A WORD TO THE CARELESS.
WHEN a man is in danger it is an act of kindness to give him warning and put him on his guard: we all know this.
Now I want you to consider whether your sins are forgiven. You have sins, there can be no doubt: your own conscience tells you so.
These sins must be forgiven before you die, or you cannot be saved; and if your sins are not forgiven, your soul is in an awfully perilous condition. In a word, I come this day as a friend to entreat you to take warning.
Your soul is in awful danger. You may die this year; and if you die as you are, you are lost forever. If you die without pardon, without pardon you will rise again at the last day. There is a sword over your head that hangs by a single hair: there is but a step between you and death. Oh, I wonder that you can sleep quietly in your bed!
You are not yet forgiven! Then what have you got by your religion? You go to church; you have a Bible, you have a prayer-book, and perhaps a hymn-book: you hear sermons; you join in services; it may be you take the sacrament: but what have you really got after all? Any hope? Any peace? Any joy? Any comfort? Nothing: literally nothing! unless it is what is worse than nothing, a false peace, a miserable delusion.
You are not yet forgiven! But you trust God will be merciful. And why should He be merciful, if you will not seek Him in His own appointed way? Merciful He doubtless is,— wonderfully merciful, to all who come to Him in the name of Jesus; but if you choose to despise His directions, and make a road to heaven of your own, you will find to your cost there is no mercy for you.
You are not yet forgiven! But you hope you shall be some day. I cannot away with that expression: it is like thrusting off the hand of conscience, and seizing it by the throat to stop its voice. Why are you more likely to seek forgiveness at a future time? Why should you not seek it now? “Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)) There is great danger in delay. The present only is yours.
You believe there is forgiveness of sins: you believe that Christ died for sinners, and that He offers a pardon for the most ungodly. But what profit is there to you in forgiveness, except you get the benefit of it? What does it profit the shipwrecked sailor that the lifeboat is alongside, if he sticks by the wreck, and does not jump in and escape? What does it avail the sick man that the doctor offers him a medicine, if he only looks at it, and does not swallow it down? Except you lay hold for your own soul, you will be as surely lost as if there was no forgiveness at all!
Reader, if ever your sins are forgiven it must be in this life; it must be now in this world, if they are to be found blotted out when the Lord Jesus comes again. There must be actual business between you and Christ. Your sins must be laid on Him; His righteousness must be imputed to you; His blood must be applied to your conscience, or else your sins will meet you in the Day of Judgment, and sink you into hell, Oh, reader, how can you trifle when such things are at stake! How can you be content to leave it uncertain whether you are forgiven! Surely that a man can make his will, insure his life, give directions about his funeral, and yet leave his soul's affairs in uncertainty, is a wonderful thing indeed.
Well, reader, you may not feel your danger now! You may not see the necessity of seeking forgiveness at once. A time may come when you will alter your mind. The Lord in mercy grant it may not then be too late! Once more I say, Take warning.
J. C. R.