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GUILT AND DANGER OF AN UNCONVERTED STATE
SUCH is the infatuation of unregenerate men, that they always promise themselves security in the ways of sin: but it is certain that they are never more in danger than when they fancy themselves most secure: they may be well compared to a bird that is allured to a net: it hears the notes that call and invite it to the society of some kindred bird: fearless of danger, it obeys the summons: it hastens to the place from whence the sound issues, little thinking that, instead of a companion, it shall find a foe. The fowler, however, who has spread the net, sees that the unsuspecting bird is quickly to resign its liberty, and perhaps its life. Thus it is with those who listen to the enchanting voice of sin: they follow it, but know not that it is for their life [Note: Pro_7:23.]: The word of Jehovah is gone forth, nor can it ever be reversed: it says, “Woe unto the wicked, it shall go ill with him;” and, “when he saith, Peace and safety, then shall sudden destruction come upon him as travail upon a woman with child, and he shall not escape.” To this purpose God speaks to the Israelites in the passage before us: he says, “Ephraim is like a silly dove, without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria: but when they go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven.” Having thus represented their danger in figurative expressions, he declares it plainly in the most awful terms: “Woe unto them, for they have fled from me! destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against me! though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.” From these words, we will endeavour to set before you,
I. The state of men in general—
[To those who can see nothing but the outward conduct, there may appear to be a very considerable difference between the states of different men: the moral and decent may be esteemed exceeding righteous and good, while the openly vicious and profane are execrated as exceeding vile. And it must be acknowledged, that, as far as the conduct of these different persons respects society, there is a great difference between them; but God, who looks at the heart, and estimates every thing by the respect it has to him, sees that all men are very nearly, if not altogether, upon a level; all men appear to him as “sepulchres, full of all uncleanness:” some indeed appear whited and outwardly adorned, while others are open, and discover all their deformity. Still, however, inwardly they are all the same.
In the first place, all “flee from him.” Adam had no sooner sinned, than he lost his delight in God, and fled from the presence of his Maker. From that time, all his descendants have felt the same aversion to intercourse with the Deity: they love not the ordinances where God reveals himself to men: when God calls them, “they all begin with one consent to make excuse:” some plead their social engagements; others the pressure of worldly business; all have some plea to make; all say, in effect, I can not, or, I will not, come. In dangers or in troubles, they will rather go to the creature than to God: even under a sense of sin, they will rather flee to their own resolutions, and trust in their own endeavours, than they will rely upon the strength and righteousness of the Lord Jesus. When God calls, they turn a deaf ear to his invitations. When he follows them, as it were, by the convictions of his Spirit, they actually “flee from him:” they shake off the thoughts that trouble them; they endeavour to drown reflection in business or pleasure; and the whole language of their hearts and actions is, like theirs in Job, “Depart from us; we desire not the knowledge of thy ways [Note: Job_21:14.].”
But the aversion to God which carnal men feel, is carried much further: they not only flee from him, as finding no pleasure, no satisfaction in his presence, but they also “transgress against him.” The law is yet in a measure written on their hearts, but they will not comply with its dictates: they see clearly, in many things, that such or such a course of action must be displeasing to God, and “that they who do such things are worthy of death; yet they both do these things themselves, and have pleasure in those that do them;” choosing them for their companions, and countenancing them in their actions: nor is this occasionally only, and through temptation or inadvertence: no; it is the settled course and tenour of their lives. The commands or prohibitions of God have no weight with them: whatever is reputable in the world, or agreeable to themselves, that they do; whenever their sensual inclinations or worldly interests strongly bias them to any line of conduct, it soon appears that they have cast off the yoke of God, and that they feel no restraint whatever, except that which arises from temporal considerations.
Nor is this all: they “speak lies against God:” they declare, in the face of the whole world, that the service of sin and Satan is to be preferred before the service of God. In every transgression they commit, they virtually speak to this effect; ‘This is happiness: as for obedience to God, that would be an insupportable restraint: true happiness consists in renouncing all allegiance to God, and in following our own will.’ Moreover they say, like those of old, “The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil [Note: Zep_1:12.];” i.e. ‘if we serve him, we shall have no profit; nor shall we sustain any loss if we serve him not.’ We must remember, that God interprets our actions; and considers men as speaking those things which their conduct shews to be the secret language of their hearts. And indeed this is strictly just; for all must allow, that actions speak more forcibly, and more truly, than words. But will not the Lord do good or evil? Will he not reward those that diligently seek him? Will he clear the guilty, and suffer them to pass unpunished? No, assuredly; “he will put a difference between the righteous and the wicked; between those who serve him, and those who serve him not [Note: Mal_3:18.].” Yet such are the lies which ungodly men are speaking against him.
Let any one say, whether this be not really the state of carnal unregenerate men? Do they not thus flee from God’s presence, transgress against his laws, and, in their conduct at least, misrepresent him to the world? Let us look round the world, and see whether this be not a true picture of mankind? Let us look into our own bosoms, and see whether it do not exactly represent ourselves? It may be, that we have not been so openly immoral as others: but yet, if we will examine our own hearts, we shall see that we have been as far from any real delight in secret communion with God as the most profligate man on earth. We have been as far from sacrificing all our own interests and inclinations to the will and law of God as the most flagrant rebel in the world: nor have we, in our actions, been living witnesses for the truth of God, any more than those who have denied every word of the Bible. This then is clearly the state of all unregenerate men.]
We come now to shew you,
II. The peculiar sinfulness of their state—
[If, without attending to any collateral circumstances, we were simply to point out the evil which is contained in the foregoing conduct, methinks the state of such men would appear beyond measure sinful: but the sinfulness of it is greatly aggravated by the consideration in my text; “Though I have redeemed them, yet have they spoken lies against me.”
If we call to mind the mercies which had been vouchsafed to the Israelites, we shall perceive that the malignity of their sins was exceedingly enhanced by the obligations which had been conferred upon them: they had been delivered from their bondage in Egypt, and brought to a land flowing with milk and honey. Such an interposition as this never had been known from the beginning of the world: that God should go and take an oppressed nation out of the midst of another nation; that he should reign over them as their king; that he should destroy seven nations greater and mightier than they, and establish them in the possession of their land; that he should, in ten thousand instances, step forth as their protector and deliverer, when they were reduced to the lowest state of wretchedness and misery; that he should vouchsafe them, not one redemption only, but many; this, I say, required the most ample returns of gratitude and obedience: the ingratitude therefore which they manifested, stamped a tenfold malignity on every sin they committed. But we have an infinitely better redemption vouchsafed to us: a Redemption of which theirs was but a type and shadow. We have been redeemed from a far sorer bondage, even from bondage to sin and Satan; from all the curses of the broken law; from all the miseries of death and hell. We have also been brought into a better land; not to the possession of mere temporal comforts, but to spiritual and eternal happiness; to the society of glorified saints and angels; to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and never-fading; in short, to all the glory of heaven. This has been accomplished also for us by far more wonderful and endearing means: God has sent his own Son into our guilty world; sent him to become a man, and to stand in our stead; sent him to give his own life a ransom for us; sent him to pay down the price of our redemption; and has appointed him to bring forth every one of his redeemed; to support and guide them through this dreary wilderness, and to conduct them, with a mighty hand and an out-stretched arm, to the full possession of their inheritance. O, what a Redemption is this! What obligations does this lay upon us to be faithful and obedient! And what a fearful aggravation must this be of all our disobedience! Yet, behold, we are the persons whose transgressions are so multiplied: we are they whom Christ came from heaven to seek and save: and yet we flee from his presence: we are they, for whose sakes “he gave himself, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works;” and yet we are continually transgressing against him: we are they towards whom he has shewn such astonishing love and mercy; and yet we are saying, that he regards us not, and that it will be in vain to serve him. Ah, Brethren, is there no guilt in such a state? and shall not God be avenged of such a people as this? Do not look at your sins merely as they affect society; that is no just criterion; that is no proper test. Estimating your conduct merely in that view, you will be ready to applaud yourselves as righteous, if you should happen to have escaped the grosser pollutions of the world: but view your sins as contrasted with the love of Christ; see him dying to bring you nigh to God, and yet yourselves “fleeing from God;” see him shedding his blood to cleanse you from sin, and yet yourselves continuing to “transgress;” see him faithfully executing every tiling he had undertaken for you, and yet yourselves “lying against him.” This is the light wherein to view your conduct. Draw nigh, then, and see it; ponder it in your hearts; consider it well. What offence can a servant commit against his master, or a child against his parent, or a man against his benefactor, that can bear any proportion to the smallest offence that you have committed against Christ? and yet you have offended times without number, and that too without any remorse; as though men were bound to requite your kindnesses, but you were at liberty to trample upon the most sacred obligations that God is able to confer upon you. Ah, Beloved! know every one of you, that “God seeth not as man seeth;” he considers things not according to man’s estimation, but as they really are: and when he shall call you to an account, you will see every sin aggravated by redeeming love: you will see that, in fact, you “crucify Christ afresh, you trample under foot his blood, you put him to an open shame.” And “shall not God visit for these things?” Yes, assuredly.]
I will proceed therefore to set before you,
III. The danger of such a state—
[You can bear me witness, my Brethren, that I delight not in setting forth the terrors of the Lord. I find it far more pleasant to be publishing the glad tidings, and to be expatiating on the fulness and freeness of the Gospel salvation: but I must not conceal from you what God speaks concerning you. Were I to be unfaithful to you in this respect, I should but betray your souls to ruin; and “your blood would be required at my hands.” Attend therefore to the solemn denunciations of God’s wrath against you: hear, I say, and tremble: hear, and lift up your hearts to God for mercy and deliverance: “Woe unto them, for they have fled from me! Destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against me!” Woe and destruction comprehend both present and eternal misery. There is much woe, even in this life, as the consequence of sin. Who can tell the alarms which haunt the wicked in their secret retirements? Who can tell the apprehensions they feel at the approach of death? I know that they may “sear their consciences,” so far as to become “past feeling:” and they may delude themselves with ungrounded hopes, so far as even to attain a confidence of their safety: but notwithstanding this, it is certain that “there is no peace to the wicked:” wherever they go, and whatever they do, they have no solid peace: they are either harassed with tumultuous passions, or terrified with misgiving fears. God has said repeatedly, that “there is no peace to the wicked.” But let us suppose that they pass through life with tolerable serenity; what will they do at the instant of their departure from the body? Then they will begin to understand the meaning of the word “destruction:” now perhaps they listen to it with indifference; but then they cannot remain insensible to it. What terror must seize them when they behold the face of incensed Majesty! when they see that God, whose laws they have trampled on, and that Saviour whose redemption they have slighted! What agony must pierce their souls, when they hear him say, “Depart, accursed, into everlasting fire!” And, when they are hurled headlong into the bottomless abyss, when they are lying down in flames of fire, and know that they must “dwell with everlasting burnings,” how will they gnash their teeth with anguish! how will they curse the day that they were born! how will they curse themselves for their own folly in neglecting redeeming love! But can it be, that they who live in the state before described, are exposed to all this misery? Yes, “Woe unto them! Destruction unto them!” saith Jehovah. And the apostle says, “that they who know not God and obey not his Gospel,” or, in other words, they who flee from God and trample on redeeming love, “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power [Note: 2Th_1:8-9.].” The whole sacred volume attests and confirms this awful truth: every part of it speaks to the same effect as David, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God [Note: Psa_9:17.].”
