EMPIRES have been lost through lack of instant decision. It is narrated of Napoleon that indecision ruined him at the last. Defeated and broken at Waterloo, promptitude might even then have saved him, but it was lacking.
From the field of Waterloo he rode off to Paris. Instead of presenting himself, booted and spurred, bespattered and weary, before the half-rebellious French Parliament, subduing them with his eagle eye and dauntless front, arousing their patriotism as he so well knew how to do, he went to the Palace of Versailles. There he sat down to think over things, had a hot bath, went to bed for the night, and found next morning the only possible chance he had was gone.
The deck of H.M.S. "Bellerophon" and the lonely rock of St. Helena witnessed to the mistake he had made. DO IT NOW! stared him in the face, but he lacked the nerve just then to carry it out.
In another matter, and one of far deeper importance, the advice DO IT NOW! is of all moment. I refer to the matter of the soul's salvation. What can be more important? Have you ever faced it? If not, I beg of you to give the following your most careful consideration.
DO IT NOW! for "God NOW commandeth all men everywhere to repent." (Acts 17:30.) Evidently God thinks it urgent when He addresses all men everywhere, and exhorts them to repentance NOW. He exhorts them in view of the Day of Judgment. God is holy—He must punish sin. You are unholy. Such is the urgency of the case that God calls you to repentance; or else there is no escape from judgment.
Will you listen to the voice of warning love? Refuse; it is at your peril and to your everlasting sorrow.
DO IT NOW! for God says, "Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. 6:2.) What does that mean? Let me illustrate. In an Oxfordshire village lived an old Christian woman. She was greatly troubled about the dark spiritual condition of the place, and prayed persistently for fourteen years for its blessing.
One day two young men preached on the village green. A statement that they kept repeating puzzled two of their hearers. They betook themselves to old Ann, as likely to give an explanation.
“Ann," they cried, "there be two young men, who have been preaching on the green, and they do say that now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.' What be they meaning, Ann?”
Here was Ann's opportunity. The woman, who had prayed for fourteen years, was not likely to lack an answer. She cried out with the plainness and forcibleness of speech given to a true lover of souls: "If you believe on Jesus now, and died to night, you would be in heaven to-morrow; but if you do not believe in Jesus, and died to-night, you would be in hell to-morrow. That be what it means.”
There was no mistaking the plain English of the answer. One of the women weighed it over, and trusted the Lord Jesus without delay; the other woman, who asked old Ann the question, went away undecided. Two weeks later she was returning from her work in the fields, intending to light her fire, boil her kettle, and have an early cup of tea.
Alas! the fire was never lit. The cottage gate was scarcely reached when a neighbor saw her stagger up the little garden path and fall to the ground. She ran to her help, but before further assistance could be obtained, and the poor woman placed upon her little sofa in the small kitchen, she had died.
So far as our knowledge goes she made no profession of having trusted the Savior, and thus she passed into eternity.
Beyond the inexpressibly sad warning contained in this incident, and the bare possibility of my unconverted reader dying to-night, and being in hell to-morrow, aye, and sooner than that, our desire in penning these words is to press upon you the acceptance of the truth of God's own words: "Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. 6:2.)
God offers to save you on the spot. Sometimes people will tell you they are waiting God's time. They cannot do that. It is an impossibility. If God promised to save you five minutes after believing, then you could wait God's time, but when he says "Now is the day of salvation," you cannot wait for NOW.
DO IT NOW, for God says, "Come: for all things are NOW ready." (Luke 14:17.) Have you ever seen a curious advertisement on the hoarding, "So-and-so is coming"; and afterward a full advertisement is given on the arrival of the individual? Every type in the Old Testament, every sacrifice on Jewish altars, all said, "He's coming." For centuries He was foreshadowed, till at last the Savior came. No wonder the angelic hosts descended into the lower heavens, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."(Luke 2:14.) For in the person of the wonderful child, Jesus (never less than God over all, blessed forever) lay all men's hopes for blessing; all the fulfillment of the types and shadows. We are all familiar with His wonderful life." The common people heard Him gladly. "They" wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth." On to the cross He went. That was the occasion for which He came. "The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." In His wonderful atoning death all things were made ready. "IT IS FINISHED," rang loudly from His lips, so that now we can sing—
“From cross to grave, from grave to God's own
throne,
Proved Him the Victor— Him and Him
alone.”
A glorified accepted Savior is the proof that all things are now ready. You have nothing to do, but as a repentant sinner receive Christ, and in receiving Him you become the possessor of every gospel blessing.
For see how all is linked up in Him.
"Through His Name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." (Acts 10:43.) "Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." (Acts 13:38.) "By Him all that believe are justified from all things" (verse 39). "Your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." (1 John 2:12.) "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin." (1 John 1:7.)
And the reason why it is linked up in Him is that God is a holy God, and must punish sin, and that the Lord Jesus Christ took the guilty sinner's place, satisfied all God's holy claims, vindicated righteousness, and it is only on the ground of the finished work of Christ that God is able to offer forgiveness and salvation. No wonder the testimony of Scripture is that "there is none other Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12.)
DO IT NOW, for God says, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" (Heb. 2:3.) The road to hell is paved with good resolutions. Many a man and woman is there, we fear, who never intended to get there, Delay, indecision, is a habit that grows with years. The most favorable opportunity for decision is NOW. Now you have opportunity; to-morrow you may have none. To-day you are in the land of the living; to-morrow you may be in eternity. You have everything to gain by decision; everything to lose by delay.
And, after all, what are the prizes this world can give? A deputation waited last year on the aged John D. Rockefeller, reputedly the richest man in the world. With tears coursing down his cheeks and his voice choking with emotion he told the gentlemen forming the deputation that emphatically the chief aim in life was not to get rich. What was it? May I give the answer? To get into true, happy relations with God.
Men spend years of toil in obscurity, broil under tropical suns, brave arctic winters, all to grasp the bubble of fame, and, when grasped, what a bubble it is I And generally their years have fled, their days are done, death is marking them for its victim, and their only consolation that riches have been amassed or a peerage has been won lies in the fact that they can leave these things to their heirs. The greatest consolation in getting with so much labor is the leaving of it with so much ease! Poor reward! And then—ETERNITY!!!
Ah! ETERNITY!!! The contemplation of it is enough to paralyze the thoughts of every unconverted man and woman. Eternity! A man had a dream. He thought he was in heaven, looking at a large clock without pointers, which said, as its long pendulum swung backwards and forwards, "Ever, never." He asked some happy-looking people gazing with delight upon the clock why it had no pointers. The joyful answer was, "There is no time here—it is ETERNITY. Hear what the pendulum says, Ever, never.’— SALVATION EVER, DAMNATION NEVER.”
Alas! the clock had its counterpart in hell; but the question put to some unhappy-looking people as to why it had no pointers caused inward anguish. What a terrible answer in hell, “There is no time here— it is ETERNITY.
Hear what the pendulum says, Ever, never'— DAMNATION EVER, SALVATION NEVER.”
The dream contained the truth, and I beg my unsaved reader to be wise, and settle the question of his never-ending eternity, and DO IT NOW.
Long centuries ago Abner reminded the elders of Israel that they had sought David in times past to be their king, and added, surely advice worth its weight in gold, "NOW THEN DO IT." (2 Sam. 3:18) His advice was for prompt and immediate action, and he reminded them that their submission to David and their salvation from their foes were bound up together.
We can earnestly say to you of a greater than David, who can give you a greater salvation than ever he could, "NOW THEN DO IT." "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God bath raised Him from the dead, THOU SHALT BE SAVED." (Rom. 10:9.)
A. J. P.