A man's personal day of grace may expire. What if that time should come, when God should say the means of grace shall
do no good: that ordinances shall have "a miscarrying womb and dry breasts"
(Hos. 9:14)? Were it not sad to adjourn repentance until such a decree came
forth? It is true, no man can justly tell that his day of grace is past—but
there are two helpful signs by which he may fear it:
(a) When conscience has done preaching. Conscience is a bosom-preacher. Sometimes it convinces, sometimes it
reproves. It says, as Nathan to David, "You are the man!" (2 Sam.
12:7). But men imprison this preacher, and God says to conscience, "Preach
no more! He who is filthy, let him be filthy still!" (Rev. 22:11). This is a
fatal sign that a man's day of grace is past.
(b) When a person is in such a spiritual lethargy that nothing will work upon him or make him sensible. There is "the spirit of deep sleep poured out upon you" (Isaiah 29:10). This is a sad presage that his day of grace is past. How dangerous then is it to delay repentance when the day of grace may so soon expire!
- Thomas Watson (The Doctrine of Repentance, Chapter 8)
No comments:
Post a Comment