[BBC List] alarm - motives

[Mike Abendroth]

Alarm to the Unconverted

Joseph Alleine, 1671

The Motives to Conversion
 

Though what has already been said of the necessity of conversion and of the
miseries of the unconverted might be sufficient to induce any considerate
mind to resolve upon a present turning to God; yet, knowing what a piece of
desperate obstinacy and untractableness the heart of man naturally is, I
have thought it necessary to add some motives to persuade you to be
reconciled to God.

'O Lord, do not fail me now, at my last attempts. If any soul has read
hitherto, and is yet untouched, Lord, fasten on him now, and do Your work.
Take him by the heart, overcome him, persuade him, until he says, "You have
prevailed, for You are stronger than I." Lord, did not You make me a fisher
of men, and have I toiled all this while and caught nothing? Alas, that I
should have spent my strength for nothing! and now I am casting my last net.
Lord Jesus, stand upon the shore, and direct how and where I shall spread my
net; and let me so with arguments, enclose the souls I seek, that they may
not be able to get out. Now, Lord, for a multitude of souls; now for a full
draught. O Lord God, remember me, I pray You, and strengthen me this once, O
God.'

Men and brethren, heaven and earth call upon you; yes, hell itself preaches
the doctrine of repentance unto you. The ministers of the churches labor for
you. The angels of heaven wait for you, for your repenting and turning unto
God. O sinner, why should devils laugh at your destruction, and deride your
misery, and sport themselves with your folly? This will be your case, except
you turn. And were it not better you should be a joy to angels-than a
laughingstock and sport for devils. Truly, if you would but come in, the
heavenly hosts would take up their anthems and sing, 'Glory to God in the
highest'; the morning stars would sing together, and all the sons of God
shout for joy, and celebrate this new creation as they did the first. Your
repentance would, as it were, make a holiday in heaven, and the glorious
spirits would rejoice, in that there is a new brother added to their
society, another heir born to the Lord, and a lost son received safe and
sound. The true penitent's tears are indeed the wine that makes glad both
God and man.

If it be little that men and angels would rejoice at your conversion, know
also that God Himself would rejoice over you, even with singing (Luke 15:9;
Isa 62:5). Never did Jacob with such joy weep over the neck of his Joseph,
as your heavenly Father would rejoice over you upon your coming to Him. Look
over the story of the Prodigal Son. I think I see how the aged father lays
aside his state and forgets his years; behold, how he runs. O the haste that
mercy makes: the sinner makes not half that speed. I think I see how his
heart moves, how his compassions yearn. How quick-sighted is love! Mercy
spies him a great way off; forgets his riotous course, unnatural rebellion,
horrid unthankfulness-not a word of these-and receives him with open arms,
clasps him about his neck, kisses him; calls for the fattened calf, the best
robe, the ring, the shoes-the best cheer in heaven's store, the best attire
in heaven's wardrobe. Yes, the joy cannot be held in his own bosom. Others
must be called to participate. The friends sympathize; but none know the joy
the father has in his newborn son, whom he has received from the dead. I
think I hear the music at a distance. O the melody of the heavenly
choristers! I cannot learn the song (Rev 14:3) but I think I overhear the
theme at which all the harmonious choir with one consent strike sweetly in:
'For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.'
[Luke 15:24] I need not explain the parable further. God is the father:
Christ is the provision, His righteousness the robe, His grace the
ornaments, ministers, saints and angels, the friends and servants, and you
that read, if you will but sincerely repent and turn, the welcome prodigal,
the happy instance of this grace, the blessed subject of this joy and love. 

