Mary M– was a young woman of eighteen, the eldest daughter in a well-to-do family in the town. There was the widowed grandmother, a genuine Christian, on her way to heaven. Then there were the two daughters and a niece, all professors of religion; but none of them really believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The evening gospel meeting had just finished, and some anxious ones were being spoken to, when Miss M– came up to me, and said she wished very much I would call and see her the following day, as she wished to speak to me further about what she had heard that night.
The following afternoon I called and found her waiting for me. She immediately opened the subject by saying,
“I have been thinking a great deal on these things for some time. A friend of mine presented me with a book, in which the gospel is very simply and clearly put, and it opened my eyes to see things in a new light altogether. I used to think that if I said my prayers night and morning, and went to church on Sunday, it would be all right at last; but I see now that I am a lost and ruined sinner, guilty before God, and that I must be saved by the Lord Jesus. My difficulty is chiefly this, that I do not feel as anxious about my soul as I ought. I do not feel the burden of my sins as heavily as some have told me they did; but I earnestly hope that the Lord will make me more anxious soon and save me.”
“I am glad to hear you say that you have been awakened, Miss M–, to see that your churchgoing and prayer saying will never take you to heaven; for I have no doubt that many religious people sincerely believe that if they do these things, they will get to heaven, and they only awake out of their delusive sleep when it is too late. I am glad that you see that salvation is in Christ alone; but I do not think you are much better off than before, when you think you have to make yourself ready for the reception of salvation by efforts of your own. You are just as helpless as ever, for you can no more make yourself feel the burden of your sins than you can take them away. Salvation is entirely of the Lord.
“Let me illustrate it thus: Suppose a rich man should provide a free supper for all the poor children of this town. Supper being on the table, the servants are sent out to bring the children in. Of course, they are all glad to hear about the free supper, and their teeth are set on edge to get to it; but they have an idea in their minds that everyone who goes to the supper ought to be dressed in black, as the servants are. When they look at their muddy feet and tattered coats, they shake their heads and say to themselves, ‘We cannot go to supper like this—we must be dressed first’; and that being out of their power, the thing is settled—there is no supper for them. Now, there can be no dispute about black clothes being a suitable outfit for supper, but he who provided the supper knew that in this case they were not able to buy them, and he therefore imposed no such condition. The invitation was to poor children, and they were expected to come just as it found them.
“The supper was for poor children.
“The gospel is for lost sinners.
“You are lost, whether you know it or not; and the burden of sin is there, whether you feel it or not; and God asks no further preparation from you than this, that you own yourself a sinner, and claim Christ as your Saviour.”
“Well, that certainly puts it in a new light altogether. I see now that He is willing to save me just as I am.”
“Yes, that’s it. He says, ‘Whosoever believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins’ (Acts 10:4141Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. (Acts 10:41)). You are one of the ‘whosoevers’! Are you willing, then, to receive God’s salvation on His own terms? Will you accept it as a free gift, just as you are? You cannot make yourself more welcome to it than you already are; you cannot make God more willing to save you than He already is.”
“How beautifully simple! I wonder why I did not see it before. I am a lost sinner; God says it. Jesus died for sinners—therefore for me. I see it all. He will take me as I am.”
Dear reader, God loves you as you are; He has provided salvation for sinners—therefore for you; and He invites you, with all His heart, to accept it in the very condition you are at this moment.