Here is a fisherman cleaning his fish, and he seems to be quite pleased with his catch. Many people are very fond of fishing and will travel long distances to find a place where there is good fishing.
A good fisherman knows the right time to fish, and he will spend a good deal of time and money getting the proper kind of equipment necessary for his work, which is really a pleasure to him. But there is something far more important than catching fish from the water. That is fishing for men, as the Lord Jesus said. It is seeking to bring sinners to the knowledge of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are very much interested in this kind of fishing, as was a dear man of which I wish to tell you.
He found an old man who was burdened with his sins, and he longed to see him saved, like “fishers of men” always do. He therefore said to him, “Where are your sins?” As the old man considered, he was asked another question.
“Did God lay your sins upon Jesus on the cross, and did He bear them there?”
“Indeed He did,” was the man’s response.
“But the Lord Jesus is on the throne of God now; sin’s load is no longer on Him there. Where are your sins?”
As he pondered the question, thinking how he should answer it, the old man’s eyes were opened. He saw the precious truth that his sins had been borne by Christ upon the cross, but that they were no longer upon Him now — therefore they must be gone. Peace filled his soul, as he rested upon the finished work of his precious Saviour, whom he could now see by faith seated at the right hand of God.
The man who had pointed out this precious truth to him, rejoiced too, that another had been saved by simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
ML 09/12/1954