I was persuaded to go to hear a preacher who was well known in those days. He took for his text,
The preacher in his discourse set forth the blessings and the precious privileges of those who, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have become children of God. Alas! I knew well that was not my case; I had neither rest of heart, nor peace of conscience, still I greatly desired to possess these blessings of which I heard him speak.
“Ah,” I sighed, “if only my name was written in heaven.”
Just at this moment the preacher cried out:
“Perhaps there is some one here, a sinner, who would like to have an assurance of his name being written in heaven.”
And then, with accents full of love and sympathy he addressed all who, up to that moment, had lived without a desire to receive Jesus as their Savior, and who, on that account, had neither peace nor joy.
These words were just what I needed, they described exactly my case, but I was not yet wholly broken down. It was not that I did not accept the fact that I was powerless for good. But God did not abandon me. He made the light of the truth to shine into my soul, and little by little I came to realize my state of guiltiness, and how deserving of condemnation I was in the presence of a just and holy God.
Then Satan, that great enemy of souls, sought to frighten me by suggesting that I was too bad, that never a sinner as wicked as I was had received from God salvation and peace. Thus he succeeded in retaining me in his fetters.
At length I could hold out no longer, I was unhappy and distressed on account of my sins, and I cast myself down before the Lord and implored His compassion. Then I found peace and consolation by faith in the sacrifice of Christ, offered for me upon the cross, and accepted by God for me. Thus I obtained deliverance, and by the word of the Spirit of God, I found the assurance that God had received me as His child. O! what joy filled my soul. Now I knew without any doubt that my name also was written in heaven, inscribed in the Book of Life. My conscience was purified from all sin by the precious blood of Christ, which I knew had been shed for me, and by the power and the mercy of God I have been kept in the straight path of faith. All is pure grace, and it is always precious for me to be able to bear witness for the Lord, and to His love, before all whom He gives me to meet in my path, for, for such there could be nothing happier than to learn what the Savior has done for them in order that their names also might be written in heaven.
And now my dear reader allow me to address the same pressing question to you.
“Is your name written in heaven? Can you rejoice in the consciousness of it? If you cannot answer in the affirmative, have you a desire for it? It can only be through Christ Himself. If you come to Him as a repentant sinner; if by faith you lay hold of the efficacy of His sacrifice to take away your sins from before God, then you are one of those blessed ones whose names are written in heaven.” The word to the overcomer is:
“I will not blot out his name out of the book of life,” but on the other side weigh this: