Jeremiah 9:5 And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies… This is a suffering world in more senses than one. We are subject to toil and labour in consequence of the apostasy, and to perpetual vexation of mind, in consequence of our opposition to the Divine will. The sinner, therefore, is compelled, if he will continue in sin, to maintain a mental war which devours and exterminates from his breast all the elements of vital joy. I. THE SINNER MUST SUSTAIN MORALITY WITHOUT PIETY. Disgrace; loss of property; of all real friendship; of domestic affection; of the health and life; of self-respect and elevated companionship; all wait around a course of vice. The vicious man sinks deeper and deeper in the mire. He must be moral or miserable. It is hard work, however, to maintain morality without religion. The passions are strong; the world is full of temptation; the soul is liable to be beat off from its hold on morality, unless recovered by grace; its course will be tremendous, the progress of its depravity vehement, and great the fall of it. II. HE MUST FEEL SECURE WITHOUT A PROMISE. Even the hardest incrustations of sin cannot prepare the soul to look fully at eternal wailing undaunted. There it stands, that never ceasing view; that vivid painting of the future; that dark, shadowy, but distinct, and fearful representation of utter ruin; it is hung out before the soul by the stem truth of God, from behind every scene of guilt, and along every winding of the soul's weary path. How can he feel secure? Yet how can he bear to face that vision? If he looks to nature, it warns him; to his companions, they are falling into the arms of the monster. III. HE MUST HOPE FOR HEAVEN, WHILE FORMING A CHARACTER FOR PERDITION. He must hope, and will hope, even if he knows his hope will do no good. Heaven is the only place of final rest; if he miss it he is lost, undone forever. Holy as it is, and much as he hates holiness, he must enter there, or eternally be an undone man. No man can bear the idea of confessed, manifest, public, and hopeless, irrecoverable disgrace. Every man, therefore, clings to the idea of a final heaven, as long as he can. But here the sinner has a hard task. IV. HE MUST RESIST CHRIST WITHOUT A CAUSE. The claims of Christ are not only just, but compassionate and benevolent. If he will sin, he must contend against the Saviour in the very interpositions of His astonishing, overwhelming, agonising mercy. This is hard work for the conscience the wheels of probation drag heavily; their voice grates fearfully; their cry of retribution waxes loud. V. HE MUST TRY TO BE HAPPY WHILE GUILTY. This he cannot accomplish, yet he must try. He will choose a thousand phantoms; he will grasp after every shadow; he will be stung a thousand times, yet will he renew the toil, till wearied, hopeless, and sullen, he lies down to die. VI. HE MUST HAVE ENOUGH OF THE WORLD TO SUPPLY THE PLACE OF GOD IN HIS HEART. The heart must have a supreme object; God is able to fill it. On Him the intellect may dwell, and around the ever-expanding developments of His character, the affections, like generous vines, may climb, and gather, and blossom, and hang the ripe cluster of joy forever; but the sinner shuts out God, every vision of His character is torment, and he turns away to fill the demands of his heart with the world. VII. HE MUST ARRANGE MATTERS FOR DEATHS WHILE HE IS AFRAID TO THINK OF DYING. He must work to get property for his children when he is gone. He must put his business in a train, so that it may be settled advantageously when he is gone. He must do all this on the strength and under the impulse of an idea at which he trembles. VIII. HE MUST READ THE BIBLE, WHILST HE IS AFRAID TO THINK OR PRAY. This is especially true of the worldly-minded professor. If he keeps up the form of family worship, or attends at the house of God, the Bible, the holy and accusing book, is in his way. Its truths lie across his path. He cannot turn aside, he must trample over them, while he beholds them under his feet. He knows that his footsteps are heard around the retributive throne. If driven to console himself by the promises of error, the sinner has to pervert and wrestle with the Bible. Its denunciations catch his eye, and burn him while he tries to explain them away. Concluding thoughts — 1. Have we no compassion for a suffering world? 2. Can we do nothing to relieve this miserable condition of our fellow men? The time for God's people to pray, and awake, and endeavour mightily, is now — and with most of us, now or never. (D. A. Clark.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. |
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