My dear P—
Miss J— told me in her letter how sick you have been and still were when she wrote to me. I trust it is the Lord’s will that by this time you are getting better, and relieved of your severe pains. But I am so glad to hear you have now trusted in the Lord Jesus as your own dear Saviour. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” My mother died when f was about fifteen years of age. She had been an earnest Christian and often prayed at our bedsides after her boys had gone to bed, but she did not see any of her boys converted. I was converted when about twenty years old, and the night that I had trusted the Lord, as I went to bed, I thought of mother and of her many prayers being answered in my case, and also knew that “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
Well dear P—you have now entered God’s School, and are learning the A.B.C. . . . . A stands for “All have Sinned;” (Rom. 3) that is our first lesson. When we learn that lesson we need another, for we want to know how to get rid of our sins, so the next letter is B, and that stands for “Behold the Lamb of God.” (John 1.) We could not put away our own sins, but God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and He has been made a sacrifice for sin upon the cross. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, so that now there is the finished work, and a risen living Saviour at God’s right hand, proving that God is well pleased with that work.
Now we come to C, and that stands for “Come unto Me.” (Matt. 11.) So that is the blessed, loving, living Lord Jesus now inviting weary, laboring sinners, troubled about their sins, to come to Him and He will give them rest. So dear P— you need not be afraid to leave all to Him. From the moment we trust in Him, we become God’s children, and are like the sheep in Luke 25, which, when the shepherd found, he laid it on his shoulders, rejoicing. He did not put it on one shoulder only, but on both shoulders, and held it there with His strong arms. We cannot fall off our Shepherd’s shoulders. We are in two hands, the Father’s amid the Son’s. (John 10:28, 29, 3028And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 30I and my Father are one. (John 10:28‑30).) And they are stronger than Satan and all the evils of our own heart. And P—you will find in your heart plenty of evil thoughts still, but remember the Lord Jesus knew how bad we are by nature and how poorly we would be able to behave ourselves, and for all that He saved us. “He loved me and gave Himself for me. And He loves us still. His love passes knowledge. Praise His name!
Now I will give you an A. B. C. for the Christian. A. “As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” Col. 2:66As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: (Colossians 2:6). That is, we had no goodness and no strength. The Lord Jesus must be our all. So as believers we need to go to Him for everything.
B. “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. 1 Cor. 25:58. All we do to please Him, even a cup of cold water given for Christ’s sake, He never forgets.
C. “Comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:1818Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:18). You will notice what words He means. It is to encourage each other that the Lord is coming for us who are His people. We can say as we wait for Him, “Come Lord Jesus” for we will be sure to go up when He comes.
Love to you and to all the dear friends who are friends of Jesus our Lord.
ML 10/16/1904