HOW many people there are who, knowing that their lives are not what they should be, talk about turning over a new leaf at the first of the year. They hope to start off with a clean slate. They want to forget all that has gone before and think they can start out and live the way they think they should in the future.
This reminds us of the story of a man who owed $100.00 to a grocer by the name of Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown was pressing him for payment of his debt, but one day he sent Mr. Brown a message saying, “I’m sorry to have made you wait for your money, but I’m going to turn over a new leaf. From here on I’m going to pay cash for everything I get from you. I can assure you, Mr. Brown,” said he, “that in the future I will never charge anything.”
“But,” replied Mr. Brown, “what about the $100.00 you already owe me? I expect to be paid. I want every dime of what you owe me in the past. If you pay cash in the future, that won’t rove your old debt one bit.”
So it is with the poor sinner. If it were possible for him to turn over a new leaf and never sin again, that would not remove one single sin that he has committed in the past. The whole debt would remain just as great as it ever was, and “God requireth that which is past.” Eccles. 3:1515That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. (Ecclesiastes 3:15).
A man is helpless to remove a single sin that has stained his record before God. And yet just one sin would send us to hell, so awful is sin in His holy eyes. Nothing but the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross, in those three hours of darkness when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, can remove our guilt. How wonderful is the message of the gospel which God is sending out telling of the Saviour that He has provided for sinners, and that the precious blood of Jesus avails to wash away the sins of all who will come and put their trust in Him. It reminds us of the lines of the poet:
“The trembling sinner feareth
That God can ne’er forget;
But one full payment cleareth
His memory of all debt.
When naught beside could free us,
Or set our souls at large,
Thy holy work, Lord Jesus,
Secured a full discharge.
“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.... But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.” Heb. 10:1212But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; (Hebrews 10:12).
ML-01/03/1960