It is a mark of divine grace upon your own heart that you plead so earnestly for the souls of these teenagers, this boy, this girl, and this man, along with all connected to them. When we rise out of the narrowness of dread about our own condition into the broader region of care for a brother's soul, we are in sympathy with our Divine Savior who made intercession for the transgressors. Yet pause and ask yourself if you have yourself fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before you. Your own salvation must be secured by that one simple act of faith in Jesus Christ. Without it, all your prayers for others, however earnest, lack the foundation of one who has first looked unto Him and been saved.
The way of salvation is set before us with a simplicity that humbles human pride. The Scripture says, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." It is not a commandment to scale some dizzy height of feeling, nor to perform a pilgrimage of penance, but to look, a glance of the soul that takes less than a moment. For all that come to God by Christ there is eternal and certain salvation. There is no other way. Neither will you find it in priests, forms, ceremonies, or good works. If you bring your fine works as a price, you cannot have it, for it is without money and without price. Here is salvation for the blackest of sinners, salvation so full of grace that only God could have conceived it. Let the teenagers know, let all these souls you name know, that whoever believes on Christ shall not be ashamed. Depend upon Him without fear as to your present and eternal salvation. This is the faith which saves the soul.
Your plea for lower prices at the market and the pump touches upon temporal needs, but I urge you to press beyond these things. The one who has looked to Christ for eternal salvation has no real cause to tremble before the cost of bread or fuel. Rejoice rather in a divine salvation, God's own salvation, planned in infinite wisdom, purchased by precious blood, and applied by the Holy Spirit. "I will rejoice in thy salvation," cried the Psalmist, for the only salvation worth being our own is that which is God's. It delivers from the present wrath of God that abides upon the unsaved man every moment of his life, and from that uttermost wrath which descends upon souls when they leave the body unsaved. To die without salvation is to enter into damnation. Therefore, while you intercede for these many souls, neglect not the great salvation for yourself. I can bring the horse to water but I cannot make him drink. You may come and you may plead for others, but you yourself must drink of the water of life freely.
Be provoked to persevere in this work of intercession. You have named whole households, families and those in their lives. It is most natural and proper that your desire for the salvation of others should rest upon those gathered around their tables and hearths. We rejoice to think of entire households enclosed within the lines of electing grace, devoting themselves to the service of the God of love. Therefore, do not cease to cry day and night for these ones. Tell them, as best you can, what their condition is and what the way of salvation is. All men are approachable at some time or in some way. And while you plead, rest yourself entirely upon the intercession of Christ, who has ascended up on high and ever lives to make intercession for His people. The Spirit also helps our infirmities when we know not what to pray for as we ought. Cast yourself and all these souls upon the free mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and you shall find Him faithful who has promised. "Whoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed."