It is an appalling thought that every one of us must be either eternally saved or eternally lost. There is no middle place. It is impossible to be in a neutral position. The Judge is quickly coming to execute His awful work. None can escape His flaming eye, none can flee beyond His reach. Some will go into everlasting punishment, and others into eternal glory. How vastly momentous is the subject! How intensely solemn! Can anything be compared to its weighty importance? Is anything so worthy of consideration? What a difference between one lifting up his eyes being in torments, and another lifting up his eyes on the Savior’s face in perpetual joy and glory! Well might the blessed Lord say, “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
The scriptures give the fullest warrant for our having now the assurance of eternal salvation; and most blessed it is to know that we have passed from death unto life, from condemnation to justification, from enmity and rebellion to reconciliation and peace. It seems strange that persons who read the Bible should have a moments rest till they can say with the patriarch “I know that my Redeemer liveth;” or, with the apostle, “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.” Many, however, with the Bible in their hands, appear to live as if the present time-state would last forever; as if there were no eternal torment to fear and flee from, no eternal glory to be enjoyed. So dull is the human mind as to a right contemplation of these everlasting realities, that, except the Spirit of God arrest and enlighten the conscience, men perseveringly pursue the broad road that leadeth to destruction, deaf to the gospel call, unmoved by the Savior’s grace; and in vain work hard to find happiness without having salvation.
Our Lord, however, often raised in the clearest and most unmistakable way the warning voice. On one occasion He spoke of some going away into everlasting punishment, and of others into life eternal. Again, He declared that some would be cast into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. He spake of some who would be rejoicing at the marriage supper, while others are bound hand and foot and taken away. He referred to some who go into the marriage when the Bridegroom comes, while others are forever shut out. The apostle, too, plainly declares that some will be “forever with the Lord,” and others “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.” Seeing then what eternal consequences are involved, doth it not behoove men to obtain a solid, scriptural assurance, that they are delivered from the wrath to come, and at peace with God?
But who are the lost? for scripture speaks of living men as lost; that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost In a word, they are without Christ. Whatever else they may have, they have not Christ as their Savior. This is the vital and decisive point. The sure mark of a lost soul is that he has not embraced Christ as his only Savior; he has not received Him whom God has sent. He is therefore in his sins, unforgiven, unsaved, lost.
There may be the greatest possible variety of natural character, educational attainment, or of surrounding circumstances; still men are lost, because they have not Christ. “He that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.” Some may be moral, others immoral; some chaste, others rude; some professors of religion, others scoffers; some nominal protestants, others professed infidels; some clever and argumentative on religious topics, others profoundly ignorant; still they have not life, they are dead in sins, lost, because they have not received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Nothing can be clearer, or more plainly set forth in scripture; and the consideration of it is very solemn. Their hearts have not been melted by the Savior’s love, they see no beauty in Him, they discern nothing charming in His gracious voice; they have been deaf to His groans and cries; His agony, and death, and blood-shedding for sinners are nothing to them. Their souls have not been affected by eternal realities; their comforts and expectations are limited to the narrow bounds of time and sense. They believe only what they see, or what they can prove. They believe not on Him whom having not seen we love. Benevolent and generous to their fellow-creatures they may be, but they know nothing of the sweetness of ministering to Christ’s needy ones for His sake. Such are the lost round about us; and the gospel of the grace of God is preached that dead souls may live, and the lost be found. Blessed are those of whom it can be said, “He was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.”
Now let us look at the doom of the lost. Having lived in rejection of the Savior, they die unsaved. How solemn is the thought, that some, with whose faces we are so familiar, may possibly fall under God’s everlasting punishment! Yea, we are certain that it must be so, if they continue to refuse to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.... whither I go ye cannot come;” thus they are excluded forever from the glorious presence of God and the Lamb, eternally separated from the fountain of love, life, light and joy, and forever in outer darkness. As body and soul have been engaged in sinning against God, so body and soul must be under the inflictions of divine wrath, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. When men die, they vainly imagine they have done with their bodies forever; but it is not so. They may be laid in the grave, and worms may feed upon them, or the corruptible frame molder into dust, but the body must rise again. “All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth.” “There shall be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust.” The dead, small and great, must stand before God. Body and soul must be banished from His presence. Body and soul must be cast into outer darkness. They will be bound hand and foot and taken away, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. “Fear him,” said Jesus, “who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.” Independently of the mental anguish, the bodily suffering must be dreadful beyond conception. We experience pain now connected with what may be called natural sickness, and we realize the comfort of the tear of sympathy, and relieving remedies; but the pain then will be deserved infliction for transgressions and sins; it will be unmitigated wrath poured out by divine justice, without sympathizing friends to comfort, or possible means of affording one moment’s relief; but ceaseless and everlasting punishment in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. The interminable weeping, the constant shrieks of bitterest remorse, the thickest, blackest darkness, the intolerable anguish, the ceaseless frown of God, the pit filled with vilest companions, give us but a faint idea of what God has revealed concerning the eternal misery of the lost. No tongue can possibly describe their wretchedness. The power of mental reflection, the ability to bring past scenes to remembrance, the knowledge of having rejected the only Savior, the certain sense that some they once knew here are forever blessed in glory, while they feel tormented in the flame, with vain and ceaseless longings for one drop of water to cool their parched tongues, while they so bitterly experience that they are separated forever from all relief; the deepest remorse too connected with the thought that had they in their time-state bowed to the Savior’s name, hearkened to His voice, wept at His wounded feet, believed in the efficacy of His blood, how unutterably different their state would be; all this and much more will combine to fill up the torments of those who die in their sins. Ο the inconceivable blackness of eternal despair! What artist could delineate it? What words can describe it! What finite mind can grasp it! Surely it needed a gracious, mighty Savior to redeem from such destruction. The blood of Jesus, and nothing less, was necessary to be shed in order that divine justice could exclaim, “Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.” Yes, Jesus is mighty to save; and still He says of all who come to Him, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: Ο death, I will be thy plagues! Ο grave, I will be thy destruction;” so that the coming sinner can now triumphantly respond, “Ο death, where is thy sting? Ο grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
