What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?
By Tryon Edwards, D. D.
"Life, life, eternal LIFE," the most important of all things to the lost, the dying. What must I do to inherit it! "What must I do?" Something must be done, and done soon, and done in earnest, or I perish. If I remain idle, inactive, unconcerned a little longer, it will be too late. "What must I do?" Not only is something to be done but I must do it. God has wrought out a great salvation; I must receive it at the hand of God. No one else can do this for me. I must myself accept the proffered gift, or never be saved. "What must I do?" There is a necessity in the case, urgent, pressing, inevitable. The work must be done, or I am undone, for ever undone. Thinking, feeling, intending, resolving—all this is not enough. What God directs must be done, and done as he directs, or I perish. And now, do you ask in sincerity and earnestness, "What must I do?" By the grace of God, and according to his truth, I will tell you. You must admit and feel that you are a sinner, guilty, polluted, condemned, lost and so dead in sins as to be in need of eternal life. You must realize that life is to be found in Christ. "In him is life," John i: 4; and he "giveth life unto the world," John vi: 33. And do you ask, "How shall I obtain it?" "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," John iii: 36. This, then, is what you must do; you must believe that he is the Saviour, the only Saviour, an all-sufficient Saviour, able to save to the uttermost, willing to save all that will come to him; ready and waiting to save you, and to save you now. And if you believe him thus to be a Saviour, and are willing to be saved by him, you will accept him, as your Saviour, according to his word. You will repent; that is, you will cease to do evil, that you may learn of Christ to do well; sorrowing that you have ever broken God's commands, and resolving and praying that you may do so no more. You will believe; that is you will receive all that Christ has said, and trust all that he has promised; and give up yourselves and all that you have and are, to him, for time and eternity. You will obey; that is you will endeavor to do Christ's will, as the Bible declares it; and to do it sincerely, immediately, uniformly, prayerfully, to the end of life, relying on the Holy Spirit for strength, and on the grace of God in Christ Jesus for acceptance at the final day. Do this and you shall "inherit eternal life." Your sins shall be forgiven; your heart be renewed; your hope rest on the sure foundation; though an outcast you shall be restored; though deserving death, you shall inherit, through grace, eternal life.