Preparation for Heaven
(No. 3538)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1916.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has also
given us the earnest of the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 5:5.
HOW very confidently Paul contemplates the prospect of death! He
betrays no trembling apprehensions. With the calmness and serenity, not
merely of resignation and submission, but of assurance and courage, he
appears joyous and gladsome, and even charmed with the hope of having
his body dissolved and being girt about with the new body which God has
prepared for His saints! He that can talk of the grave and of the
hereafter with such intelligence, thoughtfulness, faith and strong
desire as Paul did, is a man to be envied. Princes might well part with
their crown for such a sure and certain hope of immortality! Could
emperors exchange their treasures, their honors and their dominions, to
stand side by side with the humble tent-maker in his poverty, they
would be great gainers. Were they but able to say with him, "We are
always confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to
be present with the Lord," they might well barter earthly rank for such
a requital! This side of Heaven, what can be more heavenly than to be
thoroughly prepared to pass through the River of Death? On the other
hand, what a dreary and dreadful state of mind must they be in who,
with nothing before them but to die, have no hope and see no
outlet–the pall and the shroud their last adorning–the grave and the
sod their destination! Without hope of rising again in a better future,
or realizing a better heritage than that which should know us no more
before long–no prospects of seeing God face to face with
rejoicing–well may men dislike any reference to death! So they shrink
from the thought of it. Far less can they tolerate its being talked of
in common conversation. No marvel that they recoil from the shade of
mortality when they are so ill prepared to face the reality of the
soul's departure! But, dear Friends, since it is so desirable to be
ready to depart, it cannot be inexpedient sometimes to talk about
it–and on my part the more so, because there is a proneness in all our
minds to start aside from that grave topic which, as God shall help us,
shall be our subject this evening–preparation for the great hereafter!
"For," says the Apostle, "God has worked us for this same thing"–He
has prepared us for the dropping of the present body and the putting on
of the next! And "He has given us the earnest of His Spirit."
Our three departments of meditation will be–the work of preparation
itself. The Author of it. And the seal which He sets to it–the
possession of which may resolve all scruples as to whether we are
prepared or not.
I. THE WORK OF PREPARATION stands first. Is it not almost universally
admitted that some preparation is absolutely essential? Whenever the
death of a friend or comrade is announced, you will hear the
worst-instructed say, "I hope, poor man, he was prepared." It may be
but a passing reflection or a common saying. Yet everybody will give
expression to it, "I hope he was ready." Whether the words are well
understood or not, I do not know, but the currency given to them proves
a unanimous conviction that some preparation is necessary for the next
world. And, in truth, this thought is in accordance with the most
elementary facts of our holy religion. Men by nature need something to
be done for them before they can enter Heaven–and something to be done
in them. Something to be done with them, for by nature they are enemies
to God. Dispute it as you will, God knows best. He declares that we are
enemies to Him, and alienated in our hearts. We need, therefore, that
some Ambassador should come to us with terms of peace and reconcile us
to God. We are debtors as well as enemies to our Creator–debtors to
His Law. We owe Him what we cannot pay and what He cannot pardon. He
must exact obedience and we cannot render it! He must, as God, demand
perfection of us, and we, as men, cannot bring Him that perfection.
Some Mediator, then, must come in to pay the debt for us, for we cannot
pay it. Neither can we be exempted from it. There must be a Substitute
who shall stand between us and God–One who shall undertake all our
liabilities and discharge them–and so set us free, so that the mercy
of God may be extended to us!
In addition to this, we are all criminals. Having violated the Law of
God, we are already condemned. We are not, as some vainly pretend,
introduced to this world on probation. Our probation is over–we have
forfeited all hope! We have broken the Law of God and the sentence is
gone out against us–and we stand by nature as condemned criminals,
tenants of this world during the reprieve of God's mercy, in fear of a
certain and terrible execution–unless Someone comes in between us and
that punishment–unless some gracious hand brings us a free pardon!
