Wherefore ( as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
The Holy Spirit is still speaking in the present, calling every hearer to listen to God's voice today, this very day, without delay or indecision. Today is the present time of mercy and open probation when pardon can still be received, but it may not come again and once refused there will be no second probation. The call recalls Israel's provocation in the wilderness, when the fathers tempted God though they saw His works forty years, always erred in heart and did not know His ways, so He was grieved and swore they should not enter His rest. To harden the heart is to put off obedience, delay surrender, and refuse light and reproof, which strengthens resistance, stifles conscience, and cherishes an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Answering today means hearing with faith and obedience, exhorting one another daily while it is called Today, yielding pride, surrendering the whole heart in repentance, and holding confidence steadfast unto the end so as to share in Christ and enter His rest.
Spirit's Voice Today
The speaker is the Holy Spirit, still speaking in the present through the summons to hear God's voice today, making response urgent and immediate. That present speaking calls for an open, responsive heart rather than the stubborn hardening shown in Israel's provocation in the wilderness, when the fathers tempted and proved God though they saw His works forty years, always erred in heart and did not know His ways, turned from the living God, lost confidence in the Son, and were led into sin and destruction. Because every house is built by some man but He that built all things is God, and because Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant for a testimony while Christ is as a Son over His own house, hearing His voice today keeps from an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God and from being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and calls for daily mutual encouragement and holding the beginning of confidence steadfast unto the end.
Today means now, this very day, requiring immediate response while opportunity is called Today, without hardening, delay, indecision, refusal, or putting off obedience and the work given. Delaying obedience hardens the heart, for repeated calls that are refused make less and less impression, each new opportunity brings less inclination to leave worldly interests, persistent transgression can bend the will toward evil until a person no longer desires or accepts grace, and conscience is stifled toward self-chosen destruction. Safety lies only in responding at once, since the invitation to go work today in the vineyard may never be heard again.
The call is both urgent and tender, addressing the hearer as a son with compassion, yet carrying the force of a command and pressing because time for work and mercy is diminishing. It is urgent because it is not yet too late to turn to God, abandon idleness and disobedience, and choose to do His will, with the promise that Christ will receive those who respond. That urgency applies especially to present obedience in service: students feeling called should not be held back by unnecessary years of preparation or wait for others to direct, but should labor for God and for souls now rather than waste time when God is calling now.
Today is the present time of mercy, invitation, and open probation while pardon, cleansing, reform, purity, holiness, and a deep work of grace can still be received. Now, while it is called today, is the time to hear, obey the truth, turn fully, receive mercy and abundant pardon, and unitedly take up the work of warning and salvation, because the end is near, life may end soon, and Christ may come suddenly and find people unready. Today's call may be the last opportunity, for one who hardens the heart and persists in disobedience may be refusing the final invitation of mercy, and once refused there will be no second probation and wrongs will not be corrected at His appearing.
Wilderness Provocation Recalled
The warning not to harden the heart points back to Israel's provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when the fathers tempted and proved God though they saw His works forty years. That place of testing is named as Rephidim, and hearing the voice today means obeying at once instead of repeating what was done there. The lesson belongs to teachers and students alike, for the failure of that generation warns every later generation.
That generation always erred in heart and did not know God's ways, so God was grieved with them forty years and swore in His wrath that they should not enter His rest. Their unbelief and refusal to learn His ways kept them out, though the same gospel was preached to them as now, and the word did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. Receiving mercies yet murmuring in difficulty and finding fault in trial shows the same danger of turning from the living God. Israel could have entered the promised land promptly if they had submitted to His leading and trusted in Him alone, but by repeatedly grieving Him they brought upon themselves His oath, except for the two who wholly followed Him.
Some who came out of Egypt by Moses provoked, though not all who came out did so. All but two of the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness under poured-out wrath, their carcasses falling there because of persistent backsliding, unbelief and idolatry and obstinate refusal of warnings. Their children who entered Canaan were warned not to follow the obstinacy of their fathers. Christ, greater than Joshua, stands ready to lead God's people to victory, yet His promises are not fulfilled to those who refuse obedience and submit not to His leading.
They could have known God's ways, for truth was kept before them again and again, yet they did not follow it but separated from God to follow human wisdom not under His direction. Leaders yielded to temptation and did not obey what God declared He would do for Israel if they obeyed His voice, so He could not give the blessings He designed for them. The history under the unfaithful spies was written for admonition, showing how magnifying difficulties, cherishing doubts, murmuring, criticizing, wishing to turn back, and planning rebellion leavens the congregation and lets the golden opportunity pass. Refusing God's voice and following a contrary influence keeps people from receiving what He intended and from entering the promised land.
Unbelief, Faith, and Rest
The warning is against allowing an evil heart of unbelief to develop that departs from the living God, turns away, loses confidence in the Son, and leads into sin and destruction. Hearing requires an open heart that is not made stubborn through the deception of sin, for unbelief and sin drew Israel away from God and kept them from entering His rest. The safeguard is constant spiritual vigilance, trusting in the Lord against Satan's snares and temptations, guarding the soul and remaining alert so as not to fall unprepared, while encouraging one another daily and holding confidence firm to the end.
The same gospel was preached to ancient Israel as to believers now, but the word preached did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. Some who heard did provoke, though not all who came out of Egypt by Moses, and God was grieved forty years with those who sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, swearing that those who believed not should not enter His rest, so they could not enter because of unbelief. Merely hearing brings no benefit when truth is not received with faith and a desire to obey, and criticizing the message and its messengers while refusing to trust and practice repeats Israel's unbelief, bringing guilt through pride, selfishness and murmuring, separation from God, and loss of the promised rest, as when people rejected Noah's appeals to destruction.
Christ stands as a Son over His own house, greater than Moses who was faithful in all His house as a servant for a testimony of things to be spoken after, and greater than Joshua, while believers are His house and are made partakers of Christ if they hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm steadfast unto the end. That holding fast means taking heed against unbelief that turns away, exhorting one another daily while it is called Today lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, repenting and being converted, humbling the heart before God, doing His will patiently by faith without drawing back, and standing on a different platform separate from the world. Those who always err in heart and know not God's ways grieve God and come under His oath that the unbelieving will not enter His rest, and will fail to receive the promise when He who is to come comes.
God declared what He would do for Israel if they obeyed His voice, but the leaders yielded to temptation and did not obey, so He could not give the blessings He designed for them. He would have led the people directly to the promised land, yet their repeated grief and disobedience brought His oath that they would not enter His rest, except for the two who wholly followed Him. Christ, greater than Joshua, is present to lead His people to victory and provides the counsel and support needed for their advance, yet His promises are not fulfilled to those who refuse obedience and submit not to His leading.
People harden their hearts when they reject God's word to preserve their own traditions, and that refusal makes them unable to recognize His voice. Refusing divine counsel and choosing one's own way makes people unable to distinguish sacred things or respond to God, and like the Jewish nation they may fail to recognize the time when God visits them. Refusing warnings and rebukes and continuing to resist light and opportunities to repent hardens the heart until the ability to distinguish good from evil is lost and sinners perish in their sins.
How Hearts Harden
To harden the heart is to put off obedience when the Holy Spirit appeals to hear God's voice today, for safety lies only in responding at once without refusal or delay. It is to refuse light, warning and reproof, and such impenitence strengthens resistance and hardens the one who refuses to humble himself. To harden is to delay surrender and to make leeway to overcome by degrees, little by little, instead of giving sin up now, putting it away when seen, leaving the cursed thing with loathing and loving what Christ loved and hating what Christ hated. Even the least impression or softened feeling from the Spirit should be heeded, because delay lets sin deceive and harden the heart while affections are drawn away from eternal things and turning to God becomes more difficult. The invitation to go work today in the vineyard may never be heard again.
