“HAVE you been to hear the gentleman who is preaching at the Shaftesbury Hall?” asked the shopkeeper.
“No,” answered the customer, “I haven’t even heard about it.”
“He preaches after church hours, at eight o’clock on Sunday,” said the shopkeeper; “and if I were you I would go.”
“Well, I think I’ll go next Sunday, on my way home from church,” replied the other, and left the shop.
Accordingly, next Sunday found her in the hall; indifferent, perhaps, at first; curious later on; and before the speaker closed his address, listening as if her life depended on his words.
The subject was the inevitable effect of one sin. One sin shut Adam out of Paradise; one sin shut Moses out of Canaan; and one sin must shut the sinner out for ever from the Paradise of God and the heavenly Jerusalem; for “there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth” (Rev. 21:2727And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 21:27)). Thus one sin of necessity involved eternal separation from the holy, sin-hating God.
“One sin”; and she had committed thousands! “ One sin “; and she was conscious that that very day, nay, that very hour, she had sinned! “One sin”; then the gates of heaven were shut upon her; and an agony of dread shook her frame.
And now the preacher was about to close. He had told the consequences of “one sin”; he had told, too, of a Saviour’s love, a love which led Him to seek and save those who were lost; a love which led Him right on to Calvary, to take the sinner’s place, and to suffer in his stead. And now, as he closed his discourse, he called the very walls to witness that he was guiltless of his hearers’ blood; that he had set before them the way of death and the way of life; had told them of their lost condition as sinners; had warned them to “flee from the wrath to come,” and pointed them to the Saviour. Henceforth the responsibility was theirs, not his.
And our friend, what of her? She sat as one transfixed, as indeed she was; for is not the Word of God “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit “? Heb. 4:1212For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)). And “the sword of the Spirit” had been driven home by divine power that night (Eph. 6:1717And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Ephesians 6:17)).
But what shall she do? How her heart throbbed! Surety, she thought, the people on the other chairs must hear it beat! She felt as if she must choke. But listen! The preacher is giving out a hymn. But what use could that be to her? Sing? Yes, those who were shut in by that “wall great and high” might sing; but she was shut out; there could be no mercy for a sinner like her! Listen the first verse of the hymn is being read: ―
“Come, thou weary; Jesus calls thee
To His wounded side;
Come to Me, saith He, and ever
Safe abide.”
Yes, she was weary and heavy laden, and hopeless too. But why hopeless? Was this not an invitation to every one? Was it not the voice of Jesus speaking? Was it, could it be, to her?
How everything seemed in a whirl, and hope alternated with fear, till she was scarce able to collect her thoughts! And now they have reached the concluding verse: ―
“Dost thou feel thy life is weary?
Is thy soul distrest?
Take His offer; wait no longer;
Be at rest.”
She feels that the crisis of her life has come. She feels that it must be NOW, or it may be NEVER; and how pleadingly the lines of the hymn break on her ear: —
“Take His offer; wait no longer;
Be at rest.”
Yes, she will take it, and take it now; she will come to Jesus with all her load of guilt. Did He not bid her come? Does He not receive sinners? And in an instant, as she came, the load dropped off, the weariness was gone, and joy unutterable and full of glory took its place.
The preacher had left the town, and was carrying the gospel message elsewhere, when one day, just before preaching, he received a letter from our friend.
“I have heard you were preaching at B―,” she wrote, “and I want to ask you a favour, and it is this. Tell the people of my conversion, and tell them that ‘one sin’ will for ever shut them out from God; and then give out my hymn (I always call it my hymn now): ―
‘Dost thou feel thy life is weary?
Is thy soul distrest?
Take His offer; wait no longer;
Be at rest.’”
So the preacher took it as a message from God, and told the story as it has been told to you today.
May you, if unsaved, find in it His message: that “one sin” unatoned for must forever close the gates of heaven to you.