to us all who have not resisted His Spirit by determining not to hear
and obey. This voice is heard in warnings, in counsels, in reproof. It is the
Lord’s message of light to His people. If we wait for louder calls or better
opportunities, the light may be withdrawn, and we left in darkness.
By once neglecting to comply with the call of God’s Spirit and His
word, when obedience involves a cross, many have lost much—how much
they will never know till the books are opened at the final day. The
pleadings of the Spirit, neglected today because pleasure or inclination
leads in an opposite direction, may be powerless to convince, or even
impress, tomorrow. To improve the opportunities of the present, with
prompt and willing hearts, is the only way to grow in grace and the
knowledge of the truth. We should ever cherish a sense that, individually,
we are standing before the Lord of hosts; no word, no act, no thought,
even, should be indulged, to offend the eye of the Eternal One. We shall
then have no fear of man or of earthly power, because a Monarch, whose
empire is the universe, who holds in His hands our individual destinies
for time and eternity, is taking cognizance of all our work. If we would
feel that in every place we are the servants of the Most High, we would be
more circumspect; our whole
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life would possess to us a meaning and a sacredness which earthly honors
can never give.
The thoughts of the heart, the words of the lips, and every act of
the life, will make our character more worthy, if the presence of God
is continually felt. Let the language of the heart be: “Lo, God is here.”
Then the life will be pure, the character unspotted, the soul continually
uplifted to the Lord. You have not pursued this course at Battle Creek. I
have been shown that painful and contagious disease is upon you, which
will produce spiritual death unless it is arrested.
Many are ruined by their desire for a life of ease and pleasure.
Self-denial is disagreeable to them. They are constantly seeking to escape
trials that are inseparable from a course of fidelity to God. They set their
hearts upon having the good things of this life. This is human success, but
is it not won at the expense of future, eternal interests? The great business
of life is to show ourselves to be true servants of God, loving righteousness
and hating iniquity. We should accept gratefully such measures of present
happiness and present success as are found in the path of duty. Our
greatest strength is realized when we feel and acknowledge our weakness.
The greatest loss which any one of you in Battle Creek can suffer is the
loss of earnestness and persevering zeal to do right, the loss of strength to
resist temptation, the loss of faith in the principles of truth and duty.
Let no man flatter himself that he is a successful man unless he
preserves the integrity of his conscience, giving himself wholly to the
truth and to God. We should move steadily forward, never losing heart
or hope in the good work, whatever trials beset our path, whatever moral
darkness may encompass us. Patience, faith, and love for duty are the
lessons we must learn. Subduing self and looking to Jesus is an everyday
work. The Lord will never forsake the soul that trusts in Him
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and seeks His aid. The crown of life is placed only upon the brow of the
overcomer. There is, for everyone, earnest, solemn work for God while
life lasts. As Satan’s power increases and his devices are multiplied, skill,
aptness, and sharp generalship should be exercised by those in charge of
the flock of God. Not only have we each a work to do for our own souls,
but we have also a duty to arouse others to gain eternal life.
It pains me to say, my brethren, that your sinful neglect to walk in
the light has enshrouded you in darkness. You may now be honest in not
recognizing and obeying the light; the doubts you have entertained, your
neglect to heed the requirements of God, have blinded your perceptions
so that darkness is now to you light, and light is darkness. God has
bidden you to go forward to perfection. Christianity is a religion of
progress. Light from God is full and ample, waiting our demand upon it.
Whatever blessings the Lord may give, He has an infinite supply beyond,
an inexhaustible store from which we may draw. Skepticism may treat the
sacred claims of the gospel with jests, scoffing, and denial. The spirit of
worldliness may contaminate the many and control the few; the cause of
God may hold its ground only by great exertion and continual sacrifice,
yet it will triumph finally.
The word is: Go forward; discharge your individual duty, and leave
all consequences in the hands of God. If we move forward where Jesus
leads the way we shall see His triumph, we shall share His joy. We must
share the conflicts if we wear the crown of victory. Like Jesus, we must be
made perfect through suffering. Had Christ’s life been one of ease, then
might we safely yield to sloth. Since His life was marked with continual
self-denial, suffering, and self-sacrifice, we shall make no complaint if we
are partakers with Him. We can walk safely in the darkest path if we have
the Light of the world for our guide.
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The Lord is testing and proving you. He has counseled, admonished,
and entreated. All these solemn admonitions will either make the church
better or decidedly worse. The oftener the Lord speaks to correct or
counsel, and you disregard His voice, the more disposed will you be to
reject it again and again, till God says: “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.”
Are you not halting between two opinions? Are you not neglecting
to heed the light which God has given you? Take heed lest there be in
any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.
You know not the time of your visitation. The great sin of the Jews was
that of neglecting and rejecting present opportunities. As Jesus views the
state of His professed followers today, He sees base ingratitude, hollow
formalism, hypocritical insincerity, pharisaical pride and apostasy.
The tears which Christ shed on the crest of Olivet were for the
impenitence and ingratitude of every individual to the close of time. He
sees His love despised. The soul’s temple courts have been converted
into places of unholy traffic. Selfishness, mammon, malice, envy, pride,
passion, are all cherished in the human heart. His warnings are rejected
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
and ridiculed, His ambassadors are treated with indifference, their
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words seem as idle tales. Jesus has spoken by