Life That is Needed
Around four thousand years ago, a man named Job posed the question, “Man dies and wastes away–he gives up his spirit–and where is he?” Two thousand years later, a man asked a similar question to Jesus Christ: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Today, the wisest of society still fear death and cannot explain why, nor can they find a solution for their fear.
These questions come from man’s deepest heart strains as he realizes he is not ready to face death. He is not ready to meet God in his condition. The Bible says, “A prudent man foresees danger and hides himself, but the simple pass on and suffer.” The question for you is, What will you confide in? Is there a sure way you can follow? Is there absolute truth on which you can rest? Is there eternal life you can possess? Death is too great an appointment to face without peace and assurance. This matter demands it be faced, for “What is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” You must prepare to meet your God.
In this tract you will find words of solemn truth and yet wonderful hope in which to rest. This is exactly what people need: something real, something trustworthy, something that actually deals with their sin and despair once and for all time. These things are found only in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus.
Ways That Seem Right
There are many different approaches to preparing to meet God, yet only one approach is true. In the profound matter of meeting God, one cannot afford to lose his soul because he was sincere and yet misled. The Bible says, “There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end of it is the ways of death.”One must have the way that is right.
There are some who are religious. These desire to earn the favour of God by means of good works, in hope that their good will outweigh their bad on Judgment Day. However, man’s problem goes deeper than the bad things he does; man’s problem is in his heart. Isaiah 64:6 says, “We are all as an unclean thing, and our righteous acts are as filthy rags.” Religion fails, because it targets a person’s actions and not a person’s heart. Only when a person’s heart is changed can he please God; until then, his works earn him no favour with God. But the news is not hopeless, because Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” God offers something which religion and good works cannot offer. He offers favour based on the merits of another, that is, the merits of Jesus Christ. “For when we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. . . . But God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” No one will ever be in heaven because he earned his place there. Rather, “By grace are you saved through faith–and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God–not of works, lest any man should boast.” Dear friend, religion is not the answer: you need the Son of God Who offers free and full salvation through Himself.
There are some who are secular. These often reject the notion of a personal God. Based on this, they find their life’s purpose in pleasure and in social acceptance, claiming that preparing to meet God is absurd and vain. While this may seem like an intellectual issue, it is actually a moral one. Romans 1 says, “From the creation of the world, the invisible things of [God], even His eternal power and deity, are clearly seen, being understood by things that have been created so that they have no defense [for their rejection of God. They have no excuse.]” The passage says later, “Although they knew God, they honoured Him not as God and were not thankful, but became futile in their thinking; and their senseless hearts were darkened.” Man knows deep within that God exists, but he chooses to suppress that truth because it gives him discomfort. Man rejects God because he does not want God. Yet this cannot quench fear of that which is beyond death: man knows he is not ready for it. Dear friend, secularism is not the answer: you need the Son of God Who is real whether you believe Him or not.
There are some who are careless. These do not claim any specific reason for rejecting Jesus Christ; they simply do not care because they are caught up in life’s affairs and would rather postpone thoughts of meeting God after death. One who thinks this way does himself a great disservice, for “What will it profit a man if he should gain the whole world but lose his own soul?” Friend, are you really willing to exchange your soul for a little more pleasure or a little more time? What have you given priority over your eternal destiny? The time to think about these things is now. “Do not boast about tomorrow, because you do not know what a day may bring.” This is not a matter for tomorrow: God says, “Today is the day of salvation” and that you must “Seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near.” Dear friend, carelessness is not the answer: you need the Son of God. You need Him.
There are some who are inclusive. These claim that all ways ultimately lead to God and that all paths are equally legitimate in finding God. But how can this be logical, since most belief-systems contradict each other? Does God not know what He wants? God is very clear in His Word: except in Jesus Christ, “there is no salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” There are some who claim a very wide gate into heaven, but Jesus spoke about the exact opposite: He said, “Enter in at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction. Many go in there. But narrow is the gate, and constricted is the way, which leads unto life, and there are few that find it.” Dear friend, pluralism is not the answer: you need the Son of God Who is the only way.
There are some who feel lost. These actually desire to pursue God but are unsure of where to go or if there is anything to find. Friend, if this is you, be encouraged. God established a principle long ago, “You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.” It is God’s desire that those who seek Him be brought unto Himself. This is why the Son of God came into the world: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true.” In Jesus Christ there is eternal life and absolute assurance to those that trust Him: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life.” Dear friend, remaining lost is not the answer: you need the Son of God who has come to seek and to save the lost.
There are some who are hopeless. These are so caught up in despair, perhaps because of their sin or circumstances, that they cannot even begin to envision a God Who cares about them, let alone a God Who offers them eternal life as a gift. If you are one with the burden of despair, Jesus offers these words: “Come unto me, all you who labour and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest…. learn of me… and you shall find rest unto your souls… for my burden is light.” If yours is the burden of sin, Jesus offers these words: “Whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin…. If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” Dear friend, despair is not the answer: you need the Son of God Who offers peace with God and eternal rest for the soul.
Truth That Is Sure
God makes it clear in His Word that “All of us, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, every one to his own way.” Man’s problem is deep within: he does not know God but rather rejects Him. In his natural state he is not ready to meet God. Jesus says a man must be “born again” if he is to see God, because a fundamental change must take place.
God “has appointed a day in which He will judge the world” by Jesus Christ Who was raised from the dead. The sentence is passed already on all those who have not received the Son of God personally: “He that does not believe is condemned already.”
But in grace God has provided free salvation in His Son: “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God “desires to have all men be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men: the man Christ Jesus, Who gave himself a ransom for all.”
Because of this, He is commanding every person everywhere to repent and trust Jesus, the Son of God, as his Lord and Saviour. Jesus gives the promise, “He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” For those who have this salvation, He promises, “No man shall pluck them from my hand.”
“As I live, says the Yahweh the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die?” Dear friend, listen to the God Who says, “Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else.” Only in Him are truth and salvation.