The urgency of salvation emphasizes the critical need to respond to God's offer of salvation without delay, as procrastination can result in missed opportunities and eternal consequences (2 Corinthians 6:2). Illustrations often use vivid images of fleeting moments, missed chances, and critical timing to convey the importance of immediate decision and repentance (Hebrews 3:15).
Delaying important spiritual decisions risks missing God's timing and eternal opportunity.
The last words found in Sir Walter Scott's diary were: "Tomorrow we shall...." But there was no tomorrow for him. He died with good intentions to accomplish a certain goal-a goal that was neither stated in his diary nor accomplished by him.
Every person has goals and dreams that he or she longs for, plans for, and even begins to reach for-yet there are many people who fall short of their goals simply because of limited time or opportunity. And that is why it is always important to get busy and do the right thing immediately. Never delay that which needs to be done today.
Settling accounts with the Lord should never be put on a back burner, neither for salvation, for commitment, nor for service.
Don't delay accepting Christ's salvation; start today as with medicine for the soul.
Speaking to his physician, John cried in great perplexity, "I might not live a week!"
"Of course you may not, John, but very likely you will, and the medicine will be in the house; it will keep; and if you find yourself getting worse, you could take some. I shall not charge anything for it. If you should feel worse tomorrow you might begin even then."
"Sir, I may be dead tomorrow!"
"When would you propose to begin your medicince then, John?"
"Well, sir, I hoped you would tell me to begin today."
"Begin today, by all means," consented the doctor, kindly. "I am glad to see you realize how foolish it is to put off taking this medicine." And then the physician, reflecting upon their past conversations about spiritual matters, inquired, "But are you not being just as foolish when you put off taking the medicine which the Great Physician has provided for your sin-sick soul? I plead with you, John; don't put it off!"
Opportunity for salvation is fleeting and must be seized quickly before it passes.
Long ago, in one of the old Greek cities, stood a remarkable statue. Every trace of it has vanished now. However, we still have an epigram which gives us an excellent description of it and the lesson which those wise old Greeks meant it to convey. The epigram is in the form of a conversation between a traveler and the statue:
"What is they name, O statue?"
"I am called Opportunity."
"Who made thee?"
"Lysippus."
"Why are thou on thy toes?"
"To show how quickly I pass by."
"But why is thy hair so long on thy forehead?"
"That men may seize me when they meet me."
"Why, then, is thy head so bald behind?"
"To show that, when I have once passed, I cannot be caught."
Remember, Christ says, that the present opportunity may never be yours again, seize it while it is near you.
Delaying salvation leads to hardened refusal despite early conviction and the Spirit's striving.
An old man said to his pastor, "When I was seventeen, I began, at times, to feel deeply about settling my soul's estate, and this continued for two or three years. But I determined to put it off until I was settled in life. After I was married, I reflected that the time had come when I had promised to attend to religion. But I had bought a farm, and I thought it would not be convenient for me to become religious until it was paid for, since attending church would take time and money. I then resolved to put it off ten years; but when the ten years came round I thought no more about it. I sometimes try to think about it, but I cannot keep my mind on the subject one moment." The pastor urged him not to face death as an enemy of God, to repent, but he said, "It is too late; I believe my doom is sealed; and that is just as it should be, son, for the Spirit strove with me, but I refused."
Delays and distractions can cause missing the critical moment for salvation and help.
It was almost one o'clock in the morning when the phone range in the Winters' home. Dr. Leon Winter, the highly acclaimed Chicago surgeon, was awakened with a start.
Tonight it was a young boy, they said, tragically mangled in a late night accident. Couldn't someone else handle it? Not this time. This time his hands were possibly the only ones in the city, or maybe in the whole regio n, which were skilled enough to save.
The quickest route happened to be through a rather rough area, but with time being a critical factor, it was worth the risk. He almost made it through the worst of the neighborhood. Almost. Then, at a stop light, his door was jerked open by a man in a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt. "I've got to have your car!" the man screamed, pulling him from his seat. Winters tried explaining the gravity of his situation, but the man was not listening.
