So, How much is your soul selling for today? A new car, or a fine home? A relationship, or maybe just cash? Perhaps it's not for sale at all because you're saving it to sacrifice at the altar known by many names such as, pride, control, or you're foolish enough to believe that there will always be another chance or another moment. Satan has caused many a soul to be damned using this very lie itself. Do you choose not to believe in Heaven or Hell because you are a human being that works on logic alone? God will allow you to do just that as long as you are willing to face the result of your actions in return. Maybe you believe that all of us elvolved in the cosmics of space and time. You must know by being a "smart" human that operates on "logic" alone that we have had zoos for years on this planet. How come in all this time no ape or anything else has ever become or shown signs of becoming something other that what it was first gathered as. You also know that our modern computers work on the "logic' system as well and just look at the problems we have with them at times.

6 Seek God while he's here to be found, pray to him while he's close at hand. 7 Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.

Isaiah 55:6-7 (MSG)

Now read that again and note the part "while he may be found." Does that not tell you that there will be a time when he won't be found? " But preacher, a God full you mercy won't sen me to hell." You are right that He won't but HE will allow you to go if nothing else will change your mind.  6 Jesus said, "I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me.

John 14:6 (MSG) 13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Matt 7:13-14 (KJV) Now it's 4:46 am EST and God would NOT allow me to rest until I made this post. For someone this may be their "last call', I don't know. I've walked with Him enough that I know someone's in trouble or the warning bell would not sound. All you have to do is admit that you have sinned just like the rest of us have and that you want forgiveness and assurance that when you die, you will be allowed into Heaven. You can believe Him because He is NEVER WRONG and WILL NEVER lie to you. Won't you please, I beg you do it now?

James 2:10 - “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
So many people have the idea that God is going to grade on the curve. We say to ourselves, “We’re bad, but we’re not as bad as so-and-so.” But God doesn’t grade on a curve. He grades on an absolute standard of holiness. Can anybody say that they’ve kept all of God’s Ten Commandments? Of course not. But let’s suppose you had only broken one. What would happen? Well, let me illustrate. If a man was dangling over a fire by a chain of ten links and nine of those links were made of forged steel and one was made of crepe paper, what would happen?

ACTION POINT:
Use this illustration with someone today as a testimony of God’s mercy in sending His Son for the salvation of all mankind.

"Arise! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hands; behold, the LORD has gone out before you." Judges 4:14 NASB

1 John 5:13 - “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.”

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
A woman told the great evangelist Dwight L. Moody, “I’ve been saved twenty-five years, and I’ve never had one single doubt.” He responded, “Madam, I doubt you’ve been saved.” That would be like a couple saying they’ve been married 50 years and never had an argument. I’d say, “I doubt you’ve been married.” We all have doubts. You see, doubt is to your spirit what pain is to your body. It is a signal that something is wrong. And just as you seek to find a remedy for your pain, you should seek to find a remedy for your doubts. Jesus is your remedy. Get into His Word and know the assurance of your salvation. It’s not you. It’s Jesus that makes it possible.

ACTION POINT:
Are you doubting your salvation? Then- run to Jesus. Soak yourself in these truths from God’s Word: Romans 10:13, Ephesians 2:1-10 and Titus 3:5.

As I read the Bible, I find love to be the supreme and dominant attribute of God. Because of His holiness, God cannot condone or countenance sin, but He loves the sinner.

Because He is just, He cannot excuse sin. But since His love goes hand in hand with His justice, He has made provision to forgive sin through the atonement of His Son. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

The promises of God’s love and forgiveness are as real, as sure, as positive as human words can make them.

But just as the total beauty of the ocean cannot be understood until it is seen, God’s love cannot be understood until you experience it, until you actually possess it. No one can fully describe the wonders of God’s love.

Some of our modern “experts” in theology have made attempts to rob God of His warmth, His personal affection for mankind and His sympathy for His creatures.

Never question God’s great love, for it is as unchangeable as His holiness. Were it not for the love of God, none of us would ever have a chance in the future life. But God is love! And His love for us is everlasting!

Ours is the God of law who, loving the earth’s people, and realizing that we had offended in every point, sent His only Son to redeem us to Himself and to instill the law of the Spirit of life within us. His eyes of compassion have been following men and women as we have stumbled through history under the burden of our own wretchedness.

