An infidel farmer in Illinois, wrote to the editor of a newspaper as follows:
"I have a field of corn which I plowed on Sunday; I planted it also on Sunday; I did all the cultivating it received on Sunday; I gathered the crop on Sunday, and on Sunday hauled it to the barn, and I find that I have more corn to the acre than has been gathered by my neighbors during this October."
The editor of the newspaper was not a professor of religion, and the farmer evidently counted on obtaining his sympathy. He did not get it, however, for he simply added these words at the bottom:
"God does not always settle His accounts in October."
The farmer seemed to imagine that because his crops prospered, and that he was not punished for breaking the Lord's Day, that therefore there was no God, or if there were one, He was indifferent as to man's conduct. A terrible mistake, surely!
In speaking to His people, Israel, He tells what great sins they have been guilty of, and adds:
"These things hast thou done and I kept silence, thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself, but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver" Psa. 50:21, 2221These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. 22Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. (Psalm 50:21‑22).
They thought that God was like themselves because He "kept silence." His long-suffering was manifested that they might repent and be forgiven, but they mistook His silence for indifference.
Because God does not "speedily" execute judgment on sinners, because He is loving and patient, men take advantage of it, and instead of accepting the offer of mercy which He is pressing on their acceptance, their hearts are "fully set in them to do evil." Are you one of this class?
"The wages of sin is death," and the "wages" will assuredly be paid to those who do not accept God's gift of "eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
There is a day of reckoning ahead, whether you believe it or not.
God is waiting to be gracious, and longs to pluck you from the eternal burning (2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9); Ezek. 33:1111Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11)). He has given the Lord Jesus to die on Calvary's Cross to save you from unending woe. Sin has been so "put away" that God can, in consistency with His inflexible righteousness, and holiness, pardon the biggest offender. Hearken to His gracious invitation:
Why not now believe on Christ and be eternally saved? (John 5:24; 6:4724Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)
47Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)) Behold, now is the accepted time (2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)).