“WHO CAN TELL a man what shall be after him under the sun?” was a question asked long ago. Well, it might be interesting to know, but it would be of little use. A question of greater importance is, “What shall happen to him when he is gone?”
A man lay dying; his lawyer was at his side, and his will was made, in which were special instructions as to the disposal of his house. Business settled at last, he was left alone with his family.
“Father,” said his little daughter, “you are leaving this house, where are you going to live?”
A very natural question, but “who can tell?” he had said in health, and now, at the portal of a lost eternity, he could not answer.
I met a young fellow the other day who bad moved about the world a good deal. “Where do you intend to go next?” I asked.
“Oh! I am going to stay here,” he replied.
“What! forever?” I again asked.
He was startled; he had not thought of it, and did not know where he would go when time had ceased to be for him, and his soul had passed into the great forever. “Nobody can tell,” he remarked.
One thing is certain, my reader, that you, along with others, must go. The wisest man of ages gone by wrote: “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit: neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it” (Eccl. 8:88There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. (Ecclesiastes 8:8)). Now, the truth of these words you cannot deny. You are here today, but you may be gone tomorrow. But where? is the great question. One of the nineteenth century philosophers said: “There are three things that every man ought to know―
Where he is.
Where he is going.
What is the best thing to do under the circumstances.”
He could not have put it better, and I should say, the man who does not know these things is lamentably ignorant, though he be possessed of all the learning of the universities.
But again, Where are you going? “To hell,” was the honest answer I got to this question the other day. Yes, solemnly true it is that many are traveling the broad road to the everlasting flames. But what will you answer to this question? Can you tell where you are going? One thing is certain, it is either
“To join the song of the ransomed throng,
Or the wail of dark despair.”
If Christless, then it is the latter; for there is but one Person who can bar hell’s gates against you. That Person is Jesus, and you are a stranger to Him. His blood alone can open heaven’s gates, and give you a clear title to yonder realms of eternal song, but you know nothing of its cleansing virtue.
Now face these awful facts. You are a guilty sinner, afar from God, under condemnation, and going to hell. What think you is the best to do under the circumstances? Not to be occupied with trifles surely. If I were a prisoner condemned to die, and on the eve of the day of execution, I should not trouble my brain as to the state of the markets―I should not be putting my money on the favorite horse. No, with feverish excitement I should await the result of the petition which had been got up in my favor, and the question would be, Shall I get a free pardon tomorrow, or hang at the gibbet? And if you are a condemned sinner, in danger of perishing eternally, surely the best thing to do is to seek to escape from your peril, yes, ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE.
But is there a way of escape? Thank God, there is! In the great love of His heart, He has provided a Saviour-One who was able to accomplish the work of redemption. He says, “Deliver him from going down to the pit, for I have found a ransom” (Job 23:24). That ransom is Jesus. He died on the cross for sinners, and rose triumphant from the grave. He is now crowned with glory at God’s right hand, and faith in that living Saviour saves. Is it your sins that trouble you? “His blood cleanseth from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). Is it the judgment to come that makes you afraid? “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 judgment, but is passed from death unto life” (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)). Would you like to change your “far off” position for a near one? Today you can “be made nigh by the blood of his cross” (Eph. 2:1313But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13).
Delay no longer. Make sure that Christ is yours today.
“The Saviour Christ the Lord
‘Mid guilty sinners came,
Maintained the truth of God,
Bore grief, reproach, and shame:
Unwearied in His love, His grace,
He took the guilty sinner’s place.”
J. T. M.