O rock! O adamant! What! not moved yet? Not yet resolved to turn and to
close with mercy? I will try yet once again. If one were sent to you from
the dead, would you be persuaded? Why, hear the voice from the dead, from
the damned, crying to you, that you should repent: 'I pray you that you
would send him to my father's house; for I have five brethren; that he may
testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torment; if one went
to them from the dead, they will repent' (Luke 16:27-28). Hear, O man; your
predecessors in impenitence preach to you from the infernal flames, that you
should repent. O look down into the bottomless pit. Do you see how the smoke
of their torment ascends forever and ever? What do you think of those chains
of darkness? Can you be content to burn? Do you see how the worm gnaws, how
the fire rages? What do you say to that gulf of perdition? Will you take up
your habitation there? O lay your ear to the door of hell. Do you hear the
curses and blasphemies, the weepings and wailings, how they lament their
follies and curse their day? How do they roar and gnash their teeth! how
deep their groans! how inconceivable their miseries! If the shrieks of
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, were so terrible when the earth clave asunder and
opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and all that appertained to them,
that all Israel fled at the cry of them (Num 16:33-34), O how fearful would
the cry be, if God would take off the covering from the mouth of hell, and
let the cry of the damned ascend in all its terror among the children of
men! And of their moans and miseries this is the piercing, killing emphasis
and burden, 'Forever! forever!'

As God lives-who made your soul, you are but a few hours away from all
this-unless you be converted.

O! I am even lost and swallowed up in the abundance of those arguments that
I might suggest. If there be any point of wisdom in all the world, it is to
repent and come in. If there be anything righteous, anything reasonable-this
is it. If there be anything that may be called madness and folly, and
anything that may be counted sottish, absurd, brutish, and unreasonable, it
is this, to go on in your unconverted state. Let me beg of you, as you would
not willingly destroy yourself, sit down and weigh, besides what has been
said, these following motives, and let conscience say if it be not most
reasonable that you should repent and turn.

1. The God who made you, most graciously invites you.

His most sweet and merciful nature invites you. O the kindness of God, His
boundless compassion, His tender mercies! As the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are His ways above our ways, and His thoughts above our thoughts.
'He is full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in
mercy' (Psalm 86:15). This is a great argument to persuade sinners to come.
'Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. He is not
easily angered. He is filled with kindness and is eager not to punish you.'
[Joel 2:13] 

If there were no hope of mercy, it would be no wonder that rebels should
stand out; but never had subjects such a gracious prince, such pity,
patience, and clemency to deal with, as you have. 'Who is a God like unto
You, that pardons iniquity?' (Mic 7:18). O sinners, see what a God you have
to deal with. If you will but turn, 'He will have compassion on you; He will
subdue your iniquities, and cast all your sins into the depths of the sea!'
'Return unto me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return unto you' (Mal
3:7). 

Sinners do not fail in that they have too high thoughts of God's mercies-but
in that they overlook His justice-or they promise themselves mercy outside
of God's way. His mercies are beyond all imagination; great mercies,
manifold mercies (Neh 9:19), tender mercies, sure mercies, everlasting
mercies-and all is yours, if you will but turn. Are you willing to come in?
The Lord has laid aside His terror and erected a throne of grace. He holds
forth the golden scepter: touch and live! Would a merciful man slay his
enemy when prostrate at his feet, acknowledging his wrong, begging pardon,
and offering to enter with him into a covenant of peace? Much less will the
merciful God. Study His name (Exod 34:7), 'Keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.' Also read experience, Neh
9:17.

God's soul-encouraging calls and promises invite you. Ah, what an earnest
suitor is mercy to you! How lovingly, how instantly, it calls after you! How
earnestly it woos you! 'Return O backsliding Israel, says the Lord, and I
will not cause my anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, says the Lord,
and I will not keep anger forever; only acknowledge your iniquity. Turn, O
backsliding children, says the Lord; return, and I will heal your
backslidings. You have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return unto
me, says the Lord' (Jer 3:12-13). 'As I live, says the Lord God, I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked-but that he turn from his way and live.
Turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?'
(Ezek 33:11). 'If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has
committed, and keeps all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right,
he shall surely live, he shall not die. All the transgressions that he has
committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him; in his righteousness that
he has done, he shall live [Ezek 18:21-22]. ... Repent, and turn you from
all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from
you all your transgressions, and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for
why will you die, O Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him who
dies, says the Lord God, therefore turn yourselves, and live!' (Ezek
18:30-32).

