Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States during the difficult days of the Civil War. History tells us he was fond of telling stories. Sometimes he would tell a story with a little twist in it. One story he told was about a governor who went to the state prison to inspect it and see how the state funds were being spent. While at the prison, he stopped and talked to each prisoner. When the prisoners found out that the man who had come to visit them was no less a person than the governor of the state, each one loudly proclaimed his innocence. Inmate after inmate told the governor that he was wrongly convicted and pleaded with him to release him. Finally, after walking the long halls of the penitentiary, the governor arrived at the last cell. Unlike the other prisoners, this man confessed his guilt and, with tears in his eyes, said he was sorry for what he did. The governor was so surprised at this confession that he pardoned the man on the spot. When the warden asked why he chose to pardon this man, the governor responded, “I pardoned him because he was the only guilty man in the place, and I didn’t want him to be a bad influence on all those other innocent men.”
I imagine the people who heard Abe Lincoln tell this story probably chuckled when they heard it, but at the same time the story powerfully drives home the truth that men seldom own up to their wrong actions. This reluctance to take responsibility for our actions is especially true when it comes to God.
The governor was a person of authority who had the power to pardon criminals and set them free. However, One infinitely greater in authority came to this earth to pardon sinners. The governor had the power to pardon criminals as long as they lived, but that is where his power ended. The One who came from heaven has power to pardon sinners for time and eternity. There is no ending of His power. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, and through His death and resurrection from the dead He has made a way for sinners to return to God and be completely, utterly and everlastingly saved.
He did many wonderful things in His life while on earth, but His main purpose in coming was to give His life a ransom for all. “The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:2828Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)). He made this ransom payment on Calvary’s cross when He died for sinners, and by His death on the cross the debt of sin is completely wiped away for every person who places their trust in Him.
“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-76Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6‑7)). To the guilty sinner, nothing could be so wonderful as being abundantly pardoned through faith in the Lord Jesus. To those who never own up to their guilt before God, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus will remain, at best, an enigma — or an unsolvable riddle.
In the story Abe Lincoln told, the governor went through the entire state penitentiary, and only one prisoner out of the hundreds confessed his guilt and found pardon. How sad that so many of those imprisoned men clung to their innocence. Yet it is just like this world where thousands of people cling to a notion of their goodness and never realize their need of the Saviour. The prison story reveals how hard it is, not only for inmates in a prison but for all persons, to own up to their guilt. The reluctance to take personal responsibility is seated deep in the human heart.
Don’t let this reluctance to own up to a misspent life be the cause of your missing out on the best gift God has to offer. Those who missed out on the governor’s pardon had to spend more time in prison. Those who never come to the Saviour will spend eternity in the prison house of hell. They will never be released from its dark confines even though they plead their innocence with all their might.
Hell might be called a prison house, but it should never be called a penitentiary. A penitentiary, according to the meaning of its name, is a place where criminals are sent in the hopes they might come to penitence, or sorrow and grief, over the wrongness of their deeds and change their ways. Souls that end up in hell will grieve bitterly over their sins, but they can never escape the abysmal emptiness of the place. And their grief will never lead them to change their ways. They chose sin over God, and after their sins, they will go into the endless ages of eternity. The place for penitence is this life only.
How sad for a person to go through life never coming to the point where they realize their true condition before God. Without this realization, that person will never receive the gift of eternal life. “[Unless] ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” are the solemn words of the Lord Jesus. There will be sorrow and heartbreak in hell but never any true repentance. The time to repent is now in this life.
In a world that largely disowns any responsibility for their actions before God, won’t you be different and confess your guilt and fall at the Saviour’s feet? “The Lord is ... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)). Surely He will abundantly pardon you if you turn to Him with all your heart.