While visiting one of the large hospitals, the following conversation took place between a servant of the Lord and one of the patients,
“Well, my friend, I believe you have been quite a sick man. I suppose you hope soon to be able to go back to your home?”
“Yes, thank you. I don’t think I shall be here much longer. I have suffered a lot, but am better, and hope soon to be able to go back home.”
“May I ask you,” said the servant of Christ, “where you expect to go after you leave this world? It matters little where we came from, but where are we going is the important thing to be clear about.”
“You have asked the right man that question this time, and I will give you a plain answer. I am going to heaven.”
“Have you always been a good man?”
“O no, sir, I am a sinner.”
“Well, I am glad to hear that, and you seem to be quite sure that you are going to heaven, but may I ask what authority you have for what you say?”
“Well, sir, it was hardly two years ago that I had a vision. I was caught up into paradise and saw Jesus, and He spoke so kindly to me, and His face was so bright and happy. He told me I was not to stay there just yet, but that my sins were all forgiven, and that I was a child of God and would soon be called to be with Him, to be there forever.”
“I am glad to hear all you say, my friend,” said the servant of the Lord, “but that would not be enough to satisfy me.”
“Not enough to satisfy you? What more would you want than to hear the Lord Himself say your sins were forgiven, and own you as a child of God?”
“I would want to have it down in black and white, and nothing less than that would satisfy me. It would not be enough to have a verbal agreement with a person about the purchase of a piece of land. I would want to have it in writing, no matter how truthful the person might be, and then it would settle all dispute for all time. Just suppose what you think was a vision was only a dream. Then what would you have to assure you that your sins are forgiven, and that you are a child of God?”
“O sir, it was no dream, and you can’t shake my confidence like that.”
“My friend, I don’t want to shake your confidence by any means, nor lessen your faith in what God has said, but only to give you a surer foundation upon which to build your hope.”
“Have you anything better than that, sir?”
“Yes, I surely have. I have the Lord’s own words in black and white, and without this I would never be certain.”
“Then let me see them.”
The servant of the Lord then took from his pocket the precious Word of God, and read to him these words; “I write unto you little children, because your sins are forgiven you, for His name’s sake” (1 John 2:1212I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. (1 John 2:12)) and “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God....Beloved, now are we the sons of God” (1 John 3:1-21Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1‑2)).
“You surely have the best of it, sir. I can see now that only as we have the Word of God for everything that we believe, can we be fully persuaded that we are right.”
Dear reader, may I ask you the question asked the sick man?
“Where are you going?”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).