Little Things Aren’t
Expires When?
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Romans 5:1
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1
Keep One Eye Open
(By the way, that’s the eyeball of an elk staring at you. He was about a foot away on the opposite side of a chainlink fence.)
His Last Chance–Color Tract
Send the text of this tract to a friend today.
Some years ago in Russia, a man was traveling on foot through a desolate part of the country, and at dusk he found himself in a dense forest. He knew there were many wild animals roaming about and realized that his life would be in danger unless he kept a fire going all night. He’d be safe as long as he stayed beside the fire.
Searching through his pockets he found his matches—just three left. Then having gathered together a pile of dead leaves and dried wood, he took the first match from his pocket and carefully lit it. The fire began to burn a little, then smouldered, and finally went out. Very carefully, he lighted the second match, but to his dismay a sudden puff of wind blew it out as he held it. He was down to his last chance—just one match between himself and death!
THE LAST MATCH
Let’s pause! Haven’t you had opportunities to hear the gospel and be saved? Do you realize that, just as that man’s life depended on those three matches, so your eternal destiny depends on how you treat these opportunities? As you read this, you can’t tell if it’s your last chance to be saved.
How that man’s hand shook as he held the last match and struck it with the utmost care! Then carefully shielding it with his other hand, he put it to the dried leaves, and trembling he watched to see if it would burn. What relief to see the flames begin to shoot up! He knew as he stood by the fire that he was safe from the wild predators.
The traveler had three chances and he didn’t treat any of them casually. He fully intended to light his fire with the first match, he was still more anxious with the second, and he was in dead earnest with the third, knowing it was his last chance.
YOUR LAST MATCH?
How have you treated these opportunities of salvation that God has given you? The Bible says, “God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not” (Job 33:14). This traveler knew his danger and he was not thoughtless or indifferent to it. He was really concerned. How many men and women are in a more serious position than he, yet they “perceive it not.” God has spoken to them not only once or twice, but many times, and they have closed their ears and hearts, refusing to listen to His voice of love.
But God still speaks, just as He is speaking to you today, unsaved one. It may be your last opportunity. Judgment—far worse than being torn to death by wild animals—is coming. God says, “After [death] the judgment”—the lake of fire forever. How dreadfully solemn this is!
SAFETY FROM JUDGMENT
Would you like to be safe from this judgment? God has provided a way of escape for you. His own beloved Son left heaven’s glory and came down to earth that He might “give His life a ransom for many.” At Calvary’s cross, God poured out upon Him the full judgment of all who believe on Him by faith. After bearing it all, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The work of redemption was gloriously completed. And just as the traveler stood by the fire in safety, so you, as a sinner, can stand under the shelter of the blood of Christ and be safe for all eternity.
Don’t be thoughtless or indifferent. God wants to bless you. From heaven He offers you salvation. It may be your last chance.
“There is but a step between me and death” (1 Samuel 20:3).
“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).
Forgiveness Illustration
Often God uses weak things to accomplish His great purposes.
A little girl was given a New Testament as a prize at her Sunday school.
Naturally, she was delighted and at once tried to read it. She was very young, and could only read the simplest words.
One day, her father, who had no interest in the Bible, sat near the window reading the Sunday newspaper. The child was reading the story of the cross, and reached those deeply touching words of our blessed Lord: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The child haltingly spelled out “F-A-T-H-E-R, father.”
“Why father!” she cried, “here is your name; Jesus is talking to you here.”
“Nonsense,” he said, “nonsense,” and adding, “go on reading to yourself, child, and don’t make so much noise about it,” he returned to his paper.
But his attention was caught, and instinctively he listened in spite of himself. “Father, F-O-R-G-I-V-E, forgive―Father forgive him.”
“No, child, that is wrong, it is not ME―I mean it is not HIM―it is “forgive them. There now! Don’t interrupt me again.”
But the little girl, persisted in repeating the words, “Father, forgive, father forgive,” then hesitated at the word “them.”
