WE have brought before us in Luke’s Gospel the account of four men who cried for mercy. Three of them cried in time and received a blessing for all eternity; the other cried when, alas! it was too late, when his doom was fixed forever.
Permit me, dear reader, to put a question to you. Have you ever cried for mercy? Because cry you most certainly will, either just in time to get the blessing, or beyond the bounds of time, forever too late.
In chapter 17:13 we find that Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem, was met by ten lepers, who cried for mercy. All ten were healed, though only one returned to give glory to God, only one to praise and bless the One from whom he had received the healing. Oh, how many there are still who have never confessed His blessed name, who have secretly received His blessing but never taken their stand in this world for the gracious Blesser! Should the reader belong to this class, think of the joy and happiness you are losing by not confessing Him, and think of His loss also. “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” (Rom. 10:9).
The second cry was that of the publican (chapter 18, verse 13) who went up to the temple to pray, but could not so much as lift his eyes to heaven. Smiting upon his breast he cried, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” Oh, what a grand title to bring to the Saviour of sinners! The whole of his life, both past and present, stood summed up in those two words— “a sinner.”
If you, my reader, have never honestly taken your place before God as a lost and guilty sinner you will never know, as this man knew, what it is to be a justified person in the sight of God. Hear what Christ says of this man: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.” We would entreat of you to
“Come away to Jesus in your rags and sin,
Prodigal unworthy, He will take you in:
Own yourself a sinner, only mercy crave,
For ‘twas vile transgressors Jesus came to save.”
The third man (see verse 38, the same chapter) cried for mercy also. It was blind Bartimæus, who sat by the wayside begging. Hearing an unusual hum of voices and the tramp of many feet coming that way, he asked what it meant, and was told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. As soon as ever that name fell on his ears, just mark his anxiety to reach Him. Mark the successive steps that follow. He heard, he inquired, he cried, he came, he received, he followed, he glorified God.
Thus it is with every anxious soul. Has it been so with you, dear reader? If not, delay not one moment longer. Raise the cry at once, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me!” and as surely as He met and blessed the three men we have just been reading of will He bless and save you.
Jesus is the One who on the cross has met all the judgment of God due to the sinner who believes. Hear His cry, “It is finished!” ere He bowed His head in death. His precious blood was shed, and that precious blood cleanseth from all sin. He was buried, but God raised Him from the dead. Now He sits at God’s right hand in heavenly glory, a Saviour for all. Through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins (Acts 10:34).
Oh, will you not trust that blessed Saviour now? To delay is dangerous and may prove fatal.
“For if you still His grace refuse,
And dare such wondrous love abuse,
Then will He from you sally turn,
Your bitter cry for mercy spurn.
‘Too late! too late!’ will be the cry;
‘Jesus has gathered His own on high.’”
The last man in these scriptures who cries for mercy comes before us in chapter 16:24. But mercy was beyond his reach forever. When here on earth, where alone mercy can be found, he sought it not. He fared sumptuously every day, was clothed in purple and fine linen; but there came a day when death severed him from all he possessed. He “died, and was buried; and in hell, in torments, he lifted up his eyes” and saw the poor beggar who, full of sores, used to lie at his gate, now in Abraham’s bosom. Then was wrung that bitter cry from his soul, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”
Oh, what a solemn scene, dear reader! Just think of it! How true it is, as another has said, all the wealth of a millionaire could not purchase a drop of water in eternity, though it be the universal provider of everything in this world but happiness, and the passport to everywhere but heaven. We earnestly trust that the one who now reads this paper will never join company with that man whose doom is forever fixed, and whose memory stings him through and through as he thinks of all the opportunities he let slip when here on earth. But hark! he says something about the unconverted. Do you inquire what it is? Listen. “Tell them not to come into this place of torment.” May God use those words to arouse the careless, unsaved reader.
In closing let me implore you to give your soul’s salvation your immediate attention, for now is the accepted time and now is the day of salvation.
R. G.
Hypocrites in the Church.—The man who says that the only reason why he is not a Christian is that there are so many hypocrites in the Church is himself a bigger hypocrite than those he objects to. He is better known than he supposes, and deceives himself more than he deceives anyone else.