WHILE there are many, in our day, who utterly disregard God’s Word, on the other hand, those abound who profess to esteem it as such, but walk in ignorance of many of the truths unmistakably set forth. As there are also numbers who have the form of godliness, but who by conversation and life deny the power thereof, it behooves all to ask themselves the question which so concerns their future welfare, i.e.,
What is my hope for eternity
based upon? It is the imperative duty of all to seriously consider the things which are beyond this life — eternal things. And as God states there are such places as heaven and hell, and such experiences as happiness and misery after death, it becomes us to face matters at once, painful though they may be, and be quite clear as to this all-important matter.
Do not, as numbers are doing, trifle with the affairs of your soul, or play fast and loose with eternal realities; for they should be treated with the utmost solemnity, as their serious nature and tremendous issues demand. Neither banish the thoughts from your mind, for there are many all around us dying with unsaved souls because they will not think. Somebody once remarked, as he gazed upon a number of the aristocracy of earth, “It goes to my heart to consider there is not one in that brilliant circle who is not afraid to go home and think.”
Man’s authority is often faulty, but the Word of the living God speaks with no uncertainty both of death and judgment, and of salvation and peace. There are many who professedly seek to be guided by its statements, who, owing to their neglect of it, do not clearly understand God’s way of blessing; consequently they are building their hopes for eternity on a wrong and unsafe foundation.
Satan, the great arch-enemy of God and man, in his subtlety opposes God’s truth in quite a variety of ways, and invents
devices to deceive all classes,
that they may remain at enmity with a loving God who desires their blessing. To the profligate he whispered, “You are too deeply dyed in sin”; while to those who observe the outward forms of religion, who are morally upright, and, viewed from a human standpoint, are vastly superior, he suggests, “Anxiety about your soul’s salvation is quite unnecessary; do the best you can; then Christ will make up the deficiency, for God is so merciful that you will ultimately reach heaven.” Beware! this is an invention of Satan to delude you. He plans your eternal loss. His doom is fixed in the lake of fire, and he would deceive and allure you that you may be his eternal associate. Far better never to have been born, than to die in the meshes of Satan, a Christ-less, unregenerate soul.
Many fancy that, in virtue of their superiority over others, they will be all right for eternity; all such are sadly mistaken, for the judgment of
sinful man is not the criterion,
but the holiness of God. It is now no longer a matter of God trying man to prove what he is — that He has already done in every conceivable way. Weighing him in the balance of divine righteousness, He has found him sadly wanting. Measuring him by His accurate standard, He has found him to come short. Judging him by His perfect law, He has found him verily guilty. And when as a last test He sent His only-begotten Son, and man filled up the measure of his iniquity by rejecting and finally murdering Him, his time of probation thus ended, and God announced His verdict, which we do well to heed, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” This statement allows no exceptions, for all are branded by God as sinners, and described as His enemies. Quantity, or degree of sin, is not the question now at issue, for the committal of one sin
brands man as a sinner.
Neither is respectability, morality, or so-called good works, meritorious to bring the sinner back to God, for they are but as filthy rags in His sight. The words of the Lord Jesus, “They have their reward,” truly apply to these things. For his sobriety a man will be esteemed, for his honesty will gain, and for his morality will be honored; for these and other commendable things he is rewarded in this life, but they will neither give him favor in God’s sight nor wash his past sins away; and if his hopes for future glory depend upon them, he will find, when too late, that he has been deceived, and that he has been building upon a foundation of sand, which will sink beneath him, and
great will be his fall.
There are many who have a name to live, but who are dead as regards vital Christianity. They are treading the way which seemeth right in their own eyes, but it is the broad way, and they are passing onward, quickly and with
awful certainty,
to the dark and dreary goal — death; for their many sins are unforgiven. True, they are not drunken and debauched, as many are; granted, they would scorn to sink to the depth of depravity, as many whom they observe all around. But what are they doing? They are, alas for them! committing the soul-destroying sin of rejecting the Son of God. They are treading the same broad way which leadeth to destruction, although it may be on the cleanest side, on the respectable side, or, solemn fact! even on the religious side. Oh! you that apparently are self-satisfied and self-righteous, be not any longer deceived either by your own heart or the lies of Satan; do not continue to walk with haughty look, proud step, and
hardened heart
in the broad way, or, when too late, you may know your poverty, regret your blindness, and feel your lost, ruined condition.
How solemn is your position! for you are by your assumed superiority excluding yourself from God’s mercy, and closing against yourself the only door of hope. For while there are none too bad to participate in God’s great salvation, yet there are hundreds who are, in their own estimation,
too good for Christ,
and consequently will be lost forever. “Ye must be born again,” was the solemn truth brought to the notice of Nicodemus, the Jewish ruler, by the great Teacher; and nothing short of this definite work of grace in the heart will do for God. Apart from the new birth, the sinner cannot even see, much less enter, the kingdom of God. God loves sinners. Christ Jesus came to seek and save the lost. The Spirit of God strives with but one class, the ungodly; and only sinners born again, saved by divine grace, will people the courts of glory.
