One More Night with the Frogs

Transcription

1 One More Night with the Frogs The family of Israel had gone down into Egypt (in the days of Joseph) to escape the famine up in Palestine. But several hundred years had passed, and the family of Jacob had grown into a great host of people. The Pharaoh who had known Joseph was dead, and a new dynasty of Pharaoh s were ruling. The children of Israel were slaves to the Egyptians, toiling under the hot Egyptian sun. They had to gather their own straw to make bricks. Eventually the Children of Israel cried for deliverance from their bondage, and God heard their cry. God called Moses and told him to go to Pharaoh and ask him to release the Children of Israel so that they might return to their native land of Canaan. Moses went to Pharaoh and made the request but Pharaoh refused to let them go. And the Bible says God sent a number of judgments (plagues) upon the land of Egypt. One of the plagues was an abundance of frogs. Exodus 8:3 says the frogs were in the bedrooms, the parlors, the ovens, and in the kneading troughs. God had said, If you refuse to let the Children of Israel go, behold I will smite your borders with frogs. And God always keeps His word. Pharaoh refused to let the people of Israel go, and frogs came up and covered the land. Look at that Egyptian housewife opening her oven she screams, and out jump frogs. Think of the weary laborer, pulling down his covers to crawl into bed only to find that frogs are his bed-partners. Another is putting on his clothes, only to find that his pockets are filled with frogs. See those Egyptian boys (kicking their way along the road to school) everywhere they walk, they squash frogs between their toes. There were frogs in the palace, frogs in the cottage, frogs in the house, frogs in the yard little frogs, big frogs, thousands of dead frogs heaped up in smelly mountains, as millions more came from the river to take their places. Finally Pharaoh could stand it no longer. Those green, cold, slimy, slippery frogs got the best of him. He called for Moses the servant of God, and this is what he said: Entreat the Lord that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord (Exodus 8:8). Moses must have been over-joyed! At last Pharaoh had made up his mind! He finally decided to let the Children of Israel go. And so Moses said, Glory over me: when shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only? (Exodus 8:9). When shall I entreat for thee? And Pharaoh said... (listen)... and Pharaoh said, Tomorrow. Now I ve never been able to figure that answer out. There were frogs in his food, frogs in his bed, frogs in his clothes, frogs all over his house and God was standing ready to remove those

2 frogs instantly. The decision was up to Pharaoh and what did he say? Tomorrow... give me one more night with those frogs! Just why Pharaoh said Tomorrow, we don t know. It may be that he still thought that the frogs were the result of some natural phenomenon, and that if he waited a little while longer, some favorable wind would come along and sweep them out of the land and thus he wouldn t have to give God the credit for it he could just say the wind did it. Pharaoh was a rebellious, proud, godless man an exact picture of the soul outside of Christ today. He had been warned that the frogs would come, and because he stubbornly refused to obey God, they did come. And just so today many people outside of Christ are unhappy and wretched and miserable completely disgusted with life. There may be some reading this pamphlet who are just as miserable as Pharaoh was in that day when the whole land was covered with frogs. The message of the Bible is that Jesus Christ stands ready to remove those frogs to take away your uncertainties and fears; to forgive your sins; and to offer complete pardon. He will give you an abundant life here, and an eternal life with God the Father in the world to come. There are at least four reasons why you should not say tomorrow, and why you should not choose (like Pharaoh did) to spend one more night with the frogs. 1. The Holy Spirit Calls Today The message of the Holy Spirit to every lost soul, is Be saved today. The devil says, Wait, and put it off until tomorrow. God says, Come, and come right now. The Bible says, Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. One thing sure the day of grace is still open for each one reading this message. The Saviour pleads with men to come to Him now. The gates of Heaven are open now. God s Holy Spirit calls now. The Spirit of God seeks men who are lost, and convicts them, and warns them, and strives with them, in order that they might be saved. But remember that God s Spirit will not always call. He may not call tomorrow. The Bible says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near (Isaiah 55:6). And in another place, God says, My Spirit shall not always strive with man (Genesis 6:3). This implies that the Spirit of God may not always call. Aaron Burr was the third vice-president of the United States. He was a brilliant student at Princeton University at age nineteen. A revival broke out on campus in those days, and Aaron was deeply convicted. He went to one of his teachers, and told him his dilemma. The teacher gave him a Bible, and told him to go back to his room, and settle the matter with God on his knees. Aaron tried to shake off the conviction. He went back to his room all right but in desperation, he cried out, God, if you let me alone, I ll promise to let you alone. And later

3 Aaron said it was at that moment that all conviction left him. Years later, a good friend tried to introduce him to the Saviour but the cold sweat poured out of his forehead, as he recounted to his friend how at the age of nineteen he had asked God to let him alone. It was then that he said, I never had one slight feeling ever since, that I should become a child of God. So many have the idea that they can get saved whenever they get ready. But the fact is, you ll get saved when the Spirit of God draws and if He has called you for the last time, you ll never get saved. The poet says, There s a line that is drawn by rejecting the Lord, where the call of the Spirit is lost; as you hurry along, with the pleasure-mad throng, have you counted, have you counted the cost? To say yes to Jesus means life; to say no means death. To say yes means Heaven; to say no means Hell. God Almighty draws a deadline across every sinner s path on one side there s hope; on the other side, there s death! The first reason why you should not choose to spend one more night with the frogs, is because the Holy Spirit calls today, and if you trifle with the call of the Spirit, He may never strive with you again. 2. The Heart Constantly Gets Harder The heart of every man and woman and boy and girl, becomes more and more hardened, every time he puts off the Gospel invitation. The Bible says, Exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). The hardening of the heart is one of the most terrible calamities that can come upon a lost sinner, on this side of eternal destruction in Hell. One reason why the great majority of those who are saved, have been saved in childhood and youth is simply because the child has the advantage of a tender heart. The child has a tender conscience that grieves over sin; the child is easily moved by the fear of punishment; the child knows that it s dangerous to go on in sin. But one who continues in sin, and ignores the call of the Spirit of God, will find that his heart becomes calloused and hardened and accustomed to sin. Every brazen infidel was once a tender-hearted child, who may have trembled at the very thought of his sin and judgment but delay over the years has hardened his heart. Every drunkard was once a pure and innocent child, likely beloved of his parents, and promising for the future. Every painted prostitute was once a sweet-faced little girl (precious and gentle), with holy possibilities but now the passing days of unrebuked sin in her life, have led to an indifference about holy matters. Oh the danger of a hardened heart! That innocent little child, born into the world with bright eyes, happy smiles, and a sweet disposition gradually becomes hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And each day he puts off the call of the Spirit, there s less and less concern for the things of God, and more and more concern for the things of the world and the heart becomes more and more hardened. If you are reading this message, and you re past twenty years of age your

4 chances for getting saved are growing smaller indeed. Five-sixths of all decisions for Christ are made before twenty; eleven-twelfths of all decisions are made before the age of twenty-five; and only one out of a thousand becomes a child of God after the age of thirty. It is not impossible to be saved in an old age, but it s unusual. God can save regardless of age. If you are a hardened sinner, a drunkard in the gutter, a prostitute, an infidel whatever your condition Jesus died for you. There is a new life of joy awaiting you but you have to give Him the consent of your will. If He is calling you today, why spend one more night with the frogs? 3. The Growing Nearness of Christ s Coming There is not a single event prophesied in the Bible, which must come to pass before Jesus returns. Not another war needs to be declared; not another sermon needs to be preached; not another prophecy needs to be fulfilled. As far as can be told from the Scriptures, Jesus may come at any moment to catch up His Bride (the church). It s true that many don t believe He is coming back. I have met them, talked with them, read their books but the fact still remains that each passing day brings us one day closer to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The angels said at the time of His ascension, This same Jesus who is taken up... shall so come again. There will he a resurrection of the Christian dead. The bodies of those who sleep in Jesus, will rise from their graves, and then those who are alive (in Christ) will be caught up together with them (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Those who are unsaved, will be left behind here on earth when Jesus comes. They will go into a time of trouble and sorrow such as this world has never seen before nor will ever see again. Only God knows the misery and the agony of those awful days. Men will desire to die, but death will flee from them. An unknown poet says: When the great plants of our cities, Shall have turned out their last finished work, And the merchants have sold their last order And dismissed every last tired clerk; When our banks have raked in their last dollar, And have paid out their last dividend; When the judge of the earth says, Closed for the night, And calls for a balance what then? When the choir has sung its last anthem, And the preacher has voiced his last prayer, When the people have heard their last sermon And the sound has died out on the air; When the Bible lies closed on the altar, And the pews are all empty of men;

5 When each one stands facing his record, And the great Book is opened what then? God s timetable is set. The hour is getting late. Your chances of ever getting saved are growing fainter and fainter with the benediction of every Gospel service. Jesus may return at any moment and this is another urgent, pressing reason why you should not spend another night with the frogs of misery and uncertainty in your life. 4. The Uncertainty of Life and the Certainty of Death The Bible says, Go to now, ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain; whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow; for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away (James 4:13-14). It s silly for any person to say that he knows what will happen tomorrow. How do you know you ll buy and sell tomorrow? How do you know you ll go to work tomorrow morning? How do you know you ll get home safely on your next trip? One man dies every second, and your turn may be coming very soon. The death-angel might well appear to you before this day is completed, and say, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. It seems but yesterday that I was a child, walking barefooted through the fields, with the carefree abandon of childhood. Then came youth with its mingled joys, and then suddenly I crossed the bridge into adulthood and you know, the time seems to have gone so fast that I still often have trouble getting myself to believe that I ve grown up and that I ve become an adult. And the years seem to move with increasing speed as I plunge toward old age. The Bible says, As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field; the wind passeth over it, and it is gone (Psalms 103:14). Your life which seems so well established and so important today is really only like a fragile blade of grass. You may boast of your good health and your long years of sound life but be assured of this, you have an inescapable appointment with death. Your body, which today is active and energetic, will someday become cold and still. Your strength, your voice, your senses will be gone forever! Your physical frame will disintegrate and return to the dust of the earth! I beg you to set your house in order today, so that you ll be prepared for that moment when you breathe your last mortal breath. There s no tomorrow salvation with God. The Bible says, Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. God wants to reason with you about your salvation, and He wants to do it today because tomorrow may be too late. The Bible says, Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. We never know when our moment of death is coming but one thing sure, when God calls your

6 number, you re going to go! This is the fourth reason why you should not choose to spend one more night with the frogs. If you are not a child of God today, there s likely only one thing standing in your way. I don t know what it is. It may be intellectual pride, or some selfish ambition, or some worldly pleasure but whatever it is, you are at the place where the road parts. Here s Jesus on one side, and here s some pleasure or some selfish ambition on the other side. You are going to make a choice today. You will either choose for Jesus, or against Him. He stands ready to forgive your sins, to remove the frogs, and to inscribe your name in the Lamb s Book of Life if you ll only call on Him. Why do you wait dear brother? Oh why do you tarry so long? Your Saviour is waiting to give you A place in his sanctified throng. Today you still have a chance. Don t throw it away. Jesus calls tenderly. Won t you hear His voice, and turn to Him, and live eternally in His presence? There ll be a spring in your step, and a joy in your soul, and a peace in your heart like you have never experienced before. -Harold S. Martin BIBLE HELPS Robert Lehigh, Editor PO Box 391 Hanover, PA United States of America