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     An earnest and successful minister of the Gospel was blessed of God by this sermon (Exodus, 9:19):
     "Upon every man and beast which shall be found in the geld, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them and they shall die."

ANY are familiar with the context. God's people, during the life of Joseph, sojourned in Egypt and ultimately became slaves. Their bondage was severe in the extreme. They toiled under the lash; they made bricks without straw. But as a nation they cried out to God and He heard them.

      A little babe was born, and in order to save his life he was placed in an ark of bulrushes, which was cast on the bosom of the river. By a strange and timely providence the king's daughter, with her maidens, go down to bathe in the river.

      The king's daughter hears the child's cry. She has a mother's heart and orders it brought to her. A little maid stands near, who proves to be the sister of the waif. She inquires if she shall not call a nurse, and when the answer is given she brings the baby's mother.

      Moses is brought up in the house of Pharaoh, and nursed by his own mother. He is educated; is really heir to the throne of the Pharaohs, but makes choice of God and His people. The pleasures of sin have no charm for him. Moses is a long-sighted man.

      God is not in any hurry to have him go to his work, however. He spends forty years in Egypt in preparation of his life-work and forty years in the desert herding sheep.

      But at the end of that time, when he is 80 years of age, he receives definite orders from God to go back to Egypt and deliver his people.

      No wonder he shrank from so great a task. All great men are modest and have to be pushed out.

      "Every hour has its man and every man his hour."

Read this interesting account, how God showed him his duty and led him to it. He used what Moses had, though it was only a rod in his hand, perhaps a piece of hazel-brush he had cut on the side of the mountain.

      With this rod he wrought mighty miracles. The waters were turned to blood, frogs cover the earth and lice and flies plague man and beast.

      Then Moses stood before the king and spoke our text. He declared that if the people were not permitted to go out from that rigorous bondage that there would come such a hail storm as had never been experienced among men.

      It was to be accompanied by fire; it would beat down shrub and tree and destroy man and beast.

      Pharaoh had seen a good deal come true that Moses had declared, but he would not believe this prophecy. His heart was hard; he was preparing for judgments. If men will not obey the calls of mercy they must bow to the smiting hand of justice.

      At the appointed time, on the next day, the storm came. It raged with supernatural fury; it swept the land of Egypt as with a besom of destruction. But no harm came to God's people, sheltered in their little slave huts.

      There are a few lessons which I wish to draw briefly .from this story.

      First, man needs a shelter--a home. Every person who was exposed in that storm stands for this argument. In every climate, whether rigorous or mild, men have provided some sort of shelter.

      John Howard Payne wrote a song, entitled "Home, Sweet Home," which beautifully expresses this thought. He says, "Often have I been in the heart of Paris, Berlin or London and heard persons singing or the organ playing 'Home, Sweet Home' without a shilling to buy the next meal or a place to lay my head. The world has literally sung my song until every heart is familiar with its melody, but I have been a wanderer from my boyhood. My country has turned me ruthlessly away, and

in old age I am subject to the humiliation of office-seeking."

      Thus he would bewail his hopeless lot. But just as certainly as the body needs a covering and the heart of man a resting place, so surely does the immortal spirit need a shelter and a home.

      Secondly, God is the home of the soul.

      This is a truth, a fact, as well as a sentiment in song.

      Many enemies assault and destroy the homes of earth. The calls of duty separate the loved ones from the old homestead far and wide. In many cases discord and enmity break up the home and death makes many a vacant chair, producing sadness and gloom.

      Man's heart cannot be satisfied with temporal things. The mariner's needle trembles at every other point, but points steadily to the North Star. The Swedish Nightingale, Jennie Lind, sang at Niagara Falls to a vast congregation. She had honor and wealth and a multitude of friends, but she wrote this sentiment in the album, in the hotel where she was entertained:

"In vain I seek for rest,
   In all created good;
It leaves me still unblest,
   And makes me cry for God.
      And, sure, at rest I cannot be
      Unless my heart find rest in Thee."

      God is the shelter and the home of every soul.

      In the third place, Jesus Christ came to bring us home.

      There are three beautiful stories related in the fifteenth chapter of Luke which enforce and illustrate this point. I will simply give the barest outline of these. A shepherd has one hundred sheep; he loses one in the wilderness and seeks it until he finds it. He lays it on his shoulder and comes home rejoicing.

      That shepherd represents the Lord, Jesus Christ!

      Again, a woman has ten pieces of silver and loses one. She lights a candle, sweeps the house and seeks diligently until she finds it. She calls her friends in to rejoice with her.

      She represents the Saviour of the World in His search for lost souls.

      And the last story in the chapter has been told thousands of times. Perhaps I had better not try to tell it. It may be better for you to read it.

      But the Father represents Christ, Himself, who saw His Son a great ways off, and had compassion on Him, and ran and fell on His neck, and kissed Him.

      Sin, if it but be repented of, is no barrier. "Christ hath power on earth to forgive sins."

      And, lastly, I call your attention to the safety and happiness of those brought home.

      Not an Israelite was harmed in this storm, because he was sheltered and cared for by the Lord.

      Nor will you be harmed if you make God your refuge.

      And while sorrow and death filled the hearts of the Egyptians, gladness and deliverance was the heritage of God's children.

      Isaiah, 55:6: "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found; call ye upon Him while He is near."

EN LOSE their chance so far as this world is concerned. We often say of a man that he has thrown away his opportunity. I am fully eprsuaded (sic) that if I had not gone to the university about the time I did I would never have taken my degree.

      A rich man, who owned broad acres, heard of a single diamond worth all his property. He had a great passion for precious stones. He talked the matter over with his wife and they decided to sell what they had and buy this valuable gem. He sold his estates, went to a distant land and bought the stone. On his return trip he carried this precious treasure in his hand much of the way. He would walk the deck day after day and frequently in childish glee would throw the diamond up in the air and catch it. The captain and passengers saw the danger and advised him to be more careful. But he paid no heed. One day the stone slipped from his grasp and fell into the sea and was never recovered. 

      Thus many people trifle with precious privileges until at last these are gone forever.

      I have read of a young woman who was on a sea voyage. By some means the vessel was wrecked and with many others she was told to jump into the lifeboat. She hesitated, being of a timid nature. She hoped the rescue boat would come nearer. Those in the boat cried, "Jump, or you will be too late." Soon it was too late, for the boat had moved off. She cried for them to come back, but this was impossible. She was lost.

      I ask with great sincerity and earnestness, "Is delay and procrastination as fatal in the matter of salvation as it is in temporal affairs?" On the walls of the

temple of Delphos were written these words, "Know thy opportunity." How few obey this motto!

      A skillful artist solicited the privilege of painting the portrait of a certain queen. The favor was granted, for it would make the fortune of the artist. The place and time were fixed. The queen kept the appointment, but the artist did not appear. When he did come, a message was handed to him, stating that her majesty had departed and would not return.

      The King Eternal consents to meet man. He has fixed the time and place. It is "here" and "now." He is true to His appointment. Man often stays away, but he may do this once too often.

      Let God speak on this subject (Gen., 6:3): "My spirit shall not always strive with man." Open your Bible to Gen., 25:39-34 verses, and Heb., 12:17. Esau was Isaac's older son. He had some special property rights and heir to his father's blessing. He came in from the field one day very faint and weary. He did not seem to care whether he lived or died; he was reckless. Esau wanted to sell his birthright--and did sell it for a mess of pottage. The same thing is often done now. The character of a lifetime is bartered away for the pleasures of an hour. Esau afterward wanted his inheritance back again and he tried hard to get it, but this was impossible.

      There is a world of practical meaning in that Scripture which says, "He found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." His choice could not be recalled.

      Again, look at the case of King Saul, as recorded in First Sam., 15:23-35. God never seemed to restore him to favor after he fell. His history is very instructive. He was of fine appearance, was successful as a ruler and victorious in battle.