O melting, gracious words: the voice of God, and not of a man! This is not
the manner of men, for the offended sovereign to sue to the offending,
traitorous rebel. O how does mercy follow you, and plead with you! Is not
your heart broken yet? O that today you would hear His voice!

2. The doors of heaven are thrown open to you.

The everlasting gates are set wide open for you, and an abundant entrance
into the kingdom of heaven is administered to you.

Christ now addresses you, and calls upon you to arise and take possession of
this good land. View the glory of the other world, as set forth in the map
of the gospel. Get up into the Pisgah of the promises, and lift up your eyes
northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward, and see the good land
that is beyond Jordan, and that goodly mountain. Behold the Paradise of God,
watered with the streams of glory. Arise and walk through the land, in the
length of it, and in the breadth of it; for the land which you see, the Lord
will give it to you forever, if you will but return. Let me say to you, as
Paul to Agrippa, 'Do you believe the prophets?' [Acts 26:27] If you believe
indeed, view what glorious things are spoken of the city of God, and know
that all this is here offered in the name of God to you. As truly as God is
true, it shall be forever yours, if you will but thoroughly turn.

Behold the city of pure transparent gold, whose foundations are garnished
with all manner of precious stones, whose gates are pearls, whose light is
glory, whose temple is God. Do you believe this? If you do, are you not
beside yourself, that will not take possession when the gates are thrown
open to you, and you are bidden to enter? O you sons of folly, will you
embrace the ash-heap and refuse the kingdom? Behold, the Lord takes you up
into the mountain, shows you the kingdom of heaven and all the glory
thereof, and tells you, 'All this I will give you, if you will fall down and
worship me; if you will submit to mercy, accept my Son, and serve me in
righteousness and holiness.' 'O fools and slow of heart to believe!' [Luke
24:25] Will you seek and serve the world, and neglect eternal glory? What!
not enter into paradise when the flaming sword, which was once set to keep
you out, is now used to drive you in? But you will say I am uncharitable to
think you infidels and unbelievers. What, then, shall I think of you? Either
you are desperate unbelievers that do not believe it; or that you are beside
yourselves, that you know and believe the excellence and eternity of this
glory, and yet do so fearfully neglect it.

Do but attend to what is offered you: a blessed kingdom, a kingdom of glory,
a kingdom of righteousness, a kingdom of peace, and an everlasting kingdom.
Here you shall dwell, here you shall reign forever, and the Lord shall seat
you on a throne of glory, and with His own hand shall set the royal diadem
upon your head, and give you a crown-not of thorns, for there shall be no
sinning nor suffering there: not of gold, for this shall be viler than the
dirt in that day; but a crown of life, a crown of righteousness, a crown of
glory, yes, you shall put on glory as a robe, and shall shine like the sun
in the firmament of your Father. 

Look now on your worthless flesh. This flesh, which is mere dust and ashes,
shall be brighter than the stars. In short, you shall be made like unto the
angels of God and behold His face in righteousness. Look now and tell me, do
you not yet believe? If not, conscience must pronounce you an infidel; for
it is the very word of God that I speak.

But if you say you believe, let me next know your resolution. Will you
embrace this for your happiness? Will you forgo your sinful gains, your
forbidden pleasures? Will you trample on the world's esteem, and stop your
ears to its flatteries, and wrest yourself out of its embraces? Will you be
content to take up with reproach and poverty, if they lie in the way to
heaven, and follow the Lord with humble self-denial, in a mortified and
flesh-displeasing life? If so, all is yours-and that forever!

And is not the offer a fair one? Is it not just that he should be damned,
who will go on and perish, when all this may be had by taking it? Will you
not take God at His word? Will you not let go your hold of the world, and
lay hold on eternal life? If not, let conscience tell you whether you are
not beside yourself, that you should neglect so happy a choice, by which you
might be made happy forever.

