A little over twenty years laden with unforgiven sins, I tried hard to close eternity outside, keep it ever in the far distant future, living as one who had nothing to do with it.
For the last seven years of this period, I drank in deeper the pleasures of sin, seeking to satisfy the cravings of my immortal spirit—not without many a sting of conscience, as thoughts of death and judgment would, again and again, steal across my soul.
How often I tried to calm the troubled sea within, to hush the voice which sometimes loudly spake, by promising to God, if He would forgive me the black past, and spare me yet a few more years, I would turn over a new leaf, give up sinning, and try to love Him; but my refuge failed me. It was false; the more I sought to hide in this vessel (in which thousands are sailing), the more fully did I sink in sin, powerless to escape.
Without strength, “without Christ,” “without hope,” and “without God in the world,” described my true condition. What then? Was I sinking? Nay, truly I was sunk! ripe enough for hell, and just bad enough for Christ—the reverse of my dark thoughts about Him—for He came not “to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” “For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
And when I heard that God’s love was worldwide, encircling every sinner, and the measure of that love for such the gift of His only begotten Son—I saw that for Jesus, God’s salvation, I had nothing to pay, the gift was free—so I stopped reasoning, and took God at His Word, thanking Him for His unspeakable gift. My faith became stronger as I searched His Word—assurance becoming unclouded, because God had written it:
Dear reader, whither are you bound? Will you not stop to look eternity in the face? Are you counting the cost, as you sail under false colors, not knowing such a refuge will fail you?
In contrast with the false, God’s refuge “from wrath to come” stands open for you now; by faith enter in, as you hear the voice of the blessed Son of God through His precious Word—