Alarm to the Unconverted! part 5

Q: What does the Bible say about repentance?

The Bible emphasizes the importance of repentance as a necessary act of turning away from sin and returning to God for forgiveness. Throughout scripture, repentance is presented as an essential part of the believer's experience. Passages such as Ezekiel 33:11 emphasize that God does not delight in the death of the wicked but rather desires that they turn from their ways and live. Repentance allows individuals to acknowledge their sinfulness and recognize the mercy and grace God offers through Jesus Christ. This change of heart is crucial for salvation, as seen in Acts 3:19 where Peter calls for repentance as a means to receive forgiveness and restoration. The joy experienced in heaven over one sinner who repents demonstrates the significance of this act (Luke 15:10). Therefore, repentance is not merely a emotional response but a necessary turning towards the grace and forgiveness offered by God.

Q: How do we know God's mercy is genuine?

God's mercy is evident through His invitation to repentance and His promises of restoration to those who turn to Him. The genuine nature of God's mercy is reflected in His countless invitations for sinners to return to Him. As described in passages like Jeremiah 3:12-13, God calls His wayward people to return, assuring them of His forgiving nature. Micah 7:18 highlights that there is no God like Yahweh, who pardons iniquity and delights in mercy. Furthermore, the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) powerfully illustrates God's mercy; upon the son’s return, the father eagerly restores him, showcasing the depth of God’s compassion. These examples affirm that God's mercy is not merely theoretical but is actively offered to all who repent and seek His forgiveness.

Q: Why is turning to God important for Christians?

Turning to God is crucial for Christians as it signifies a return to grace, mercy, and the hope of eternal life. For Christians, turning to God represents a vital aspect of their faith journey. It is an acknowledgment of dependence on God's mercy and grace, as exemplified in Isaiah 55:7, where the Lord invites the wicked to abandon their ways for His mercy. This act of turning is transformative; it marks the beginning of a renewed relationship with God and aligns believers with His will. Additionally, passages like 2 Corinthians 5:17 assure believers that they become new creations through this reconciliation. Ultimately, this turning restores believers not just to a right standing before God but opens the door to the abundant life and eternal promises found in Him.

Q: What are the consequences of refusing to repent?

Refusing to repent can lead to eternal separation from God and the experience of His judgment. The consequences of refusing to repent are dire, as scripture warns about the eternal implications of such a choice. Ezekiel 18:30 urges the people of Israel to turn from their sins, suggesting that failure to do so leads to death rather than life. The New Testament reinforces this idea, with verses such as Romans 2:5 indicating that persistent unrepentance results in God's wrath. The sobering imagery presented in Luke 16:27-28, where the rich man pleas for his brothers to repent to avoid his fate, underscores the seriousness of neglecting repentance. Acknowledging these warnings indicates that true repentance is essential to avoid separation from God and to enter into eternal life.

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 attempt. If any soul has read hitherto and is yet untouched, Lord, fasten on him now and do thy work. take him by the heart, overcome him, persuade him till he say, Thou hast prevailed, for Thou art stronger than I. Lord, didst Thou not 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 naught. And now I am casting my last cast. Lord Jesus, stand thou upon the shore, and direct how and where I shall spread my net. And let me so enclose with arguments the souls I seek, that they may be able to get out. Now, Lord, for a multitude of souls, now for a full draft. O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me this once, O God.

Men and brethren, heaven and earth call upon you, yea, hell itself preaches the doctrine of repentance unto you. The ministers of the churches lay before 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 laughing-stock and a sport for devils. 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 maketh glad both God and man.

if it be a little that men and angels would rejoice at your conversion know also that God himself would rejoice over you even with singing Luke 15 chapter 9 Isaiah 62 verse 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, forgets his years. Behold how he runs! Oh, 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, and not a word of these, and receives him with open arms, clasps him about the neck, kisses him, calls for the fatted calf, the best robe, the ring, the shoes, the best chair in heaven's store, the best attire in heaven's wardrobe.

