Editorial – Boundary Line

Do not resist the appeals of the Holy Spirit to your conscience to forsake evil and do what is right. If you do, the following explains what will happen. It is happening even now all over the world.

“The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan. The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and solemn warning to all who are trifling with the offers of divine grace and resisting the pleadings of divine mercy. Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God’s hatred of sin and to the certain punishment that will fall upon the guilty.” The Great Controversy, 36.

“The wicked have passed the boundary of their probation; the Spirit of God, persistently resisted, has been at last withdrawn. Unsheltered by divine grace, they have no protection from the wicked one. Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the earth into one great, final trouble. As the angels of God cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, all the elements of strife will be let loose. The whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came upon Jerusalem of old.” Ibid., 614.

“The word of the Lord comes to us all who have not resisted His Spirit by determining not to hear and obey. This voice is heard in warnings, in counsels, in reproof. It is the Lord’s message of light to His people. If we wait for louder calls or better opportunities, the light may be withdrawn, and we left in darkness.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 28.

“When Jesus leaves the most holy, His restraining Spirit is withdrawn from rulers and people. They are left to the control of evil angels. Then such laws will be made by the counsel and direction of Satan, that unless time should be very short, no flesh could be saved.” Testimonies, vol. 1, 204.

“After God has shown individuals their sins and given them grace to overcome, and His Spirit has been long striving with them, He will not work a miracle to prevent the sure result of resisting that Spirit and persisting in a wrong course. There is a boundary to His grace and mercy; and when this boundary is passed, the aid of His Spirit, so wickedly refused and insulted, is withdrawn, and the soul is given over to the worst of tyrants—the power of a perverted will.” The Signs of the Times, June 5, 1884.

See also Hebrews 3, 6, 10; Genesis 6:3; Isaiah 55; I Corinthians 10; Isaiah 1; Proverbs 1 and II Peter 2.