NOT very long ago a friend of mine was distributing gospel tracts in the village of S—. Meeting a woman he offered her a little book, and inquired if she was saved.
"Saved!" she replied, with a look of amazement on her face, "I should think I am; I work hard, and I fare hard, and I pay my way. If anyone goes to heaven I should think I shall.”
And her appearance fully bore out the former part of her statement, and we firmly believe it was her honest conviction.
Would you think it possible in this "20th century" of God's grace, when the light of the glorious gospel has been blazed abroad, from "Land's End to John-o'-Groats," when sinners are being told of the perfect pardon that awaits them, if they will but repent and believe the gospel, to find such a case? Yet we are convinced that this poor woman's case is not an isolated one.
Oh! the craft and cunning of Satan by which he keeps souls under his fearful power, and lulls them to sleep till their day of grace is past.
Reader, let him not delude you; listen to what God's Word says:
For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord God. (Jer. 2:22.)
Job, too, had to say: If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor MC. (Job 9:30, 31.)
Yes, your sins are written up yonder in God's own book, and the remedy lies, not in the washings of your own doings, but in the full, complete acknowledgment of your guilt and corruption, and faith in God's sovereign provision. As it is written: The BLOOD of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from ALL sin. (1 John 1:7.) Without shedding of BLOOD is no remission. (Heb. 9:22.)
Trust that precious blood, dear reader, and you will be safe for time and eternity. F. T.