An old man who lived in the Adirondack Mountains lay dying. Knowing that he was not ready to meet God, he asked one of his old companions to go for the minister. It was a few miles to the minister's house, and the messenger found that the minister was away from home, and would not be back for a few days. Hardly knowing what to do, he told the minister's wife that his old friend was dying.
"Well," she said, "is there anything I can do?" "He wants to know how to be saved.”
"Tell him this: 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,' and if he comes to Christ as a sinner, He will never cast him out.”
"Ma'am," he said, "will you say that again? I want to get it straight.”
"'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,' and if he will come to Him just as he is, he will not be turned away.”
The old man went away, and as he was going up the hill toward home he said to himself, "I don't like that word 'sinners.' I don't think old Jack is such a bad man. He used to chop wood for the neighbors and he'd go for the doctor when anyone was sick. He's done a lot of good. When I get home I'm not going to tell him just like that.”
Arriving at the mountain home, he said, "Jack, the minister wasn't home; but I saw his wife and she gave me the directions. She told me that Christ Jesus came into the world to save folks.”
"Didn't she say 'sinners'"?
"Well, I guess that is what she did say; but I didn't want to call you a sinner; I thought 'folks' would be better—I stuck up for you!”
"Abe, don't talk to me like that. Since you have been gone, my memory has been at work and carried me back to the time when I used to work with old Joe Bitterman. I remember he used to sing:
“‘Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me;
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee,
Oh, Lamb of God, I come, I come!”
"I'm going to come to Him just like that, and if that is the message, I can die happy.”
There, as he neared the end of life's journey, he remembered the message he heard as a boy. He had to come just as he was! Will you come to Him like that now? Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God-was born in a manger, and went all the way to the cross of Calvary. There He died, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. If you only come to Him as a sinner, you can say, "He died for me.”
"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
Right Names
Call sinners by their real names or they will never be called Christians in truth.