A young farmer was walking along the right-of-way of a railroad. It was beginning to get dark. He was carrying in his hand a lantern. Suddenly he stumbled and almost fell. Looking down, he discovered that a great section of the rail had been bowed out.

The man realized that if the train hit the bent rail, there would be a terrible accident. He also knew that at that time of night the express trains came thundering down the track.

At that moment he could hear in the distance the blowing of the train’s whistle. He knew that he had but a few minutes to do something to prevent the tragedy of a terrible train wreck involving precious lives.

He lighted the lantern and started to run down the track. The train kept coming toward him as he continued running toward it. He stumbled, fell and smashed the glass of the lantern.

The train was coming with headlight blazing. He kept on running. About the time he and the train met, he jumped off the track and threw the broken lantern into the face of the engineer.

When the engineer saw the lantern, he knew something was wrong, so he slammed on the brakes and stopped a block away from the bowed-out rail.

As the farmer took upon himself the task of being a flagman to flag down the train heading for destruction, so the Lord Jesus Christ has sent into this world the Holy Spirit, His Divine Flagman, to stop us from continuing on the road to Hell.

As surely as the bowed-out rail would bring destruction to the train and death to many, so there is a Hell of damnation to all traveling on the train of life without the Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s Divine Flagman, the Holy Spirit, has not changed His precious work, nor has He lost His power in His constant pursuing of men to reprove them. We read of this persistency of the Spirit in Proverbs 29:1: "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."

The Lord Jesus said that the Holy Spirit "will reprove the world of sin." Thus did not Jesus Christ Himself speak of the Holy Spirit as the Divine Flagman to warn us that we are sinners in great danger of Hell?

The first reaction of a sinner in regards to the approach of the Spirit is to reject Him. But the Spirit does not give up that easily. The Bible teaches:

"He, that being often reproved…." What a rich truth! Even now He is taking the cross as the Divine Flagman to wave it before you so you will stop, look and listen! To what? The way of salvation as it is revealed in the Word of God. How rich and sweet is salvation in Christ Jesus!

A little boy carrying a pail was walking along the road. Dipping one finger in his pail and then another, he put them to his mouth.

A man walking behind him asked what he had in the pail.

The boy said, "Honey."

"How sweet is the honey?" the man asked.

"Oh, very sweet, sir," the boy replied.

"How sweet?" the man insisted.

And the little boy said, "Very, very sweet, sir."

When the man asked the question a third time, the boy, exasperated, stuck his finger in the pail, put it up to the man’s mouth and said, "Here, taste and see for yourself."

So it is with the Gospel. The Spirit, God’s Divine Flagman, right now is endeavoring to flag you down so you can "taste and see that the Lord is good." The Spirit wants you to find some of this sweetness in the invitation of Jesus Christ:

The Bible teaches that ALL need to come to Jesus for the cleansing of sin. Man by sin is ruined. He is afar off from a holy God. Man is a sinner by nature. He needs to be forgiven and restored by God through Jesus Christ.

If there were no sin, there would be no need of the cross. The cross of Calvary, therefore, is God’s eternal monument down through the ages to witness everywhere. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).

What could be more plain and simple? God’s Word says that ALL have sinned. The remedy is not in things, persons or an organization, BUT IN JESUS CHRIST. He paid the penalty of sin on the cross.

The restoration of man is favor with God, based not upon works, "doing the best I can" or "being sincere in religion" or even in "keeping the Ten Commandments" or "The Golden Rule." It is receiving Jesus Christ as Saviour. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).

It is pure grace and not works! The Divine Flagman points out to us:

If you do not have this assurance of salvation, remember that the Holy Spirit, God’s Divine Flagman, is waving the cross before you to stop, look and listen! Do not ignore Him and go on your way to eternal damnation. The Divine Flagman will use all means possible–men, circumstances, etc.–to lift up Jesus Christ as your Saviour so you can receive Him by faith.

The Divine Flagman is

I was on my way to hold an evangelistic campaign for one of our preacher boys when I discovered that I had lost my voice. Prayer was offered up and various means taken in order to restore the voice, but to no avail.

On arriving at the home of the pastor, I was warmly welcomed. It was when I tried to respond to this Christian welcome that the pastor (who had prepared so faithfully for the meetings), on hearing just a whisper, gave me the impression that it was all over. There goes the campaign, for who will be able to hear a struggling whisper coming forth from the lips of the evangelist?

When the night of the first meeting came, people filled the church. It was with fear and trembling that this preacher entered the pulpit. When I opened my mouth to speak, my voice was there–then and all week! While I was out of the pulpit, my voice left me. But when it was time to preach, my voice was there without fail. Truly, "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 4:6).

When the week of meetings was over, that little church, which had been closed for years, saw the Lord bring seventy-five sinners unto Himself. The Divine Flagman used the preacher as a means of waving the cross before Hell-bound sinners.

One day our telephone rang. On lifting the receiver, I heard the voice of the sister of a young married man who had killed his wife. This lady was speaking for the entire family when she asked me to go to the prison and talk to the brother about salvation. This I agreed to do.