Unless some Divine Voice pleads and prevails for us that we may be
acquitted! If this is not done for us, it is impossible that we should
entertain any well-grounded hope of entering Heaven. Say, then,
Brothers and Sisters, has this been done for you? I know that many of
you can answer, "Blessed be God, I have been reconciled to Him through
the death of His Son! God is no enemy of mine, nor I of Him–there is
no distance, now, between me and God–I am brought near to Him and made
to feel that He is near to me and that I am dear to Him." Full many
here present can add, "My debts to God are paid! I have looked to
Christ, my Substitute. I have seen Him enter into Suretyship
engagements for me and I am persuaded that He has discharged all my
liabilities! I am clean before God's bar! Faith tells me I am clean."
And, Brothers and Sisters, you know that you are no longer condemned!
You have looked to Him who bore your condemnation and you have drunk in
the spirit of that verse, "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to
them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit." Surely this is a preparation for Heaven! How could we
enter there if our debts were not discharged? How could we eternally
obtain the Divine Favor if we were still condemned criminals? How could
we dwell forever in the Presence of God if we were still His enemies?
Come, let us rejoice in this–that He has worked us for this same
thing–having championed our cause from the cradle to the grave!
Preparation for Heaven consists still further in something that must be
worked in us, for observe, Brothers and Sisters, that if the Lord were
to blot out all our sins, we would still be quite incapable of entering
Heaven unless there was a change worked in our natures. According to
this Book, we are dead by nature in trespasses and sins–not some of
us, but all of us–the best as well as the worst! We are all dead in
trespasses and sins. Shall dead men sit at the feasts of the Eternal
God? Shall there be corpses at the celestial banquets? Shall the pure
air of the New Jerusalem be defiled with the putrefaction of iniquity?
It must not, it cannot be! We must be quickened–we must be taken from
the corruption of our old nature into the incorruption of the new
nature, receiving the incorruptible Seed which lives and abides
forever. Only the living children can inherit the promises of the
living God, for He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. We
must be made living creatures by the new-creating power of Grace, or
else we cannot be made meet for Glory. By nature we are all worldly.
Our thoughts go after earthly things. We "mind earthly things," as the
Apostle says. We seek after the world's joys. The world's maxims govern
us. The world's fears alarm us, the world's hopes and ambitions excite
us. We are of the earth, earthy, for we bear the image of the first
Adam. But, Brothers and Sisters, we cannot go to Heaven as worldly men,
for there would be nothing there to gratify us. The gold of Heaven is
not for barter to use, nor for cove-tousness to hoard. The rivers of
Heaven are not for commerce, neither are they to be defiled by men. The
joys and glories of Heaven are all spiritual, all celestial–
"PPure are the joys above the skies And all the region peace."
Such peace is of a heavenly kind, and for heavenly minds. Carnal
spirits, greedy, envious spirits–what would they do in Heaven? If they
were in the place called Heaven, they could not be in the state called
Heaven, and Heaven is more a state than a place! Though it is probably
both, yet it is mainly the former, a state of happiness, a state of
holiness, a state of spirituality which it would not be possible for
the worldly to reach! Therefore, you see, Brothers and Sisters, the
Holy Spirit must come and give us new affections. We must have a fresh
objective set before us. In fact, instead of minding the things that
are seen, we must come to love and to aspire to the things that are not
seen! Our affections, instead of going downwards to things of earth,
must be allured by things that are above, where Christ sits at the
right hand of God!
In addition to our spiritual death and worldliness, we are all unholy
by nature. Not one of us is pure in the sight of God. We are all
defiled and all defiling, but in Heaven they are "without fault before
the Throne of God." No sin is tolerated there–no sin of thought, or
word, or deed! Angels and glorified spirits delight to do God's will
without hesitation, without demur, without omission. And we, like they,
must be holy, or we cannot enter into their sacred fellowship–
"Those holy gates forever bar Pollution, sin, and shame!
None shall obtain admission there But followers of the Lamb."
So what a change must come over the carnal man to make him holy!
Through what washings he must pass! What can wash him white, indeed,
but that far-famed blood of the Son of God? Through purification he
must pass! What, indeed, can purify him at all but the refining energy
of God the Holy Spirit? He alone can make us what God would have us to
be, renewed in His image in holiness and righteousness!
That a great change must be worked in us, even ungodly men will
confess, since the idea of the Heaven of the Scriptures has always been
repulsive, never agreeable, to unconverted men and women. When Mohammed
would charm the world into the belief that he was the Prophet of God,
the Heaven he pictured was not at all the Heaven of holiness and
spirituality. His was a Heaven of unbridled sensualism, where all the
passions were to be enjoyed without let or hindrance for endless years!