The doctor wandered for over 45 minutes looking for a phone. When the taxi finally got him to the hospital, over an hour had passed. He burst through the doors and into the nurses' station, but the nurse on duty only shook her head. Too late. The boy had just died about 30 minutes earlier. "His dad got here just before he died," the nurse told him. He is in the chapel. Go see him, would you? He is awfully confused. He could not understand why you never came."
Without explaining, Dr. Winters walked hurriedly down the hall and quietly entered the chapel. At the front knelt the huddled form of a weeping father, in a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt. Tragically, he had pushed from his life the only one who could save.
How many today are pushing from their lives the only One who can save? A New Man in the Suit
The program committee for a national barber's convention devised a graphic means of demonstrating the effectiveness of their profession. They found a social derelict on skid row with long, dirty hair. His face was unshaven and his clothes were ragged and filthy. His body reeked with odors of cheap liquor and filth.
The barbers cleaned him up. They gave him a bath, shampoo, shave, haircut and manicure. They liberally sprinkled talcum powder on him and added spicy cologne. He was dressed in a new suit and was presented before the convention as a changed man. He certainly looked the part. However, within a week the man was back on skid row, back in the gutter, back in his former pattern of living. The barbers altered his appearance, but their tonsorial services had not changed his inward nature.
Anyone who has the money to spend can put a man in a new suit, but only Christ can put a new man in the suit. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." Christ alters us from the inside out.
Delaying a decision for salvation risks eternal loss; now is the accepted time.
The last time I preached upon this question was in old Farwell Hall. I had been for five nights preaching upon the life of Christ. I took him from the cradle and followed Him up to the judgment hall, and on that occasion I consider I made as great a blunder as ever I made in my life. If I could recall my act I would give this right hand. It was upon that memorable night in October, and the Court House bell was sounding an alarm of fire, but I paid no attention to it. You know we were accustomed to hear the fire bell often, and it didn't disturb us much when it sounded. I finished the sermon upon "What shall I do with Jesus?" And I said to the audience, "Now, I want you to take the question with you and think over it, and next Sunday I want you to come back and tell me what you are going to do with it." What a mistake! It seems now as if Satan was in my mind when I said this. Since then I never have dared give an audience a week to think of their salvation. If they were lost they might rise up in judgment against me. "Now is the accepted time." We went down stairs to the other meeting, and I remember when Mr. Sankey was singing, and how his voice rang when he came to that pleading verse:
To-day the Saviour calls; For refuge fly. The storm of justice falls, And death is nigh.
After the meeting we went home. I remember going down La Salle street with a young man who is probably in the hall to-night, and saw the glare of flames. I said to the young man: "This means ruin to Chicago." About one o'clock, Farwell Hall went; soon the church in which I had preached went down, and everything was scattered. I never saw that audience again. My friends, we don't know what may happen to-morrow, but there is one thing I do know, and that is, if you take the gift you are saved. If you have eternal life you need not fear fire, death, or sickness. Let disease or death come, you can shout triumphantly over the grave if you have Christ. My friends, what are you going to do with Him to-night? Will you decide now?
Delaying salvation is unsafe because death can come unexpectedly at any time.
There is a story of Dr. Chalmers. A lady came to him and said: "Doctor, I cannot bring my child to Christ. I've talked, and talked, but it's of no use." The Doctor thought she had not much skill, and said, "Now you be quiet and I will talk to her alone." When the Doctor got the Scotch lassie alone he said to her, "They are bothering you a good deal about this question; now suppose I just tell your mother you don't want to be talked to any more upon this subject for a year. How will that do?" Well, the Scotch lassie hesitated a little, and then said she "didn't think it would be safe to wait for a year. Something might turn up. She might die before then." "Well, that's so," replied the doctor, "but suppose we say six months." She didn't think even this would be safe. "That's so," was the doctors reply; "well, let us say three months." After a little hesitation, the girl finally said, "I don't think it would be safe to put it off for three months--don't think it would be safe to put it off at all," and they went down on their knees and found Christ.