How awful, then, is the instruction conveyed by such words of scripture as “everlasting destruction,” “eternal fire,” “everlasting punishment”! Surely men do well to inquire like the prophet, “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Should not every one who reads these lines honestly put the question to his own conscience, “Shall I be there?” Some may hesitate, but we earnestly entreat them to make this pointed and personal inquiry. Others may reply, that it is impossible to give a decided answer to such a question. No, dear reader, bear with us when we still press for a reply, for the scripture saith, “He that believeth on him [the 8 things new and old Lord Jesus Christ] is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only-begotten Son of God.” (John 3:1818He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18).) Can any language, dear reader, be plainer, to show you, that at this moment, the Searcher of hearts beholds you either not condemned, or condemned already? Let your own conscience then respond.
There may be others who say, It is very harsh to speak so plainly of the dreadful horrors of the lost; but our answer to such is, Did not our Lord warn people against coming where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched? Did He not speak of the greater damnation? Did not He also say, “Preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned?” Did not the Apostle Paul say, “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men?” and also, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” Or dear reader, our desire is that you may flee from the wrath to come, and be saved, for God is still rich in mercy. The door of eternal salvation is still wide open. The gospel is still the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. The blood of the crucified Savior still cleanses from all sin. It is indeed a great salvation. The foulest sinner now has liberty to come to the Lord Jesus without money, and without price. He delivers from eternal condemnation, blots out all sin and transgression by His blood, freely gives everlasting life and righteousness, and introduces the far-off, self-destroying, guilty sinner, at once to perfect peace in the Father’s bosom. Is not this a great salvation? If the reader has neglected it to the present moment, let him now inquire how he can escape the wrath to come. You may not have neglected chapel-going, church-going, alms-giving, or the outward ordinances of religion, and yet you have neglected this great salvation. Ο unsaved soul! How can you be happy? How can you give sleep to your eyes again, without receiving this great salvation? Oh, that the Holy Spirit may so awaken you to a sense of your real danger, that you may flee to the Savior now, agonize to enter in at the strait gate, make the precious blood of Christ your only refuge, and find that it purges your conscience, and puts you on the ground of eternal salvation, and therefore of perfect peace with God. The Lord delights to save. Let us now consider who are the saved? That must be me (says the Pharisee), for I give alms, make long prayers, pay my dues, injure no one, and live a good life. But in this he is sadly deceived, for he knows not the only Savior, refuses His gospel, and all his righteousness is only filthy rags before God. God has declared, “There is none righteous, no, not one.... none that doeth good, no, not one.” And, notwithstanding all the boasted religiousness of many, it is further declared that “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.” Who then can be saved? Is there any way by which a crimson sinner can be made whiter than snow? Yes, in Christ and through His blood—even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. A believer, then, is cleansed from all sin by the blood of Christ, and made the righteousness of God in Christ who is risen and ascended; and all on the principle of faith. And there never has been any other way of a sinner being accounted righteous before God but in the way of faith. Abel and Noah were accounted righteous by faith. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. David also spoke of the doctrine of righteousness without works. Paul often brings it before us in his epistles, and shows that it shall be imputed to them now who believe on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. To the sin-stricken soul then, who has taken refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, He still says, “Thy sins are forgiven.... thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” (Luke 7:48, 5048And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. (Luke 7:48)
50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. (Luke 7:50).) He has eternal life, and God wishes him to know that he has it for his present comfort and blessing. The language of the beloved apostle John is, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life,” and elsewhere he says, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” (1 John 5:13; 3:1413These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)
14We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. (1 John 3:14).) Such also have remission of sins, and are justified from all things; this also God wishes them to know for present assurance. “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man [Christ] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him, all that believe are justified from all things;” and again, “To him. [Christ] give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” (Acts 13:38, 39; 10:4338Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)
43To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:43).) Moreover, to such as have remission of sins, the Holy Ghost is given as the seal and earnest of the inheritance; and because they are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, the Holy Ghost is given as the Spirit of adoption. “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (See Acts 10:43-4743To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. 44While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. 45And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. 46For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, 47Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? (Acts 10:43‑47); Gal. 3:26; 4:626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)
6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6).)
Can anything more clearly show the present and eternal salvation, those are brought into, by divine grace, who know the Son of God now in glory, who was crucified but is risen and ascended, as the Object of their faith? Well might the apostle say, that the preaching of the cross is, “unto us which are saved”, the power of God.