“COME and see him today, doctor; he is very anxious to see you; he is dying, and this will probably be the last time!”
This was the message brought by the mother of the dying man, to the doctor who had attended him all through his painful illness. This young man’s life had been a wild, careless, reckless one, and now it was come to an end, and he was called to die. Not knowing Christ in the beginning of his illness, the prospect of death was dark and dreary to him; but the Lord’s loving eye was upon the poor prodigal, and in His wisdom He so arranged it, that the doctor chosen to attend him was the young stranger, as yet but little known in the district, but who knew the Lord Jesus as the Friend of sinners. The poor sufferer had learned that he was a sinner, and through the doctor God sent him the blessed message of peace. He told him of the blessed One who had come down to die for him; of the loving One, who casts none out who come to Him for salvation; of the mighty love of God, in giving His only begotten Son to die for poor, helpless, hopeless sinners like him. He had received the message, owned himself helpless, and accepted the blessed remedy which God had provided; and now, he wished once more to look upon the face of the one he loved, as the bearer of the message of rest to his weary soul.
Though pressed with other engagements, the doctor felt that his favorite patient must not be neglected, and so he went. The moment he entered his room, the dying man stretched out his worn hand, and grasping his, with an indescribable look of deep love and gratitude, he said, “Doctor, I have sent for you to see you, to see you once more. I want to tell you something. First, I would say that I thank you for all your goodness to me. How kind you have been, I could not tell; but you told me about Christ, and now I am going to be with Him. I thank God for that. I am going only a little while before you. How glad I shall be to meet you there I would willingly wait a little while for you in the border land; but I am going, and I shall wait for you there. It won’t be long, and I shall see you again; for I am going to be with Christ. Washed in His precious, precious blood from all my sins, I’m not afraid. He shed His blood for me, the very chief of sinners. Oh, how good He is! He is my Redeemer, and now I am going, and I shall be forever, ―forever with Him. I shall be so glad to see you again there.” Then he burst out into words of rapturous thanksgiving, and of burning love, to the One who had died for him, and washed him from his sins in His own blood, but in broken sentences, for his breath was failing fast, and the death dew was thick upon his brow. His friend bade him farewell, and with bursting heart he left the room. He had looked for the last time upon the face of his patient.
Beloved reader, have you ever known what it is to be brought face to face with death, and to have shrunk back tremblingly from it, because you knew not Christ as your Saviour? If so, you will realize a little of what that young man felt, when the unwelcome consciousness forced itself upon him that he must die. But I would ask you one other question: Do you know what it is to have come to Jesus, the Friend of sinners, in your distress? to have found in Him an all-sufficient Saviour, the Refuge which God has provided to shield you from the storm of judgment, which must otherwise sweep over your soul and destroy you? If you have not, I beseech you to delay no longer. Death may come to you, how soon you know not; and if you are not found in Christ, an eternal hell must be your portion, the eternal burnings of the lake of fire. But God willeth not the death of a sinner, “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye” (Ezek. 18:3232For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. (Ezekiel 18:32)). “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezek. 33:1111Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11)).
In your sins and ruin God loves you, and has He not dearly proved it? For “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)). Jesus, His beloved One, the delight of His heart, He gave up to die for sinners, even for those whose hearts were at enmity with Him. “For when we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)). “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s.
stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. vss. 20,21). God has done all that He can do to win your poor worthless heart. Can you then refuse Him the delight of taking you to His bosom as His beloved child? I pray you no longer to refuse His loving call. E. L. W.
REDEMPTION sets us at rest, and in peace, in the presence of God. The whole character of Christian life flows from being brought back to God, and thus we are called to walk with God. To believe that we are brought back to God, is not presumption; it is faith. It is presumption to think we can be saved in any other way. It should always be remembered, that Christ is not our life, without being our righteousness; and that neither is He our righteousness, without being our life. If this be surely grasped, it will enable the soul to look at the judgment-seat of Christ with perfect calmness. Confidence is founded on His being made our righteousness, who was made sin for us.
J. N. D.