At one time my sister had trouble with her little boy, and his father said, "Sammy, ask your mother's forgiveness."
The little boy said he wouldn't, to which his father replied, "You must. If you don't go and ask your mother's forgiveness, I shall have to put you to bed."
He was a bright, nervous little boy, never still a moment, and his father thought he would be afraid of being put to bed. But he still would not ask for forgiveness, so they put him to bed.
The father went to his business, and when he came home at noon he said to his wife: "Has Sammy asked your forgiveness?"
"No," she said, "he hasn't."
So the father went and asked, "Why don't you ask your mother's forgiveness?"
The boy shook his head, "Won't do it."
"But, Sammy, you have got to."
"Couldn't."
The father went to his office, and stayed all the afternoon. When he came home he asked his wife, "Has Sammy asked your forgiveness?"
"No, I took something up to him and tried to have him eat, but he wouldn't."
So the father went up to see him, and said, "Now, Sammy, just ask your mother's forgiveness, and you may come down to supper with us."
"Couldn't do it."
The father coaxed, but the little fellow "couldn't do it." That was all they could get out of him. You know very well he could, but he didn't want to.
Now, the hardest thing a man has to do is to become a Christian, and it is the easiest. That may seem a contradiction, but it isn't. The hard point is because he doesn't want to. The hardest thing for a man to do is to give up his will.
That night they went to bed and they thought surely early in the morning, he will be ready to ask his mother's forgiveness. The father went to him—that was Friday morning—to see if he was ready to ask his mother's forgiveness, but he "couldn't."
The father and mother felt so bad about it they couldn't eat. Perhaps Sammy thought that his parents didn't love him. Many sinners think the same thing because God won't let them have their own way.
The father went to his business, and when he came home he said to his wife, "Has Sammy asked your forgiveness?"
"No."
So he went to the little fellow and said, "Now, Sammy, are you going to ask your mother's forgiveness?"
"Can't," and that was all they could get out of him. The father couldn't eat any dinner; it was like death in the house. It seemed as if the boy was going to conquer his father and mother. Instead of his little will being broken, it looked very much as if he was going to break theirs.
Late Friday afternoon, "Mother, mother, forgive," says Sammy—"me."
The little fellow said "me," and he sprang to his feet and said: "I have said it, I have said it. Now, take me down to see father." And when he came in he said, "I've said it, I've said it."
Oh, my friends, it is so easy to say, "I will arise and go to my God." It is the most reasonable thing you can do. Isn't it an unreasonable thing to be stubborn and refuse to turn to God?
Come right to God just this very hour. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."