Jeremiah the prophet wrote, “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you’” (Jeremiah 31:3). Calvary should prove even to the most skeptical person that God is not blind to our plight, but that He was willing to suffer with us.

Compassion comes from two Latin words meaning “to suffer with.” God’s all-consuming love for mankind was best demonstrated at the cross, where His compassion was embodied in Jesus Christ. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

Paul speaks of God as one “who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us” (Ephesians 2:4). It was the love of God that sent Jesus Christ to the cross.

But God’s love did not begin at Calvary. Before the morning stars of the pre-Edenic world sang together, before the world was baptized with the first light, before the first blades of tender grass peeped out, God was love.

Turn back, if you will, to the unwritten pages of countless aeons and centuries before God spoke this present earth into existence, when the earth was “without form and void,” and the deep, silent darkness of outer space formed a vast gulf between the brilliance of God’s throne and the dark vacuum where our present solar system now is.

See God’s dazzling, scintillating glory as cherubim and seraphim cover their faces with their wings in awe and reverence toward Him who is high and holy!

Yet, as lofty as the vaults of Heaven may be, and as pure as God’s holiness glistens, there comes to our ears the word that the majesty of His love was moved for us, and the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world.

It was love that enabled Jesus Christ to become poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. It was love, divine love, that made Him endure the cross, despising its shame. It was love that made Him endure the contradicting accusations of sinners against Himself, that restrained Him when He was falsely accused of blasphemy and was led to Golgotha to die with common thieves.

It was nothing but love that kept Him from calling 12 legions of angels to come to His defense. It was love that caused Him, after every known torture devised by degenerate man had been heaped upon Him, to lift His voice and pray: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).

From Genesis to Revelation, from Earth’s greatest tragedy to Earth’s greatest triumph, the dramatic story of men and women’s lowest depths and God’s highest heights can be couched in 25 beautiful words: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Many people misunderstand God’s love. “God is love” does not mean that everything is sweet, beautiful and happy, and that God’s love could not possibly allow punishment for sin.

God’s holiness demands that all sin be punished, but God’s love provided a plan of redemption and salvation for sinful men and women. God’s love provided the cross of Jesus Christ by which we can have forgiveness and cleansing.

Who can describe or measure the love of God? The Bible is a revelation of the fact that God is love. When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love.

When we preach atonement, it is atonement planned by love, provided by love, given by love, finished by love, necessitated because of love. When we preach the resurrection of Christ, we are preaching the miracle of love. When we preach the return of Christ, we are preaching the fulfillment of love.

No matter what sin you have committed, or how dirty, shameful or terrible it may be, God loves you. You may be at the very gate of hell itself. But God loves you with eternal love.

Because He is a holy God, our sins have separated us from Him. But thanks be to God; because of His love there is a way of salvation, a way back to Him through Jesus Christ, His Son.

This love of God is immeasurable, unmistakable and unending. It reaches to wherever a person is. But it can be rejected. God will not force Himself upon any person against his or her will.

You can hear a message about the love of God and say: “No, I will not have it,” and God will let you go on without His love. But if you really want it, you must believe—you must receive the love of God, you must take it. You must be forgiven of your sins.

There must be a definite, positive act of commitment and surrender to the love of God. Nobody else can do it for you. You can sit all the days of your life under the preaching of the love of God and still die without Christ.

Or you can open your heart today and say: “Yes, I receive Christ.”

Now, as in the first dawn of creation, God beckons you to fellowship with Him, and His heart yearns for companionship with those for whom His Son died. You, too, can join in this glad song of the redeemed. You, too, can sing:

“The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day,
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.”

Respond to the love of God, and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, Master and Lord. And become transformed by surrendering your life to Him.

But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea.

--Exodus 13:18

Have you ever experienced times of spiritual drought in your life? Most of us have at some time, and it's not unusual to feel like you're stuck and getting nowhere fast. Well, I think this is probably just how the children of Israel felt when Moses was leading them toward the Promised Land. 

The Scripture says God "led the people around by the way of the wilderness," but truthfully, they were going around in circles much of that time. But don't think of this as some kind of exercise in futility or punishment. This was God leading his people according to his specific purposes! You see, there are certain lessons that can only be learned in the desert. And there are no shortcuts to spiritual growth and maturity.