When I arrived at the penitentiary and inquired about the young man, I was told that he had been taken to court where he was being tried before a jury for murder.

On arriving at court, I discovered that the trial was over and the jury was out deliberating on the verdict.

The Lord impressed me to approach the judge and get permission to talk with the prisoner. The judge, on hearing my request, said it was not regularly done, but he gave me three minutes. Three minutes! There could be no waste of time if I expected to bring the Gospel to this young man.

I approached the prisoner and introduced myself. Knowing there was no time for idle talk, I asked him if he were a Christian. I was amazed when he quickly replied, "Yes, I am a Christian." I then asked him how he became a Christian. "I became a Christian after I read a little booklet called Who Then Can Be Saved?" he answered.

The wonderful ways of God’s Divine Flagman! This gospel tract was written by me and is sent wherever requested.

The Divine Flagman took this tract and used it to wave the cross of Calvary before this young man who had been on his way to Hell and who that very day was found by the jury to be guilty. He was given life in the penitentiary. Truly,

It was my joy to lead an unfaithful, drinking and cursing man to Christ. After he had accepted Christ as His Saviour, I asked him, "What made you think of the Lord?" He replied, "I believe it was the death of my son."

It is sometimes through death the Divine Flagman waves the need of the great redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

The Bible teaches, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). Therefore, one is reminded to "prepare to meet thy God" (Amos 4:12). For "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).

It is sometimes best to get a person on his back so he can look up. This happened to one who was bleeding inwardly and had to be placed in the hospital.

When I arrived at the hospital, I found him in a very bad physical condition. A nurse was standing by in case of an emergency. When the opportunity presented itself, I took my New Testament and read the plan of salvation from God’s Word. When I showed him that he was a sinner apart from Christ, he admitted the fact. When he was shown from the Bible that he could not save himself, he acknowledged it to be true. The man was eager to accept Christ as his Saviour by faith. Then, after giving him the assurance of salvation, I prayed and left his presence.

A few months later while visiting in this same hospital, I met the nurse who had attended the sick man. In conversation I asked her, "Are you a Christian?" She told me she had accepted Christ as her Saviour while I was dealing with the sick man mentioned in this story. Every time I asked him a question, she said she too would answer in the affirmative.

Praise God for the faithfulness of God’s Divine Flagman who used the sickness as a means of waving the cross before not only the sick man but also the nurse.

Prayer is a believer’s conversing with God the Father. It is the Christian’s hand on the unlimited power of God. Oh, how many prayers have gone and will go up for you! If you continue on the road to Hell, you will run right over the prayers of loved ones, friends and others whom God has raised up to pray for you. Yes, the prayers for your salvation are used by the Divine Flagman to try to stop you before it is too late.

We had in our church a fine woman who had an unsaved husband. She determined that through prayer and fasting the Lord would save this man.

One morning he came to church and heard the Gospel. That afternoon, under deep conviction, he went out and became drunk. As evening drew near, he decided to go home and tell his wife that he wanted to go to church that evening.

When the message was finished and the invitation given, this man rushed down the aisle.

Praise the Lord, that night the Divine Flagman used the prayers of the wife to wave the cross before her husband! How thankful we were that he heeded and accepted Christ as his Saviour and was saved from the head-on crash into Hell.

The evening service over, I put my hand in my coat pocket and discovered that a letter I had written a few days before was still in my possession. One of the women of the church, who would have to pass the mailbox on her way home, was passing by, so I asked her if she would mail the letter for me. This she gladly consented to do. I then left for an evangelistic campaign.

When I returned a week later, this woman who mailed the letter told me the following story:

When she approached the letter box that evening, a man asked if she would allow him to open the mail slot. She said yes, then placed the letter in the box. After the man had also mailed his letter, she graciously asked him if she could ask him a question. He didn’t object, so she asked him if he were a Christian. He said he wasn’t but would like to be one. He told her he was the driver of the fire engine in the firehouse located near our church.

On Sunday nights he said he would come over during the summer months and listen to Pastor Hettinger through the open windows.

What a joy it was for this believer to lead the fireman to a saving knowledge of salvation in Christ Jesus! God’s Divine Flagman stopped this sinner from Hell through one of God’s own.

One day while working in a scrap iron yard, a young man almost met death by the unexpected dropping of scrap iron near him by the crane man. A quick leap out of the way of the falling scrap iron saved the young man’s life. He later told me this story after he came to Jesus Christ for salvation.

When he realized how close he was to death, he began to think of a reason why he should be allowed to live. He took the first step in finding out the reason for living by accepting Christ as his Saviour. He then was led of the Lord, after yielding his life to Him, into preparation for serv-ice.

After the young man completed his training, the Lord led him as a missionary into the vast field of Africa. As of now, he is still laboring for the Lord in Africa.

Paul the apostle wrote, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (I Cor. 9:22). The Divine Flagman will use all means in order to stop sinners. He will stop you as you travel on the road to destruction.

Oh, how many ways He has taken–such as the preacher, prayers, the Word, circumstances, death, sickness and various other means–to wave the cross before you and others outside of Christ.

