In a little fishing village Sandy was a well-known character. He was so wicked that he earned for himself the nickname of "Satan.”
One day while walking along the shore, a Christian worker saw Sandy mending his nets. He entered into conversation with him and asked if he had been attending any of the gospel meetings. To this Sandy replied: "No! and I don't intend to.”
"Preaching does no good," he continued. "Depend upon it, it won't last, for when the preachers leave, the `converts' will again be as much servants of Satan as I am.”
The worker replied: "God is able to save you. We will pray for you." And he passed on.
Sandy began to think of what he had heard. "`God is able to save you; we will pray for you.' Why are they going to pray for me? If they are going to pray for me it is time I should be praying for myself.”
He began to review his past. Memory pointed him to his life of sin and shame. His sins rose up before him like mountains; and so wretched did he become, that he laid his nets aside and went home. His wife greeted him with, "Sandy, I am going to the meeting tonight.”
"Why, what are you going to do there?”
"Oh, I am going to hear those preachers. My mother has been converted. She says she knows that her sins are forgiven. And our Mary, you would scarcely know her! She is so happy now.”
Sandy was astonished at this news, but his pride and Satan's promptings would not allow him to accompany his wife. She went alone to the preaching leaving Sandy much perturbed.
After she was gone and her husband was left alone in the house, the awful nature and magnitude of his sins were in some measure realized by him. He saw himself lost, ruined, a hell-deserving sinner; and now his conscience began to trouble him for refusing to attend the meeting.
"Shall I or shall I not go?" This was the question uppermost in his mind. After a good deal of deliberation he resolved that he would go at all costs. Putting on his cap, he slipped out of the house and hurried off in the direction of the place where the meetings were being held.
His courage, however, failed him at the door. He did not like to be seen inside the building, and so he walked to the opposite end. Standing under the window, he listened attentively to the proclamation of the "old, old story" of Jesus and His love. Amazed, he heard that the worst sinner may be saved by simply believing on Him who suffered and died for all his sins.
He was intensely interested in what he heard. Could it be that eternal salvation was to be had as a "gift"? This was truly "news" to him.
Toward the close of the meeting, fearing that he might be seen by his wife, Sandy hastened home and undressed. Jumping into bed, he pretended to be asleep. His wife, however, was longer in coming than he anticipated; and as he lay in bed he trembled at the thought of his life of obstinate rebellion. God's way of salvation was still a mystery to him, but he longed for more light.
While meditating on these things, his wife arrived. She entered the room, and coming to the bed, she shook him vigorously.
"Sandy! Sandy!" she cried. "I have it now—I am converted.”
Suddenly forgetting that he was asleep, he opened his eyes wide and asked earnestly: "And how do you feel, Jeanie?”
"Feelings have nothing to do with it at all, Sandy. It is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. All you do is believe on Him!”
Sandy could control himself no longer. His wife's mother and sister, and now his own wife, had been converted. In an agony of soul he besought his wife to help him get converted too—to pray that God would give to him His great salvation. She prayed and spoke to him, and pointed to those passages of Scripture that had shed light into her soul. In her own simple way, Sandy's wife tried to explain to him that salvation was not to be gained by prayer or works, but that it came wholly by faith in what Christ had done on Calvary's cross. Earnestly she told him that the moment he believed on the One who had died for him, and had borne his punishment on Calvary, that very moment he would be saved and have everlasting life.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).
Sandy pondered the precious words he had been hearing. Suddenly he exclaimed: "I see it now, Jeanie! I see! There is Jesus hanging on the cross, and all my sins are on Him.”
With an exclamation of joy his wife cried: "Stick to that, Sandy, my man! Stick to that.”
Peace and joy now filled his heart, because he believed that Jesus had died for him.
"Salvation Is of the Lord.”
How simple is the gospel of God's love and grace! God wants us to be saved. Christ died to save us. The Holy Ghost comes and tells us we are saved. The whole thing is of God. Man's only part is to believe and receive and enjoy this wondrous outflow of divine love.
Prayer is not conquering God's reluctance, but taking hold of God's willingness.