Part 3
The trouble is with most of us, that we put off getting ready till too late. It is no good to wait to get ready till the time comes. If people move from one house to another, they pack up and prepare for weeks beforehand. If you are going a journey, you don't wait to pack your box till the car is at the door. Now, our Lord warns us that one day He is returning to this world. He will surely come; but He will come when people are not expecting Him. And then in a moment, every one in the world will be separated from one another. Those that are ready will meet Him and be happy with Him for ever; those that are not ready will be sent away in disgrace and misery.
Do you remember the story of the wise and foolish Virgins. Only those who were ready went inside the bridegroom's house, the others were shut outside. When the flood came suddenly, only those who were ready went into the Ark with Noah and were saved. When Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, only those who were ready to leave it escaped with their lives. And our Lord tells us the story of some servants who were left in charge of their master's house whilst he was away. The master comes back suddenly, and finds some of his servants not ready to meet him. They had been enjoying themselves and not taking care of his house. They had nothing ready for their master's return.
Jesus reminds us that He has gone away for a time, but He is really and truly coming back, and by the signs in the world, His Return is very near. Are you ready to meet Him? If He came to-day, this evening just after dark, would you be found ready?
A soldier is shot if he is on sentry duty and found sleeping at his post. Are you awake? Are you serving your absent Master as you would do if He were close to you watching all that you do or say?
Perhaps you have never tried to serve your absent master. Perhaps you say: "I don't think I am His servant at all."
It will be very sad and dreadful for you if the Lord comes back to this world before you have begun to serve Him. You are indeed not ready for His return. Won't you think about this very seriously, and determine to get "ready" as soon as you can? How can you do this?
By giving your heart to Jesus, by asking Him to forgive you all your sins, and make you His faithful and true little servant.
I can promise you from His own Word that He will answer these two prayers.
He will forgive you your sins.
He will make you His young servant, and He will help you to serve Him truly and faithfully every day till He comes.
Then you will be "ready" to meet Him.
CHAT VIII
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The Unknown Visitor
"There standeth One among you, Whom ye know not." (John 1.26)
CHAT VIII
The Unknown Visitor
"There standeth One among you, Whom ye know not." (John 1.26)
SOME little time ago our popular Prince of Wales was at a Race Meeting in America, where he was almost mobbed by a rude and curious crowd. Cameras surrounded him, and at last, out of patience with the mob, he moved away, and after a time got amongst some grooms and jockeys lower down the course, where he was not recognised, and where he enjoyed a quiet time. The men with whom he talked in such a friendly fashion had little idea that they were talking to the heir of the English Throne.
He stood amongst them and they knew him not.
Now, in the world to-day, in many an English home, One much higher and more wonderful than a British Prince "stands amongst" the boys and girls in that home, and "they know Him not."
Who is He? Jesus Christ, the King of Glory.
Why does He stand there?
Waiting to be known. Waiting to be loved. Waiting to be served. He knows them. He loves them. He has served them even to laying down His life for them. All has been done that can be on His side to win their love and allegiance. Nothing, so far, has been done on their side.
He stands amongst them, and they know Him not.
Now, let us think how we get to know people.
It is not enough to know of their existence. We all know that we have a king, we hear about him, but we do not know him as our friend.
Can we know anyone if we do not see them? I think so. A little girl's father is in India, but her mother is always talking to her about him; she reads bits of his letters to her, and tells her stories of what he used to do and say when she was a tiny baby. By and by the father begins to write to his little girl, and she writes to him. She tells him all she does, and what she likes, and what she dislikes. He tells her what he is doing, and gives her advice when she wants it.
At last, after years of waiting, he comes home.
Somebody asks the girl: "Will you be shy of your father? Won't he be a stranger to you?"
"Oh, no," she says; "he and I are great chums; we've always written to each other. I love his letters, and I love him."
Now this is how we should feel about the Lord Jesus Christ. When He comes back to this world, He should be no stranger to us. We have had His letters. We can read all His beautiful words to us in the New Testament. We can do more than that little girl, we can talk to Him, instead of writing. For He stands close to us always, and He hears our faintest whisper.
Peter the Great, who ruled over Russia, was very fond of disguising himself and going amongst his peasants, and seeing their poverty, noticing who was most worthy of relief. He always won their confidence, but on one occasion a man who was out of work and wanting employment, was very rude to him.
"Go away," he said. "You are poor like ourselves, your clothes show that; we don't want your pity or your comfort. We want money and nothing else. You're no good to us at all."
[Illustration: WASHING FEET. John 13.3-5.]
He little knew who was standing amongst them, but later on he was told.
"Oh," he cried, "had I only known, what a lot I could have asked for!"
We can't admire a man like that, but our Lord stands amongst us to help the needy, to strengthen the weak, to comfort the sorrowful.
"Oh," you say, "I have all I want. I'm not very poor, and I'm not sad, and I'm having a pretty good time just now."
Then you don't want to know your King?
Let me tell you that when He comes back again to this world He will either be your Judge or your Friend and Saviour. Which would you like best?
If you have refused to know Him down here, when He opens the gates of Paradise, the Golden City, and you press forward with the others who are going in, He will look upon you sorrowfully, and will say:
"I never knew you. Depart from Me."
And you will be shut out.
How sad! Why not now come to Him and belong to Him? Remember, He bought you with His precious blood. He knows it is difficult to be always good. He has been a boy himself, and knows how boys get tempted. And He stands close to you, ready to help you fight your battles over your besetting sins, longing to fill your young hearts with joy and happiness, wanting to show you that a life in His service is a hundred times happier than one lived in the service of the Devil, who wants to destroy your soul.
Will you lift up your hearts, and ask Him to show Himself to you?
Here is another thought for you. You don't make friends of a stranger in a moment, but you can fall in love at sight, and then the more you talk with a person, the oftener you see them, the better you know them.
You have heard of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have read about Him, but if you really want to know Him and take Him as your best Friend, you must come to Him, pray to Him, and talk to Him often; you must read what He says in His Word, and you must try and carry out His wishes every day of your life.
Ask Him to make you know Him, love Him, and serve Him.
You cannot help loving Him when you remember that He has died for you, when you realise that He will never leave you nor fail you as long as you need His help.
Do not let it be said of you:
"There standeth One among you, Whom ye know not."
CHAT IX
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Our Inheritance
"An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you." (1 Peter 1.4)
CHAT IX
Our Inheritance
"An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you." (1 Peter 1.4)
WHAT is an heir? A man or boy who comes into possession of a big house, or money, or property when the owner of it dies. Have you ever read a story called "Little Lord Fauntleroy?" It is about a little boy in America who came over to England and found out he was heir to an Earldom. His inheritance was a very big one.
Sometimes quite poor men suddenly come into an inheritance, for which they are utterly unfitted. I remember a story of a tramp doing this. And when he was placed in the big house which was part of his inheritance, he was miserable.
At last he came to his lawyer and said: "Look here, I'm an uneducated man, and I'm only happy amongst my own kind. The servants wait on me, but they despise and laugh at me. I sit in a library full of books—I can't understand one of them, and I'm not a reader. There's a place they call an observatory, where you're supposed to study the stars. I can't use it, for I'm ignorant of it all. There's a music room, but what is the good of piano or organ to me, when I can't play a note. There's a museum and a picture gallery. I don't care for either. I haven't been educated enough to understand them. And the big people round who come to call on me, terrify me. We haven't a thought in common. You'll have to sell the house and property, and give me the money. I'll spend it in drink and food amongst my friends."
Poor man! Don't you feel sorry for him? He wasn't able to enjoy what belonged to him, for he had not been trained in the right way.
[Illustration: CHAT VII. "Think about this seriously."]
[Illustration: Pictures to Paint—7. WHAT NEW TESTAMENT SCENE IS THIS?]
Now, boys and girls who love the Lord Jesus are all heirs to an inheritance. What does the Bible say?
That through Jesus, who died to get it for us, we have "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you."
We can't all look forward to coming into an inheritance on earth, but we can look forward to one in Heaven. It is being reserved or kept for us there. Now, if we aren't prepared in this life for that inheritance, we shall be like that poor tramp: we shall be very miserable when we get there. And that is just why God sent us into this world of trouble, and pain, and difficulty, to train us and teach us and prepare us for our inheritance.
When the old Queen Victoria, one of the best queens that has ever ruled over the British Empire, was a little girl, she was trained in every way by her mother and governesses for her inheritance. And when she was told that she might become the queen one day, she clasped her little hands and cried, "I will be good! I will be good!"
All Royal children are brought up much more strictly than you are, for they must be educated and trained for their future inheritance. They learn when quite small to please others before themselves, to put duty before pleasure, to get up early to do their lessons, to study the feelings of others, to control their tempers, and only to associate with companions chosen by their parents or teachers.
An heir to a glorious inheritance must be prepared for years for it. And God wants to prepare us for our glorious inheritance.
It is a most beautiful home in Heaven that will last for ever and ever.
Can we be sure of having this?
If we have been to Jesus to have our sins washed away, if we have held out our hands for the pardon He purchased for us on Calvary and thanked Him for it, if we are trying to serve Him day by day, then we can be sure that the inheritance will be ours. But we must ask God to train us, and when disagreeable things happen, we must not lose our temper, for they are sent to test our tempers, to make us control ourselves, and so to make us more fit for our inheritance by and by.
Boys and girls are often sent away to school, but one day they will have finished their education, and then they will come home to their father's house, and be able to take part in all that is going on there.