God requires sinners to decide for Him within the limited time of grace given.
It is recorded of a Roman prince, that when a captive whom he had taken demanded time to deliberate whether he would be the enemy of Rome, or not, the prince drew a circle round him, with the end of his rod, and required him to decide before he left that circle. So does God deal with sinners. Bowes.
Delaying repentance hardens the heart, making salvation increasingly difficult.
How dangerous to defer those momentous reformations which conscience is solemnly preaching to the heart! If they are neglected, the difficulty and indisposition are increasing every month. The mind is receding, degree after degree, from the warm and hopeful zone; till at last it will enter the arctic circle, and become fixed in relentless and eternal ice. J. Foster.
People make excuses to postpone repentance, ignoring urgent spiritual needs.
The Greenlanders excused themselves from immediate reform, one saying, "I have much powder and shot, which I must spend in shooting reindeer;" another, "I must first have my fill of bear's flesh; another, "I must have a good boat, and then I will believe."
Procrastinating repentance can lead to eternal damnation without warning.
A woman put off the invitation to repentance by saying lightly, "Oh! I shall only want five minutes' time, when I am dying, to cry for mercy." This same woman, instead of offering her expected prayer, expired, crying, "I am damned, I am damned!"
Delaying spiritual reform until old age is foolish and unwise.
As we would judge a man a fool, who, having a great choice of strong horses, should let them go empty, and lay a great burden upon a poor beast that could scarce bear herself, no less unreasonable is he, who, passing over the vigorous days of youth and manhood, defers reformation till feeble old age. Cawdray.
Habitual delay in salvation leads to lost opportunities and spiritual hardness.
An aged sinner said, "When I was young, I said to myself, 'I cannot give up the world now, but will by and by, when I have passed the meridian of life; then I shall be ready to attend to the concerns of my soul.' But here I am an old man. I feel no readiness nor disposition to enter upon the work of my salvation. In looking back, I often feel as if I would give worlds if I could be placed where I was when I was twenty years old. There were not half as many difficulties in my path then as there are now."
A drowning son's cry warns that salvation delayed may come too late.
A young man walked the deck of his father's vessel. Suddenly his foot slipped, and the next minute he was struggling with the waves. The father caught the piercing cry of his drowning son, "Quick, quick, father! or you'll be too late!" In vain he struggled, and vain were his father's efforts to save him. It was too late. He sank to rise no more; but his dying cry, "Too late!" rings forever in the father's ear.
People use excuses like ignorance, laziness, and presumption to delay responding to the gospel.
Just after Bunyan's Christian had left the cross, he found three men at the bottom of the hill, fast asleep, with fetters upon their heels. Their names were Simple, Sloth, and Presumption, — apt types of the different classes of men who put off gospel offers with vain excuses. When urged by Christian to awake and rise, Simple said, "I see no danger;" Sloth said, "Yet a little more sleep;" and Presumption said, "Every wat must stand upon its own bottom." And so they lay down to sleep again, and Christian went on his way.
People list many reasons to avoid church, but the real issue is lacking the will to come.
Some people would come to church; but they want fit clothes, — a hat, a bonnet, or a shawl; or they want some one to look after the children at home; or they want a seat of their own at church. They want time; they want rest after the six days' work; they want — But their wants are innumerable. Yet there is one want they never name, which would swallow up all the rest: they want — the will. "Where there's a will, there's a way."
Neglecting spiritual readiness leads to panic and loss when trials come unexpectedly.
A traveller always provided himself with a life-preserver, which he kept in constant readiness for use. On the Mississippi, an accident occurred which led him to dream of the advantages of precaution. He dreamed that the vessel was disabled, and rushing upon a lee-shore. The passengers, in different moods, awaited the result. Those who had life-preservers were composed; while those who had none rushed to and fro, in terror and dismay. Some cursed themselves because they did not buy them before they started; others did not apprehend danger; others had them laid away in their trunks, but found them useless through long neglect; others found themselves cheated with a counterfeit article; others were uselessly trying to escape by resting on the life-preservers of others, which could barely support their owners. The scene is one only too common in life. When the storms come, and the frail vessel is a wreck, how many have secured the true life-preserver, and wait the result in good confidence? How many are dismayed because unready? Sinner, beware of neglect!
