Isaiah Fifty-Three Six

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 3
I was preaching one evening in a college town in Minnesota. I noticed a fine-looking man with white hair and beard sitting near the front. Though he listened with the closest attention, the way he acted while I preached, and when I gave the invitation, made me confident that he was not a Christian. Immediately upon the close of the meeting, I made my way to him and said to him, “Are you a Christian?” “No, sir.” “Would you become one if I showed you how?” He said, “I would.” I said, “Let’s sit down and talk it over.” I opened my Bible to Isaiah 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6) and read, “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way.” I said, “Is that true of you?” He said, “It is, sir.” I said, “What are you then?” He said, “I am lost.” “Now,” I said, “listen to the rest of the verse.” “And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” “Do you believe that?” I said. “Yes,” he said, “I believe everything in the Bible.” I said, “Do you believe that the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all? Do you believe that the Lord hath laid on Jesus your sin?” He said, “I do.” “What then is all that is necessary for you to do in order to be saved?” “Simply to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. I said, “Will you do it now?” He said, “I will.” “Let us tell God so,” and side by side we knelt in prayer. When I had prayed, he followed me in prayer. When he had finished his prayer, I said, “What are you?” He said, “I am saved. My sins are forgiven.” Then I asked him, “What are you going to do about it?” He said, “I am going back to my home and set up the family altar and unite with the church.” Some months after I met the pastor of the church that he attended in a town down on the Mississippi River and asked him what this man had done. He said, “He came back to his home, came to me and made application for membership in the church, and brought his oldest son, a grown man, with him, and together they have become members of the church.”