refuse His offer of mercy and forgiveness will spend their eternity in the burning fires of hell.

God loves you and wants you in heaven with Himself and His beloved Son who died for you. Will you change your mind and listen to God’s urgent warning? You only need to admit that you are a sinner and believe that Jesus died for you and paid for your sins.

“Flee from the wrath to come” (Matthew 3:7).

Should You Make a Distress Call?

Twenty-six people aboard a charter fishing boat were enjoying their time of fishing when their vessel hit a rock, which put a bowling-ball-sized hole in the hull. They were fifteen miles south of San Diego when their vessel began taking on water. They were going down.

Realizing the trouble they were in, someone sent out a mayday signal, the international signal for a distress call. The call for help was heard, prompting the Coast Guard and San Diego Harbor Police to respond with mighty rescue efforts. Everyone was saved.

These people were saved because someone did the right thing when they realized they were in trouble. Someone made a distress call to the people who were both willing and able to save them.

The Bible has many stories of people who made distress calls when they found themselves in trouble. When they called on the Lord God to save them, He heard their cry for help and saved them. David is a good example. When he faced trouble with enemies who wanted to kill him, he sent out a distress signal to God through prayer. “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple” (Psalm 18:6).

What about you? If you’re living a life without Christ, then you are in trouble, and you need help. Your ship is sinking, and your life is going down. Your trouble exists because of sin and its penalty, eternal separation from God.

Perhaps you feel you’re OK and that you see no threat or imminent danger, but the Bible says we’re all sinners (Romans 6:23). This means that no one measures up to God’s standards. Unless the sin problem is properly addressed, then you will face judgment with severe consequences (Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 20:15).

The only way to take care of sin is by believing on Christ alone to rescue you. “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). “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

God is ready and eager to save you. He’s waiting for you to take action. He is listening for your distress call. “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Make your call today, and let Him rush to your rescue. Trust in Him alone for forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Then you will know the joy of having a brand new life.

Signing His Crime

Justin thought he was getting away with his crime. He liked to “paint” his graffiti under cover of darkness. At night, armed with cans of spray paint, he would creep up to huge water tanks owned by the city and write things on the sides of the tanks, signing his work with a name he called himself — “J Rock.”

The city officials, disturbed with all the money they were spending to clean up his graffiti, asked the community to help them catch this vandal. Two weeks later, several people called the city to say they knew who “J Rock” was. The police that went to arrest him found that the name he liked to call himself, “J Rock,” was tattooed on his left arm.

Now, you may think that it’s not very smart to commit a crime and leave your signature on it, especially when your signature is also tattooed in full view on your left arm. But did you know that every wrong thing you do is written down under your name in a book in heaven? God says they are! In the Bible it says, “I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12).

The truth is that one day you will stand before God where the books are open, and your name will be searched for. It will be found either in a set of books where everything you have ever done is exposed because it has all been written down after your name, or it will be listed in the book of life where your sins are no longer listed.

The book of life is where your name is written if you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your own Saviour. Your name in this book is your “passport” to heaven, no matter how many sins you have committed, because the blood of Jesus Christ has blotted out your sins. “The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins ... for I have redeemed thee” (Isaiah 44:22).

However, if your name is not in God’s book of life, you have a very sad destiny. Revelation 20:15 says, “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” This is not a place where anyone wants to go! And there is no release for good behavior.

Will you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and tell Him that you are truly sorry for all your sins, and that you want to accept His offer of forgiveness for every sin you have ever committed or will commit? After this transaction, your name will be written down in the book of life. Jesus — “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

Sinkholes

One day the ground looks firm and solid; the next a sinkhole is there and quietly growing — growing wider, deeper, and obviously more dangerous. You may not have sinkholes where you live. Your homes and buildings may be built upon “bedrock,” which gives a firm foundation, but some parts of the country have a base that is like the topsoil: pure sand.

It is small wonder that sometimes an underground river or excessive rain or even human activity may start a little hole which rapidly grows to a big hole and swallows anything unable to get out of its reach. Trees may fall in, houses may sink, and cars are sometimes lost.

Strangest of all, one day recently a new sinkhole seized a woman. She was not a big woman, nor a very heavy woman, but while she was working in her garden, she stepped back suddenly. Her feet went through grass and leaves on the ground and down she went — down until she found herself in a pit of sand, mud and clay.

