Mr. dear reader, what a mercy you are not in hell! God be thanked you are not in eternal misery. Do think of this. The sparing mercy of God alone has kept you from outer darkness; and if you are not in Christ, you never can come into God’s blessed presence. You may be as religious as you like, as devoted as you desire in acts of kindness; you may say over your accustomed forms of prayer many times a day, still the one vital question is, Are you in Christ? If you have received Christ as your Saviour, you are in Christ. If you are in Christ, you are safe, you belong to the Church of God, you are a joint-heir with Christ, and will share with Him the coming glory. But oh! if you still reject Christ; if you continue to refuse the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, the time of terrible judgment will assuredly find you out. He will bring you to His feet. He will then so thoroughly convict you that you will not be able to answer Him a word. You will be speechless before Him. He must and will condemn you to outer darkness with the devil and His angels forever.
Do consider, dear reader, what crimson, scarlet sins and guilt you carry about with you. Come, then, to the Lord Jesus, just as you are, that you may know Him and rejoice in Him as your Saviour; for “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” You may not neglect your honest duties; you may not neglect to say prayers; you may not neglect to go to church or chapel; you may not neglect to read the Bible; but, dear reader, do you not neglect salvation? do you not neglect Christ and refuse Him as your Saviour? What can be worse? Do you not know, therefore, that you are in the road to eternal perdition? Oh that you may now acknowledge the rich mercy of God in giving His only begotten Son to die for poor ruined sinners like you and me, that whosoever―observe, “whosoever,”―whether rich or poor, profligate or moral; “whosoever,”―gray-headed or youthful, learned or ignorant; “whosoever” you are or whatever be your history, condition, or character, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, He declares that you “shall not perish, but have everlasting life!”
Poor dear, dying sinner, these are the loving words of that blessed Lord Jesus who is now in glory looking down upon you. And He will be true to His word―that “whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish.” There is nothing for you to do; He has done everything to save sinners. Yes,
“Jesus did it, did it all,
Long, long ago,”
that “WHOSOEVER believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.” Do not, then, hesitate; do not be afraid of this sinner-loving Jesus, the Lamb of God, who delighteth in mercy.
Dear reader, once more I entreat you to think solemnly of these things. Do you ask, “What must I do to be saved?” I say again that there is nothing for you to do―it has all been done―but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Then take Him at His word, and rest on His finished work. You may trust Him. He is faithful: He will be as good as His word. It was for sinners, guilty, unclean, undone sinners, that He shed His blood, and His blood cleanseth from all sin.