"Is There Any Hope For A Man Like Me?"

By Hyman Appleman

...The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.1 John 1:7

It was Charles G. Finney who told this story.  He was holding revival in Detroit.  One night as he started to walk into the church, a man came up to him and asked, "Are you Dr. Finney?" 
      "Yes."
      "I wonder if you will do me a favor. When you get through tonight, will you come home with me and talk to me about my soul?"
      "Gladly. You wait for me."
      Finney walked inside, and some of the men stopped him. "What did the man want, Brother Finney?" 
      "He wanted me to go home with him." 
      "Don't do it." 
      "I am sorry, but I promised, and I must go with him." 
      When the service was over, Finney started out the door.  The man was waiting, took his arm and said, "Come with me."  They walked three or four blocks, turned into a side street, walked down an alley, and at the second house the man stopped.  "Stay here a minute, Brother Finney."  He reached into his pocket, pulled out a key, unlocked the door, turned to the preacher and said, "Come in." 
      Finney walked into the room.  There was carpet on the floor, a mantelpiece, a desk, a swivel chair, two armchairs and nothing else.  There was kind of a thin board partition all round the room except where the fireplace was.
      Finney turned around.  The man had locked the door, had reached into his back pocket, had pulled out a revolver and was holding it in his hand.  "I don't intend to do you any harm," he said.  "I just want to ask you some questions.  Did you mean what you said in your sermon last night, that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin?" 
      "Yes, God says so."  
      "Brother Finney, you see this revolver?  It has killed four people.  It is mine.  Two of them were killed by me, two by my bartender in a brawl in my saloon.  Is there hope for a man like me?" 
      Finney answered, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." 
      "Brother Finney, another question.  In back of this partition is a saloon.  I own it and everything in it.  We sell every kind of liquor to anybody who comes along.  Many times I have taken the last penny out of a man's pocket, letting his wife and children go hungry.  Many times women have brought their babies here and pleaded with me not to sell any more booze to their husbands, but I have driven them out and kept right on with the whiskey selling.  Is there hope for a man like me?" 
      Finney said, "God says, 'The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 
      "Another question, Brother Finney.  In back of this other partition is a gambling joint, and it is as crooked as Satan.  There isn't a decent wheel in the whole place.  It is all loaded and crooked.  A man leaves the saloon with some money left in his pocket, and we take his money away from him in there.  Men have gone out of that gambling place to commit suicide when their money and perhaps entrusted funds were all gone.  Is there any hope for a man like me?" 
      "God says, 'The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.'"
      "One more question, and I will let you go.  When you walk out of this alley, you turn to the right toward the street, look across the street, and there you will see a two-story brown stone house--my home.  I own it.  My wife is there and my eleven-year-old child, Margaret.  Thirteen years ago I went to New York on business. I met a beautiful girl.  I lied to her.  I told her was a stockbroker, and she married me.  I brought her here; and when she found out my business it broke her heart.  I have made life a hell on earth for her.  I have come home drunk, beaten her, abused her, locked her out, made her life more miserable than that of any brute beast.  About a month ago I went home one night drunk.  My wife got in the way somehow, and I started beating her.  My daughter threw herself between us.  I slapped that girl across the face, knocking her against a red-hot stove.  Her arm is burned from shoulder to wrist.  Brother Finney, is there hope for a man like me?" 
      Finney got hold of that man's shoulders, shook him and said: "O son, what a black story you have to tell!  But God says, 'The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.'"  
      The man said, "Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Pray for me.  I am coming to church tomorrow night." 
      Finney went home and about his business.  The next morning, about seven o'clock, the saloon man started across the street out of his office.  His necktie was awry, his face dusty, sweaty and tear-stained.  He was rocking as though he were drunk.
      But let us go back to that room.  He had taken that swivel chair and smashed the mirror, the fireplace, the desk and the other chairs.  He had smashed the partition on each side.  Every bottle, barrel, bar and mirror in that saloon was shattered and broken.  The sawdust was swimming ankle-deep in a terrible mixture of beer, gin, whiskey and wine.  In the gambling establishment, the tables were smashed, the dice and cards were in the fire-place, smoldering.
      He staggered across the street, walked up the stairs of his home, and sat down heavily in the chair in his room.  His wife called to the little girl, "Maggie, run upstairs and tell Daddy breakfast is ready."  The girl walked slowly up the stairs.  Half afraid, she stood in the door and said, "Daddy, Mamma said breakfast was ready; to come down." 
      "Maggie, darling, Daddy doesn't want any breakfast."  
      That little girl didn't walk; she flew down the stairs.  "Mamma, Daddy said, 'Maggie, darling,' and he didn't-" 
      "Maggie, you didn't understand.  You go back upstairs and tell Daddy to come down."  Maggie went back upstairs with her mother following.  The man looked up as he heard the child's step, spread his knees out and said, "Maggie, come here." 
      Shyly frightened, and trembling, she walked up to him.  He lifted her, put her on his knee, pressed his face against her breast and wept.
      The wife, standing in the door, didn't know what had happened.  After awhile he noticed her and said, "Wife, come here." 
      He sat her down on his other knee, threw his big man's arms around those two whom he loved but whom he had so fearfully abused, lowered his face between them and sobbed until the room almost shook with the impact of his emotion.
      After some minutes, he controlled himself, looked up into the faces of his wife and child and said: "Wife, daughter, you needn't be afraid of me anymore.  God has brought you a new man, a new daddy, home today."
      That same night that man, his wife and child walked down the aisle of the church, gave their hearts to Christ and joined the church.
      Thank God, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."  Just come, and accept that cleansing blood from the hands of God.  Will you do it?  Why should you wait?  Why should you tarry?  Why should you stain your soul, waste your life, break the heart of God and Christ, break your own heart and break the hearts of your loved ones, when you can come and be certain, for time and for eternity that your sins are cleansed and washed away in the blood of Christ?
      Beloved, God will apply the blood of His Son to your soul.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.... Acts 3:19

...Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:21

Repentance is a change of mind resulting in a change of attitude and action.  The man in this story repented of his sins and put his faith in Jesus.  So must you!  A heartfelt prayer such as, "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13) can settle your relationship with God for all eternity.