[BBC List] alarm - intro

Sun Jul 8 22:49:40 EAST 2007

Alarm to the Unconverted

Joseph Alleine, 1671

Introduction

An earnest invitation to sinners to turn to God

Dearly Beloved, 
I gladly acknowledge myself a debtor to you, and am concerned, as I would be
found a good steward of the household of God, to give to everyone his
portion. But the physician is most concerned for those patients whose case
is most doubtful and hazardous; and the father's pity is especially turned
towards his dying child. So unconverted souls call for earnest compassion
and prompt diligence to pluck them as brands from the burning (Jude 23).
Therefore it is to them I shall first apply myself in these pages.

But from where shall I fetch my argument? With what shall I win them? O that
I could tell! I would write to them in tears, I would weep out every
argument, I would empty my veins for ink, I would petition them on my knees.
O how thankful should I be if they would be prevailed with to repent and
turn.

How long have I labored for you! How often would I have gathered you! This
is what I have prayed for and studied for these many years, that I might
bring you to God. O that I might now do it! Will you yet be entreated?

'But, O Lord, how insufficient I am for this work. Alas, with what shall I
pierce the scales of Leviathan, or make the heart feel that is hard as the
nether millstone? Shall I go and speak to the grave, and expect the dead
will obey me and come forth? Shall I make an oration to the rocks, or
declaim to the mountains, and think to move them with arguments? Shall I
make the blind to see? From the beginning of the world was it not heard that
a man opened the eyes of the blind (John 9:32). But, O Lord, You can pierce
the heart of the sinner. I can only draw the bow at a venture-but may You
direct the arrow between the joints of the harness. Slay the sin, and save
the soul of the sinner who casts his eyes on these pages.

There is no entering into heaven but by the strait passage of the second
birth; without holiness you shall never see God (Heb 12:14). Therefore give
yourselves unto the Lord now. Set yourselves to seek Him now. Set up the
Lord Jesus in your hearts, and set Him up in your houses. Kiss the Son
(Psalm 2:12) and embrace the offers of mercy; touch His scepter and live;
for why will you die? I do not beg for myself-but would have you happy: this
is the prize I run for. My soul's desire and prayer for you is, that you may
be saved (Rom 10:1).

I beseech you to permit a friendly plainness and freedom with you in your
deepest concern. I am not playing the orator to make a learned speech to
you, nor dressing the dish with eloquence in order to please you. These
lines are upon a weighty errand indeed-to convince, and convert, and save
you. I am not baiting my hook with rhetoric, nor fishing for your
applause-but for your souls. My work is not to please you-but to save you;
nor is my business with your fancies-but with your hearts. If I have not
your hearts, I have nothing. If I were to please your ears, I would sing
another song. I could then tell you a smoother tale; I would make pillows
for you and speak peace, for how can Ahab love this Micaiah, who always
prophesies evil concerning him? (1 Kings 22:8). But how much better are the
wounds of a friend, than the fair speeches of the harlot, who flatters with
her lips, until the darts strike through the liver? (Prov 7:21-23 and Prov
6:26). If I were to quiet a crying infant, I might sing him into a happier
mood, or rock him asleep; but when the child is fallen into the fire, the
parent takes another course; he will not try to still him with a song or
trifle. I know, if we succeed not with you, you are lost; if we cannot get
your consent to arise and come away, you will perish forever. No
conversion-no salvation! I must get your goodwill, or leave you miserable.

But here the difficulty of my work again occurs to me. 'O Lord, choose my
stones out of the brook (1 Sam 17:40,45). I come in the name of the Lord
Almighty. I come forth, like the stripling David against Goliath, to
wrestle, not with flesh and blood-but with principalities and powers, and
rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph 6:12). This day let the Lord smite
the Philistines, spoil the strong man of his armor, and give me the captives
out of his hand. Lord, choose my words, choose my weapons for me; and when I
put my hand into the bag, and take out a stone and sling it, may You carry
it to the mark, and make it sink, not into the forehead-but into the heart
of the unconverted sinner, and smite him to the ground like Saul of Tarsus
(Acts 9:4).'

Some of you do not know what I mean by conversion, and in vain shall I
attempt to persuade you to that which you do not understand. Therefore for
your sakes I will show what conversion is.

Others cherish secret hopes of mercy, though they continue as they are. For
them I must show the necessity of conversion.

Others are likely to harden themselves with a vain conceit that they are
converted already. To them I must show the marks of the unconverted.

Others, because they feel no harm, fear none, and so sleep as upon the top
of a mast. To them I shall show the misery of the unconverted.

Others sit still, because they do not see the way of escape. To them I shall
show the means of conversion.

And finally, for the quickening of all, I shall close with the motives to
conversion.

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) 

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