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Put My Finger There–Large Print Tract

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Put My Finger There
Feeble and blind, the old man in a nursing home knew his life was fast slipping away. One great worry tormented his mind: What can I do to be saved? Poor man, what could he do to be saved? He could only lie there and fret because of his helplessness.
He had a little granddaughter who often came in to read to him, and one day she brought her Bible. She started reading the first chapter of the first epistle of John. She came to the seventh verse: “And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
The old man sat up and stopped the little girl, saying eagerly, “Is that there, my dear?”
“Yes, Grandpa.”
“Then read it to me again; I never heard the like before.”
The little girl read again: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
“You are quite sure that is really there?”
“Yes, quite sure!”
“Then take my hand and put my finger there, for I should like to feel it.”
So she took the old blind man’s hand and placed his bony finger on the verse. He said, “Now read it to me again.”
The little girl read softly, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Again he asked anxiously, “You are quite sure that is there?”
“Yes, Grandpa; quite sure!”
“Then, if anyone should ask how I died, tell them I died in the faith of these words: ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’”
Peacefully, trustfully, the old man lay back on the pillow and, with his hand still on the wonderful verse he had just learned, he silently passed into the presence of Him whose blood “cleanseth us from all sin.”
Helpless, hopeless, unable to do anything to save himself, what relief it was to learn that the Lord Jesus had done it all for him.
It may seem to some that “that is all right for the poor old man; he couldn’t do anything else, but those who are strong and capable should work for their salvation should do something to earn it.”
Not so. Physical strength or mental ability has nothing to do with the salvation of a soul. The strongest and the wisest must come to the Lord Jesus Christ just as the old man did, simply believing in His work on the cross of Calvary and receiving all the benefit of that work. It was not “to as many as worked for it,” but “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12).

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The Right Way

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The Right Way
We should all be on our guard against being misdirected for eternity. It is vital to be certain where we will spend eternity-in heaven, or in hell. It must be one of the two places.
Many contradictory directions to heaven are given today. Many of them must be mistaken and misleading, even when given by well-meaning people. All can’t be true. There is no need for us to depend on doubtful advice. God has given simple directions to heaven.
God doesn’t say “do your best,” or “observe the golden rule,” or “try to be good.” He makes it clear that none of these will lead us to heaven. We have all wandered too far from God for that to help us.
The Word of God points to Christ as the only way. Jesus Himself says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).
He suffered at Calvary, not merely as a martyr, but as the one who suffered for the sins of others. He washes away sin by His own blood on the cross. Now that He is risen from the dead, He is proclaimed to all as the only Saviour. The way to receive blessing for the present and to enter heaven for eternity is by trusting Him.
The Bible says: “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). Could words be plainer?
True wisdom is to listen to the sure directions of the Word of God and so escape the dreadful danger of being misdirected.
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end there of are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
“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).
“I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9).

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The Nurse’s Mistake–Large Print Tract

