THIS is no trifle! no laughing matter! nor one to be despised!
It is a question of your eternal future—not one year, nor a thousand! but forever!
Can you face such a thought? No, the bare idea of eternity must overwhelm the mind, and yet man, all men―you and I―must live eternally.
Annihilation is a dream! Immortality is a fact; and, though man is mortal as to his body, his spirit returns to God, and after death is the judgment. Be not deceived!
“Every one of us,” we read, “shall give account of himself to God.” “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,” escape from that tribunal is impossible!
To meet God unprepared is to be damned, and that forever! The gulf is fixed!
To meet God, saved, is to be in bliss for all eternity! There remaineth a rest for His people.
In either case the thought is overwhelming-full of terror to the first! full of joy unspeakable to the other!
FRIEND, ARE YOU SAVED?
If not, why not?
You may reply, “Can anyone know that he is saved?”
Yes, thank God he can. The apostles knew, and the early Christians knew, and why should not we, to whom the Word of God has come?
Many of us do know.
You may ask how?
Well, first, convinced of sin by His Spirit we owned our guilt, like the prodigal or the publican; then second, we learned that the Saviour died in our stead, in order that, by faith in His precious blood, we might be cleansed and forgiven; and, third, we rested on the Word of God which says that “by him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:3939And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39)).
That is, by taking God at His word, we know for certain, first, our guilt! and, second, our salvation! Blessed knowledge! Then notice, the grace that brings salvation teaches a godly life, and if this be absent the profession is a mere delusion.
If then you are not saved, why not?
It must be the allowance of sin. You are practicing that which denies repentance. You love the thing that hinders blessing.
Lay the blame of your present condition at your own door.
“Ye will not come to me that ye might have life,” said the blessed Lord. That is the trouble! you will not come to Jesus; and you cannot be saved till you do. Your state for eternity hinges on your estimation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“‘What think ye of Christ?’ is the test
To try both your thought and your scheme,
You cannot be right in the rest
Unless you think rightly of Him?”
This settles the whole question. Your relation to the Son, if in faith, is everlasting life; if in unbelief, is the wrath of God.
In which clause of the verse do you stand?
God thinks everything of His Son; and, having raised Him from the dead, has given Him highest honors, as man, at His right hand on high, pointing Him out, there, as the only but perfect Saviour of sinners.
Hence, friend, turn now to Him in faith for the present salvation of your soul.
J. W. S.