“TELL them the difference—tell them the difference between “being white-washed and washed white. Tell them the difference—tell them the difference between making ready and being ready.”
Such was the very graphic language uttered in my ears one night, by one whose face I had never before seen. How forceful the language. How very descriptive. How true to life of a great deal that exists in the religious profession around us today.
Being white-washed and washed white are two very different things. The one supposes the covering over of a state: the other implies being cleansed from a state. Being covered over with a cloak of religion, in which there may be no heart-reality, is a very different thing from being washed white from every stain of sin, so that you are fitted to stand in the searching light of divine holiness. The contrast is as great as between darkness and light.
To the Church in Sardis the Lord said, “Thou hast a name that thou livest, but art dead.” Is not this very descriptive of not a few who, to all appearance, worship God today? Reader, be not deceived; nothing but inward reality will do for Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire—searching in judgment. May it never be said of you, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.”
The five foolish virgins of Matthew 25 had all the appearance of reality. The human eye could not detect any real difference between them and the wise. The difference was inward not outward, hence it was most vital. Man looks appearance: God looks on the heart. The external may command the eyes of our fellows. The internal commands the eye of the great Searcher of hearts.
Being ready to welcome death or the coming of the Lord, at any moment, is a very different thing from going through a process of preparation for either event. To be able to say, like a dying saint, “WELCOME DEATH, WELCOME ETERNITY,” is greatly preferable to being horrified at their near approach. Being comfortably seated inside the railway carriage, ready for the train to start, is a different thing from going to the station to catch the train, and finding to your astonishment and chagrin that it has gone some sixty seconds. The disappointment would be the greater the nearer you were to catching the train—only a minute too late—how mortifying.
Reader, what of ETERNITY? Ponder, O man, Eternity. The train of gospel grace is still here. It is being filled, and may soon receive its last passenger. ARE YOU SEATED AND READY TO START? Are you born again? Are your sins forgiven? Have you peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you truly saved by the grace of God? Have you received the Holy Spirit? Are you in Christ, or in your sins? Are you out of condemnation, or under condemnation? Is your soul basking in the sunshine of God’s cloudless favor? If the Lord Jesus appeared after you read this paper, are you conscious of anything in your heart or life that makes you dislike the thought of His near approach?
I most earnestly beseech the reader not to be deceived on these points. A mistake will be eternally fatal. When the Lord calls His own to meet Him in the air, those whose sins are forgiven, and who are sealed with the Holy Ghost will go—they will leave this doomed world forever to enter the joy of the Father’s house, the many mansions of which the Lord so distinctly spoke in John 14:22In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2). If you are not one of those who go, your doom will be eternally fixed. There will be no reversal on the other side of eternity’s great gulf. All will be FIXED, as our Lord said. Enter in while the door of grace is still wide open. It has been opened wide by the atoning, finished work of Jesus. He said, “IT is FINISHED.”
HASTE YE, HASTE YE.
There is no time to delay. Procrastination may damn your immortal soul forever. YES, forever. Think of your soul. How very precious it must be. Jesus, the Sovereign Lord of the Universe, gave His life to redeem it. He knew the value of it truly when He showed such infinite love to save it. He said, “What is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
A person of considerable wealth went to a Continental oculist of great repute, to have an operation performed on his eye. The operation was successful, and in return he sent the oculist a check for £5,000. How valuable the eyes are we can never know until we lose the sight of them. The fee the oculist named was not so much, but out of a grateful heart for the successful operation the gentleman gave this sum.
What is an eye in comparison to a soul that must exist forever, in eternal bliss or eternal woe? “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matt. 25:4646And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Matthew 25:46)). “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:4141Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matthew 25:41)). If there be no eternal punishment, there is no eternal life. As surely as there is eternal life, there is eternal punishment. “Eternal” in both cases signifies the same in the original. No Greek scholar can deny this. All support it.
If there be no eternal God there is no eternal judgment. The terms eternal God and eternal judgment are both found in Scripture, the word being the same that denotes the eternity of God’s being, and the endless character of the judgment.
WHO THAT BELIEVES IN GOD DARE SAY THAT GOD’S EXISTENCE IS NOT ETERNAL?
Let anyone take the a “Englishman’s Greek Concordance” and look at the passages where “eternal” is mentioned, and it will be found they all mean the same. For instance, “The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:1818While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)). What we see with our natural eyes is only for a time, and will pass away. What we cannot see will abide forever.
Friend, wake up to the fact that you possess an immortal existence. Death may kill the body, but it cannot kill the soul or inner life. So the Saviour said. He knew, He was “God manifest in flesh,” and knew all things. Thrice over, in Mark, He speaks of the worm that dieth not, and the fire that never shall be quenched. The “worm” will be remorse of conscience—conscience shall lash its victim forever. Besides, there will be the governmental judgment of God, which will be as fire in the bosom. (See Mark 9)
Be warned in time. Be wise for yourself. Let not the devil befool you. Let not crafty, subtle men help to deceive you. God’s unerring word is plain, and conscience closes in with its verdict, if you allow its voice to be heard. “Things in heaven, things on earth, and things under the earth,” will yet be put under the authority of Jesus. Because He humbled Himself for God’s glory, God will give Him this place of power. It will be the highest point of power to which He can be raised.
