Echoes of Grace: 2012

Busy people tend to keep an appointment book — perhaps as an app on a cell phone or a computer — to help organize their days. Quickly jotting down the time of a medical appointment, child’s music lesson, or a planned outing with a friend reduces the likelihood of times and dates slipping away and helps keep our lives in order. After all, the palest ink, even if it is electronic, is better than the best memory. God has written about an important appointment in His Book, the Bible. It is written down for men and women so that it is less likely to disappear into a fog of forgetfulness. If you flip through God’s Book, the Bible, to the Book of Hebrews and find chapter nine and verse twenty-seven, you would read that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” It is an appointment that each member of the human race will keep. At this judgment God will require each person to give an account of what they have done in their lives. “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). You may miss a doctor’s appointment, an anniversary, a child’s birthday party, or any other type of appointment made with people, but God in His almighty power will see to it that this appointment is kept.

Are you ready to stand before a just God and give account of your deeds on earth? You will not be called on to compare your life to others. Nor will you be asked to give account for your parent’s, spouse’s or child’s actions, but you will have to give account of your own life. From beginning to end, God will judge every bit of it with unerring righteousness. The best time to realize that you are a sinner is NOW in this life before death and judgment overtake you. As long as you draw breath and are alive, it is not too late to turn from sin to God who loves you and ask Him for forgiveness. But after death there won’t be an opportunity to change your ways. One lifetime is the allotted time you have to make the all-important decision to trust Christ. Life down here is like an appointment book with a limited number of pages. On one of those pages it needs to be recorded that you placed your faith in the Saviour and started walking with Him if you ever want to reach heaven.

An appointment book may help order your life, but for a life to be truly well-ordered before God there needs to be repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, sin will rule in the heart, and sin is the great disorderer of human life. Disorder, disarray, chaos, confusion and turmoil are the bitter fruits of sin, and the place where these dreadful things will be at their worst is the darkness of hell where lost souls will spend eternity. No matter how out of order your life may have become because of sin, the Lord Jesus can restore you to the paths of righteousness. Will you place your faith in the Saviour who can fully deliver from the power of sin?

Are You a Stranger

Grandma Evans was walking slowly home from the store. It was a lovely fall day, and the leaves were rustling under her feet. Children were running and playing in the park. The playground had a chain-link fence around it, and two little boys came up to the fence to watch her go by. Grandma smiled at them and said, “Hello.”

One of the little boys asked very solemnly, “Are you a stranger?” as he peered through the fence.

Grandma stopped to think a moment. This little boy’s mother had obviously warned him not to talk to strangers or to go with them, so she answered, “Yes, I am a stranger to you.”

As she started to walk on towards her home, the little boys walked along beside her on their side of the fence. Soon the other little boy said, “How do you know you are a stranger?”

Grandma stopped again and looked into those innocent, wide eyes. She felt she must be careful again how she replied. “If you do not know who I am and if you have never seen me before and if your parents do not know me, then I am a stranger,” she said.

“Good-bye then, stranger,” said the first little fellow.

But Grandma stayed longer to tell them that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true Friend, and if they knew Him and knew how He loved them, He would never be a stranger but would become their very best friend.

To many people the Lord Jesus is the Stranger. They do not know Him as their own personal Saviour, and, sad to say, they do not wish to either. Some have not been introduced to Jesus through the gospel, and their families do not know Him either.

How wonderful it is to know the Lord Jesus as your own Saviour! He died for sinners (and even little children are sinners) so that we could have our sins forgiven and be with Him forever in heaven. He is no longer a stranger to us if we receive Him as our Saviour, for He loves us and will come soon to take us with Him to heaven.

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).

The Lord Jesus said that He would never leave you nor forsake you. Take Him as your Saviour now; have Him as your friend forever.

Are You Headed the Right Way?

Four children and four adults died in an accident because of a minivan that traveled in the wrong direction. It happened on a Sunday.

The minivan collided with two cars as it traveled southbound in the northbound lanes of the Taconic State Parkway near New York City. After striking an SUV, the minivan flew into another vehicle before it rolled down an embankment and burst into flames, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Those who died included the driver of the minivan, four of the five children inside, and three men who were inside the SUV. The AP reported: “It was the second wrong-way crash on the parkway on Sunday.”

This tragic story is a strong reminder of our need to be alert and safe when driving a vehicle. It also is an illustration of a Bible message that addresses our relationship with God. According to the Bible, “There is a way which seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

All too often, people choose a path in their search for God and find out too late they have chosen the wrong path. Some people believe that all roads lead to heaven and that all religions offer a way to God. Some believe that sincerity is enough. Others take a different approach. They believe that we can find God through good deeds, a moral life, or intellectual enlightenment. Still others believe there is no God and that science or philosophy is all we need to find meaning and fulfillment in life.

People who hold these views may be sincere, but they are traveling the wrong road. They’re going the wrong way, and that is a problem.

When it comes to knowing God and having a personal relationship with Him, choosing the correct route is very important. You see, going the wrong way on a highway can result in tragedy, but going the wrong way in the search for God can result in something worse.

Without God we are lost. And if we continue on the wrong path, we will not find Him. This means we will remain in our sins, and this will lead to God’s judgment.

The Bible says we are all sinners. As such, we’ve all traveled the wrong path. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But that isn’t all. The Bible says that the people who do not know God “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

The fact is that there is a God, and there’s only one way by which we can know Him. There’s only one way by which we can be saved from sin and have peace with Him. That way is Jesus, the Son of God. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

Because of God’s love for us, He has made it possible for us to know Him personally and to be saved from our sins. He promises forgiveness and eternal life to all who put their faith in Him. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Jesus died on Calvary’s cross and was buried. He arose from the dead three days later. He “was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25).

Now that you’ve seen the true way to God and what He did to save you from your sins, you have a decision to make. Will you continue going the wrong way? Or will you accept the only way that God has provided?

A Better World

“I don’t wish for any better world than this,” a friend said to me the other day.

Yet he had to leave this world!

And you and I must leave it, too.

As surely as the leaves will one day fall, so surely must we one day leave this world.

And when this happens, what then?

If you were told that within the year you would have to leave your home and your country and relocate in a foreign land to spend the rest of your life there, how anxious you would be to know where you were going and what that country would be like.

And yet, knowing that one day death will take you by the hand and lead you into eternity, have you ever faced the question, “Where am I going, and what will become of me?”

There are two places to spend eternity, only two, and their names are heaven and hell.

Heaven is where God is, the One before whom angels bow, proclaiming Him, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.”

Hell is to be the place of the devil and of all who die in their sins.

Have you ever sinned? God knows man well, and He says, “All have sinned” (Romans 3:23). Every sin you commit — that is, each wrong thought, wrong word, wrong act — is written down in the book of God, and all sin demands judgment, for God is a holy God.

But you do not need to die in your sins. There is a way in which God can be holy and yet forgive you and take you to heaven.

God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world. He lived a perfect life; there was not the least taint of sin in Him, and then He went to the cross where He “suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

He “offered Himself without spot to God” that sin might be judged in His own holy person. On that cross He shed His precious blood, and now we can know that “the blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

When Jesus had been in the grave three days, God raised Him from the dead and now sends this wonderful message to the world: “Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38-39).

This is God’s message to you, and this is the way to heaven.

Clock of Life

“To everything there is a season ... and a time. ... A time to be born, and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).

We were distributing Bibles and gospel tracts on the Grenadine Island of Canouan. As we passed a cemetery, a headstone caught my eye, and I asked the driver to stop so I could take a better look. Chiseled in the granite marker was an engraving of an alarm clock. Underneath was the following inscription:

“The clock of life is wound but once!”

This is a line taken from a poem which reads:

The clock of life is wound but once,

And no man has the power

To tell just when the hands will stop,

At late or early hour.

To lose one’s wealth is sad indeed;

To lose one’s health is more;

To lose one’s soul is such a loss

That no man can restore.

From the dates given on the stone, the lady who was buried in the grave had almost reached her ninetieth birthday, and I am sure she was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

What about the “clock of life” for you? When will the hands stop? Will it be “at late or early hour”? Who can tell? Are you prepared for the next life where there is no time or clock? Remember what the Bible says in Hosea 10:12. “It is time to seek the Lord.”

"Come" - Enter Today

The mistakes of my life have been many;

The sins of my heart have been more;

I hardly can see for weeping,

But I’ll knock at the open door.

I know I am weak and sinful;

It comes to me more and more,

But as the dear Saviour bids me come in,

I’ll enter the open door.

“I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9).

Coming Tonight!

“How good it would be if He came tonight!”

At the sound of voices I looked up from the book I was reading. “If who came tonight?” I wondered. Were we about to have company?

Then I realized that they were speaking of Jesus and my instant reaction was, “Oh, no! It would not be good if He came tonight. I am not ready to meet Him!”

I knew well that Jesus is coming back again, and I knew that only those whose sins are forgiven will go to be with Him and that those who are not ready will be left behind for judgment. But—“coming tonight!” Somehow I hadn’t even thought that possible. And as for death, I was young and would live for many years.

After thinking it over for a few minutes I decided, “There’s plenty of time,” and I turned back to my book. But I couldn’t get my mind back on what I was reading; the words, “Coming tonight! Coming tonight!” kept ringing in my ears.

Those words just stayed with me, and instead of getting rid of the feeling I began to realize the danger I was in. I used to think I was no worse than others and a great deal better than some, and though I knew I was not saved, I really meant to be — someday. But what if that were true: He’s coming tonight! Many nights I lay awake, afraid to go to sleep for fear that Jesus should come in the night and leave me behind.

I went to a gospel meeting. Usually I had been glad to slip away as quickly as possible, but that night I listened to every word as if for my life. Afterwards a man said to me, “Do you know Jesus?”

I admitted that I didn’t, but I said I would like to!

He opened the Bible and read: “He was wounded for [my] transgressions, He was bruised for [my] iniquities: the chastisement of [my] peace was upon Him; and with His stripes [I am] healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

That night I learned that Jesus had died, but I could not say that I was saved. I tried to feel saved and to act saved, but I did not really know. This went on for weeks. On Sundays I was hoping; on Mondays I was doubting. At last I was almost despairing of ever knowing the peace I longed for.

Finally I shut myself in my room and told Jesus I had tried to make myself better and I had failed. Would He just take me as I was? As I knelt there in the deep consciousness that I was in the presence of God, the words from Isaiah came into my mind: “I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

This time I did not doubt; I just believed God. Joy — joy that I can’t describe nor can you understand unless you have experienced it yourself — filled my heart. I wanted everybody to know that Jesus was my very own personal Saviour!

Now I know more surely than ever that Jesus is coming, coming soon, but still in love and mercy He is waiting for you to come to Him and trust Him also.

“The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven ... and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The Contrast

It is the playground of the world. There is everything for the vacationer — beautiful, luxurious hotels and shops — and tourists flock there from all over the globe to enjoy them and to share in the lights and music and laughter and illusion of the big entertainment complexes. You can call it Pleasure World.

Not far away there is a different world — a place where workers make weapons of war, terrible weapons of destruction. Stored there are warheads, rocket motors, and fully armed missiles, waiting — waiting. Security cameras watch silently over hundreds of missiles. Over a million pounds of missiles and rockets rest quietly in the so-called “remote area” — remote no longer.

Once it was really remote, with a wide belt of vacant land around it for safety. Now progress and development have encroached and encircled it until they almost meet around the chain link fence that separates them. Is it still safe?

What if — a terrorist targeted one of the buildings and started a fire? The motors are packed with extremely volatile fuel.

What if — lightning started a fire in the grounds? On an average, lightning hits each square mile in the center of the state fifty times a year. That means an average of 125 strikes in the remote area every year.

What if — the more than 30,000 motorists who daily drive as close as one fifth of a mile (that’s only a little more than 1000 feet) to some of those stockpiles of disaster were aware of the possibilities? Would they perhaps choose another route? Or would a little of the glitter be rubbed off the shining playground?

Probably not.

It’s just human nature to think, “I don’t see anything wrong.” “It has never happened.” “It can’t happen to ME!” The it-can’t-happen-here syndrome is widespread. In a world and time when we are increasingly sure of only uncertainties, how many people actually sit down and think seriously, “Tomorrow I might not be here”? How many consider, “I could die tonight”?

Has it ever occurred to you?

No one is immune to disaster. No one has a guaranteed lifetime. But that is only for the here-and-now. There is something beyond: It is called eternity — forever. And that is guaranteed. Whether it is reached sooner or later is not important; what really matters is where will it be spent?