Such a Heaven that sinful men would like–therefore, such the Heaven
that Mohammed painted for them, and promised to them! Men in general,
be they courtly, or be they coarse in their habits, when they read of
Heaven in the Scriptures with any understanding of what they read, curl
their lips and ask contemptuously, Who wants to be everlastingly
singing Psalms? Who could wish to be always sitting down with these
saints talking about the mighty acts of the Lord and the glorious
majesty of His Kingdom? Such people cannot go to Heaven, it is
clear–they have not character or capacity to enter into its enjoyment!
I think Whitefield was right. Could a wicked man be admitted into
Heaven, he would be wretched there–being unholy, he must be unhappy.
From sheer distaste for the society of Heaven, he might fly to Hell for
shelter! With the tumult of evil passions in his breast, he could not
brook the triumph of righteousness in the city of the blest. There is
no Heaven for him who has not been prepared for it by a work of Grace
in his soul. So necessary is this preparation–a preparation for us,
and a preparation in us. And if we ever have such a preparation, beyond
all question we must have it on this side of our death. It can only be
obtained in this world. The moment one breathes his last, it is all
fixed and settled. As the tree falls, so it must lie. While the nature
is soft and supple it is susceptible to impression, stamp what seal you
may upon it. Once let it grow cold and hard, fixed and frigid, you can
do so no more, it is proof against any change. While the iron is
flowing into the mold you can fashion it into what implement you
please. Let it grow cold, in vain you strive to alter its form! With
pen of liquid ink in your hand you write what you will on the paper,
but the ink dries, the impress remains, and where is the treachery that
shall tamper with it? Such is this life of yours. It is over, all over
with you for eternity, beyond alteration or amending when the breath
has gone from the body. Your everlasting state is fixed then–
"There are no acts of pardon passed
In the cold grave to which we hasten,
But darkness, death, and long despair
Reign in eternal silence there." We have no intimation in the Word of
God that any soul dying in unbelief will afterwards be converted to the
faith. Nor have we the slightest reason to believe that our prayers in
this world can at all affect those who have departed this life. The
masses of priests are fictions, without the shadow of Divine Authority.
"Purgatory," or "Pick-Purse," as old Latimer used to call it, is an
invention for making fat larders for priests and monks! The Scriptures
of the Truth of God give it no countenance. The Word of God says, "He
that is holy, let him be holy still; he that is filthy, let him be
filthy still." Such as you are when death comes to you, such will
judgment find you, and such will the eternal reward or the eternal
punishment leave you, world without end! Preparation is needed–and the
preparation must be found before we die.
Moreover, we ought to know–for it is possible for a man to know
whether he is thoroughly prepared. Some have said not, but they have
usually been persons very little acquainted with the matter. The
writings of those grand old divines of the Puritan period abundantly
prove how thoroughly they enjoyed the assurance of faith! They did not
hesitate to express themselves in such language as the Apostle
used–"We know that if this earthly house of our tabernacle is
dissolved, we have a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens." They were known to speak as Job did when he said, "I know
that my Redeemer lives." And indeed, many of the children of God among
us at this present time are favored with a confident, unstaggering
confidence that, let their last hour come when it may, or let the Lord,
Himself, descend from Heaven with a shout–there will be nothing but
joy and peace for them–no cause for trembling, nothing that can
give them dismay! Why, some of us live from year to year in constant
assurance of our preparation for the bliss that awaits and the rest
that remains for God's people!
Beloved, God has not so left us in such a dubious case that we always
need to be enquiring, "Am I His, or am I not?" He has given us good
substantial grounds to go upon to make sure work of it. He tells us
that, "he that believes and is baptized shall be saved"–if we have
been obedient to these two commands, we shall be saved, for our God
keeps His word! He tells us that such Believers, patiently continuing
in well-doing, inherit eternal life. If we are kept by His Grace,
walking in His fear, we may rest assured that we shall come to the
ultimate end of such a life, namely, the Glory which abides for the
faithful! We need not harbor endless questions. What miserable work it
is to stand in any doubt on this matter! Let us not be satisfied till
we are sure and confident that Heaven will be ours! Alas, how many put
off all thoughts of being prepared to die! They are prepared for almost
anything except the one thing for which it is most necessary to be
ready. If the summons should come to some of you at this moment, how
dread it would be! Were we to see an angel hovering in the air, and
should we have intelligence by a message from the clouds that one of us
must, on a sudden, leave his body behind him and appear before God,
what cowering down, what trembling, what muttering of forgotten prayers
there would be with some of you! You are not ready! You never will be
ready, I fear. The carelessness in which you have lived so long has
become habitual. One would think you had resolved to die in your sins!
