ETERNITY, ETERNITY, eternity! My reader, where will you spend it? Live to eternity you must, for you are an immortal soul. The life you have naturally, came originally from God, the eternal God. “The Lord God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." All have a life from God that must endure forever. Every one of Adam's race will exist for eternity.
Sin entered through the fall, and death is sin's wage; but death is not cessation of existence, but separation of soul and body, the latter going to corruption until resurrection. The soul lives on; is immortal; cannot die; it came from God, the eternal God. He will reunite soul and body by Divine power. The sinner who dies in his sins, will be raised for judgment;' the believer in Jesus, will be raised in glory. Which are you?
You must be in one class or the other, — a sinner in your sins; or a believer in Jesus, with your sins washed away by His precious blood. Every pulse you beat, every breath you draw, every moment you live, brings you nearer, and nearer, and nearer still to eternity. Eternity, eternity, ETERNITY Ponder, my reader, I beseech you, this solemn word. Face it you must; and woe, woe, woe to those who enter it in their sins. Are you in yours? Blessed indeed are they who are ready to meet it, through faith in God's dear Son. Are you ready?
Stop, sinner, stop in your mad career of sin. Worldling, pleasure-seeker, careless one, religious professor, stop. Stop now; another moment may be too late. You are rushing on to eternal woe. Blinded, duped, deceived by Satan, led captive in your sins, a moment more and you may find yourself his victim forever. Thanks be to God, it is not yet too late. Again the warning cry is sounded in your ears, "Prepare to meet thy God" (Amos 4:1212Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. (Amos 4:12)). But how are you to escape judgment, and be prepared? The way is simple; it is God's own way. "Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Bow before Him in self-judgment, owning your sin, confessing your guilt. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)). God has provided a Saviour, exactly suited to your deep, deep need. Christ is that Saviour. Guilty and lost you are, if still unconverted; death, judgment, and hell—hell for eternity—lie before you, but He is mighty to save. Believe on, Him, and pardon of sins, salvation from hell, peace with God, meetness for glory, all things are yours. Yours now, yours this moment, by simple faith. Will you trust Him? Will you venture your all on Christ? Without Him, a hopeless, Christless doom is yours, the blackness of darkness for eternity (Jude 1313Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 13)). With Him, an eternity of blessedness and joy is your sure and glorious portion. Eternity is before you; eternity is at your door; will you decide for Christ now?
Eternity, eternity, ETERNITY, where will you spend it?
Is it the world that holds you back? God says, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:3636For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36).)
“Too many stay away,
Too many still delay;
Will you, poor sinner, come?''
Come to the Saviour; come, while 'tis salvation's day; come now. Christ is waiting to receive sinners, saying, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out "(John 4:3737And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. (John 4:37)).
“Come to Jesus, just now;
He will save you just now;
Only trust Him, just now.”
Can you go on another day resisting the wondrous grace of a Saviour God? “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" (Heb. 2:33How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Hebrews 2:3).) The Holy One who inhabiteth eternity bids you come. Come now to Jesus, the Christ of God, the only Saviour, and His precious blood will make you meet for His holy presence. Delay, and if the Lord Himself should return, or death were to overtake you, His holiness will bar your entrance there, and demand your eternal exclusion.
Infatuated, deluded soul, give heed, I pray you, to the gracious warning. Eternal issues depend upon your decision. You cannot have the world and heaven too. It is Christ and heaven, or the world and hell. Which, then, is it to be? The unsatisfying vanities, follies, and lusts of a world without God, under the power of Satan, and a Christless eternity in hell? or, pardon and peace now, Christ in the fullness of His glorious Person, and joys and pleasures at God's right hand for evermore? (Psa. 16:1111Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11).) Alas, for the folly of fallen man, that he should be so blind to his own eternal interests, preferring to be the captive of Satan, a slave to the world's fashions and ways, than to be the freedman of Christ, and enjoy the eternal liberty of the abounding grace of God. What is the world after all? Ah, poor worldling, you who have drunk deeply of its greatest pleasures, the pleasures of sin, are you satisfied? are you happy? Happy! ah, maybe you are seeking to persuade yourself that you are; but if God were to say, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee,” how then? With death right before, and all a blank beyond, — nothing but darkness in the soul, no light from God, — how then? And His word ringing in your ears, "After this the judgment,” how then? A sinner, with a misspent life, called to give an account, how then? God neglected, Christ rejected, the Spirit resisted, the word refused, how then?
Which is it to be, —sin, death, judgment, and hell for eternity? or, Christ, life, salvation, and glory for eternity? “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)). Now is God's day of salvation, is it yours? Satan whispers again, “Time enough yet." Sinners, hugging their sins, loving the world and present ease, lend a willing ear to the arch-deceiver, liar, and murderer from the beginning. Reader of these lines, you will never be able to plead ignorance, or that you were never warned. Plainly, faithfully, lovingly would I warn you, that nothing but "hell for eternity" is your sure position, if you die in your sins. But God has provided eternal salvation. It cost the blood of Christ, and is now free for you, —a free salvation. It is offered to you, and you may have it now, — a present salvation. It is infinite in its fullness, — a great salvation. It is provided alike for all every-where—a, common salvation. And it will land you safely in the glory of God forever, — an eternal salvation.
This is the glorious salvation of God, worthy of the Blessed One in whose heart of love it was planned. Super-abounding grace waits still upon you, sinner, to receive it by faith. Believe on the Son of God, and this salvation is yours now, yours forever. Henceforth are you one of the richly blessed ones, who have obtained the 'Salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory? (2 Tim. 2:1010Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. (2 Timothy 2:10)). Eternity, eternity, ETERNITY' where will you, spend it?
E. H. C.