At the close of a gospel meeting, I observed a young woman retiring from the meeting, with a look of great distress upon her face. As she was passing me, I spoke to her about her soul, and inquired the cause of her sadness, when she told me that she was anxious to be saved, but could not see her way clear.
I asked her if she had been anxious any length of time—if she believed she was a poor, lost, helpless, and hell-deserving sinner; and with tears in her eyes she answered: "Yes!”
I then asked her what she was doing to get relief.
She informed me that she was doing the best she could, and asking the Lord to forgive her.
"But," I replied, "Christ has done a complete and sufficient work upon the cross, and then said, 'It is finished!' and has also borne the sins of all who believe in Him; and has put them away forever.”
She assured me that she believed all this, but that it brought her no happiness.
I then turned to 1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24), where it says, "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree;" and endeavored to show her from this Scripture that Christ had all our sins upon Him on the tree; that if He had not then, He never would, for He would never be there again; that He then put them all away with His blood; and that if He did not then, He never would, as He could not again shed His blood, having shed it when He was down in this sin-stained and guilty world. I then asked her: "Do you believe that Christ had all our sins upon Him when He was on the cross?”
"Yes, I believe He had.”
"Do you believe that He put them all away with His precious blood before He left the cross?”
"Yes, I believe He did.”
"Do you believe that He was buried, and rose again without them, according to the Scriptures?”
"Scripture says so, and I believe it is true.”
"Do you believe that He is in heaven, and has been for more than nineteen hundred years without them there?" She answered, with all her heart,
"Yes.”
"Well now, does not that make you happy?" I asked.
"No," she answered.
I saw she was an honest soul, and for a moment could not understand her difficulty. At last I asked her the question at the head of this paper, "Have you ever thanked Him?”
She owned she had not, and at once saw the secret of her unhappiness.
I advised her to do so without delay, assuring her that the Lord would make her happy.
The next evening she was at the meeting again. At the close she came to me, and with a bright and happy face said: "I have thanked Him for what He did for me on the cross, and He has made me so happy.”
Months have rolled away since this dear young woman believed in the Lord and His work—since she confessed it to Him, and thanked Him for it; still she is rejoicing in the knowledge that her body is a temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6:1919What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)); that she is a member of Christ's body, of His flesh, and of His bones (Eph. 5:3030For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:30)); and that she has been converted to wait for God's Son from heaven (1 Thess. 1:1010And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)).
How is it with the reader of these pages? Are your sins all gone? If not, you cannot go to heaven with them; for heaven is the home of holiness; while hell is the abode of sin.
"The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:'7.
Trust it, dear soul, and I shall meet you in heaven.