A man in the prime of life lay on his couch. Suddenly laid aside by sickness, from an active business life, and from a place of prominence in the church of which he was an esteemed member and office-bearer, he had time given him to think. Never before, in the days of health and religious effort, had he considered his own personal condition in the sight of God, or where he would go when earthly life was past.
On the Lord’s Day afternoon, a friend called to see him, and in course of conversation he said to the sick merchant, “I have more than once been at the very gate of death, and I cannot describe what peace I enjoyed at the prospect of meeting God, simply trusting in the precious blood of Jesus Christ as my only plea, my only title.”
The sick man raised himself on his elbow and said, “I have been thinking about the same matter a good deal of late. I feel I have not been sufficiently zealous in religion to enable me to say I can look into the future as you do. I would give all that I possessed if I could.”
“Religion is not a title to heaven, dear sir,” replied the Christian visitor. “Religion never gave anybody peace with God, or a title to His presence. The blood of Jesus Christ alone can do that.”
The sick man seemed bewildered. He had been accustomed to think that religion was the very best thing in the world, and that when people spoke of “conversion,” “salvation,” and “cleansing in the blood of Christ,” they simply expressed in that way, and according to their own peculiar creed, the same thing as he called “religion.” His friend saw his perplexity, and in order to take full advantage of it, to bring before him the gospel of God’s salvation, he said, “May I read you a short portion of the Scriptures,” to which he received a glad consent. The portion chosen was the twelfth chapter of Exodus, in which an account of the Passover, the sprinkling of the blood, and the safety of the firstborn are given. Commenting briefly on the verses, he said, “It was the blood shed and sprinkled, the blood trusted, and it alone, that gave safety to all within the houses that night. All under the shelter of the blood were safe; all outside it, no matter what their character, were doomed to judgment.” There was a solemn silence in the room as he finished reading, a silence which the visitor felt unwilling to break, as it seemed to him that God was working deep conviction by His Spirit through the Word, in the soul of him who lay at his side.
Sitting up, the sick man stretched forth his hand, and grasping the hand of the visitor, said slowly, with great emotion, “It’s all in the blood. I see it now, as I never did before. I have been trusting to my religion, and my own righteousness, but now I see clearly that my only title to salvation is in the blood of Christ.” The Christian bowed his head in silent thanksgiving to God, and at the request of the sick merchant, now filled with peace and joy, he bowed his knees and gave thanks to God for his deliverance and conversion. God raised him to testify to others of the precious blood of Christ, the sinner’s only plea and title to heaven.
How many think that religion is a saviour? How many are trusting to their own righteousness and good works to take them, or to help them into heaven, whereas God declares that the precious blood of Christ, trusted in by the sinner, is his only shelter from coming wrath.