She tried to climb out of the hole, but though the hole was only twenty-four inches wide, the sides were unstable and the more she struggled to climb up, the more dirt and sand fell on her.

She used her cell phone to send messages for help. Finally, she threw the phone out of the hole, hoping that someone would hear.

A 911 dispatcher did hear and sent a police officer to the house. When he entered the yard, he saw “fingers reaching out of a hole.” He called for help, and then, lying on his stomach, he grabbed her hands and held on.

At last more help arrived: another police officer and two firefighters. The three strong men were able to pull her up and lift her out. What relief she felt when the clutching dirt released its grip and she was safely out!

It was a terrible experience for her, but only a small picture of the deadly danger of sinking eternally into the sinkhole of what is called “the blackness of darkness forever.” That will be away from God, away from all light and hope, in a pit of endless despair.

Today there is still hope. Today is called “the day of grace,” and the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, still has His hands outstretched to hold you and lift you from the muck and mire of this world into His kingdom of light and joy. What relief that will be! What eternal relief, to know that you are safe in His strong hands, and the many sinkholes of life on earth are powerless to hold you.

Like the woman in the sinkhole, you can never climb on the crumbling walls around you. It is not by any work of righteousness which we have done, nor by any fancied goodness in ourselves; it is only by “His mercy He saved us.” That mercy endures forever: no more doubts, no more fears, only trust. Isn’t it wonderful?

Skating on the Sharp Edge of Disater

Somebody Cares

The boy thought he could live by his own rules and be happy. So, instead of serving his time as a soldier during the Civil War, he left the military without permission. He was caught and convicted of desertion. He then faced a sentence of death before a firing squad at Davenport Barracks, Iowa.

One winter night, as the minutes passed before his scheduled execution, someone intervened on the boy’s behalf. Indiana Congressman Schuyler Colfax went to the White House to plead for him. The congressman told the boy’s story to President Abraham Lincoln.

The president listened patiently, and said, “Some of my generals complain that I impair discipline by my frequent pardons and reprieves, but it rests me, after a day’s hard work, that I can find some excuse for saving some poor fellow’s life, and I shall go to bed happy tonight as I think how joyous the signing of this name will make himself, his family and friends.”

Even though the boy was guilty, he escaped the punishment of the firing squad. He lived because somebody cared. Somebody cared enough to intervene on his behalf, and somebody cared enough to give him a second chance.

Like the young soldier in this story, we sometimes think we can live by our own rules and be happy. We expect to live the way we want without any consequences. But according to the Bible, we are all guilty in the sight of God. We are guilty of sin. “The Scripture [has] concluded all under sin” (Galatians 3:22). Like deserters, we have tried to run away from God and live outside His family. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Because of our sin, we face something that is far worse than a firing squad. We face eternal punishment. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Those who die in their sins without God’s forgiveness will not be listed in God’s book of life. “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

Thankfully, somebody cared for us and stepped in to save us. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God doesn’t want us to die in our sins. “The Lord is ... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He wants to remove our guilt and give us a pardon. The Bible says, “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).

Have you responded to God’s love for you? Have you accepted His forgiveness and His free gift of everlasting life? If not, you can do so today and escape punishment. God stands ready, right now, to remove your guilt and give you a new life. These wonderful blessings are yours for the asking. As the Bible says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Sorry!

There was never any doubt of their guilt. The two college students were caught by police as they burglarized cars on the university campus. When police searched their car, they found stereo equipment linking them to eight burglaries at another campus over a hundred miles away.

Arrested, facing possible jail sentences, they were offered a “deal.” A prosecutor would drop the charges if they completed probation and apologized. Accordingly, the two paid for advertisements in their school’s newspaper and submitted apologies. One said, in part, “It wasn’t worth it. I’m sorry.”

Others have escaped jail terms by the same route: a teenager who sold cocaine, a lawyer who scuffled with a policeman, a convicted drug racketeer — a newspaper ad saying, “I’m sorry,” has been the penalty.

But is it enough?

In the parking lot of a shopping center there was a crash — a sound of crumpling metal — and a driver hastily got out to examine the parked car he had so carelessly hit. After looking at the damaged car and finding it empty, he took out a piece of paper, wrote on it, and tucked it under the windshield wiper. Then he drove away. Soon the owner of the car came back from her shopping and saw what had happened. Shocked and dismayed, she turned to a man sitting in a car nearby.

