I could not have been more than five or six years old when deeply convicted of sin. My parents were waiting for the Lord’s coming, and I knew if He came I was not ready to meet Him. Sometimes after being put to bed I would listen and think: “The house is very still; perhaps He has come, and I am left behind!” Then I would slip out of bed, creep downstairs, and listen for any sound that might relieve my fears.
How many times have I prayed, as a little child: “Lord Jesus, don’t come for millions and millions of years!” But I did not then know the Lord Jesus as my Saviour, and so feared His coming. Perhaps you are passing through a similar experience. Then do not delay as I did, but come to Jesus “NOW” (2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)).
Two things often troubled me—one was my own sinfulness; and the other, the holiness of God.
Then the day of my conversion came. It was Sunday evening, and I found my way to a little meeting room where I knew the gospel would be preached, determined to have the matter settled that night, whatever it might cost. The preacher’s message brought no relief, and well did I remember the distress of my soul when he finished. “I have had my last chance,” I thought, “and now it’s too late.” But hark!
The closing hymn was being given out, and the words at once arrested me:
God could not pass the sinner by,
His sin demands that he must die;
But in the cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet righteous be.
As a drowning man grasping at a rope thrown to him,
I laid hold upon the truth in those two verses.
The third verse contained these wonderful words:
The sin alights on Jesus’ head,
‘Tis in His blood sin’s debt is paid;
Stern justice can demand no more,
And mercy can dispense her store.
As it was being sung, I altered the words and sang it:
“My sins alight on Jesus’ head,
‘Tis in His blood my debt is paid.”
The load of guilt was at once removed from my conscience, for now I saw, by the Saviour’s teaching, that the claims of a holy God, and my need as a guilty sinner, had been met by the death of the Lord Jesus.
And the last verse of that blessed hymn was sung from an overflowing heart:
The sinner who believes is free,
Can say, “The Saviour died for me,”
Can point to the atoning blood,
And say, “This made my peace with God.”
Perhaps you feel as I did, yet He who sought the wandering sheep until He found it still seeks you. Receive then God’s message of pardon through Christ’s death, and go on your way rejoicing. Rest not until you can say, “Behold, God is MY SALVATION, I will trust and not be afraid.”
F.A.G.
ML 04/25/1965