Two Christian young men, neither of whom had been converted more than a few months, might have been seen entering a low lodging-house in one of the poorest parts of the city. The house was frequented by men and women who had been in prison, and was known in the neighborhood as "the thieves' hole.”
Neither of the young men had ever visited a lodging house before, but the love of God had been shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and they longed to tell others of the Savior who had sought and found them. They had prayed to be guided, and they believed that God was able, even in "the thieves' hole," to give an open door for the gospel of His grace; so on the Lord's Day evening of which I write they decided to make the attempt.
Permission to hold a short gospel service in the kitchen had to be asked of the manager, who replied in a gruff fashion, "Ye' can try it, if ye' like, but take my word for it, ye' find 'em a rough lot.”
They thanked him and entered the room, in which they found about forty people, some smoking, others drinking, and there was quite a Babel of voices, some loud and angry, others fretful and complaining.
He had hardly done so when a tall, rough-looking man with a face red with passion, came close up to him, and shaking his fist in the face of the preacher, said, "How dare you come here to trouble us with these things?”
"We do not come to trouble you, my friends," was the gentle reply, "we come to bring you a blessed message, that 'The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.'”
"I suppose you think we are worse than other people.”
"No, I do not; the Bible says, 'All have sinned,' but 'The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.'”
"How do you know that what you are telling us is the truth?”
"'The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin,' and it has cleansed me from my sins.”
"Have you nothing else to tell us, Mr. Ignorance?”
"Nothing better than this: 'The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.'”
Nearly all the men in the lodging-house had by this time gathered round the young men, asking infidel questions and making sneering remarks. To each the same answer was given, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
After this glorious gospel text had been repeated about thirty times, finding that there was no hope of being able to hold a service, they withdrew, sad and discouraged, saying to each other, "Our visit has been a complete failure. Such work needs someone older, and with more experience, who would have been able to obtain quiet and get a hearing. We must not give up the thieves' hole' but try to get some one used to such rough, uphill work to go next week.”
During the next few days several older preachers were applied to, but one and all had some prior engagement. There was nothing for it, but to go again themselves. Tremblingly yet trustingly they again visited the lodging-house; the man who had so opposed them only one short week before, gave them a pleasant greeting saying, "I could not get that text out of my head. I could not sleep all night for thinking of it. On Monday it kept saying itself over to me. I went out to try and forget it, but I could not get away from it. On Tuesday I took drink to try and drown its voice, but it was a, failure. On Wednesday I began to think it might be true; I had heard it before when I was a boy in the Sunday school. On Thursday I turned it into a bit of a prayer, and now I want you to tell me if you really think that 'blood' can cleanse me from all the sins of a bad, black life?”
The way of salvation through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ was simply explained to the man in whose soul there seemed no reason to doubt a real work of God had begun. That night he accepted Christ as his Savior, and by a changed life gave proof that he had passed from death to life; for him "old things" had passed away. He could truly say, "The Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20).
From that day to this a gospel service has been held every Sunday evening in the lodging-house, and though the listeners come and go, and are almost without exception very, very poor, there is generally a quiet and attentive listening to the message of salvation.
My dear reader, can you say, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son has cleansed me from all my sins?”