SHORTLY after finding peace with God about my sins, I went to see a man who was dying with consumption. I read and talked to him from time to time. As he always assented to what I said, I almost persuaded myself that he might be trusting in the Lord. One night in speaking of that blessed truth for believers— “Lo, I am with you always”—as near as I can remember, the following conversation took place. I said, “What a blessing to have Jesus with you and to know His sympathy.” The poor man looked at me with tears in his eyes, and said, “Yes, it is all true, but He is not near enough to me yet.” “And do you not know your sins forgiven?” I asked.
“No, I wish I did.”
“Well, James, you know you are a sinner, and that you need to be converted, and that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.” “Yes, but I do not know how to be converted.”
He had lived in the north of Ireland during the great revival of 1850, and had witnessed many stricken down under the sense of their guilt, and had seen too, the wonderful joy that followed, when the truth of God’s salvation came to them. He thought something of the same kind must happen to him, and Satan was using this to hinder him from coming to the Saviour just as he was. He could not feel as those did, yet he wanted to. How many are like this! God says, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved.” I read to him Isa. 53:6, “All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.” James owned it was true of all, and true of him. “And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Yes, he believed that too. I said, “You believe Jesus bore your sins on the cross?” “Yes, but I do not feel I am saved.” We turned to John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son bath everlasting life.” Not he that feeleth, but he that believeth on the Son. I know I am saved and have everlasting life, because God’s word says so: I go by God’s word. My feelings change; God’s word never changes. We read Rom. 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
“Now, James, if you are going to wait for salvation till you feel it, you will be lost for all eternity James, do you believe. God raised Christ from the dead?”
“Yes, I do. Nobody could believe that more than me.” “Well, God has shown us that He is satisfied with the work of Christ, in raising Him. And nothing now remains but for you to confess Him with your mouth. James, will you trust Him from this time?” James gave me his hand that he would trust the Lord. “Now, what does this mean, “Thou shalt be saved?” “That is what God says to me.” Afterwards he said, “I always thought I had something to do.”
A few days after this I called and found his bodily strength was failing. “What about your sins?” I inquired.
“Jesus bore them on the tree.”
“Are you quite sure you are not mistaken?” He looked at me almost reproachfully, thinking I might be doubting his reality, and said, “I know I am saved, for God says so.” John 10:28, 29, was a source of comfort to him, in showing the eternal security of the believer, and that he was in Christ’s and the Father’s hands. I was called away from home; on my return his widow told me how peacefully he had passed away to be with his Saviour.
My dear young friends, do not put away the desire in your soul to be saved. Come now and trust. Him. Satan seeks to blind you with this world’s fleeting pleasures. You do not need to wait for anything. Now is God’s accepted time. You know you need salvation. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Act’s 16:31.
A. F.
ML 07/15/1900