Now, you and I need to remember that the Israelites journey through the wilderness is illustrative of our journey with God. And in his wisdom, God may take us on an extended journey through the wilderness to test us, to mature us, to prepare us, or to strengthen us for those things that we'll face down the road.

If you are in the wilderness, keep your eyes on him. Trust that God is working on your behalf to prepare you for all that he has promised.

THERE ARE CERTAIN LESSONS THAT
CAN ONLY BE LEARNED IN THE DESERT.

Romans 5:18 - “Therefore as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
One day Abraham Lincoln was in a slave market and saw a beautiful young slave girl being auctioned. Lecherous men were bidding on her, so Lincoln began to bid. Finally, she was sold to Lincoln. He took the certificate of sale and handed it to her saying, “You’re free.”  She asked, “What do you mean free?” He said, “You are free.” She said, “Free to do what I want to do?” He said, “Yes.” “Free to say what I want to say?” He said, “Yes.” “Free to go where I want to go?” He said, “Yes.” She said, “Then I am going with you.” Friend, Jesus made you free. You have been redeemed by His precious blood. And in gratitude, your life is to be devoted to Him.

ACTION POINT:
Do you know someone who is in bondage to sin today? Share with them the free, redeeming love of Jesus Christ.

He said to me, "Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you." As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. —Ezekiel 2:1-2

I think there is a sense in which we can define spirituality as the ability to close the time gap between the moment the Lord appears and our awareness that it is the Lord. Let me put it this way: Perhaps God spoke to you at a particular time or was present on a particular occasion. At the time, it didn't seem as if it was God who was doing the speaking or God who was present at all. What He was doing or what He said you underestimated, if not rejected. Only years later did it become clear to you that you had failed to recognize His presence.

Some of us may take less time to recognize God's presence—weeks or days; others may have it down to only minutes or seconds! So, when our initial feeling is to reject something, we find ourselves thinking instead, This may be the Lord.

Perhaps you can think of an experience when something came up that first you thought God simply wasn't in. Then later, like Jacob, you had to say, "The Lord was in this place. I didn't know it. I wasn't aware of it." (See Genesis 28:16.) Let's not think ourselves so spiritual that we are sure we couldn't possibly miss the Lord's presence. Our very biases may keep us from seeing the Lord when He appears.

Does God tell us what He's going to do? The answer would have to be—sometimes He does, sometimes He doesn't. But when the Lord does appear, we ought to be able to recognize Him. I would hate to think of the Lord appearing and my not knowing Him. I would love to think that the Holy Spirit within me would recognize the Holy Spirit within someone else; then, if I am where God is at work, I could overrule my biases, my prejudices, and my instincts and see that this is God.

It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade. —Mark 4:31-32, NKJV

Throughout the last two millennia, all the powers of hell have been unable to eliminate the gospel or the church. It has only continued to grow. The church in its survival and growth is living out the prophetic word. Its very presence is a continuing witness to prophecies fulfilled. The church is also a prophetic witness in its mission. Just as the apostles were in the early days, the church today is the witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the bride of Christ, all that the church does in order to make herself ready—gathering together, worshiping, celebrating Communion, witnessing, preaching the gospel, casting out demons, healing the sick, being peacemakers—is a prophetic trumpet to the world of the relationship of Christ to His church and of the fact that Christ is coming again. The next time you are sitting in a church service, remember that even though we are almost two thousand years removed from the first-century church, the very fact that you are gathering with others in His name is both a prophetic fulfillment and a prophetic statement to the world.

{ PRAYER STARTER }

Jesus, what an incredible privilege it is to gather with Your people and prepare together to become Your bride. May our worship, preaching, witnessing, and works of spiritual service show an unsaved world Your love and draw them into a relationship with You.

The church's primary task has always been
to preserve and proclaim the good news
of His death, resurrection, and His
coming again to judge the world.

"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near."–Isaiah 55:6.

I. INTRODUCTION:

I have learned that when anyone becomes in earnest about his soul's salvation and he begins to seek God, it does not take long for an anxious sinner to meet an anxious Saviour. "Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). Those who seek for Him with all their hearts, find Christ.

