Rejecting God’s Overtures

Above:  Two Yoked Oxen Between 1860 and 1900

Image Source = Library of Congress

(http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2006689565/)

Reproduction Number = LC-USZ62-136943

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Prov. 29, 1

1.  God reproves men in sin many times as by His providences the gospel conviction of the Holy Spirit, warnings of friend, etc.  He is in earnest about it all.  It is not mere advice but is a command.

2.  But men do not always heed him; they often “refuse and rebel,” reject the easy yoke He gives.  “Ye would not,” said Christ to Jerusalem.  “Ye would not come to me.”  “Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit.”  All who are in sin do just this.  They reject the messenger and his message; hence [they] reject Him who sent it.

3.  But man must “repent or perish.”  “Saul, it is hard for thee to kick against the goads.”  “He that hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed,” broken as a potter’s vessel that cannot He mend.  Jer. 19, 11; Isa. 30, 14.  Who rejects Christ rejects his only hope–thus the Jews destroyed their own nation.

4.  “Without remedy.”  What more can be done for those who reject the gospel?  There is nothing left for God to do but to let them suffer from their own folly.  Prov. 1, 31; Amos 4, 12; 1 Cor. 16, 1.

Then heed His warnings, yield to His overtures ere it be too late, and be saved eternally.

GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRETT