11 Chap 7 Motives

CHAPTER VII.

MOTIVES.

Luke 15:17-20. And when he came to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger ! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto. him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son : make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a. great way off his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. AND yet, dear reader, you stand halting between life and death, heaven and hell. The reasons which cause you to hesitate have been examined. They are found of no avail. You are without excuse; and yet you enter not by the door into the sheepfold. John 10:1. You act not only without reason, but against it. A rational being acting irrationally! Would God that, like the prodigal, you might come to yourself! Then would you return to your Father’s house ; then would you believe in Jesus and enter the way of life. And would you be governed by reason, by conscience, by Scripture, by the Spirit of God, there are motives which should prevail with you to receive Jesus as your Saviour, and trust in the merit of his blood. Before I close this little volume, and take my final leave of you, let me faithfully urge some of these motives upon your serious and prayerful attention. God has claims upon you, and you cannot resist his claims without sin. He is your Maker; and as a creature of his power, you ought to love and obey him. You have broken his law, and he commands you to repent. Acts 17:30. He says to you, " My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways." Proverbs 23:26. He requires you to believe in his Son. John 6:29. And it is reasonable and right ; it is your duty, and it should be done, and done now! While you neglect it, you are disobeying God, and dishonouring him. Yea, you are setting at nought his claims, treating his word as if it were untrue, and making God a liar, because you believe not the record that God gave of his Son. 1 John 5:10-11.

While you are halting, you are abusing the goodness of God which provided this great salvation. The plan of redemption originated in his infinite love. Every line is resplendent with the rays of his benevolence. " His goodness here in full glory shines." If in the cross of Christ the Justice of God is conspicuous, no less conspicuous there is his goodness. There is goodness in providing salvation; in making the offer ; in sending the Spirit ; in convincing of sin : every thing around you speaks of God’s goodness ; and this goodness you abuse while you hesitate about entering the way of life.

"Is this the kind return, And these the thanks we owe ?

Thus to abuse eternal love, Whence all our blessings flow ! To what a stubborn frame Has sin reduced our mind !

What strange rebellious wretches we, And God as strangely kind !"

O, let the goodness of God lead you to repentance! Romans 2:4. Let it bow your will, and constrain you to yield to the cross of Christ.

While you are hesitating, you are slighting the compassion of the Saviour. His compassion is divine. It was this that moved him to undertake our case; and this animated him while here on earth, constrained him to become obedient unto death, and it now fills his bosom as he invites the perishing to come unto him. He pitied us even unto death ; he pities us now in his glory. He pities the poor hardened wretch who rejects him ; he pities the awakened soul, who mourns over his sins, and yet hesitates to embrace him. Can you slight his compassions? Can you doubt his willingness to save O, it is cruel thus to question his love, when he has proved it in his bloody agony and his dying groans !

While you are hesitating, you are resisting and grieving the Spirit of God. It is by his influences that you have been brought to your present state of anxiety. He has awakened your attention, applied the truth to your heart, convinced you of sin, and led you to inquire what you must do. While God is waiting to be gracious, Isaiah 30:18, his Spirit is wooing you to Christ; and while you delay and hesitate, you resist and grieve the Spirit. This is perilous to your soul. The Spirit is a sovereign, operating when and where he listeth. John 3:8. He will not always strive. Genesis 6:8. Yet it is by his influences that your heart must be renewed and you be drawn to Christ. If he depart, you are lost. While you feel his power, yield to him, and embrace the hope set before you. Hebrews 6:17-20. This is your only hope. There is no other way of deliverance from sin and misery. While you delay, your sins and your danger are increasing, and the probability of your salvation is hourly diminishing Salvation is now near; behold the Lamb of God! John 1:29. Righteousness is near; embrace it, and be delivered from condemnation! Romans 8:1. How precious the blessings and privileges offered you-peace and joy in this world-a death of triumph-a heaven of glory! O listen to Jehovah when he promises to make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Isaiah 55:3. He calls ; hear his voice, yield to his Spirit, believe in his Son. " Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." Psalms 2:12. The word of God now is, " Turn you at my reproof: Behold; I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you." But soon he will say, " Because I have called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity : I will mock when your fear cometh ; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me ; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." Proverbs 1:23-31. I shall offer but one other motive for an immediate decision of the all important question. It is this-Your present situation is full of interest and of peril ; and upon the decision you now make may depend your everlasting destiny! The Spirit is at work with your heart; the Saviour is inviting you to his arms; the Father is waiting to receive you graciously and love you freely. Hosea 14:2, Hosea 14:4. The angels of God are waiting to rejoice over you, Luke 15:10 ; devils are ready to triumph In your ruin; and you are almost persuaded to be a Christian, yet hesitating, halting, ’wavering; sometimes on the point of yielding your heart to Jesus and resting in him as your Saviour; and then again half inclined to banish the whole matter from your mind-for the present! How interesting this moment with you! how critical! how perilous! It is the turning point in your destiny! If you close with Christ, you are saved If you refuse, you are lost! The Spirit will depart ; your heart become harder than ever; and your last state will be worse than the first! Matthew 12:43-45. Then will there remain to you only a " certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation!" Hebrews 10:26-27. O that I could say that word which the Spirit would bless to your salvation ! that word which, with God’s blessing, would decide the doubtful case, and cause you to choose the good part ! But you mist decide for yourself; as for yourself you must pass the river of death, and stand before the judgment seat! I can only point you to the Saviour-I can only direct you to the way of life. Would that I could lead you in it! But you must enter it for yourself, or die! To enter it you must believe; and believing, you shall be saved. " Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things." Acts 13:38-39.

Come, humble sinner, in whose breast, A thousand thoughts revolve;

Come, with your guilt and fear oppressed, And make this last resolve:

I’ll go to Jesus, though my sin High as a mountain rose ;

I know his courts, I’ll enter in, Whatever may oppose.

Prostrate I ’ll lie before his throne, And there my guilt confess;

I’ll tell him I ’m a wretch undone, Without his sovereign grace.

Perhaps he will admit my plea, Perhaps will hear my prayer ; But if I perish, I will pray, And perish only there.

I can but perish if I go, I am resolved to try ; For if I stay away, I know I host forever die.’ THE END.