Stolen Copper Nails<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long\u201d (Psa. 32:3).<\/p>\n
There is nothing that so takes the joy out of life like unconfessed sin on the conscience.<\/p>\n
I once heard the late Dr. F. E. Marsh tell that on one occasion he was preaching on this question and urging upon his hearers the importance of confession of sin and wherever possible of restitution for wrong done to others.<\/p>\n
At the close a young man, a member of the church, came up to him with a troubled countenance. \u201cPastor,\u201d he explained, \u201cyou have put me in a sad fix. I have wronged another and I am ashamed to confess it or to try to put it right. You see, I am a boat builder and the man I work for is an infidel. I have talked to him often about his need of Christ and urged him to come and hear you preach, but he scoffs and ridicules it all. Now, I have been guilty of something that, if I should acknowledge it to him, will ruin my testimony forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then went on to say that sometime ago he started to build a boat for himself in his own yard. In this work copper nails are used because they do not rust in the water. These nails are quite expensive and the young man had been carrying home quantities of them to use on the job. He knew it was stealing, but he tried to salve his conscience be telling himself that the master had so many he would never miss them and besides he was not being paid all that he thought he deserved. But this sermon had brought him to face the fact that he was just a common thief, for whose dishonest actions there was no excuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut,\u201d said he, \u201cI cannot go to my boss and tell him what I have done or offer to pay for those I have used and return the rest. If I do he will think I am just a hypocrite. And yet those copper mails are digging into my conscience and I know I shall never have peace until I put this matter right.\u201d<\/p>\n
For weeks the struggle went on. Then one night he came to Dr. Marsh and exclaimed, \u201cPastor, I\u2019ve settled for the copper nails and my conscience is relieved at last.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened when you confessed to your employer what you had done?\u201d asked the pastor.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh,\u201d he answered, \u201che looked queerly at me, then exclaimed, \u2018George, I always did think you were just a hypocrite, but now I begin to feel there\u2019s something in this Christianity after all. Any religion that would make a dishonest workman come back and confess that he had been stealing copper nails and offer to settle for them, must be worth having.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Marsh asked if he might use the story, and was granted permission.<\/p>\n
Sometime afterwards, he told it in another city. The next day a lady came up and said, \u201cDoctor, I have had \u2018copper nails\u2019 on my conscience too.\u201d \u201cWhy, surely, you are not a boat builder!\u201d \u201cNo, but I am a book-lover and I have stolen a number of books from a friend of mine who gets far more that I could ever afford. I decided last night I must get rid of the \u2018copper nails,\u2019 so I took them all back to her today and confessed my sin. I can\u2019t tell you how relieved I am. She forgave me, and God has forgiven me. I am so thankful the \u2018copper mails\u2019 are not digging into my conscience any more.\u201d<\/p>\n
I have told this story many times and almost invariably people have come to me afterwards telling of \u201ccopper nails\u201d in one form or another that they had to get rid of. On one occasion, I told it at a High School chapel service. The next day the principal saw me and said, \u201cAs a result of that \u2018copper nails\u2019 story, ever so many stolen fountain pens and other things have been returned to their rightful owners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reformation and restitution do not save. But where one is truly repentant and has come to God in sincere confession, he will want to the best of his ability to put things right with others.<\/p>\n
Illustrations of Bible Truth by H. A. Ironside, 1945, Moody Press, pp. 104-10<\/p>\n
Make it Right<\/b><\/p>\n
A lady in the north of England said that every time she got down before God to pray, five bottles of wine came up before her mind. She had taken them wrongfully one time when she was a housekeeper, and had not been able to pray since. She was advised to make restitution. \u201cBut the person is dead,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre not some of the heirs living?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, a son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen go to that son and pay him back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d she said, \u201cI want to see the face of God, but I could not think of doing a thing like that. My reputation is at stake.\u201d She went away, and came back the next day to ask if it would not do just as well to put that money in the treasury of the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d she was told, \u201cGod doesn\u2019t want any stolen money. The only thing is to make restitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
She carried that burden for several days, but finally went into the country, saw that son, made a full confession and offered him a five-pound note. He said he didn\u2019t want the money, but she finally persuaded him to take it, and came back with a joy and peace that made her face radiant. She became a magnificent worker for souls, and led many into the light.<\/p>\n
My dear friends, get these stumbling stones out of the way. God does not want a man to shout \u201cHallelujah\u201d who doesn\u2019t pay his debts. Many of our prayer meetings are killed by men trying to pray who cannot pray because their lives are not right. Sin builds up a great wall between us and God. A man may stand high in the community and may be a member of some church \u201cin good standing,\u201d but the question is, how does he stand in the sight of God? If there is anything wrong in your life, make it right.<\/p>\n
Moody\u2019s Anecdotes, pp. 49-50<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stolen Copper Nails \u201cWhen I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long\u201d (Psa. 32:3). There is nothing that so takes the joy out of life like unconfessed sin on the conscience. I once heard the late Dr. F. E. Marsh tell that on one occasion he was preaching on … Continue reading “Restitution”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}