“Lay Hold on Eternal Life!”

"Lay Hold on Eternal Life!"

(No. 2226)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 18, 1891,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH
19, 1891.

"Lay hold on eternal life." 1 Timothy 6:12.

PAUL was very anxious about Timothy, his own son in the faith. He loved
him greatly and he had much confidence in him, but still he felt that
the work of preaching the Gospel was such a responsible undertaking
that he could not be too prayerful for him, nor too earnest in
exhorting him to continued steadfastness in those things which he had
received. So "the old man eloquent," whose very pen seems to have
borrowed some of the burning fervor of his heart, pours out his very
soul to young Timothy in the earnest desire that he may find in him a
true successor–one who, when Paul is compelled to lay down his
trusteeship–will take it up and be faithful to his Lord and to the
Gospel when his father in Christ is taken away from him. We cannot be
too anxious about our young Brothers who are to preach the Gospel of
the Grace of God. Always pray for students! Let them continually be
mentioned in your private prayers than when those who have borne the
burden and heat of the day shall rest with their fathers, God may raise
up better men than they, who shall yet more faithfully proclaim His
Word.

This passage of Scripture, "Lay hold on eternal life," is suggestive
from its connection. In the same verse Timothy is told to, "Fight the
good fight of faith." From this it is evident that if he lays hold on
eternal life, he will have to fight for it and that if he has to fight,
he can only fight by laying hold upon eternal life with a tenacious
grip. Every Christian man is a soldier and no man will war a good
warfare unless he lays hold upon eternal life with all his heart and
soul. A man may fight the battles of earth with the life of earth, but
our warfare is of a different kind–"For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places." With such foes we can only contend successfully when we
are made invulnerable by the reception of the life of God within our
souls. In a classic story we read of one who was dipped in the river
Styx before he went forth to the battle so that the arrows of the foe
might fall harmless about him. That fable becomes a fact for us when we
"lay hold on eternal life." The fiery darts of the wicked are quenched
by our shield of faith!

The whole chapter forms a sort of preface to the text. Three classes of
people seem to have existed in the community where Timothy was called
to labor–each with different views of the best method of teaching
those around them. First of all, there were some who intermeddled with
social politics. They told the slaves that they might conspire against
their masters and try to rectify the unquestionable wrongs which
existed in that day. Paul desires, as much as anybody could, that
injustice should come to an end and especially that slavery should be
swept off the face of the earth, as it has largely been by the
influence of the Gospel. But, taught of God, and seeing that it was by
the proclamation of the Gospel that these evils would be most surely
overcome–rather than by any hasty social change–he says to Timothy,
"Leave that matter alone. Lay hold on eternal life! You are not sent to
cleanse the Augean stable of politics and to set things socially
right–let it be sufficient for you to lay hold on eternal life and to
call upon the people to do the same. Every man to his own calling and
this is yours, "Lay hold on eternal life." Today many a young preacher
and, perhaps some of the older ones, would do well to take heed to this
advice of Paul given by the Spirit, for while every real social
improvement, based on the principles of right and justice must have the
sympathy of all Christian men, depend upon it that, in the long run,
the surest way to raise men is to preach the Gospel to them! This will
change their character and regenerated lives will soon result in
altered social conditions.

Round about Timothy, too, there buzzed a set of men full of questions
and difficulties–and discoveries of a false science which Paul calls,
"profane and vain babblings." These were in a most unhealthy state,
"sick about questionings and disputes of words," as the Apostle's
language in verse four may be literally rendered. Concerning such, he
says to Timothy, "Do not answer such wrangling of men corrupted in mind
and bereft of the Truth of God. Do not worry yourself about them! Let
the bees or the wasps buzz as much as they like. As for you, lay hold
on eternal life! Stick to your business. Go in for the one thing for
which God has called you, the glorious work of saving souls! Let those
who like such questions fight them out to the bitter end, but, as for
you, lay hold on eternal life!"