Delay and refusal strengthen resistance, for repeated calls that are refused make less and less impression, and each new opportunity brings less inclination to leave worldly interests. Rejecting truth after receiving great light and knowledge can stifle conscience and harden the heart until conviction no longer reaches it and the heart hardens against the Spirit's impressions. When truth and light have become clear, turning away brings peril, as with Chorazin and Capernaum which were convicted by evidence but rejected it, hardened their hearts while opportunity was still called today, let the impression fade, and received woe. Christ offers freedom from sin but does not force the will, and persistent transgression can bend the will toward evil until a person no longer desires or accepts His grace, bringing self-destruction through determined rejection of His love. The warning recalls those who heard but provoked God by stubbornly pursuing their own plans, whose heated, determined resistance stands against repeating their example.
Hardening comes through the deceitfulness of sin, because temptation is disguised under goodness. One violation of straightforward truthfulness prepares the way for a second, until repeated wrongs harden the unbelieving heart and deaden the conscience and it loses its sensitiveness. Believers are therefore to guard daily against an evil heart of unbelief that departs from the living God and to encourage one another every day while urgency remains. Speaking words of unbelief casts reflection on One who is too wise to err and too good to do harm, and calls for humbling the heart before God and asking forgiveness.
Hardening repeats the wilderness provocation when the fathers tempted and proved God though they saw His works forty years, always erring in heart and not knowing His ways, so that God was grieved and swore they would not enter His rest. It shows itself in receiving God's mercies yet murmuring when difficulties come and finding fault in times of trial, dishonoring God by complaint. It shows itself especially in those in responsible positions by suspicion, murmuring, complaining, weighing fellow workers in human scales, conjecturing wrong conclusions about their words and movements, searching for someone to blame when appearances are not propitious, wanting to fix things to their own minds, and taking judgment out of God's hands. Listening today requires intimate connection and conscious communion with God, character molded after the divine similitude, and holding confidence steadfast to the end instead of erring in heart, departing through unbelief, and coming short of rest. There is no encouragement for unbelief, because grace and power manifested over and over prove it always profitable to cherish faith, talk faith and act faith, to look to God rather than men and the arm of flesh, numbers or apparent capabilities, and to refuse to let suspicious minds plant seeds of doubt and distrust that weaken heart and hands.
Answering the Call Today
To hear the voice today is to hold fast confidence in Christ to the end, guard against an evil heart of unbelief that departs from the living God, and exhort and encourage one another daily while it is called Today so that none is hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and all may share in Christ and enter His rest. Hardening must not be allowed to begin, for sin deceives and turns the heart away, and only continued faithfulness, daily mutual watchcare, and firm confidence held steadfast to the end keep believers from repeating Israel's wilderness refusal and loss of rest. The call therefore belongs to believers together, including ministers, to repent, keep faith alive, and strengthen one another against unbelief at the present hearing of the Spirit's voice.
Answering today is hearing with obedient faith rather than mere agreement or promise, yielding pride, folly and vanity, surrendering the whole heart without reserve, and laying talents and influence at God's feet with courage to stand in righteousness through the provision Christ made by suffering for sinners. It is diligent repentance now, humbling before God, softening instead of hardening the heart, emptying it of distrust and suspicion, division and misunderstanding, bitterness and wrath and malice and selfishness, praying for the Holy Spirit to come in, and finding Christ's liberty so that differences are put away. The invitation may not come again, so the works of righteousness must be done while it is called today, forsaking sin instead of delaying.
The same today presses immediate labor in the vineyard, for time is limited and the call to work for God and souls must be heeded now rather than hardened against by delay. Students who feel called to work for Jesus should not harden their hearts by prolonged preparation or unnecessary years of study, but examine their relation to Christ and their fruit and enter service without waiting for others to direct them. Now, while mercy and abundant pardon may be received, believers are to turn fully to the Lord and unitedly take up His work of warning and salvation, because the end is near and there will be no second probation.