“Did you see what happened to my car?” she demanded.

“Yes,” he said, “I saw it all. He left a note for you on the windshield.”

Visions of a big repair bill faded. Evidently the man had left his name and telephone number. Relieved, she opened the paper and read one word: SORRY! Speechless, she showed it to the witness.

“Well,” he said, “he said he was sorry. Isn’t that enough?”

“Sorry!” Her voice rose to a shriek. “SORRY! But who is going to pay?”

That is the point. “Sorry” wasn’t enough. “Sorry” paid no bills, made no restitution. “Sorry” left the stereos ripped out of the cars. “Sorry” would have left the woman’s car as it was. (Happily, the witness had quietly written down the license number of the hit-and-run car, and we can hope that the driver eventually paid for repairs.) It is good to be sorry for wrong things done, to repent, even to determine to “do better next time,” but there is still the question: “Who is going to pay!”

We have all done wrong things, broken God’s laws, sinned. Is it enough to tell God that we are sorry and that we won’t do it again? The Bible says that God “[requires] that which is past.”

No amount of reformation will wipe out the sins of the past. There must be an atonement; someone must pay the bill.

Can we ourselves do that? Never. Only One could ever do it — the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to this earth and lived a perfect life down here — but that alone could not save a single sinner. He had to give His life, to die, “the just for the unjust,” to bring us to God. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Yes, the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, and now God can justify all who simply by faith believe and receive “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

And then? Then “not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (Romans 5:11).

Yes, Jesus paid it all!

Storm Warnings

All day the wind had been blowing in fitful little puffs and gusts. Clouds were flying across the sky, and there were frequent showers — warm, tropical showers.

In the little farming and fishing village of Moore Haven, there were rumors and predictions of a hurricane, but the inhabitants scoffed at the notion that they would see anything more than some water in their fields. Living on the edge of Lake Okeechobee with its 730 square miles of water, the town was accustomed to sieges of high water. They had several times been through floods, but the new levee around the lake was supposed to protect them from any recurrence.

As night drew on, a telegram of warning from the Miami weather bureau was received in Moore Haven. Several citizens read it, but most just shrugged it off. There was a “social” at the Women’s Club that night, and most of the townspeople attended.

Midnight came. The party broke up, and the people came outside to find the wind blowing harder and the clouds scudding before it. At the lake, the water was lapping dangerously near the top of the levee. Two men went up to see and became alarmed. They managed to rig up a siren and rouse the town.

A few were roused to seek safety in flight, but most felt that they could wait out the storm in their homes. It was a fatal mistake. By morning, the worst of the storm burst upon them; the wind was blowing at full hurricane force — 120 miles per hour — and it was pushing that great mass of water in the lake toward the town. Up, up, the water rose, up to the top of the levee, and then — over! The surging waters burst through the soft mud wall and surged into the town.

Clinging to trees and rooftops, some people survived the flood, but more than two hundred were drowned in the rushing water. One man, who died with all his family, was found to have a telegram in his pocket warning of the hurricane and suggesting that the town should be evacuated. Storm warnings — disregarded. Not only so, but the survivors went back (“It can’t happen here again!”) and rebuilt their homes around the lake. Two years later, another storm came. This time, more than two thousand died in the raging waters.

Today the storm warnings are flying again. Not for a storm of wind and water this time, nor for the like of any storm man has ever seen, but a storm that will have men crying to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:16-17).

A storm of the wrath of God! No one can stand before that! If there were not a storm shelter provided, no one could be saved. But just as those who are wise flee to the hurricane shelter or to the storm cellar when storm warnings are received, so will those who are wise “flee from the wrath to come.” God has provided a shelter; there is a hiding place: “A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest” (Isaiah 32:2).

A man? Yes, the Man, “the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). He gave Himself; He went to the cross and bore the wrath of God against sin so that we — you and I — could be safe from the storm that is coming on the world. Have you sought that shelter yet? “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10).

The Story of a Trumpeter Swan

Three trumpeter swans, flying in loose formation, flew over a pond on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. They were making their annual migration down the coast of North America. The sun was beginning to set, and the birds needed a place to spend the night. They decided the small pond would suit their needs. The trumpeter swans began a swift descent to the surface of the pond. Just before touchdown, they spread open their nearly seven feet of wingspan to act like a drag parachute in order to slow down. Then they used their webbed feet to skim across the water. They almost looked like they were water skiing. Once their bodies touched down, they curled their long necks, tucked in their wings, and settled in for the night’s rest.

