1 And Saul, yet breathing out
threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the
high priest, 2 And desired of him letters to
Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were
men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. 3 And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth,
and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? 5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou
persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6 And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee
what thou must do.
(Acts 9:1-6)
“These
Christians are an exasperating lot,” thought Saul (later the Apostle Paul) as
he journeyed to Damascus to murder and maim any Christians he found there. “They
seem to fear nothing or no one, yet pretend to a faith of greater enlightenment
than our religious teachers of the Jews. Their ill-intentioned faith seems to
have turned the world upside down. They must be destroyed, along with the
memory of their supposed Savior, Jesus,” he mused as he went on the way with
his escort on that dusty road to Damascus that day. But Saul never completed
the mission he had planned. Why not? Because he heard a Voice unlike any other
voice he had ever before heard. “Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me?”
The Voice carried with it the tone of Authority and Divinity. Saul KNEW this
was no earthly Voice. Saul knew this was a Voice from Heaven, but WHO was it? “Who
art thou, Lord?” he asked with trembling voice. Once he knew the
Voice to be that of Jesus, suddenly the error of years of false learning dawned
on poor Saul. This was the very Jesus against whom Saul was going to war
against in Damascus. That ‘was’ became an eternity. Saul never again warred
against the Lord Jesus Christ or His people. That Voice changed Saul’s life
forever, and in an INSTANT! It will change the life of all who hear it!
This wonderful old hymn is by Elvina Hall and was published
in 1865. The music, All to Him I Owe, was composed by John T. Grape.
There is a truly wonderful and soul-inspiring testimony
regarding this hymn that happened not long after it was first published. The
story takes place in London under the Preaching of Rowland Hill – a rather
colorful and lively evangelist: “While he was preaching in a park in London
to a large assemblage, she was passing in her carriage. She said to her footman
when she saw Rowland Hill in the midst of the people, "Why, who is that
man?" That is Rowland Hill, my lady." She had heard a good deal about
the man, and she thought she would like to see him, so she directed her
coachman to drive her near the platform. When the carriage came near he saw the
insignia of nobility, and he asked who that noble lady was. Upon being told, he
said, "Stop, my friends, I have got something to sell." The idea of a
preacher becoming suddenly an auctioneer made the people wonder, and in the
midst of a dead silence he said: "I have more than a title to sell -- I
have more than a crown of Europe to sell; it is the soul of Lady Ann Erskine.
Is there anyone here who bids for it? Yes, I hear a bid. Satan, Satan, what
will you give? 'I will give pleasure, honor, riches -- yea, I will give the
whole world for her soul.' Do you hear another bid? Is there any other one? Do
I hear another bid? Ah, I thought so; I hear another bid. The Lord Jesus
Christ, what will You give for this soul? 'I will give peace, joy, comfort,
that the world knows not of -- yea, I will give My life for her eternal life.' Lady
Ann Erskine, you have heard the two bidders for your soul, which will you
accept? And she ordered the door of her carriage to be opened, and came weeping
from it, and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. He, the great and mighty Saviour,
is a bidder for your soul to-night. He offers you riches and comfort, and joy,
peace here, and eternal life hereafter, while Satan offers you what he cannot
give. Poor lost soul, which will you have? He will ransom your soul if you but
put your burden upon Him. Twenty-one years ago I made up my mind that Jesus
would have my soul, and I have never regretted the step, and no man has ever
felt sorry for coming to Him. When we accept Him we must like Him. Your sins
may rise up as a mountain, but the Son of Man can purge you of all evil, and
take you right into the palaces of Heaven, if you will only allow Him to Save
you.”
Jesus Paid it All
I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”
Refrain
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.
Refrain
Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.
Refrain
And when from my dying bed
My ransomed soul shall rise,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
Shall rend the vaulted skies.
Refrain
The most wonderful thing about the unbelievable meanings of this hymn is that
they are very true and believable to all who will hear the Voice of the Lord. “I
hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small; Child of weakness, watch
and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.” It is beyond doubt that Saul, too,
recognized his utter weakness before that Personage that struck him down and
blinded him with His brilliance on Saul’s Road to Ruin. That Road to Ruin
became Saul’s Road to Light. He heard the voice of Jesus, and that was ENOUGH!
