When I was in high school I often studied in the cafeteria before school started. One morning while sitting alone at one of the tables, Ed, another student, sat down beside me. Right away he started asking me questions about how to be saved. He knew that I carried a small Bible with me. I was happy to read several verses to him such as, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:30,31. “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.” Romans 10:9.
While he carefully listened to those and other scripture verses from God’s Word, four or five other students known to both of us came over. They started teasing Ed and even tried to distract him by stuffing some prickly holly leaves down his back. Undisturbed, Ed became more and more intent as I explained the way of salvation as plainly as I could. Tears began to fall, not from the prickly holly but as a result of God’s Spirit working in Ed, showing him that he was a sinner and that he needed a Saviour. He soon saw that it was only the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the cross that could provide salvation. He accepted God’s love. Ed was then born again — he passed from Satan’s darkness into the light of God’s love and grace. His face lit up with a smile while his tormentors went their individual ways. The first period bell rang, but Ed had already heard the gospel bells just a few minutes before, which made him a new creature in Christ Jesus.
Dear boy or girl, let me ask you a question. Have you heard the good news that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners? (1 Tim. 1:15) Will you meet Ed in heaven along with all the others who have accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour? Have you ever confessed your sins to God and asked Him to wash them away in the precious blood of Christ? Remember, there is no salvation other than recognizing your need as a sinner in God’s sight and in faith turning to the Lord Jesus. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Won’t you do it now?
ML-01/13/1985