3. LET JESUS CHRIST REIGN OVER YOU
“But his citizens hated
him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.” (Luke 19:14)
It is most tragic and heartbreaking to
see most lost sinners adamantly set themselves against repenting
to God and trusting in Jesus Christ to save them. The ones who die in that
condition go to Hell to suffer fiery torments forever. Oh, what a horrible fate
that is, but it doesn’t have to be. It is especially heartbreaking
to call on a person who is in terrible misery from sin, to come to
Christ for Help, only to have them stubbornly set themselves
against Jesus Christ, the One and Only True Hope for sin-sick mankind.
About 9 PM on a chilly October night in 1980, my phone rang in my
house in Matsuida, Japan. I answered it to hear a young Japanese lady sobbing, heaving
deep sobs, “Help me. I need help. I want to come to your house to talk to
you.”
I knew nothing about her until now. From now on, I learn bits and
pieces about her. She lives with her 5-year-old daughter in an old cheap town
housing project about two-thirds of a mile from my house. Talking to me tonight
and once more later on, she never speaks of her daughter’s father. This
evening, she had invited 3 or so friends her age to her tiny apartment in an
attempt to have some fun together. Drinking liquor together was the main “fun
event”, her, trying to drown her sorrows.
But instead, as the alcohol took effect on her, she broke down
sobbing over her troubles, drowning out the party spirit instead of her
troubles. Her young adult friends felt bad about the situation, and knowing
nothing else to do suggested that she call the missionary. I didn’t want a
woman coming alone to my house at night. But she insisted, and drove that
two-thirds of a mile as a drunken driver.
I met her in the foyer of my little house and we sat on the raised
floor inside the foyer as she started talking. She didn’t say what was
troubling her, actually saying nothing of value. Soon she asked me how I handle
problems in life. I was most thankful for that “opening”, and told her that I
call on the Lord Jesus Christ to help me. I was fully primed to tell her
of Christ’s Comfort, unlimited Help and such. But before I finished speaking
that first sentence, at the mention of Jesus Christ, in a flash
she interrupted me to cut off such speech.
“No! No! I don’t mean that!” Then she briefly “chatted” to keep
control of the conversation before approaching her point from a different
angle, using different words to ask me how I cope with difficult situations in
life. When I speak this time, I try to ease Christ into the picture more
smoothly, but as soon as I say that Wonderful Name, “No! No! Not that!”
Her dead-set stubbornness against her Creator God and the Saviour of all the earth
immediately shoots forth.
We went around that same circle about 2 more times (each time, her
refusing anything about the Saviour of the world). Then she bade me Good
Night and drove drunkenly home. I prayed for her. Less than 2 weeks after that,
I was street preaching thru the housing project she lives in, as was my custom
to do occasionally. I did not go there looking for her or for her
house. But as I was street preaching on one of the narrow dirt lanes in
this quaint old “rabbit hutch” row house style housing, she heard me from
inside her house when I was in front of it, opened her door and called out to
me. “Come in and have supper with us.”
It was at suppertime and she was setting supper on the low, small
table in her living room, for her and her daughter to eat. I asked her if it
was really O.K., and she assured me that it was. So I went in and supped with
them. The 5-year-old is bright and joyful. The mother is “happy” tonight. They
had heard my preaching from outside tonight and several times before. So at
their tiny supper table, I strive to be the most kind and friendly friend I can
be, and thereafter pray for their salvation. I have had no contact with them
since that night. Would you also please pray for their salvation?
“Lord Jesus, that 5-year-old girl would have been born in 1975.
Please cause me to think on how old she is right now as I pray for her. You
know where she is. You also know where her mother and her father are.
You also know if she has a husband and children of her own. I call
on Thee to please save all her household to the utmost.
You died for them. You are not willing that they should perish. Please
don’t send them to Hell. Please save them all and take
them to Heaven to be with us, I plead.
As Missionary Richard preaches in public to such miserable, but
stubborn sinners, by Thy Unlimited Power, please break down their
stubborn resistance to their Creator God. Smite them as You smote Saul of
Tarsus.
Please endear my heart unto Thee, so that I never
balk at fully trusting in Thee at all times and in all
matters. Cause me to seriously think on stubborn sinners that
will try any solution to their much misery, except
allowing their Creator God to reign over them. Please save me
from being like that. Please make me fearful of stubbornly
rebelling against Almighty God. Amen.”
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.” 1st Corinthians 15:52a) “My Creator, my Lord, my All, Dear Jesus, any time now,
in an instant flash, Thou art going to rapture us Christian
believers out of this sinful world into Thy Glorious
Presence. Please do so right now. Amen!”
Richard Yerby (Matsuida,
Japan) www.Christ-is-all.us