Saul did find in Christ his “All-in-All”! Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in
all. (Col
3:11)
“For nothing good have I Whereby Thy grace to claim, I’ll wash my garments
white In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.” True, Saul had no good thing to
give, but his intentions were full of bad things – just like you and me before
we heard that Voice. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”
(Rom 3:10)
By the way, grace is not something to be earned or purchased. Grace is the free
gift of God. It is unmerited and undeserved mercy. The Prodigal Son (you and I)
was covered with the finest robe his father had to offer to cover the filth of
the pig sty. Imagine! You and I, too, are covered with the finest White Robe of
Righteousness that Heaven has to offer – a Robe purchased at the
immeasurable expense of the Blood of our Lord and Savior! The miracle of
forgiveness – and that is what it truly is – is beyond our understanding. How
can we wash our dirty rags of sin to a white splendor in the crimson blood of
Jesus? Yes, and even whiter than snow? It is the red stains of His blood that
bleaches out the black and sickening stains of our sin. He is our Lamb of the
Passover!
“Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone, Can change the leper’s
spots And melt the heart of stone.” If we are depending on the slightest
iota of our own power to cross Jordan Banks, we shall be drowned in the deep;
for our power can avail nothing of salvation. He is the only resurrection power
that acts as a magnet to pull up that metal of similar nature to Him. We will
be like Him because we have taken on that Mind which was in Christ Jesus! The
leper’s spots are blemishes in our feasts of righteousness that is made of sin.
Given a White Robe each morning by way of repentance and forgiveness, it has
horridly defiling spots by evening time. But Christ has made the Mercy Seat
available to all who will plead their cause to their Advocate seated by the
Father. The stony heart is cold and hard, but the volcanic fountain of Christ’s
love will melt even that stone, and replace it with a heart of flesh upon which
He has written His Table of Laws.
My dear friends, regardless of your present age and health, there awaits every
reader of this devotion a room of dying determined by the will of God. When we
are children, we believe, mercifully, that no such day and hour will come; but
come it surely will, and not always at the expected moment. “And when from
my dying bed My ransomed soul shall rise, “Jesus died my soul to save,” Shall
rend the vaulted skies.” Please bear in mind that the Lord, our God, has
reserved an escort for you at the moment of death – an escort of the angels of
Heaven. It will be the first VIP escort for many of us. Notice the deference
paid to the saint of God, as opposed to the sinner, at death. In the story of
the Rich Man and Lazarus, we read: “22 And it came
to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;” (Luke 16:21-22) Remember the
old negro spiritual: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Coming for to Carry me Home?”
It was a band of angels that was coming after that dear old singer, and that
band was coming to carry him home! “A band of angels coming a’ter me, jes’ a
coming for to carry me home!” I hope I will meet that old gentleman beyond
the stormy Banks of Jordan Waters. Jesus paid for our travel fare but we must
accept the ticket!
The Refrain
“Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson
stain, He washed it white as snow.”
It is true! Jesus paid it all on that terrible instrument of torture called a
cross. We can never give to God a single thing. All of Creation belongs to Him
alone. But we can surrender our souls (which belong to Him) back to His loving
care. We are able to surrender those souls because Jesus paid it all at
Calvary! The crimson gashes of the whip made in Pilate’s paddock; the gaping
and crimson wounds on His sinless brow made by the crown of thorns; the
terrible and painful crimson wounds on His feet and hands made by the Roman
nine-inch nails: and the horrific wound made by the spear to His divine and
Holy side by the lancer which drains crimson blood and water – all were made to
pay for the laundry bill of our crimson sins. His blood washes – not just white
as snow – but WHITER than snow. Snow flakes are formed by the condensation of
ice crystals about a particle of dust or smoke in the upper atmosphere. So at
the heart of every snowflake is a particle of impurity. But the blood of Christ
removes even that particle of impurity.
Please consider the gems of truth in a single verse of the
Psalms: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be
whiter than snow.” (Psalms 51:7) Hyssop is a popular purgative in Asia. It
cleans out the alimentary canal. It cleans the INSIDE of the body. If we are
cleaned by God from within first, we shall appear every whit as white, and even
whiter, than snow in the outward appearance. But if the filth remains at our
core, the impurity remains in the heart.
