My story today, boys and girls, is about a brave boy named Ben. Ben and Chris were in the same class in school. In class one day, Chris set off a firecracker. Of course the teacher had forbidden anyone to bring firecrackers into the school, and immediately demanded to know which one of the two boys had done it. Chris said, "It wasn't me! I didn't do it!" But Ben would not say that he didn't do it, and he would not say that he did. So the teacher, supposing that Ben was the guilty one, gave him a real hard spanking! When the boys were together again, Chris said, "Why didn't you say you didn't do it?" Ben said, "Because there were only two of us, one of us would be telling a lie - because you had said you didn't do it. If I said I didn't do it, that would be making you the liar. I couldn't say that I had done it, because that would make ME a liar. My only choice was to say nothing". Chris thought that was really something. It broke Chris's heart to think that his friend Ben would protect him by not saying the truth, and by not telling a lie. So the next day, Chris, the guilty one, marched up to the teacher's desk and said, "Please Ma'am, I can't bear to be a liar. I was the one who set off the firecracker", then he burst into tears. The teacher looked at the young fellow and thought of the awful punishment that she'd given to Ben. So she took Chris and they went to Ben and asked Ben to forgive them for what they had both done. Ben didn't mind, really. He said, "Hurray for the teacher!" and thanked the teacher and Chris. Chris and the teacher and the rest of the class honored Ben because of his truthfulness and his wanting to protect Chris. We have a real story here, boys and girls about the Lord Jesus. He came into the world and He hadn't done anything wrong, like Ben. Yet He bent over us to protect us from our sins and the judgment of a Holy God. He didn't lie to do it, but He rightly took our place and took our punishment for us, that we might be saved. Put your trust in Him today, and be SAVED!