Delaying salvation risks losing the opportunity due to life's uncertainty and sudden death.
A mother said, "Dr. Nettleton, I do wish you would talk to Caroline. She don't care any thing about going to meeting, nor about the salvation of her soul;" saying which, she soon went out of the room. Dr. Nettleton turned round to the young girl, and said, "Now, just tell me, Miss Caroline, don't they bother you amazingly about this thing?" She, taken by surprise at an address so unexpected, answered at once, "Yes, sir, they do: they keep talking to me all the time, till I am sick of it."—"So I thought," said Dr. Nettleton. "Let's see: how old are you?"—"Eighteen, sir."—"Good health?"—"Yes, sir."—"The fact is," said Dr. Nettleton, "religion is a good thing in itself; but the idea of all the time troubling a young creature like you with it! I wonder how long it would do for you to wait?"—"That's just what I've been thinking myself," said Caroline. "Well," said Dr. Nettleton, "suppose you say till you are fifty? No, that won't do: I attended the funeral, the other day, of a lady fifteen years younger than that. Thirty,—how will that do?"—"I'm not sure it would do to wait quite so long," said Caroline. "No; I do not think so either: something might happen. See, now, twenty-five, or even twenty, if we could be sure you would live so long. A year from now,—how would that do?"—"I don't know, sir."—"Neither do I. The fact is, my dear young lady, the more I think of it, I am afraid to have you put it off a moment longer. Besides, the Bible says, 'Now is the accepted time.' We must take this time. Had we not better kneel right down here, and ask God for mercy?" The young lady, perfectly overcome by her feelings, kneeled on the spot. In a day or two, she was rejoicing in hope.
The present moment is critical for salvation; delaying is siding with the devil's strategy.
NOW, Importance of "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." "To-morrow" is the Devil's great ally,—the very Goliath in whom he trusts for victory. "Now" is the stripling whom God sends forth against him. A great significance lies in that little word. It marks the point on which life's battle turns. That spot is the Hougomont of Waterloo. There the victory is lost or won. Men do not often join issue against God on the person of Christ or the ministry of the Spirit, on the ground of acceptance or the necessity of faith: on all these points, and many others, the carnal mind readily acquiesces in the doctrine of Scripture, like willows bending to the breeze, but resists Christ's claim to be admitted now, as a rocky shore resists the onset of the waves. The worldly will freely agree to be Christian to-morrow if Christ will permit them to be worldly to-day. Arnot.
Since death is uncertain, one should turn to God daily, as if death could come tomorrow.
Rabbi Eliezer said, "Turn to God one day before your death." His disciples said, "How can a man know the day of his death?" He answered them, "Therefore, you should turn to God to-day. Perhaps you may die to-morrow: thus every day will be employed in returning."
Now is the time to act decisively in the Christian race and spiritual pursuits.
NOW, Use of Now is the time of fight to obtain our crown; now is the day of spoil to seize our booty; now is the market to buy the kingdom of heaven; now is the time of running to gain the goal and prize; now is the day of sowing to provide us corn. Cawdray.
Many let spiritual opportunities slip away like sand through their fingers.
Missed. Many do with opportunities as children do at the seashore: they fill their little hands with sand, and then let the grains fall through, one by one, till all are gone. Rev. T. Jones.
The path to eternal life is narrow and closes quickly; press forward without delay.
Narrowing. Opportunity is like a narrow passage in the Arctic
Seas. Sometimes, in these northern regions, ships get enclosed in a narrow space between ice-islands. The floating rocks glide nearer the ship on every side, and the dismayed seamen behold their only chance of escape from the fatal crash lies in a narrow channel, that every moment grows still narrower. How hurriedly they press their vessel through that strip to reach the safety of the open ocean! Even so must we press along the narrow way that leads to eternal life; for who knows how soon that narrow way may be closed against him.
