Lucas and Oliver were good buddies. Neither one came from a Christian home, but their parents decided it would be good for the boys to go to Sunday school. You see, both Lucas and Oliver were rascals. It seemed they were always playing pranks on anyone they could. So their parents thought Sunday school would be a help to them. But I am sad to say that the church where the boys were sent did not preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ who came into the world to save sinners. So the boys didn’t find anything there that would help change them. Nevertheless, they had a good time going there and ... causing trouble.
After a few weeks of trying to be patient with Lucas and Oliver and after having given several warnings to the boys, Miss Peterson, the Sunday school teacher, asked the boys not to ever come back. Yes, they were that naughty!
Several years later, when Lucas was about 18 years old, he heard the story of Jesus and how He came down from heaven and died on the cross to put away his sins. Lucas was a nice boy in many ways, but in his heart, he knew he was a sinner and needed a Savior. He accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior. When he grew a little older, he married a nice Christian girl, and they taught their family about the Lord Jesus, too.
Many years later, Lucas decided to go to his forty-fifth high school reunion. One reason he wanted to go was to see if any of his classmates had found Christ the way he had.
Lucas had a nice time visiting with the different people he used to go to school with, but he was saddened not to find anyone who seemed to be a Christian. But then he saw Oliver — the boy who had been his “partner in crime” in Miss Peterson’s Sunday school class so many years ago! As they talked, he was delighted to find out that Oliver had also come to realize that he was a sinner who needed a Savior and had
been saved.
And so it was that the boys who once were so naughty that they got asked to never again come to Sunday school were the same boys who came to find that Christ is the Savior for sinners!
What about you, boys and girls? Perhaps you go to Sunday school every Sunday and are being taught the only way of salvation through the Lord Jesus, who died for your sins on the cross. Just going to church or Sunday school isn’t enough to make you ready for heaven. One day the Lord Jesus will say to many who think they are ready for heaven, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:2323And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:23)). Sadly, this will be said to people who right now are calling Him “Lord, Lord” and are even doing good works which they think make them ready to enter heaven. But Jesus taught that only those who do the will of God will enter that wonderful place, not people who do what we might think of as “good works.” In another place He teaches us what God calls an important work. He said, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He [God] hath sent” (John 6:2929Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (John 6:29)). Simply believing on the Lord Jesus, who died so that we can have our sins forgiven, is the only “work” that God asks us to do when we aren’t yet saved. We hope you will be like Lucas and Oliver, who realized they needed a Savior and came to the Lord Jesus to save them!
Messages of God’s Love 3/28/2021