0303. WHY WILL YE DIE?

WHY WILL YE DIE?

Eze_33:11.

"It is appointed unto men once to die," whether they will or not. But why will ye die in "your sins" when God in mercy has opened a Fountain to cleanse them away?

I. A Solemn Fact. Many are dying in a wicked state.

1. Their Character. "Wicked." "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Eze_33:11). Those having the visible spots of inward ungodliness-leprosy.

2. Their Condition. "Dying." The process of dying is already going on. Why will ye die? Why will ye go on choosing and living on the things that are working death in you. "Lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life" (1Jn_2:16).

II. A Blessed Assurance. "As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." These gracious words give us the-

1. Assurance of His Love. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us" (1Jn_4:10). He has no pleasure in their death, yet, because of sin, He can have no pleasure in their company. His love is stronger than death.

2. Assurance of His Willingness to Save. Being assured of His love, we are confident of His power to help. "He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2Pe_3:9).

III. An only Alternative. Turn from your evil ways.

1. Turn, for Your Ways are Evil. The evil way is the dying way that leads to the second death. This is your way. Turn out of it.

2. Turn, for Life is in God. In that God from whom you are turning away. "I am come that they might have life." "Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life." "Christ is our life" (1Jn_5:11-12).

IV. An Urgent Appeal. "Turn ye, turn ye." This is-

1. The Cry of Warning. He knows the awful future into which the ungodly are daily going. "How shall ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation" (Heb_2:3). God Himself is the need of the soul and the refuge for sinners (see Mar_11:10).

2. The Voice of Mercy. The voice of Him who wept over Jerusalem, who died for the sins of the world, and who "will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1Ti_2:4).

" Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die,

When God in great mercy is coming so nigh."

Autor: James Smith