— Union Magazine
Delaying spiritual decisions may close the way to salvation forever.
Passing. Opportunity is like a string of stepping-stones across a ford.
The traveller, coming up to them, may find the river so swollen with the rains that the stones are all but covered. If he delay, though his home be on the opposite bank, and full in sight, it may be too late to cross, and he may have a journey of several miles to reach his home.
— Union Magazine
Act promptly on opportunities; waiting too long often means losing them.
Proverbs. What may be done at any time will be done at no time.
Strike while the iron is hot. Take time while time is, for time will away.—English.—God keep you from "It is too late." When the fool has made up his mind, the market has gone by.
—Spanish.—A little too late, much too late.—Dutch.—Some refuse roast meat, and afterwards long for the smoke of it.—
— Italian
Choosing promptly between good and evil determines one's eternal destiny and purpose.
Upon the present hour may depend eternity. At the critical moment of that night, in the year 1741, when Count Lessoch went to conduct the Princess Elizabeth of Russia to the palace, to assert her right to the vacant throne; he found her irresolute, and refusing to go; upon which he drew forth two pictures which he had caused to be prepared, and placed them before her. In the one, she saw herself under the torture, and the count on a scaffold; in the other, she beheld herself ascending the throne amidst the applause of the people. He bade her choose her situation. She chose the throne, and on the morrow was Empress of all the Russias.
— Dr. Leifchild
Delaying repentance and faith risks eternal loss; today is the day of salvation.
Faith in to-morrow instead of Christ is Satan's nurse for man's perdition. — Dr. Cheever. — The road of by and by leads to the town of never. — Spanish Proverb. — This day is a day of mercy: to-morrow may be a day of doom. — Edward Irving. — To be always intending a new life, but never to find time to set about it, — this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking and sleeping, from one day and night to another, till he is starved and destroyed. — Tillotson. — It will not always be summer. — Hesiod.
Waiting to prepare spiritually until crisis strikes is foolish and too late.
Merchants take care to insure their goods before the ship clears the dock. It would be useless, when the news of a terrible sea-storm came, to run to the office, and then expect to make all safe and right. O living but dying man, at once, to-day, prepare for the coming storm!
Embracing Christianity risks nothing but gains everything if true, urging urgent faith decision.
A company of infidels, seeing one of their number greatly troubled at the approach of death, advised him to embrace Christianity, saying, "If it be false, it can do you no harm; but, if it should be true, you will be a great gainer."
Ignoring the urgent call to salvation leads to inevitable destruction.
There is a city to be sacked, and you are in it. Soldiers are at the gates. The command is given that every man in the city is to be slaughtered, save he who can give the password. "Sleep on, sleep on: the attack is not to-day. Sleep on, sleep on!"—"But it is to-morrow, sir."—"Ay, sleep on, sleep on: it is not till to-morrow. Sleep on, procrastinate, procrastinate!"—"Hark! I hear a rumbling at the gates; the battering-ram is at them; the gates are tottering."—"Sleep on, sleep on: the soldiers are not yet at your doors. Sleep on, sleep on; ask for no mercy yet; sleep on, sleep on!"—"Ay; but I hear the shrill clarion sound: they are in the streets. Hark to the shrieks of men and women! They are slaughtering them: they fall, they fall, they fall!"—"Sleep on: they are not at your door."—"But hark! they are at the gate: with heavy tramp I hear the soldiers marching up the stairs."—"Nay, sleep on, sleep on: they are not yet in your room."—"Why, they are there! they have burst open the door that parted you from them, and there they stand!"—"No, sleep on, sleep on: the sword is not yet at your throat. Sleep on, sleep on!" It is at your throat: you start with horror. Sleep on, sleep on! But you are gone! "Demon, why didst thou tell me to slumber? It would have been wise in me to have escaped the city when first the gates were shaken. Why did I not ask for the password before the troops came? Why, by all that is wise,—why did I not rush into the streets, and cry the password when the soldiers were there? Why stood I till the knife was at my throat? Ay, demon that thou art, be cursed; but I am cursed with thee forever!" You know the application: it is a parable you can all expound; ye need not that I should tell you that death is after you, that justice must devour you, that Christ crucified is the only password that can save you.