Then Paul had noticed that, at Ephesus, there were certain men who were
striving to be rich. Certain men, even of the members of the Church,
who seemed to be sacrificing everything else for gain. They were
counting that gain was godliness and that if they could get rich, they
really were the better men for it. But Paul says to Timothy, "Leave
money alone. Having food and raiment, let us be content. Your hand is
not big enough to lay hold of two things. Therefore, since you can only
have one, see that it is the vital thing. Lay hold on eternal life!" To
use the rough old proverb, "Let the cobbler stick to his last."
"Timothy, stick to your business! Lay hold on eternal life–that is
your main concern– 'Whereunto you are also called and have professed a
good profession before many witnesses.'"

I like this plain dealing of the Apostle. He seems to say, "Come to the
all-important point, Timothy, and stick to it. Let others go in for
this, and that, and the other–but as for you, set before yourself the
highest aim. Say to them, as I wrote to the Philippians last year from
Rome, 'This one thing I do'–'Lay hold on eternal life.'"

The great complaint which we have to make against many is that they
seem to be looking after the odds and ends, the paraphernalia, the
minor affairs of life. They do not seem to aim at this point–eternal
life! Is it not so in praying? Is there not much that passes by the
name which is not real prayer? We might often say, "Get to the point,
Man, and ask of God what you need! Come to real prayer and downright
grips with the Angel! Wrestle with Him and prevail!"

Paul seems, also, to hint that there was in the preaching, even in his
day, a great deal that was extraneous, ornamental, superfluous–and so
he says to young Timothy, "Aim at the center of the target. Go in for
this, the main business, first of all–lay hold on eternal life!

How much there is of our prayer which is only language. How much of our
praise which is only music! How much there is in our Churches which is
something that may have to do with the betterment of the people, but is
not salvation, not winning souls for Christ! How much there is of
teaching which may be Christian teaching, but is not the teaching of
Christ! But here we clearly see that the Apostle focused everything to
this one point and brought Timothy to this one thing–that he should
"lay hold on eternal life"–and having laid hold on it, himself, should
then set it forth before others with such vehemence and strong emphasis
that they, also, might be persuaded to lay hold on it and be saved!

Oh, my dear Hearers! What does it matter what I have preached to you
unless you get eternal life? What does it matter how I have said this
or that to you, unless you have received, at the hand of my Master,
that life-giving stream which shall be in you "a well of water
springing up into everlasting life"? With all your getting, I beseech
you, get the understanding of the great mystery of godliness and become
wise as to the life which is life, indeed!

I am now going to take this exhortation and press it upon each one here
present, asking God to bless it. "Lay hold on eternal life."

I. First, then, WHAT IS ETERNAL LIFE?

In attempting to answer this question, I remark what should be
perfectly obvious–it is a gift of God–the fruit of a Divine operation
upon the heart. One of the first works of the Grace of God is to put
within us eternal life. No man can create it, either in himself, or in
his fellow men. Just as our physical life was bestowed upon us apart
from any effort of our own, the Divine life cannot be evolved by any
device of man–it must be imparted by the Spirit of God. At first, God
created man "and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul." And when, in Christ, man becomes a new creation,
the work is as wholly and as really God's. Eternal life is what no man
has by nature, for he is dead in sin. No man can earn it, for carnal
works cannot purchase a spiritual gift. And if a man toiled for a whole
eternity, he would be no nearer the possession of eternal life than
when he began.

That it does not come by effort is clear, for how shall the dead, by
any kind of effort, if effort they could make, attain to life? It does
not come by outward ceremonies–these could never purchase that which
God bestows freely. Yet how natural it is to the proud heart of man to
seek to make payment for that which is to be obtained without money and

without price! It is strange that men should expect God to take their
gift when they refuse to accept His! If they would but remember that
all their giving cannot enrich God–that they cannot give Him anything
that He does not already possess–it would be quite evident to them
that eternal life can come in no other way than by the gift of God! It
is foolish to try to fill an already full vessel! It is profane as well
as foolish to seek to be saved by giving to God instead of receiving
from Him, or by anything we can bring to attempt to buy this eternal
life. This is to imitate Simon Magus, to whom Peter said, "Your money
perish with you, because you have thought that the gift of God may be
purchased with money." Neither with money nor with ceremonies can it be
purchased. It is purely and solely the gift of God by Jesus Christ.
"The wages of sin is death; but the gift"–the free gift–"of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."–

"Life is found alone in Jesus,

Only there 'tis offered thee–

Offered without price or money'

'Tis the gift of God sent free!

Take salvation,

Take it now and happy be."

This eternal life, given thus freely, is a present possession. "Eternal
life" may sometimes be employed to set out the glories of Heaven, but
not often–it is a thing possessed here. In the day in which we are
regenerated, we receive the first germs of this everlasting life. When
we are born again, it is, "not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever." It
is a gift of God, a gift not reserved for the future, but given now,
the moment a sinner believes in Christ! One of the first tokens of
eternal life being given is the cry of prayer–and then come repentance
of sin–and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is eternal life–the
gift of God and a present possession. Have you received it? I do not
ask you whether you know exactly the day or the hour when you received
it, but are you alive unto God with a life you had not by nature, but
which has been planted in you by God the Holy Spirit?

This life is, in fact, the life of God in the soul. The Holy Spirit
comes and breathes God's life into dead men. There is nothing
everlasting in itself but God–and there is no life that is everlasting
except that which comes from the Everlasting One! The gift of God is
not only the gift God gives, but God is the gift that is given! He it
is who breathes into us this eternal life which is really Christ living
in us! He, Himself, is "that eternal life, which was with the Father,
and was manifested unto us." The Holy Spirit comes and dwells in the
man! "We will come to him," says Christ, "and take up Our abode with
him." The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, each in a certain way,
comes and dwells within the man–he becomes a Temple of the Holy Spirit
and so he is alive unto God.

Again, eternal life is a life which never dies. We speak very
positively here. Eternal life cannot have an end! If it can come to an
end by any process, whatever, then it is not eternal! This is as clear
as words can make it. The life, then, which God gives to every soul in
its regeneration, can never die! Hear these words of Christ–"My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of My hand." We do not teach that if the life of God in
a Believer were to die out, he could, nevertheless, be saved. No
Scripture teaches that!

We teach that if there is the life of God in a man, it is eternal–not
only that it is going to be eternal, but that now, in its nature and
essence, it is eternal and can be nothing but eternal life and,
therefore, can never come to an end! It may be lessened; it may be
sick; it may be obscure; but if it is there, since it is eternal life,
it cannot come to an end! If it did, it could by no possibility be
correctly said to be eternal life at all. Do you see, then, what a
blessing is yours if you have received the gift of God? If by Grace you
have received life through Jesus Christ, you have a life which will
never die, a life which will outlast the sun and moon! You will see
this world turned to a black coal. You will see all things expire, but
your life and the life of God shall run on forever and ever. Well might
Paul urge Timothy and well may we urge you to lay hold on such a life
as this. So–

"Take, with rejoicing, from Jesus at once The life everlasting He
gives! And know, with assurance, you never can die, Since Jesus, your
righteousness, lives." Once more, this eternal life is the life that is
perfected in Glory. It goes on developing and matures, even in this
world, to a very high degree. There is a very great difference between
the new-born babe and the full-grown man and there is a

great difference between the Believer who has just received eternal
life and that riper saint who has come to the fullness of the stature
of a man in Christ Jesus. But it is the same life! It is the same life
that says, "God be merciful to me a sinner," which afterwards says, "I
know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep
that which I have committed unto Him against that day." It is the same
life, but a fuller measure thereof. One is life, the other is life more
abundant. As certainly as the eternal life begins, even in the tiniest
bud, so will it blossom and become fruitful until it comes to its full
perfection in Glory. The life of Believers in Heaven, the life that
never sins, the life that is absolute obedience, the life that is
undiluted bliss is exactly the same life that is in the Believer right
now! The same life that God gave him when he first believed is that
with which he beholds the face of God–without a veil between them–as
he treads the golden streets of the New Jerusalem!

This, then, is eternal life–a new principle, a Divine principle, an
inexhaustible, unquenchable, immortal principle. He that has it is
blessed, indeed, among the sons of men! He that has it not is dead
while he lives!