The warning presses with special force upon God's people standing on the borders of the heavenly Canaan in the last days, upon whom the ends of the world are come, for the history of ancient Israel was written and chronicled as admonition and a school of preparation for them. As Israel under the unfaithful spies magnified difficulties into insurmountable obstacles, cherished doubts, murmured and lamented, criticized and complained, cried down faith, wished to turn back and planned rebellion until the golden opportunity passed and the work God prepared became impossible through unbelief, so latter-day believers must not repeat that sin and leaven the congregation with distrust. The same experience will be repeated in the last years of the history of the people established by grace and power, with intensified perils, as men greatly honored pattern after ancient Israel, yield to temptation from beneath, follow human wisdom not under God's direction, and by sophistries unsettle faith in past experience bearing Heaven's signature, even as Satan once gained influence over men honored above human intelligence like Solomon. Therefore the wilderness life with its marchings to and fro, hunger, thirst, weariness, and striking manifestations of divine power for relief is to be reviewed with humble heart and teachable spirit, that God's people may be instructed for the heavenly Canaan and not fail through persistent backsliding, unbelief and idolatry to enter rest as all but two of the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness.
Today is each person's day of visitation to receive Christ, find peace and pardon, and be cleansed, reformed and made unspotted, keeping self and children from the world, overcoming pride, passion and spiritual slothfulness, and awaking to determined effort for symmetry of character while watching for the Lord's appearing though the world is in darkness. While mercy's voice is still heard and probation has not yet closed, robes of character are to be washed white in the blood already shed at Calvary, sin put away when seen, purity and holiness sought, retaliation given up for forgiving love through Christ's renewing grace, and wrongs righted by faithful service, honest dealing with God, giving the Lord His own, and restitution where possible with humble penitence praying for pardon where it cannot be done. Refusal leaves each person responsible for self-chosen destruction, but while it is called today it is not yet too late, though probation will soon close and a settlement of accounts will be required.
The response cannot be put off to a week or a month or a year, for today means this very day to surrender, leave the accursed thing with loathing, love what Christ loved and hate what Christ hated, and be cleansed to the utmost through faith in Him as more than overcomers. To harden the heart is to delay surrender and make leeway to overcome by degrees instead of giving sin up at once, and that delay is perilous because death may come suddenly and find the soul unready, life may end soon, and character must be changed now. Mercy still invites to reform and to receive a deep work of grace, but Christ may come suddenly and find people unready, and wrongs and errors will not be corrected then.
The Holy Spirit is still speaking in the present, calling every hearer to listen to God's voice today, this very day, without delay or indecision. Today is the present time of mercy and open probation when pardon can still be received, but it may not come again and once refused there will be no second probation. The call recalls Israel's provocation in the wilderness, when the fathers tempted God though they saw His works forty years, always erred in heart and did not know His ways, so He was grieved and swore they should not enter His rest. To harden the heart is to put off obedience, delay surrender, and refuse light and reproof, which strengthens resistance, stifles conscience, and cherishes an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Answering today means hearing with faith and obedience, exhorting one another daily while it is called Today, yielding pride, surrendering the whole heart in repentance, and holding confidence steadfast unto the end so as to share in Christ and enter His rest.
Spirit's Voice Today
The speaker is the Holy Spirit, still speaking in the present through the summons to hear God's voice today, making response urgent and immediate. That present speaking calls for an open, responsive heart rather than the stubborn hardening shown in Israel's provocation in the wilderness, when the fathers tempted and proved God though they saw His works forty years, always erred in heart and did not know His ways, turned from the living God, lost confidence in the Son, and were led into sin and destruction. Because every house is built by some man but He that built all things is God, and because Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant for a testimony while Christ is as a Son over His own house, hearing His voice today keeps from an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God and from being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and calls for daily mutual encouragement and holding the beginning of confidence steadfast unto the end.
Today means now, this very day, requiring immediate response while opportunity is called Today, without hardening, delay, indecision, refusal, or putting off obedience and the work given. Delaying obedience hardens the heart, for repeated calls that are refused make less and less impression, each new opportunity brings less inclination to leave worldly interests, persistent transgression can bend the will toward evil until a person no longer desires or accepts grace, and conscience is stifled toward self-chosen destruction. Safety lies only in responding at once, since the invitation to go work today in the vineyard may never be heard again.