Yea, the joy cannot be held in his own breast. Others must be called in to participate. The friend sympathized, but none knows the joy the father has in his newborn son, whom he has received again from the dead. I think I hear the music in the distance. O the melody of the heavenly choristers! I cannot learn their song, Revelation 14 verse 3, but I think I overhear the theme at which all the harmonious choir with one constant strikes sweetly in. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. 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 unfailingly repent and turn, the Wellcome Prodigal, the Happy Instance of this Grace, the Blessed Subject of this Joy and Love,

Oh rock! Oh adamant! What? Not moved yet? Not yet resolved to turn forthwith and 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 thee that thou 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 chapter 16 verses 27 to 28

Here, 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 ascendeth up for ever 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, and what do you say to the gulf of perdition? Will you take up your habitation there? Oh, lay your ear to the door of hell! Do you hear the curses and blasphemies, the weepings and wailings, how they repent and lament of their follies and curse their day? How do they roar and gnash with their teeth, how deep their groans, how inconceivable their miseries!

If the shrieks of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were so terrible as when the earth-clave Asander had opened his mouth and swallowed them up, and all that appertained to them, that all Israel fled at the cry of them, Numbers chapter 16 verses 33 to 34 Oh how fearful would be the cry if God should take off the covering from the mouth of hell and let the cries of the damned ascend with all their terrors unto the children of men and of their moans and miseries this is the piercing killing emphasis and all the burden forever forever

As God liveth that made your soul, you are but a few hours distant from all of this except you be converted. Oh, I am even lost and swallowed up in the abundance of these 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 called 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 that 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 long-suffering and plenteous in mercy Psalm 86 verse 15 This is a great argument to persuade sinners to come. Turn unto the Lord, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. If God would not repent of the evil, it would be some discouragement to our repenting. 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 of God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? Micah chapter 7 verse 18 O sinners, see what a God you have to deal with if you will but turn He will turn again and have compassion on you He will subdue your iniquities and cast all your sins into the depths of the sea Return unto me, saith the Lord, and I will return unto you Malachi chapter 3 verse 7

Sinners do not fail in that they have too high thoughts of God's mercy but in that they overlook his justice or they promise themselves mercy out of God's way his mercies are beyond all imagination great mercies, manifold mercies Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 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 it and live. Would a merciful man slay his enemy when prostrate at his feet, acknowledging his wrong, begging pardon and offering to enter into him with a covenant of peace? much less will the merciful God study his name Exodus 37 verse 7 keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin also read Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 17

God's soul-encouraging calls and promises invite you. Oh, what an earnest suitor is mercy to you! How lovingly, how instantly it calls after you! How earnestly it woos you! Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever, only acknowledge thine iniquity. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, return, and I will heal thy backslidings. Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, yet return unto me, saith the Lord. Jeremiah chapter 3

As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 11 If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All the transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him. In his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. 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 ye die, O Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the LORD. Wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." Ezekiel chapter 18

Oh, what 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, believest thou the prophets? If you believe indeed, view what glorious things are spoken of the city of God, and know that all this is here tendered in the name of God to you. As verily as God is true, it shall be yours for ever, if you will but thoroughly turn.

Behold a 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. Believest thou this? If you do, you are no more beside yourself, but 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 Dong hill 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 will I 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! 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? What 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 credit it or you are besides yourselves that you know and believe the excellence of eternity and of this glory and yet still do fearfully neglect it

do but attend to what is offered to you a blessed kingdom a kingdom of glory a kingdom of righteousness a kingdom of peace an everlasting kingdom Here you shall dwell, here you shall reign for ever, and the Lord will 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, and not of thorns, for there shall be no sinning and no suffering there, not of gold, for that shall be viler than the dirt in that day. But a crown of life, a crown of righteousness, a crown of glory!