— Spurgeon
Sinners unaware of danger face sudden eternal judgment when it's too late to escape.
An Indian was discovered floating asleep in his canoe above the falls of Niagara. His sleep was heavy; and no efforts or calls could arouse him. The current swept him against a projecting rock which set his canoe whirling about in the stream. "He is safe!" cried the spectators; but even this did not arouse him. Onward sped the canoe, till the dreadful noise of the fall aroused the Indian. It was too late for escape or effort. His canoe plunged into the yawning gulf, and his soul sank into eternity.
Sinners stand at a spiritual crossroads leading to eternal life or eternal death.
It is said that the waters of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers originate within a few yards of each other, on the top of the Rocky Mountains. One of them flows thence into the peaceful Pacific; while the other flows in the opposite direction into the stormy Atlantic. Such is the position which the thoughtful sinner occupies. He may launch upon the river of life, and pass thence to the port of eternal bliss, or, failing this, he will float upon the river of death to the dark abyss of perdition.
Careless sinners drift helplessly toward eternal destruction, alarmed too late to escape.
Sinners are like idle swimmers, that go carelessly floating down the stream rather than exert themselves to swim against the current, and gain the bank. They must reach the sea at last; and when they hear the breakers, and see the foaming crests of the waves, they become alarmed; but it is too late. The stream is now too strong for them, their limbs are benumbed and enervated from want of exertion; and, unfitted and unprepared, they are hurried into the ocean of eternity.
Neglecting Bible reading can lead to a sudden, fatal spiritual and physical consequence.
A person in Birmingham, who lived in the neglect of the worship of God, and of reading the Bible, was, on a Lord's day, sitting at the fire with his family.
He said he thought he would read a chapter in the Bible, not having read one for a long time. But, alas! he was disappointed; it was too late; for, in the very act of reaching it from the shelf, he sunk down and immediately expired.
Like birds of passage, people need the gospel to know their origin and destiny.
"It is stated in the history of England," says Dr. Philip, in an address delivered at one of the
London Anniversaries, "that when the first missionary who arrived in Kent, presented himself before the king, to solicit permission to preach the gospel in his dominions, after long deliberation, when a negative was about to be put upon his application, an aged counsellor, with his head silvered over with gray hairs, rose, and by the following speech obtained the permission which was requested. 'Here we are,' said the orator, 'like birds of passage, we know not whence we come, or whither we are going; if this man can tell us, for God's sake let him speak.' I say, if there are six hundred millions of our fellow-creatures, who, like birds of passage, know not whence they came, nor whither they are going, for God's sake let us send them the gospel, which will tell them whence they came, and which is able to make them wise unto salvation."
A dying idolater's question about final destination exposes paganism's inability to answer.
A Hindoo, of a thoughtful, reflecting turn of mind, but devoted to idolatry, lay on his death-bed. As he saw himself about to plunge into that boundless unknown, he cried out,
"What will become of me?" "O,"
said a brahmin, who stood by, "you will inhabit another body." "And where" said he, "shall I go then?"
"Into another." "And where then,"
"Into another, and so on, through thousands of millions." Darting across this whole period as though it were, but an instant, he cried, "Where shall I go then?" Paganism could not answer, and he died agonizing under the inquiry, "where shall I go last of all?"
Delaying commitment to Christ can lead to death before salvation is embraced.