There are only two places: One is with God, who is light and love. The other is away from Him. It means darkness, blackness forever. It means being away from love, all love, in a place of “weeping and wailing.”

Tonight — tomorrow — twenty years from now, it is still “appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”

Is anything more important than being prepared for that?

Cradle-to-Grave Care

The desire to be cared for is deep-seated in the human heart. I suppose it is a large part of the reason why people need other people in order to be content. Parents care for their children, husbands and wives are supposed to care for one another until death parts them, and it is natural for us to care for our friends. Empty, bitter loneliness comes when genuine care is missing. The sad truth is that human beings often let down those they should care for. That is why it is so important to know the One who will never let you down. The Bible tells us that God cares for us. “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

He cares for you all the way from the cradle to the grave. You may not know Him and have never thanked Him, but He is the One who cares for you. He is the One who gave you life, parents, family, home, friends, food, heart and mind, and every other good and wholesome thing. The Bible says, “In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10), and, “Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (Psalm 145:15). He gave us the beautiful world we live in with its sunsets and seasons. He truly cares for you and wants what is best for your life — knowing and loving Him. He doesn’t want you to remain a stranger to His love. He even cares for individuals so much that He allows affliction or pain in their lives to get them thinking about the meaning of life and how there must be more than meets the eye.

He cares for us in deep and marvelous ways. He knows that each one of us has inherited a sinful nature from our first parents. This nature gives us an inward tendency to sin and leads to death. Instead of letting us perish in such an awful state, He did something about it. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for His creature’s sin. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He sent His Son because every member of the human race has fallen into debt because of sin. This debt far exceeds what any person is able to pay. Even if someone were to devote themselves to serving others for the remainder of their life, the good works they did would never begin to pay the debt. It is simply beyond our means. Therefore, to cancel this horrible debt and make a way that men and women might be justified before God, the Creator of the universe became a man and died in the sinner’s place. On the cross the Lord Jesus made a sacrifice of infinite value so that all who believe in His name can be pardoned, forgiven and given the gift of eternal life. The good news of the gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ, in infinite care to the human race, came to earth and made a way of salvation. He cares for you and wants you to be with Him in heaven so much that He was willing to do this for you. Won’t you trust Him?

His care for us continues from birth to death and even will not stop when our bodies enter the grave. At some future moment He is going to take the precious dust of those who died in faith and, by His almighty power, restore them back to life in resurrection. Souls then will be reunited to bodies that will never again experience pain, hunger, thirst, sickness or any bad thing. They will spend an eternity of joy with Him in heaven. This is called the resurrection of the just. I hope you will have your part in the resurrection of the just by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour.

Those who reject the gospel message will also be resurrected. In bodies that are capable of endless suffering they will stand before God to be judged for their sins and then be cast into the lake of fire. In the Bible this is called the “resurrection of damnation.” “And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28). You mustn’t think that God didn’t care for those who have a part in the resurrection of damnation. He certainly did. In long-suffering and patience He waited for them to turn to Him, but they never did. He acted in His goodness to lead them to repentance. But they despised His goodness. By refusing His offers of grace they brought the great evil of a lost eternity on themselves. I hope you will not be one who dies scoffing at the idea of God’s goodness and a Saviour sent from heaven. I hope, instead, that you come to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus so that heaven might be yours.

God will not disappoint anyone who has faith in Him. Won’t you respond to His love and care and come to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation?

Deadly Disaster

First there were thunderclouds — dark, massive and threatening. You didn’t have to be a weatherman to predict an uncommonly strong storm was about to unleash its power. Even animals in the barnyards were nervous and skittish. Then it began. The rain came down in torrents and sheets. It pelted the ground and pummeled the rooftops. It fell so heavily that the windshield wipers in cars were useless, and drivers couldn’t see the roads. In places the rain poured down at a rate of three inches per hour. In the canyons of the Black Hills, flash floods raced down gullies, uprooting trees and tumbling rocks off hillsides. Countless flash floods joined forces and flowed into Rapid Creek, the main drainage channel for the whole area, changing it into a raging river. It beat angrily against the dam that protected the town of Rapid City.

The mayor viewed the surging floodwater behind the dam and ordered the keeper and his family to evacuate at once. Then he called the local radio station and told them to stop their normal broadcasting and instead send out warnings for townspeople to evacuate. It was afternoon. The warnings continued for half an hour; then the electrical power went out and the warnings were no longer heard.

That evening the floodwater broke through the Canyon Lake Dam. A wall of water raced down the floodplain of Rapid Creek, and Rapid City was in its path. Houses were washed off their foundations; cars and trucks were swept away; bridges spanning the river crumbled into pieces. Many people were caught in the floodwaters. Some clung to uprooted trees as the flood carried them away, never to be seen alive again. The Rapid City Flood of ’72 claimed 238 lives and joined the list as one of the deadliest natural disasters to hit the United States.

Thankfully most of us won’t ever be caught in the floodwaters of a raging river, but there is a different kind of flood threatening every member of the human race. This unbelieving world is headed for judgment! The storm clouds are looming on the horizon, and they are dark and menacing! They are approaching because God hates sin. Several verses in His Word tell how He will pour out His wrath: “Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil” (Romans 2:9). “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). Those who never repent and look to Jesus Christ by faith for forgiveness will enter into judgment for their sins, and it will be a catastrophe like a great flood!

God does not want souls to carelessly end up in the destruction of hell. He gives them warning so that they can escape. “Flee from the wrath to come” (Luke 3:7) is one such warning, and “I tell you ... except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3) is another. Although God hates sin, He loves the one who has sinned. He loves them so much He sent His Son into this world to be their Saviour. On Calvary’s cross the Lord Jesus gave His life so that they might have a way to be saved. It is to Christ, the Saviour of sinners, that souls must run if they want to be saved.

The warnings on the radio continued for a half hour before the loss of power cut them off. Many people probably listened and were alarmed enough to heed the warning. Others didn’t obey and perished. Will you be alarmed at God’s warnings about your sins enough to do something about it? Or will the warnings, in your case, fall on deaf ears?

One reason the flood claimed so large a human toll was that a substantial part of Rapid City was built on a flood plain. Where are you building your life? Are you building it on Christ the solid rock, so when the flood of God’s judgment comes you will be safe? Souls build their lives on Him when they come to Him in repentance and faith, and then seek to live by His commandments. “Whosoever [hears] these sayings of Mine, and [does] them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” (Matthew 7:24-25).

Or are you heedlessly building your life on the flood plain where at some moment God’s judgment against sin will unleash its awful power? “Everyone that [hears] these sayings of Mine, and [does not do them], shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:26-27).

If you don’t know Christ as your Saviour, a flood of judgment is headed your way. What will you cling to in order to be saved? Nothing, nothing apart from faith in Christ can bring salvation to the human soul.

After the terrible destruction of the Rapid City flood, the city council wisely decided to never again issue a building permit for a home in the area of the flood plain. Won’t you be wise and cease from building a life for yourself that must come into judgment because of sin? Instead, come to the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour of sinners. Life with Him is far more rewarding.

A Deadly Shortcut

Frank was an electrician who worked in a large store. Often his boss asked him to change the focus of the ceiling lights so they would shine directly on a certain display of merchandise they were anxious to sell.

Frank had often done that work before. Sometimes he turned off the supply of electricity before he rearranged the lights. Sometimes he didn’t bother to turn it off. That particular night he thought, I’m not going to turn off the power. It takes so much extra time to do it that way, and I’ve never had any problems when I’ve left the power on. So he climbed up the ladder and began to readjust the lights.

To his horror, he felt the electrical power begin to surge through his arms. Its force paralyzed them, and he couldn’t get away from it. He knew the only way he could free himself was to jump to the floor. He also knew he could hurt himself badly when he fell, but it was better than being electrocuted, so he threw himself to the floor. One of his legs was badly broken, but he was alive!

Have you ever felt the power of sin surging through your mind? Perhaps it was urging you to tell a lie or to take something that didn’t belong to you. Or have you ever thought about saying something hateful to someone and then following through with that stinging remark? What about doing something that looks good, but you are only doing it so people will think you are a caring person and not because you really love or care for the person you are doing it for? All these self-serving acts are the power of SIN!

King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 5:22, “His own iniquities [entrap] the wicked [man], and he shall be [caught] with the cords of his sins.” There is no way we can free ourselves from those cords of sin except by turning to Christ Jesus the Saviour for cleansing from our sins. He is the only One who can break those cords. His arms were stretched out in love to you on Calvary’s cross, and He is calling you right now to come to Him for that soul cleansing. He assures you that “him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son [cleanses] us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Drink

“O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly” (Song of Solomon 5:1).

Dominica, a beautiful, mountainous island in the Caribbean, with a population of 71,000 and covering 289 square miles, is not only called the “nature island,” but also the “land of many rivers.” In fact, while visiting that island I learned that it is reputed to have 365 rivers, tributaries, streams and creeks. That is one for every day of the year. It made me think of how the Word of God is refreshment for every day of the year as well. Psalm 42:1 Says, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.”

When talking to the woman at Sychar’s well, the Lord said, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst” (John 4:13-14).

King David said, “My soul thirsteth after Thee” (Psalm 143:6). A thirsty person seeks to have his thirst quenched. Has your spiritual thirst been quenched today?

Despite the fact that Dominica has such an abundance of water, I could not seem to quench my thirst, no matter how much I drank. It was hot and tropically humid, and I drank, and drank, and drank. In fact, I drank whatever I could get my hands on ... bottled water, fruit juice and soda — and at one point I downed a liter bottle of Coke, almost without stopping for breath. And still I was so-o-o-o thirsty!

I wonder if you have a similar thirst for the “living water” (John 4:10)? The “living water” satisfies our spiritual thirst. Unlike the liquid I gulped down in Dominica, the “water of life” satisfies our thirst completely — not just for a moment, but for eternity. And more than that, it is free! Every time I wanted a drink in Dominica I had to pay for it. But the Lord Jesus says, “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely” (Revelation 21:6).

“Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures” (Psalm 36:8).

Ho, everyone that thirsts,

Come, drink a full supply;

Christ is the only source

To quench and satisfy.

Come, come, ye souls

Who thirsty be,

And drink of the living waters free;

Yes, drink and drink abundantly.

“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1).

Excuses - Excuses

“They all with one consent began to make excuse” (Luke 14:18).

It was Sunday afternoon, and as usual a gospel meeting was scheduled at the meeting room for 7:30 p.m. I was in Dickson Village, Saint Vincent, West Indies, and, as was the habit of my Christian friend, we began to visit throughout the community, stopping at certain homes, passing out gospel literature and inviting folks to attend the preaching that evening.

I quickly realized that many, if not most, or even all, had been invited on previous occasions. Some had come, some had not! Either way, the excuses were prevalent. Some were tired; some had another engagement; some had to baby-sit, cook dinner, help family, get ready for tomorrow, and on and on it went. One man even said he must attend a funeral; I thought, Thankfully not his own. Some halfheartedly said they would try to make it.

My friend seemed undaunted by all this and quietly urged on his fellow-villagers the need of not only coming to the gospel meeting, but, more importantly, coming to the Lord Jesus. I wondered if anyone would show up that night. Thankfully some came and listened to the message.

It is one thing to make excuses in this life, but to make excuses to the Saviour and to put off salvation will eventually have eternal consequences that are tragic and irreversible.

“They are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

“Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man” (Romans 2:1).

Forest Fire!

On September 1, 1894, in the deep woods of Minnesota, a huge forest fire came raging into a little lumber town named Hinckley. As walls of flame roared towards them, the terrified inhabitants raced in panic toward the railroad tracks, the only clear pathway through the forest.

As they ran wildly away from the town and its buildings, some already bursting into flame, a passenger train was heading toward Hinckley on its way to St. Paul. Jim Root, the engineer at the throttle, saw the fire and thought he could race it, but as he neared Hinckley he realized that it was too late. The trestle ahead had collapsed in flame.

Reversing his engine, Jim held his train there long enough to let the fleeing crowd of people clamber aboard — held it until the flames were surrounding his train. Then it was full speed backward toward the nearest deep water, Skunk Lake, six miles back down the line.

Through a furnace of fiery flames they plunged. Overheated air exploded against the locomotive, and glass was flying everywhere. The baggage car and crossties were burning.

Flying pieces of debris tore into Jim’s face and shoulders; flame scorched his hair, face and hands. Faint from the smoke, he slumped into unconsciousness until Jack McGowan, the firetender, threw a bucket of cold water on him. Gritting his teeth, he shifted the throttle back open and the train continued through the inferno with its load of screaming, crying and praying people.

