Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-07-12

s| words of eternal
life"
What is eternal |
life? Jesus himself gave an answer
in his great intercessory prayer, "And |
this is life eternal, that they might |
know thee, the only true God, and |
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent!"
With the ordinary student of the
Bible, the idea of eternal life is life
of endless duration, the word eternal
being made synonymous with "ever-
lasting" But eternal life is not alto
gether a question of duration but of
quality. The proper conception of
eternal life embraces both quality and
quantity. Terms Of inherent value and
time measurement must be in mind.
The man who possesses eternal life
then has something that is far raised
above anything that the earth has to
offer. 1t is life that may be realized
this side of death and has its thou
sands of illustrators in all the world
and among all classes of persons with
out respect to age, race, pecuniary
condition, education or social stand.
Ing. &
Now the question arises, presuming
the man does not possess this eternal
life. How is he to get it? The rich
young ruler thought it was by doing
something to inherit it, or rather merit
it. And despite the protests of those
who would not do violence to the
words of Jesus in our text, probably
the vast majority of people have that
idea. It is thought man must do
something to win eternal life, as a
kind of trophy of his efforts, or make
himself worthy recipient Of it. Un-
fortunately, the nobility of man is
often appealed to, as If man had
something of merit to offer God. Pre-
cisely the opposite is the situation.
Man must come to the place where he
will see his utter helplessness and ac-
cept salvation as a gift.
Man is not in a position to have
eternal life offered to him, and to ac-
cept it or reject it, as in any true
sense an equal of the offerer. He is
not in a position to deal with God.
His standing before God is one of
hopeless need. He stands before God
as one guilty, unworthy and hell-de-
serving. The only thing that he can
do is to look upon God as offering to
him salvation out Of his merc...
The comparison of eternal life with
what the best man could do to merit
it would be ridiculous. Some conclu-
sion might be readily arrived at with
respect to what eternal life means in
this life, but as before stated, the
value of eternal life beyond is far
more than man can calculate.
| Besides this, there is already an
| adequate equivalent to eternal life
presented to man in the infinite mer-
its Of Jesus Christ himself, the Son of
God, the infinite one, who lived a
most marvellous life and died a most
wonderful death. 1t would seem to
| be something almost amounting to di-
rect insult to God to make any sug-
gestion that man could merit eternal
life, when it is clearly proclaimed in
the Word that Jesus Christ has al
ready merited it, and stands offering
it to US. AS the text says, Jesus
Christ gives this life, and this because
he purchased it with a surrender of
his own precious life.
The Word of God emphatically and
caregorically teaches us that eternal
life is a gift. Support to our text is
given in that remarkable saying in
ofaIr E.7. @I,.1
thirsteth, come ye to the waters; yea
come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price" Certainly
John 8 lie, "God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Sor
that whosoever believeth on hin
should not perish, but have everlasting
life" is in place, as also the words Of
Paul, ''The gift Of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord" Ths
text itself says, 81 give unto then
eternal life" And another considera
ton is that those who give evidence
of possessing eternal life, are thos'
who concede that what they have hai
been the gift Of God.
This great fact of the Gospel ma.
seem to humiliate man, but nothing i
needed more. We are living in al
age when men glory in their shame
They demand notice on the ground O
merit, and nothing is needed NOR
than something to make man feel hi
absolute dependence upon God; in
deed, feel that he is deserving onl,
of Gods wrath and the visitation o
his judgment. Whether men think 1
or not, they are daily recipients o
Gods gifts. The atmosphere the,
breathe the sunshine, the continuation
Of life, the health they possess, ar
all the gifts of God, for which maj
can give nothing in return.