What Happened When Two Judges Met

A special meeting was in progress at the Memorial Church, and a great interest had been shown on the part of both the saved and the unsaved in the messages which were being given. One evening, as I came to the church just before the service was to begin, the head usher addressed me at the door and said that an old gentleman, sitting near the front, would like to have a personal conversation before the preaching began.

The usher led me down to the third seat from the front, where I found a tall, straight figure, a man about eighty-one years of age. His solemn face told of the turmoil going on within his heart. The gray hairs and the wrinkles told of a long life of hard labor. He asked for a personal interview immediately, stating: “This matter is too important to delay until the close of the service. I would like to talk with you right now.”

Taking the old gentleman by the arm, we went into one of the Sunday school rooms to be alone. The pastor opened the meeting and continued until I was free to come to the platform.

Sitting down, I said to him, “What is your name, and what is your occupation?” Giving his name, he added that for thirty-five years he had been the engineer of a fast passenger train on the Santa Fe running out of Kansas City.

“Has the Lord Jesus saved you yet?” I inquired, “or would you like to be?”

The tears coursed down his cheeks as he replied: “I have attended all of your services here and have not been able to sleep or rest, because I realize that the years of my life have been spent for the devil, and I am not ready to die. Will the Lord Jesus save a wicked old man?”

What a joy it was to see the work of the Holy Spirit, convicting this friend of his sinfulness and his need of the Saviour. He was deeply in earnest and had prayed that he might know that his sins were forgiven. Opening my Bible to Luke 19:10, we read together: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” We next read 1 Timothy 1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

“You will see from this, my friend,” I said, “that the Lord Jesus Christ wants to save you. He has come to do it, He is ready to do it, and He has done all the necessary work at Calvary in order that He may save you.”

“Because the Lord Jesus must save you in a righteous way, Mr. E--, it was necessary for Him to go to Calvary and suffer for your sins — paying your debt. He did this fully for you, as He says in 1 Peter 2:24, ‘Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.’”

“Tell me, Mr. E--,” I continued, “Did you ever run past a red semaphore along the right-of-way?”

He raised himself up straight as an arrow, looked down upon me from his six feet four inches in height, and said with pride: “Young man, I never did. Do you think that the Santa Fe would have kept me in their service on a ‘crack’ passenger train for thirty-five years if I had ever done such a foolish thing? I never did!”

“No, Mr. E--, I am quite sure they would not, and I can well believe that you were a faithful and dependable engineer, following out the rules of the road. Have you been as careful with God as you were with the Santa Fe? He, too, has a semaphore, which He erected along your pathway to eternity. His semaphore has two arms on it. It is the Cross of Christ, and is red with the blood of the Saviour. You have perhaps been running past this danger signal all of your life. You knew it was there, but perhaps you didn’t care. You knew you should stop, but perhaps you were too busy — too occupied with other things.”

By this time Mr. E-- was in deep meditation. He sat thinking of his relationship to this Saviour and of his neglect through his long life of the One who would have saved him, kept him, and made him fruitful. Since he did not reply to my question, I said to him further: “Will you, just now, stop at the Cross where Jesus died and think of His love for you when He paid the penalty for your sins? He is now in heaven seated on the throne, watching and waiting to see what you will do with Him, and waiting for you to trust Him. He is not on the Cross now, He is on the throne, and wants you to trust Him, believe in Him, and accept Him. If you will, just now, commit your case, your cause, your sins and yourself to that lovely Saviour, He will make you His own child and will blot out every sin.”

The engineer arose from his seat, knelt beside the chair, and said with sobs: “Lord Jesus, I believe in you; I want to stop right now beside your Cross and accept you. You died for me and you live for me, and I trust you with my soul.”

I, too, prayed with deep thanksgiving, and worshipped the God of heaven who had brought another wanderer to the fold and pardoned him in the sunset of life. As we came from the little room into the church auditorium, the audience saw the radiance of his face. The wife arose to embrace him with a new joy in her heart.

You, too, my friend, may “Stop, Look, and Listen” at the Cross of Calvary, then turn to Christ in glory and make Him your own Lord and Saviour. Will you do it now? g

Dr. Walter L. Wilson (1881-1969) lived primarily in Kansas City, MO, as a medical doctor, natural scientist, salesman, businessman, author, pastor, school administrator, etc. Led to a saving knowledge of Christ at the age of 15 through the ministry of a Plymouth Brethren tent meeting, Dr. Wilson's master passion in life was presenting the Gospel of grace to precious souls for whom Christ died.