At last, Jim could tell through his swollen eyes that they were at the lake. He slammed on the brakes and collapsed. The passengers tumbled off and broke down the fencing around the water and dived into its cool wetness as the fire roared over them.

McGowan and two other men pulled Jim Root from the cab. As they pulled his hands from the throttle, the skin stayed on the metal. They dragged him, badly burned, into the lake.

The fire passed, leaving the train looking like a skeleton of twisted metal. Jim Root survived, although scarred for life. His bravery and courage had saved many lives, but at a terrible cost to himself.

There is another who went through fire — the awful fire of the judgment of God upon sin. It was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who suffered on the cross — suffered more than we can ever know or understand — and did it to save others. (“He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” This was the taunt of the watching crowd at the crucifixion.) He too was scarred, and those scars make their appeal to this day: “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

The passengers on Jim Root’s train accepted his sacrifice for them in deep thankfulness and were saved from the fire. To accept the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus means salvation too: salvation from the terrible, never-dying fire of hell. The passengers were saved — are you saved? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

Freaking Out!

Brooke didn’t see the very large black bear in her backyard until she heard her dachshund scream in stunned fear. “I was freaking out! I was screaming at it!” Moments before, at 7:30 p.m. on an August night, the 22-year-old Alaskan had let her two small dogs out into the backyard without paying attention to who their playmate might be. Suddenly she heard “the most horrible sound in the world.” Looking outside she saw her little Fudge being held in the bear’s jaws like a salmon. All she could think about was that her dog was going to be eaten alive!

Passion swept over the unarmed Brooke, and she charged from the safety of her home toward the bear. Reaching the bear, she punched it in the face. The startled bear opened its mouth, letting go of the dachshund’s neck. Brooke never thought about what she had done until after the fact. Brooke told a reporter, “It was a stupid thing, but I couldn’t help it.” It was a gutsy, loving, unplanned reaction, and, in her own words, “a stupid thing.”

Were you aware that you are loved in a courageous, deep, planned and thoughtful way? You and I have been trapped in trouble much worse than the dachshund’s. It’s hard to feel it without the jaws of a huge black bar clamped around our necks and with its big paws pulling us toward it. Maybe you can feel a danger like “the bear’s teeth,” if you take a moment to pull up the news and skim the headlines. Today’s headlines include: “Slaughter in Syria,” “Boys Hit With Hatchet Before Fire,” “New Feud Over Falklands Heats Up,” and “Can a Nuclear Iran Be Deterred?” That’s enough to make most thoughtful people “freak out,” but the real problem is what causes these headlines — sin. Sin, selfish disobedience to God, has gotten us all into serious trouble. Its teeth have clamped down on every one of us, and its claws grip us tightly. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But it’s the love that meets the threat — intense, everlasting, purposeful and costly love — that impresses me.

Brooke, shaken up by the attack, said, “I wasn’t in my right mind at the moment. I’d never think of doing it again.” Impressive as her love was, it sure wasn’t premeditated. In contrast, God says, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3). His love and care for us is so deep that He tells us, “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). He also makes His message to us deeply personal: “The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

A small bite on her thumb and a severe shock were enough to make Brooke conclude, “It was a stupid thing, but I couldn’t help it.” Good thing the bear wasn’t any hungrier. At least it still had September to stock up on salmon for the winter. When a friend of Brooke’s came running toward them, the big black bear turned down the driveway and headed off into the bushes nearby. Fudge only suffered minor claw and bite marks. Brooke’s passionate “freaking out” saved the life of her pet at a pretty tiny price to her.

The price tag for the purposeful, planned, eternal love of Jesus Christ was far higher. He suffered rejection, insult, injustice, spitting, punching, beating, nails driven into His hands and feet and the torture of the cross. Then came the punishment by God for my sins and the sins of all who trust Him. Nothing was held back. Nothing was forgotten. “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

How will you respond to that love? I’m sure Fudge, the dog, was appreciative of Brooke’s love, but how have you responded to Christ’s love? Our response has everlasting consequences.

The Gospel of Joy

The gospel of Christ is a gospel of joy. Never forget that the gospel is “good tidings of great joy.” That is how it is described in the Book of books — the Bible. And do not forget the words that follow: “which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10). It is clear that there is a gospel of joy, and it is also clear that it is for you. Have you believed the glad tidings? Are you rejoicing in eternal life?

Now, do not make any mistake as to the gospel of joy. Remember that the gospel does not make people happy in their sins. It makes them happy by delivering them from their sins. There must be freedom before there can be joy, and we know that there can be no freedom in slavery to sin.

When the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, announced His mission, He said He was come to “preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18). His salvation is a mighty deliverance. It takes possession of the heart; it overcomes the world and makes its possessor the Lord’s free man. You know real joy if this deliverance is your experience.

People may tell you that if you get converted to God, you will cease to enjoy life. But the truth of the matter is that it is only when you receive God’s salvation that you can begin to enjoy life truly. The world cannot give a true testimony in this question, for it speaks of a thing it knows nothing about by actual experience. If a man has not known the joy of redeeming love, how can he compare it with worldly pleasure?

If up until this time you have missed salvation’s joy, you have missed the greatest and the only true abiding joy to be found on earth.

Have You Thought of This?

Never to be invited more
To enter by the golden door;
Never to see the Saviour’s face,
Never to share the wondrous place,
Never to feel the Father’s kiss —
Oh, sinner! Have you thought of this?

Never to thank Him for His love,
Never to dwell with Him above,
Never His likeness true to bear,
Never His glory bright to share,
All joy at His right hand to miss —
Oh, sinner! Have you thought of this?

Into the depths of endless woe
Rejecters of the Saviour go;
Forbid the thought that you who read
Should longer have no sense of need
Of the only way to realms of bliss —
Oh, sinner! Have you thought of this?

He

“He satisfieth the longing soul.”

Psalm 107:9

“My people shall be satisfied”:
’Tis God who speaks the word;
My goodness and My mercies will
Be with them, said the Lord.

For riches cannot satisfy,
Nor gold nor silver can;
’Tis only Jesus satisfies
And fills the heart of man.

He satisfies completely now
Each moment of the day;
His love can fill your empty soul
And care for you alway.

Oh, yes! my Saviour satisfies,
As nothing else can do;
The chiefest of ten thousand, He
Can satisfy you too.

The altogether lovely One—
Oh, won’t you taste and see?
For Jesus always satisfies;
He satisfieth me!

Hungry for Intimacy

On April 27, 2012, Susan Savage couldn’t get into her neighbor Yvette Vickers’ home. Susan was alarmed by the yellowing fan mail from around the world for the former actress that was stuffed into Vickers’ mailbox. Nearby, her gate sat barricaded against intruders. Pushing through, Susan searched for signs of life. The beautiful home had been used for famous photo shoots but lay cluttered with the debris of life, including letters scattered through the rooms and halls. Upstairs a small space heater still hummed and a cordless phone lay inert on the floor. Yvette’s computer was still running, glowing in the gloom. Somewhere nearby she had a rough draft of her autobiography, but Yvette lay on the floor dead. Experts believe she had died of “natural causes” almost a year before.

Yvette had been married twice, had many other male friends and was admired by thousands. Her neighbor Susan said, “To the end she still got cards and letters from all over the world requesting photos and still wanting to be her friend.” Those letters just kept coming long after she was dead.

How could someone have so many friends and die unnoticed? How can people pile up the Facebook friends, get connected with hundreds on LinkedIn and have thousands of Twitter followers and yet feel so alone? Why can we interact with more people than ever and feel even more alone?

Eric Klinenberg insists, “It’s the quality, not the quantity, of social interaction that best predicts loneliness.” Being deeply known, accepted and loved are important to all of us. Flattering requests for our photo, compliments on our artwork, and praise for our opinion don’t provide the deep “emotional nutrition” that we innately crave. We were created for something far more intense, personal and enduring.

God’s Word, the Bible, says, “God created man in His own image” (Genesis 1:27). We were made to share a closeness and an intimacy of feeling that for many is a distant dream. Anger, envy, bitterness, selfishness, rebellion and lust creep in to pollute relationships that were meant for joy and nearness. It isn’t only the “other guy’s fault,” because God has said, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

More than anyone else, the Lord Jesus Christ has done what was necessary to break down the barriers that separate. He has suffered personal rejection, physical suffering and the anger of a holy God against sin to have the right to say, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Now that is a quality relationship if ever there was one! One side, the innocent side, of the broken relationship has chosen to take all the suffering and pain so that a reconciling can take place. Where else can you find love like that?

We’re not talking about exchanging fan mail, clicking a “like” button or pressing “connect.” Speaking of the future when he would be in the physical presence of the living man Christ Jesus who had died for him, the Apostle Paul said, “Then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). He also said he would see Jesus Christ “face to face.”

We’d all agree with Susan Savage when she said of Yvette, “We’ve all been crying about this; nobody should be left alone like that.” It’s right to care that no one dies alone and forgotten. How much more important to respond to the call from the Lord Jesus, “Come unto Me.” That will open up the whole depth of meaning behind His promise to those that receive Him as Saviour, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

Hurricane!

Hurricanes do not strike without warning. From the day the first small disturbance is spotted in the tropical waters, they are watched and measured and examined constantly. As intensity increases, forecasters begin issuing storm “advisories” which, in time, place an area on hurricane “watch.” At last comes the dreaded hurricane warning, and it is time to take shelter — or to escape.

In the case of hurricane Andrew, there was almost a week of tracking the storm — almost a week when it could be seen blowing in a straight path toward South Florida. There were certainly warnings!

Governor Lawton Chiles issued an appeal on the emergency network, pleading with the residents of the threatened area to evacuate.

The Dade County Manager: “We’re looking at a very, very bad storm, and it’s coming straight at us.”

The Director of the National Hurricane Center: “It’s on a dead course for South Florida,” and he added, “I hoped I would never experience this.”

Another forecast: “It’s the Big One. We always knew it would come.”

It was hard to believe the warnings. The Sunday before the hurricane was warm and sunny, with a fitful breeze blowing in from the ocean. Only the ominous red and black warning flags and the serious voices of the forecasters told a grim story of death and destruction heading toward the area.

There were believers. Nearly a million people streamed away from the South Florida coast as the day wore on. Thousands more moved to temporary shelters. As late as 11:00 p.m. that night the stars were shining, but a little after midnight the wind began to pick up. Soon the wind became a roaring gale, and as the storm approached landfall, trees began to fall, roofs to blow away, and buildings to crumble.

Would anyone willingly brave that storm’s fury?

Two men were outside as one pleaded with his brother to come in, before finally giving up and going inside himself. After the storm, the sensible man sadly talked of his brother’s death: “Couldn’t nobody get him inside!”

There were those who refused to leave flimsy buildings, and others with sad stories to tell. But God was merciful, and there was comparatively little loss of life in spite of the devastation. Most had sought shelter in time.

There are other storm warnings flying today. Not just the increasingly severe hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and other upheavals of nature, but the turmoil of the inhabitants of the world. Nations are splitting up, section against section — tribe against tribe — clan against clan. There is crime in the streets; there are storm signals everywhere we look. The word today is “Flee! Seek shelter!”

Where?

Oh, not to an underground shelter or a concrete and steel building or a distant safe corner of the world (if there be such!), but to a Person — a Person who is all-powerful, a Person who can say to the wind and the waves, “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39), and the winds and the waves obey Him.

That Person is the Son of God — the Lord Jesus Christ. He offers eternal security to all who put their trust in Him; that means security forever and ever!

And for now, He will be a sure Guide through all the problems and puzzles of life today. Everyone who has trusted in Christ, who has received Him by faith in His name, can be sure of God’s love and care through every circumstance of life, and a warm “Welcome home!” at the end.

If you find that the winds and waves of trouble are overwhelming you, why not take God’s promise for yourself? Why not experience for yourself that, for those who “cry unto the Lord in their trouble ... He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still” (Psalm 107:28-29).

“O God ... when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. For Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower” (Psalm 61:1-3).

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled” (Psalm 46:1-3).

I Often Look at Him

“Would you like a little book about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour?” said a man as he spoke to a woman in the door of a little mountain cabin.

“Oh, yes, thank you! I often look at Him!” she answered as she asked him into her home.

“Do you? Where?” he asked.

Pointing to a picture on the wall above the fireplace, she exclaimed, “There!” The picture was a painting of Christ on the cross.

“But He is not there on the cross anymore. He was there once, but He is not there now. He was there to do the work of redemption. He is not there now, because the work is all done. He is now in heaven at the right hand of God.”