The call is both urgent and tender, addressing the hearer as a son with compassion, yet carrying the force of a command and pressing because time for work and mercy is diminishing. It is urgent because it is not yet too late to turn to God, abandon idleness and disobedience, and choose to do His will, with the promise that Christ will receive those who respond. That urgency applies especially to present obedience in service: students feeling called should not be held back by unnecessary years of preparation or wait for others to direct, but should labor for God and for souls now rather than waste time when God is calling now.
Today is the present time of mercy, invitation, and open probation while pardon, cleansing, reform, purity, holiness, and a deep work of grace can still be received. Now, while it is called today, is the time to hear, obey the truth, turn fully, receive mercy and abundant pardon, and unitedly take up the work of warning and salvation, because the end is near, life may end soon, and Christ may come suddenly and find people unready. Today's call may be the last opportunity, for one who hardens the heart and persists in disobedience may be refusing the final invitation of mercy, and once refused there will be no second probation and wrongs will not be corrected at His appearing.
Wilderness Provocation Recalled
The warning not to harden the heart points back to Israel's provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when the fathers tempted and proved God though they saw His works forty years. That place of testing is named as Rephidim, and hearing the voice today means obeying at once instead of repeating what was done there. The lesson belongs to teachers and students alike, for the failure of that generation warns every later generation.
That generation always erred in heart and did not know God's ways, so God was grieved with them forty years and swore in His wrath that they should not enter His rest. Their unbelief and refusal to learn His ways kept them out, though the same gospel was preached to them as now, and the word did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. Receiving mercies yet murmuring in difficulty and finding fault in trial shows the same danger of turning from the living God. Israel could have entered the promised land promptly if they had submitted to His leading and trusted in Him alone, but by repeatedly grieving Him they brought upon themselves His oath, except for the two who wholly followed Him.
Some who came out of Egypt by Moses provoked, though not all who came out did so. All but two of the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness under poured-out wrath, their carcasses falling there because of persistent backsliding, unbelief and idolatry and obstinate refusal of warnings. Their children who entered Canaan were warned not to follow the obstinacy of their fathers. Christ, greater than Joshua, stands ready to lead God's people to victory, yet His promises are not fulfilled to those who refuse obedience and submit not to His leading.
They could have known God's ways, for truth was kept before them again and again, yet they did not follow it but separated from God to follow human wisdom not under His direction. Leaders yielded to temptation and did not obey what God declared He would do for Israel if they obeyed His voice, so He could not give the blessings He designed for them. The history under the unfaithful spies was written for admonition, showing how magnifying difficulties, cherishing doubts, murmuring, criticizing, wishing to turn back, and planning rebellion leavens the congregation and lets the golden opportunity pass. Refusing God's voice and following a contrary influence keeps people from receiving what He intended and from entering the promised land.
Unbelief, Faith, and Rest
The warning is against allowing an evil heart of unbelief to develop that departs from the living God, turns away, loses confidence in the Son, and leads into sin and destruction. Hearing requires an open heart that is not made stubborn through the deception of sin, for unbelief and sin drew Israel away from God and kept them from entering His rest. The safeguard is constant spiritual vigilance, trusting in the Lord against Satan's snares and temptations, guarding the soul and remaining alert so as not to fall unprepared, while encouraging one another daily and holding confidence firm to the end.
The same gospel was preached to ancient Israel as to believers now, but the word preached did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. Some who heard did provoke, though not all who came out of Egypt by Moses, and God was grieved forty years with those who sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, swearing that those who believed not should not enter His rest, so they could not enter because of unbelief. Merely hearing brings no benefit when truth is not received with faith and a desire to obey, and criticizing the message and its messengers while refusing to trust and practice repeats Israel's unbelief, bringing guilt through pride, selfishness and murmuring, separation from God, and loss of the promised rest, as when people rejected Noah's appeals to destruction.
Christ stands as a Son over His own house, greater than Moses who was faithful in all His house as a servant for a testimony of things to be spoken after, and greater than Joshua, while believers are His house and are made partakers of Christ if they hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm steadfast unto the end. That holding fast means taking heed against unbelief that turns away, exhorting one another daily while it is called Today lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, repenting and being converted, humbling the heart before God, doing His will patiently by faith without drawing back, and standing on a different platform separate from the world. Those who always err in heart and know not God's ways grieve God and come under His oath that the unbelieving will not enter His rest, and will fail to receive the promise when He who is to come comes.