Stop, look and listen! Don’t persistently ignore and reject the work of the Divine Flagman. If you do, then you will be guilty of

There is no assurance that the Divine Flagman will endeavor to flag you down after you read this message. You read the opening story of the farmer who took drastic means to stop the train from destruction when he threw the lantern he was waving into the very face of the engineer to get his attention. It worked. Don’t wait for the Divine Flagman to take drastic action to stop you.

Dear reader, you are traveling swiftly toward the inevitable moment when life ends, when eternity begins. When that last crisis moment comes, it may be too late to get right with God, the One whom you have been trifling with all these passing years. When the wild crash comes in the railroad collision because of the bowed-out rail–your rejection of the Divine Flagman’s warnings–it will be TOO LATE.

A young man was persuaded by friends to come to my study and have a talk with me. When he came into the study, I had the impression that he came just to satisfy his friends. I told him of my impression, and he agreed with me.

I dealt with him the best way I knew how from the Word of God, but he refused help from the Lord. As he was leaving the study, I stopped him and was deeply moved to say, "Young man, as you leave the church, I am afraid you are heading for trouble."

He smiled and went his way. He ignored and rejected the waving of the cross by the Divine Flagman for the last time because within a week or so he committed suicide by hanging himself. God gave him up to his own resources, which are so inadequate for this life and the life to come. "…shall suddenly be destroyed." There is no remedy apart from Jesus Christ.

Dear friend, this may be your last opportunity to heed the Divine Flagman and stop, look and listen! The bowed-out rail of unbelief and rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ as your own blessed Saviour will crash you into eternity: "…suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."

A Scotch botanist went to the hills one bright day to study his favorite flowers. Presently he plucked a heather bell and put it upon the glass of his microscope. He stretched himself at length upon the ground and began to scrutinize it through the microscope. Moment after moment passed, and still he lay there gazing, entranced by the beauty of the little flower.

Suddenly a shadow fell upon the ground where he lay. Looking up, he saw a tall, weather-beaten shepherd gazing down with a smile of half-concealed amusement at a man spending his time looking through a glass at so common a thing as a heather bell.

Without a word, the botanist reached up and handed the shepherd the microscope. He placed it to his eye and began to gaze. For him, too, moment after moment sped by while he gazed in silence.

When he handed back the glass, the botanist noticed tears on his bronzed cheeks.

"What’s the matter?" asked the botanist. "Isn’t it beautiful?"

"Beautiful?" said the shepherd. "It is beautiful beyond words. But I am thinking of how many thousands of them I have trodden underfoot!"

The above story was related by James McConkey in his message "If We Neglect." I would like to use his words:

Have you ever thought how many opportunities to accept Christ you have trodden underfoot in your lifetime? God’s opportunity is now. "Now is the accepted time." It only takes one short minute of time to make one of God’s "now’s" of opportunity.

So you have sixty "now’s" every hour of your life. That means a thousand for the waking hours of each day. That means hundreds of thousands for every year of your life and many millions ere your span of earthly existence is ended. Opportunity, with her millions of "now’s," will be against you in that great assize!

Yes, God’s Divine Flagman, the Holy Spirit, has been trying to flag you down these many years at every opportunity. He will be a witness against you throughout eternity if you keep on rejecting Him. The Divine Flagman will stand as a witness against you in the truth.

The Bible teaches, "Let God be true, but every man a liar" (Rom. 3:4). Yes, the Divine Flagman will be true when He says, "Many, many times a day I came to him waving the cross of Calvary to stop him from traveling to destruction. I came to him through the many prayers of loved ones and friends whom God raised up to save his soul.

"I did approach him in the hours of bereavement and heart-aches. Through many various circumstances, I warned him. In the time of illness I came to him in the night watches as he lay in the quietness of his thoughts. I convicted him many times from the pulpit. I spoke to him in the tender yearnings and concern of Christian friends. Yet for all these years has he ignored and rejected My waving of the cross of salvation in Christ Jesus as he traveled the road to destruction."

Dear unsaved friend, there are many souls in Hell who would right NOW exchange this world for one more opportunity, even this opportunity which is yours, to heed the Divine Flagman and to stop, look and listen to what He has to say of salvation in Christ Jesus and then to accept Him as Saviour.

This is your opportunity! It will never return! Take heed! For you may "suddenly be destroyed" and plunged into Hell "without remedy." The place of NO RETURN! No second chance.

It was the great lawyer Charles Finney who wrote:

There is a bottomless pit. A deathless soul is cast therein. It sinks and sinks and sinks, going down that awful pit which knows no bottom, weeping and wailing as it descends. You hear its groans echoed and re-echoed from the sides of that dread cavern of woe. Lost sinners are thrown into the waves of burning fire, and they lash its burning shores and gnaw their tongues for pain. Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And not one drop of water can reach them to cool their tongues, tormented in that flame.

The Divine Flagman, the Holy Spirit, is waving the cross of Calvary and its great redemption in Christ Jesus before you right now. Unbelief will crash you into Hell. Heed the warning of the Divine Flagman and stop in your journey of life. This very moment accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour by faith. Why not now?