This was a new and wonderful truth to her. She knew that Christ had died on the cross, but she had never grasped that He is now risen and glorified.

Yes, Christ is risen. The Apostle Paul says, “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain.” But our faith is not vain! To us who believe, His resurrection is the blessed proof that our sins are blotted out forever.

“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

I'm Not Done Sinning Yet

They had a potluck lunch at the office, and Albert joined his coworkers to sample homemade food and to visit with them before getting back to the pressures of his job. When lunch was over, one of the men shared pictures of a recent trip he’d taken to Saudi Arabia. Abdul had just returned from a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca.

There were photos of minarets and a glittering golden mosque. Crowds of pilgrims in traditional dress bowed down to pray in the glaring, midday sun. Abdul told about the rituals he performed while in Mecca: a special walk circling a house of prayer seven times and drinking from a sacred well. Albert found the pictures interesting, since he had never traveled to the Middle East with its different culture and landscape.

After the slideshow and as they were getting ready to return to their desks, someone called over to Sarim, Abdul’s friend and fellow-countryman. “Why haven’t you gone on a pilgrimage yet, Sarim?” The other workers knew that in the religion these men professed, every able-bodied person who could afford it was expected to go to Mecca once in their lifetime.

“Well,” he answered with a smile, “I’m not done sinning yet.” This brought a general laugh to the crowd, but Albert felt sad for his coworkers. Though still a young man, Albert knew that sin was no laughing matter. If Sarim, Abdul or any of the other workers will not come to God, seeking His way of forgiveness for sins, they will land in the judgment of hell at the end of their lives. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Knowing of the coming judgment, Albert had accepted God’s offer of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ and had become a Christian believer as a young boy. Now he had a new nature that wanted to please God. No expensive pilgrimage or any kind of religious ritual or good works could give him the very real peace he felt in his soul today, knowing his sins were forgiven.

People all around the world are blinded by the teachings of good works and religious rituals outweighing their sins, and they have no peace. They can only HOPE that what they do will earn them a place of favor when they die. Ephesians 2:9 tells us plainly that salvation is “not of works, lest any man should boast.” Here is the true way of escape from our sentence of judgment: “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28).

Christianity doesn’t ask us to DO anything, but to rest on what has already been DONE for us. Salvation’s work was FINISHED more than two thousand years ago. It was at that time God sent His Son Jesus Christ down to this world, for the purpose of redeeming mankind from sin.

Jesus was born to a virgin in the land of Israel. After living a short life of a little over thirty-three years, He was nailed to a cross of wood, and He died there, shedding His blood to pay our debt of sin. He rose from the grave on the third day and lives in heaven now, awaiting the time when He will call all who believe in Him to join Him there.

Instead of trying to earn a place in heaven with good works, come to Jesus Christ and confess your failure to live up to God’s perfect standard. Be open and honest with Him about your sins ... He already knows all about them. He loves you and is waiting to forgive your sins and to give you peace and His promise of everlasting life.

Do you think it is in your power to be “done sinning”? Do you still think you can do something to earn heaven? The answer to both questions is NO. Instead, why not take God’s gift of free salvation? We hope that someday all Albert’s coworkers will have their eyes opened to their need of God’s forgiveness through Jesus, accepting His FINISHED work for them. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

In the Nick of Time

We read in the Bible that King David, when in deep distress, cried to the Lord. He tells us, “The Lord ... heard my cry. He brought me up ... out of an horrible pit ... and set my feet upon a rock” (Psalm 40:1-2).

Recently, a man named Matt told of an experience that matched how King David felt. He had traveled to a beach on the coast of Australia to enjoy the sun, sand and sea, and he was standing a few yards from shore when a huge wave washed over him and knocked him off his feet. He struggled to find a footing, but there was only water underneath him. After some minutes of frantic but useless swimming, he found himself hundreds of yards from the crowded beach. He had been caught off guard by a riptide or undercurrent, a danger the local people were well aware of. His shouts were lost in the noise of the wind and waves, and as he was growing weaker, he was certain he was going to drown.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a big fellow on an extra-large surfboard appeared beside him and ordered him to hang onto the board “for dear life.” As he told the story, he said, “My savior then helped haul me onto the board where I just flopped helplessly,” and in this way they rode the waves back to shore, back to solid footing and safety.

Who was this savior? He was a lifeguard that had noticed, over the crowded beach, one man in terrible danger and had rushed to his aid. Matt said, “I owe my life to that Australian lifeguard.”

Although most of us will never be in danger of riptides threatening our lives, yet there are many “undercurrents” and pitfalls in life waiting to trap us. Satan is a master at placing traps for young and old. He knows all the things that entice us, knows we are weak and sinful, and causes many to fall into the “sea of sin.” But the good news is that the Lord Jesus is our “Great Lifeguard.” He saw us all sinking and in danger, not only of ruining our lives here and now, but, more importantly, of losing our souls for all eternity. He knew we desperately needed help, so He came into the world as our Saviour, right down to where we were, and He stands ready to pull us to safety. Matt knew that if someone didn’t come to where he was in the water and save him, he was going to drown. A lifeguard sitting on the beach couldn’t do much for him. You and I must realize that not only are we lost sinners, but we cannot save ourselves, and we must call on our “Great Lifeguard” to save us. Matt’s lifeguard saved his life for the present, but the Lord Jesus did much more. He came to earth to seek the lost, willing to die in our place so that we could live, not just in this life, but for all eternity with Him. Isn’t it wonderful that our great Saviour has such a large, loving heart that He reaches out and saves all who call upon Him!

The lifeguard told Matt he was so close to death that he was saved “in the nick of time”! Since none of us knows when our “nick of time” might be, it is important that we listen and obey the Word of God. “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6), because “now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Our Saviour, Jesus, is not “sitting on the beach somewhere.” He is beside you right now and talking to your heart. Will you accept His offer?

The Invisible Deadline

There is a time we know not when,
A point we know not where,
That marks the destiny of men
To glory or despair.

There is a line by us unseen
That crosses every path,
The hidden boundary between
God’s patience and His wrath.

How far may we go on in sin?
How long will God forbear?
Where does hope end and where begin
The confines of despair?

An answer from the skies is sent —
You who from God depart —
While it is said, “Today — repent
And harden not your heart.”

It Was for Me

One afternoon a class of young girls was gathering in a little cottage for Bible study. One girl had been learning during the week the words of Isaiah 53, and as she was walking along toward the cottage she repeated the verses to herself. They merely sounded to her like a lovely song or a pleasant voice — she had not yet understood the meaning of being healed by His stripes.

After prayer, with which the class always began, Mary stood to repeat her chapter. She said the first four verses, but when she reached the fifth verse, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed,” tears filled her eyes. Before reaching the end of the verse, her head sank down and her tears fell on the open Bible before her as she cried: “It was for me — it was for me!”

The intense solemnity of the moment held the teacher silent. Then as Mary’s tears still fell, the older woman said, “Let us thank Him, my dear, that it was for you.”

They knelt down, and after the teacher had thanked the Lord for opening the eyes of the girl to see Jesus as her substitute, the tears were dried and Mary whispered, “Lord Jesus, thank You for dying for me and for taking my punishment.” Then the quiet calm of being accepted by God filled her heart, and she had peace with God.

Have you ever experienced the joy of knowing that He was wounded for your transgressions, that He was bruised for your iniquities, that the punishment of your peace was upon Him? If not, you are outside in the darkness of unbelief and death. Until you accept the love of a living, loving Saviour and see Him as your sin-bearer, there is no peace, no life, no joy for you.

Oh, believe this love that is yearning over you. It is stronger than death and as infinite as God Himself.

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons [children] of God” (1 John 3:1).

John 5 and 24

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

When I was lost and dead in sin

And judgment lay before,

God breathed a precious word to me:

John 5 and 24.

I trusted in His finished work;

What could I ask for more

Than His unchanging Word of truth?

John 5 and 24!

No condemnation NOW, my soul!

My fear of God is o’er;

That precious verse speaks peace to me —

John 5 and 24.

I KNOW eternal life IS mine

Since Christ my judgment bore;

My hope is founded on that verse,

John 5 and 24.

I soon shall see Him face to face,

And then I’ll praise Him more

For pardon through His faithful Word:

John 5 and 24!

La Push

The small harbor town of La Push, Washington, is located where the Quileute River, flowing out of the Olympic Mountains, empties into the Pacific Ocean. On the west, rugged islands and sea stacks just off shore provide the town a little protection from winds and waves. Most of the people who live in La Push belong to the Quileute Indian tribe. The houses in town, all within a couple blocks of the harbor, are just a few feet above water level. The townspeople of La Push know about water. Most of them make their living by fishing or crabbing. Recently tribal members from the town made an unusual request of the United States government. They asked if they could relocate their entire town to nearby higher ground belonging to the Olympic National Park so that, if a tsunami hit the Northwest Coast, their tribe might have a chance of surviving.

The request for relocation went to the U.S. Congress and they passed the Quileute Tribe’s Flood and Tsunami Bill granting them 785 acres for a new town site on higher ground. The law was signed by the President of the United States.

Whenever people foresee a problem and prepare in advance to meet it, they are acting wisely. God gave men and women ears, eyes, memories and the power to think so that they would use these gifts and not constantly be swept away by overpowering problems. He expects them to use the gifts He has given them when it comes to matters of the soul as well. He doesn’t want anyone to bury their heads in the sand and act as if all is fine when it is not. “Sin entered into the world,” and because “all have sinned,” God’s judgment is coming. Sin and judgment go together as surely as earthquake and tsunami do. Unlike a tsunami which “might” happen within a lifetime, God’s judgment is “certainly” coming, and one lifetime is what God has given to each one to prepare for it. It is coming because God in His holiness must judge sin. The final result of this judgment will be that souls who love sin and want nothing of God’s grace will be cast out of His presence into the darkness of hell.

Souls who want to escape the impending judgment need to repent and place their faith in God’s Son. To repent means to detest sin which was formerly loved and to love God who formerly was detested. They need to believe in the Lord Jesus because in Him all God’s love and wisdom was revealed to this world. When He hung on the cross and gave up His life, He made the only sacrifice that could ever remove the stain of sin.

Since the Lord Jesus suffered on the cross, God declares that all who believe on His blessed name are forgiven, cleansed and safe on higher ground from the judgment which must overtake sinners. The President of the U.S. signed the bill enabling the town of La Push to move to higher ground and safety from a possible tsunami, but the highest authority in all the universe, God Himself, has declared that souls who believe on His Son will be safe from the terrible judgment which must overtake sinners. None is higher than Him, and, by taking Him at His word, men and women can have great peace.

Will you foresee the trouble that lurks ahead for everyone who remains in their sins, and repent and believe on the Lord Jesus that you might find safety? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Limitations

The highest speed possible: light at 186,282 miles per second.

The oldest living organism: Methuselah Pine Tree (California) at 4,700 years.

The fastest land animal: a cheetah at 70 miles per hour.

The physical world we live in is full of limitations. To be part of it is to be bounded by time and space. Man, being part of this world, has limitations also. The oldest living human being is believed to be 127 years old, but most of us won’t live nearly that long. A limited time is all we are allowed. If man only belonged to the physical world like a mere animal, he wouldn’t need God. But man is also a spiritual being with a living soul. He was created with the capabilities to know and love his Creator. He belongs to two worlds at the same time, the spiritual and the physical.

The souls of men and women will continue to live on after their bodies crumble in death. Those who have been redeemed will spend eternity in the glories of God’s presence. There will be no limitations of the joy they experience when they see Him as He is. The joy they possess will never end. Psalm 16:11 reads, “Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

The redemption of the human race is possible because there are no limitations to God’s love. He knew that man would fall into sin before He ever made him, and in a past eternity He drew up salvation’s plan. In this plan Jesus, the Son of God, would become a man and give His life for sinners. At Calvary’s cross this plan was carried out. Sin had incurred an infinite debt; at Calvary the Lord Jesus made a sacrifice of infinite value to cancel out the debt of sin completely. Souls who trust the Saviour have the “bill” they incurred from sin marked paid in full. Through faith they obtain the forgiveness of sins. “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more,” say the Holy Scriptures concerning believers in Christ. When the Lord Jesus died and shed His precious blood, He paid the ransom so that sinners might be redeemed. Love for sinners brought the Lord Jesus to the cross, and because of the cross all those who trust Him can know, enjoy and revel in His love forever.