Having thus considered the nature of this possession, we come back to
the question we have already asked –Have we this eternal life? Have we
received it as God's gift? Is it, within our hearts, a lamp burning
there, never to be put out? Do we know its present power and reality
and have we joy therein? Yes, do we delight ourselves in God, who has
brought us out of death into life–out of the region of the Valley of
the Shadow of Death into that great light which is the beginning of
Heaven, the dawn of the day that shall never end? If we do, let us
unitedly lift up our hearts in praise and say, "Thanks be unto God for
His unspeakable gift!" Can we ever cease to adore His name, since He
has bestowed such a treasure upon us? But if you have not yet become a
possessor of it, I beseech you at this moment to hold out your empty
hands and take the gift so freely offered! "And this is the record,
that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He
that has the Son has life, but he that has not the Son of God has not
life."

II. In the second place, the Apostle tells us to "lay hold on" eternal
life. That is the main point of my present discourse. How DO WE LAY
HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE? There are degrees in the reception of this life,
but happy is the man who fully apprehends that for which he is also
"apprehended of Christ Jesus." The Spirit of God lays hold of us in
order that we may lay hold on eternal life! How we are enabled to do
this is our present subject for consideration.

First, if you would grasp this gift, believe in it as true. The very
beginning of our hope is when the Lord leads us to believe that there
is such a thing as eternal life–and that it is a tangible thing, not a
dream or a vision–but a reality to be laid hold of. I certainly
believe in the existence of a thing that I can lay hold upon. If
"seeing is believing," laying hold is even a more thorough mode of
believing! Believe, then, that there is a higher life than Nature can
ever create. If unconverted, you do not know anything about this in
your own experience, but there is such a thing. There is life in Christ
which He can give you. There is life by the Holy Spirit which He can
work in you. He can strip you of those grave clothes of sin and raise
you from your tomb. The words which Christ once addressed to Martha
still sound in our ears–"I am the resurrection and the life: he that
believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whoever
lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

Answer this question of my Master, "Do you believe this?" If you do,
there is hope that you shall yet be a partaker of His Grace. Nothing
can hinder when He begins to work! Though you feel as if you did not
feel at all. Though you seem paralyzed and unable to repent or to
believe–this life shall be given to you and it shall be given to you
now if you look unto Him who was lifted up upon the Cross, that,
"whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Believe, my Brothers and Sisters, you that have this eternal life, in
the power and reality of it! And whenever Satan tempts you to think
that it is a fiction, a dream, a piece of enthusiasm, an idea born of
fanaticism–resist him by the plain testimony of the Word of God–and
the abundant witness of those who have gone before you, rejoicing in
the power of it! Every child of God has times when he questions
himself, but he can still truly say, "I am not what I used to be. I
have feelings both of pain and joy that come not of the old life, but
of the new, which has come to me by God's gracious gift."–

"Lord, I was dead. I could not stir My lifeless soul to come to Thee!
But now, since You have quickened me, I rise from sin's dark
sepulcher."

If any of you have not yet experienced such a change, begin, as I have
told you, by believing that there is such a thing as eternal life. I
wish that you who have not yet obtained this blessing would make a
point of regularly attending some

place where the Gospel is preached, saying, "It is to be had and I will
have it. It is to be had by faith. 'Faith comes by hearing.' I will be
an earnest hearer! 'Hearing comes by the Word of God.' I will take care
to read and hear only the Word of God, so that faith may come to me and
life may come by faith, for there is such a thing as receiving a new
and spiritual life that shall make me far other than by nature I am. I
believe it is true." That is the first way of laying hold.

But you do not lay hold of a thing by simply believing that there is
such a thing! You must go farther. Appropriate it. There is a book and
I believe that it is there, but if anybody told me that it was a
present for me and said, "All that you have to do in order to have it
is to lay hold upon it," I should understand that he meant not only
that I was to believe in its existence, but that I was to take it up
and carry it home with me. That is how you are to "lay hold on eternal
life." Strange as it is, this is a thing which, though it is so simple,
we cannot make awakened sinners understand! That eternal life is God's
free gift put within their reach and that they are to take hold of it
for their own salvation seems harder for some to grasp than if it were
the most intricate puzzle! Yet this is, perhaps, the clearest aspect of
the great matter of salvation.