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The Nurse’s Mistake
A young man lay in a hospital, racked with pain and impatient to be out again with his carefree friends. He had wanted to be an expert horseback rider and had fallen from his horse while riding. He had also decided that day to take a law course at the University, but now here he lay, and why, oh, why this pain in his leg?
Suddenly everything changed for him. A sober nurse quietly brought a folding screen into his ward and placed it carefully around his bed!
The screen! That meant he was expected to die…and soon! His world began to collapse around him. Horses and law courses were forgotten. He heard the hospital clock chime one. Perhaps before it chimed again he would be gone. Why hadn’t they told him before? He wasn’t ready to die. Perhaps before the hour was passed he would be face to face with God.
He hated the thought. Not that he had ever done anything that seemed very bad, but he just hadn’t got acquainted with God. He always figured there was plenty of time. Why had he kept so far from God?
His life began to pass before his eyes and he tried to see it as God would look at it. He shuddered. He hadn’t even kept the second commandment about loving his neighbor, let alone the first commandment about loving God with all his heart.
For the first time in his life he felt the crushing weight of his own sin, and groaned at the thought of meeting a holy God. Restlessly he tossed. His eyes roamed feverishly over the ceiling and walls. That ominous screen! The dread ticking of the clock near his bed!
Then the answer came. It was written on a little placard on the opposite wall. He could just see it above the screen:
“COME UNTO ME, ALL YE THAT LABOR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST” (Matthew 11:28). That was it! Jesus Christ, the Son of God somehow anyone would be saved if he came to Him. Yes, the Cross! Christ had died, and in some way that meant pardon for sinners and rest for the soul.
This time he didn’t stop to question it or argue it or put it off. He read the verse again: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor… and I will give you rest.”
Right out loud he said: “I will come! I do come! I come to Thee. Is it too late?”
The young man began smiling; he knew it wasn’t too late. He rested on the finished work of the Son of God, and he knew he was forgiven. He had never had such peace in his life. Now he was ready to die.
And yet, he wasn’t ready to die. He thought of his own brother and of his friends. Most of them cursed and scorned the name of God. Why hadn’t he come to Christ sooner while there was still time to tell them?
If he could only have one chance to shout this wonderful news from the housetops! He would give such a plea from a dying man that the whole world would wake up! If only—
Then the nurse came back.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, “there’s been a mistake. We placed the screen at the wrong bed. I am very sorry.”
To her astonishment the patient sat bolt upright in bed and said: “Sorry! Why, that’s the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my life!”
Have YOU come to Christ for salvation? There may not be this extra time given to you. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Are you telling others of Christ as though it were their last chance? Today may be your last chance or theirs.

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Captain Coutts’ Substitute-Color Tract

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Captain John Coutts was a fairly typical sea captain —rough and ready for whatever life might bring — but he was not ready for death. He was sick, at sea, and he knew he had little time left. He was afraid of death and of the eternity beyond it.

The captain sent for his first mate and said, “Williams, I need you to pray for me. You know I’ve been a godless and harsh man, and I know I’m not going to make it this time.”

“I’m not a praying man, Captain. I don’t know how to pray. I would if I could.”

“Well bring a Bible and find something to read to me. I’m not going to last much longer.”

“I don’t have one, Captain. I’m not religious.”

“Then send for Palmer. Maybe he knows how to pray.”

The second mate came, and the captain said, “Palmer, I’m not going to get better, and I’m not going to last until we reach port. I want you to pray for me. Ask God to have mercy on my sinful soul.”

“I would if I could, Captain, but I haven’t prayed since I was a boy.”

“Well then, do you have a Bible you could read to me?”

“No, sir, I don’t own a Bible.”

They searched the ship for a man who could pray or had a Bible. Finally one of the sailors told the captain he had seen a book that looked like a Bible in the hands of the cook’s helper, young Willie Platt.

“Go find the boy and see if he has a Bible,” ordered Captain Coutts.

The sailor hurried off to find Willie and asked him, “Willie, do you have a Bible?”

“Yes, sir, but I only read it on my own time.”

“Don’t worry. Just get the Bible and go to the captain’s cabin. He’s dying and wants a Bible.”

Willie got his Bible and reported to the captain.

The captain said, “Sit down and find something that will help me. I’m not going to live much longer. Find something about God having mercy on a sinner, and read it to me.”

Willie remembered that his mother had him read Isaiah 53 just before he left home for sea. He turned to that wonderful chapter which tells so fully the love and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ in dying for lost sinners. He began to read it to the captain, verse by verse. When Willie got to 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” — the captain, who was listening intently, realized that that verse told him what he needed to know to be saved from his sins. “Stop, boy!” he ordered. “That sounds like it! Read it again.” Once more Willie read the joyous words of hope.

“Aye, that’s good — that’s it, I’m sure.”

Hearing the captain’s remark encouraged Willie, and he said, “Captain, when I was reading that verse at home, my mother made me put my name in it. May I read it to you that way?”

“Yes, boy. Put your name in right where your mother told you, and read it to me again.”

