THERE is but one common road to salvation, peace, and glory, and that is through “the precious blood of Christ.” When Adam fell he lost innocence and departed from God; and neither he nor any of his posterity have ever been able to regain it or find their way back to God. But God has devised a way whereby sins shall be put away, sin judged, and the sinner be brought back to Himself. “Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18).)
I remember being once asked to go and see a dying man on the Surrey side of London. Arrived at his house, his kind, hardworking wife opened the door to me, and invited me to walk in and take a seat whilst she made known my arrival to her husband, who was resting in an inner room. Ere ever he came into my presence, the hollow cough which indicates consumption made me acquainted with the nature of his disease. Feebly he crept into the room where I was sitting; and as soon as he had recovered himself a little he began to tell me how long he had been ill, how much he had suffered, and that the doctor said that there was no chance of his recovery. I asked him how he stood in relation to ETERNITY; and he told me he was quite ready to die. I then asked if he would kindly tell me what had made him ready. He replied, “I weep over my sins, I say my prayers, and do the best I can.”
His reply made me sigh from the deepest depths of my heart, and after a moment’s silence I said: “Forgive me for being faithful with you, but you are laboring under a terrible delusion, and in trusting to your own doings, you are trusting to a rope of sand. God says, The BLOOD shall be to you for a token... where ye are, and when I see the BLOOD, I will pass over you.” (Ex. 12:1313And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:13).) Now mark, God does not say one word about your tears, prayers, or your doing your best. God’s word is all about the BLOOD. Again God says, “It is the BLOOD that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:1111For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11).) Now, there is no BLOOD in your tears, prayers, or your best doings, consequently they are not God’s ‘token,’ and they can never make an atonement for your soul.” The poor dying man sat silent and pale, evidently eagerly drinking in the words of God. I continued: “God says, “Without shedding of BLOOD is no remission” (Heb. 9:2222And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22)); and, “The BLOOD of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7).) Notice, not the tears, prayers, or even the blessed life-works of Jesus could or did put away our sins; no, nothing less than His BLOOD would do for God or the sinner; and if the holy tears, prayers, and life-works of Jesus never put away our sins, is it at all possible that our unholy tears, prayers, or works could ever put them away?
“My hope on nothing less is built,
Than Jesus and the BLOOD He spilled;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on His dear name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”
Having repeated the above, I commended the man to God in prayer, and left him. I soon repeated my visit; the anxious wife let me in, and in a few moments her husband and I were in earnest conversation about his eternal salvation. I was not long in discovering that a great change had taken place in him and his thoughts about preparing for eternity. His words were few, but sufficed to show the mighty change God had wrought in him. He told me that after I had left him, the words of God about the Lord Jesus and His moon kept ringing in his ears, and that God had shown him where he was wrong, had delivered him from the sad delusion he had so long been under, and that now he was trusting simply, wholly, and alone to the precious BLOOD of Christ (1 Peter 1:1919But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:19)), and that now he could truthfully and thankfully say
“On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”
We praised God and the Lamb, in the language of Scripture, for having saved his soul and made him fit for glory. “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son; in whom we have redemption through His BLOOD, even the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:12-1412Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:12‑14).) “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own BLOOD, and hath, made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Rev. 1:5, 65And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5‑6).)
I took my leave of him now as a brother in Christ with deep emotion, for I felt sure his days in this sin-stricken, sorrowful world were few. I was unable to call and see him again, being called away to labor in the gospel in Scotland; but I heard, from a Christian who visited him to the last, that he died happy in Christ, with unshaken and unswerving faith in the precious BLOOD of God’s dear Son. And now I would most affectionately ask the reader of this narrative if he or she is on the only road that the Redeemer has made by His BLOOD to God and glory? If not, I would urge you at once to have “faith in His BLOOD,” which alone can free you from sins and make you “whiter than snow.”
“TODAY.”
MAN thinks and says, Tomorrow will do just as well as today to be saved. GOD SAYS Today; but where does He say Tomorrow?
Today the arrow of death is abroad, and every hour we live it is calculated that one thousand immortal beings pass into eternity.
If death came to you where you are, as you are, and just now, and laying his icy finger upon your pulse, stopped its beating, and laying his hand upon your heart, stopped its throbbing, and breathing upon your now warm blood, froze it in your veins, ARE YOU READY?
“Today” the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ may take place; and if it should, He would raise the bodies of all “the dead in Christ,” and change the living bodies of all who have eternal life in Him, accomplishing all “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”
Should the second coming of the Lord take place whilst you are reading this little paper, ARE YOU READY?
The Holy Ghost says, in Ps. 95:7, 8, “TODAY, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart;” and Jesus says, in Luke 19:55And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. (Luke 19:5), “MAKE HASTE and come down, for TODAY I must abide at thy house.”
“TODAY” life, light, and glory forever are offered thee in the gospel, for only believing in the person and work of Christ as a lost and helpless sinner.
Tomorrow may be death, darkness, and damnation forever should you refuse. Which is it to be? God grant it may be the first, and not the last! May it be said of you, dear reader, as it was said by the Lord Jesus to Zacchaeus, “This day is salvation come to this house;” for, “behold, Now is the accepted time; NOW is the day of salvation.”