I am tired and sick of half-heartedness. I don't like a half-hearted man. I don't care for anyone to love me halfheartedly. And the Lord won't have it. If we are going to seek for Him and find Him, we must do it with all our hearts.

I believe the reason why so few find Christ is that they do not search for Him with all their hearts; they are not terribly in earnest about their souls' salvation.

Everything God has done proves that He is in earnest about the salvation of men's souls. He has proved it by giving His only Son to die for us. The Son of God was in earnest when He died. What is Calvary but a proof of that? And the Lord wants us to be in earnest when it comes to this great question of the soul's salvation. I never saw men seeking Him with all their hearts but they soon found Him.

It was quite refreshing one night to find in the inquiry room a young man who thought he was not worth saving, he was so vile and wicked. There was hope for him because he was so desperately in earnest about his soul. He thought he was worthless. He had a sight of himself in God's looking glass and had a very poor opinion of himself.

One can always tell when a man is a great way from God–for he is always talking about himself, and how good he is. But the moment he sees God by the eye of faith, he is down on his knees, and, like Job, he cries, "Behold, I am vile." All his goodness flees away.

II. The Lord Is Near Us Now

When men earnestly seek the Lord and are in earnest about their salvation, they will soon find Christ. You do not need to go up to the heights to bring Him down, or down to the depths to bring Him up, or go off to some distant city to find Him. This day He is near to every one of us.

I once heard someone in the inquiry room telling a young person to go home and seek Christ in his closet. I would not dare tell anyone to do that. He might be dead before he got home.

If I read my Bible correctly, the man who preaches the Gospel will not tell me to seek Christ tomorrow or an hour hence, but now. He is near to every one of us this minute to save.

If the world would just come to God for salvation and be in earnest about it, all would find the Son of God right at the door of their hearts.

More Precious Than Precious Jewels

Suppose I should say I have lost a very valuable diamond here worth $100,000. I had it in my pocket when I came into the hall, and when I had done preaching, it was not in my pocket but in the hall somewhere.

Suppose I should say that anyone who finds it could have it.

How earnest you would all become! You would not get very much of my sermon for thinking of the diamond. I do not believe the police could get you out of this hall. The idea of finding a diamond worth $100,000! If I could only find it, it would lift me out of poverty at once, and I would be independent for the rest of my days! Oh, how soon everybody would become terribly in earnest!

I would to God I could get men to seek for Christ in the same way. I have something worth more than a diamond to offer you. Is not salvation–eternal life–worth more than all the diamonds in the world?

III. Hellfire Necessitates a Holy Fire

People seem to forget that there is no door out of Hell. If they enter there, they must remain there age after age. Millions on millions of years will roll on, but there is no door, no escape out of Hell.

May God wake you up and make you anxious about your soul. People talk about our being earnest and fanatical–about our being on fire. Would to God the church were on fire! This world would soon shake to its foundation. May God wake up a slumbering church!

What we want you to do is not to shout "amen" and clap your hands. The deepest and quietest waters very often run swiftest. We want you to go right to work; there will be a chance for you to shout by and by. Go and speak to your neighbor and tell him of Christ and Heaven. You need not go far before you will find someone passing down to the darkness of eternal death. Haste to his rescue!

What we want to see is people really wishing to become Christians, those who are in dead earnest about it. The idea of hearing one say in answer to the question, "Do you want to become a Christian?" "Well, I would not mind"!

My friend, you will never get into the kingdom of God until you change your language. Men should be crying from the depths of their hearts, "I want to be saved!"

On the day of Pentecost the cry was, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" These people were in earnest, and three thousand found Christ when they sought with all their hearts.

When men seek Christ as they do wealth, they will soon find Him. To be sure, the world will raise a cry that they are excited. Let cotton go up ten or fifteen percent before tomorrow morning, and you will see how quickly the merchants will get excited! And the papers won't cry it down either. They say it is healthy excitement; commerce is getting on.

But when you begin to get excited about your soul and are in earnest, then they raise the cry, "Oh, they are getting excited; most unhealthy state of things." Yet they don't talk nor write about men hastening down to death by the thousands.

There is the poor drunkard–look at him! Hear the piercing cry going up to Heaven? Yet the church of God slumbers and sleeps. Here and there is an inquirer, yet they go into the inquiry room as if they were half asleep. When will men seek for Christ as they seek for wealth, or as they seek for honor?