Have you ever heard the story of Archaeus, the Grecian despot, who was
going to a feast, and on the way a messenger brought him a letter and
seriously importuned him to read it? It contained tidings of a
conspiracy that had been formed against him, that he would be killed at
the feast. He took the letter and put it in his pocket. In vain the
messenger urged that it was concerning serious matters. "Serious
matters, tomorrow," said Archaeus, "feasting, tonight!" That night the
dagger reached his heart while he had about him the warning which, had
he heeded it, would have averted the peril!
Alas, too many men say, "Serious things tomorrow!" They have no
misgiving that when their sport is over, they will have alike the
leisure and the leanings for these weighty matters. Were it not wiser,
Sirs, to let these grave affairs come first? Might you not, then, find
some better sport of nobler character than all the froth and frivolity
to which fashion leads on–a holy merriment and a sacred feasting that
well become immortal spirits? How vain and groveling the mirth which
reduces men to children, pleased with a rattle, tickled with a
straw–then brings them down to driveling fools and often degrades them
till they become worse than brutes! I wish I could imprint a solemn
thought on the mind of some careless individuals. Reckon you not that
time is short, that life is precarious, that opportunities cross your
path at lightning speed, that hope flatters those on whom the fangs of
death are fixed, that there is no vestibule in which to fit your frame
of mind, that the shock will always come suddenly at last? What
sentence more trite? What sentiment more prevalent? Yet what solemnity
more neglected than this–"Prepare to meet your God"? Propound it,
profess it, preach it as we may, the most of men are unprepared! They
know the inevitable plight. They see the necessity of preparation, but
they postpone and procrastinate, instead of preparing! God grant you
may not trifle, any of you, until your trembling souls are launched
into that unknown sphere, but not unfeared, and read your doom in Hell.
Now–
II. AS TO THE AUTHOR OF THIS PREPARATION FOR DEATH, the text says, "He
that has worked us for the
same thing is God." It is God, alone, then, who makes men fit for
Heaven! He works them to the same purpose. Who made Adam fit for
Paradise but God? And who must make us fit for the better Paradise
above but God? That we cannot do it ourselves is evident. According to
the Scriptures, we are dead in trespasses and sins. Can the dead start
from the grave of their own accord? Do you think to see coffins opened
and gravestones uplifted by the natural energy of corpses? Such things
were never dreamed of! The dead shall surely rise, but they shall rise
because God raises them. They cannot vitalize their inert frames,
neither can the dead in sin quicken themselves and make themselves fit
for the Presence of God! Conversion, which prepares us for Heaven, is a
new creation. That word, "creation," puts all the counsel, the conceit
and the contrivance of man into the background. If anyone says that he
can make a new heart, let him first go and make a fly. Not until he has
created such a winged insect, let him presume to tell us that he can
make a man a new creature in Christ Jesus! And yet to make a fly would
not demonstrate that a fly could make itself–and it would offer but a
feeble pretext for that wonderful creation which is supposed in a man's
making himself a new heart! The original Creation was the work of God,
and the New Creation must likewise be of God! To take away a heart of
stone and give a heart of flesh is a miracle. Man cannot do it–if he
attempts it–it shall be to his own shame and confusion. The Lord must
make us anew! Have not we who know something of the Lord's working in
us, this same thing, been made to feel that it is all of His
Grace ? What first made us think about eternal things? Did we, the
stray sheep, come back to the fold of our own accord? No! Far from it–
"Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God."
