The Gospel of Christ

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 6
 
After a very fluent infidel had been holding forth in a public park, an aged farmer stepped into the center of the circle. He uncovered his head and stood for a moment, silent, his gray locks waving in the breeze. Then holding up his horny hands above his head, he said: "My friends, my hands will tell you I am a working man, earning my bread by the sweat of my brow, following the plow and tilling the ground. I am no preacher, but I owe a debt of everlasting gratitude to the God of heaven and to His gospel which you have heard lightly spoken of here today.
"Forty years ago I was a drunken bum. I had spent all I had in the service of sin and the devil. When I was homeless and helpless, the gospel of Jesus Christ was brought to me by one who knew and had proved its saving power.
"I had tried to reform but had failed in my own strength to free myself from sin and the devil. Others had experimented upon me with many remedies to raise me up and bring me into a better life—but they all failed.
"The gospel of Christ, which asks nothing, but gives all, coming down to the sinner where he is—'lost' (Luke 19:10); 'without strength' found me where I was— in the gutter. I cast myself upon Him in all my sin; and blessed be God, I was not disappointed. He became the power of God unto my salvation. (Rom. 1:16).
"I was rescued from ruin. I was made a new man in Christ; and the grace of God that thus reached me has kept me happy and satisfied these many years. I work for what I need on earth; I have awaiting me an eternal home with God my Father, and Christ my Savior, in heaven.
"I can recommend to you from my experience of the gospel of Christ, that it is all-powerful to ease your load and give you peace and satisfaction for time and eternity. Why not believe it now?"
When the old farmer had finished, there was silence. Nobody disputed his testimony, not even the infidel who had listened to the simple narrative of the grace of God. As the meeting ended, several warmly shook hands with the Lord's aged servant, convinced, we trust, that the gospel is the only remedy for human sin and woe. Friend, have you proved it so?