Why should he cease his striving? Not because he is not compassionate,
for he is; nor forbearing, for that is his character; not that he is
without patience, for he is infinite in this grace; nor because he is
without mercy, for his mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.
1. But because it will do the sinner no good to continue his pleadings.
It is a known law of the mind that truth resisted loses its power. Why
should God continue when we only spurn his offers of mercy?
Agassiz, the great Christian scientist, tells of his work in the
mountains when his assistants lowered him to his work by means of a
rope and a basket. They always tested his weight before letting him
down; and yet he said that one day when they had lowered him deeper
than ever they found that they could not lift him, though they had
tested his weight before he had been lowered. They must go away over
the mountains to secure other assistance. "And then," said the
scientist, "when they did lift me they found that their failure was due
to the fact that they did not take into account the weight of the
rope." Every time you refuse Jesus Christ as your Savior and God calls
you again you must lift against that other refusal, and this is why it
is so difficult for some to come to Christ.
2. Because to continue warning is to hinder the sinner. The more light
we have the greater guilt. Better would it be for the sinner when all
hope is gone for the Spirit to leave, for he shall be called to account
for warnings. Oh, the solemnity of the day of judgment!
3. Because to resist the Spirit of God is for men to sin willfully if
the rejection is final. It is a sad thing to say "no" to God, and if
we sin willfully there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
V
What is meant by the Spirit not striving? Not that he will be
withdrawn from men in general, but rather from the individual.
1. He may not follow the sinner, who will be indifferent to preaching,
to praying, to his own spiritual condition, for he has given himself
over to error.
2. It simply means that we have come to the limit of his patience, for
we have trifled with him in our continued rejection.
3. It also means that there is just some one point where he will cease
to work. That point may be here and that day may be now, and so the
text is solemn. A long time ago an old woman tripped and fell from the
top of a stone stairway in Boston as she was coming out of the police
station. They called the patrol and carried her to the hospital and
the doctor examining her said to the nurse, "She will not live more
than a day." And when the nurse had won her confidence the old woman
said, "I have traveled from California, stopping at every city of
importance between San Francisco and Boston, visiting two places
always--the police station and the hospital. My boy went away from me
and did not tell me where he was going, so I have sold all my property
and made this journey to seek him out. Some day," she said, "he may
come into this hospital, and if he does tell him that there were two
who never gave him up." When the night came and the doctor standing
beside her said, "It is now but a question of a few minutes," the nurse
bent over her to say, "Tell me the names of the two and I will tell
your son if I see him." With trembling lips and eyes overflowing with
tears she said, "Tell him that the two were God and his mother," and
she was gone.
I cannot believe that God has given any of you up. You would not be
listening to this message, you certainly would not be reading these
words if he had. He has not given you up. I beseech you therefore
hear him. It would be a sad thing for you to say no to him at the last
and have him take you at your word, and if he has not given you up I am
persuaded that there is some one else in the world deeply concerned for
your soul.