3. God will give you unspeakable privileges in this life.

Though the fullness of your blessedness shall be reserved until
hereafter-yet God will give you no little things in hand. He will redeem you
from your thraldom. He will pluck you from the paw of the lion. The serpent
shall bruise your heel-but you shall bruise his head. He shall deliver you
from this present evil world. Prosperity shall not destroy you; adversity
shall not separate Him and you. He will redeem you from the power of the
grave, and make the king of terrors to be a messenger of peace to you. He
will take out the curse from the cross, and make affliction the refining-pot
to purify the metal, the fan to blow off the chaff, the medicine to cure the
mind. He will save you from the arrest of the law, and turn the curse into a
blessing to you. He has the keys of hell and of death, and shuts and no man
opens, and He will shut its mouth, as once He did the lions', that you shall
not be hurt of the second death.

Besides, He will not only save from misery-but install you into unspeakable
prerogatives. He will bestow Himself upon you; He will be a Friend and a
Father unto you. He will be a Sun and a Shield to you. In a word, He will be
a God to you. And what more can be said? What may you expect that God should
do for you, and be to you? That He will be, that He will do. She who marries
a prince expects he should do for her like a prince-that she may live in
suitable state, and have an answerable dowry. He who has a king for his
father or a friend, expects he should do for him like a king. Alas, the
kings and monarchs of the earth, so much above you, are but like the painted
butterflies among the rest of their kind-or the fair colored palmerworm
among the rest of the worms, if compared with God. As He infinitely exceeds
the glory and power of His glittering dust, so He will, beyond all
proportion, exceed in doing for His favorites whatever princes can do for
theirs. He will give you grace and glory, and withhold no good thing from
you. He will take you for His sons and daughters, and make you heirs of His
promises, and establish His everlasting covenant with you. He will justify
you from all that law, conscience and Satan can charge upon you. He will
give you free access into His presence, and accept your person, and receive
your prayers. He will abide in you, and hold a constant and friendly
communion with you. His ear shall be open, His door open, His store open, at
all times to you. His blessing shall rest upon you, and He will make your
enemies serve you, and work out all things for good unto you. 

4. The terms of mercy are brought as low as possible to you.

God has stooped as low to sinners as with honor He can. He will not be the
author of sin, nor stain the glory of His holiness; and how could He come
lower than He has, unless He should do this?

God does not impose anything unreasonable or impossible, as a condition of
life, upon you. Two things were necessary to be done, according to the tenor
of the first covenant. 1. That we should fully satisfy the demands of
justice for past offences. 2. That we should perform personally, perfectly,
and perpetually, the whole law for the time to come. By our sins we render
salvation through either of these ways impossible. But behold God's gracious
provision in both. He is content to take of the Surety, and He of His own
providing too, what He might have exacted from you. 'All things are of God,
who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the
ministry of reconciliation: namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has
committed unto us the word of reconciliation' (2 Cor 5:18-19). He declares
Himself to have received a ransom, and that He expects nothing but that you
should accept His Son, and He shall be righteousness and redemption to you.
If you come in His Christ, and set your heart to please Him, making this
your chief concern, He will graciously accept you.

O consider the condescension of your God! Let me say to you, as Naaman's
servant to him, 'My father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing,
would you not have done it? How much rather when he says to you, Wash and be
clean!' [2 Kings 5:13] If God demanded some great, some severe and rigorous
thing of you, to escape eternal damnation, would you not have done it?
Suppose it had been to spend all your days in sorrow in some howling
wilderness-or pine with famine, would you not have thankfully accepted
eternal redemption, though these had been the conditions? Nay, farther, if
God had told you that you should burn in the fire for millions of ages-or be
so long tormented in hell, would you not have accepted it? Alas, all these
are not so much as one grain of sand in the glass of eternity. If your
offended Creator should have held you but one year upon the rack, and then
bid you come and forsake your sins, accept Christ, and serve him a few years
in self-denial or lie in this case forever and ever; do you think you would
have hesitated at the offer, and disputed the terms, and have been
unresolved whether to accept the proposal? O sinner, return and live; why
should you die when life is to be had for the taking, when mercy entreats
you to be saved? Could you say, 'Lord, I knew you, that you were a hard
man', [Matt 25:24] even then you would have no excuse; but when the God of
Heaven has stooped so low, and condescended so far, if still you stand off,
who shall plead for you?