When Willie had finished reading, the captain reached toward Willie and said, “Now read it again, boy, and put my name, John, in there.”

Willie slowly read: “He was wounded for John’s transgressions, He was bruised for John’s iniquities: the chastisement of John’s peace was upon Him; and with His stripes John is healed.”

When Willie had finished, the captain dismissed him. He then leaned back on his bed and repeated over and over again those precious words of Isaiah 53:5, putting in his own name each time. And as he repeated them, the truth of those words entered his heart and filled his soul with joy. Finally, the captain had peace!

In the little time he had left before he passed away, Captain John Coutts told everyone on his ship that the Christ of God — the Man who had died on Calvary’s cross — was wounded for his transgressions, bruised for his iniquities, that the chastisement that he rightfully deserved had fallen on Jesus, his blessed Substitute, and with His stripes — the punishment that Jesus bore — he had been healed. His sins were gone forever!

And how about you? Have you thought seriously about your sins and about this salvation that God is offering to you right now? Have you taken your true place as a helpless sinner before Him and trusted in His Son Jesus for healing from your sins? The same peace that Captain Coutts found can be yours too.

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

“Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

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Only One Church–Large Print Tract

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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 Welseyans 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? Nothing is more irritating than to hear someone insist that only members of his church or 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 doesn’t 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, both the dead and living] 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?

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Christ Is Coming–Color Tract

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“Sit Thou at My right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool” (Psalm 110:1). God the Father spoke these words to His beloved Son as He entered heaven with the marks of the world’s hatred on His blessed person.

Nearly 2,000 years have come and gone since then, and time, with lightning speed, rushes us toward that awful moment when the Son will rise up in unopposed power to fulfill the Father’s decree. Christ will come and will make His enemies His footstool! Are your sins washed away in His blood? If so, you are His friend. If not, you are His enemy. When He comes in power and great glory, it will be to send His enemies into everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 19:11-21). Oh, the panic and terror of those still in their sins at that coming!

The coming of the Man whom the world once crucified, whose love is still treated with disdain and disrespect and whose blood is even treated with self-righteous indifference, will bring all men to their knees. Men who never prayed before will then, in their soul’s deep terror, cry to the rocks and to the mountains, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that [sits] on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:16-17). Hopeless, useless prayer! The Lamb’s arm of judgment then will reach all who would not take salvation from His hand of love. Self-gratification, extravagance and the thoughtless pursuits of wealth and entertainment will end forever. An eternity of hopelessness, remorse, weeping and wailing will be the replacement for these poor victims of the devil.

Then the world’s pleasures and business, which all too often shut out God and leave men no time to think of their soul’s deep need, will be suspended forever. The world’s boasted progress will be halted forever, and man in his foolish occupation of proud indifference to the claims of God will be brought face to face with Him whom God has established as Judge of all.

Christ is coming, and one of two things will happen to you when He comes: You will be either caught up to be forever with Him or left behind for judgment. As you are reading this, right now before this terrible day of judgment, if Christ were to come this moment, would you rise to meet Him (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17)? Are you ready? Have your sins been washed away?

Will You Be one of Them?

Jesus said, “As it was in the days of [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.” How was it in the days of Noah? A world of sinners, ignoring God’s warnings and unprepared for His judgment, was in a moment swept away to eternal destruction by the terrible waters of God’s wrath. It will be comparable when Christ comes. Multitudes still in their sins will be unprepared and will be damned for all eternity. Will you be one of them?

The Bible warns us that men and women will be crying out for mercy, but no mercy will be found. Will you be one of them?

The masses who have heard the gospel of God’s love and grace and turned carelessly away will realize then that the day of grace is over, and their lost eternity is set forever. Will you be one of them?

Will You Be Ready?

Why are you waiting to make the decision to accept Christ’s love and mercy that He offers to you right now? He refuses no one who comes to Him, admitting the need to be cleansed from his sins. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” If you will believe that Christ bore the punishment and died on the cross for your sins, He promises an eternity in heaven with Himself. “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47).