God declared what He would do for Israel if they obeyed His voice, but the leaders yielded to temptation and did not obey, so He could not give the blessings He designed for them. He would have led the people directly to the promised land, yet their repeated grief and disobedience brought His oath that they would not enter His rest, except for the two who wholly followed Him. Christ, greater than Joshua, is present to lead His people to victory and provides the counsel and support needed for their advance, yet His promises are not fulfilled to those who refuse obedience and submit not to His leading.
People harden their hearts when they reject God's word to preserve their own traditions, and that refusal makes them unable to recognize His voice. Refusing divine counsel and choosing one's own way makes people unable to distinguish sacred things or respond to God, and like the Jewish nation they may fail to recognize the time when God visits them. Refusing warnings and rebukes and continuing to resist light and opportunities to repent hardens the heart until the ability to distinguish good from evil is lost and sinners perish in their sins.
How Hearts Harden
To harden the heart is to put off obedience when the Holy Spirit appeals to hear God's voice today, for safety lies only in responding at once without refusal or delay. It is to refuse light, warning and reproof, and such impenitence strengthens resistance and hardens the one who refuses to humble himself. To harden is to delay surrender and to make leeway to overcome by degrees, little by little, instead of giving sin up now, putting it away when seen, leaving the cursed thing with loathing and loving what Christ loved and hating what Christ hated. Even the least impression or softened feeling from the Spirit should be heeded, because delay lets sin deceive and harden the heart while affections are drawn away from eternal things and turning to God becomes more difficult. The invitation to go work today in the vineyard may never be heard again.
Delay and refusal strengthen resistance, for repeated calls that are refused make less and less impression, and each new opportunity brings less inclination to leave worldly interests. Rejecting truth after receiving great light and knowledge can stifle conscience and harden the heart until conviction no longer reaches it and the heart hardens against the Spirit's impressions. When truth and light have become clear, turning away brings peril, as with Chorazin and Capernaum which were convicted by evidence but rejected it, hardened their hearts while opportunity was still called today, let the impression fade, and received woe. Christ offers freedom from sin but does not force the will, and persistent transgression can bend the will toward evil until a person no longer desires or accepts His grace, bringing self-destruction through determined rejection of His love. The warning recalls those who heard but provoked God by stubbornly pursuing their own plans, whose heated, determined resistance stands against repeating their example.
Hardening comes through the deceitfulness of sin, because temptation is disguised under goodness. One violation of straightforward truthfulness prepares the way for a second, until repeated wrongs harden the unbelieving heart and deaden the conscience and it loses its sensitiveness. Believers are therefore to guard daily against an evil heart of unbelief that departs from the living God and to encourage one another every day while urgency remains. Speaking words of unbelief casts reflection on One who is too wise to err and too good to do harm, and calls for humbling the heart before God and asking forgiveness.
Hardening repeats the wilderness provocation when the fathers tempted and proved God though they saw His works forty years, always erring in heart and not knowing His ways, so that God was grieved and swore they would not enter His rest. It shows itself in receiving God's mercies yet murmuring when difficulties come and finding fault in times of trial, dishonoring God by complaint. It shows itself especially in those in responsible positions by suspicion, murmuring, complaining, weighing fellow workers in human scales, conjecturing wrong conclusions about their words and movements, searching for someone to blame when appearances are not propitious, wanting to fix things to their own minds, and taking judgment out of God's hands. Listening today requires intimate connection and conscious communion with God, character molded after the divine similitude, and holding confidence steadfast to the end instead of erring in heart, departing through unbelief, and coming short of rest. There is no encouragement for unbelief, because grace and power manifested over and over prove it always profitable to cherish faith, talk faith and act faith, to look to God rather than men and the arm of flesh, numbers or apparent capabilities, and to refuse to let suspicious minds plant seeds of doubt and distrust that weaken heart and hands.