Yea, you shall put on glory as a robe, and shall shine like the sun in the firmament of your Father. Look now at 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 flatterers, and wrest yourself away from 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 good one is it not just that he should be damned that will go on and perish when all this may be had for the taking of it will you not take God at his word? will you not let go of your hold on the world and lay hold on eternal life? if not, let conscience tell you whether you are not besides 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 till hereafter, yet God will give you no little things in hand. He will redeem you from your thralldom. He will pluck you from the paw of the lion. The serpent shall bruise your heel, but you shall crush 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 a messenger of peace to you. He will take out the curse from the cross and make affliction the refining pot to purify your mettle, the fan to blow off your chaff, the medicine to cure your mind. He will save you from the arrest of the law and turn the curse into a blessing for you. He has the keys of death and of hell, and shutteth, and no man openeth, 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 a God should do for you and be to you that he will be and that he will do she that marries a prince expects that he should do for her like a prince that she may live in a suitable state and have an answerable dowry he that has a king for his father or friend expects that 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 the kind, or the fair-coloured palmer worm among the rest of the worms, if compared to God. as he infinitely exceeds the glory and the power of all his glittering dust so he will beyond all proportion exceed in doing his favourites 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 against 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 communication with you. His ear shall be open, His door shall be open, His store shall be open at all times to you. His blessings shall rest upon you and He will make your enemies to 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 honour He can. he will not be the author of sin, nor stain the glory of his holiness and how could he come lower than this unless he should do that? 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 one, that we should be fully satisfied of the demands of justice for past offences that we should perform personally, perfectly and perpetually the whole of the law for all time to come.

by our sins we render salvation through either of these ways impossible. But behold God's gracious provision in both. He does not insist upon satisfaction, 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 hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verses 18 to 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 righteous and be redemption to you if you come in his Christ and set your heart to please him make him this your chief concern he will graciously accept you oh consider the condescension of your God

Let me say to you, as Naaman's servant to him, My father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean! If God demanded some terrible, some severe and rigorous thing of you to escape eternal damnation, would you not have tried to do it? Suppose it had been to spend all of your days in sorrow in some howling wilderness, or pine away with famine. Would you not have thankfully accepted eternal redemption, though these had been the conditions?

Nay, father, 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? unless 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 bid you come and then forsake your sins accept Christ and serve him a few years in self-denial or lie in that case forever and ever do you think that you should have hesitated at the offer and disputed the terms and would have been unresolved at whether or not 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 thee, that thou wast an hard man? Even then you would have no excuse. But when the God of heaven has stooped so low and condescended so far, if you still 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 which is five God offers all needed grace to enable you

I have stretched out mine hand and no man regarded. Proverbs 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 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. Revelation 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 tenders you his righteousness, his grace. I counsel thee to buy of me gold, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.

do you say the condition is impossible for I have nothing with which to buy it you must know that this buying is without money and without price 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 thou cryest after knowledge if thou seekest hair as silver if thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God Proverbs chapter 2 verses 3 to 5 is not that a fair offer turn you at my proposal behold I will pour out my spirit unto you Proverbs chapter 1 verse 23

so 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 make you clean 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 willfulness I have purged thee and thou was not purged Ezekiel chapter 24 verse 13 O Jerusalem will thou not be made clean when shall it once be? Jeremiah chapter 13 verse 27

God invites you to be made clean and entreats you to yield to him oh accept his offers and let him do for you and in you that which you cannot do for yourselves

conclusion and now beloved let me know your mind What do you intend to do? Will you go on and die or will you turn and lay hold on eternal life? How long will you linger in Sodom? How long will you halt between two opinions? Have you not yet resolved whether Christ or Barabbas, whether bliss or torment, whether this vain and wretched world or the paradise of God be the better choice? Is it a disputable case whether a barna and parfar of Damascus be better than the streams of Eden? Or whether the vile pool of sin is to be preferred before the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb?

