I’LL NEVER forget a summer vacation I spent as a boy by the ocean. The days seemed to pass too quickly, and I was sorry when the time came for us to pack up and return to the busy city.
One evening, coming along the shore, I heard the sound of singing. As I came near to the pier, I saw a crowd of people standing near the shore. It was an open-air gospel meeting. I was curious to hear what was being said, so I stood outside of the circle until they had finished the hymn they were singing. Then a young man, evidently a visitor, stood forth in the midst of the circle and began to speak. He seemed very much in earnest. He told how he had been a very careless young fellow but that Jesus had saved him and made him very happy. Then he told how the way of salvation was made plain and simple to him by means of an incident that happened at that very spot on the pier some years before. Said he: “A medical doctor, a native of Africa, had come to the ocean for a holiday. While waiting for the morning excursion boat to dock, he got into conversation with a boy at the gate who collected the nickels from those going on board.
“ ‘What if I were a poor man’, asked the doctor, ‘and had no nickel to pay you?’
“ ‘Then I couldn’t let you pass, sir,’ was the prompt reply.
“ But suppose some rich man came along and gave you a five dollar bill, and told you to take a nickel out for every poor person who wished to pass through the gate. Then if I came up to you and told you I was a poor man, unable to pay, what would you do then?’ asked the doctor.
“ ‘I would be bound to let you pass, sir,’ answered the boy quickly.
“Then the good man told the boy how God had given His Son, and to make it possible for sinners to get to heaven, Jesus had shed His blood. Now all who take the sinner’s place, and claim the sinner’s Saviour, are allowed to pass. Yes, God is bound to let them pass, for His Word has said it.”
“Verily, 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 5:2424Verily, 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).
That simple story showed me, as I had never seen it before, God’s way of saving sinners righteously, through Christ’s atoning death.
I am glad to be able to tell you, dear young friends, that I have passed through the gate as a sinner, trusting only in the merits of the Saviour who died for me on the cross. May God grant that you might trust Him too, and pass from death unto life, and start on your way to heaven.
ML-09/27/1964