EXCUSES That Will Not Stand The Test
“And they all with one consent began to make excuse.” – Luke 14:18
Are YOURS among them?
“What wilt THOU say when he shall punish THEE?” – Jeremiah 13:21
READER: Do not disregard this message. Read it carefully and thoughtfully. Though you may not be aware of it, your soul is in great danger if you have not been “born again” in God’s way. Upon which of the following excuses are you building your hopes of escaping Hell and reaching Heaven? Whom will you blame if like the rich man in Luke 16th chapter you die, are buried and in Hell you lift up your eyes being in torments?
YOU CANNOT BLAME GOD for “God is not willing that any should perish.” He would have all men to be saved, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16.
YOU CANNOT BLAME CHRIST for “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” – 1 Timothy 1:15. “I am come that they might have life.” – John 10:10. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” – John 6:37.
YOU CANNOT SAY YOU ARE NOT A SINNER for God says: “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” – Rom. 5:12. “There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” – Ecclesiastes 7:20. “There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:22, 23.
YOU CANNOT SAY “I am doing the best I can,” “I have turned over a new leaf and joined the Church,” “I have a good heart,” “I will trust in the Lord for the rest,” “God is nothing worthy of Hell.” God says: All your “righteousness are as filthy rags” in His sight. – Isaiah 64:6. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” – Titus 3:5. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately (incurably) wicked.” – Jeremiah 17:9. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” – Proverbs 14:12. “The wages of sin is death.” – Romans 6:23. “It is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment.” – Hebrews 9:27.
YOU CANNOT SAY YOU HAVE NOT BEEN WARNED for this little tract containing God’s Word is your warning and it may be your last. Search the Scriptures and see if these things are so. If you are concerned about these matters it is God’s Spirit striving to show you your danger, your guilt and your helplessness. You are “without God,” “without Christ” and “without hope in the world” – Ephesians 2:12. You have no claim on God, you have broken His laws and you are “condemned already” and awaiting the execution, but there is pardon for you today if you will have it. If you resist the Spirit, God says, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” – Genesis 6:3. “he, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” – Proverbs 29:1. “Because there is wrath , beware lest He take thee away with His stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.” – Job 36:18.
YOU CANNOT SAY THERE IS PLENTY OF TIME to settle this matter, for God says, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” – 2 Corinthians 6:2. Listen to His solemn warning against delay, “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded… I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh… Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer.” – Proverbs 1:24-28.
YOU CANNOT BLAME THE ONES WHO WROTE THIS, for in love to your soul, realizing your awful danger, they sought to faithfully warn you and turn your thoughts toward “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” – John 1:29.
YOU CANNOT BLAME CIRCUMSTANCES for there is nothing that can keep a sinner from Christ if he wants to come to Hem for salvation. “Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” – John 5:40.
YOU CANNOT BLAME HYPOCRITES, those who talk one way and live another, for you have a Bible to direct you and you need not follow the footsteps of others. Read the Bible for yourself. It is the Word of the Living God. “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” – Romans 14:12.
YOU CANNOT SAY YOU KEEP THE LAW for God says, “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” – James 2:10. The law was given to show to a fallen race their inability to keep His laws (“that every mouth might be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God,” – Romans 3:19), showing them their need of a Saviour to pay the debt they could never pay. Just as a looking glass shows the dirt upon the face, but is unable to cleanse it, so the law shows us our sinful condition, but it takes the blood of Christ to cleanse those sins away. “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” – 1 John 1:7.
YOU MAY SAY DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE HELL OF THE BIBLE. But, my friend, two minutes in Hell amid the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth will change your mind. When you realize then, as every one in Hell realizes today, that the Bible is the Word of God, that you are a sinner, that Christ died for sinners, that you could have been saved had you believed and accepted the Saviour and as the truth of it all bursts on your poor lost soul you will cry aloud in agony as you weep and wail and gnash your teeth, “Fool that I was, Too late, Too late.”
READER: You may say you do not believe all this but the mere fact that you do not believe it does not alter the facts. Who are thou that repliest against God? “He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar.” The responsibility of spending Eternity in Hell is yours and yours alone. If you are not concerned about your own soul and have no desire to be saved, pass this paper on to some one else. They may thank you for the warning and be saved.
YOU ARE LEFT WITHOUT EXCUSE. Romans 1:20. Where will you spend eternity? The “prudent man forseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the foolish pass on, and are punished.” – Proverbs 22:3.
“BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED.” – Acts 16:31
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