Bible Training School
November 1, 1911
Shall We Awake?
God sees every heart and knows the excuses suggested by Satan by which he seeks to ensnare every soul. He fully appreciates our danger, while we do not. He is not willing that any should perish in sin; but that all should repent and live. Hence, the oft repeated plea that we should not be deceived and lost. God is love; and infinite love will devise infinite plans and plead with infinitely long-suffering to save the lost. There is one thing, however, which infinite love cannot do; it cannot requite the unrepentant wicked. What is it to be in an unsaved condition? Is it not to be living without that full confidence in God which is born of love, which leads us to take Him at His word? Believing His promises, we walk with Him and talk with Him as did Enoch and Elijah and the faithful of all the ages past. They were called pilgrims and strangers in the earth, because they had so much faith in God that they would follow His instruction so completely that they became very different from the world in their plans, and their objects in life were also different. BTS November 1, 1911, par. 1
That is the very thing for which the Lord is appealing to His people. They have set their affections upon other objects, and their interest in His work is a secondary matter. As a result, the hearts of His people are barren of that warmth of love which makes all service sweet. BTS November 1, 1911, par. 2
The treasury of the Lord is wanting funds with which to carry the work as fast as it is the pleasure of the Lord that it should go; and the world, seeing the indifference manifested, is not affected by the message as it would be if every heart were warm with the love, which in every act and word expresses its devotion as did the life of Christ, our Pattern. The Lord will find every honest soul and be honored with His service. The windows of heaven will be opened, and He will be refreshed with such abundant blessings, “that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Then there will be meat in the Lord's house, “and all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” BTS November 1, 1911, par. 3
The work then, must be observed of all nations, whether it is in an indifferent state, or moving in the fulness of the power of God. When it reaches that stage that God's people walk with Him in such confidence as this chapter describes, the message will be attended by the refreshing showers of the latter rain, and the earth will be speedily lighted by His glory. BTS November 1, 1911, par. 4
This is an individual work, and an everyday life. “Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.[”] It is time to walk honestly, having a conscience void of offense toward God and man. Now is the time to lay up a good foundation against the time to come, that we may lay hold on eternal life. It is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Shall we awake? BTS November 1, 1911, par. 5