The cross shows out God’s limitless power and love to save. He can save all those who hear the gospel message and place their trust in Him. However, because He also is holy, just and good, He must judge all who refuse His offer of grace. Souls who in this life never repent and turn from their sins will pay for their sins by being removed out of His presence and cast into hell. Salvation’s plan was carried out; the Great Redeemer has come; God’s love at the cross has shined brilliantly forth, but, sadly, many men and women want none of it. In the life to come, what will become of them? In Matthew 25:46, the Lord Jesus spoke these solemn words: “These shall go away into everlasting punishment.”

God can save the most depraved sinner and make him or her fit for heaven, but He cannot save a soul who refuses His message of love and grace. He invites, He reasons, He draws, but He will never force His love on anyone.

The physical world is full of restrictions. But there are no limitations when it comes to God. In His boundless wisdom, power and love, He made a way that sinners might be redeemed. Won’t you come to the Lord Jesus by faith that you might be saved?

Love's Greatest Monument

The Taj Mahal is the jewel of Indian architecture. It was built by an Indian emperor, Shah Jehan, in memory of and as a burying place for his favorite wife. Even after 300 years the Taj Mahal is as beautiful as when it was built with white marble inlaid with precious stones. It was a monument to love — the love of a rich man for his wife.

The love of Shah Jehan was love for the woman who loved him, but there is a far greater love than that: It is the love of God for us who have sinned against Him by going our own way. The Bible says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

And again: “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Many who have visited India have gazed in admiration at the beauty of the Taj Mahal, and some would be moved by the love of the man who built such a monument in memory of his wife. But millions the world over, as well as in India, have marveled at the love of God in sending His Son to die for their sins. With deep thankfulness they have accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and made him Lord in their lives. They have read His words: “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).

We have all sinned against the God who loves — the God who sent His Son to die for us. The cross of Christ is the greatest monument to love — God’s love. Respond to that love today; gladly accept Jesus as Saviour, and receive Him as the Lord of your life.

Those who die unforgiven meet the judgment of the One whose love they despised: Jesus Christ who died for them and rose again from the dead to be their Saviour. He is alive and is waiting for you to call upon Him. The Bible says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Mr. Garrett's Gift of Shoes

In the early 1800s, a number of farmers and merchants who thought slavery was unjust banded together to form a secret escape route for runaway slaves. This escape route became known as the Underground Railroad, not because trains were involved, but because slaves traveling by foot could find food, shelter and guidance at stations spread out along the way. The most traveled branch of the Underground Railroad began in the Tidelands of Maryland and wound north to Delaware, then on to Philadelphia, Boston, and eventually Ontario, Canada. One of the stops along this route was at a large, substantial, red brick house in Wilmington, Delaware, that belonged to a man named Garrett. Historians relate that nearly 3000 slaves were helped by Mr. Garrett on their journeys to freedom.

Perhaps the most famous conductor, or guide, on the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman. Harriet, an escaped slave herself, wanted other slaves to know the precious freedom she had found. Even though it was very dangerous, she traveled back into the South to guide many slaves along the Underground Railroad.

The journey north to freedom was full of dangers and difficulties. Mostly the slaves would travel by night and rest by day. Once they began their journey, the courage of the runaways might falter at any time. Harriet Tubman knew she had to find ways to bolster their courage to keep them from turning back. In a low voice, as they traveled she would tell them as many things as she could think of to encourage them. One of those things was that just across the Maryland border in Delaware they were going to stop at Mr. Garrett’s house. It was Mr. Garrett’s habit to provide a new pair of shoes for each of them. Often the runaway slaves would guffaw at the notion of a person giving them anything of value for free. Their lives had been so full of hard labor and cruelty that they found it hard to believe that anyone would be willing to give something and demand nothing from them in return.

After days of traveling through swamps and forests and dodging fugitive slave hunters, the escapees would arrive at Mr. Garrett’s home, and then, just like Harriet told them, Mr. Garrett gave them each a pair of new shoes. He knew they still had hundreds of miles to walk before they reached Canada where fugitive slave hunters could no longer capture them, and he wanted to help them all he could.

When I heard this story about the runaway slaves finding it hard to believe that a stranger would give them a pair of shoes, it reminded me of another far greater situation that affects us all. Often people find it hard to believe in the idea that God loves them so much that He would give His only begotten Son for them. God gave His Son so that sinners might find forgiveness and be made fit for heaven. God can offer the gift of salvation to poor sinners because the Lord Jesus suffered and bled on Calvary’s cross. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” What an immense gift His salvation is! Many people find it hard to believe that God could possibly give so much. This is true because sinners live in harsh conditions of spiritual poverty and bondage. Sin is an evil taskmaster. It demands much and gives nothing of value in return. It drives people to commit acts of wickedness and cruelty. Some people might say that not all sin is an evil taskmaster, but it isn’t true. Sin, of any sort, has the terrible effect of leading souls away from God, the source of every blessing. Sin has a way of dimming the spiritual perceptions of the heart so that God’s goodness and grace are hard to see.

Runaway slaves found it hard to believe about a gift of shoes, and souls who have run into sin and away from God find it also hard to believe in the goodness of God. But they are wrong, just as those runaway slaves were wrong. God is ready to give the gift of salvation to all who believe on the name of His Son. “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name” (John 20:31). It is safe, wise and right to trust Him and take this gift He offers.

God is good and worthy of all our trust. “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). Don’t let sin limit your thoughts about God. His grace is abundant and free, and He is very willing to keep His promises about salvation. Won’t you leave the spiritual poverty of sin behind and trust Christ today?

One Child at a Time

Experts have estimated the number of orphans on the planet to be in excess of 150 million. If it helps to get a handle on the size of this number, it is roughly half the population of the U.S.A.

When a family opens up their hearts and home and adopts an orphan, the tragedy is lessened — one child at a time.

Children who have lost their parents are called orphans, but many human beings (adults included) are living as spiritual orphans. The vast majority of the 7.03 billion people on the globe are living without a relationship with God the Father. They lack an abiding sense of belonging to one greater and more wonderful than themselves. They also don’t have an inheritance — heavenly home — to look forward to receiving.

They are orphans indeed, but thank God He is in the adopting business. He is reaching out to spiritual orphans, telling them that through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, they can become one of His children forever.

When a person believes in Christ, they receive the forgiveness of sins, and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in their hearts, making them cry out to God, “Abba [Dear], Father.” What a relief it is for a soul to come into this relationship. It is truly as great as a neglected orphan being adopted and finding out he or she now has a home and loving parents. They also are to receive an inheritance — a home in heaven where there will be unspeakable joy in the presence of God.

Do you know God as your Father through the Lord Jesus Christ? One child at a time, God is calling out to sinners and making them His own sons and daughters. It must be one child at a time, because each of us has to answer the gospel call and trust Christ on our own.

One Sin

Next to me sat a young girl. Everyone around us was busily talking, and we two alone seemed out of it. Turning to her, I said, “Can you tell how many sins it would take to shut someone out of heaven?”

She replied thoughtfully, “Could God allow one sin in heaven any more than a thousand?”

“No,” I said. “One sin in the Garden of Eden brought ruin to man and to all the earth beside. All the misery in all the world is the result of that one sin in Eden. If God allowed one sin in heaven, it would ruin that too.”

“Then why did you ask me that question?”

“Because I want to ask you another: Have you ever committed one sin?” Her eyelids drooped, and she remained silent. In a moment I saw a large tear running down her cheek, and she softly said, “Yes, more than one.”

“Could you,” I said, “put your finger on one, one that you remember?”

Another time of silence followed. Then, with evident pain, she said, “Yes, not long ago I denied what I knew to be true. I wanted to avoid difficulty.”

“Well then,” I said, “by your own confession, you have committed at least one sin. You said what I believe is true: One sin would shut us out of heaven as well as a thousand. You are then shut out already. What are you going to do?”

A change came over her like a flash. Her eyes, still full of tears, looked straight at me as she said reverently, “The Lord Jesus died for me. He is my only hope.”

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

Only One Church

John Wesley once, in a dream, found himself at the gates of hell. He knocked and asked who were within. “Are there any Roman Catholics here?” he asked.

“Yes,” was the answer.

“Any Presbyterians?” he asked, and again the answer was, “Yes.”

“Are there any Wesleyans here?”

“Yes, we have some of those, too,” came the answer.

Disappointed and dismayed, especially by the last reply, he turned his step upward and at last came to the gates of heaven. Here he repeated the same questions.

“Any Wesleyans here?” he anxiously inquired.

The answer was, “No.”

And as he named the other denominations, to his dismay, each time the answer was, “No.”

“Then whom do you have here?” he asked in desperation.

“We know nothing here of any of those names you have mentioned,” said the angel. “They are all Christians here — born again people. Of these we have a great multitude which no man can number, gathered out of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues.”

Down through the centuries, there have been bitter arguments over religion, and especially the question: Which church is right? It is distressing to hear someone insist that only members of this church or that denomination will get to heaven. How foolish that is, when the Bible makes it so plain that Christ is the way to heaven, and not the church.

Be sure that God will not ask the sinner: “What church did you join?” But He will inquire, “What have you done with Christ?” The only members of any church or denomination who will be in heaven will be those who, as lost sinners, have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.

But there is a church of which every member, according to the Bible, will be in heaven. It is called “the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). According to the New Testament, a person does not become a member of this church until he knows the Lord Jesus Christ as his own Saviour.

The church began at Jerusalem after the Lord Jesus was taken back to heaven. Universally it includes all the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the world. At the second coming of Christ, this universal church will be taken up to heaven to be forever with the Lord. In that day, “The dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain [all Christians] shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Are you a member of this one true church?

Perishable

The package was plainly marked “Perishable,” with a bright green postal sticker. I think the delivery man was very glad to get rid of it when we heard it hit our porch floor with a juicy splash. We came running to satisfy our curiosity, but our noses told us at once that there was SOMETHING WRONG inside! Packages shouldn’t smell like that. And what was that little puddle around it?

Perishable indeed! The sticker was sticky and could scarcely be read, so there was sure proof that it was true. I suppose the post office was expected to handle it quickly, but it was not sent air mail, even though it came across the continent, and it was warm summertime.

Do you understand that word “perishable”? It applies to you, too. Perishable indeed, you are! No delivery service can bring you to God’s home as long as that label is true of you. There is no doubt that our package was full of bacteria, and there is no doubt that you are full of sin. Nasty little sins like snapping at Dad or Mother or brother or sister. In fact, God’s Word says that you have been ready to tell lies ever since you were born. And as you grow older, the sins get deeper until you are all tangled up with the cords of sin. For this reason, God marks you as “perishable,” and in your own heart you know that this is true.

The sender of that package had a heart full of kindness, and her plan was to give us a nice treat. She didn’t reckon on bacteria. In fact, I think she lacked plain common sense. What else could she expect?

Pretty paper and a nice card do nothing to kill bacteria. They just naturally work if they get a chance, and that’s what happened. Sin is like that, too. It’s there in your heart, and it just naturally works. You are blind if you cannot see the problem. You are certainly perishable.

But, here’s the good news. God has the answer, so that you will NOT PERISH, but have everlasting life. I suppose if that lady had really been determined that we should get her package in top condition, she might have hopped on a plane and a taxi and brought it to us herself, but that would be much too costly. But God looked at His perishable creatures, and He did not say, “Too costly.” He loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that we would not perish. Nobody — NOBODY — ever loved you like God does.

What must you do to be saved? Only one thing — believe God’s wonderful offer, and take His perfect gift as your own. Then “NEVER PERISH” will be the wonderful promise that God gives to you. It is God who saves, and God who keeps — forever.

But I have not yet told you what we found in that package. It had once been full of big, red, sweet, juicy fresh-picked cherries. Now it was a dripping moldy mess, fit for nothing but garbage. Her good intentions did nothing at all to make her gift acceptable. We wrote our thanks to her, but we didn’t tell her the whole story. It was only cherries after all, and not children that were destroyed, and she never knew.

Aren’t you glad it wasn’t you who were destroyed? It could be, if you go on without Jesus as your Saviour. He saves and He keeps His own. His home and all its glory can be yours because God gave His only Son to die for your sins. Even gold is perishable, but never, never in all eternity will God allow the weakest one to perish who really trusts Him now.

“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 Point in Question Is Jesus Himself

Jesus Christ represents the most extraordinary life our world has ever known. Even atheists acknowledge the staggering impact the Lord Jesus has made on our society.

The Irish historian and atheist W. Lecky wrote of that impact: “The character of Jesus has been the highest pattern of virtue ... and has exerted so deep an influence that it may be truly said that the record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind than all the discourses of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists.”

