Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-03-31

the free gift of God is eternal life
Eternal life-what is it? 1t is the
opposite of eternal death. Not eternal
death does not mean nc.exi-tence any
more than eternal life means con-
tinued existence. Gods word teaches
that the soul never dies, in the sense
Of going out of existence. 1t does say
that THE soul that sinneth, it shall
die" but we must interpret the words
of the Bible by the Bible. The Bible.
yo, know, is not only book that
gives US the truth, but it defines the
truth that it gives, and when it talks
about eternal death it does not mean
the annihilation of the soul. 1t is a
truth that whatever exists always eX-
lists, SO the scientists tell us, and the
Bible says that the human soul lives
forever Well, what is eternal life
then, and what is eternal death? Per
haps we might say that eternal life
| means being born of God, having the
life of God. 1t is not our natural life
| prolonged into endless duration. It
! is the divine life impaired to us, the
! very life of God himself communi-
Gated to a human soul. To put it in
another way, we might say thai etern-
al life is right existence, while eternal
death is wrong existence, or, to put
it in still another way, eternal life is
living in the presence of God, while
! eternal death is having the wrath
of God abiding on one.
How, Gods gift is eternal life. Our
text says that he offers us this life
through Jesus Christ our Lord, that
is, Christ is the medium through
whom eternal life comes. What a
wonderful thing it is to know that God
has planned TO give the human race,
dead in trespasses and in sins, eternal
life through his ION What is involved
in that truth? A great deal, my
friends.
First o. all, that on the cross Christ
died fo1 our sins.
Secondly, that there upon the cross
God laid upnn Christ all our sins.
Thirdly, that all our sins will be
forgiven US On condition of our simple
acceptance by faith of his Son, and the
one who thus receives his Son, weNare
told, is born, mot of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will Of
man, but of Cod" I have met many
people who were striving to get etern-
al life. ] have even met Christians
who have had the idea that eternal life
becomes theirs, not through faith, but
by works Of righteousness which they
do.
shall never forget preaching in q
little church in the Catskills, and talk
ing about the way of salvation. when q
brother arose and controverted what
!, | said about the simple way of having
!, !, eternal life through the acceptance by
faith of Jesus Christ as ones Savior
Another brother, thinking he would
. nour oil on the water, which was yer!
: troublous just then, told about tive
: t., 7,eologians who we're crossing /;
: stream. One OF the theologians wal
arguing that salvation was by works
. and the other that salvation was b.
faith, when the oarsman, listening t.
Il the argument, began to row with on
; oar, and the boat went round ant
round. when they said, 'What are yoI
doing?" and he replied, Don't you sec
that oar with which l an rowing i
!, works and don't get anywhere" an
4 then he took the other oar and rowe
= with that, and went round and roun
in the other direction, and he sale
- That car. you see, is faith, and whe
= ! row alone with that we do not ge
across the stream. To reach the otI
er shore we must row with both oars.
+ That was a good story, but a poor /
a lustretion, for, while it sounds yer
plausible the trouble is it is nc
scriptnral. The Bible tells us that
is mot by works of righteousness tha
. we have done. but according to hi
mercy he saved u.s." Change the illus
4 trst1on and have it true to the Scril
a lures. Jesus Christ is the oarsmai
!. and is rowing the boat of salvatio
from earth to heaven and if we woul
!. reach the other shore what we mus
do is by simple faith to get on boarC
go down to the ferry slip in Ne
York Now, if l wish to go across t
the other side, what I must do is t
, step upon the ferry boat. The m;
"a ment I do that / have trusted myse,
to the ferry, and it is for the ferr
- now, by its own power, to take m
over This crude,y illustrates Christ
Il work of salvation for us. We comm
ourselves to him, and he, by his ow
o power and work saves US. THE gil
Christ our Lord