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The Revelation of Jesus Christ
ject the call of Christ, when their hearts will be as hard and inflexible as the_trees in the petrified forest. While on a vis'it to Australia, I stayed with a man who lived on a great farm. One morning he said to me, "We are going a brand some cattle today. Would you like to see it?" · I went with him to the branding yard, saw them tie a young heifer to the ground, ,saw a man pull out of the fire a red-hot piece of steel on which were some initials, saw that man place the red-hot iron upon a certain spot on the animal. As the iron seared the flesh, the animal groaned with pain. The ropes were cut; up and away it bounded. Day after day it spent the time, licking the wound. But three weeks later that animal stood quietly grazing on the range. If you had gone up to it and pierced the brand with a sharp knife, the heifer would have continued eating, unconscious of any sensa tion. Why? Because all the nerves in that spot were para lyzed. Human beings are like that. Every time the Spirit of God touches a heart, He has a certain effect upon it. If a man goes on and on, listening to the Gospel story, without making any move to accept the salvation which is offered him, the day will come when the voice which spoke to his heart will speak no longer; he can sit and listen to the most impassioned appeals, and none of them will move him. The love of God, the terrors of hell, alike will have no effect upon him. That is the state to which every unregenerated man who continually rejects the Son of God will come. The Spirit of God is striving with man now; but God has said, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man" ( Gen. 6:3). He is trying to touch your heart now, my unsaved friend, "now is the day of salvation." But in those last dread days, the hearts of men will be hopelessly hardened. Let grace act upon your heart. Exercise your will God ward, and allow the King of Glory to come in! Hear the Spirit of God as He speaks to you: "Harden not your hearts. ... Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts!" (Heb. 3:8-15).
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