The Greatest Discovery of All
Algernon James Pollock
Table of Contents
The Greatest Discovery of All
When the astronomer, Galileo, discovered that the earth moved round the sun, he was laughed to scorn. The authorities of the Romish Church of that day thought the sun moved round the earth, and that it could not be otherwise. So they threatened the astronomer with the stake if he did not recant his opinion. But now, every child in the national schools is taught that the earth goes round the sun.
When the great surgeon Harvey, discovered the circulation of the blood from the heart to the extremities, he was ridiculed and disbelieved on every hand. But when you are stricken with fever, and the doctor enters your sick-room, the first thing he does is to lay his finger on your pulse, and he finds in that the sure indication of disease. No one doubts now that the blood circulates.
When the engineer, Watt, discovered that steam was a mighty force, the world was skeptical as to it. And when Stephenson constructed his locomotive and utilized the power of steam, he was sneered at as visionary. But now every express tattling through the country at the rate of a mile per minute is their triumphant vindication. Where should we be without the steam engine?
When Morse discovered that electricity could be transmitted through a wire, and a message could be flashed across the Atlantic in the fraction of a second, people were sure he was talking of impossibilities. Now there are none to doubt the great discovery.
Motor-cars, wireless telegraphy, airplanes, have all been scoffed at in turn and have come to stay.
But the greatest discovery of ell still finds a world careless and indifferent to its claims. When Sir J. Y. Simpson, the great Edinburgh doctor, who is famous as the discoverer of the use of chloroform in surgery, was asked what was the greatest discovery of all that he had made, he promptly replied, "That I was a great sinner, and that Christ was a great Savior."
Have you made that greatest discovery of all, dear reader? For you will make it one day-make it in time, or in eternity. Which? If you make it in time, you may be saved. If in eternity, it will be too late. " Behold, NOW is the accepted time behold, NOW is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).
If a man die unsaved, hell is his everlasting portion. God's Word says so. If that dread portion were yours, von would find out too late that you were a great sinner. You would also find out that Christ was a great savior. He saved the dying thief. He saved Mary Magdalene, out of whom were cast seven devils. He saved Saul of Tarsus, prince of religionists, chief of sinners. But you would likewise find out that, great Savior as He is, He had not saved you, and that you were too late forever. Surely this thought would be as a worm that would never die, a regret beyond words.
But if you make this discovery in time, you may be blessed. Surely there is ample proof that you are a great sinner. Perhaps not great when you are measured by the standard of the brutal murderer, the hopeless drunkard or the blackmailer. But measured by the holiness of God, you are a great sinner. Even " the heavens are unclean in His sight."
Another proof that you are a great sinner is that you must die. A man under sentence of capital punishment in this country is a great sinner. You lie under sentence of capital punishment. " The soul that sinneth, it shall die." "The wages of sin is death." " It is appointed unto men once to die, but AFTER THIS THE JUDGMENT."
But God is love. You may know. Christ as a great Savior. He, "Who is over all, God blessed forever," became Man in order to die " the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." In Him lay our only hope. He alone could satisfy the claims of God as to sin and do a Savior's part. God's love and light, His compassion and His holiness, His grace and His government, His mercy and His judgment-all found full expression at the cross; but His love outshines everything, for His very nature is love.
The cost of our salvation-nothing less than the death of the Son of God on a cross of shame-proves what great sinners we are.
When Sir J, Y. Simpson said his greatest discovery was, " That I was a great sinner, and that Christ was a great Savior," he meant more than the mere discovery of two deeply important facts. He meant that Christ was not only a great-Savior, but that He had saved him. Has He saved you?
For this discovery to benefit you, you must, like Sir J. Y. Simpson, receive Christ as your own personal Savior and become a true Christian. Faith is the link with Him, and without this link all will be of no avail. Salvation is not of works. Read Rom. 4:5; Eph. 2:8, 9, and Titus 3:5, in proof of this.
In one word, Do you ask the question, "What must I do to be saved?" You will find the same question
asked in Acts 16:30, and the divine answer given, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
What a blessed message. The work done. Salvation procured. Redemption made. And nothing required on our part but faith.-faith in the right Object, even the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Will you trust Him? When you do, you will have made the greatest discovery of all, even a saving interest in the Lord Jesus and His finished work, and the "knowledge of God as a Savior-God.
May God grant it.
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