In Paris on the monument of the Arch of Triumph can be read a list of battles Napoleon fought and won. There is, however, one very important battle missing - Ah, yes! - The historic battle of Waterloo. It was lost. The tide had turned. His ambitions were shattered for he lost this all-important last battle. With the loss of this last battle his goal of life was lost. All the victories of the past did not profit him at the time of this crushing defeat. Upon this he was sent into exile and he died a hated man.
We ask, “What would it have availed Napoleon to have gained the whole world, with the exception of Waterloo? His glory, fame and fortune were suddenly gone. All the victories and lands he had gained were powerless to buy his freedom. By losing his last battle he lost everything.
Every responsible soul encounters great spiritual battles in life. The consequences of these battles are of tremendous weight and import. The defeat at Waterloo brought disgrace for Napoleon during his life but spiritual defeat brings anguish of soul for all eternity. Have you thought of the inevitable consequences of a self-centered life and the loss of a soul throughout eternity?
Dear reader, are you going to lose your last battle? The battle between life and death? The battle between heaven and hell? The battle between self denial and self love, your soul and the devil? Jesus says: “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Most people have very little of this natural world in their possession and then to think of them losing their own soul; oh, what a dismal failure! They have lost the battle of life and also the battle of their eternal destiny, a total loss and a terrible doom. This is happening in the lives of many people who are without the keen realization that there is a great battle to wage. Their spiritual understanding has been blinded by Satan and the world and they are practically asleep to the realities of the battle against sin. The Word says: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Ephesians 5:14). Shake off the chains of sin and Satan, dear reader. Make it a fight to the finish over sin and death! You cannot escape natural death but you can escape an awful eternal death. “Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44). “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:14). If you lose the battle for your salvation, dear soul, yours will be a final doom - an eternity in everlasting hell and torment.
Did you ever stop to consider there is but one step between you and death? Are you ready to pass over the threshold of Time into Eternity? To gain the victory which will lead you to your heavenly home you must come to Jesus, who came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). “God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). NOW! Not tomorrow or some other convenient season “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1). If you are yet without Christ in your heart, if your past condemns you, if you have not experienced the new birth (John 3:3), do not rest at ease, but repent, come to Jesus just as you are, while He stands knocking at the door of your heart. He said: “If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). You may ask, “Can a sinner really be saved if he repents?” Yes, if through faith in Christ he comes to Him with his whole heart and accepts Him as his personal Saviour, confessing his sins and obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit, he shall live eternally. Even as the prophet, thousands of years ago said: “If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed ...and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live” (Ezekiel 18:21). “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
If you intend to enjoy the pleasures of a sinful world or if you hope to live a good moral life, treating no man ill, thereby hoping to win the precious goal of eternal bliss, you will find yourself losing out in the end as Napoleon did in the battle of Waterloo. You are as the man who was overboard a ship, who grasped at a cane thrown to him and went down. You will likewise perish. You will lose your last battle. What a fate! Eternity in hell! Another drowning man gripped a life preserver and was saved. Grasp hold on Jesus Christ the great Life Preserver without delay. He will save to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25). Eternity in Heaven! Then, concerning the last battle, you will say with the apostle Paul: “Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).
Dear soul, you have the choice, victory or defeat, Heaven or Hell, the living God or the devil, a joyous, glorious eternity or endless woe and torment. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Oh, do choose the Lord Jesus now!
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