Some time ago in a small town where I was holding gospel meetings, a young man became very much concerned about his soul. While staying at his house one night, I was endeavoring to impress upon him his great need of a Savior, and of the importance of believing on Him at once, showing him from the "Word of God" that the present moment was all he could call his own. I referred him to such scriptures as these, "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).
Assuring him too that in a "little while" Christ would come and take His people away, and then the door of mercy would be closed, and the last opportunity of being saved gone for all who would not believe.
I sought to impress upon him, as I would upon you, dear reader, the tremendous risk he was running, in neglecting the salvation of God so freely offered. He was one like many others who had lived in sin, and in the vain hope of finding in this Christless scene something that would satisfy the cravings of the soul. He found, as Solomon tells us, after he had put the world to a most thorough test, that "all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”
Everything here had now lost its charm for him. The saloon, the ball, the theater, had no longer any attraction for him. He longed for pleasures that would endure. He set to work to improve himself, to make himself more fit to come to God, as, alas, many thousands are doing today.
No effort of your own, dear reader, will meet your case as a helpless sinner before God. All you do as an unconverted person is done with a selfish motive, and not for the glory of Christ. In the salvation of sinners, God will have His Son glorified, so the work must be all His own from first to last. How do you expect God to approve of anything you do, or of anything you bring, when self in some shape or form is at the bottom of it all? If this is what you are doing, my dear friend, let me beg of you to take heed in time, for this is one of Satan's most successful ways of deceiving people. Under the cloak of religious works, thousands are being hurried into hopeless ruin.
All this, and more, I endeavored to impress upon my friend until the clock reached the midnight hour, and then bade him goodnight, saying, "You have no time to lose, Robert, Christ Jesus may come tonight, and if He finds you still unprepared, you will be forever beyond the reach of mercy.”
"Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.”
Just then a knock at the door was heard, and I went down and opened it, and a man said, "Will you give a child of God a night's lodging?”
He was assured of a welcome, and we were soon in conversation about the coming of Christ for His people.
Robert slept in the next room, and as the partition between us was not plastered, he could hear every word we said. At last everything was quiet and the thought came to Robert's mind with great force, "The Lord has come, and I am left.”
He arose, and sat upon his bed, and wept. In great distress of mind he started down stairs to see if father and mother were gone, but when he reached the first step, he could go no farther, but sat down in despair saying, "There is no hope for me now, I am lost and lost forever. O! God, is it possible there is no mercy left for me." Who can describe his feelings as he sat upon that stairway long past the midnight hour?
It makes one think of the awful awakening it will be for this poor world, when Christ comes and quietly takes away His people, and closes the door of mercy against every rejector, and every neglector, of His "great salvation." Then their earnest pleading will be, "Lord, Lord, open to us;" only to be met with that soul-agonizing response: "I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded: But ye have set at naught all My council, and would none of My reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh: Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me." Prov. 1:24-2824Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: (Proverbs 1:24‑28).
Dear reader, let me out of love, put the following question and ask you to answer it in the presence of God.
"If Jesus Christ were to come today and raise the dead saints, and change the living saints, and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, have them with Himself, would you be taken with joy, or left behind for judgment?”