Her father, in a tumult of annoyance and vexation, nervously folded his paper and, almost snatching the book from her hand, told her what the word was, and went out of the room.
But an arrow from God had pierced his “armor,” and the words echoed ceaselessly in his brain: “Father, forgive,” “Father. forgive.”
Finally he admitted, “Yes, it’s ME! I have sinned against God, and yet Jesus died for me. Forgive me, my God,” he prayed, “forgive my sins.”
Did God hear his cry? Of course. Has God EVER turned a deaf ear to a contrite sinner’s cry? Never! Even an angry thief, convicted and repentant, found pardon, and exchanged a malefactor’s cross for the crown of glory. “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
He is the same today.
Adapted from In The Cleft of the Rock
Door-to-Door Tip
When you’re heading door-to-door with tract bags, tuck the hanging bag into the crack where the door meets the frame. The vast majority of doors will allow this and it keeps the bag from blowing away.
A Floating Foundation–Large Print Tract
The giant print and message shown below make this an excellent tract for your next visit to a nursing home. It looks great in color or black and white.
I Want Peace–Large Print Tract
The giant print and message shown below make this an excellent tract for your next visit to a nursing home. It looks great in color or black and white.
The power of an accusing conscience to banish peace, and the power of the blood of Christ to bring peace have been proved by millions alive today. On the other hand millions are searching for peace by many other means — without success.
The urgent quest for peace led an elderly gentleman into a little Christian bookstore. He arrived near closing time and insisted on being served by “the lady.”
“What may I do for you?” she asked pleasantly.
“I want to find peace,” he replied. “Can you tell me where I can find it?”
“This Book,” said the saleslady, picking up a Bible, “shows how to find peace.”
“But you told me that five years ago,” he replied. “I came into your store then and asked you the same question. But I am still looking for peace.” The saleslady had forgotten the incident, but not so the Lord Jesus who is the Good Shepherd. He continued over the years to seek this lost and wandering sheep and would not allow him to rest until he rested safely upon His shoulders.
The man was wealthy; it wasn’t poverty that kept gnawing at his soul. He had plenty of material things; but his mind was in turmoil. How true are Augustine’s words penned nearly 1500 years ago: “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee.”
“The trouble is,” continued the old man, “I can’t believe the Bible.”
“If you don’t believe the Bible, there is no hope of you ever finding peace,” said the saleslady; “the Bible is the only book that can teach us that.”
But the man contended that the Bible was written by human beings “so how was he to be sure that it was the Word of God?”
The Word of God
The Bible is in truth the very Word of God and carries its own credentials. Many who doubt and criticize it most have really read it the least. Finally the saleslady was able to persuade the gentleman to go home and read the gospel of John, especially the story of Nicodemus in the third chapter, and notice how the Lord Jesus insisted that even a morally upright “master in Israel” MUST be born again.
Having referred him to the Word of God she then referred him to a Christian doctor who lived near the old gentleman’s home. He said he would be glad to visit the doctor if he could only be cured of the turmoil in his heart.
“But,” said the saleslady as they parted, “the doctor will give you the same medicine; ‘ye MUST be born again’.”
On reaching her home she telephoned the doctor, explaining how she had referred to him a patient suffering from sin-sickness. The doctor, a true lover of others, said he would be pleased to be of use to His Lord if He could use him in this case. And He did.
As advised by the saleslady, our elderly friend kept an appointment with the doctor. But instead of prescribing medication or recommending a psychiatrist, the doctor opened his Bible and together they read in John’s Gospel.
“The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130).
At last light and understanding began to dawn on the man who for years had searched for peace. He saw indeed that he too “MUST be born again.” It took more than one visit to the good doctor’s office before the full light shone; but on the third visit — at midnight — the man believed the Word of God to the saving of His soul. The peace of God entered his troubled heart. He went home rejoicing with the knowledge of sins forgiven and peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).