He Had No Song

Good News – September 2021 – Grace & Truth Magazine

He Had No Song

One evening I went to visit a man who was quite sick. After a few words about his bodily sufferings, I asked him whether he thought his sufferings would end when death came.

“Well,” he said, “I think my chances for getting to heaven are pretty good.”

“Do you believe heaven is a reality?”

“Yes.”

“Is it true there is a hell?” I asked.

“Yes, I believe it,” he replied.

“And you have an immortal soul that will soon be in one or the other of these places forever?”

“Yes,” he said earnestly.

“You just now said you thought your chances for heaven were pretty good. You believe heaven is a reality, hell is a reality, and your precious immortal soul will soon be happy in heaven forever. You must have some reason for it. Would you tell me what it is?”

His answer came slowly. “Well, I’ve always been kind, and I have not intentionally wronged anyone.”

“That is very good,” I said, “but now tell me, what kind of place do you think heaven is, and what do they do there?”

“Well,” he said, “there is no sin or sorrow there. It must be a happy place, and they sing there a good amount.”

Turning to Revelation 1:5 (NKJV), I said, “Yes, they do sing there, and I’ll just read to you a song they sing. It is this: ‘To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.’ You see, they are praising the Savior, the One who loved them and died for them. I’ll read it again, ‘To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.’ Do you notice they have not a word to say about what they have done? It is all about what He has done. He loved them and died for them. Now suppose you were up there and got there because you had been good, but you had never been washed from your sins in the blood of Jesus. You could not join in the song they sing, could you?”

In his shock he responded, “Well, I never thought of that before!”

“But,” I said, “God has; and He has written a verse for persons just like you, who are willing to take their chances on good works. Romans 4:4 says, ‘Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.’ Let me explain this: When you were well and could work, you received your wages because you had earned them. You could talk about what you had done and what you had got, and you would not have a word to say about the man who paid you. That is just what God means by that verse. If you could get to heaven by what you have done, there would be no grace about it. You would know nothing of God’s love as shown in Jesus. You could not sing, ‘To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood’; for you would be there without a Savior and you would have no song. Do you think you would be happy?

For the first time he fully confessed that in spite of all the good he claimed, he was a sinner, and needed a Savior. I read to him the Scripture: “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). He repeated, “To save sinners.”

“Yes,” I said, “to save sinners – not to help sinners to be saved, but to save sinners. He is the Savior, and God’s Word is: ‘To him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness’ (Rom. 4:5). ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved’ (Acts 16:31)” He did believe and had a new hope – not based on what he had done but by believing what God says about what Christ has done.

I stopped to see him the next morning, and he looked up with joy and said, “I’ll have a song now! It will be: ‘To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood’” (Rev. 1:5).

Reader, will you be able to sing that song, or will you have to say under God’s judgment, “I am tormented in this flame” (Lk. 16:24)? “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (Jn. 3:36). We can tell you more.