May the search-light of God’s Holy Spirit illumine the reader’s heart, discovering to him his sinfulness! for apart from the guilty one knowing his need, he will not seek the gracious Saviour, and therefore cannot be saved, for his
only qualification for God’s mercy
is his deep need, for God delights to bestow His gracious pardon to those alone who know that they are guilty, needy, and lost. Note what the Scriptures of truth state as to this momentous subject.
These statements stand before you as beacons of warning, that you may know yourself, and knowing your sinfulness,
flee to Christ,
who is God’s remedy for sin-ruined mankind, for pardon, refuge, and peace. For how can you be unconcerned with these solemn truths before you? Awake to your peril! Judgment is imminent. The floods of divine wrath will shortly overflow this guilty world; the blast of the tempest of His long-withheld fury will soon be manifest; He will make His righteous ire to be felt by those who obey not the truth.
As you value your precious soul, do not any longer rest your hopes for eternity ‘on yourself, on your attainments, or even on your so-called good works, but upon the only sure foundation, the work of the Son of God, for on that ground alone does God prepare the guilty for heavenly glory.
Eternal life is a free gift, conferred by the One who not only loves, but is love. Although it is so freely given, the cost was immense, for all God’s holy claims had to be met, His
righteousness had to be vindicated,
which could only be accomplished by One, and that One not a sinful man born at enmity with God, but One who was holy and spotless — the only-begotten Son of God, who came to die, who gave His life a ransom for many, that God should be satisfied, the sinner’s need met, and the immense distance between God and man bridged over. Never was there love like His, so fully proved on Calvary’s hill, where the Saviour wrought a full salvation. He was brought into the dust of death, that sinners might not experience the untold
horrors of the second death.
Sorrow and reproach were His, that sinners might not sorrow through the eternal ages. He was enshrouded in darkness, that sinners might not know, to their shame, the outer darkness of the lost world. He suffered at the hands of man from the malice of demons, but above all from the hands of a righteous God, that poor sinners might not suffer the penalty of their sins. All the billows of God’s wrath passed over His guiltless soul, that sinners saved by sovereign grace might never feel the righteous ire of Almighty God. The
sword of divine justice
awoke and smote the Man, Christ Jesus, when He, the sinless One, was made sin that sinners who believe might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And in that hour of deepest woe, when God laid upon Him the iniquity of us all, He was forsaken by His God, that sinners might not know eternal separation from God and heaven. He was once exceeding sorrowful, but as a consequence of that awful sorrow, He will receive His own with exceeding joy. Oh! the love! He was rich in glory: yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. What infinite grace! that God, whom we had so sinned against, should not only
devise salvation’s plan,
give His only-begotten Son, offer the greatest blessing conceivable; but such is the fullness of His heart of love, that He beseeches you to be reconciled to Himself, thus manifesting that He thinks more of your eternal welfare than you do yourself. Oh! the wondrous love of God! Oh! the depths of the love of Christ! And is it nothing to you? Has it no charm for you? Does it not move your inmost soul? Can you, in face of the fact of the death of Christ, say that you needed it not? If so, you have
no part or lot in the matter.
May the Spirit of the living God open your eyes to see your need, and shake the false foundation under you, causing you to own as one of old, “Behold, I am vile,” and knowing your desperate condition, plead before God, not your own works, but the perfect finished work of Christ — bring to Him, not your own name, but the worthy name of the Saviour, for only those who have been to God in His name can say, “He bore my sins in His own body on the tree.”
In conclusion, we would remind you that you are in the same condemnation yourself as those whom you consider so very sinful. They are dead in trespasses and sins; so are you. They are the enemies of God; so are you. They have no hope beyond this life; you have
a hope centered in yourself,
therefore false. They are deceived by the pleasures of sin; you are deceived by supposing that your superiority over others will secure you an entrance into glory. They are without Christ; so are you. They disobey the gospel of God; so do you. They spurn the work of Christ on their behalf; you reject it by thinking you need it not. Hitherto, both the most notorious sinner and yourself, have treated the Son of God the same. Neither trust for eternity in Him, or care aught for
His words of solemn warning.
Neither know Him as their Saviour, whom to know is life eternal. Each is described by Christ Jesus, who said, “Ye will not come unto Me, that ye might have life.” One sweeping statement of His is the condemnation of all, whether profligate or self-righteous; for the One who spake as never man spake, uttered the remarkable words, “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” They prefer their natural darkness to the true light; and although Christ died to save them from the consequences of their sins, yet they esteem Him not; and although God declares both the way of salvation and His willingness to save, yet they with hard, rebellious heart heed not His gracious words of love. O dear reader, we would beseech you to
sue for mercy,
disclaim all hope or merit in yourself, take your true place before God as a needy sinner, trust to the finished work of Christ, for it is life first, then service.
“Till to Jesu’s work you cling,
By a simple faith,
Doing is a deadly thing,
Doing ends in death.
Cast your deadly doing down,
Down at Jesu’s feet;
Stand in Him, in Him alone,
Gloriously complete.”