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WARNINGS TO AN UNCONVERTED FRIEND

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WARNINGS TO AN UNCONVERTED FRIEND

6 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

Reprinted from the Friendly Companion

Dear Mr. ——, I was truly surprised that you should take the trouble to answer my note, and since you have thus encouraged me, I must again venture a few lines upon the all-important subject, viz., the salvation of your never-dying soul. It is all-important. Though you are young your life is not insured, and you have already had a serious warning in that affliction which might have opened the gate into an eternal world. Oh! had it been so, where would you now have been? and what would have been your portion? Would you have been “present with the Lord,” beholding the beauties of Jesus, and singing in the ever-new song the praises of the Lamb that was slain? Or would you have been banished from His presence, cast into outer darkness to receive the wages of sin, that eternal death which never, never dies? These questions may be unpleasing; but it certainly is worth while to ask them, because one of these states must before long be yours as well as mine. There is no medium state; with every soul of man it must be joy inconceivable, or woe unutterable; and whichever of these be our portion, it will be for ever, and ever, and ever. There will be no fear of the happiness ending,—no hope of the suffering terminating or even abating; for in that darksome prison never, never will be heard those precious words, “It is finished!” Sin will never be made an end of, and therefore the consequences of sin can never cease; but while eternal ages roll, it will be “wrath to come, wrath to come.”

Perhaps you will think me more gloomy than ever, but that I cannot help; I have eternity in near prospect, and solemnly feel it will profit a man nothing if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul. My heart says with Moses, “Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end.” The fact is it will come whether it is considered or not; for the Scriptures say, “It is appointed unto men once to die; but after this the judgment;” and Jesus has declared of those that die in their sins, “Whither I go, ye cannot come.” “Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” But perhaps you will say this is too severe, and only belongs to great sinners, such as have been profane and immoral in their conduct. Nay, beloved, mark,—this last Scripture does not speak of any openly wicked sinners, but only of an unprofitable servant. Now, have not you been to God an “unprofitable servant,” even though you may have been outwardly moral and correct? Again, it is written, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” You see how the sentence runs; not only to the wicked, but to all who forget God. This reaches the very thoughts of the heart, and shows that God’s holy law passes judgment on them as well as on words and actions. Yes, indeed, its first great commandment searches the heart, for it is this: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” Now, under this law we were all born, and by it must be judged. Nor can we say it is unreasonable that we should be required to love the holy Lord God Who is our Creator and Preserver. But have we loved Him supremely? Have we remembered Him in His ways? No, not one of us has done it by nature; but as He says, “My people have forgotten Me days without number;” “God is not in all his thoughts;” “Every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart is only evil continually;” and “Shall not God search this out; for He knoweth the thoughts, and the secrets of the heart.” Surely your kind and very candid note confesses the truth of these things when you say, “It is my thoughts that lead me astray.” So then, we need go no further than the thoughts of the heart to prove that we have all gone astray from God; that we are guilty under His law; and its condemning sentence is against us, for it says, “The soul that sinneth it shall die;” and “The thought of foolishness is sin.” These are God’s own words, not mine: you can turn to your Bible and read them.

But if it be true that we are by nature in such a fearful state, how is it that we can be so indifferent about it? And how is it that while under the sentence of death, and with the wrath of God already on us, we can be merry and sportive, and care for none of these things? It is because we are not only “shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin,” but we are “dead in trespasses and sins;” that is, spiritually dead, so that we cannot know God, or love Him, or feel our real state before Him, any more than those who are literally dead can see, or hear, or feel the things that are going on around them. And because of this state of spiritual death we may tell persons over and over again about their lost and dangerous condition, but they do not feel it, and they never will until they experience what the Lord spoke of to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;” “Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.” This new birth is entirely of God; it is the being quickened by the Holy Spirit, and made to feel that we are sinners and enemies to God by wicked works. When this new birth takes place we feel many things to be evil, which before we thought nothing of. The Spirit convinces us of sin, makes us know what sin is, and that we are full of it; as it is written, “When He (the Spirit) is come, He will convince the world of sin.” When this takes place we no longer try to excuse ourselves, because we are not so bad as others—have wronged no one—and have done the best we can. We cannot rest here, but feel that we have done enough to banish us for ever from the presence of God; and the great anxiety now is how we may get salvation.

(To be continued)

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 maart 1937

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WARNINGS TO AN UNCONVERTED FRIEND

Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 maart 1937

The Banner of Truth | 6 Pagina's