“I’m so Bad! I’m so Bad!”

THE above words were uttered by one who, unsolicited had entered a preaching-room. A few earnest workers had been looking to God for blessing in believing faith, and God, by His Spirit, had led this poor woman in.
After the preaching she came forward to the preacher, saying, “I’m so bad, I’m so bad.” Finding at once it was not bodily ailment, we tried to speak words of comfort and cheer from the Great Physician; but all seemed of no avail. Yet God was doing His work in her soul.
She came to a meeting on the following Wednesday night, when earnest appeals were made to the anxious to rest in Jesus and His finished work; and still she went away without rest. But He who had begun a work in her soul was about to give complete deliverance from her sin and Satan-bound condition. She had left the preaching-room for the third time without rest, but soon afterward returned to the after-meeting where earnest prayer was held for her and others. She again repeated “I’m so bad, I’m so bad, I can’t go home.” On being requested to tell all her difficulties that we might pray about them, she said, “The first time I came I heard the account of the Israelites at the Red Sea, and it just suited me. I have been a teetotaler for several years, and it was a mountain on one side; I had said my prayers for several months it was a mountain on the other side; and no salvation in either; the devil behind me seeking to get me, and my sins in front, oh! I’m so bad, I’m so bad: what shall I do?” Turning at once to the 5th and 6th verses of the 53rd of Isaiah, I read slowly,” But... He... was... wounded... for... our... transgressions... the... chastisement... of... our... peace... was... upon... Him, ... and... with... His... stripes … we... are… healed.... All... we ... like … sheep... have... gone... astray; ... we... have... turned... everyone ... to... his own way, ... and... the...Lord... hath... laid... on... Him... the... iniquity... of... us all.” As she heard what the blessed Son of God had borne and done for her, she at once got peace and joy in believing and we praised our God together for the riches of His grace.” And now, dear anxious one can you not rest, where God finds His rest and satisfaction, in the finished work of His beloved Son? or, are you looking at your good works, prayers, or whatever it may be? you will find them, as the dear woman said, like mountains on either side, to shut you in. Think, anxious reader, of those memorable words of our Lord when He had made the atonement for sin, “It is finished.” Why still seek rest in something else? why not rest in that finished work?
Till to Jesus’ work you cling,
By a simple faith;
“Doing” is a deadly thing,
“Doing” ends in death.”
Let me entreat you, friend, ere you lay down this paper to turn at once to Jesus―the only one that can meet your case. He invites you to believe on His name; trust His loving heart; rest on His word. He has done all that a Holy God required and given God perfect satisfaction about the question of sin; and now God offers you salvation as a free gift. Works and prayers are the blessed fruit of salvation, and not the means of it.
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Tit. 3: 5). “When we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6).
“I cannot work my soul to save,
For that my Lord has done;
But I would work like any slave,
From love to God’s dear Son.”
W. T.