It was Dr. Chalmers, I think, who used to say that he had no such
comfort in the Gospel as when he viewed it as a simple offer on the one
side, and a simple acceptance on the other. God gives–and we take! The
Lord who has been chastening you, making you feel your sinnership and
showing you that you are condemned and only fit to die, now says, "Lay
hold on eternal life. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Take Him to be
yours. Accept Him as your Substitute, bearing the death justly your due
and, having given His life for you, now giving it to you. Make the
exchange! Christ took your death–take His life! He bore your
evil–take His good! Appropriate it. Lay hold on eternal life." When
people are sinking in the water and there is a life buoy or a rope
near, they do not need much exhorting to lay hold upon it, nor any
elaborate explanation of the way! They simply grip anything that gives
them half a hope of being saved from the devouring deep. Now, Soul, you
are not to bring anything with you. That would be to fill your hands
and then you could not lay hold of anything else! You are to come
empty-handed, just as you are, to Christ, who is set before you. Be
bold enough to take Him and let Him be yours! You need no worthiness.
How could you be worthy of Him? He gives Himself freely to your
unworthiness and sinnership! Confess these and lay hold on eternal
life–appropriate it to yourself.

The exhortation means more than that, however. Having appropriated it,
keep it. Hold to it and never let it go. Hide it in your heart as a
choice treasure and, if any would rob you of it, or frown you out of
it, or laugh at you because you prize so highly what they so lightly
esteem, lay hold on it still more! This is the work of the Grace of God
which enables you, first, to take and then to keep it! Oh, what efforts
will be made from within and from without to get you to give up eternal
life! But here comes, in the exhortation, "Cling to it. Hold fast by it
constantly. As with a death grip, grasp it with new energy. If you have
held it with one hand, hold it with both hands. Yet more and more lay
hold on eternal life."

And then, furthermore, keep yourself upon it. According to the text,
you have to "Fight the good fight of faith." Every now and then you
will get an ugly knock, a bruise, a bleeding wound from your enemy.
What are you to do? Always lay hold on eternal life, again, and it will
strengthen you, stanch your wounds and make you, once more, strong in
the day of battle. I would have you think much of this. If you believe
in Christ, there is a life within you, like the life of God, which will
never die–a life within you which will bring you to stand before the
glorious Throne of Christ, "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such
thing." Do not, therefore, ever give up hope! Do not be staggered by
what you may have to suffer here. In the midst of all the agony of the
way, keep your heart upon God and upon the gift He has given you. "Lay
hold on eternal life." If between here and Heaven you could be burned
as a martyr every day, it would be worth your while to bear it, laying
hold on eternal life–

"The King abo ve in beauty, Without a veil is seen! It were a
well-spent journey, Though ten deaths lay between."

If between here and Heaven you had nothing to bear but the cruelty of
men and the unkindness of the enemies of Christ, you should bear it
right manfully, and even joyfully, because you can say, "I know in
myself that I have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance. Even
here I have a life which the world did not give me and cannot take from
me– therefore I hold to it, still, and I comfort myself with this
sweet thought, that it is mine, the gift of God to me! It bears me up
amid seas of grief. 'My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the
strength of my heart and my portion forever.'"

Further, I think that the Apostle, by the exhortation, "Lay hold on
eternal life," meant, let other things go. Here is a Brother, lately
converted, who has been accustomed to keep his shop open on Sundays. He
lives in a street where the best business is to be done on that day and
if he closes his shop he will very likely be a great loser. What should
he do? I thank God that the man has not asked anybody what he should
do–he has done the right thing and trusted in his God! The Apostle
seems to say, "Let anything else go, let everything else go, but lay
hold on eternal life. Hold to that." "Oh, but I should lose a living!"
Yes, but if you lost a living and saved your life, what would you lose?
Have you ever heard of the one who had a bag of gold on board a ship
coming home from Australia? The ship was sinking and he went down to
his cabin, put as much gold as he could into a belt, and then fastened
the belt around his waist. When he leaped for the boat and missed it,
it was not possible to pick him up, for he sank with the weight of his
own gold round his loins! There was no hope for him–his treasure was
his ruin!

