Eternal Life
Dear B…
I am now certain that I have Eternal Life. If you asked me when it happened I could not tell you the exact hour or day even. It was sometime before Easter. I know that I was certain by Easter morning. However, I have held off telling anyone until I told J… last week. Last night I told D… when he came up. I told him when we were cutting the grass behind the house.
It certainly has been a long hard search. It started three years ago when I sat down and realized that I was a complete atheist and completely disgusted and dissatisfied. I started to analyze what I had learned in schools and colleges and compare it with the Bible. My first big barrier was the Theory of Evolution, and my second big barrier was whether justification is by works or by faith.
A few months ago I met J… at the M… train station after work. She was tired so I suggested that we eat dinner in the diner. We did, and after we had finished, the waitress brought our check. When I picked it up there was a little red “Salvation Bible” underneath it. I put it in my pocket and read it when I got home. It was a wonderful help. I compared it with the “Schofield Bible” and the New Testament in Greek. Then I read “God’s Plan for the Ages in Dispensational Truth” by Clarence Larkin. For the first time in my life I had a terrific desire for Eternal Life. It loomed so large in my mind that honor, glory, power, and wealth seemed small. Needless to say, I found it. I also found the promise, that by seeking the Kingdom of Heaven first all these things would be added unto me. When you come home I will tell you how quickly I was forced to put that promise to a test, and how God helped me.
I have no single verse that I can quote as being the means of my salvation. Each one I read helped make me more convinced. I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, was divine; that He was the spotless Lamb of God. He died on the cross because my transgressions and iniquities nailed Him there. He was my Substitute. He was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. I accept Him as my Saviour and accept His gift of Eternal Life. I am the happiest man in town today; I have joy.
I compared what you and D… had to say about Eternal Life with what I found in the Bible; I was impressed. I read “Fox’s Book of Christian Martyrs.” I was impressed by the fact that you and they both held to the view of “sudden death, sudden glory.” Mostly I was impressed by the reward the martyrs from Stephen on expected. Many of those martyrs were wealthy men of high estate who were seemingly losing wealth and life for a promise from a person they had never seen. After I read the promises of Eternal Life, of the river that flows onward forever, of the tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations in a future day, of the Eternal City with gates of precious stones and streets of gold, of stars for the believers’ crowns, and of God’s protection here on earth, I ceased to wonder, and began to worry whether I had made a mistake myself. Having concluded that I was wrong, I sought the Scriptures for Eternal Life and found they testified of Jesus.
Philosophy teaches that God is not knowable or divine. From there it begins to build a perfect man, a man who is at peace with himself, a man who loves his neighbor, who commits no wrong, and who, theoretically, should live forever. Philosophy begins in denial of, and is finally forced to accept the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ fits all these conditions. He knew no sin from the beginning. How could I argue myself out of a circle of reasoning? I always wound up with Jesus, the Great Teacher, the Great Physician, the Great Healer, the Holy One of God.
Come home soon,
D…
This letter, printed exactly as written except that names of places and persons are omitted, draws the attention of our young readers to four interesting facts: namely, the emptiness of atheism, the effectiveness of gospel literature, the enjoyment of Eternal Life, and the promptings of temptation.
The writer declares that while he was an atheist he was “completely disgusted and dissatisfied.” The theories of philosophy which set God aside and endeavour to build a perfect man, in actual practice produced only a dismal failure, a discouraged man. His experience parallels that of the infidel who wrote,
“I’ve tried in vain,
A thousand ways
My fears to quell,
My hopes to raise;
But what I need
The Bible says,
Is ever only
Jesus !”
The second point to impress us, is the effectiveness of a gospel tract. That waitress may not know until the Judgment Seat of Christ, the result of the little red-covered “Salvation Bible” dropped by her on to the table along with the meal check. The importance of spreading the gospel in printed form cannot be over emphasized.
That he cannot tell the exact day or hour when this experience took place, and that he cannot single out any one verse in the Bible as the means of his salvation, may seem strange to some; nevertheless, it is evident that as the truth of the death of the Lamb of God reached his heart, therein was begotten an enduring joy. He says in effect, “For my transgressions the Substitute died on the cross; my iniquities nailed Him there.” Consequently, on believing this he felt himself the happiest man in the town.
While the Word of God brought him peace and assurance he intimates that very soon he sensed the presence of a tempter, and was forced to definitely test the power of the promises of God. For all who may be undergoing similar times of difficulty or doubt, we would offer the assurance that the Word of the Lord can never fail; you stand upon a solid foundation, the impregnable rock of Holy Scripture.
Philosophic theories and fanciful hypothesis can give to the heart neither constant peace nor true satisfaction, but simple faith and trust in the teachings of the Bible and in the work finished by Christ upon the cross will impart conscious rest, permanent security, and spiritual delight.