The next morning, after the sun had been up for a couple of hours, the swans decided it was time to leave. These largest of all North American waterfowl, weighing nearly thirty pounds, need forty feet of open space to take off. Beginning at one end of the pond, they stretched out their long necks and began swimming, and then they beat the air with their long wings to give them lift and extra speed. Lastly, they used their webbed feet to run across the surface of the water in order to gain the burst of speed necessary to go airborne. The first bird took off and barely missed the branches, and so did the second, but the third bird ran out of space and had to use her large wings to halt her forward progress before crashing into the trees at water’s edge. Maybe the bird wasn’t as skillful or as strong as the others, but she wasn’t able to go airborne from the small pond. The tall alder trees acted like the bars of a jail to hold her back.

Bird watchers saw the waterfowl and soon realized the beautiful swan was trapped on the small lake. They continued to watch as autumn turned into winter. At first, the swan, by extending its long neck below the water, found aquatic plants to eat, but trumpeter swans need ten pounds of food a day, and soon, the food supply in the pond ran out. The trumpeter lost weight and began to look sickly. In its weakened state, the bird watchers worried the beautiful swan wouldn’t live out the winter.

The beautiful and graceful trumpeter swan, unable to take off and fly as she was meant to, was slowly starving to death on the pond. The bird in trouble is a little picture of the human race alienated from God. The bird was beautiful, and mankind has been given many beautiful qualities too. They, of all the creatures on the earth, have been made in the image of God. This means they have been given an “intellect,” or the power to understand. They should have used their understandings to reach out to God and to love Him. But instead, sin entered the scene and spread a horrible disorder over everything. Human beings love created things more than the Creator, and their understandings have been darkened. Sin has also broken the relationship which should have existed between God and his most noble creature on earth.

The trumpeter swan was also perishing with hunger. There was no food in the pond. And apart from knowing God, there is no spiritual food in the world either. There may be entertainment. There may be gratification of lust. There may be games to play and battles to fight, but apart from a true knowledge of God, there is no spiritual food which has the power to nourish our souls.

We don’t have to go through life alienated from God and in a state of spiritual starvation. Nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ came to earth to restore the broken relationship between man and his Creator. He did many marvelous things, such as walking on water and healing the sick, but His crowning achievement was to go to the cross and die for His creature’s sin. His death has an infinite power to cancel out the sins of all who believe on Him. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

After He died, His body was placed in a tomb, but death couldn’t keep Him in the grave. He rose again on the third day. Later, He ascended up into heaven where He was given a name above every other name. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

It is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone that sinners can enter into a new and living relationship with God, a relationship that will last into eternity. By faith, they become His children and heirs of eternal life. “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26).

It is also in Him that we can find food for our souls. “I am the bread of life,” the Lord Jesus said. “He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). He surely is food for the hungry soul.

Because of the wonderful redemption that is in Christ Jesus, souls have a way to escape the sin that has entrapped them. No longer must they perish. They can turn to the Saviour and find the help they need. “That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15).

The swan wasn’t left to perish either. A group of concerned birdwatchers got together and, in kayaks and canoes, herded the swan towards a volleyball net they had hung between some trees. The swan got entangled in the net. The birdwatchers carefully extricated the bird and then transported it to a refuge where she will be well fed and eventually released in the spring.

It is only through faith in Christ that you can have the relationship with God that you were made for. In Him alone, there is nourishment for the hungry soul. “Labor not for the [food] which perisheth, but for that [food] which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed” (John 6:27). By God’s grace, won’t you make the Saviour your own and in Him find the soul food which will endure unto everlasting life? “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Psalm 34:8).

