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![]() The Danger of Delay
L. R. Shelton, Sr. |
Today, I am thinking about you, dear awakened sinner, and deeply concerned about your condition, because I know the longer you linger out of Christ the deeper the lethargy you will fall
into. I want to remind you that the world is Satan's kingdom, and our Lord led the beloved Apostle, John, to warn you to "love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world." Read I John 2:15-17, "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. I John 2:16 "For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever."
"I have always believed that there was a horrible thought in dating the possible departure of the Spirit of God from the soul. We shudder at the idea of desertion, without reflecting on its particulars. But it is tolerable while wrapped in the mystery of ignorance: ignorance of its manner, its cause, and its time. And yet, at this very hour, I can look back to the turning point of my hopes. I can remember my struggles under conviction. I can recall the weariness of effort, the distaste, the compunctions which preceded the first bold act of worldliness; and which, in their departure, declared the issue decisive. In all the confusion of my thoughts, here is an unchanging spot in the survey of the past. There it remains, and no hand can blot it out. No, you are not to imagine my judgment impaired in such a review. I can deliberately retrace the seasons departed. My return to the world was not designated by an act which the common rules of morality would impeach, but it was by one, which, it is plain, put an end to the struggle. And I could not renew the conflict when I would willingly have done so. Conviction did not leave me. But it sat on my spirits like a lifeless weight, that instead of giving them activity, crushed them down. My judgment is as much convinced as ever. But it avails me nothing. The brightness of a holy law, and that of the world which I am approaching, only render my condition more awful, as the midnight lightning does that of the wrecked mariner, by showing him the impossibility of escape. I can see, I can comprehend, but I can lay hold of nothing. I can compel no play of that interest which the near approach of the Holy Spirit once created in by bosom." According to God's Word, the heart that has once been brought to the nearness of the reality of eternal things, spiritual realities, and retreats from them again, will be less conscious thereafter of the strong desire and force of resolution to go to the Lord than at any other time. Read Heb. 6:4-8, especially verses 4-6, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened...if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance..." Isaiah 55:6 says, "Call ye upon him while he is near." My sinner friend, my awakened one, do not let the impressions you have received from the Holy spirit slip away from you! Plead with the Holy Spirit not to leave you. You can do that on the basis that you also ask Him to shut your mouth and make you guilty, for Isaiah put a colon ( : ) after the command to "Call upon him while he is near:" and follows this command with this advice, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return." You can not call upon Him until you cease the voice of your heart, and that by His grace. Salvation is a deliverance from the "horrible pit (pit of noise, or the voice of argument that goes on in the heart)". And what is the argument about? Worldliness – "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life...is of the world" (I John 2:15-17). Flee every temptation to worldliness as from death itself. |
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