      He was God's choice, but he was disobedient to God's command. He fell and was never restored.

      You will remember that when he went against the Amelekites God told him to spare neither man nor beast, but to utterly destroy them. But when the triumphal procession returned, and the prophet, Samuel, was re

viewing the victorious army, he heard the lowing of the oxen and the bleating of the sheep. Samuel asked the king about this and was told that the choicest of these animals were spared for sacrifice. Then Samuel said, "To obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams." Then followed these significant words, "Thou hast rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel." Read this story in the Word and you will find that this divine sentence was never revoked. The king was never given an opportunity to repent. With his son, Jonathan, he fell in the Battle of Mt. Gilboa.

      If you turn to the fifth chapter of Daniel you will read the account of the feast of Belshazzer. He was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who had become insane on account of his sin and wickedness. Belshazzer knew his grandfather's history and ought to have shunned his example, but he plunged on and sinned against Light. One night he made a great feast to a thousand of his lords. No woman was present. It was a drunken and shameful carousal. They even drank wine out of the sacred vessels that had been brought from the temple at Jerusalem.

      And while revelry was at its height, an armless hand wrote on the wall, in language that no scholar could read. In their anguish and despair the queen mother comes in and recommends that Daniel, the Hebrew, be sent for. He comes. He is offered riches and honor if he translates the writing. He counts the rewards of small value, but he translates the words, "Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting." There was only time to put a chain of gold about Daniel's neck, to clothe him in scarlet and proclaim his rank, when the soldiers of Darius, the Mede, rushed into the banqueting room.

      Then God adds these words, "In that night was Belshazzer, king of the Chaldeans, slain." He was not asked to repent. Sentence was given and judgment executed in a night.

      Those are startling words found in Prov., 1:24-26: "Because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched

out my hand and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel and would have none of my reproof. I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh."

      Prov., 29:1: "He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."

      To follow out this principle further, open your New Testament to Matt., 27:3-5. Judas was sorry that he sold his Lord, but he did not find forgiveness. But we read that he committed suicide. He had evidently crossed the dead line.

      In Luke, 4:16-29, we find that Jesus did not go back to Nazareth after the people attempted to push Him off the precipice. That was His last visit.

      There is an unpardonable sin spoken of in Mark, 3:29.

      Again, look at the testimony of men on this subject.

      Dr. Ichabod Spencer says, "I was summoned to see a sick man. He was 26 years old; had a wife and one child. His father was an unbeliever, but his mother was a Christian. He had lived according to his father's teachings." Dr. Spencer heard the sick man groan as he approached the house. As the minister spoke to him, he turned his face to the wall and writhed in spasms of pain. He said his time had come and that he must die. "I have had my time and lost it; the eleventh hour is past--this is the twelfth." He died without hope.

      Rev. James Caughey, the noted evangelist, tells of an incident related to him while he was in England. A minister was summoned to see a dying man. They talked and prayed together, but soon the sick man seemed to lose heart and hope and he began to curse and swear. He even tried in his weakness to do the minister bodily harm. The hour grew late. The man of God prayed, while the sick man swore. The conflict between God and satan was awful. The hour of midnight approached; all was quiet in the street. The sick man suddenly raised himself on his elbows, exclaiming, "God Almighty, damn my soul!" and expired.

      A few years ago, while in a distant city holding revival services, a traveling man was converted at our altar and the next morning he came to my study and told me why he had thus suddenly yielded himself to the Lord. He said, "A few weeks ago I was in Colorado and it was necessary for me, in order to make a certain town, to ride a short distance on a freight train. During that ride the train was wrecked, one of the cars, being loaded with oil, took fire, and one of the trainmen was seriously hurt and frightfully burned. We did all we could for him. We laid him by the roadside on the dead grass that cold autumn morning. He was conscious of his approaching end. He said he could see the spires of the eternal city breaking into view; and he also beheld the smoke of the pit. He asked us to pray for him, but we could not. He tried to pray himself, but soon ceased his efforts. It seemed to me that evil spirits took possession of him. He writhed in pain and, cursing God and man, he died. I shall never forget that scene. And there I promised God that I would speedily make my peace with Him."