Can the world in good earnest do for you that which Christ can? Will it stand by you to eternity? Will pleasures, lands, titles, and treasures descend with you? If not, how do you not look after something that will? What do you mean by standing wavering? Shall I leave you at last like a gripper, only almost persuaded? You are forever lost if left here. As good be not at all as be not altogether a Christian.

How long will you rest in idle wishes and fruitless purposes? When will you come to a fixed, firm and full resolve? Do you not see how Satan cheats you by tempting you to delay? How long has he drawn you on in the ways of perdition? Well, do not put me off with a dilatory answer. Tell me not later. I must have immediate consent. If you are not now resolved while the Lord is treating with you and inviting you, much less likely are you to be later when these impressions have worn off and you are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Will you give me your hand? Will you set open the door and give the Lord Jesus the full and ready possession? Will you put your name under his covenant? What do you resolve upon? If you still delay, my labour is lost, and all is likely to come to nothing. Come, cast in your lot, make your choice, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation, today, if you will hear his voice.

Why should not this be the day from which you are able to date your happiness? Why should you venture a day longer in this dangerous and dreadful condition? What if God should this night require your soul? O that thou mightest know in this day the things that belong to thy peace, before they be hid from thine eyes.

This is your day, and it is but a day. Others have had their day, and have received their doom. And now you are brought upon the stage of this world, here to act your part for eternity. Remember, you are now upon your good behaviour for everlasting. If you do not make a wise choice now, you are undone forever. What your present choice is, such must be your eternal condition.

And is it true indeed? Are life and death at your choice? Why then, what hinders you but that you should be happy? Nothing does or can hinder you but your own willful neglect and refusal. It was the saying of the eunuch to Philip. See, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? So may I say to you, see, here is Christ, here is mercy, here is pardon, here is life. What hinders you but that you should be pardoned and saved?

One of the martyrs, as he was praying at the stake, had his pardon set before him in a box, which indeed he rightly refused, because upon unworthy terms. But here the terms are most honourable and easy. O sinner, will you perish with the pardon written by you? Do you henceforth give your consent to Christ, to renounce your sins, to deny yourself, take up the yoke and the cross, and you can carry the day? Christ is yours, pardon, peace, life and blessedness are all yours, and is not this an offer worth embracing? Why should you hesitate or doubtfully dispute about your case? Is it not past controversy whether God is better than sin and glory better than vanity? Why should you forsake your own mercy and sin against your own life?

When will you shake off your sloth and lay by your excuses? Roast not of tomorrow, for you know not where you may lodge this night. Now the Holy Spirit is striving with you. He will not always strive. Have you not felt your heart warmed by the word and been almost persuaded to leave off your sins and come to Christ? Have you not felt some motions in your mind in which you have been warned of your danger and told what your careless course would end in? It may be you are like young Samuel who when the Lord called once and again knew not the voice of the Lord. But these motions are the offers and callings and strivings of the Spirit. O take advantage of the tide and know that this is the day of your visitation.

Now the Lord stretches wide His arms to receive you. He beseeches you by us. How movingly, how meltingly, how compassionately He calls you. The church is put into sudden ecstasy at the sound of his voice, the voice of my beloved. Oh, will you turn a deaf ear to his voice? It is not the voice that breaks the cedars and makes the mountains skip like a calf that shakes the wilderness and devises the flame of fire. It is not Sinai's thunder, but the soft, still voice. It is not the voice of Mount Abel, a voice of cursing and of terror, but the voice of Mount Gerizim, a voice of blessing and glad tidings of good things. It is not the voice of the trumpet nor the voice of war, but a message of peace from the King of Peace.

I may say to you, O sinner, as Martha to her sister, The Master is come and calleth for thee. Now then, with Mary, arise quickly and come to him. How sweet are his invitations! He cries in the open concourse, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. John chapter 7 verse 37 How bountiful is he! He excludes none. Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. Revelation 22 verse 17.

Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine that I have mingled. Forsake the foolish and live. Proverbs chapter 9 verses 5 to 6. come unto me, and take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and you shall find rest for your souls. Matthew chapter 9 verses 28 to 29 He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. John chapter 6 verse 37

How does he bemoan the obstinate refuser? O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Matthew 23.37 Behold me, behold me, I have stretched out my hands all the day to a rebellious people. Isaiah 65.1-2 O be persuaded now at last to throw yourselves into the arms of his love.

Behold O ye sons of men, the Lord Jesus hath thrown open the prison, and now he comes to you by his ministers and beseeches you to come out. If it were from a palace or paradise that Christ did call you, it were no wonder that you would be unwilling to go. And yet how easily was Adam beguiled from paradise. But it is from your prison, from your chains, from the dungeon, from the darkness that he calls you. And yet will you not come out? He calls you unto liberty. And yet will you not hearken? His yoke is easy, His laws are liberty, His service is freedom, and whatever prejudice you may have against His ways, if God may be believed, you shall find them all pleasure and peace, and shall taste sweetness and joy unutterable, and take infinite delight and felicity in them. Proverbs 3.17 1 Peter 1.8 Psalm 119.103.111.165

Beloved, I am loath to leave you. I cannot tell how to give you up. I am now ready to close, but I would see a covenant made between Christ and you before I end. What, shall I leave you at last where I found you? Have you read thus far, and yet not resolved to abandon all your sins and to close with Jesus Christ? Alas, what shall I say? What shall I do? Who will turn off all my importunity? Have I run in vain? Have I used so many arguments and spent so much time to persuade you? And must I sit down at last in disappointment? Shall it be a small matter that you turn me away? You put a slight upon the God that made you. You reject the compassion and beseechings of the Saviour? And will we found resistors of the Holy Ghost, if you will not now be prevailed upon to repent and be converted?

Well, though I have called you long and you have refused, I shall yet this once more lift up my voice like a trumpet. and cry from the highest places of the city before I conclude with the miserable exclamation, it is all over. Once more I shall call after regardless sinners that if it be possible I may awaken them.

O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Jeremiah 22 verse 29 unless you are resolved to die, lend your ear to the last call of mercy. Behold in the name of God I make open proclamation to you, hearken unto me O you children, hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not. Proverbs chapter 8 verses 32-33

O everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, And he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, Yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me. Here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Isaiah chapter 55 verses 1 to 3

Oh everyone that is sick in any manner of disease or torment or is possessed with an evil spirit whether it be of pride, fury, lust or covetousness come ye to the physician bring your sick. Lo here is he that healeth all manner of sicknesses and all manner of diseases among the people Matthew chapter 4 verses 23 to 24

Oh, everyone that is in distress, gather yourself unto Christ and He will become a captain over you. He will be your protection from the arrests of the law. He will save you from the hand of justice. Behold, He is an open sanctuary to you. He is a known refuge. Away with your sins and come unto Him, lest the avenger of blood seize you, lest devouring wrath overtake you.

every blind and ignorant sinner, come and by I salve that you may see. Away with your excuses, you are forever lost if you continue in this state. But accept Christ for your prophet and He will be a light unto you. Cry unto Him for knowledge, study His words, take pains about religion, humble yourself before God and He will teach you His way and make you wise unto salvation. But if you will not follow him, but sit down, because you have but one talent, he will condemn you for a wicked and slothful servant. Matthew chapter 25 verses 24 to 26

hope. Every profane sinner, come in and live. Return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy on you. Be entreated, O return, come! You that have filled your mouth with oaths and execrations or manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven you, if you will but thoroughly turn unto Christ and come in.

