In a town in one of the middle States, two evangelists preached the gospel on a winter evening.
“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 condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.”
The speaker pressed the reality of this divine statement, and urged that if any were really believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, they already had everlasting life. He pointed out that it was a present thing, hath, not will have—, and that all who believe are already passed from death unto life.
These two listeners were both believers on the Lord Jesus, but they had not been clearly instructed in the truth of the gospel, and so did not have the knowledge, or assurance, that salvation was theirs. And what they heard was quite new to them.
As Mr.— was listening to the speaker, he said to himself,
“Well, I believe; I know that I believe. If I should say, I do not, it would be a lie, for I know I do believe; and therefore I must have eternal life, for God’s Word says so; and let God be true, though every man should be a liar.”
A heavy snow had fallen, and this man and his wife had about three quarters of a mile to trudge through the deep snow on an unbroken road. They walked along together in silence, neither one speaking to the other, until they were about half way home, when the husband broke the silence saying,
“M—, did you see that?”
“Why, yes! and I was so afraid you didn’t see it, that I couldn’t speak to you.”
Both husband and wife had received the same blessing through the same word, at the same hour, and their hearts were full, but they were afraid to speak, each fearing the other might not have received the precious truth. But now that all was out, they stopped in the middle of the road, and shook hands, rejoicing together in their new found joy!
Having thus received the assurance that life and salvation were theirs as a present fact, they then thought they must tell everybody. But not all were as ready to believe the good news as they had been, and they soon got themselves into plenty of trouble with professing Christians who knew not the reality of these things in their own souls. But trouble, or no trouble, they went on their way rejoicing, and daily learning new things out of God’s book, which now became their daily food, and the oracle which they constantly consulted.
The husband was a carpenter, and when he would come home to dinner, it was a common thing to find his wife with the Bible in her hand, and saying,
“O, I’ve found something new in this book.”
They had had but little knowledge before of what it contained, and now they were eager to learn more. Sometimes at the dinner hour Mr.— would spend the time talking with his wife of the things they discovered in the Word of God; and when the hour was up, he would just take something in his hand to eat as he went. Often too, the same book would occupy them in the evening till after midnight, so eager were these dear souls to learn from the book that had brought them the knowledge of eternal life.
And now may I ask the reader: Have you eternal life? Have you believed on the name of the Son of God? If you have, listen to the testimony of God’s Word:
Blessed testimony—eternal life the possession of every one that believes on the name of the Son of God! But if you have not believed on that name, you are unsaved; you are spiritually dead, and you are exposed to judgment and the wrath of God.
May our dear readers read, meditate, and prize their Bibles very highly.