As I have said, if life is in danger, how terribly in earnest people become. That is right; there is no doubt about that. But why should not they be as much in earnest about their souls' salvation? Why should not every man and woman wake up and seek the Lord with all their hearts? Then, the Lord says, you shall find Him.

Seek Christ Earnestly

There is a story told of a vessel that was wrecked and was going down at sea. There were not enough lifeboats to take all on board. When the vessel went down, some of the lifeboats were near the vessel. A man swam from the wreck to one of the boats, but they had no room to take him on. When they refused, he seized hold of the boat with his right hand, but they took a sword and cut off his fingers. When he had lost the fingers of his right hand, the man was so earnest to save his life that he seized the boat with his left hand. They cut off the fingers of that hand too. Then the man swam up and seized the boat with his teeth. Now they had compassion on him and relented. They could not cut off his head, so they took him in, and the man's life was saved. Why? Because he was in earnest.

Why not seek your soul's salvation as that man sought to save his life?

Will there ever be A Better Time?

Will there ever be a better time

for the old man whose locks are growing gray,

whose eyes are growing dim,

and who is hastening to the grave?

Is not this the very best time for him?

"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found."

There is a man in the middle of life. Is this not the best time for him to seek the kingdom of God? Will he ever have a better opportunity? Will Christ ever be more willing to save than now? He says, "Come; for all things are now ready"–not "going to be," but "are now ready."

There is a young man. My friend, is it not the best time for you to seek the kingdom of God? Seek the Lord; you can find Him now. Can you say that you will find Him tomorrow? Young man, you know not what tomorrow may bring forth. Do you know that every time the clock ticks, a soul passes away? Is not this the best time for you to seek the kingdom of God? My boy, the Lord wants you. Seek first the kingdom of God, and seek Him while He may be found.

IV. Multitudes Can Be Saved!

Years ago a great revival swept over this land. A great many men stood and shook their heads; they could not believe it was a healthy state of things. The church was not in its normal state! The church from Maine to Minnesota and on to California was astir.

As you passed over this great republic, over its Western prairies and mountains, and through its valleys, as you went on by train, passing through its cities and villages, you could see the churches lit up. Men were flocking into the kingdom of God by hundreds.

In a year and a half or two years, more than half a million souls were brought in. Men said it was false excitement, wildfire, and it would pass away. But, my friend, it was grace preceding judgment.

Little did they know that our nation was soon to be baptized in blood, and that we would soon hear the tramp of a million men, that hundreds and thousands of our young men–the flower of our nation–would soon be lying in a soldier's grave. But, my friend, it was God calling His people in. He was preparing our nation for a terrible struggle.

Supposing you could win the world; what would you do with it? Would it be worth as much as Christ? Let everything else be laid aside, and make up your mind that you will not rest until you have sought and found the Lord Jesus. I never knew anyone to make up his mind to seek Him but that he soon found Him.

At Dublin a young man found Christ. He went home and lived so godly and so Christlike a life that two of his brothers could not understand what had wrought the change in him.

They left Dublin and followed us to Sheffield, and there found Christ. They were in earnest.

But, thanks be to God, Christ can be found now. I firmly believe every reader can find Christ now, if you will seek for Him with all your heart. He says, "Call upon me."

V. Christ Turns No One Away

Did you ever hear of anyone calling upon Christ with the whole heart, that Christ didn't answer? Look at that thief on the cross! It may have been that he had a praying mother, and that his mother taught him the 53rd chapter of Isaiah . He had heard Christ pray that wonderful prayer, "Father, forgive them." And as he was hanging on the cross, that text of Scripture came to his mind: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near."

The truth came flashing into his soul. He said, 'He is near me now. I will call on Him. Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.' No sooner had he called than the Lord said, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." That was his seeking opportunity, his day.

VI. This Is Your Opportunity Now

My friend, this is your day now. I believe that every man has his day. You have it just now; why not call upon Him just now? Say, as the poor thief did, "Lord, remember me." That was his golden opportunity, and the Lord heard and answered and saved him.

Did not Bartimaeus call on Him while He was near? Christ was passing by Jericho for the last time, and Bartimaeus cried out, "Thou son of David, have mercy on me." And did not the Lord hear his prayer and give him sight?

