A FEW months since, I went to a small village in company with a friend, and began distributing a few gospel tracts, also inviting people to come and hear the glad tidings of the grace of God.
We had not gone far before my attention was attracted to a man standing by a gate leading to a cottage; he was looking very ill, and I felt I must speak to him, and try and find out if he knew Jesus Christ as his Saviour.
But, alas! I found that this dear man was a stranger to Jesus, and to His finished work. I then asked him what he thought he had to do to be saved?
“Well,” said he “I think I must repent and pray.”
I said, “But where in God’s word are we told to repent and pray and we shall be saved? If that is what we have to do, how can we know when we have repented and prayed sufficiently to satisfy a holy God?”
He could not tell what to say to this, and I spoke to him then of Jesus, the Son of God, of how He left the glory of His Father’s throne, and came down into this world, to seek and to save the lost, and how He, the Son of God, by shedding His precious blood, had met the righteous claims of God against the sinner; and having borne our sins in His own body upon the tree, God had raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His own right hand in glory, and thus had opened unto sinners a way into the glory of God. I told him if he rested on the finished work of this blessed Jesus he would be saved. “God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We then parted for the time.
Later in the evening, after the gospel preaching, my friend and I went to visit him in his home, and this was our last meeting on earth.
We found him sitting in an armchair by the fire. His wife was with him. Evidently, he was much worse than when we had previously seen him. Once more I sought to press Jesus on his acceptance as the only way whereby he could be saved, and to show him from God’s word his true condition in the sight of God as a guilty sinner, with no power to help himself. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)). I spoke of the love God had toward us in giving His only Son to die for us, of how Jesus by His death had opened a way of escape from the wrath of God, and that by believing in Him he would be saved.
But, alas! all these blessed glad tidings appeared to him as idle tales. Still I pressed on him the word of the living God, and the consequences of rejecting Jesus and His invitations to come to Him, pointing out the shortness and uncertainty of life, more especially in his own weak state of health, and that this might be the last opportunity he would have on earth of hearing of the blessed Jesus and His willingness to save him. Again, I entreated him to come to Jesus, to rest on nothing of his own, but on Jesus only.
“Salvation is offered you today,” I said; “this present time is yours, tomorrow may not be yours, therefore why refuse to come to Him; this opportunity may be the last God may ever give you; and if you neglect it and are lost, it will be lost forever.”
We now bade him farewell, and, as far as we know, an eternal farewell. On calling the day after, we found the spirit had returned to God who gave it. He had risen from his bed in the morning no worse than on the previous evening, apparently; but while dressing, he fell back into his chair, and without a word his immortal soul had taken its flight. I cannot say what transpired that night between himself and God; all I can say is that his wife said he did not say anything to her about his soul’s salvation.
And now, dear reader, a word to you before I close these few lines, which have recorded facts. Is your soul saved? If it be not you are in quite as much danger as was this poor man. If you are not washed in the blood of Christ, you are lost; but what blessed news it is to tell that Jesus, God’s beloved Son, came to seek and to save the lost. You have still the opportunity of receiving salvation from Him, of bowing to Him as your Saviour. I earnestly entreat you, then, come to Jesus just as you are.
He will receive you, for His word is— “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.”
Do not put it off till a more convenient season.
This may be thy last opportunity. Hear His own words, “He that heareth my word, and beliveth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
R. B.