Christ’s offer of salvation is available today; it may not be available tomorrow. Today He lovingly pleads with you to “come unto Me … and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). If you will accept His offer right now, when He comes you will be ready!

“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son [cleanses] us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

“It is the blood that [makes] an atonement for the soul”
(Leviticus 17:11).

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Let Your Bucket Down!–Color Tract

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The great Amazon River pours out so mighty a stream of fresh water into the Atlantic that near its mouth, for miles out of sight of land, a deep layer of fresh water covers the ocean.

Many years ago a sailing ship left Eu­rope for a South American port, and due to storms it took so long that the water on board began to give out. The crew rationed the water, but in spite of every effort, they soon found themselves with their last water tank empty.

A day or two later, when stranded in a hot climate, to their great joy and relief they sighted another ship. When near enough to signal, they ran up their flags announcing: “We’re dying for lack of water.”

To their astonishment, the reply that came back quickly seemed to mock them: “Water all around you; let your bucket down.”

Little did they know that they were just then crossing the mighty Amazon’s cur­rent, and instead of being in saltwater, they were actually sailing in fresh — freshwater all around them though out of sight of land!

Surrounded By God’s Love

You may be crying out, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30), little realizing that the ocean of God’s love is all around you. “Let your bucket down!” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

“Say not in thine heart … Who shall go up for us to heaven … who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it? … The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. … For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:6; Deu­teronomy 30:12-14; Romans 10:8-13).

Let your bucket down!

“If thou knewest the gift of God … thou would­est have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water” (John 4:10).

“Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).

“He that cometh to Me shall never hun­ger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

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

“He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. … And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:1,17).

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Sorry!–Large Print Tract

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Sorry!
There was never any doubt of their guilt. The two college students were caught by police as they burglarized cars on the university campus. When police searched their car they found stereo equipment linking them to eight burglaries at another campus over a hundred miles away.
Arrested, facing possible jail sentences, they were offered a “deal.” A prosecutor would drop the charges if they completed probation and apologized. Accordingly, the two paid for advertisements in their school’s newspaper and submitted apologies. One said, in part, “It wasn’t worth it. I’m sorry.”
Others have escaped jail terms by the same route: a teenager who sold cocaine, a lawyer who scuffled with a policeman, a convicted drug racketeer—a newspaper ad saying, “I’m sorry,” has been the penalty.
But is it enough?
In the parking lot of a shopping center there was a crash-a sound of crumpling metal-and a driver hastily got out to examine the parked car he had so carelessly hit. After looking at the damaged car and finding it empty, he took out a piece of paper, wrote on it, and tucked it under the windshield wiper. Then he drove away. Soon the owner of the car came back from her shopping and saw what had happened. Shocked and dismayed, she turned to a man sitting in a car nearby.
“Did you see what happened to my car?” she demanded.
“Yes,” he said, “I saw it all. He left a note for you on the windshield.”
Visions of a big repair bill faded. Evidently the man had left his name and telephone number. Relieved, she opened the paper and read one word: SORRY!
Speechless, she showed it to the witness.
“Well,” he said, “he said he was sorry; isn’t that enough?”
“Sorry!” Her voice rose to a shriek: “SORRY! but who is going to pay?”
That is the point. “Sorry” wasn’t enough. “Sorry” paid no bills, made no restitution. “Sorry” left the stereos ripped out of the cars; “sorry” would have left the woman’s car as it was. (Happily, the witness had quietly written down the license number of the hit-and-run car, and we can hope that the driver eventually paid for repairs.) It is good to be sorry for wrong things done, to repent, even to determine to “do better next time,” but there is still the question: “Who is going to pay?”
We have all done wrong things, broken God’s laws, sinned. Is it enough to tell God that we are sorry and that we won’t do it again? The Bible says that “God requireth that which is past.”
No amount of reformation will wipe out the sins of the past. There must be an atonement; someone must pay the bill.
Can we ourselves do that? Never. Only One could ever do it-the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to this earth and lived a perfect life down here-but that alone couldn’t save a single sinner. He had to give His life, to die, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.
“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Yes, the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and now God can justify all who simply by faith believe and receive the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
And then? Then “not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (Romans 5:11).
Yes, Jesus paid it all!

