ON visiting in the West of England, a short time ago, I called to see a dear old Christian, who for many years had been rejoicing in Christ as her Saviour. Finding her husband at home, and knowing him to be unsaved, and unconcerned about his soul, I sought an opportunity of speaking to him. His wife having said how feeble he was, I inquired after his health. He replied, “I have never been ill in my life, but I now sometimes feel giddy and shaky.”
I asked him his age.
“I am eighty years old,” he answered, “and what can you expect?”
As he was very deaf, I moved my chair closer to him, and said, “You have eighty years of sins to meet your God with. What will you do with them?” and then proceeded to tell him that unless, as a poor, lost sinner, he came to Christ, and trusted the precious blood, which alone can avail for sin, he must forever bear the judgment of God Himself.
At this he looked astonished, exclaiming, “You are making a mistake about me! have never done any harm; I have always paid my way, and been respectable. And although I never went to church but the day I was married, I am a good deal better than many that do go.”
“Ah! but,” I answered, “you were born in sin, and you have been practicing it all your life. Your whole history for eighty years is one dark cloud of sin. But the God against whom you have sinned loves sinners, and gave His Son to die for our sake. This moment eighty years of in will be blotted out forever by the precious blood of Him who died, if you confess your sinfulness and trust the Saviour.”
His dear wife fell on her knees, saying, “O God! nobody ever told my poor Charley so straight as that before. Save him now, Thou must save him now.” Her prayer was heard; the Spirit of God wrought conviction in his soul, and gave our aged friend to see the darkness of his sins. Thus after many years of blindness to the reality of his guilt before God, his eyes were opened, he saw his need and sought for mercy.
A few months later, I received a letter from friend, telling me how happy the old man was— sometimes singing, sometimes praying, but never doubting the efficiency of the previous blood. Often, he would say, “Eighty years of sin! Ah! the precious blood! Oh, the depth of the riches! Grace! Eighty years of sin! Precious blood!”
Friend, on what are your hopes built for eternity? You may have trodden the paths of sin for many years, every step bringing you nearer the end. Are you trusting in any fancied goodness of your own? The devil will help you to cast a veil over the dark life of sin, but it will be stripped off, and the great question will have to be faced, and you, the sinner, must bear the judgment due to your sins to all eternity, unless you are sheltered by the precious blood of the Son of God.
How can we speak of the judgment of God against sin? Never was the hatred of God so fully seen against sin as at the cross, nor was the love of God to sinners ever more fully manifested than there. The cross will stand forever, as a declaration of God’s righteousness in the judgment of sin, and of His love in the pardon of sinners who believe in Jesus.
Think of the greatness of God’s love to you in the suffering and death of Jesus; every drop of that precious blood, which was shed on Calvary, proclaims God’s love before heaven, earth, and hell.
May you, with dear old Charley, trust that blood that cleanseth from all sin.
T—e.