And ever since we have been living men in Christ Jesus. To whom must we
ascribe our preservation and our progress? Must we not attribute every
victory over sin and every advance in the spiritual life, to the
operation of God, and nothing at all to ourselves? A poor simpleton
once said, "'Twas God and I did the work." "Well, but, Charlie, what
part did you take in it?" "Surely, then," he said, "I did all I could
to stop the Lord, and He beat me." I suppose, did we tell the simple
truth, we could say much the same. In the matter of our salvation, we
do all we can to oppose it–our old nature does– and He overcomes our
evil propensities. From first to last, Jesus Christ has to be the
Author and the Finisher of our salvation, or it never would have been
begun, and it never would have been completed!
Think, Beloved, of what fitness for Heaven is. To be fit for Heaven a
man must be perfect! Go, you who think you can prepare yourselves–be
perfect for a day! The vanity of your own mind, the provocation of this
treacherous world and the subtle temptation of the devil would make
short work of your empty pretensions! You would be blown about like
chaff. Creature perfection, indeed! Was ever anything so absurd? Men
have boasted of attaining it, but their very boasts have proved that
they possessed it not! He that gets nearest to perfection is the very
man who sighs and cries over the abiding infirmities of his flesh. No,
if perfection is to be reached–and it must be, or we shall not be fit
for Heaven–it must be worked by the operation of God! Man's work is
never perfect–it is always marred on the wheel. His best machinery may
still be improved upon! His finest productions of art might still be
excelled. God alone is Perfect and He alone is the Perfecter. Blessed
be God, we can heartily subscribe to this Truth, "He that has worked us
for the same thing is
God."
But what shall I say to those of you, my Friends, who have no
acquaintance with God? You certainly cannot be fitted for Heaven! Your
cause is not committed to Him. He is doing nothing for you. He has not
begun the good work in you. You live in this world as if there were no
God. The thought, the stupendous thought of his "Being" does not affect
you. You would not act any differently if there were 20 Gods or if
there were no God. You utterly ignore His claims on your allegiance and
your responsibility to His Law. Virtually in thought and deed you are
without God in the world. Poor forlorn creature, you have forgotten
your Creator! Poor wandering Soul, you have fallen out of gear with the
universe! You have become alienated from the great Father who is in
Heaven! I tremble at the thought. To be on the wide sea without rudder
or compass–to be lost in the wilderness where there is no way!
Cheerless as your condition is, remember this–though you see not God,
God sees you. God sees you now! He hears you now. If you breathe but a
desire towards Him, that desire shall be accepted and fulfilled! He
will yet begin to work in you that gracious preparation which shall
make you meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in
light! And now, thirdly–
III. LET THE SEAL OF THIS PREPARATION be briefly, but attentively
considered.
The Apostle says, "He that has worked us for the same thing is God, who
also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." Employers frequently
pay during the week, a part of the wages which will be due on Saturday
night. God gives His Holy Spirit, as it were, to be a part of the
reward which He intends to give to His people, when, like hirelings,
they have fulfilled their day. Our country friends just before harvest
go out into the fields and they pick half a dozen ears that are ripe,
braid the ends and hang them up over the mantle shelf as a kind of
earnest of the harvest. So God gives us His Holy Spirit to be in our
hearts as an earnest of Heaven–and as the ears of corn are of the same
quality and character as the harvest, so the gift of the Holy Spirit is
the foretaste of Heaven. When you have Him, you have a plain indication
to your soul of what Heaven will be! You have a part of Heaven–"a
young Heaven," as Dr. Watts somewhere calls it, within you!
Ask yourself, then, dear Hearer, this question, "Have I received the
earnest of the Spirit?" If so, you have the preparation for Heaven! If
not, you are still a stranger to Divine things and you have no reason
to believe that the Heaven of the saints will be your heritage. Come,
now, have you received the Holy Spirit? Do, you reply, "How may I
know?" Wherever the Holy Spirit is, He works certain Graces in the
soul–repentance, to wit. Have you ever repented of sin? I mean, do you
hate it? Do you shun it? Do you grieve to think you should once have
loved it? Is your mind altogether changed with regard to sin, so that
what once seemed pleasure is now pain, and all the sweetness of sin is
poison to your
taste? Where the Holy Spirit is, repentance is followed by the whole
train of Graces, all in a measure, not any in perfection, for there is
always room to grow in Grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ! Such
is patience, which submits to the Lord's will. Such, too, the gracious
disposition of forgiveness, which enables us to bear injuries and to
forgive those that vex us. Such, likewise, that holy courage which is
not ashamed to acknowledge our Lord, or to defend His cause. In fact,
where the Holy Spirit is bestowed, all the Graces of the Spirit will be
communicated in some degree. Though they will all need to grow, still
there will be the seeds of them all. Where the Holy Spirit is, there
will be the joy! No delight can be more animating or more elevating
than that which springs from the indwelling of God in the soul! Think
of God coming to abide in this poor bosom! Why, were a cross of
diamonds or pearls glittering on your breast, some might envy you the
possession of such a treasure–but to have God within your breast is
infinitely better! God dwells in us and we in Him. Oh, sacred mystery!
