I have said that the word of my text is substantially equivalent to the more frequent and common expression salvation'; though with a shade of difference, which I have been trying to bring out. And this substantial equivalence is more obvious if you will note that the text is the second member of an antithesis of which the first is, we are not of them which draw back into perdition.'
So, then, the writer sets up, as exact opposites of one another, these two ideas--perdition or destruction on the one hand, and the saving or winning of the soul on the other. Therefore, whilst we must give due weight to the considerations which I have already been suggesting, we shall not grasp the whole of the writer's meaning unless we admit also the thought of the future. And that the same blending of the two ideas, of possession and salvation in the more usual sense of the word, was implied in the Lord's saying, of which I have suggested there may be an echo here, is plain if you observe that the version in St. Luke gives the text which I have already quoted: In your patience ye shall win your souls'; and that of St. Matthew, in the same connection, gives, instead, the saying, he that endureth '--which corresponds with patience--he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.'
So, then, brethren, you cannot be said to have won your souls if you are only keeping them for destruction, and such destruction is clearly laid down here as the fate of those who turn away from Jesus Christ.
Now, it seems to me that no fair interpretation can eject from that word perdition,' or destruction,' an element of awe and terror. However you may interpret the ruin, it is ruin utter of which it speaks. And I am very much afraid that in this generation eager discussions about the duration of punishment, and the final condition of those who die impenitent, have had a disastrous influence on a great many minds and consciences in reference to this whole subject, by making it rather a subject of controversy than a solemn truth to be pondered. However the controversies be settled, there is terror enough left in that word to make us all bethink ourselves.
I lay it on your hearts, dear friends--it is no business of mine to say much about it, but I lay it on your hearts and on my own; and I beseech you to ponder it. Do not mix it up with wholly independent questions as to what is to become of people who never heard about Jesus Christ. The Judge of all the earth will do right.' What this verse says applies to people that have heard about Him--that is, to you and me--and to people that do not accept Him--and that is some of us; and about them it says that they draw back unto perdition.'
Now, remember, the alternative applies to each of us. It is a case of either--or' in regard to us all. If we have taken Christ for our Saviour, and, as I said, put the reins into His hands and given ourselves to Him by love and submission and confidence, then we own our souls, because we have given them to Him to keep, and He is able to keep that which is committed to Him against that day.'
But I am bound to tell you, in the plainest words I can command, that if you have not thus surrendered yourself to Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, His intercession, His quickening Spirit, then I know not where you are to find one foothold of hope that upon you there will not come down the overwhelming fate that is darkly portrayed in that one solemn word.
Oh, brethren! let us all ponder the question, What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?'