Now, my Brethren, deceive not your own souls. To what purpose will it be, to be speaking peace to yourselves, when God is denouncing “woe and destruction” unto you? If you say that you are not the worst of sinners, what will that avail you? If you say that you are honest, and just, and sober, what is all that to the purpose? This, and more than this, the Pharisee could say for himself; yet was he not hereby justified. The only question is, Do you answer to the character drawn in my text? Have you not “fled from God?” have you not “transgressed against him?” have you not “spoken lies against him;?” If you are disposed to deny any of these charges, consider with yourselves, Have you sought your happiness in communion with God;? and;, when he has said, “Seek ye my face,” has your heart always answered, “Thy face, Lord, will I seek?” Are you not also transgressors against his law? Have you not been just now acknowledging upon your knees, that “you have done those things which you ought not to have done, and left undone those things which you ought to have done?” And can you affirm that the constant course and tenour of your life has proclaimed to all around you, that “to fear God and keep his commandments was the whole end and happiness of man?” No; “every mouth must be shut; and not you only, but the whole world, must become guilty before God.” Know then that you, and that every man, while in an unregenerate state, is exposed to the wrath of God; and that that wrath will come upon you to the uttermost, if you “flee not for refuge to the Hope set before you.”]
We will now conclude, with two inferences from the whole:
1. What suitable provision is made for us in the Gospel!
[You have seen the awful state of unregenerate men, and will be ready to doubt whether there can be any help or hope for persons so circumstanced. But thanks be to our God and Father, that he has not left us to perish in our sins! on the contrary, he has pitied us, and sent us his only dear Son to deliver us from our lost estate. Numberless as our iniquities have been, they were all laid upon the head of Jesus, our great Sacrifice: all were expiated by his blood; so that God can be “just, and yet the justifier of those who repent and believe” the Gospel. O Brethren, be thankful for this provision: be thankful that you are not only permitted, but commanded, to come to Christ for a free and full remission of all your sins. Have you “fled from” your God and Father? Behold! Jesus, his beloved Son, is come to seek and save you. Have you “transgressed against” him times without number? The blood of Jesus is shed to cleanse you from all sin. Have you in the whole course of your life “spoken nothing but lies” against your adorable Redeemer? That very Redeemer will make you to experience his inviolable truth, in receiving you to mercy, and in rejecting none that come unto him. Surely, if bread be suited to the hungry, or water to the thirsty, then is the provision set before us in the Gospel exactly suited to the wants and necessities of all who feel their need of mercy.]
2. How happy are they who have cordially embraced the Gospel!
[In two respects have they experienced a most blessed change; namely, in their character and condition. You have heard that the natural and unconverted man flees from God, transgresses against him, and speaks lies against him. Not so the man that is converted: he flees to God; he seeks the Divine presence; he desires the favour of God more than life, and esteems “his loving-kindness better than life itself.” If any ask him, “Who will shew us any good?” his answer is, like David’s, “Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. “He now also desires to serve and obey God: it is his grief and burthen that he cannot get rid of sin; he longs for holiness; he desires to be changed into the Divine image; he wishes to be in heaven, not merely because he shall there be free from trouble, but because he shall be free from sin. And now, too, he is a living witness for the truth of God: he “sets to his seal that God is true:” he is not afraid to testify before the whole world, that God’s service is perfect freedom, and that “in keeping his commandments there is great reward:” his whole life proclaims to those around him, that God is a mighty God, and greatly to be feared; yet that he is also a loving, merciful, and faithful God, and therefore worthy to be loved and trusted with the whole heart. You have heard also that woe and destruction are denounced against the unconverted; but there is no woe, no destruction, to the converted; but there is no woe, no destruction, to the converted soul: no; “his sins are put away from him, as far as the east is from the west:” while the iniquities of the ungodly are (as we are told) “sealed up in a bag,” to be brought forth against them in the day of judgment, the iniquities that have been committed by a converted soul, are, from the first moment of his conversion, “cast into the depths of the sea [Note: Mic_7:19.];” not into the shallows, from whence they might be recovered, but into the depths, never more to be brought to remembrance. Whoever then ye be, who have embraced the Gospel, rejoice, and leap for joy, on account of the blessed change that you have experienced. If your consciences testify, that you are really seeking after God, that you desire to be delivered from all sin, and that you are endeavouring to be witnesses for God in the world, rejoice; “for it becometh well your souls to be thankful.” You have been redeemed; rejoice therefore in the redemption vouchsafed unto you: “you are bought with a price; therefore glorify God with your bodies and your spirits, which are God’s.”]