Three Great Ponzi Schemes

In America, in the 1920s, Charles Ponzi developed a get-rich scheme and carried it out to a size this country had never seen before. Posing as a reliable businessman, he promised huge returns over a short period of time for any persons who would trust him with their cash. Banks at that time were offering a return of 5% annually. Charles Ponzi promised an exorbitant 45% return over ninety days. At first only a few investors were willing to take the risk and invest their money with him. A few months later, by manipulating incoming funds, he was able to pay the huge dividends he promised to the first round of investors. When word got around of the huge profits it was possible to earn by investing with Charles Ponzi, money came pouring in from thousands of eager people who also wanted to get rich quick. Some folks even went out and sold their homes to obtain cash in order to take advantage of the golden opportunity. However, Charles Ponzi was not honest. He wasn’t investing the money at all. Many of the dollars found their way into his own pocket, making him sensationally rich, while the other part of incoming cash he sent to previous investors, lying to them, telling them that their investments had paid off as he said they would. This scam went on for months and millions of dollars were invested with Charles Ponzi. He became extremely influential in several important banks. However, his success was short-lived. People became suspicious of his dealings. An investigation was launched which eventually revealed that he was a confidence peddler swindling thousands of people out of their life savings. Charles Ponzi spent several years in prison for his crimes and was later deported to the country of his birth.

Recently another man, named Bernie Madoff, devised a “Ponzi Scheme” to bilk billions of dollars from investors. Like his predecessor, this man promised huge dividends to his investors but then never invested their money. As long as people rushed to invest their earnings with him, he was able to keep the façade of being a successful investor. His victims believed they had found a sure-fire way to get rich. The majority of the people who invested with him were not able to recoup any of their losses. This man was turned into authorities by his own son and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.

The size of both these schemes was staggering, but they are child’s play compared to the third Ponzi-like scheme I would like to tell you about. This third scheme has been going on as long as the human family is old, is almost universal in scope, and is generally undetected by men. The one running it is a master schemer and no other mind among created beings even comes close to his devious ability. He knows that in the heart of every human is the deep desire for goodness and happiness which can only be fulfilled by knowing and loving the God who made them. Ah, but this master schemer presented to the minds of men that they could certainly find the riches of happiness and goodness they desire elsewhere and by some other means. He convinced them to try to find the happiness and goodness they crave in the love of created things instead of the Creator Himself. It is as if he said, “Here is a shortcut to happiness and goodness: If you invest yourself in the things of time and sense alone, you will reap more of the benefits you seek.” Loving created things more than God, millions of souls fell into spiritual darkness, and as a result disorder ruled in their souls. The entire human race embraced his lies and fell into the bondage of sin. Instead of happiness and goodness, they found the ever-diminishing returns of the pleasure of sins for a season.

Are you trying to find happiness and goodness apart from the God who made you? Then you have fallen prey to this master schemer’s plan, and it is his serious intent to take you for everything you’re worth. We have been made in the image of God with hearts that are capable of knowing and loving God. Nothing less than this will bring fulfillment. “Fulfillment” means being filled fully. Our hearts have been made so large that only God Himself can fill them completely. Trying to fill our hearts with anything less can never lead to happiness, but, on the contrary, will lead to misery in this life and everlasting wretchedness in the life to come.

That you might set your feet on the path that leads to life, God sent His Son into this world. “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). A Saviour is exactly what each one of us needs who have been deceived by Satan’s lies. At Calvary, the Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross and gave His life for sinners. He paid the supreme price for our sakes so that we might be cleansed, forgiven and receive a new life. Souls can only find salvation by faith in Christ. He is the only way that sinners can get off the slippery path of deceit and false promises, which ends in hell. Through Jesus Christ alone can they get their feet on the path that leads to life. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” the Lord Jesus said. “No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). By trusting in Him, souls that had gone astray can know God in truth and find the life He intends for them to live. They could never deserve or merit this life, but God in grace is pleased to offer it as a free gift to all who believe on the name of His Son.

Mr. Ponzi and Mr. Madoff created schemes that destroyed the wealth of many persons and families. Thousands of unwary persons saw a chance to get rich quick and rushed to place their funds with these men only to lose all. The prince of darkness is doing the same thing in this world. He is promising to make men rich by having them value created things above God. Falling for his scheme and promises of high returns, people end up not rich but in the abject poverty of alienation from God. Their futures are not bright with promise but dark with broken promises that never can be fulfilled. There will be no escape from eternal darkness for those who fail to get right with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh, won’t you see the danger of living a life where material goods are treasured in the place of God and come to the Saviour who can turn sin’s darkest night into the light of God’s blessed love? His love shines brightly, truly, and its rays can bring healing to every soul. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Two Costly Rescues

The young girl did not know her rescuer’s name. After slipping into the swift waters of the Cowlitz River, she had struggled to keep her head up, but irresistibly the strong current swept her downstream. Panic flooded through her, for the river was much too strong. Then seeing her distress, a young man swam out to save her. Swimming strongly, he pulled her to shore. Onlookers gathered to help on the bank of the river and waded out a few steps. The young man passed the girl to them, and, while coughing up water, she was carried to shore. The onlookers were taken by surprise when they turned around and watched the current of the river sweep the young man away. Stunned, they saw him disappear beneath the roiling surface. The river carried him away to his death.