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The Changed Word–Large Print Tract

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The Changed Word
An old man who lived in the Adirondack mountains lay dying, and he asked an old friend, a neighbor, to go for a man he knew to be a Christian. He needed to know how to be saved.
It was a few miles to the Christian’s house, and he found that the man was away from home and would not be back that day. But his wife, who was also a Christian, asked, “Is there anything I can do?”
“Old Jack’s dying, ma’am, and he wants to know how to be saved.”
“Just tell him this: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’ If he comes to Christ as a sinner, He will never cast him out.”
“Ma’am,” he said, “will you say that again? I want to get it straight.”
“‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,’ and if he will come to Him just as he is, he will not be turned away.”
The old man went away. As he was going towards home he said to himself, “I don’t like that word ‘sinners.’ I don’t think old Jack is such a bad man. He used to chop wood for the neighbors and go for the doctor when anyone was sick, and he’s done a lot of good. When I get home I’m not going to tell it to him just like that.”
When he got back he said, “Jack, the man wasn’t home but I saw his wife and she gave me the directions. She told me that Christ Jesus came into the world to save people.”
“Didn’t she say ‘sinners’?”
“Well, I guess that’s what she did say, but I didn’t want to call you a sinner. I stuck up for you!”
“Abe, don’t talk to me like that. Since you’ve been gone I’ve been thinking back to when I was a boy and we used to sing:
Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me.
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee.
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
And I’m going to come just like that. Now, if that is the message, I can die happy.”
Yes, old Jack had to come to Jesus just as he was. Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was born in a manger, and went all the way to the cross of Calvary. There He died, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. If you will only come to Him as a sinner and receive Him as your Saviour, you can say, “He died for me.”
Come now, just as you are, and where you are. Do not wait. Soon it will be too late!

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The Prodigal Son: A Story Jesus Told–Color Tract

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This famous story is often told with certain variations, but the original is exquisite. It stands alone in beauty and depth of meaning. For your convenience I’ll quote it here:

“He said, A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry” (Luke 14:11-24).

This is called a parable — a story given to illustrate an important point. If the parable has matchless beauty, the fact it represents is even more beautiful!

Wreck and Recovery

The boy wandered far from his father and home into a ruined life. He was in a terrible condition in the far country! He didn’t realize, when he got his own way, where that would take him. This part of the parable represents the lost condition of mankind. Some have not gone as far as others into the far country, but all of us were away from God and were trying to please ourselves — “we have turned every one to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).

After a time the derelict son realized his pitiable plight and resolved to return to his father and to confess his sins — which he did without delay. This is all the father was waiting for, proved by the father’s watching for signs of the returning prodigal and by running to meet him while he was yet “a great way off.” The love of his heart poured out as he embraced his wayward son and covered him with kisses. All this shows us the love of God for sinners; He is eagerly waiting for any to return and say, “I have sinned against heaven and before thee.”

Then notice how the father in the parable did not bring his once-lost son into the house in rags and filth; he made him ready to be in his home before bringing him in. It was not left to the returning prodigal to make himself presentable — the father had him clothed with the best robe, shoes put on his feet, and a ring on his hand. That’s how God’s love works. He will receive each truly repentant sinner who comes to Him, and then God makes that person fully suitable for His own presence. God clothes him with the best robe — Christ — so that the repentant sinner is seen in all Christ’s beauty. God can’t receive a sinner into His presence without his sins being removed. But when someone confesses to God that he has sinned against God, God has salvation, pardon, peace and joy for him through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross.

What About You?

Do you see yourself in this exquisite story? You’re there! You’re either the person who still has your back toward God, or you have returned as a repentant sinner and submitted yourself to His cleansing and righteousness. If you have not returned, remember, God is waiting. Return!

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