“POOR, wretched, miserable,” gasped out the dying man, and he was gone.
When a lad he had resolved to be rich. Prosperity had rolled in upon him. Everything he touched had turned to gold. He had made money like hay.
Eighty-one years old when he died, and they say he was worth almost untold wealth.
At the last moment he had beckoned to his business partner, who was at his bedside. To catch the feeble utterance of the old man, he had had to stoop down, and put his ear to his mouth, and this was the last business communication of the dying millionaire. “Poor, wretched, miserable!”
One can imagine the sense of utter loneliness that took possession of the dying man’s soul, as he felt he was leaving all his gains, and going into God’s presence unprepared. Would that we could have sung softly in his dying ear―
“When the gain thou hast hoarded is slipping from thy grasp,
When thou standest needy and alone;
When thy cold hand no longer the wonted props can clasp,
Oh! who will listen to thy moan?
THERE IS ONE―the Friend of the friendless―
JESUS, JESUS saith, ‘Come unto me.’
None other friend but Jesus can e’er thy Saviour be,
O sinner! Jesus calleth thee.”
Yes, many a man has sold his soul for money. Said a Lancashire millowner, “If God Almighty will give me another hundred thousand pounds, I will willingly be damned forever.” Shocking words!
Yet it is not always for great stakes that men run the risk of eternal damnation.
Judas Iscariot sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver-thirty paltry pieces of silver. Foul, dark deed! Conscience awoke at last, even in his dark breast, where the blackness of hell itself was brooding. Into the presence of the High Priests he thrust himself, flung the money, for which his avarice had tempted him to sell his Lord, at their feet, and the double-dyed hypocrite went out and hanged himself, and went―as Scripture puts it―to his own place―the place his deeds merited―hell. Balsam, too, the hireling prophet, sold his soul for the wages of unrighteousness. Thousands have done the same.
Yet it is not always for money that people barter away their priceless souls. It may be a ball dress, the billiard cue, the beer pot, the lusts of the flesh, political fame, the trashy novel, or even a CHRISTLESS religion. As you read this, ask yourself the question, What am I selling my soul for? I care not what it is. The bargain is shortsighted, and you will be the eternal loser in the lake of fire.
Unconverted reader, wake up, you are lost. Your sins have ruined you. Hell is the awful end of the road you are traveling. You have no bright prospect after death. You NEED SALVATION. God wants to save you, and bless you forever.
Well, if money played its wretched part in the death of Jesus, so did love. If base, sordid avarice tempted Judas to sell his soul for thirty pieces, of silver, and if hatred against Christ made the High Priests stoop to such a truckling of justice, thank God, we can say of Jesus―
“His errand to the earth was love,
To wretches such as we!
To pluck us from the jaws of Death,
Nailed to th’ accursed tree.”
But you must look past Judas’ act, the brutality of the soldiers, the selling of justice on the part of Pilate. We must see that Christ willingly stepped into the sinner’s place, that God forsook His Son on the cross, that there He suffered the penalty due to sin, that there His precious, atoning blood was shed, that there God’s righteousness was satisfied, and that God can now therefore in justice forgive the vilest sinner, who comes pleading alone the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His atoning blood.
And this salvation, wrought out at such infinite cost, is free―free as the air you breathe― “without money and without price.”
Look at that richly clad captain as he drives his chariot along. Who is he, and what is he doing? It is Naaman, Syria’s successful and valiant general. The brilliant uniform hides a loathsome leper beyond the help of man. No doctors can meet his awful case. Fit picture of my unconverted reader! He is bound for the humble cottage of Israel’s prophet, where he hopes to get healing.
What is that which makes his chariot wheels drag so heavily? MONEY! Look into his chariot, see what he is bringing. Ten talents of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, ten changes of raiment.