It was a good thing Zacchaeus called–or rather the Lord called him; but when the Lord called, he came.

May the Lord call you, and may you respond: "Lord, here am I; You have called, and I come." Do you believe the Lord will call a poor sinner and then cast him out? No! His Word stands forever: "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).

I was glad when that man I told you of said he felt as if he were too bad. Men are pretty near the kingdom of God when they do not see anything good in themselves.

At the Fulton Street prayer meeting a man came in, and this was his story. He had a mother who prayed for him–he was a wild, reckless prodigal. Some time after his mother's death he began to be troubled. He thought he ought to get into new company and leave his old companions, so he said he would go and join a secret society.

He thought he would join the Odd Fellows. They made inquiry about him, and when they found he was a drunken sailor, they blackballed him. They would not have him.

He went to the Freemasons. He had nobody to recommend him. When they inquired and found there was no good in his character, they blackballed him. They didn't want him.

One day someone handed him a little notice in the street about the prayer meeting. He went. He heard that Christ had come to save sinners. He believed Him; he took Him at His word; and, in reporting the matter, he said he "came to Christ without a character, and Christ hadn't blackballed him."

My friend, that is Christ's way. Are you without a character, with nobody to say a good word for you? I bring you good news. Call on the Son of God, and He will hear you.

Let us be in earnest about the salvation of our children and friends. Warn that young lady. Yes, Mother, speak to that daughter. Father, speak to that child. Wife, speak to your unconverted husband. Husband, speak to your unconverted wife. Do not let anyone say, "Nobody cares for my soul." I never saw parents burdened for their children but that the children soon became anxious to be saved.

VII. What Are You Going to Do?

Before I close, I want to ask you once more: What are you going to do? If the Lord is near, won't you call upon Him? Don't let some scoffer keep you out of the kingdom of God. There may be a scornful look upon his face. Perhaps he makes light of what I say. Don't mind him. Don't look to him, but look right up to God and ask Him to save you.

Every true friend, if you could get his advice, would tell you to be saved now.

Ask your minister, "Had I better seek the kingdom of God now?" What will he tell you? "By all means, don't put it off another minute."

Ask your godly, praying mother, "Is it best to seek the kingdom of God now?" Will she say, "Put it off one week, or a month"? There is not a Christian mother in this land who would say that. I doubt if there is even an unconverted mother whose advice would be to put off becoming a Christian.

Ask that praying sister of yours, that praying brother, any friend you have, whether it is not the very best thing you can do. And then cry to Heaven and ask Him who is sitting at the right hand of God, and who loves you more than your father or your mother or anyone on earth–who loves you so much that He gave Himself for you–ask Him what He will have you do, and hear His voice from the throne, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God."

And then shout down to the infernal regions, and ask those down there. What will they say? 'Send someone to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place.'

Heaven, earth and Hell unite in this one thing: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." Don't put it off. Call upon Him while He is near. And if you call upon Him in earnest, He will hear that call.

VIII. You May Call Too Late

I have no doubt that those who would not pray when the ark was being built, prayed when the Flood came; but their prayer was not answered.

I have no doubt that when Lot went out of Sodom, Sodom cried to God; but it was too late, and God's judgment swept them from the earth.

My friend, it is not too late now, but it may be at twelve o'clock tonight. I cannot find any place in the Bible where it says you may call tomorrow. I am not justified in saying that. "Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation."

Those men of Jerusalem, what a golden opportunity they had with Christ in their midst! We see the Son of God weeping over Jerusalem, His heart bursting with grief for the city as He cried, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Thou that stonest the prophets, how often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her brood, but ye would not.'

He could look down forty years and see Titus coming with his army and besieging that city. They called upon God then, but it was too late, and eleven hundred thousand people perished.

IX. Now Is the Time to Be Saved

Now is a time of mercy. It may be I am talking to someone whose days of grace may be few, to someone who may be snatched away very soon, who may never hear another gospel sermon, who may be hearing the last call. My friend, be wise! Make up your mind that you will seek the kingdom of God now. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

Christ is inviting you to come: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, may we all find rest in Christ now! Do not let anything divert your mind, but make up your mind this hour that you will settle this great question of eternity.

Be Saved Today!