“For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be.”
AT most, dear unsaved reader, the present life is only for a few short years. Has the thought never occurred to you, and WHAT THEN?
Is it not astonishing that so much care and anxiety is given to a brief moment, a flash in the pan—(for such this life is when compared with eternity)and that great measureless, boundless, eternal future receives not the least consideration! Oh how mad is such conduct! Let me urge this matter upon you, dear friend. You must depart this life leaving behind you everything. As you came into it so you must go out of it (1 Tim. 6:77For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. (1 Timothy 6:7)). You must enter upon an existence after departing this life, an existence which is eternal in its duration. What sort of preparation have you made, or are you making, for that eternity into which you may be launched at any moment?
It will not do to say with the infidel, I know nothing about eternity and therefore I cannot make any provision for it. Conscience if permitted to speak will refuse to sanction such an excuse.
It testifies to the truth of the Word of God which declares “As it is appointed unto men once to die but after that the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). What about this judgment? Are you prepared to meet it? Let conscience speak, and will it not tell of ten thousand times ten thousand sins committed, not one of which God in His infinite holiness can allow to go unpunished. Oh, my friend, if you should appear in the judgment of the Great White Throne there must meet you the sentence of Him who shall occupy that throne, Depart, depart, and your doom must be the lake of fire (Rev. 20:1515And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)).
There is only one way of escape from the judgment and wrath to come, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the way and the truth and the life. Read His own precious words and by faith receive them into your heart, “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)). Surely here is “good news” for you, a way of escape. God by the Holy Ghost is announcing through this man, forgiveness of sins and justification from all things from which it was impossible to be justified by the law of Moses (Acts 13:38, 3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)). And this is to be received through faith in Jesus.
On the authority of this precious Word of God we can preach the forgiveness of all these sins for which, unless they are forgiven, you must appear in the judgment to receive sentence upon, and not only forgiveness but entire clearance from everything that is against you. But, dear friend, you can receive this blessing―oh what grace! ―only by faith in Jesus.