      In the autobiography of Benjamin Abbott he tells a remarkable incident in proof of the point I am illustrating. He tells of a married woman who, after deep conviction, was clearly and soundly converted. He says, "Her case was a very singular one. Trouble arose between her family and the church and she soon returned to her old practices again. She became so wicked as to swear and curse God in a most horrible manner. In about eighteen months after this God sent the grim monster, death, to arrest her." In her sickness she sent for Benjamin Abbott, who exhorted her to turn to God. But she refused mercy because she had sinned against such Light and knowledge. Several other backsliders were present and she exhorted them to turn to God before it was eternally too late.

      Abbott endeavored to apply all the promises which are given to backsliders, from Genesis to Revelation, but without faith on his part. He could not pray; his mouth was shut; and she said she had no heart nor power to pray, for the spirit of prayer is the gift of God. In the

afternoon a son of the woman begged Abbott to go and see his mother again. The boy said, "She frightens us so we are afraid to stay in the house." The minister's daughter, Rebecca, went, and as she entered the house the sick woman pointed with her hand, saying to bystanders, "Do you not see the devil there, ready to seize my soul, and drag it to hell? I am in hell; I feel as much the torments of the damned as a mortal can feel in the body." Her flesh rotted on her bones and fell from one of her sides. In this awful situation she left the stage of action. I believe that the experience of men proves the truth of this text, and that finally it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to make our peace with God. I am asked to account for this state of things.

      I answer, "Men, by quieting their conscience by some excuse. or promise, resist God in small matters, then in greater ones; and ultimately they glide into eternity with a dead conscience. They are almost inaccessible to alarm. Each delay makes it more difficult to repent. Then God takes His spirit from the sinner and he is left to the hardness of his own depraved nature. He sins without remorse. Neither the goodness nor judgments of God have any effect on him; his understanding is darkened and his heart is turned to stone."

"There is a time, we know not when,
A point, we know not where,
That marks the destiny of men
To glory or despair.
There is a line, by us unseen,
That crosses every path
The hidden boundary between
God's patience and His wrath."

      One of the marks of this sad state is an absence of concern about the soul. There is no anxiety.

      A gentleman called his son to his bedside when he was dying and said, "In youth and early manhood the Spirit strove with me, but he ceased to strive before I reached old age; and now I feel the gnawing of that worm that never dies. Take warning from my miserable end."

      In conclusion, we would say, the road of Bye-and-bye leads to the town of Never. It will not always be

summer. Merchants cannot insure their goods after the fire breaks out. Time is short. John Fletcher compared the uncertainty of life to a man shut up in a fortress with only a concealed reservoir of water, whose waters are daily diminishing; when they will be exhausted he knows not.

      Seek the Lord with all your heart--now.

      The most precious things of the earth must be sought after. Men went down into Egypt for corn and into South America for gold. Thus the soul must energize to possess spiritual good.

      A feast was being held in Syria in connection with some public festival. A general invitation was given. The door stood wide open; the time was called out by a public crier. When the time was past the doors were closed and the guests sat down to the feast. Those that came afterward were told that it was the master's orders that no others be admitted. The last guests were outside.

      One night in 1741 Count LeSoch went to conduct the Princess Elizabeth to the palace in order that she might assert her right to the vacant throne. He found her irresolute and refusing to go, upon which he drew forth two pictures, which he had caused to be prepared, and placed them before her. In the one she saw herself under torture and the count on the scaffold, and in the other she beheld herself ascending the throne amid the applause of the people. She chose the latter and the next day was crowned empress of all the Russias.

      Choose God now! Do not delay!

© 2003 for the NEGenWeb Project by Pam Rietsch, Ted & Carole Miller.