Many years ago there was an American evangelist named Charles Finney who preached at a revival meeting in Detroit, Michigan. Afterward a man came up to him and asked him to come to his house and to talk with him about his soul. Finney agreed. The pastor knew something about this man, and he advised Finney not to go, but the evangelist had already given his word. The man said he was intrigued because Finney had preached from the verse: “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” So Finney went with the man.
A hopeless life seeking freedom
They walked three blocks, down a side street, into an ally, and through a darkened door into what appeared to be the back of an establishment. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a revolver. He said, “I don’t intend to do you any harm. I just want to ask a few questions. Do you believe what you preached tonight?’
Dr. Finney said, “I most certainly do.”
Brother Finney, you see this revolver? It has killed four people… Is there any hope for a man like me?”
Finney looked at the gun, looked at the man, and said, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.”
The man went on to explain that he owned a saloon in that building and he sold every kind of liquor and everything else to every kind of person, sometimes taking the last coin from a man’s pockets knowing their families were going hungry and their children were suffering. He said, “Brother Finney, is there any hope for a man like me?”
Finney said, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.”
The man continued, “Another question, Brother Finney. In back of this other partition is a gambling joint and it is as crooked as sin and 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…. Is there any hope for a man like me?”
Finney said, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.”
Then the man went on to tell how he had cheated on his wife and broken the heart of his family. Not only that, he had been abusive to his wife and had beaten her. He had been abusive to his daughter. He had even pushed his little girl in anger and knocked her into a red-hot stove, causing terrible burns. He hung his head and said, “Brother Finney, is there any hope for a man like me?”
Finney took the man by the shoulders and said, “Oh, son, what a black story you have to tell! But God says, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.’
The joy of true freedom
Charles Finney left, and that night the man took the swivel chair from his desk, went into the bar and smashed all the barrels and bottles of liquor, went into his gambling den and smashed all the implements of chance, and he went home and humbly begged his wife and daughter with many tears and much sorrow to forgive him. The next night, all three came to Finney’s meeting, listened to the Gospel, and walked down the aisle of the church, giving themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. He discovered for himself the power of the one who said, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
