THE closing hours of 1911 are quickly passing away, and serious thoughts may well possess our souls, as we review the past and remember that Time’s restless river is rapidly bearing us onward to the ocean of Eternity—but, whither, whither bound? Life’s journey may end for any one of us, or mercy’s door may close, before this present year is numbered with the past. Never were the words of Peter more fitting than now, when unrest, self-will, and disasters of every kind are rampant everywhere, and thrones and dynasties are trembling to their foundations “The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer.” May we ponder these words in our hearts, and remember that the apostle connects them with the solemn announcement that God is “ready to judge both the quick and the dead,” and that every one “shall give account to Him.”
Let me ask you then, dear reader, “How do you personally stand in relation to that solemn time of reckoning? and what account will you have to render of your life’s doings in the presence of Him who is the Searcher of all hearts? If one of those described by Peter in his First Epistle (chap. 4:3), who have “walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries,” let me earnestly beseech you to “consider your ways,” in the searching light of the “great white throne”; and ere this closing year expires, let me lovingly entreat you to seek the Lord while He may be found, and to call upon Him while He is near. If, on the other hand, you are living a seemingly blameless life, let me remind you of the Lord’s own words, “For every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” If we believe the truth of this, is it not “high time to awake out of sleep,” and to “consider our ways”? Both the living and the dead will come into judgment, though not at the same time, and if you stand in your sins before “the Judge of all the earth,” remember that He makes no mistakes, for we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth. Which then are you, as you read these lines—lost, or saved? You must be either one or the other. If still lost, do not forget that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” and Jesus says, “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” Death in no way stops our having to do with God. Judgment follows death, just as surely as night follows day; and from that final judgment there is no higher court of appeal.
Of Jesus, then, as a present Saviour, would I once more speak to you, ere the remaining hours of the dying year pass into oblivion. He is not a Judge yet, but a present Saviour, and “he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.” Scripture declares that “once in the end of the world (or age) hath he (Christ) appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Yes, after four thousand years’ trial, when all of Adam’s race had been “weighed in the balances and found wanting,” these words ring in our ears, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.” How good, then, it is to know and believe that “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for Him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Have you, dear reader, any real, personal interest in that one “offering for sin”? If not, I would re-echo the words of the Baptist, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world,” and earnestly entreat you to at once take shelter beneath His precious blood, “which cleanseth from all sin,” lest, if you still delay, you be numbered with the dead before this year expires. He who came “to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,” has met every righteous claim of a holy God, and, once for all, has Jesus borne and exhausted sin’s judgment for all that believe on Him, on the cross where He died. Now He lives at the right hand of God, as the everlasting proof that the sins of every believer are righteously atoned for and forever blotted out by His shed blood.
But, though mercy still lingers, let us not forget that “the end of all things is at hand,” and the dark clouds of judgment, which will suddenly burst upon a doomed world, may rise at any moment, for “when men shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” God alone knows when that judgment will be executed. Hence, dear reader, the deep importance of your being saved now. “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? “Awake then, O sleeper, and call upon thy God!” for “now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation.” Give yourself no rest until you have answered that solemn question, What shall my end he? Shall it be heaven or hell; Christ or Satan—for all eternity? “Choose you this day whom you will serve.” Halt no longer between two opinions, but “if the Lord be God,” and He is, “follow Him.” “Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Nay rather, come at once to Jesus, just as thou art, and just now, and thou shalt freely be forgiven; and, passing from death unto life, shalt become a child of God and an heir of glory. Be in earnest, lest mercy’s door closes while you are thinking of something else. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
S. T.