A young man was strolling through the woods and enjoying the beauty of God’s handiwork when he heard a stream nearby, and he walked down to view its course. He crossed over the stream and went toward a partially cleared section nearby. He soon realized that he was standing in the area where a large farmhouse had been ravaged with fire some time ago. He turned toward the rubble where the barn had stood, and then realized that this must have been a wild fire that caught the owners away from home. In a deep rut where steel-tired wagons had run, the man caught a glimpse of something bright. He stooped down, took his pocket knife out and unearthed the object. It was heavy, and mangled to such a degree that the man could only guess that it had been a massive man’s ring.
He had a friend in town who was a jeweler and a gold assayer, and he took the object to him for a professional evaluation. He left it for a week, and when he returned, he was amazed at what he saw. The dirt, soot, and scratches had all been removed, and the misshapen object was now a beautiful man’s ring. The young man realized that it was a ring all along, but its distorted shape and its physical appearance did little to make it appear worthwhile to anyone. This was especially true since the ring was not on someone’s finger, nor on a table or piece of furniture in a house. It was a ring whose shape had been spoiled, and somehow, it was in a deep rut, down in the barn yard. This was not a place where you’d expect to find jewelry. It was ‘out of place.’
How many people can you think of who are out of place and so obscured by sin and bad associations that they leave no clue that they are delinquent children of most high God? On the first occasion of their missing the faithful attendance at worship services, there might have been several who made inquiry about their absence. After that, the concern and alarm at failure to assemble seemed to be a little less troublesome than at first. These people soon forget what the Romans writer said. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). No one is immune to the works of the flesh. “There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Did you ever stop to think that Christ died on the cross of Calvary for every man? “But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). That means, dear friend, that Christ died for the vilest man you ever knew, just like he died for the finest man you ever knew. What is the difference?
Let’s let God’s Word settle the situation for us. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Those who have obeyed the Gospel plan of salvation have a home eternal in the heavens if they remain faithful unto death (Revelation 2:10). Those, however, who have obeyed, but who have returned to walk in paths of darkness, have a place provided for them also. “The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire…” (Matthew 13:41-42).
