I would not say one word to grieve you, or break in upon your youthful pleasures; but am I not your friend in telling you of One who would take away all your sins now?
Surely you cannot be happy at home, at school, at play, with your sins unforgiven!
Pause a little, dear boy or girl. Get into the presence of God, and ask your heart this question,
Shall I have to bear my own sins in the lake of fire; forever away from God, forever with Satan?
I am quite sure that the question is not a very pleasant one to think about; but I charge you before God, give the question a little thought, say half-an-hour, and let it be considered by yourself all alone with God.
Now, what has Jesus done? What has He suffered that our sins might be pardoned, that our sins might be blotted out? Read, more than once, the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and you will know something of what it cost Jesus to bear our sins,
1. He was wounded.
2. He was bruised.
3.He was afflicted.
4.He was oppressed.
5.He was stricken.
6. He was put to grief.
7.He was brought to the slaughter.
8.He was chastised.
9.He was scourged.
10.He was tormented.
11.He was despised.
12.He was rejected.
13.Why was the Holy One of God so treated?
Ah, my young friend, He was suffering in the very place where guilt and sin must put every rejector of grace, at a distance from God,
“My God, My God, why hast Thou, forsaken Me?” He cried.
He took the sinner’s place in grace. You, if unforgiven, are at a distance from God; and if death finds you unsaved, your doom will be fixed to all eternity.
But why will ye die, since Jesus died? Why not be saved now! Do you really believe that Christ bore your sins in His own body on the tree? that His precious blood cleanseth from all sin? Then you are one of whom it can be said,
“How happy every child of grace!
His sins are all forgiven;
This earth, he cries, is not my place
My happy home is heaven.”
ML 01/21/1945