Answering the Call Today
To hear the voice today is to hold fast confidence in Christ to the end, guard against an evil heart of unbelief that departs from the living God, and exhort and encourage one another daily while it is called Today so that none is hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and all may share in Christ and enter His rest. Hardening must not be allowed to begin, for sin deceives and turns the heart away, and only continued faithfulness, daily mutual watchcare, and firm confidence held steadfast to the end keep believers from repeating Israel's wilderness refusal and loss of rest. The call therefore belongs to believers together, including ministers, to repent, keep faith alive, and strengthen one another against unbelief at the present hearing of the Spirit's voice.
Answering today is hearing with obedient faith rather than mere agreement or promise, yielding pride, folly and vanity, surrendering the whole heart without reserve, and laying talents and influence at God's feet with courage to stand in righteousness through the provision Christ made by suffering for sinners. It is diligent repentance now, humbling before God, softening instead of hardening the heart, emptying it of distrust and suspicion, division and misunderstanding, bitterness and wrath and malice and selfishness, praying for the Holy Spirit to come in, and finding Christ's liberty so that differences are put away. The invitation may not come again, so the works of righteousness must be done while it is called today, forsaking sin instead of delaying.
The same today presses immediate labor in the vineyard, for time is limited and the call to work for God and souls must be heeded now rather than hardened against by delay. Students who feel called to work for Jesus should not harden their hearts by prolonged preparation or unnecessary years of study, but examine their relation to Christ and their fruit and enter service without waiting for others to direct them. Now, while mercy and abundant pardon may be received, believers are to turn fully to the Lord and unitedly take up His work of warning and salvation, because the end is near and there will be no second probation.
The warning presses with special force upon God's people standing on the borders of the heavenly Canaan in the last days, upon whom the ends of the world are come, for the history of ancient Israel was written and chronicled as admonition and a school of preparation for them. As Israel under the unfaithful spies magnified difficulties into insurmountable obstacles, cherished doubts, murmured and lamented, criticized and complained, cried down faith, wished to turn back and planned rebellion until the golden opportunity passed and the work God prepared became impossible through unbelief, so latter-day believers must not repeat that sin and leaven the congregation with distrust. The same experience will be repeated in the last years of the history of the people established by grace and power, with intensified perils, as men greatly honored pattern after ancient Israel, yield to temptation from beneath, follow human wisdom not under God's direction, and by sophistries unsettle faith in past experience bearing Heaven's signature, even as Satan once gained influence over men honored above human intelligence like Solomon. Therefore the wilderness life with its marchings to and fro, hunger, thirst, weariness, and striking manifestations of divine power for relief is to be reviewed with humble heart and teachable spirit, that God's people may be instructed for the heavenly Canaan and not fail through persistent backsliding, unbelief and idolatry to enter rest as all but two of the adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness.
Today is each person's day of visitation to receive Christ, find peace and pardon, and be cleansed, reformed and made unspotted, keeping self and children from the world, overcoming pride, passion and spiritual slothfulness, and awaking to determined effort for symmetry of character while watching for the Lord's appearing though the world is in darkness. While mercy's voice is still heard and probation has not yet closed, robes of character are to be washed white in the blood already shed at Calvary, sin put away when seen, purity and holiness sought, retaliation given up for forgiving love through Christ's renewing grace, and wrongs righted by faithful service, honest dealing with God, giving the Lord His own, and restitution where possible with humble penitence praying for pardon where it cannot be done. Refusal leaves each person responsible for self-chosen destruction, but while it is called today it is not yet too late, though probation will soon close and a settlement of accounts will be required.
The response cannot be put off to a week or a month or a year, for today means this very day to surrender, leave the accursed thing with loathing, love what Christ loved and hate what Christ hated, and be cleansed to the utmost through faith in Him as more than overcomers. To harden the heart is to delay surrender and make leeway to overcome by degrees instead of giving sin up at once, and that delay is perilous because death may come suddenly and find the soul unready, life may end soon, and character must be changed now. Mercy still invites to reform and to receive a deep work of grace, but Christ may come suddenly and find people unready, and wrongs and errors will not be corrected then.