Saying and Doing
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pledged themselves to receive and obey the word of God, to give
themselves to God’s service, but they do not do this. In profession
they claim to be sons of God, but in life and character they deny the
relationship. They do not surrender the will to God. They are living a
lie.
The promise of obedience they appear to fulfill when this involves
no sacrifice; but when self-denial and self-sacrifice are required, when
they see the cross to be lifted, they draw back. Thus the conviction of
duty wears away, and known transgression of God’s commandments
becomes habit. The ear may hear God’s word, but the spiritual per-
ceptive powers have departed. The heart is hardened, the conscience
seared.
Do not think that because you do not manifest decided hostility
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to Christ you are doing Him service. We thus deceive our own souls.
By withholding that which God has given us to use in His service, be
it time or means or any other of His entrusted gifts, we work against
Him.
Satan uses the listless, sleepy indolence of professed Christians
to strengthen his forces and win souls to his side. Many, who think
that though they are doing no actual work for Christ, they are yet
on His side, are enabling the enemy to pre-occupy ground and gain
advantages. By their failure to be diligent workers for the Master, by
leaving duties undone and words unspoken, they have allowed Satan
to gain control of souls who might have been won for Christ.
We can never be saved in indolence and inactivity. There is no
such thing as a truly converted person living a helpless, useless life. It
is not possible for us to drift into heaven. No sluggard can enter there.
If we do not strive to gain an entrance into the kingdom, if we do not
seek earnestly to learn what constitutes its laws, we are not fitted for a
part in it. Those who refuse to co-operate with God on earth would
not co-operate with Him in heaven. It would not be safe to take them
to heaven.
There is more hope for publicans and sinners than for those who
know the word of God but refuse to obey it. He who sees himself a
sinner with no cloak for his sin, who knows that he is corrupting soul,
body, and spirit before God, becomes alarmed lest he be eternally sep-
arated from the kingdom of heaven. He realizes his diseased condition,
and seeks healing from the great Physician who has said, “Him that