One Lord's Day evening a preacher had been speaking of Christ to a small company. He was asked to talk to a middle-aged man who had remained after the service had closed. He had listened attentively throughout the evening, and now his face wore a troubled expression.
"Do you know the Lord?" the preacher asked him. The man shook his head.
"Are you a sinner?" was the next question. The answer was "Yes," spoken with deep feeling. It was evidently not the "yes" of carelessness, but of true conviction of sin.
"Well, if so," said the servant of God, "what are you going to do about it?”
After a short pause, the man replied, "I shall say my prayers.”
"That is of no use," answered the preacher. "If you could live as long as Methuselah, and pray all the time, that could never save you.”
The man started at these words, and said: "What must I do then?”
God's answer in Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31) was at once given: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." In a few simple words Christ was shown forth as the Savior of sinners. It was pointed out that He had already done all that had to be done in order to clear the guilty.
The man's face brightened as he listened. He believed the Word of God. Though he was entirely uneducated and unable to read or write, that was no hindrance to his receiving the gospel like a little child, and owning the Lord as his Savior.
The Lord abhors the pretensions to goodness which man is so ready to entertain, but delights to unveil the beauty and simplicity of His grace to the humble soul.