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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for
why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death
of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and
live ye.”
Here the Lord has plainly revealed His will concerning the salva-
tion of the sinner. And the attitude which many assume in expressing
doubts and unbelief as to whether the Lord will save them is a reflec-
tion upon the character of God. Those who complain of His severity
are virtually saying: “The way of the Lord is not equal.” But He dis-
tinctly throws back the imputation upon the sinner: “‘Are not your
ways unequal?’ Can I pardon your transgressions when you do not
repent and turn from your sins?” The character of God is fully vindi-
cated in the words of Scripture I have placed before you. The Lord
will receive the sinner when he repents and forsakes his sins so that
God can work with his efforts in seeking perfection of character. The
promises are not yea and nay, but if man complies with the conditions,
they are, in Christ, “yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by
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us.” The whole purpose in giving His Son for the sins of the world
is that man may be saved, not in transgression and unrighteousness,
but in forsaking sin, washing his robes of character, and making them
white in the blood of the Lamb. He proposes to remove from man the
offensive thing that He hates, but man must co-operate with God in
the work. Sin must be given up, hated, and the righteousness of Christ
must be accepted by faith. Thus will the divine co-operate with the
human.
We should beware that we do not give place to doubt and unbelief,
and in our attitude of despair complain of God and misrepresent Him
to the world. This is placing ourselves on Satan’s side of the question.
“Poor souls,” he says, “I pity you, mourning under sin; but God has no
pity. You long for some ray of hope; but God leaves you to perish, and
finds satisfaction in your misery.” This is a terrible deception. Do not
give ear to the tempter, but say: “Jesus has died that I might live. He
loves me, and wills not that I should perish. I have a compassionate
heavenly Father; and although I have abused His love, though the
blessings He has graciously given me have been squandered, I will
arise, and go to my Father, and say: ‘I have sinned, ... and am no more
worthy to be called Thy son: make me as one of Thy hired servants.”’
The parable tells you how the wanderer will be received. “When he