Now

‘For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’ 2 Corinthians 6:2

Suggested Further Reading: Matthew 7:13–14

When the express trains first began to run to Scotland, there was seen at the station one morning a gentleman tall and thin, whose cheek had the consumptive mark upon it. The porters asked him several questions about his luggage, and when he had been asked several times by different persons, another came up, and said, ‘Where are you going, sir?’ Being of short temper, and in great haste, he said, ‘To hell!’ A servant of Christ passed by that moment and heard the answer. He sought to get in the same carriage, and did so; and this gentleman was talking freely to others upon common topics, and the man thought, ‘I will get a word in if I can.’ So he joined in the conversation till they alighted at a refreshment station, when, taking the opportunity, he said to the gentleman, ‘When do you expect to get to the end of your journey?’ ‘O,’ said he, ‘I am going to cross at such-and-such a town by the boat tonight, and hope to get to my journey’s end about twelve o’clock tomorrow morning.’ The man said, ‘I think you misunderstand my question. You said when the porter asked you just now where you were going to, that you were going to a very different place.’ ‘O yes, I recollect I did,’ said the gentleman, ‘but I am sometimes very hasty.’ The other said to him, ‘Was it true? Are you going to hell? If so, when do you expect to get there?’ And he began to talk to him about that sickness which he could see so certainly in his cheek, and warned him that unless he sought another road, and fled to Christ, the only refuge, he would certainly reach that dreadful end. There are some who, if they were labelled this morning as to where they are going, would have to be directed ‘to hell.’

For meditation: Where are you going? There is a way to death and destruction (Proverbs 14:12; Matthew 7:13). To continue on it, all you have to do is neglect or reject the only way to life, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

Sermon no. 603
4 December (1864)