SALVATION - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

John Owen  Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ 

This is the word which He now speaks unto you: "Why will ye die? Why will ye perish? Why will you not have compassion on your own souls? Can your hearts endure, or can your hands be strong, in the day of wrath that is approaching? It is but a little while before all your hopes, your reliefs, and presumptions will forsake you, and leave you eternally miserable. Look unto Me, and be saved. Come unto Me, and I will ease you of all sins, sorrows, fears, burdens, and give rest unto your souls. Come, I entreat you. Lay aside all procrastinations, all delays. Put me off no more. Eternity lies at the door. Cast out all cursed, self-deceiving reserves. Do not so hate me as that you will rather perish than accept of deliverance by Me." 

Thomas Brooks  Smooth Stones Taken From Ancient Brooks

https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/brooks/Smooth%20Stones%20Taken%20From%20Ancien%20-%20Thomas%20Brooks.pdf 

There is no time yours but the present time, no day yours but the present day; therefore, do not please and feed yourselves with hopes of time to come; that you will repent, but not yet; and lay hold on mercy, but not yet; and give yourselves up to the Lord next week, next month, or next year; for that God who has promised you mercy and favour upon the day of your return (to Him), has not promised to prolong your lives till that day comes.        

        Étienne François Vernage (17th century) translated by Rev. John Birdsall, Christian Reflections for Every Day in the Month, 1822.

        God promises you pardon; but he has not promised you tomorrow wherein to do it.

Thomas Goodwin  Justifying Faith

The Father directs by secret providence the time and place, and the Holy Spirit draws us to Jesus Christ. Do not think you can believe and repent at will. Follow now when the Spirit moves you, and magnify the free grace of God in calling you.

David Clarkson  "Christ’s Gracious Invitation to Sinners"

http://books.google.com/books?id=EhQ9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA34&lpg

Consider who is knocking at the door of hearts; he who is the mighty God, Lord of lords, and King of kings (Revelation 3:20). He comes, knocks, stands, entreats, importunately, compassionately, and again and again. Behold as sinners provoke him to depart - O the wonderful compassion of a dear Saviour, as he stands, knocks, and waits!

William Gurnall  The Christian in Complete Armour

(The Holy Spirit) opens a door of hope and woos and beseeches (sinners) to throw down their rebellious arms and come to Christ for life. Take heed how you respond to the Spirit when he comes knocking at the door of your hearts. Open at his knock, and he will be your guest (Revelation 3:20). Repulse him, and you have not a promise he will knock again. If once he stops striving with you, unhappy man, you are lost forever.

George Whitefield, “A Penitent Heart, the Best New Year's Gift”

https://www.ccel.org/ccel/whitefield/sermons.xxxiv.html

Come, I beseech you to come unto Jesus Christ. O that you would turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, that he might have mercy upon you! Let the Lord Jesus but enter your souls, and you shall find peace which the world can neither give nor take away. There is mercy for the greatest sinner amongst you; go unto the Lord as sinners, helpless and undone without it, and then you shall find comfort in your souls, and be admitted at last amongst those who sing praises unto the Lord to all eternity.

Robert McCheyne in Andrew Bonar's  Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray McCheyne ‏

Christ gives last knocks. When your heart becomes hard and careless, then fear lest Christ may have given a last knock.

        F.B. Meyer

        Salvation waits for us all, and there is hope and opportunity for us to repent as long as the day of grace is not closed, but let us not forget, as McCheyne said, "Christ gives last knocks". The present is your time of hope, of a fresh beginning, of a new opportunity. Open the door of your life to Christ and make Him King. He offers you your chance, rise to it.

J.C. Ryle 

        Holiness

Awake before it is too late; awake, and arise from the dead, and live to God. Turn to Him who is sitting at the right hand of God, to be your Savior and Friend. Turn to Christ, and cry mightily to Him about your soul. There is yet hope! He that called Lazarus from the grave is not changed and can do miracles yet for your soul. Seek Him at once: seek Christ, if you would not be lost forever. Do not stand still talking and meaning and intending and wishing and hoping. Seek Christ that you may live!

        Old Paths

To everyone who is dead in sins I say this day. Why will you die? Are the wages of sin so sweet and good, that you cannot give them up? Is the world so satisfying that you cannot forsake it? Is the service of Satan so pleasant that you and he are never to be parted? Is heaven so poor a thing that it is not worth seeking? Is your soul of so little consequence, that it is not worth a struggle to have it saved? Oh, turn! Turn before it be too late! God is not willing that you should perish. "As I live", He says, "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth" (Ezekiel 18:32). Jesus loves you, and grieves to see your folly. "Awake, and arise from the dead" (Ephesians 5:14).