A pretty big doctor’s fee, at the smallest computation equal to £15:000; and considering the relative value of money then, equal to £150,000 at the very least. Is his money taken? Does the humble prophet of God enrich himself at the expense of, the great captain? Nay, though urged to take it, he refused.
And shall the same God, who cleansed the leper for nothing, make a charge to you for salvation?
Nay, it is too priceless to sell, and we have naught wherewith to buy. What can we give to merit it? Will the money of tears, of almsgiving, of good works, of turning over a new leaf, satisfy God? Never!
You have nothing to do―ALL has been done. Jesus cried on the cross “IT IS FINISHED.” Would you insult God by adding to a finished work?
Let me give you an incident occurring not many months ago.
A young lady remained at the close of a gospel meeting to be spoken to personally about her soul’s salvation.
She said to me, “I have heard them say in the village that you preach that we don’t need to pray for salvation. I can’t understand such strange doctrine. I always thought we ought to pray earnestly for salvation.” She was deeply in earnest, tears were freely coursing their way down her cheeks as she said this.
I replied, “You see this Bible in my hand. It was given to me by a dear friend. Now suppose when he offered it to me as a free gift, I fell upon my knees, and earnestly prayed him to give it to me in language like this, ‘Oh! Mr. So-and-so, do give me that Bible; I know it is far too good for me, and I am not worthy of it; but do give it to me, and I will try to merit it.’
“And when again he pressed upon me the gift, I burst into tears, and still more earnestly pleaded for the Bible. What would you think of such conduct as that?”
The young lady replied, “I would think you were mad, or that you were insulting him.”
“Exactly,” I replied; “and that is the way many people are doing with God, when they earnestly pray month after month for salvation. They don’t mean to insult God, but nevertheless that is what they are doing. ‘THE Gift OF GOD is eternal life.’ ‘Without money and without price’ are the gospel terms.”
In words something like these we talked her difficulty over, and the result was, thank God, that she accepted salvation as a free gift from God that very evening.
The Scriptures are so plain upon the point. Not a tear, not a prayer is asked. No doubt when the sinner feels the burden of his guilt, as indeed he should, the tear of repentance may fall. But the tear of repentance no more gains salvation than the fact of a man feeling ill makes him well. When he feels ill he sends for a doctor; and so when the needy sinner feels oppressed with the burden of his guilt, he looks about for a Saviour, for he cannot save himself, or even HELP to save himself.
To wait till he is better is far more foolish than a sick man waiting till he has recovered before he sends for the doctor. NAY, MORE, YOU CANNOT MAKE YOURSELF BETTER. “They that are in the flesh cannot please God.” “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Religious flesh can no more please God than sinful flesh. Nothing but pride keeps the sinner back from trusting Christ alone, and finding in Him all his salvation. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)).
Ah! reader, believe that God is a giving God, delighting in mercy, Willing to save you this moment, and dismiss all your low thoughts of Him, and your exalted ideas of your own ability to do even a hair’s breadth towards your salvation.
And then saved, and knowing it on the authority of God’s imperishable word, it will be your happy privilege to spend and be spent in the Master’s service. Then there will be ample scope for good works and devotedness to Christ. For instance, David prepared gifts, computed at £1,500,000,000, for the Temple at Jerusalem. The last recorded offering is the widow’s two mites, precious in God’s sight, for it was all her living. Between the million and the mite there is ample room for the richest and the poorest Christian to show their devotedness, though there are many more ways of showing it than that of giving money.
Good works before salvation cannot procure salvation, and good works after salvation do not merit it, but are the evidence of faith in God, the mark of one whose life is linked up with a risen Saviour in glory, and who seeks to please the One who has redeemed him.
Salvation is free, bestowed by the absolute sovereignty of God upon the believing sinner as a free gift, when there is not one spark of grace on his side to merit it.
“The Lord’s on the throne, God has raised up His Son, ―
He could not be there if the work were not done;
But now that it is, just “Believe on the Son,”
And glory is certain for thee.”
A. J. P.