Jerry McAuley, product of a broken home and an abusive childhood, escaped to “freedom” and the streets of New York when he was thirteen. Life went only downward from there, and at nineteen he found himself in Sing Sing prison with a long sentence to be served. Then something wonderful happened to Jerry. He said, “God was more merciful to me than man. He loved and pitied me, and stretched out His hand to save me. His wonderful way of doing it was to shut me up within those heavy stone walls!”
Yes, Jerry learned in prison that the Lord Jesus came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10))—he was certainly that! He prayed the old prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:1313And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:13)). God heard, God answered, and soon Jerry knew the joy of sins forgiven. Long before he had served all his time, he left the prison, truly free, and with the governor’s pardon in his pocket.
Years later, speaking in the mission to which he devoted his later years, he told his story like this:
“Once I was a loafer and a tough. I never knew what it was to be contented and happy. My head was like a mop—with a big scar across my nose. If I had a coat, it was one of the kind with the cuffs up here to the elbows! Split open in the back! Latest style, you see. You couldn’t find any drunken rowdy on the corner worse looking than I was. I held up my hand and cursed God for giving me existence. Why had He put me in a hell on earth? Why had He made me a thief and drunkard, while He gave others wealth and comforts?
“Then I suddenly thought—He has done none of those things. It was I who brought myself to what I was. Yes, I did it myself! I made myself a drunkard and a thief, and then went and accused God of it! But oh, God is good, my friends. He is kind. He is merciful. ‘Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him’ (Psalm 103:1313Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. (Psalm 103:13)), and ‘He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil’ (Luke 6:3535But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. (Luke 6:35)).
“But some people say, ‘Ah, but I’m too bad; God wouldn’t listen to me.’ That’s all a mistake! His Word says, ‘Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’ (Isaiah 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)).
“He can save the vilest! God will take what the devil would almost refuse—the very worst, He loves and invites. Didn’t He save the thief on the cross? And Mary Magdalene with seven devils?
“That’s the way it is. Jesus is willing to save everyone who honestly asks Him to do it. ‘Let the wicked forsake his way . . . and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon’ (Isaiah 55:77Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7)).
“My friends, I want to tell you that it pays to serve Jesus. He’s a good friend. I used to hang round that rumshop on the corner there, and they were glad enough to have me there as long as my money lasted. But when that was gone, it was, ‘Jerry, take a walk! Take a walk round the block and cool off!’
“I felt the insult down in my heart. It stung me, but I couldn’t help it, I was such a slave to my appetite. I hadn’t a friend in the world. But I can tell you, it’s not so now. I’m a new creature, inside and out! I’m honest and clean and respectable and happy. I am full of joy and peace! The blessed Jesus has done it all. Jesus saved me, and He can save any man.
“The gift of Christ to us is the measure of God’s love. ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
“The death of Christ is the measure of Christ’s love: Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, ‘the just for the unjust,’ to bring us to God. And now, my friends, ‘How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?’ (Hebrews 2:33How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Hebrews 2:3)).