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God’s Constant Appeal, September 26
The good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are
otherwise cannot be hid.
1 Timothy 5:25
.
Many who love self-indulgence and who murmur at the straight testimony
of the Laodicean message, are ignorant of how sinful their actions really are;
but in the judgment they will be ashamed of their course of ingratitude and
rebellion against the One who has borne so long with them, and who has not
cut them off in their sins. No confession, no weeping will then avail for those
who have spoiled their record. Many who now claim to be the disciples of
Christ, will be numbered among those who would not repent, but who have
deceived their souls unto their eternal ruin. The evasion of truth will not give
courage to any soul in the day of judgment to open his lips in self-defense.
Then the books will be opened that bear the record of the works of every
individual....
God has sent messages from His Word to the souls who are living careless
lives, and who are unashamed of their wrong course of action. I heard the
words spoken: “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way
is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast
thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord,
the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there
is no searching of his understanding” (
Isaiah 40:27, 28
). If the careless,
self-indulgent souls would seek the Lord and confess their sins, they would
see how their unconverted lives lead others astray, and they would repent and
be converted....
God is constantly appealing to the human heart, bidding it recognize His
love and mercy, and accept His righteousness in the place of the principles
of evil. Thus He has pleaded with mankind in all ages. In Noah’s day Christ
spoke to men through a human agency and preached to those who were in
bondage to sin. He came to Israel enshrouded in a pillar of cloud by day and
in a pillar of fire by night. He it was who educated that vast multitude in their
wilderness wandering....
There are many who do not weigh these things sufficiently. The instruction
given to Israel should be understood today by every soul living. Man may
claim great intelligence, but he needs more than human intelligence in order
to grasp the revelations of the gospel.—
Letter 106, September 26, 1909
, “To
Our Churches in Oakland and Berkeley.”
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