It happened at the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. The audience of men were singing, and now and then one would get up and give his testimony.
“If any wants to come and say a word for Jesus,” said the speaker, “let him come now.”
A man in one of the back seats rose to his feet and started down to the front. There was a strange look on his face. Evidently he had been living a dissipated life. You could not tell whether he was thirty or fifty years of age.
Just as he passed a row of seats, another man who looked like he, too, was from skid row, said to a companion of his, “He’s getting paid for this!” By this he meant that the man was going to get the price of a night’s lodging. Well, when this strange man reached the front, he leaned up against the platform and told his story.
“Men,” he said, “my home is near Boston. I had one of the best fathers that ever lived, but I sinned against him. A year ago my father called me into his study and said, ‘You have dishonored your father’s name. First of all I want you to go away and I want you to stay away. Then because you have dishonored my name, I want you to change yours.’
“I have a sister back in the east whose name I have not had on my lips for months. I came to this city and sank so low that they wouldn’t have me at the police station. The other night, as I was passing this gospel mission, I heard them singing my mother’s hymn, ‘Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.’
“Men, Jesus Christ met me here. My sins have been forgiven. I have been a Christian for two weeks.
“As I came down the aisle a moment ago, I heard a man say that I was getting paid for this, and I want to tell you that I am getting paid. This morning I received a letter from my father who said that I could not come home too soon, that the doors are wide open to receive me, and that his arms are outstretched to welcome me. He tells me that my sister has never closed her eyes in sleep without mentioning my name in her prayers. So, boys, I’m going back home tonight, and I’m getting paid! Praise the Lord!”
The prodigal son who came back was surprised at the welcome he got from his father. The Bible says, “But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
And sinners who return home to God in repentance will be surprised at the welcome they get from that ever-gracious One — a more wonderful welcome than they could ever get from their fellow man. 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).
God has been glorified in that precious death. There the great sin question was settled, and God can pardon and bless every sinner that believes in Jesus. God now finds His own special joy and delight in blessing sinners who come to Him through Christ His beloved Son.
ML-06/05/1977