Mary Sands was a frequent visitor to the veterans’ hospital. One patient, Bob Johnson, seemed to appreciate all that she did to comfort and cheer him and the others, but refused to listen to any mention that, because of his sins, he needed a Saviour. Finally he asked her to promise not to speak on that subject again. She promised.
One day while Mary was in Bob’s ward, they saw through the window a military funeral procession from the hospital to the adjacent cemetery. It was the funeral of his friend who had died in the next ward. As the “Dead March,” played by the army band, echoed through the ward, Bob’s eyes filled with tears. Turning to Mary he asked in a low voice, “Do you remember that promise?”
“Yes, only too well.”
“Well, forget it! You can talk to me about anything you want to.”
“Shall I tell you about that poor fellow they are taking away to bury?”
“Yes. I heard you were with him and that he died happy.”
“Yes, I was with him, and he did die happy. But there was a time when he was like you and did not want anyone to talk to him about his soul.
“While serving overseas he had saved a lot of money, but when he came home he began drinking it away. One night he lay in the pouring rain and caught a terrible cold, which settled in his lungs. I found him later in the hospital very sick and miserable.
“When I asked him what the trouble was, he told me his company had shipped out that day. With it went his friends, the men with whom he had spent all his money, and not one of them had come to wish him goodbye.
“Thank God, I was able to tell him of the ‘Friend that sticketh closer than a brother’ (Proverbs 18:2424A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)) — the Lord Jesus, who wanted to be his true Friend and Saviour!
“He listened to me eagerly. From then on he wanted to hear more about Jesus. One day I found him with such a look of rest and peace on his face that I could not help saying, ‘You look very happy today!’
“ ‘Yes,’ he answered, ‘I couldn’t sleep last night. I was restless and miserable, while all my sin kept bothering me. I never could begin to tell you what a disgusting life mine has been. And my sins! I knew I must stand before God and was not ready to die. Then I thought of the verse you had told me: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). That lifted the load off my heart. I saw that God had laid my sins on Jesus, and now God will not punish me. Oh, it is wonderful!’
“I was with him and holding his hand at the end. His last words to me were, ‘I am a guilty sinner, but Jesus died for me.’ ”
Bob’s heart was softened by the account of his friend’s conversion, and he said, “I wish I could say that Jesus died for me. I know that I am a guilty sinner. You don’t know how bad I’ve been!”
Soon he too believed that “the blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” and was filled with joy and peace in believing.
What about you? Would you like that same joy and peace, knowing that your sins have all been paid for?