JUNIOR KINGS BUSINESS
own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree . . . by whose stripes ye were healed.” Dear reader, does not the de votion o f the love o f the Lord Jesus touch your heart? Think how much He loved you in going to the cross and taking your place of guilt and bearing all the punishment you deserved! Surely this is wonderful, unspeakable love, isn’t it? Yes, indeed it is, and so the Apostle John says, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us” (I John 3:16). It was only love that could cause Him to come down from heaven and become the Substitute for be lievers on the cross. Now won’t you own Him as the Substitute you need and ac cept Him as your own, loving Substitute and Saviour? Open your heart to Him and accept what He in love has done for you. Then you will know, too, that you will never have to be pun ished for your sins, but go out free, because you have accepted the Lord Jesus as your Substi tute who was punished in your place on the cross. “Whosoever believeth in Him should not per ish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “ If thou shalt con fess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9). From the tract “ Little Jim’s Sub stitute.” published by Grace and Truth, Danville, 111. Letters received from readers of this page are always enjoyed and appreciated. The Editors
The teacher now turned to the children and said, “ Yes, you are right. Little Jim is free and this is just what I want to tell you about the Lord Jesus and our selves. We are all guilty sinners and deserve to be punished for ever but the Lord Jesus went to the cross and bore our punish ment instead. Like Big Tom, He took our place, and if we believe in Him and accept Him as our Substitute, we go free. God who in love gave His Son and pun ished Him in our stead will not punish us too, if we believe in Him.” In this incident, dear children, we have God’s wonderful way of salvation beautifully illustrated. We have all sinned in one way or another and, like Little Jim, we must have a substitute or else we will have to bear our own pun ishment and be lost forever. The Bible says, “ The soul that sin- neth, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4) and “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). These wages we could never pay, but in the Lord Jesus we have a willing Substi tute who has paid those awful wages o f sin for all who believe on Him. He who had never sinned, but was perfect and al ways obedient, came forth and willingly went to the cross to suf fer, bleed and die for our sins. This we are told in His Word which tells us in touching lan guage, “ He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastise ment of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). So also in I Peter 2:24 we read, “Who His
IRST DAY OF SCHOOL! The boys and girls registered and the teacher let them make their own rules and the punish ment for disobeying them. They decided there was to be no steal ing, fighting, etc. The punish ment for doing these things would be ten stripes across the bare back. One day a boy could not find his lunch. The boys and girls looked everywhere and finally each one was questioned. Little Jim was found guilty. Perhaps he was hungry; what ever his reason for doing it, he was guilty. So the teacher com manded him to take off his shirt for his punishment. As he took off his shirt, all saw how weak and underfed he was. Then he walked to the front crying, “ I can’t bear i t ! I can’t bear i t !” Jimmy’s pitiful cry touched many hearts. Just then Big Tom, a big, strong boy, stood up and said, “ I’ll take Little Jim’s place.” The teacher turned to the boys and girls and asked, “Will it be right if Big Tom takes Little Jim’s punishment?” Yes, they agreed this would be just and fair. So Big Tom took off his shirt and received the stripes across his bare back which were Little Jim’s due for stealing the dinnerpail. Then the teacher said, “Little Jim, you come now and take your punish ment.” “Oh, no !” shouted the children, “you can’t punish Big Tom and Little Jim, too. Big Tom took Little Jim’s place and Jimmy is free.”
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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