O unclean sinner, put away your whoredoms out of his sight, and your adulteries from between your breasts, and give yourself unto Christ as a vessel of holiness alone for his use. And then, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Luke chapter 7 verses 47 Isaiah chapter 1 verses 18 and chapter 4 verse 7

Here, O ye drunkards, how long will you be drunk? Put away from you your wine. Though you have rolled in the filthiness of your sins, give yourself unto Christ, to live soberly, righteously, and godly. Embrace His righteousness, accept His government, and though you have been vile, He will wash you. Revelation chapter 1 verse 5

here, O you loose companions, whose delight is in vain and wicked society, to sport away your time in carnal mirth, come in at wisdom's call, and choose her and her ways, and you shall live. Proverbs 9.5-6

Hear, O you scorners, hear the word of the Lord, Though you make a sport at godliness and its professors, Though you have made a scorn of Christ and his ways, Yet even to you does he call, That you should be found among the worst of that black row, yet upon your thorough conversion you shall be washed you shall be sanctified you shall be justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 10 and 11

every formal professor. You are but lukewarm and resting in a mere form of godliness. Give over your halting. Be a true Christian. Be zealous and repent, and then, though you have been an offence to Christ, you shall be the joy of his heart. Revelation chapter 3 verses 16 to 20.

and now I bear witness that mercy has been offered to you I call heaven and earth to record against you this day that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that ye may live Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19

I can only entreat you and warn you. I cannot otherwise compel you to be happy. If I could, I would. What answer will you send me with to my master? Let me speak to you as Abraham's servant to Nahor's family. And now, if you will kindly and truly deal with my master, tell me. Oh, for such happy answer as Rebecca gave them! And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquired her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Will thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. And Genesis chapter 24 verses 49 to 58.

O that I had this from you! Why should I, who agonise for your salvation, be your accuser? Why should the passion of pleadings and of mercy have been turned into horrid aggravations of your obstinacy and additions to your misery? Judge in yourselves. Do you not think their condemnation will be doubly dreadful, that it shall go on in their sins after all these endeavours to recall them? doubtless it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon yea for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for you Matthew chapter 11 verses 22 to 24

Beloved if you have any pity for your perishing souls close with the present offer of mercy it's a God that made you have any authority with you obey his commands and come in If you are not despisers of grace, and would not shut the doors of mercy against yourselves, repent and be converted. Let not heaven stand open for you in vain. Let not the Lord Jesus open his stores and bid you buy without money and without price in vain. let not his spirit and his ministers strive with you in vain and leave you now at last unpersuaded lest the sentence go forth against you the bellows are burned the lead is consumed in the fire the founder melteth in vain recrobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Jeremiah chapter 6 verses 29 to 30

Father of spirits, take the heart in hand that is too hard for my weakness. Do not thou end, though I have done. A word from thy effectual power will do the work. O thou that hast the key of David, that openest and no man shutteth, open thou this heart as thou didst Lydia's, and let the King of glory enter in, and make this soul thy captive. Let not the tenter harden him in delays. Let him not stir from this place, nor take his eyes from these lines, till he resolve to forgo his sins and accept life on thy self-denying terms. In thy name, O Lord God, did I go forth to these labours. In thy name do I close them. Let not all the time they have cost be lost hours. Let not all the thoughts of the heart and all the pains that have been about them be lost labor. Lord, put thy hand upon the heart of the reader, and send thy spirit, as thou didst once Philip to join himself to the chariot of the eunuch while he was reading thy word. And though I should never know it while I live, yet I beseech thee, O Lord God, let it be found at the last day that some souls have been converted by these labours. And let some be able to stand forth and say that by these persuasions they were won unto thee. Amen and Amen. And let him that readeth say Amen. The end.

Alarm to the Unconverted! part 5

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about repentance?

How do we know God's mercy is genuine?

Why is turning to God important for Christians?

What are the consequences of refusing to repent?

Sermon Transcript

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Alarm to the Unconverted! part 5

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about repentance?

How do we know God's mercy is genuine?

Why is turning to God important for Christians?

What are the consequences of refusing to repent?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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