Alan Heck was his name. He was only twenty years old. He didn’t know the girl. He only knew she needed help. He put his own life at risk to save hers. Later, Captain Nelson of the sheriff’s department called the rescue, “Incredibly heroic — I am not sure it was his intention to give up his own life for the girl, but he selflessly went into the water.”

Alan Heck was a genuine hero to save the young girl’s life. Do you know the Hero who gave His life for you that you might live? His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He saw the human race being swept headlong in a raging river of sin to eternal death, He didn’t stand by and just watch. He did something about it.

He left the glories of heaven and came to this earth. He never wavered from His purpose to make a way of salvation. At the cross, He selflessly gave His life so that others might live. He went into the river of death so that sinners caught in its awful current might have a way to escape. They deserved death for the sins they had done, but He came and died in the sinner’s place so that they might find life through Him.

Alan Heck gave his life to save the girl. Jesus Christ went to Calvary’s cross to make a way to save mankind. Both died for others, but permit me to highlight some important differences.

First, Alan Heck didn’t know the name of the young girl he rescued. However, the Lord Jesus knows all the names of those He died for. He is God and Man in the same person. As God, His knowledge is perfect. He not only knows their names but also everything else about them. He knows the full extent of their sins, and notwithstanding this knowledge He still loves them so much that He was willing to die for them. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Can you not find it in your heart to trust a Saviour who knows all about you and was still willing to die for you?

Second, Alan “reacted” when he saw the girl in distress and swam out to save her. It might seem that the Lord Jesus “reacted” when He saw sinners in danger and decided to save them, but this isn’t really the case. He knew man would rebel against Him before the first man was ever made. He also knew that in love to lost sinners He would give His life at Calvary. When Christ died on the cross, He was carrying out the plan of salvation which had been made “proactively” before the world existed. Whatever God does, He does in a way that is full of wisdom. Nothing takes Him by surprise. His plans are the best plans, and His ways are the best ways. “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord” (Proverbs 21:30). Since resistance is useless, it would be best for you to give up fighting against Him and, instead, come to Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Alan’s body was recovered from the river nine days later. The body of the Lord Jesus will never be recovered. The Lord Jesus arose from the dead. Many of His disciples saw Him in His resurrection body before He ascended up into heaven. Do you want irrefutable proof that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Here it is — His empty grave. He was slain, buried and rose again on the third day. Everyone who places their faith in Christ will likewise have their part in the resurrection of the just. They will live, eternally live, in the sunshine of God’s love. Never a cloud or shadow will ever dim that love. Jesus Christ said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

Alan Heck acted courageously and saved a young life at the cost of his own. It cost the life of the Lord Jesus given at Calvary’s cross that you might have eternal life. Can you not find it in your heart to trust the Saviour who at great cost did so much that you might be saved from your sins?

The Ultimate Match

Do you want to find that certain someone who would make the perfect match for you, who out of all the persons in the wide universe can satisfy the longings and yearnings of your heart like no one else? If finding the Ultimate Match to you sounds too good to be true, please read on to find out how this match can be made on your behalf.

There are a number of services on the Internet making claims that they can bring the right persons together in order to bring lasting happiness and contentment into their lives. However, these systems have serious limitations. The best of them boasts of breaking the human personality into thirty-nine component parts when searching for compatibility. However, the human personality is so complex and multifaceted that this is simply not enough. The One who is the Ultimate Match for you has the ability to understand the intricacies and mazes of your personality completely. This Person knows you better than you ever thought possible, knows what you truly need, and has your welfare at heart.

Another limitation of these other systems is that their data banks do not have the capability to detect lies. They are riddled with deceit and misrepresentations. Sadly, applicants in these systems have lied about their height, weight, looks, careers, marital status, age and everything else. You will be happy to know that deceit is 100% eliminated when it comes to making the Ultimate Match. Your sense of security will be unbounded because the relationship is based on rock-solid truth. Typically people have experienced a deep, abiding sense of relief when they start dealing with the truth.

