Napoleon was leading his army across the snowy Alps into the sunny plains of Italy. Suddenly, loosened by the percussion of many boots on the icy road, a great avalanche of snow came crashing down the mountain side. Caught in its irresistible path, a young drummer boy was swept from his feet and plunged into the icy abyss.
There, hundreds of feet below his advancing comrades and inaccessible to their efforts to rescue him, the poor lad lay partly buried in the snow. Mangled and dying, he yet managed to beat his drum, constantly calling for the help that never came. Again and again at intervals his old comrades heard the roll of his drum grow fainter as they moved forward on the march. They longed to help him, but he was beyond all earthly aid.
You pity his condition! Yet, unsaved reader, your present state is far worse. You are sunk in the abyss of sin, unconcerned, perhaps unconscious of your peril. Hitherto you have not beaten the drum of repentance. You have not called for help. Will you perish thus? God forbid!
Remember, you cannot save yourself. Your own efforts cannot free you from the encompassing burden of your sins. Could your future life be perfect, yet "God requireth that which is past.”
Remember, friends cannot save you. Though their hearts break with sorrow at your plight, no power of theirs can bring you back to safety.
Remember, none but Christ can save. To Him alone must you look for salvation. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12).
Remember, He is willing to save you, and He is ready just now. He says, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37). Just as and where you are, you may come to Him by faith, and you have His own assurance that you are welcome.
Remember, He has done all the work necessary to save you. Atonement has been made. He cried on the cross, "IT IS FINISHED." The empty grave and the risen Savior enthroned in glory prove that glorious truth. God is satisfied. God is just, "and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Rom. 3:2626To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:26).
If you sink from the abyss of your sins into the deeper abyss of hell, there can be no escape. "There is a great gulf fixed." There is no hope without Christ.