MY dear reader, in the consciousness that you must meet God, and perhaps sooner than you or I think, allow me to ask you a solemn, plain, pointed question. Are you saved? Suppose you had to meet God this moment, while you are reading this, would you meet Him as a saint, or as a sinner? Washed in the blood of Christ, or still in your sins?
Now face this question, put it straight to your heart, and have it settled with God now, lest you the unsaved; and should you do so “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10:3131It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31).)
“Oh, that you were wise, that you understood this, that you would consider your latter end,” for as surely as you are alive, and reading this paper, if you die without being saved, mark—I do not say reformed, but saved—many men reform themselves, and turn over their new leaves as they call it; but it is not reformation God wants, not new leaves, but a new book, for “Ye must be born again,” (John 3:77Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7))—I repeat, if you die without being saved, so surely will you spend eternity in the lake of fire.
Oh, my friend, do take this plain and pointed warning given in love to your soul. If without Christ, no matter what else you may be, moral or immoral, religious or profane, you are on the wrong road, the road that leads to hell, with your back towards God, and your face towards the pit, each breath hurrying you on to it; a little while longer, and all will be over forever.
Oh! sinner, sinner, stop and think. What about the end when it does come? What will you do with the broken law? What will you say to an offended God? How will you meet the One who died to save you? These are solemn questions. I know you do not mean to be in hell, neither did any who are now in it, reaping the bitter fruit of their sins, but they are there. Some one has said “Procrastination is the thief of time;” but ah, procrastination is the thief of souls. Take care you do not lose your soul through it. You are putting repentance off, like Felix, to some convenient season which may never come. You are putting it off, and may meet God sooner than you were bargaining for.
You will not be awakened now. You do not and will not feel your need of a Saviour now, until you find yourself in hell in torments, like the rich man in Luke 16, and then you will feel you need a Saviour, but it is too late. Oh, could you but hear the bitter wail of the lost soul, its hopeless despairing cry,— “‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am NOT SAVED,’ I have let the golden opportunities given me all slip past, and now here I am, DAMNED. Fool that I was, to waste my life over earth’s trifles, and let heaven’s realities slip through my fingers. Oh, that I had one more chance; but no, I am lost, lost, ETERNALLY LOST.”
“Ah,” said one to me one day when pressing upon him the consequences of dying in his sins, “you never saw anyone that has come back to tell us there was such a place.”
“No,” said I, “I’ll give the devil more credit than that, for I am sure he is not going to hunt a man like a bloodhound for twenty, forty, sixty, or more years to get his soul to hell, and then when he has succeeded, let him out again.” Never. And what is more, God has to say to the matter, and if a man will not have CHRIST and GLORY, then he chooses the devil and hell. And God has fixed a great gulf, so that there is no passing from one place to the other. Hell is an awful reality—an eternal fixture; and there it stands, in spite of all man’s unbelief. Oh! the love of God thus to come after you to save you from such a doom, and to make such a way of escape for you. How gracious to speak to you so often, and in such various ways to bring you to Himself. Oh, how He loves; truly “God is love,” not willing that any should perish.
Do you want an expression of His love? He gave His Son to die for sinners. That is your name— “Sinner.” When there was nothing about you but your sins, He gave Jesus to die for you. “God commendeth his love towards us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8).) And just listen to what He says in 1 John 4:1010Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)— “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Oh! what love, the offended One coming after the offender with forgiveness, and pleading with such to be reconciled—saved. Will you spurn such love as that? Yea, can you turn your back upon such a God as that?
Could you have a greater proof of His love to you than He has given? Oh, fall upon your knees at once, and own yourself LOST, and trust that heart of love that has so expressed itself to you. And if you refuse it, what do you deserve? What you will assuredly get:
The lake of fire.
Once more, I beseech you for your precious soul’s sake, think of the end of this your Christ-less course. The end will come. And then what a scene, should you have a deathbed. The breathing becomes difficult; the cold sweat stands on your brow; the last struggle comes. A mighty effort as if to keep off some unseen enemy; the hands drop; the eye is fixed, and the weeping, heartbroken friends have witnessed the awful death of a CHRIST REJECTER. Then comes the Christ-less shroud; the Christ-less funeral. As they follow your body to the grave, they sorrow as those who have NO HOPE: then brokenhearted they return, leaving your poor body till the judgment day, when body and soul shall be reunited to appear before the great white throne, be judged for your works, and pass away forever into the lake of fire. Do you say, I am unkind, and harsh in speaking thus? Do not think so. It is because I do not want you eternally lost that I thus speak so plainly, in hope that the Spirit of God may awaken you, e’er it be too late.
But perhaps you are a seeker after this salvation, longing to know your sins forgiven, willing to listen to everything anyone can tell you, if only they can enable you to say I am saved. The gospel in one sense, is not new to you; you have heard it often, know all about it, but cannot say you are saved. When asked, How is it you are not saved? You say, “Well, I really cannot tell you, but there’s a something I cannot seem to get past.”
Do you not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?
“I do, indeed, but I cannot feel I am saved. I do not feel I have undergone this great change; this new birth.”
Ah! yes, I see, that is the secret. You want to FEEL saved. Now God never says feel saved. Just look now how Jesus puts it in John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24), “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death into life.”
The first thing is HEARETH Have you heard the word?
“Yes, I have.”
“And BELIEVETH on Him than sent me.”
Now do you believe the Father sent His Son for you?
“Yes, I do really.”
Well, you see there is no feeling there. It is heareth, believeth, and what next?
Hath, not hopes to have, but “HATH everlasting life.”
The person that has heard, and believed, has life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life.
You see the work is all finished. Jesus has done it all, long ago. Now it is not your works, but your faith. Just be simple, and trust Christ. The moment you believe in Him, blessing is yours.
W. E.