If you are worried about cost, worry no longer. The One who sent the Ultimate Match into this world is so rich that He refuses to accept all payment. Many have spent a fortune elsewhere and have nothing to show for it but bitter disappointment. You simply cannot afford to pass this tremendous offer by.

The One who fully understands the needs and complexity of the human heart, the One who can see into the recesses and depths of the soul, the One who can without fail detect what is true and false, the One who can fully satisfy our inward yearnings, and the One who does all this with no cost is the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Somebody who finds a wife or a husband who treats them with kindness and respect finds a good thing, but someone who finds the Saviour finds the best, most necessary of all personal relationships in this life. It is the only relationship that will bring lasting happiness and contentment for time and eternity.

Jesus Christ is the Ultimate Match for each human soul because He alone has the power to forgive sins. The unvarnished truth is that we are all sinners in the sight of God. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). As sinners, our most urgent need is the need for pardon and the forgiveness of sins. In grace, Jesus Christ, the Creator of the Universe, became a Man and then gave His life on the cross that He might make a way to offer the gift of forgiveness to guilty sinners. When a sinner believes on Him, they receive the forgiveness of sins. “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

Many people have the forgetfulness that they are sinners, but what they really need for their well-being is the forgiveness of sins. “Forgetfulness” is often nothing more than a form of self-deception. Those who practice self-deception will never find the peace of heart that being honest before God gives.

God loves sinners, and He is reaching out to them through the preaching of the gospel. They don’t have to adopt some pretence of being better than what they really are to earn His love. In His omniscience, He knows everything about us. The marvelous thing about it is that, notwithstanding His perfect knowledge of us, He still loves us anyway. This doesn’t mean He wants us to be lax or complacent about sin. God loves sinners but hates their sin. Sin is that which ravages and destroys goodness. It is like rust to metal and rot to wood. It destroyed the unity that existed between God and the first parents, has brought grief, hardship and death to every member of the human race, and will bring impenitent sinners to utter ruin in hell. It is never something to be trifled with. God hates it, and those who would know the love of God must learn to detest it too. When a sinner comes to hate the sin they once loved, it is called “repentance.” Repentance is needed to become a child of God. Sin is a lack, a privation, a deficiency. It is nobody’s friend, does no one any favors, has nothing good about it, and wrecks lives. Won’t you turn away from your sins and turn instead to the Saviour who said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17)?

God’s salvation is free, and He offers it at no cost to the sinner. In the fullness of His grace, He sent His Son into this world to make known His love. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Because of God’s great love in sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate “Match” for sinners. God is too rich to sell salvation, and man is too poor to buy it. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

Jesus Christ is the Ultimate Match for every soul because His love is wider and deeper than the biggest ocean, and He can fill the human heart to overflowing. Our hearts were made so large that only God Himself can fill them. Those who come to Him by faith find out marvelously for themselves that His “loving-kindness is better than life.” The salvation He offers is free, and He wants you to come to Him just as you are and ask for His forgiveness. Won’t you come by faith to the Saviour and make the Ultimate Match for your soul? No one ever loved you as much as He does.

Waiting and Watching

It is not for a King we are longing

To make the world kingdom His own;

It is not for a Judge who shall summon

The nations of earth to His throne;

Not for those, though we know they are coming,

For they are but pictures of Him

Before whom all glory is clouded,

Beside whom all splendor grows dim.

We wait for the Lord, our Beloved,

Our Comforter, Master and Friend;

The substance of all we have hoped for,

Beginning of faith, and its end;

We watch for our Saviour and Bridegroom,

Who loved us and made us His own;

For Him we are looking and longing —

For Jesus, and Jesus alone!

What Do You Trust?

Recently, a hostess known for her hospitality invited a number of people to her home for dinner and music afterwards. Some of the people had been to her house before, but there had been a lot of construction in the city, so she wrote out directions for the easiest and quickest way to arrive safely. She made copies so everyone could take one.

Some people took the paper, but some said they did not need directions because they had a GPS. Now a GPS is quite a handy thing to have, but it isn’t always right. If roads are closed due to construction, the GPS is not right anymore. The GPS can adapt and help the person find another way, but it will take longer than first expected.

This reminds us of the way, the only way to get to heaven. The directions are already written down in the Bible, and there is only one way. There will be no getting there by a different, or even longer, way that we can decide to try. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

When it was time for dinner to be served, everyone who planned to come to her house had arrived, but several were heard to say, “I’d have been here sooner, but my GPS took me to where there was no exit!” Yes, she wondered if that might happen. That is why she had written out the best way to come. They trusted their own way, their GPS, rather than the one who knew!

To get to heaven, there are not two or more ways to arrive. Nothing we can do will get us there. Not by doing the best we can, nor by going to church regularly, nor by doing good deeds to outweigh the bad things we have done. “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).

We like to think that we already know the best way to get someplace and that we can decide for ourselves which way to go. But, when it comes to getting to heaven, our sins must first be taken care of, and only the Lord Jesus, who never sinned, can do that. He died on the cross for your sins, if you’ll accept Him as your Saviour. There is nothing you can do in your own strength or power to pay the penalty for your sins. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

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!

Why Delay?

We speak of the mercy of God,

So boundless, so rich and so free!

But what will it profit my soul

Unless it’s relied on by me?

We speak of salvation and love,

By the Father in Jesus made known;

But if I would live unto God,

By faith I must make it my own.

We speak of the Saviour’s dear name,

By which God can sinners receive;

Yet still I am lost and undone

Unless in that name I believe.

We speak of the blood of the Lamb,

Which frees from pollution and sin;

But its virtues by me must be proved,

Or I shall be ever unclean.

We speak of the glory to come,

Of the heavens so bright and so fair;

But unless I in Jesus believe,

I shall not, I cannot be there!

Why Unbelieving?

Why unbelieving? Will you ignore

Love that so gently knocks at your door?

Come, lest your fleeting day

Fades into night away;

Now mercy’s call obey;

To Jesus come.

Why not, believing, come to the Lord?

Trust in the Saviour, doubt not His word;

Think that for you He died,

Think of Him crucified;

Now to the Glorified —

To Jesus — come.

Why unbelieving? You can be blessed;

Jesus will pardon; He’ll give you rest;

Why will you longer wait?

Haste to the open gate;

Come before it’s too late;

To Jesus come.

Will You Be There?

Beyond this life of hopes and fears,

Beyond this world of grief and tears,

There is a region fair;

It knows no change and no decay,

No night, but one unending day;

Oh, say! Will you be there?

Its glorious gates are closed to sin;

Nothing defiling can enter in

To mar its beauty rare;

Upon that bright eternal shore

Earth’s bitter curse is known no more;

But say! Will you be there?

Will You Be There?

We’re waiting for Jesus! … His promise is plain,

His word sure and steadfast … He’s coming again;

A numberless people will meet in the air

The Lord who redeemed them … but will you be there?

In the home of our Father the banquet is spread;

There the naked are clothed and the hungry are fed;

The house is fast filling — there’s room yet to spare;

Not a seat will be vacant … but will you be there?

Echoes of Grace: 2011

Table of Contents

The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

The Amazing Rescue

At Rest?

Ban - the Tsunami Dog

Beauty Is a Blessing

The Bicycle Rider

Caesar Borgia

Choose Now

Conviction and Conversion

The Darkest Day Since 1638

Do Not Say …

Evacuation Alert: Will You Heed the Warning

Ever-Ready

Finding Peace

A Forever Home

Hachiko and the Shibuya Station

Have You Ever Read the Bible?

Heroism and Tragedy

Hopelessly Trapped

The Ignored Warning

In Jesus

Intensive Care

Is the Earth Crumbling?

Jasmine

Know the River

Lost in the Woods

A Meditation

My Eyes

The New Boat

No Thanks

No Time for God?

The Only Guilty Inmate in the Prison

Profit or Loss?

Progress

The Puppy in the Pipe

Rescued From Above

The Rose Bowl Game

Run for Your Life, Coleman

Should You Make a Distress Call?

Signing His Crime

Sinkholes

Skating on the Sharp Edge of Disater

Somebody Cares

Sorry!

Storm Warnings

The Story of a Trumpeter Swan

Three Great Ponzi Schemes

Two Costly Rescues

The Ultimate Match

Waiting and Watching

What Do You Trust?

When the Saviour Came My Way

Why Delay?

Why Unbelieving?

Will You Be There?

Will You Be There?