GOD speaks sometimes in a very special way to souls. None perish without warning. But He speaks at times by His Spirit to some in a way which they cannot resist without ensuring to themselves their damnation in the lake of fire forever.
CHRISTENDOM today swarms with people possessing never-dying souls who will never again in this life have the least anxiety about eternity God has given them up!
HELL holds millions in its dark domains whom God once called, and with whom His Spirit once did strive. They heard, but they heeded not His last loving call to repentance. Now they are lost—doomed to eternal despair!
Half a century or more ago a remarkable revival sprung up at a place called Exeter, in the State of Illinois, under the preaching of the celebrated Peter Cartwright, of “backwoods” fame. Scores of careless sinners were awakened, and many frozen professors were thawed out of their formalities by the mighty power of God. To many the preached word was a savor of “life unto life”; to some, alas, it proved to be a savor of “death unto death.” I will mention a case.
A well-educated, gentlemanly young man from some one of the Eastern States was living in the place at the time. He became very serious as the work went on; and, when spoken to by Mr. Cartwright about his soul, he admitted the immense importance of the subject, and his deep need of salvation. He would not, he said, for his right hand lay a straw in the way of any one getting converted, and fully expected to get saved himself at some future time. He was urged to accept Christ as his Saviour on the spot, and warned of the danger of delay. He wept like a child, but, poor procrastinator, he could not be prevailed upon to have the matter settled there and then, and lose his soul!
A short while before the meetings closed, Mr. Cartwright was called away to another town where a work of God was also in progress. The day after he left, this young man was taken violently ill. He sent for Mr. Cartwright at once, who hastened back only to witness his dying agonies, and see him die without hope.
“Oh,” he cried bitterly, “if I had taken your advice a few days ago, which you gave me with tears, and which in spite of all my resistance brought tears to my own eyes, I should now have been ready to die. God’s Spirit strove with me powerfully, but I was stubborn and resisted. Had I yielded then, I believe God would have saved me from my sins; but now, racked with pain, almost insupportable, and scorched with burning fevers, and on the very verge of an eternal world, I have no hope in the future—all is dark, dark and gloomy. Neglecting light and mercy, I have evaded and resisted God, His Spirit, and His servants, and now I must make my bed in hell, and bid an eternal farewell to all hope of heaven. LOST! LOST! Forever LOST!” Soon he breathed his last, and God’s servant mournfully turned away to weep.
Be warned, procrastinator! “Resist the Holy Ghost” no longer. God may give you up if you continue to refuse His call. This may be your last. Beware, then, lest He throw the reins upon your back, and leave you to your sins to take, at last, the dreadful plunge to dark damnation and despair. An insulted God, a rejected Saviour, a resisted Spirit, a neglected salvation―SURE DAMNATION. Here are five links in the sinner’s “chain of destruction.”
Good intentions are of no avail. This young man meant well, but he disobeyed God’s call. Many perish in the self-same way. They are not mockers; they, in fact, respect God’s Word and workmen. But they do not yield to the strivings of the Spirit, and death overtakes them unprepared, and they are lost, forever lost!
The rich young ruler really wished eternal life. He ran and knelt before the Lord, and then he sadly turned away, and, so far as any know, he never got salvation. I have no doubt he “shelved” the question, as they say.
Felix trembled while God’s servant preached.
But he waited for a more “convenient season.” It never came, and Felix doubtless died unsaved.
Christ has died and made atonement. God has raised Him from the dead. “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:4343To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. (Acts 10:43)). Believe on Him today. Delay no longer. Even poets sing their warning―
“Yet if you will not this mercy receive,
Heed not His message, His truth disbelieve,
Sadly you’ll wail on eternity’s shore,
‘I am not saved, and the harvest is o’er.’”
Again I say, beware. If you have the least desire for God’s salvation, God has given it you. Do not, for your life, drown or seek to drive that longing from your breast. If there burns within your soul the faintest spark of real anxiety, cherish it as the traveler, lost upon the trackless plains, cherishes his last match, lest a puff of wind blow out its flame, and he be left to freeze amid the darkness of the night and storm.
“My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” “Now is the accepted time.” “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”
Oh, sinner, turn, and turn NOW!
“ ‘What think you of Christ?’ is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest
Unless you think rightly of Him.
As Jesus appears in your view, ―
As He is beloved or not;
So God is disposed to you,
And mercy or wrath is your lot.”
C. K.