Every created being is in one of these three circles, whether angel, man, or demon, fallen or unfallen, redeemed or not redeemed. All shall bend the knee, by God’s universal decree, in token of subjection to Him. When the Holy Spirit of God speaks about “things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth,” in Philippians 2, He cannot mean inanimate creation—it would be the purest nonsense to even think so. Beings of intelligence are surely meant. Inanimate creation could not bend the knee, or make any confession of His Lordship.
Reader, stop and consider. Which of those circles will you be in? Heaven, earth, or hell—which? Scripture uses language that common people can understand. Heaven is always regarded as above—how far above we cannot say. Hell or Gehenna is always regarded as beneath—how far beneath we cannot say. The earth is between the two—it shall yet be the theater for the display of all the matchless glory of Christ. Earth shall yet be the scene of His universal triumph and adoration. The place that is now so silent as regards His praises shall be filled with them. The place where He received such contempt and scorn shall magnify His matchless worth and excellence.
WHAT A DAY FOR HIM! WILL YOUR HEART REJOICE TO SEE IT?
All heaven owns Him now. Do you? Has He got the citadel of your heart? Have you bowed to Him? Is He your all in all? Does His wondrous love command your heart? Stand at Calvary, and gaze upon Him, in the deepest soul-agony expressing His love for sinners such as you. See Him, who was Lord of all creation, infinite in power and majesty, descend from His glory to die for a sinner like me—like thee. Who would go through such agony, torture, and shame, to save and redeem such sinners as we?
NONE BUT GOD’S BELOVED SON.
Having gone one day to the Londonderry Workhouse to speak to some of the inmates in the infirmary about the love of God in sending His Son to die to save them, I repeated, in the ears of a Roman Catholic, those wonderful lines―
“Could I with ink the ocean fill,
Were the whole sky of parchment made;
Were every blade of grass a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky.”
There seemed no response, but a woman who was lying in the next bed, suffering from paralysis, opened her beautiful black eyes, and fastening them intently on me, exclaimed, “Ah, sir, no parent would give her child for her friend, but God gave His Son for His enemies.”
How very touching for such words to come from the infirmary bed of an Irish workhouse. Do they not sink down into the inmost soul? “No parent would give her child for her friend, but GOD GAVE HIS SON FOR HIS ENEMIES.” The very kernel of the gospel is wrapped up in this statement. Wouldst thou give thy son for thy nearest and dearest? No, no. Then let the love of the blessed God speak into your inmost heart until you exclaim with wonder and adoration, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”
Your sins He cannot love; your sins He abhors. But oh, His tender compassion for you, in spite of your indifference to it. When your eyes are opened to see that love in all its greatness, and your own unworthiness of it, then shall your heart melt and your eyes weep in contrition over those sins that brought the Holy Son of God so low as to suffer for sins, “THE JUST FOR THE UNJUST” (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)). Then shall you abhor your own sins. Then shall you live to righteousness and die to sinning. Then shall you justify God and condemn yourself. Then shall you see that the very God the devil may have led you to believe was against you, was indeed your best Friend. Then shall you see God as your eternal justifier, and yourself cleared from every charge of sin. Then shall peace flow into your heart like a river. Then shall you understand what it is to have a purged conscience—a conscience on which no stain rests. Then shall joy in the Holy Ghost fill your soul. Then shall your tongue speak forth His praises. Then will you be able to say―
“The proudest heart that ever beat
Hath been subdued in me,
The wildest will that ever rose,
To scorn Thy Word or aid thy foes,
Is quelled, my God, by Thee.
Thy will, and not my will be done,
My heart be ever Thine;
I hail Thee, Christ, my God, my Lord,
And make Thy name my sign.”
Eloquent words! Thrilling words! Noble words to be found written on the fly-leaf of the Bible of one of the boldest and most learned infidels of the last century. What a triumph of grace He could have said with the able apostate Jew in the second century, “O Galilean, Thou hast conquered.”
Reader, Jesus conquered death, and completely broke its awful power. He died in weakness, but He is raised in power. He lives at God’s right hand to intercede for all who believe on Him. He is coming soon—how very soon we know not. He shall yet triumph gloriously. God shall put all enemies under His feet. His down-trodden saints shall share in all His victory. “When he reigns we shall reign with Him.” We shall be glorified together. The glory will be a full compensation for all the sufferings. Let us be more bold in the face of all opposition to witness for Him. Let us speak to others without fear or shame. Let us seek by all the means in our power to win them for Him, so that He may have other witnesses besides ourselves. He alone is worthy. Amen.
“Through that perfect Offering, never
Can our sins against us rise;
Perfected are we forever
By that wondrous sacrifice.
Jesus, Saviour! we are graven
Ever on Thy heart of love;
We shall reach the wished-for haven
In Thy Father’s house above.”
P. W.