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So many times, it is hard to explain what it means to become a Christian are what it means to be "saved". The story below captures what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross for us.
This story is by R. G. Lee as told by Dr. David Jeremiah
The story begins in the mountains of Virginia, in a 1 room schoolhouse, that was so tough, no teacher ever lasted there more than a few weeks. It was a school populated with mean-spirited mountain boys who thought their main objective in life was to run off every new teacher who dared to enter their classroom.
One day, a very young teacher applied for the job. The director of the school actually tried to talk him out of it. He said “Son, You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re gonna take an awful beating because you are so young.” He said, “Son, even the most experienced teachers in the entire state don’t last here longer than 2 months.” “Well,” said that young teacher, “I’m gonna risk it.” And he took the job.
On his first day, he walked into the classroom, and he noticed that the kids were gathered in the back of the room and they were sort of gathered around this one, huge young man, who he found out later was, the guy named Tom. In fact, they called him "big, ol’ Tom". That’s what they called him and he was the bully of the class. They called him, loud enough, so that the new teacher could hear him. Big Ol’ Tom said “I’ll take care of this one. I’ll do it all by myself. I won’t need anyone’s help. He’ll be gone by the end of the day.”
When the young teacher got up in front of the class, he said “I have come to conduct this class. But I must confess, I cannot do it without your help. I think what we need is a few rules and I am going to ask you to help me make the rules for the class. What rules do you think we ought to have?”
This was a new one on this class. This had never haappened before. As the teacher went to the blackboard, one kid hollared out “No Stealing!” and the teacher wrote it on the board. “Nobody can be late!” and he wrote it on the board.
And by the time he had finished, the teacher had 10 rules for the classroom, the 10 commandments of his class. “Raise your hand if you all agree” and the class was kind of laughing as they did.
“Now class”, said the teacher, “there is no such thing as a good rule unless without a penalty if the rule is broken.” “What should be the penalty if a rule is broken?”
And Big Ol’ Tom stood up and he said, “Whoever breaks one of these rules gets 10 licks across his bareback.” The teacher thought that the penalty a bit severe, but he reluctantly agreed.
So they went to school the next day, and as you can well imagine, the morning had not ended before a rule was broken. Big Tom showed up at the teacher’s desk and said “Somebody stole my lunch.” So the teacher held court and said “Class, one of the rules is no stealing and somebody stole Big Tom’s lunch and I want to know who.”
After everyone had been questioned, a little 10 year-old boy stood up and said “I stole his lunch. I was so hungry I couldn’t help it. I stole the lunch.”
“Well”, the teacher said, “you know what the rule is. You know that you get 10 licks across your back without your coat on.”
And the little boy began to beg. “Teacher, please don’t do that. And whatever you do, don’t make me take off my coat?” Finally, the teacher knowing he was on trial at this moment, made the young boy unbutton his coat, and underneath was no shirt, just the suspenders that were holding up his pants. The teacher was thinking, “How in the world am I going to whip this child. How can I do that. But if I don’t, I will have forever lost control of this classroom. What shall I do.” He said to the boy, “How is it that you don’t have a shirt on?” The boy answered, “My dad died and my mom is real, real poor and I only have 1 shirt. And on the day that she washes my shirt, I wear my brothers coat so I don’t get cold. I’ll have my shirt tomorrow, but I don’t have it today.”
So the teacher slowly got the paddle, and as he was hesitating, trying to get the courage to inflict the punishment, Big Tom stood up. Jumped over everybody in his way, walked over to where the teacher was and asked “If you don’t object, I’ll take Jim’s licking for him.”
The teacher made some philisophical statement about their being the right for some substitute punishment, and off came Tom’s coat. After 5 hard strokes, he paused, and the teacher realized that everyone in the classroom was crying, especially Little Jim, who by this time had run to Tom, and had him by the neck, hanging on for all he was worth. He was saying, “Tom, I’m awful sorry I stole your lunch. I was so hungry. I will love you until I die for taking my licking for me, because it would have killed me.”
And it broke the heart of all of those kids and it broke the heart of the teacher because on that day, Tom had become his brother’s Saviour.
And that's exactly what Jesus did for you and me when he died on the cross some 2000 years ago—he took your and my punishment for all our sins so that we could be freely forgiven and given God's gift of eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins and, if so, have you accepted God's full and free pardon? If you would like to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, please pray the following prayer:
Dear Jesus,
I know that I am a sinner (things that are wrong or things that are right but done for the wrong reasons) and I am separated from You. I know that having a personal relationship with You means that I accept that You came from Heaven to Earth as a baby, to die on the cross for my sins, and then arose 3 days later. Please forgive me for my sins that I have committed. Please come in to my heart to be my Lord and Savior. Please help me learn more about You.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
If you have just prayed this prayer, praise God!!!! Welcome to the family. There are angels rejoicing at your new decision. We would love to celebrate with you. Please drop us a line and let us know. If you would like for someone to contact you, please let us know and we will follow-up with you. The next step is to get involved with other Christians to help you in your relationship and to help you grow. We would love to have you at any our Worship Services.