I stand in the lifeboat alongside the wreck to which you are clinging, and I entreat you to come in. The day is far spent; the night is coming on; the clouds are gathering; the waves are rising. Yet a little time and the old wreck of this world will go to pieces. Come into the lifeboat; come in and be safe. Come to the blood of Christ; wash, and be clean. Come with all your sins to Christ, and cast them on Him. He will bear them away; He will cleanse them; He will pardon them. Only believe and be saved.

Faith (to believe) in Christ is the only thing needed for our justification, not conversion. A man may have been walking in the broad way up to the very hour he first hears the Gospel. But if in that hearing he is awakened to feel his danger, and wants to be saved, let him come to Christ at once, and wait for nothing. That very coming is the beginning of conversion. Faith, I repeat, and not holiness. A man may feel all full of sin, and unworthy to be saved. But let him not tarry outside until he is better. Let him come to Christ without delay, just as he is. Afterwards he shall be holy. 

Trust Christ, look to Christ, cry to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you never yet believed, about your soul. If you have not the right feelings yet, ask Him to give you right feelings. If you dare not think that you have true faith yet, ask Him to give you faith. But in any case do not sit still. Do not idle away your soul into hell in ignorant unscriptural sloth. Do not live on in senseless inactivity, waiting for you know not what, expecting what you cannot explain, increasing your guilt every day, offending God by continuing in lazy unbelief, and hourly digging a grave for your own soul. Arise and call upon Christ! Awake and cry to Jesus about your soul!

Why not this very day? Why not tonight? Sermon-hearing cannot go on for ever. Going to churches and chapels must have an end. Liking this minister and liking that minister, belonging to this church and belonging to that chapel, holding these views and holding those views, thinking this preacher sound and that preacher unsound, is not enough to save a soul. A man must act at last, as well as think, if he means to go to heaven. A man must break off from his sins, and flee to the Lord Jesus, if he does not intend to be damned. A man must come out from the world, and take up the cross. A man must be decided, and repent, and believe. A man must show his colours, and be on the Lord Jesus Christ’s side, if he means to be saved. And why not begin all this today? Oh, Repent, Repent, Repent without delay!

Do you ask me again what you ought to do? Go, I tell you, and cry to the Lord Jesus Christ this very day. Go and pour out your heart before Him. Go and tell Him what you are, and tell Him what you desire. Tell Him you are a sinner: He will not be ashamed of you. Tell Him you want to be saved: He will hear you. Tell Him you are a poor weak creature: He will listen to you. Tell Him you do not know what to do or how to repent: He will give you His grace. He will pour out His Spirit upon you. He will hear you. He will grant your prayer. He will save your soul. There is enough in Christ, and to spare, for all the wants of all the world, for all the wants of every heart that is unconverted, unsanctified, unbelieving, impenitent, and unrenewed.

Practical Religion, 1878

https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/ryle/Practical%20Religion%20-Ryle.pdf

Either you need a Savior or you do not. If you do, flee to the only Savior this very day, and cry mightily to Him to save your soul. Apply to Christ at once. Seek Him by faith. Commit your soul into His keeping. Cry mightily to Him for pardon and peace with God. Ask Him to pour down the Holy Spirit upon you, and make you a thorough Christian. He will hear you. No matter what you have been, He will not refuse your prayer. He has said, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37)

Rest not, rest not without personal union with Christ Himself. Rest not, rest not until you have the witness of the Spirit in your heart, that you are washed, and sanctified, and Justified, and one with Christ, and Christ in you. Rest not until you can say with the apostle, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that day." (2 Timothy 1:12)

Do you really belong to the family of God? I invite you this day to join it without delay. Open your eyes to see the value of your soul, the sinfulness of sin, the holiness of God, and the present danger of your present condition, the absolute necessity of a mighty change. Open your eyes to see these things, and repent this very day. Open your eyes to see the great head of God’s family, even Christ Jesus, waiting to save your soul. See how he has loved you, lived for you, died for you, risen again for you, and obtained complete redemption for you. See how he offers you free, full, immediate pardon, if you will only believe in Him. Open your eyes to see these things. Seek Christ at once. Come and believe in Him, and commit your soul to His keeping this very day.

Who is there who desires to become a son of God? Let that person see and feel his sins, and flee to Christ for salvation, and this day he will be placed among the children. Only acknowledge your iniquity, and grab hold of the hand that Jesus holds to you this day, and sonship, with all it privileges, is yours. Only confess your sins, and bring them to Christ, and God is "faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) This very day old things will pass away, and all things become new. This very day you will be forgiven, pardoned, "to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves." (Ephesians 1:6) This very day you will have a new name given to you in heaven. You began reading this paper as a child of wrath. You will lie down tonight as a child of God.

Rejoice, for you have good cause to be thankful. Remember the words of the beloved apostle: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1) How wonderful that heaven should look down on earth—that the Holy God should set His affections on sinful man, and admit him into His family!

