Saved At Seventy-Five

Good News – January 2014 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Saved At Seventy-Five

I lived 75 long years in the dark, without knowing that I was a lost sinner or that I had to be born again. Sometimes I wonder how it was possible for me to have lived so long without someone’s speaking to me plainly about my salvation. But there was little said about these things in our part of the country.

Everybody was religious and went to church on Sunday, but that was all. The minister told us to “be good, live honestly, say our prayers and hope in God’s mercy.” When anyone died, he said the next Sunday that they had gone “to a better place,” and he prayed “that we might all so live that we might be worthy of life everlasting.” As the years went by we did our best to live “good lives.”

The first time I remember being led to think about eternal matters was when one of my granddaughters came to spend a few days with me. She was singing a hymn one afternoon out in the garden as I sat grating corn by the door. The words were:

“It is finished, yes indeed, finished every jot;
Sinner, this is all you need, tell me is it not?”

I could not forget those wonderful words and I often wondered what they meant. I was anxious to know more about it, but I had no one to tell me. However the God who loved me and gave His Son to die for me did not leave me to die in darkness.

One day a lady knocked at the door and asked if she might leave a tract about God’s salvation. I gladly received the tract and asked if she would come in. She did come in; and after a few minutes rest she asked if I knew the Savior. Of course I said, “Yes.”

“Then you will be saved,” she said.

I made no reply, and I suppose she saw I knew nothing about it. She said, “Religion never took anyone to heaven, and never will. It must be Christ.” She gave a book to me, and then left. I never saw her again. But God blessed her words and especially that book. I read it through again and again, each time more anxious to be saved.

It was on a Sunday afternoon, while sitting all alone reading, that I saw God’s way of salvation was not by working nor by trying, but by trusting in Christ alone. I did trust Him, and He saved me! Bless His Name. I was 75, and I will praise Him through all eternity for His great salvation.

Dear friend, do you know that religion will never take you to heaven? You must be born again – made a new creature in Christ – or you will never be with Jesus in heaven. Religion does not save; only Jesus will. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3:3,5: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ... Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (NKJV). We can tell you more.

Accept these facts:“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6).“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).“There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10).Believe these words:“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29).“Behold, now is the accepted time ... now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).Come to Jesus“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28).“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and ... He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).Receive Him Now!