A young lady became under conviction at a meeting, and felt that she should yield to Christ. But, if memory serves us right, she had promised a young man to accompany him to a ball to be held in the future. That night, before retiring, she wrote something like this: “One year from tonight I will become a Christian,” then she lay down to rest, but sleep she could not. Then she arose and wrote: “Six months from tonight I will give my heart to God,” and again lay down, but no rest to body or soul could she find. Thus, again and again, she arose and shortened the time, until at last she wrote: “To-morrow I will become a Christian,” but refused to settle it then and there. In the morning she did not appear, and friends, on going to her room, found her body cold and silent in the embrace of death, the spirit having departed to meet the realties beyond.
Salvation should not be postponed; now is the accepted time to respond to Christ.
In 1871 I preached a series of sermons on the life of Christ in old Farwell Hall, Chicago, for five nights. I took Him from the cradle and followed Him up to the judgment hall, and on that occasion I consider I made as great a blunder as ever I made in my life. It was upon that memorable night in October, and the courthouse bell was sounding an alarm of fire, but I paid no attention to it. You know we were accustomed to hear the fire-bell often, and it didn’t disturb us much when it sounded. I finished the sermon upon “What Shall I Do with Jesus?” and said to the audience;
“Now, I want you to take the question with you and think it over, and next Sunday I want you to come back and tell me what you are going to do with Him.”
What a mistake! It seems now as if Satan was in my mind when I said this. Since then I never have dared give an audience a week to think of their salvation. If they were lost, they might rise up in judgment against me. “Now is the accepted time.”
I remember Mr. Sankey singing, and how his voice rang when he came to that pleading verse:
“Today the Savior calls,
For refuge fly!
The storm of Justice falls,
And death is nigh!”
After the meeting we went home. I remember going down La Salle Street with a young man, and saw the glare of flames. I said to the young man:
“This means ruin to Chicago.”
About one o’clock Farwell Hall was burned; soon the church in which I had preached went down, and everything was scattered. I never saw that audience again.
My friends, we don’t know what may happen tomorrow, but there is one thing I do know, and that is, if you take the gift of God you are saved. If you have eternal life you need not fear fire, death, or sickness. Let disease or death come, you can shout triumphantly over the grave if you have Christ. My friends, what are you going to do with Him? Will you not decide now?
Delaying repentance risks missing eternal life when death suddenly comes.
In one of the tenement houses in New York City a doctor was sent for. He came, and found a young man very sick. When he got to the bedside the young man said:
“Doctor, I don’t want you to deceive me; I want to know the worst. Is this illness to prove serious?”
After the doctor had made an examination, he said. “I am sorry to tell you that you cannot live out the night.”
The young man looked up and said, “Well, then, I have missed it at last!”
“Missed what?”
“I have missed eternal life. I always intended to become a Christian someday, but I thought I had plenty of time, and put it off.”
The doctor, who was himself a Christian man, said: “It is not too late. Call on God for mercy.”
“No; I have always had a great contempt for a man who repents when he is dying; he is a miserable coward. If I were not sick, I would not have a thought about my soul, and I am not going to insult God now.”
The doctor spent the day with him, read to him out of the Bible, and tried to get him to lay hold of the promises. The young man said he would not call on God, and in that state of mind he passed away. Just as he was dying the doctor saw his lips moving. He reached down, and all he could hear was the faint whisper:
“I have missed it at last!”
Dear friend, make sure that you do not miss eternal life at last.
Salvation must be accepted immediately; delaying can lead to eternal loss.
In Chicago I was closing the meeting one day, when a young soldier got up and entreated the people to decide for Christ at once. He said he had just come from a dark scene. A comrade of his, who had enlisted with him, had a father who was always entreating him to become a Christian, and in reply he always said he would when the war was over. At last he was wounded, and was put into the hospital, but got worse, and was gradually sinking. One day, a few hours before he died, a letter came from his sister, but he was too far gone to read it. It was such an earnest letter! The comrade read it to him, but he did not seem to understand it, he was so weak, till it came to the last sentence, which said:
“Oh, my dear brother, when you get this letter, will you not accept your sister’s Savior?”