C.H. Spurgeon        

“A Catechism for the Proud”

https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/a-catechism-for-the-proud/#flipbook/

1 Corinthians 4:7 “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?”  (John 1:12)

Receiving implies neither strength, nor merit, nor wisdom. It requires no power, no faculty, no virtue, no anything; the power to be a receiver dwells with the weakest of the weak and the worst of the worst. The emptier you are, the more room there is for reception.

Wilt thou have the blessing which God in Christ Jesus is ready to give?

        "Are You Prepared To Die?"

         https://archive.spurgeon.org/sermons/0635.php 

"Why Some Seekers Are Not Saved"

https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/why-some-seekers-are-not-saved/#flipbook/ 

Ezekiel Hopkins  “The Almost-Christian Discovered”

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZPgCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA418&source  

It is not men’s “cannots”, but their “will nots”; not their impotency, but their obstinacy, that destroys them ("You refuse to come to me to have life" - John 5:40). The fault lies in the stubbornness of your wills; though you could come, you would not; therefore, it is not your weakness, but your willfulness, that keeps you from coming to Christ.

Leslie Land, Melbourne Hall  Evangelical Free Church. "Why Isn’t Everybody a Christian Believer?"

I could ‘hear and hear’ gospel sermons, perhaps preached with the very heart-blood and passion of a consecrated preacher, but I could gaily persist in withholding my heart, the yielding of which would have involved a radical revolution in my pitiable self-centred existence.

But the time came—I cannot tell you the day or the hour; I cannot relate a crisis or give an exciting testimony—the time came when Jesus ‘came alive’ and real to me: I heard the gospel message, really heard it, listened in to it with my whole being, gave my God-roused imagination to it. I felt—I still do feel my heart beat a little faster whenever I hear or preach the gospel of the redeeming love of God in Jesus Christ. ‘All within me leaps to greet Thee’ (Luke 1:41)…I looked and looked, and now I saw Calvary as the place where my sin and my self-centred life were crucified and put away forever…I shall never forget the sight!  

And I shall go on telling, in different ways and in different idioms, of this saving, this dynamic, explosive love of God in Jesus Christ, in the hope, no in the simple faith that every time I tell it—backed up by the prayers of a praying people—someone here, someone there, by the impact of God’s Spirit, will be stirred out of their ease and complacency in sin…

What was it, you say, that held me back so long? Oh it was self-centredness…so entombed in my ego-centred outlook and sin; fooling about in the basement of life.

A.W. Tozer  The Warfare of the Spirit

Men are indeed accountable for their sins, and their responsibility is twofold.

First they are morally obligated to choose the good and reject the evil, and they will be brought to severe and certain judgment for their failure to do it. 

Second, because God has in Christ provided a cure, they are responsible to humble themselves and seek forgiveness and cleansing at the fountain opened for all men by the hard dying of Jesus Christ on the Roman cross.

"If any man will," said Jesus, and in so saying swept away all excuses and made every man accountable for his future as well as for his past. For in spite of what sin has done to us, we are yet able to exercise a choice unto eternal life; and we are responsible for our choice, whether it be right or wrong.

Andrew Peterson  “All Things New”  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SoND6QgM3Q  

MercyMe - (The Cross Has Made YOU) "Flawless"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjLlLPZderk

Joseph Hart

http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/m/comeyspn.htm

Fernando Ortega & Amy Grant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q_-jVbpLFM

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,

Weak and wounded, sick and sore;

Jesus ready stands to save you,

Full of pity, love and power.

I will arise and go to Jesus,

He will embrace me in His arms;

In the arms of my dear Savior,

O there are ten thousand charms.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,

God’s free bounty glorify;

True belief and true repentance,

Every grace that brings you nigh.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,

Lost and ruined by the fall;

If you tarry till you’re better,

You will never come at all.

View Him prostrate in the garden;

On the ground your Maker lies.

On the bloody tree behold Him;

Sinner, will this not suffice?

Lo! th’incarnate God ascended,

Pleads the merit of His blood:

Venture on Him, venture wholly,

Let no other trust intrude.

Let not conscience make you linger,

Not of fitness fondly dream;

All the fitness He requireth

Is to feel your need of Him. 

A.W. Pink

Why not believe in him for yourself? Why not trust the precious blood for yourself, and why not tonight? Why not tonight my friend?  God is ready to save you now if you believe on him. The blood has been shed, the sacrifice has been offered, the atonement has been made, the feast has been spread. The call goes out to you tonight, ‘Come for all things are now ready.’ (Luke 14:17)

A.W. Tozer  Rut, Rot or Revival

We have such a short time to prepare for such a long time. By that I mean we have now to prepare for then. We have (this) hour to prepare for eternity. To fail to prepare is an act of moral folly.

R.C. Sproul

Right now counts forever.