And many a man, in like manner, is, by all his toil, but preparing sure
destruction for himself–toiling and working hard only that he may
effectually ruin his own soul! Let these things go. "For what is a man
advantaged if he gains the whole world and loses himself, or is cast
away?" Even for the fleeting life of the body, a man will sacrifice
all, thankful if he can get out of the burning house alive, though all
his worldly goods are destroyed–glad to escape from the hands of the
brigands, though they strip him of every possession. "All that a man
has will he give for his life." If this is wise for a transient life,
how much more for the life which is eternal! We shall be gainers by
losing everything, if by the loss we gain everlasting bliss! Let all
that opposes go–friends, kindred, comfort, this present life–let them
all go if, by the sacrifice, we may more firmly lay hold on eternal
life! To keep that–and hold fast to it amidst the stress of
temptation–is the main business of the Christian man! "Lay hold on
eternal life."

And it means, in my text, more than that. Fight, and as you fight, lay
hold upon the victory. While you are running for Heaven, often
anticipate the joys of Heaven. I think you and I do not go to Heaven
often enough. "Well" says one, "I thought we should go there when we
died." Yes, if you are a Believer in Christ, that is secure, but why
not go there now? The Christian's position is unique–he is in two
worlds at once! Our Lord has quickened us, "and has raised us up
together and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ." Do you
not know that the lower ends of all the streets of Heaven are near
here? Victory–that is Heaven! Well, we even now overcome through the
blood of the Lamb! Peace with God–that is Heaven! And at this moment,
"Being justified by faith we have peace with God." Holiness–that is
Heaven! Yes, but we are made holy, now, by the work of the Spirit of
God in our hearts. Communion with God–that is Heaven! But even today,
"Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus
Christ."

Is it not good, sometimes, to sit down and anticipate the day when you
will come into your inheritance? You have heard of the young prince,
who, when his father wakened one morning, was found putting on the
king's crown. It was awkward in his case, but your Father will not
object to your often putting on your crown! Try it and see how it fits.
You will have a new song to sing–begin to sing it here! You will have
holy work to do–"They serve God day and night in His Temple"–serve
Him here! Christ is to dwell among us in Heaven–let us know that He
dwells among us here! I like that verse of our hymn–

"I would begin the music here, And so my soul should rise! Oh, for some
heavenly notes to bear My passions to the skies!"

It was said of an old Puritan that Heaven was in him before he was in
Heaven. That is necessary for all of us–we must have Heaven in us
before we got to Heaven. If we do not get to Heaven before we die, we
shall never get there afterwards. An old Scotchman was asked whether he
ever expected to get to Heaven. "Why, Man, I live there," was his
quaint reply. Let us all live in those spiritual things which are the
essential features of Heaven! Often go there before you go to stay
there! If you come down tomorrow morning, knowing and realizing that
Heaven is yours, and that you will soon be there, those children will
not worry you half so much! When you go out to your business or to your
work, you will not be half so discontent when you know that this is not
your rest, but that you have a rest on the eternal hills where your
heart has already gone–and that there your portion is in the
everlasting dwellings! "Lay hold on eternal life." Get a hold of it
now! It is a thing of the future and it is a thing of the present–and
even your part of it that is future can be, by faith, so realized and
grasped as to be actually enjoyed while you are yet here. "Lay hold on
eternal life."

I have not explained my text so fully or so clearly as I could wish.
The life of which it speaks is beyond all language, but if you will
obey the exhortation of the text, that will be the best exposition of
it. Let him that has not this eternal life believe that it is to be
had. Let the man whose heart aches for it, grasp it and appropriate it
now–he need not be afraid that he will be repelled! Let him that has
it, hold it fast as a jewel for which, sooner than part with it, he
would sell house and home! Let him that has it, enjoy it even now. God
help you in this manner to "lay hold on eternal life"!

III. Now I have to finish with just a special word. WHO ARE THE PEOPLE
THAT OUGHT CHIEFLY TO LAY

HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE?