Oh, birth of unspeakable joy! Oh, well of Divine bliss that makes earth
like Heaven! Have you ever had this joy–the joy of knowing that you
are pardoned? The joy of being sure that you are a child of God? The
joy of being certain that all things work together for your good? The
joy of expecting that before long, and the sooner the better, you shall
be forever beyond gunshot of fear, and care, and pain, and need? Where
the Spirit of God is, there is more or less of this joy, which is the
earnest of Heaven!
This gift, moreover, will be conspicuously evidenced by a living faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is not in you if you rely on
anything but Jesus–but if, as a poor guilty sinner, you have come to
Him, partaken of His gracious pardon, kissed His blessed feet, and are
now depending upon Him, alone–you have received the Holy Spirit and
you have got a foretaste of Heaven!
Brothers and Sisters, it is intensely desirable that we should seek
more to be consciously filled with the Holy Spirit. We get easily
contented with a little spiritual blessedness. Let us grow more
covetous of the best gifts. Let us crave to be endued with the Holy
Spirit and to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and in fire. The more we
get of Him, the more assurance we shall have of Heaven for our peace,
the more foretastes of Heaven for our happiness and the more
preparation for Heaven in lively hope!
Thus have I shown you the need of preparation, the Author of
preparation and the great Seal which proves the truth of that
preparation. If your honest conscience allows your humble claim to have
received this sacred token of salvation, how happy you would be! Do not
be afraid to be happy! Some Christians seem to court the gloom of
despondency as if they dared not bask in the sunshine of Heaven. I have
sometimes heard people say that they have not enjoyed themselves. No,
dear Friends, pity, I think , if any of us ever should! It would be a
poor kind of enjoyment if we merely enjoyed ourselves. But, oh, it is
delightful when you can enjoy your God and when you can enjoy the
mercies that are in Him, the promises that are in Him and the blessings
which, through Him, come to you! When you gather round the Table of the
Lord's Love, do not be afraid to partake of the feast! There is nothing
put there to be looked at. There is no confectionery spread out for
show. If you dare conclude that you are living in Christ, and living on
Christ, do not be afraid to sing as you go home–
"Now I can read my title clear To mansions in the skies, I bid farewell
to every fear, And wipe my weeping eyes."
It will be a blessing to your family for you to be happy. You may find
that something has gone wrong while you have been away. Go home as
happy as you can be and you will be better able to bear the cares and
vexations that must and will befall you. Keep your spirit well worked
up to the fear of the Lord and the enjoyment of His Presence. Then, if
some little matter should come to disquiet you, you can say, "Who am I
that I should he vexed and chafed, or lose my temper, or be cast down
about such a matter as this? This is not my sphere of well-being. This
is not my Heaven. This is not my
God."–
"If you should take them all away, Yet should I not repine–
Before they were possessed by me
They were entirely Thine.
Nor would I speak a murmuring word,
Though the whole world were gone,
But seek enduring happiness
In You, and You alone."
But, oh, suppose you feel persuaded and honestly admit that you are not
prepared to die, not made meet for Heaven? Do not utterly despair, but
be grateful that you live where the Gospel is preached! "Faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Be much in hearing the Word
and be much in earnest prayer that the hearing may be blessed to your
soul. Above all, give diligence to that Divine Command which bids you
trust in Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. Eternal Life lies in the
nutshell of that one sentence, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you shall be saved." All that is asked of you–and even that Grace
gives you–is simply to trust in Him who, as Son of God, died for the
sins of men! God give you that faith, and then may you meet death with
joy, or look forward to the coming of the Lord with peace, whichever
may be your lot. Amen.