When I was in high school I often studied in the cafeteria before classes started. One morning while sitting alone at one of the tables, Ed, a student friend, sat down beside me. Right away he started asking me questions about how to be saved. He knew that I carried a small Bible with me.
I was happy to read several verses to him. I started with Acts 16:30-3130And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:30‑31): “What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Then I read Romans 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9): “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
While Ed carefully listened to those and other Bible verses, four or five other students known to both of us came over. They began teasing Ed and even tried to distract him by stuffing some prickly holly leaves down his back. Undisturbed, Ed listened closely as I explained the way of salvation as plainly as I could. Tears filled his eyes, not from the prickly holly, but as a result of God’s Holy Spirit working in Ed, showing him that he was a sinner and that he needed a Saviour. He soon saw that it was only the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the cross that could give him salvation. He understood and accepted God’s love in giving His Son as the Saviour for sinners—for Ed himself. Now he had passed from Satan’s darkness into the light of God’s love and grace. Ed’s face lit up with a smile, and his tormentors left.
The first period bell rang, but Ed had already heard the gospel bell just a few minutes before. He was now saved from his sins, and he had a new life in Christ Jesus.
Boys and girls, let me ask you a question. Have you heard the good news that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15))? Will you meet Ed and me in heaven along with all the others who have accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour? Have you admitted to God from your heart that you are a sinner and told Him that you wanted your sins washed away in the precious blood of Christ? That simple step in faith is all that is needed. Won’t you do it now?
ML-06/21/2009