People view Him with considerable debate from two dissimilar quarters. He is respected and even revered, or He is simply ignored and even despised. What’s the basis of the dispute? It’s not about His teachings on morality or behavior. It’s not about His miracles, about whether they were supernatural or illusions. It’s not even about the fact or fiction of the resurrection.

The controversy centers on His words about salvation. He declared that His death on the cross was the door through which sinful humanity might come to God, be forgiven, and experience a new kind of life. He called it “abundant life.” “I am come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

These words cannot be called “moderately” important. C. S. Lewis, who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, made his living selling stories, but he knew the difference between a fairy tale and the truth. He said, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” Would you say the words of Christ are of no importance or of infinite importance?

The theologian Augustine said something about the unique words of Jesus: “I have read Plato and Cicero’s sayings, and they’re very wise and very beautiful, but I never read in either of them, ‘Come unto Me, all [you who] labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28).”

Jesus uniquely invites us to come to Himself. And notice, He did not say, I came to give you morality, religion, rituals. Rather, He came to give us Himself. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The Apostle John wrote, “[Whoever has] the Son [has] life” (1 John 5:12). Jesus Himself is the point in question.

Recently, friends have argued about whether atheists without a religion can have morality, a standard of behavior. Of course they can. God wrote a moral code, that is, a standard of behavior — call it the conscience if you like — in the software of every human mind. But the argument misses the impact of the life of Jesus Christ. You see, the core of Christianity is not morality or rules or even religion — but Christ Himself. HE is the issue.

Now I have a question for you. What is the Gospel of Matthew? It is the first of the four gospel accounts in the New Testament. They each present Jesus Christ, not morality, not religion. It makes for very interesting reading, and as C. S. Lewis reminds us, this is not “moderately important.” Go ahead, pick up that New Testament, and begin. Let Him impact you.

The Lord Jesus said it this way: “The words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

Profit or Loss?

What will it profit, when life here is done,
Though great worldly wisdom I gain,
If in seeking knowledge I utterly fail
The wisdom of God to obtain?

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 farthest corners I see,
If going my way and doing my will,
I miss what His love planned for me?

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?

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

Recovered After 42 Years

Bob Russell stood in shock next to the empty parking spot outside his apartment in Philadelphia. His Austin Healey 3000, which had cost the 24-year-old graduate student $3,000 to buy from a friend, was gone. Stolen. Vanished from his life forever. The beautiful cream-colored, convertible, sporty British import that he’d used to impress his girlfriend Cynthia on their first two dates didn’t have any theft insurance on it. What college student would buy anything other than liability when they were scraping together everything needed to pay their bills?

A clerk at the police station took down the details of the incident on their old Teletype machine. There were no glitzy national crime databases back in 1970. No doubt the detectives worked diligently but no clues surfaced. The car had to be replaced, but only in Bob’s driveway, not in his heart. Every Austin Healey that passed for the next decade, two decades, three decades got a second or third look. Was it the missing magical car he’d gone out in with his now wife of many years? He hung on to the keys and vehicle registration, just in case.

As hard as it may seem to believe, you and I were stolen years ago as well. Not hot-wired in a parking lot, but tempted into disobedience to God. We get angry, tell “white-lies,” make cutting remarks and more. We call them “stumbles,” “mistakes,” “being human,” and “messing up.” God calls all that sin. God says that takes us away from enjoying His loving care. “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:2).

Searching for a Unique Car

The mammoth World Wide Web began to grow and spawn the massive garage sales of Craigslist and eBay. Bob began checking eBay listings constantly hunting for that elusive Austin Healey. The thief or perhaps someone duped by the thief forty-two years ago sold Bob’s car on Craigslist to the Beverly Hills Car Club with a nice clean-looking title registered in the state of New York. Bob was still checking every Austin Healey VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) on eBay.

But Bob kept on searching. Not for any old Austin Healey 3000 — for his Austin Healey. The Lord Jesus isn’t a religious concept. He’s a person searching not for crowds but for you personally. God has the diligence described here: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” (Luke 15:4). God is going after one person who has lost their way in His universe — you.

The Cost of Recovery

Somebody at the Beverly Hills Car Club detailed the car, snapped a bunch of photos, typed in product data including a VIN number and listed it online, on eBay. On Friday, May 11, 2012, they had a call from the now 66-year-old Bob Russell. “I hate to sound indelicate, but you’re selling a stolen car.” What a wonderful ending that wasn’t. The FBI database didn’t list the car as stolen. Bob didn’t have his original police report — just keys, vehicle registration, signed affidavits from friends and a believable story. The car dealer, having paid $27,000 to buy and ship the car, graciously offered it to Bob for a mere $24,000.

But it wasn’t their car. Once stolen, always stolen — even over 350,000 hours later. Lt. Fred McQuiggan found the error — one digit mistyped from the old Teletype report into the modern FBI database. He fixed the one digit in the long ugly number and figured out a way to relist the stolen car without making it a new theft and the L.A. police showed up at the Beverly Hills Car Club and impounded the car. Over $1,500 of shipping, impoundment fees and travel expenses later, the car is sitting in Bob’s Texas garage. With a brake job and some loving restoration, Cynthia and Bob can go back to their dating days in their very own cream-colored Austin Healey 3000.

What the Lord does for His own had a far greater price than the price Bob paid to get his car back. God puts it this way: “Our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity” (Titus 2:13-14). The Lord Jesus loves us personally and came to earth, suffered the punishment for sin on the cross, died, rose again and returned to heaven. Now He tells us, no matter how many hours we’ve been separated from Him, that He wants us back. We simply need to accept that we are sinners, not stumblers, and go to Him for the forgiveness He offers through Jesus Christ. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Revealing Light

The Bible tells us that God dwells “in the light which no man can approach unto” (1 Timothy 6:16).

And God “will bring to light the hidden things of darkness” (1 Corinthians 4:5).

We all know there are many degrees of light, from the candle we might use when the power goes off to modern light fixtures that are as good as daylight. Recently a friend told us he had bought a very expensive LED flashlight, and he wanted us to see it. Now we also had a very bright flashlight, so we didn’t think that his could be any better than ours.

He came over, and we turned off all the lights, closed the doors, and shone our flashlight first. The warm yellow light filled the room, and it seemed our friend’s light could surely do no better. Then he switched his light on. Wow! The whole room was flooded with bright white light. To my surprise and embarrassment, the mirror that had seemed sparkling clean now appeared so badly streaked that it looked as though it had never been cleaned! This flashlight could be adjusted, and a sharp, narrow beam could put any item in the spotlight. When we switched the room light back on, the mirror again seemed shining clean, but now I was aware that it was not really clean at all. The bright light had revealed what was hidden before.

So what happens if you and I are like that mirror, appearing good enough to others? God is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and [cannot] look on iniquity” (Habakkuk 1:13). All our secret sins are in plain view to Him, and He says none of us are righteous. We are streaked and dirty with sin, and we need to be thoroughly cleaned before we are ready for heaven’s holy light.

What are we to do, and how can we clean ourselves? We can’t. The good news is that, in His love and mercy, God Himself made a way by giving His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die in our place. When we come to Christ to be made clean, He forgives our sin, washes us, and makes us fit to stand in the bright light of God’s presence. And we will never have to be ashamed!

Room for Jesus

Have you any room for Jesus,

He who bore the load of sin?

As He knocks and asks admission,

Sinner, will you let Him in?

Room for business, room for pleasure,

But for Christ the crucified,

Not a place that He can enter

In the heart for which He died.

Have you any time for Jesus,

As in grace He calls again?

Oh, today is “time accepted”;

Tomorrow you may call in vain.

Room and time now give to Jesus;

Soon will pass God’s day of grace;

Soon your heart be cold and silent,

And the Saviour’s pleading cease.

Saved in a War Zone

We sat on the ground with our automatic rifles across our laps. It was constant danger in South Vietnam, and we didn’t go anywhere without our rifles, not even to a little outdoor church service in the middle of the battalion base camp.

Captain Gunther was the chaplain, a dear Christian man who loved the Lord Jesus. He was one of God’s faithful servants during the Vietnam War who risked his own life by holding these little services for any soldiers who would come. He couldn’t hold the services on a regular basis, so an assistant would work around to our foxholes to tell us when he was planning to hold a service.

I only had a chance to attend these services a couple of times, as the heavy fighting pressed in on us. However, I began to be deeply concerned that with the heavy fighting, my days could be numbered. Fighting in a war is brutal. We were losing men almost every day, and I knew I wasn’t ready to die.

I was nineteen years old, as were most of my buddies fighting beside me in the war. I knew I was a sinner, and reality was sinking in that I probably would not come out of the war alive. I thought I’d never see my home again. Those fears made me decide I had better get the matter of my sins settled with God, so I attended the next church service when I was able to leave the foxhole for the thirty-minute service. This time I hung onto every word of the chaplain’s message.

At the beginning of the services, Captain Gunther took an old cassette player out of a plastic bag and shook off the dust. He pushed the button, and scratchy organ music began to play. Then he passed out old, outdated programs from Bible talks that had been held back in the U.S. in various churches.

These old programs told the wonderful story of God’s love for sinners. He read Romans 3:23 to us: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” That I already knew. Then he read 1 Timothy 1:15: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and He explained that the Lord Jesus suffered and died for sinners on Calvary’s cross so we could be saved from our sins. That was the answer I needed!

After the service, Captain Gunther asked if anyone wanted to remain behind to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. The three soldiers who didn’t were dismissed, and they picked up their rifles and returned to their positions just inside the barbed wire.

I was one of two soldiers who stayed behind, and right then and there I accepted the Lord Jesus as my very own Saviour, believing that His suffering on the cross was for my sins. I left that little service with peace in my heart, knowing that if I died in the war, I would go to be with my Saviour in heaven. There were two of us saved that day.

It wasn’t long after that that we were involved in heavy fighting. Our point man took a direct hit. The rest of us tried to reach him while still in close combat, but he died. Then my machine gunner got hit and was killed. I was beside him carrying the ammunition for the machine gun. Then I took a hit that paralyzed my leg but was able to roll into a ditch that was in front of us where I took cover from more incoming fire. Combat medics soon treated me.

We lost a lot of brave soldiers that day, but God saved my life. After surgery, I was flown to an American hospital in Japan and then back to the U.S., bringing a “souvenir” with me — a bullet that couldn’t be removed because of its location. It is a reminder of how close I came to death. But of more importance, I also brought back something in my heart that is very special and precious to me — my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who loves me and died for me more than two thousand years ago. He has promised, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). He was with me in the foxhole and He was with me in that ditch.

Is He your Saviour too? I found Him in a war zone, but you can find Him and accept Him as your Saviour right where you are ... right now.

“What must I do to be saved? ... Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30-31). “God [commends] His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

The Scales

We use many kinds of scales today: The bathroom scales that we step on, muttering, “That’s too high! These scales must be wrong!”

The market scales that weigh our groceries: “It doesn’t look like five pounds to me. Those scales must be wrong!”

Maybe they are. Whatever man makes, even in this day of technical and electronic marvels, has some margin for error, some possibility of “fudging” just a little bit. But “a just weight and balance are the Lord’s” (Proverbs 16:11). There is a scale that is right — absolutely, perfectly right. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).

How will you “weigh up” in those scales? Will you prove to be, when “laid in the balance ... altogether lighter than vanity” (Psalm 62:9)?

It doesn’t matter how good you may seem to be, how moral and upright your life appears to your neighbors. You may be the most respected person in your community, but the Bible says that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

All have sinned — all have come short — all have been weighed — all are found wanting. What can be done? What answer is there to the old, old question, “How should man be just with God?” (Job 9:2).

There is only one way. We must have “the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe” (Romans 3:22).

It is so simple to get that righteousness, to measure up to God’s standard: “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness: and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).

Confess — what?

Believe — what?

“Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. ... Believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead.”

What must follow?

“Thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).

Do it now. Believe now. Confess now. Don’t wait for that terrible day when God will have to say to you, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting” (Daniel 5:27).

Secrets

He had status, Forbes magazine calling him one of the world’s richest men.

He had a lifestyle, including a $100 million fleet of private jets, a beautiful yacht in Antigua, and a $10 million faux castle in Florida.

He had a reputation, called the leading benefactor of Antigua and Barbuda.

He had power, attending cabinet meetings with politicians in Antigua.

He had money, a net worth of $2 billion.

He had a title, knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2006, Sir Allen indeed.

He also had a secret! In fact, quite a few.

