THERE were three of us only in the compartment of a railway carriage on the short journey from Charing. Cross to Blackheath, the latter place being the destination of two, the other going to an intervening station. Scarcely had we started when my friend sought an opportunity of ascertaining the spiritual condition of our fellow-traveler. After some preliminary remarks a conversation ensued of the following import: ―
“Do you confess that you are a sinner?”
“Of course I do. I am not much different from other people, and all, I suppose, are sinners.”
“Very true; but do you know that you are a lost sinner?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, I mean by the term lost sinner, one who is utterly without hope, one who is already under condemnation. In other words, let me ask if you are prepared to take the place before God of deserving nothing but hell on account of your sins? And together with this, do you acknowledge that, as far as you are concerned, you are entirely without the means of recovery or salvation?”
“It is very evident you do not know me.”
“Why so?”
“Because if you did, you would never speak to me in that manner.”
“Indeed!
“No; for I am not so bad as you think. I am a sinner, I admit; but I am not so bad as many I see round about me; nay, I am better than many of my neighbors.”
“How do you make that out?”
“Why, I send my children to a Sunday school; I always go to church or chapel once on the Sunday; and I take in, and read, a religious periodical every month. No, no, I am not so bad as you think.”
“And do you imagine that any one of, or all, these things will avail before God for your salvation?”
“I don’t know about that; still I cannot be such a very bad man.”
“Listen then, for one moment, to what the Word of God says. ‘There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ Again, speaking to those who prided themselves upon the possession of the Scriptures, and upon being the people of God, the apostle says, ‘We know that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin’ (Rom. 3:19, 2019Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19‑20)). Thus God has declared that salvation by works is impossible, that if we rest upon what we are and do, we are lost forever. He has closed up the way of works, and no man can henceforward open it. But if He has done this, He has opened another way, and that is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom He has set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood.... that He might be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (vss. 25, 26). If man cannot bring his righteousness to God, God brings His own to man, and justifies freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Do you understand?”
“I am not the lost sinner you would make me out to be.”
At this moment the train drew up at a station. I suspected that this man was in the wrong train, as I had heard him name the place to which he was going. Turning to him, I said:
“Are you in the right train?” “Yes, I am.”
“Are you sure?” “Quite sure.”
“Quite sure you have made no mistake?”
“Quite sure.”
Putting my head out of the window, I said,
“Guard, is this the train for S―?
“No, change immediately for S —.”
Our companion at once rose to depart; but, as he departed, I said, “You mistook your train, and you have mistaken the way of salvation. Be warned, and listen to the words you have heard.”
Are any of my readers in the wrong train? If they are, let them rectify their mistake while grace still lingers, for there is no way to salvation but through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. “Change immediately!” E. D.