First, those who are called. This is the reason the Apostle gives to
Timothy–"whereunto you are also called." Beloved, there are some of
you that have been called. A boy, who had come upon an errand, stood at
my window this afternoon. Suddenly he ran away and I thought, "What
made him go?" I found out that though I had not heard the voice,
someone had called him and, therefore, he was gone. Imitate that boy!
Go about this world as men who have been called by a voice that nobody
has heard but you! Has God called you to Himself? He means you to come
away from your old self and cease to live the old life–He would have
you lay hold on eternal life! God never singles us out in this way
unless He means to bless us! He never says, "Seek you My face," in
vain! Has God called you out from among men? Do you feel what your
parents and friends at home do not feel? Is there a call to you like
that call, "Samuel, Samuel," and have you responded, "Here I am, for
You did call me. Speak, for Your servant hears"? Oh, if God has favored
you with a special and effectual call, then lay hold on eternal life
with your whole heart and soul–and never let it go! Come what may,
resolve that you will hold to this gift of God in life, in death and
throughout eternity!

Next, those who have confessed Christ ought especially to lay hold on
eternal life–"whereunto you are also called, and have professed a good
profession before many witnesses." Timothy had been baptized and
probably there had been a great number of persons to encourage or watch
him as he came forward to confess Christ. This, then, was a double
reason why he should hold fast that on which he had laid hold. O you
that have named the name of Christ and have put Him on by that
wonderful symbol of death and burial and resurrection, "Lay hold on
eternal life." Do not play at Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Let these
be stern, no, sweet realities to you! Lay hold, not only on the symbol,
but on what the symbol means! Have you been "Buried with Him by baptism
into death"? Then grasp the soul of the symbol. It is not a mere empty
form, or only the badge of a sect, but a picture of the end of the old
life of the flesh dying to the world and sin, that we may rise in
"newness of life" to walk before God in the land of the living! Of all
men, he who has been baptized should "lay hold on eternal life," for,
in proportion as his Baptism is true, he has no other life to lay hold
of, having died and been buried with Christ!

Then, also, we come to His Table and there we eat His flesh and drink
His blood after a spiritual sort, receiving not merely bread and wine
as memorials, but Himself, by faith, into our hearts! "Lay hold on
eternal life," for profession without eternal life is a fearful
mockery. Without eternal life, to come to the Lord's Supper will be to
eat and drink condemnation to yourself, not discerning the Lord's body!
You that have professed Him before many witnesses, "Lay hold on eternal
life."

And, especially do I say this to those who have been consecrated, like
Timothy, to the service of the Christian ministry. You that have been
permitted in any way, even in the Sunday school, to speak of Christ to
children. You to whom the Lord has committed His Gospel, that you may
impart it to others, "Lay hold on eternal life." You will never do much
in this work unless you have eternal life within your own soul. See to
that first. A dead preacher–what is he but a mocker of dead souls? A
dead teacher–what can she teach? A dead instructor of a Bible
class–how shall the Word of Life have free course and be glorified? A
blind man teaching about colors, or a dumb man teaching music is not
more out of place than a man without eternal life trying to tell out
the Gospel! What can he do? "Lay hold on eternal life," or else quit
this false position lest, when the Lord comes, He should say to you,
"What have you to do to declare My statutes, or that you should take My
Covenant in your mouth?" Ah, I am speaking to myself, now, and I will
take it home. Will you also open your heart to whatever in the sermon
belongs to you? And when it is done and my voice is silent to your
ears, I pray that you may hear, for many a day, a gentle whisper saying
to you, "Lay hold on eternal life."

You, poor Sinner, as you go after your follies and amusements, may the
call, "Lay hold on eternal life," come to you until you shall obey it
and quit such trifles! And you, Christian, when you get into the world
and are tempted to make gain by sin, while you will suffer loss by
righteousness, may you hear a voice say, "Lay hold on eternal life"!
And any of

you who get the "cold shoulder" and the rough side of men's tongues,
when you begin to think that you cannot bear it, may you hear the voice
saying, again, "Lay hold on eternal life." Cling to that, for God, for
Christ, for eternity, for Heaven! The eternal life is the only life
worth living! God help you to live for it always and, if you do, it
will be of His own Grace–and to Him shall be all the Glory, forever
and ever! Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–1 Timothy 6.