In 2009, the former jet-setting, Texas tycoon Allen Stanford was arrested after authorities peeled away the layers of lies and secrets. He was later found guilty of stealing more than $7 billion over 20 years from investors.

He had one more thing. He had a date with the judge. In June of 2012 he was sentenced to 110 years in prison. You won’t meet him walking the streets of Florida any day soon. He is penniless, he is guilty and he is in jail. For a long time.

You also have a date with the Judge. Of course, you don’t have the same title or money or secrets. You have other secrets. John 5:27 tells us that your Judge will be the Lord Jesus Christ. It says that God has “given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.”

Romans 2:16 says, “God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”

But let me tell you something that is no secret. In fact, God wants you to know this. The Bible even records this news in several thousand languages of the world. Are you ready? “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

It’s no secret. God wants you to know this. He wants to assure you of His love. He wants you to know why Jesus died. He wants you to know that He knows your secrets. You may even have more secrets than you remember. He won’t overlook any. In the judgment day, you may have a few surprises coming when He recalls the happenings that even you have forgotten about.

God wants to settle with you out of court. The Bible says, “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Have you had that “day of salvation”? Have you ever faced your sin, repented and asked God to forgive you?

He can forgive you on the basis of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. He died because of my sin. God held Him guilty for my secrets, my sin, and punished Him. That’s why Peter writes these wonderful words: “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

It’s no secret even though most people have never thought about it. Open your Bible and find out what God wants you to know about yourself and about the Lord Jesus. Your date with the Judge is closer than you realize.

The Shadow on the World

There’s a shadow on the world,

and it deepens;

The hearts of men begin

to fail for fear;

Beneath apparent confidence

and boasting

Perplexity is growing

year by year.

There’s a shadow on the world —

Christ rejected —

How can the creature man

see life aright

In the darkness which must

always be before him

When he has turned his back

upon the light?

There’s a shadow on the world:

It betokens

The long-suffering of God

is almost o’er;

And the blest atoning work of

Christ the Saviour

Shall be held out to sinful

man no more.

There’s a shadow on the world,

but it cannot

Bring a shadow on the peace

God gave to me

When I saw that my account

with Him was settled

By the death of Christ —

His Son - on Calvary.

She Risked Her Life

On the northeast coast of Scotland lies a small fishing village. One day all the able-bodied men of the village went out in their boats to fish, leaving only three old men with the women and children. The men had sailed in the evening in good weather. During the night a gale sprang up. Seeing their danger, they looked for shelter in a harbor about eighteen miles from their homes.

When morning came, the sea was wild and rough. Throughout the day the wind became more fierce, driving the foam and spray over the houses near the beach and into the fields beyond.

When the storm seemed at its worst and the angry waves were thundering over the beach, a small ship was seen sweeping around the headland into the little bay. The villagers down on the shore, anxiously looking out for the return of the fishing boats, at once shouted a warning. But their cry was lost in the roar of wind and wave, and the vessel hurried to disaster, crashing onto a reef of rocks in the center of the bay. With the ship grounded and the seas breaking furiously over her, the six-man crew scrambled higher on the wreckage to avoid being washed overboard.

It appeared certain that they would die in that angry sea.

Four miles away at another fishing village a lifeboat was stationed, but the path to it lay partly along the shore that was being swept by the heavy waves. Everyone seemed afraid to take the news of the wreck to the men who manned the lifeboat.

Finally a girl named Dorothy asked one of the old fishermen, “Will she hold together till noon? If I thought she could, I would go for the lifeboat.”

“No, no,” he replied, “stay where you are. You could never get across the stream.”

“I’ll try it” was her only response as she started off. Looking again at the wreck and thinking of the men who would die, she was determined to do all she could to bring help for them.

Walking quickly across the wild moor for about a mile, she made her way down to the shore where she would be less exposed to the fury of the wind. She had to splash through the surf and foam at nearly every step, and time after time great waves almost swept her off her feet as they rushed up the shore. But on she went, determined to give the warning, whatever the cost might be to her.

There was another One who never turned aside from His mission of mercy. The Lord Jesus set His face like a flint in order to fulfill His purpose. And what was that purpose? It was to open a way of salvation for YOU and for ME.

We were sinners exposed to death and what follows death — JUDGMENT — for “the wages of sin is death,” and “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” We were all shipwrecked on the reef of sin. We lived in our sins, and soon we were likely to be dying in our sins.

Thank God we do not need to die in our sins. Christ came to die to save us, and nothing turned Him aside from this.

Finally Dorothy came to the stream the old fisherman had warned her about, the one he said she would not be able to cross. The stream, now swollen into a rushing torrent, had swept away the only bridge across it. Dorothy’s heart sank as she looked at it, but the thought of the shipwrecked men renewed her courage and she plunged waist-deep into the raging waters.

Nearly halfway, she sank into a deep hole. As the waters covered her, she thought for an instant that this was the end, but then, making a great effort, she struggled forward, got a foothold again and finally reached the far shore.

Wet and cold, she hurried on across the moor. She must go all the way to get help for the shipwrecked seamen. Dorothy in love was risking her life for them. Christ had to give His life for us. The Son of Man must be lifted up. Christ must suffer.

At last the village was in sight, and Dorothy, exhausted but determined, pushed on to the house of the lifeboat captain. Scarcely able to speak, she could only whisper, “The ship — on the rocks — north — ” Then she fell unconscious.

The captain, having called to his wife to care for the girl, quickly gathered his crew together. Rapidly the boat was launched and urged on its way to the wreck. The seamen were still clinging to the wreckage, and soon a line was thrown on board and fastened. They were all saved and brought in the lifeboat to the shore.

Dorothy, having had some food and dry clothes supplied to her by the captain’s wife, returned home. She was delighted to find the sailors were all safe and sound in the homes of the kindly fishermen.

Those saved seamen loved to tell the story of Dorothy and how she had taken that dangerous journey to save them.

Those of us who have learned to know Christ Jesus as Saviour love to tell over and over again the story of the Saviour’s journey for us, from the glory of God to Calvary’s cross. Thank God, He’s on the throne of glory now, and He’s coming again to call His own to be with Himself forever.

Sincerely Wrong

Lake Temagami in northern Ontario is a beautiful, clear lake with several long arms encompassing 2,000 miles of shoreline. For the most part it is quite deep, but the main channels are marked by red and green buoys to protect boats from venturing onto the shoals lurking just under the water. If a boater simply stays between the red and green buoys, the way is clear and safe.

A few years ago we were returning from an excursion down the lake when we saw a boat stranded on one of the shoals. The boat’s pilot had erred by going on the wrong side of the red marker, and he had destroyed the boat’s propeller on the rocks. There the boat sat, helpless.

The green marker wasn’t far away, but perhaps he just didn’t see it. It was getting dark at the time, and a storm was threatening. Maybe the pilot was in such a hurry that he became careless. I am sure he had no intention of smashing into the rocks. Most boaters know the awful racket of a boat or propeller screeching across unseen rocks. It is not pleasant and not easily forgotten.

He simply took the wrong way. He had his own idea of what was right, but the rocks were there all the same. He was sincere ... but sincerely wrong. It didn’t matter that he was a kind gentleman or that he had a clean boat; he had missed the right way and found the rocks to be unforgiving.

We approached the stranded boat guardedly, watching the depth on our sonar screen, and tossed them a rope. There were two older couples in the nice boat, and they were thankful for the tow back to the docks at the park.

There is a way marked out for us in the Bible. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). Of course, many people think they know another way, a better way. Often it is just “my” way.

Of course, you realize that “my” opinions do not really change the situation at all. “My” opinions, though very sincere, are sincerely wrong and not “The Way.” Jesus is “The Way.” No one comes to God another way. Period.

Do you know Him as your loving Saviour, your Guide, your Way, your Life? Do you love the Lord Jesus? I can say, “I know that He gave His life for me. He took my place and died for my sins.” Of course I love Him and am very glad He is also my Guide day by day through the problems of life.

A Stain That Will Last Forever

A 44-foot fishing boat named Vicious Fisher was cruising through the Olympic Maritime Sanctuary about thirteen miles west of La Push, Washington, when the steel hull sprung a leak. The crew tried to pump out the water entering the ship, but the water rushed in faster than they could remove it. With each passing moment the fishing boat sank lower into the long ocean rollers. Finally, the captain sent out a call for help.

All the crew was rescued, but the Vicious Fisher went down beneath the waves. Authorities were deeply concerned about the thousands of gallons of fuel oil still in the tanks of the ship. Someday the fuel tanks will erode and those thousands of gallons will leak out. The fuel will present a danger to the animal and plant life of the marine sanctuary. If an oil spill reaches the nearby wilderness beaches, it might take several years for the environment to return to its original condition.

Oil stains would cause the beaches to lose their pristine condition. Campers and naturalists would no longer find the area attractive. Animal and plant life would suffer. It would indeed be a great loss. Since there is one environment, it makes sense to care for it. What a shame it would be if the nearby beaches lost their luster because of an oil spill.

The environment, because it affects us in so many ways, is exceedingly precious; however, each one of us possesses a soul that will live on forever that is even more precious. Sadly, our souls have been stained by sin. Sin has marked us and marred us and made our souls lose their luster before God. In the natural environment, the fuel oil over time would be broken down and the stains it caused would disappear, but the stain left by sin will never break down; it will remain throughout the endless ages of eternity. No amount of wishing, self reformation, or good works will ever remove those stains. Jeremiah 2:22 reads, “Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord God.” The only way for the stain of sin to be removed from a soul is for that person to bow their heart and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. At the cross, the Son of God gave His life and died in the sinner’s place. He was the Creator of the universe, but He let Himself be nailed to a cross of wood. The Lord Jesus was both man and God in the same person. As Man He could suffer death; as God His death could provide a sacrifice of infinite value to cancel out sin. “The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). When a person believes on the Lord Jesus as Saviour, His precious blood washes away every stain of sin. Sins past, present and future are all cleansed by its life-giving flow. The all-seeing eyes of God can no longer detect a speck of sin. “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (Psalm 32:2).

Each of us has been given one soul. It is exceedingly precious because it will continue on forever. Souls washed in the blood of Christ will live on in the glories of heaven. Words can’t describe the fullness of joy souls will feel in that happy place. In contrast, souls who remain stained with sin will experience utter sorrow and misery in the darkness of a lost eternity. Diesel fuel washing up on a pristine beach is a shame and a great loss, but the loss is only temporary. Time will likely set it right. The loss of a soul who dies stained with sin is eternal and can never be set right.

The captain of the Vicious Fisher saw his ship was sinking and called out for help. Won’t you see your danger and call out to Him who alone has the power to save and cleanse the human soul?

“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).

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15).

Taking It to the Limits

A fifteen-year-old boy hiking in the Olympic Mountains ran ahead of his father on a trail that hugged the edge of a steep mountain. The boy lost his footing on the narrow path and fell several hundred feet down a mountainside. When he was found, he had many serious injuries. Because of the rugged and dangerous terrain, Park Rangers decided to request help from a Coast Guard helicopter in order to lift the boy off the mountain.

The rescue of the boy took the helicopter to the limits of what it was designed to do. The expensive machine hovering over the boy at a high altitude had to lower the rescue basket 245 feet by cable. This was necessary so the rotors on the helicopter didn’t hit the mountain or the tall trees which grew on its steep sides. A height of 245 feet is almost the equivalent of a 25-story building. Lowering the cable that distance left only a few more feet attached to the winch on board the helicopter. Thankfully, the boy was hoisted up and carried to safety.

Thank God, when it comes to rescuing sinners, there are no limitations at all to what He can do. This is true because, in the greatest rescue operation ever performed, the Son of God came to this earth and went all the way to Calvary’s cross where He gave His life for sinners. The Maker of the heavens and the earth lowered Himself and became a man so that He could die for His creature’s sin. Although in a past eternity He spoke a word and the world leaped into existence, He let Himself be nailed to a tree. Because the Lord Jesus Christ gave His life at Calvary as a sacrifice, He can save every soul that trusts in Him.

There is absolutely no limitation to what God’s grace can do. There has never been a person that has sinned so terribly that the blood of Jesus couldn’t wash them clean. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Even if you have tumbled off the dark mountainside of sin and are more spiritually dead than alive, the grace of God can reach you where you are and make you fit for heaven. Heaven will be populated by persons who were rescued from sin and all its sad depths by the Son of God.

