“I CAN truly say my sins are forgiven.”
At last came these words of assurance from a dying soul, only a few hours before being taken to be forever with the Lord.
Mrs. D. had appeared more or less anxious about her eternal welfare for five or six years. At times the tears would come into her eyes as she sat listening for hours to the story of God’s great love to sinners, and the free and full forgiveness to be had by all who would believe; but again and again the thought that God must require something at her hands would come, and she would say, “My salvation must depend in some measure on my efforts.”
So time passed on until the last week of her life. She had been gradually failing for some months, but no alarm was felt until one Saturday, when the doctor spoke seriously of her condition. Next day a Christian friend called to see her, and read a portion of God’s word.
When she had finished, Mrs. D. looked up and said, “Supposing I should not recover?”
“Should you be afraid?”
“I don’t know; things look very different in sickness.”
Her friend then told her that God had devised a way whereby He could be “just and the Justifier of Him that believeth in Jesus,” and that the Lord Jesus had died, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God, and that now the feeblest believer in His beloved Son is justified from all things; and she besought her to trust in the finished work of Christ without delay.
But, though Mrs. D. listened eagerly, there was still no peace. From that time, however, her whole character seemed changed. From being most reserved about the concerns of her soul, she became anxious to converse with God’s children, and begged all who came near her to read the Bible to her, or to talk to her of the finished work of Christ.
She grew rapidly worse during the week, and on the following Sunday, as the same friend again sat by her side and spoke to her of the love of God, and of His willingness to save all who come to Him by His Son, Mrs. D. said: “Could you—would you mind kneeling down and asking God that I may be quite sure that I am saved”; adding, “we may not have many more times together.”
Deeply touched, her friend at once knelt and asked God to enable this doubting heart to rest in child-like faith on His testimony concerning the value of the death of His Son.
Truly they had not many more times together, for before another twenty-four hours had run their course, the long illness of the suffering woman was over. A Christian friend was there, to whom the dying lady said: “I can truly say my sins are forgiven,” and then besought those about her to make much of God’s Word. She also sent a message to one very dear to her, whom she now felt to be building on the sand. The message was short, but how much it contained! and how clearly it showed that she was now on the rock, and had found God’s way of salvation― “Tell... to preach Christ.”
Yes, dear reader, Christ, and He alone can save. He has satisfied all God’s righteous claims about sin, and He alone can satisfy the troubled conscience of the poor sinner. But what hindered Mrs. D. from having peace during those years of uneasiness? ―Wrong thoughts of God. She judged God to be like herself, not knowing that He is essentially a giving God. I often think of what a poor dying man said to me a few weeks ago: “It is a good thing that salvation does not depend on our works, for we should never know when we had done enough”!
How happy to know that
“All that blessed work is done,
God’s well pleased with His Son.”
But you say, “Have I really nothing to do? Does God require nothing from me?”
Listen to what the Lord Jesus says about works― “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” Yes, that is your work, to “believe on Him,” believe in that glorious Person who has done the work for you. M. W.