“Ready to Perish.”
A SINNER needs a Saviour. All have sinned, and therefore all need a Saviour. No sinner can save himself; therefore needs to be saved by another. No fellow-man of Adam’s race can save him, because all others are sinners too. Who then can save? Christ Jesus only. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42). And when is the time for a sinner to be saved? Now! (2 Cor. 6:2).
But how many have never felt their need of this precious Savior. Why is this? Because they have never bowed to and believed God’s word as to their condition as sinners, in danger of perishing everlastingly (Rom. 3:23; Matt. 25:41). Now in Deuteronomy 26:5, we read of the language to be used by a Jew when he brought his basket of firstfruits to the priest to offer to the Lord; he was to say before the Lord his God, “A Syrian ready to perish was my father,” etc. He owned that he was of a race descended from one who was ready to perish. This describes most fitly the natural condition of all men; we belong to a race of sinners who are ready to perish. God is infinitely holy (Isa. 57:15), and cannot suffer sin in His presence: all have sinned, and are liable at any moment to suffer the penalty of sin, death; and all who die in their sins perish everlastingly (Rev. 20:15). Thus, my reader, if you are still unconverted, you are a sinner ready to perish. Do you believe that this is indeed true? If you do, how precious read of God, who is
“Ready to Pardon,”
“gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness” (Neh. 9:17), “good, and ready to forgive” (Psa. 86:5). Yes, poor sinner, although you are ready to perish on account of your sins, God is ready to pardon, ready to forgive, all your sins, that you should not perish, because His only begotten Son died as the sin-bearer on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21). And God is ready to pardon now; not at some future time not when you have turned over a new leaf, not when you have wrought out a righteousness of your own, not at the day of judgment, but now, today, this moment, God is ready to pardon you. Are you ready to be pardoned? Not some of your sins, but all your sins―all your scarlet, crimson sins. God is ready to forgive all. “Through this man (Christ Jesus) is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 13:38).
But you will say, “How am I to know my sins are forgiven?” By simple faith, by believing. For “by Him all that believe are justified from all, things” (Acts 13:39). “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 10:17). The Scripture says of all who believe, “Little children, your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake” (1 John 2:12).
And not only is God ready to pardon, but He is also
“Ready to Save.”
Ready to save you from your sins, ready to save you from the world, ready to save you from the power of Satan, ready to save you from judgment, ready to save you from perishing, ready to save you for the glory, ready to save you forever and forever. Are you ready to be saved? “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). Note the words of Hezekiah “For the grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me” (Isa. 38:18-20). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31). “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:8-9). And the power of God will keep you “through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5).
And, moreover, God does not stop here, for not only is He ready to pardon, ready to forgive, ready to save all who are ready to perish, but, as we read in the parable of the marriage of the King’s son in Matthew 22,
“All Things Are Ready.”
Yes, dear reader, all things are ready; fullest provision made for the need of every poor sinner. The wedding is ready; the invitation has gone forth to the Jews, and they have made light of it, and gone their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. The invitation comes now to the Gentiles, comes to all, comes to you; they that were bidden were not worthy; will you accept the invitation, will you come? “All things are ready: come” (Matt. 22:4-9.) Christ has died and is risen again; the work is finished, God is glorified, and the feast is spread―a feast of “fat things” and “wines on the lees” (Isa. 25:6). The wedding is ready; God bids you―will you come? Or will you go your way; will you go to the farm or the merchandise, and despise the blessed invitations of the Gospel? Think of the fearful consequences of such a course, for the same Saviour God that is ready to save, is also
“Ready to Judge the Quick and the Dead,”
“who shall give account to him” (1 Peter 4:5). “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” (Heb. 2:5.) To make light of the gladsome message of grace is to ensure judgment, to treasure up “wrath against the day of wrath” (Rom. 2:5). Grace, boundless grace, is reigning triumphant now through righteousness (Rom. 5:20-21), but soon judgment will come, “For God hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:40). “The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days... he believeth not that he shall return out of darkness... he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand” (Job 15:29-23).
But where will those be at that day who, as poor sinners ready to perish, have come now to the blessed God who is ready to save? Ah! no judgment for them. God judged His own Son in their stead (John 5:24; 1 Thess. 5:2-5); and before that day of judgment upon the ungodly cometh, the Savior, the Lord Himself, the Bridegroom shall come―come for His own, come to take us to everlasting glory (1 Thess. 4:15-18). And what will He find at that moment? Thousands who profess His name, thousands with a lamp of profession, but no oil; but thousands more who have oil in their vessels with their lamps, thousands who have truly believed, and have received the Holy Ghost, who have gone to God ready to pardon and save, and are pardoned, and are saved (Matt. 25:1-13; Rom. 4:7-8; Eph. 2:5); and then, oh! wondrous moment,
“They That Were Ready Went in”
with Him to the marriage, and the door was shut. They that were ready, mark that, dear reader; not they that were getting ready, but they that were ready, went in with Him. With whom? With Him; with Christ, the Saviour, the Lord Himself―the precious, precious Jesus; and the door was shut―shut close, shut fast, shut forever on all who were called but refused (Prov. 1:24). In vain shall many cry then, saving, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” “I know you not,” will be the awful reply; “I know you not” (Matt. 25:11-12). “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23).
And what is the conduct that becomes all who have received pardon and salvation, as we pass along down in this sinful world, sheltered by the blood of Christ, and waiting for the glory? “Put them in mind,” says the apostle (Titus 3:1), “to be
“Ready to Every Good Work.”
And He that saith, “Behold, I come quickly,” has also said, “And my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Rev. 22:12).
“Watching and ready may we be
As those that wait their Lord to see.”
E. H. C.
March, 1877.