There are no limits to what God can do, but there are limits to what men can do. A man can’t wash away his own sin; he can’t save himself by good works, and he can’t rescue his own soul from the power of sin and death. He needs the help of the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. When the Son of God came into the world, He made God’s goodness, truth and love known in a most wonderful way. “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). If you come to the Lord Jesus by faith, He will surely make you His child forever; however, if you never come to Christ and continue to live in sin, the Bible says you will “perish.” To “perish” means the exact opposite of everlasting life. It means everlasting punishment and destruction in a place called hell. Those who receive the Lord Jesus will spend eternity enjoying the presence of God, but those who perish will never cease to exist in a place of utter torment where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. God can save the most wretched of sinners, but He can’t save a soul who never comes to Him in faith. Be wise and come to Him at once.

The rescue of the boy took the helicopter to the limits of its capabilities. There are no limits to God’s power to save. Will you believe on the name of God’s Son that you might know His wonderful power to save?

Time

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

Ecclesiastes 12:1

When as a child I laughed and wept,

Time crept;

When as a youth I dreamed and talked,

Time walked;

When I became a full-grown man,

Time ran;

When older still I daily grew,

Time flew;

Soon shall I find, in traveling on,

Time gone.

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom”
(Psalm 90:12).

Under New Management

Have you ever walked past a restaurant or store and noticed a big sign in the window that said “UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT”? This sign is to let people know that the place has changed ownership and improvement can be expected. But have you ever heard of PEOPLE being under new management? Actually, that is something that has been happening for centuries and is no doubt happening somewhere right now. The Bible has many examples of people who came “under new management.” The Apostle Paul is one, but I am going to tell you of a more recent example — a man named Jack.

Jack grew up attending Sunday school, learning Bible verses, and hearing the gospel message faithfully preached. But he became a wild and troublesome teenager, and soon he was keeping wild company. By the time he had reached middle age, he was well known in the area as a violent drunk who had caused his wife and children so much hardship that one of the children said she wished her father would die.

One night as he staggered home, he fell into a ditch with water in it. As he lay in that disgraceful condition, he felt he had come to the end of the life he was living. He dragged himself to his knees and cried out to God to save him — to take the wreckage he had made of his life and, in his words, “make a good job of me.”

God heard Jack’s prayer and answered it, and Jack knew it. He got up, went home, and told his family that he was now UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT! He was going to be a different man from then on — he was under new ownership. And he was true to his word, because as he allowed the Lord Jesus to lead him and help him in times of temptation, his life was changed.

In time Jack became a well-known preacher, traveling from place to place and telling what the Lord had done for him and what He could do for others whose lives were in desperate need of changing. People accepted his message, because they saw the change in him.

Jack is now with the One who saved him from his wretched life. His story will always prove that if we ask the Lord Jesus to be Lord of our lives, a change will take place, and we too will be UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT. The Bible says, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Unprotected

Tomas Lopez guarded the Hallandale Beach north of Miami. He settled down in his high lifeguard chair under an umbrella for shade and watched the surf for struggling swimmers. He was one of several young lifeguards on duty.

In early July the beaches were busy, as you would expect on hot summer days. Suddenly a beach walker alerted Tomas to a swimmer struggling in an “unprotected” part of the beach.

I wonder what thoughts went through Tomas’s mind. Did he say, “Oh well, he should know better than to swim in that section”? Or did he say, “I’m not going over there to risk my life for somebody who can’t read the signs”?

Actually, Tomas did not hesitate. He ran quite a distance and went to help a man who needed a rescue. The man was rescued and rushed to the hospital.

What Tomas did not expect was what happened next: He was fired for leaving his assigned part of the beach. But he said, “I would do it again if I had to. ... It was the right decision.”

This article made me think of a Bible verse: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). What is it saying? It says He came to save people who were out of bounds, people who had strayed. That’s what the word “sinner” means. Perhaps you can see yourself in that position.

Speaking for myself, I know I crossed the line many times to do my own will, to do what felt good. I knew what the Bible said; I could read the “sign,” but I did what I wanted anyway. I thought I could live away from the eyes and view of God.

But I thank God He did not abandon me there. He was interested in me. He knew how and where I had strayed.

Yes, that’s why Jesus Christ came. The Bible also puts it this way: “The Son of Man [Jesus] is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

He knows when you’ve crossed the line and why. He still sees you and He wants to rescue you. Will you call on Him to do this? He has saved others, and He will do it again. He’s not worried about being fired.

Here is an encouragement for you. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

The Warning Word

To a city of old came two messengers. They had serious information to impart. They had been sent to warn some of the inhabitants that the city was to be overthrown with terrible judgments because of its many sins and thorough wickedness. It seemed incredible, it appeared improbable, and those who heard the message doubted.

After some time the messengers seized a man named Lot and his family and hurried them out of the doomed place, crying, “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed” (Genesis 19:17). Some of them — three out of the four — did so. But one, Lot’s wife, looked back at the doomed city, stopped, and was caught by God’s descending wrath.

Today, the message comes to us that this world is soon to be judged. It is under condemnation for its sins. The death of the Son of God lies at its door, as yet unavenged. But many say, “Oh, things go on now as ever. Judgment will never touch us.” The Lord Himself warns us of this, saying, “As it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:28-30).

“Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). I warn you, the Judge is at the door.

“Flee from the wrath to come” (Matthew 3:7). But you do not need to perish. The Lord Jesus Christ is waiting to receive you. He loves you. He died for you. Run to Him. He is a shelter in the time of storm.

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

What Is Hell?

Old Judge Roberts loved the boys in the Bible class he taught, and their souls’ welfare was continually in his prayers. The old judge loved the Lord, and his heart’s desire for “his boys” was that they would love Him too.

As his class assembled in the little classroom for the day’s lesson, the judge prayerfully opened the Bible to the selected reading. Slowly and distinctly he read: “Luke 16:19-31. There was a certain rich man ... ” Judge Roberts read down to verse 23. Then, as he read, “And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments,” automatically the judge himself looked up and glanced around the circle of young faces. All looked serious and thoughtful — all except one. Cynically, Dave Summers muttered, “Aw, what is hell?”

There was a long, silent moment before the judge answered. Then, almost in a whisper but in deadly earnest, he spoke. “What is hell? Dave — it’s HELL!” Throughout that morning and on through the day, that whispered word echoed in the mind of one boy who heard it. With deep conviction he realized that he had never accepted the One who alone could save him from such a dreadful destination — the One who loved him so much that He came from heaven to die for him.

He thought of Calvary and what it must have meant to that sinless Man on the center cross when He who knew no sin was made sin for him. He saw himself as the guilty sinner for whom Christ died. With broken heart he cried to Him for forgiveness, pardon and peace, and with thankfulness and joy he found that “him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”

Have you realized the awfulness of hell, the place that awaits those who do not receive Christ as their Sin-Bearer? Remember, hell is eternal torment, eternal night, eternal loss — the blackness of darkness forever. Accept the death of God’s Son on Calvary’s cross as your own Substitute. Receive Him who was crucified, laid in the tomb and rose again the third day, victorious over death and hell. Now in heaven He longs for your salvation.

God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

What Will You Do Without Him

What will you do without Him
When death is drawing near?
Without His love, the only love
That casts out every fear;
When the shadow valley opens,
Unlighted and unknown,
And the terrors of its darkness
Must all be passed alone?

What will you do without Him
When the great white throne is set,
And the Judge who never can mistake
(And never will forget),
The Judge whom you have never here
As Friend and Saviour sought,
Shall summon you to give account
Of word and deed and thought?

What will you do without Him
When He has shut the door,
And you are left outside because
You would not come before?
When it is no use knocking,
No use to stand and wait,
When words of doom toll through your heart —
A terrible “TOO LATE!”

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.

Who Cares?

Who cares? Nobody cares! He couldn’t care less!

Over and over we hear it, a refrain that runs through all our lives daily. The despairing cry goes up continually from the old, the poor, the ill, the forgotten, in nursing homes and hospitals and prisons and housing projects and refugee camps, from our very streets where the homeless live. Nobody cares!

No one is immune. A loving family, friends, money, health — all fail to protect us from sometimes feeling that “nobody understands me. Nobody cares!”

Is it really true?

No!

Who cares?

God cares!

“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).

Who cares?

Jesus cares!

“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Who cares?

The Holy Spirit!

“The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

So much love and care are freely offered to you. Why go on alone or lonely any longer? Why not accept this salvation that Jesus died to give you, that cost God His only beloved Son, and know the comforting presence of His Spirit with you all the days of your life? He promises never to leave nor forsake those who are His.

He will be with you always, “even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

“He careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

A World in Debt

Several of the great countries in our world are falling deeply into debt.

The U.S.A. is 15 trillion dollars in debt, which, spread out evenly over 315 million Americans, comes to $50,000 for every person in the country (or per capita).

The United Kingdom is a whopping 9.3 trillion dollars in debt, which equates to $153,000 of debt per capita.

The massive debt in France is 5 trillion dollars, which divides out to $78,000 of debt per capita.

Germany is over 5 trillion dollars in debt, or about $60,000 per capita. The list goes on almost interminably.

The money owed by these countries is staggering. Carrying all this debt will undoubtedly make life miserable for the generations to come as they see their hard-earned wealth drained away to pay off money they didn’t borrow.

These figures are so gigantic that they are mind boggling, but there is a debt which is even more staggering. You should know about it. Each one of us has incurred a terrible debt because of sin. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” and “The wages of sin is death” are two verses from the Book of Romans. The death spoken of in the second verse doesn’t merely refer to physical death where the soul is separated from the body, but also to spiritual death where the soul is separated from God, the source of all goodness, for eternity. The “death” spoken of in the second verse is a horrible thing. It is what will happen to every man and woman when their debt of sin goes unpaid.

What’s more is that there is no way a person can discharge this debt by their own efforts. “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight” (Romans 3:20).

Since man incurred this terrible debt, it was just that man should pay for it. And man did pay for it. God became man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and came to the earth. For three and a half years He walked through the countryside of Israel preaching wonderful truths and performing miracles on the sick and lame. Then He let Himself be taken by cruel hands and be crucified on a cross on a hill outside of Jerusalem. Three days after being buried He arose from the grave. He showed Himself alive by many infallible proofs before ascending into heaven, which is where He now is. As man He could suffer death. As God His work would have an infinite value to cancel the debt of sins.

The infinite value of the sacrifice made by the Son of God has the power to cancel out the debt of the entire world if they would only believe on His name. If you want to be free from the debt of sin, you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). When a sinner puts his faith in the Son of God, the infinite value of His death at Calvary is placed on his account and the debt of sin is completely canceled out.

Some people act like they have nothing to worry about because of sin. They think that if there is a God, He must be as indifferent to sin as they are. But they are wrong. God hates sin. He loves the person who has sinned but hates their sin. God is patiently waiting for them to repent and return to Him. They mistake His patience for indifference. But if they don’t ever change their ways, they will pay for their sins throughout the endless ages of eternity in hell. God doesn’t want anyone to perish in that awful place. He wants all to come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

I don’t know exactly what will happen if countries continue to pile up enormous debts. But I do know what happens when a soul who has piled up a load of sin brings it to the Lord Jesus Christ. They find forgiveness, peace and the hope of heaven.

For a world of lost sinners, the best news they could ever hear is that faith in the Son of God can cancel out their terrible debt of sin! Hear it, and believe it, so that you might be forgiven and receive the gift of eternal life. “Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live” (Isaiah 55:2).

Echoes of Grace: 2012

Table of Contents

An Appointment Book

Are You a Stranger

Are You Headed the Right Way?

A Better World

Clock of Life

"Come" - Enter Today

Coming Tonight!

The Contrast

Cradle-to-Grave Care

Deadly Disaster

A Deadly Shortcut

Drink

Excuses - Excuses

Forest Fire!

Freaking Out!

The Gospel of Joy

Have You Thought of This?

He

Hungry for Intimacy

Hurricane!

I Often Look at Him

I'm Not Done Sinning Yet

In the Nick of Time

The Invisible Deadline

It Was for Me

John 5 and 24

La Push

Limitations

Love's Greatest Monument

Mr. Garrett's Gift of Shoes

One Child at a Time

One Sin

Only One Church

Perishable

The Point in Question Is Jesus Himself

Profit or Loss?

Recovered After 42 Years

Revealing Light

Room for Jesus

Saved in a War Zone

The Scales

Secrets

The Shadow on the World

She Risked Her Life

Sincerely Wrong

A Stain That Will Last Forever

Taking It to the Limits

Time

Under New Management

Unprotected

The Warning Word

What Is Hell?

What Will You Do Without Him

When the Saviour Came My Way

Who Cares?

A World in Debt