George was a teenage boy who did not like anyone to say “no” to him, but he was always quick to say “no” to other people. That is why, when his brother invited him to a meeting to hear about God’s way of salvation, his quick answer was “No!”
But then as George thought it over, he wondered to himself, “What kind of people go to this kind of meeting anyway?” So he decided he would go with his brother to see what kind of people were going, but he would not go inside himself.
However, when they reached the door of the building where the meeting was going to be held, George heard something which suddenly made him very determined to go in! There was a man standing at the door telling the people still waiting to go in, “No, the place is filled. You cannot go in.” Immediately George decided he was going to go in anyway.
Looking around the outside of the building for another way to get in, he found a gutter downspout from the roof to the ground, and up near the roof was a small window open for ventilation. Hand-over-hand George climbed up the downspout and managed to seat himself on the windowsill of that small window with his legs dangling inside the room. From his perch he looked down on all the many faces below him.
The songs and prayer were slightly interesting, but the preacher’s subject was such a surprise after what he had heard at the door that it almost made him fall from his strange seat. The subject was, “Yet there is room!” The preacher read a story from the Bible in Luke 14 about a man who made a great supper and invited many people to come. But when the time came for the supper, each of the invited guests said “No!” All their excuses were different, but each of them refused his invitation. They were too rich or too busy or too involved with other people to care about this supper. The man was angry at this. But then he told his servant to go out into the streets, lanes and highways to bring in poor people and people who had disabilities to be guests at his great supper. All of them were people who could bring nothing to him but themselves, and they had nothing standing in the way of wanting this supper. After the servant had called in all he could find, there was still room. “Yet there is room,” he told his master. The master wanted his house filled with guests, so he sent the servant out to bring in more.
What about the first guests who were invited and said “No”? Were they still welcome to come along with the others to the supper? No. We are told the words of the man who had invited them: “None of those men which were [first invited] shall taste of my supper.” It was his time to say “No.”
The preacher did not notice George sitting in the window, but he told about God’s invitation which is so often refused. The invitation welcoming every sinner into God’s home of everlasting joy in heaven is possible because of the death of God’s beloved Son. Those who say “No” may have pleasures and friends now, but they also have troubles and worries with no Savior to help them, and then eternity in a terrible place called the lake of fire. Those who say “Yes” to the invitation to come to the Savior have the peace of forgiveness and the joy of knowing Him in their hearts. They have troubles too, but they never have to bear them alone, because the Savior is always with them, and at the end of this life, they will have a home in heaven with Christ forever.
After the meeting was over, George climbed down, an unhappy young man. He decided not to forget about what he had heard until he found the Savior for himself. For two weeks his misery lasted. He could not find peace. Finally, he decided to go back to his old life and forget the whole thing. But then he remembered, “I will still have to face God about my sins.” He had to make a decision. Right then God brought these words from the Bible to his memory: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)). “That’s it!” he cried. “I’m a sinner, and Christ Jesus came into the world to save me!”
He lay awake for hours thanking and praising God, and then fell into the best sleep he’d had since the night of the meeting. In the morning, he told the good news to his family, and from that time he wanted to tell others of his Savior. He loved to write hymns. Here is one of them which you may already know:
Oh blessed gospel sound!
“Yet there is room!”
It tells to all around:
“Yet there is room!”
The guilty may draw near;
Though vile, they need not fear;
With joy they now may hear:
“Yet there is room!”
The good news is that God has not yet shut the door to heaven. You are still welcome to come to Him wherever you are, by simply trusting Him, and you will receive a welcome from the Savior of sinners. Will you come?
Messages of God’s Love 9/26/2021