The Wordless Book

If in my audience this morning, either among the boys and girls, or among the older people, there should be any individual who cannot read, I hope to be able to teach them in a few moments so they will be able to read this little book which I hold in my hand. This book has four very interesting chapters. The first three chapters contain a history of a Christian upon the earth, and the fourth chapter contains the history of a Christian in heaven.

All the chapters in this book are like this first chapter which I now show you, at least in one respect, that they have not a single character in them, such as we know as A, B, C, or any of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. You will see that these two pages are simply printed plain black. They are a representation of every human heart in its natural condition and as God sees it. In the sight of God a wicked heart is as black as the pages which I now present to you.

The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3: 23.) “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Ps. 14: 3.)

“We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64: 6.) While every individual in this audience this morning desires to get to heaven and to be happy with God forever, yet the Bible tells us, “There shall in no wise enter into heaven anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Rev.

21: 27.) Now, if the natural heart is so wicked in the sight of God that it looks as black as these two pages, and as God tells us that He “cannot look upon sin with any degree of allowance,” the question comes, how can you and I ever get to heaven?

I now turn over from these black pages to others of a very different color. These, as you see, are very bright red, the color of blood. This represents the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who came to be slain for the sins of the whole world. Just the same as the sacrifices were offered up in Jerusalem many hundreds of years ago, so Jesus Christ came to be the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world, and therefore it is that the scripture says, “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (I.

Peter, 1: 18, 19.) The Bible also tells us that “All things are by the law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission.” (Heb. 9: 22.) It was on this account that Jesus Christ was slain; that he might redeem us to God by his blood. (Rev.

5: 9.) You know we sing: “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.” When sin has made our hearts all black before God, and we feel that we cannot come into His presence, it is then that we fly to this fountain, which has been open for sin and uncleanness, and in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ wash all our sins and guilt away.

People oftentimes say that they turn over a new leaf. Now, I will turn over a new leaf and you will see how very different this next chapter looks from from that which we have already read. The first was very black; the second was red to represent the blood of Jesus, and the washing away of the blackness of our sin and guilt. This chapter is white—pure white—to represent the purity of the human heart after it has been washed in the blood of Jesus.

In the Bible we are told that “He (God) hath made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (II. Cor. 5: 21.) I think that you will readily understand how it is, that when our hearts are all blackened by sin, we can yet be saved, and be made fit to enter heaven, where all is purity and holiness and happiness and glory.

I now turn to the fourth and last chapter in this little book, which you have by this time learned to read, as I promised you in the beginning. These two pages are covered with gold, and represent the glory which there is in heaven, laid up for all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. When John, the aged disciple, was permitted to look into heaven, he saw some very wonderful things; and in the very interesting account which he gives us in the book of Revelation, in the twenty-first chapter, he tells us, “The city was of pure gold, like unto clear glass,” and “the street of the city was pure gold,” and it is on that account that the last chapter of this little book represents the glory of heaven in this gold-leaf.

In the book of Colossians, in the 3d chapter and the 4th verse, we are told that “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” When you have finished reading a good book, it is always wise to turn back to the very first page and review the book.

As I turn back again you see that this first chapter is black, the second chapter is red, the third chapter is white, and the fourth chapter is gold, representing sin, redemption, holiness, and glory. I am sure that now every individual in this audience can read this little book. I hope that you all may experience that which is related in these chapters, and that at last you may be happy forever with God in heaven.