The dying man sprang up from his cot, and said, “What do you say? what do you say?” And then, falling back on his pillow, feebly exclaimed, “It is too late! It is too late!”
My dear friends, thank God it is not too late for you today. The Master is still calling you. Let every one of us, young and old, rich and poor, come to Christ at once, and He will put all our sins away. Don’t wait any longer for feeling, but obey at once. You can believe, you can trust, you can lay hold on eternal life, if you will. Will you not do it now?
A horseman’s urgent rescue of children from rising tide illustrates the need to save souls quickly.
* * * * *
This incident has been related of the eminent divine, Edward Irving:
When a boy in Scotland with his little sister he went down on the sands of Solway Firth to meet his uncle, who was coming to visit their home. When the tide comes in there, it flows in with a rush. It sweeps on like a flood. All the people there know this danger of the onrushing sea and guard against it, but these little children forgot the time and tide. They were playing in a little pool of water. Suddenly a horseman dashed down from the mountain side. Without a word he came up on a run, secured the two children to the saddle and started for the hills. Faster and faster followed the rising tide, but at last the horseman and his precious load were saved.
The Christian must waste no time if he would save imperilled men. (Text.)
Now is the time to show love and kindness before opportunities pass away.
When I have time, so many things I’ll do
To make life happier and more fair
For those whose lives are crowded full with care;
I’ll help to lift them up from their despair--
When I have time.
When I have time, the friend I love so well
Shall know no more these weary toiling days;
I’ll lead her feet in pleasant paths always,
And cheer her heart with sweetest words of praise--
When I have time.
When you have time, the friend you loved so dear
May be beyond the reach of your intent;
May never know that you so kindly meant
To fill her life with ever sweet content--
When you had time.
Now is the time. Ah, friend, no longer wait
To scatter loving smiles and words of cheer
To those around whose lives are now so drear;
They may not need you in the coming year--
Now is the time. (Text.)
A dying woman unprepared for eternity highlights the need to seek Christ now.
A minister was called on to visit a young lady, who was very ill. She was sitting in her room. He asked her how she felt.
"Dying, sir; I am going," was the reply. "Be calm," said he; "I hope you will yet recover." "No," said she. "If you feel yourself to be dying, how does your spirit feel in the prospect of another world?" "Not prepared,"
was the answer. He directed her to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Saviour of sinners; but in a few moments she looked around her, reclined her head on his hand, and almost instantly expired.
How awful! not prepared, and yet entering eternity! Reader, seek the
Lord now, that you may be always ready to die.
A wealthy sinner's futile attempt to delay death warns of life's brevity.
In 1830, a wealthy merchant, who had lived in profanity for many years, heaping up riches and wrath, was suddenly arrested by alarming sickness. The doctor visited him, and found the patient sick unto death. "Am I very sick?" said the alarmed sufferer. "Shall I never recover?" "You are quite sick," said the physician, "and should prepare for the worst." "Cannot I live a week?" asked the merchant. "No," said the doctor, "you will probably continue but a little while." "Say not so," said the dying man; "I will give you a hundred thousand dollars, if you will prolong my life three days." "I could not do it, my dear sir," said the physician, "for three hours!" And the man died within an hour.
Ignorance of eternity causes criminals to focus on earthly desires, highlighting need for salvation.
It is perfectly natural to suppose that those who have little or no knowledge of a future state, should be careless of that life which God has given, during which to prepare for another world. A criminal among the Hindoos being condemned to be hanged on the following day, made a low salaam, or bow, to the judge, and coolly replied, Buhost atcha, "Very good." Another, when asked if there was any thing which he particularly wished before leaving the world, answered, "Yes; I never saw a great heap of rupees together; and, of all things, I should like to have that pleasure before I die." A third, when the same question was addressed to him, longed for something more substantial.
He said, "Your food is much better than mine; now, before you hang me, pray give me such a good dinner as you have." The indulgence was granted, and he ate with no small appetite.
What should be the gratitude of those who have been taught the true end of life, and what zeal should Christians manifest in conveying this knowledge to others!