Objection: Notwithstanding all the advantages of the new covenant, I am
unable to repent and believe, and so comply with its conditions.

Answer: These you may perform by God's grace enabling; but let the next
consideration serve for a fuller answer. 

5. God offers all needed grace to enable you.

'I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded' (Prov 1:24). What though
you are plunged into the ditch of that misery from which you can never get
out? Christ offers to help you out; He reaches out His hand to you; and if
you perish, it is for refusing His help. 'Behold, I stand at the door and
knock; if any man open to me, I will come in.' (Rev 3:20). What though you
are poor, and wretched, and blind, and naked? Christ offers a cure for your
blindness, a covering for your nakedness, riches for your poverty. He offers
you His righteousness, His grace: 'I counsel you to buy of me gold, that you
may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed; and anoint your
eyes with eye salve, that you may see.' [Rev 3:18] Do you say, 'The
condition is impossible; for I have nothing with which to buy?' You must
know that this buying is 'without money and without price.' [Isa 55:1] This
buying is by begging and seeking with your whole heart. God commands you to
know Him, and to fear Him. Do you say, 'Yes-but my mind is blinded, and my
heart is hardened from His fear?' I answer that God offers to enlighten your
mind, and to teach you His fear. So that now, if men live in ignorance and
estrangement from the Lord, it is because they will not understand, and do
not desire the knowledge of His ways. 'If you cry after knowledge, if you
Seek her as silver, then shall you understand the fear of the Lord, and find
the knowledge of God.' (Prov 2:3-5). Is not this a fair offer? 'Turn at my
reproof; behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you' (Prov 1:23). Though of
yourselves you can do nothing-yet you may do all through His Spirit enabling
you, and He offers assistance to you. God bids you 'wash and be made clean'
[Isa 1:16]. You say you are unable, as much as the leopard to wash out his
spots. Yes-but the Lord offers to cleanse you; so that if you are filthy
still, it is through your own wilfulness: 'I have purged you, and you were
not purged' (Ezek 24:13). 'O Jerusalem, will you not be made clean: when
shall it once be?' (Jer 13:27). God invites you to be made clean, and
entreats you to yield to Him. O accept His offers, and let Him do for you,
and in you, what you cannot do for yourselves!

 

 

Thanks.

 

For the King's honor,

 

Charis,

 

Mike Abendroth

 

 <http://www.bbcchurch.org> www.bbcchurch.org

 

Ephesians 3:21 auvtw/| h` do,xa evn th/| evkklhsi,a| 

 

2 Tim 1:2b  "Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord."

 

"Faith is not our physician; it only brings us to the Physician ... Faith is
not our saviour. It was not faith that was born at Bethlehem and died on
Golgotha for us. It was not faith that loved us, and gave itself for us;
that bore our sins in its own body on the tree; that died and rose again for
our sins.  It is a sin-bearer that we need, and our faith cannot be a
sin-bearer. Faith can expiate no guilt; can accomplish no propitiation; can
pay no penalty; can wash away no stain; can provide no righteousness. It
brings us to the cross, . but in itself it has no merit and no virtue.
Faith is not Christ, nor the cross of Christ. Faith is not the blood, nor
the sacrifice; . Our faith does not divide the work of salvation between
itself and the cross. It is the acknowledgment that the cross alone saves,
and that it saves alone. Faith adds nothing to the cross, nor to its healing
virtue. It owns the fulness, and sufficiency, and suitableness of the work
done there, and bids the toiling spirit cease from its labours and enter
into rest. Faith does not come to Calvary to do anything. It comes to see
the glorious spectacle of all things done, and to accept this completion
without a misgiving as to its efficacy. It listens to the "It is finished!"
of the Sin-bearer, and says, "Amen."   

NOT FAITH, BUT CHRIST 

by Horatius Bonar 
(1808-1889) 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bbcchurch.org/pipermail/bbc_list/attachments/20070807/4f333289/attachment.htm