We are at school here being educated. By and by our education will be finished, and we shall be called home to our Father's House in Heaven, to take part in all that is going on there.
We have not worked for this inheritance. Like many earthly heirs, it came to us through the death of Someone else. Who was this?
The Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who loved us and gave Himself for us, as we have already seen.
In the Acts of the Apostles, God sent St. Paul to the Gentiles "to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith."
You very often go up steps to a hall door, don't you? There are four steps leading up to the golden door of our inheritance.
1st. Our eyes must be opened to see we are sinners.
2nd. We must be willing to leave the darkness of sin and choose the light of goodness.
3rd. We must be delivered out of the power of the Devil, and come to the Lord Jesus.
4th. We must receive forgiveness of our sins.
Can we do this ourselves? No, we can't take one of those steps in our own strength.
God will do it all if we ask Him.
And then we shall be at the top of the steps waiting to be let through that golden door into our glorious and beautiful inheritance.
The City Bright
THERE is a city bright; Closed are its gates to sin; Nought that defileth, Nought that defileth Can ever enter in.
Saviour, I come to Thee; O Lamb of God, I pray, Cleanse me and save me, Cleanse me and save me, Wash all my sins away.
Lord, make me, from this hour, Thy loving child to be, Kept by Thy power, Kept by Thy power From all that grieveth Thee,—
Till in the snow-white dress Of Thy redeemed I stand, Faultless and stainless, Faultless and stainless, Safe in that happy land.
Stories Illustrating Chats
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CHAT I. A Lovely Old Garden
CHAT II. The Gardener and the Lady
CHAT II. What the Preacher Said
CHAT III. The Big Dog and the Boy
CHAT IV. Queen Victoria and the Cottager
CHAT IV. The Liverpool Man and His Rent
CHAT IV. The Young Woman and Her Mother
CHAT V. The Bully and the Little Boy
CHAT V. The Shepherd Boy and the Giant
CHAT V. Little David in the East of London
CHAT VI. The Children and their Visitor
CHAT VI. The Boy who Refused a Present
CHAT VI. A Mother who Got a Doll's Tea Set
CHAT VI. A Bachelor Uncle's Peculiar Present
CHAT VI. The Slave Mother and her Son
CHAT VII. The King and the Unwise Subject
CHAT VII. The Servants who Neglected their Duty
CHAT VIII. The Prince of Wales in America
CHAT VIII. The Little Girl, and her Father in India
CHAT VIII. Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia
CHAT IX. Little Lord Fauntleroy
CHAT IX. A Tramp who Got a Mansion
CHAT IX. Queen Victoria and the Crown
Key to Coloured Pictures
FROM ORIGINAL WASH DRAWINGS BY E. FREE.
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I. The Potter—A Unique Eastern Wheel
"Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it." (Jer. 18.2-4)
II. A Measure of Meal—Woman working with meal
"The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." (Matt. 13.33)
III. Selling Sparrows—Evidently ready for offering or cooking
"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Luke 12.6, 7)
IV. Washing Feet—Well-known Eastern Custom
"Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded." (John 13.3-5)
Key to Pictures to Paint
ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY C. B. BIRCH, A.R.A.
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I. The Passover In Egypt
"And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And the blood shall be to you for a token 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." (Exod. 12.7, 13)
II. The Firstborn Slain
"And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon: and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead." (Exod. 12.29, 30).
III. Isaac and Rebekah
"And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel." (Gen. 24.62-64)
IV. Young King Joash
"Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king." (2 Chron. 23.11)
V. Peter at the Fire
"But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with Him. And he denied Him, saying, Woman, I know Him not." (Luke 22.56, 57)
VI. The Rent Veil
"And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." (Mark 15.37, 38).
VII. Paul before Agrippa
"Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds." (Acts 26.28, 29)
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The Bible Pictures are from "Bagster's Bible Stories." A new handy pocket edition, containing nearly 50 Original Drawings by C. B. BIRCH, A.R.A. Very useful for children.
Key to Bible Quotations
"He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Tim. 1.12).
"And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away" (Matt. 21.19).
"They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them" (Matt. 25.3).
"His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber" (Isa. 56.10).
"These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever" (2 Peter 2.17).
"I love them that love Me" (Prov. 8.17).
"And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know" (John 14.4).
"I am the Door" (John 10.9).
"Those that seek Me early shall find Me" (Prov. 8.17).
"No man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14.6).
"My son, give Me thine heart, and let thine heart observe My ways" (Prov. 23.26).
"I dwell in the high and holy place" (Isa. 57.15).
"Lo, I am with you alway" (Matt. 28.20).
"I the Lord have called thee in righteousness" (Isa. 42.6).
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4.13).
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt. 7.23).
"John answered them, saying, I baptise with water: but there standeth One among you, whom ye know not" (John 1.26).
"To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" (Acts 26.18).
"And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth" (Rev. 21.27).