Isaiah 17:10-11 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of your strength… I. THE MAGNITUDE OF THE SIN HERE SPOKEN OF. Forgetfulness of God. 1. What is this forgetfulness of God? It has been defined as "such a habitual inattention to His existence and character, as leads the individual under its influence to a mode of thinking, feeling, and acting, which would be consistent only on the supposition that there were no God, or that God is a very different Being from what the Scriptures represent Him to be." 2. It is a startling sin. Everything around us is designed and fitted to remind us of God. The Bible unfolds the moral character of God. Sharp dispensations of providence remind us of His existence. Preachers enforce His claims. Each returning Sabbath, with its closed shutters, the sound of the church going bell, and the voice of praise from the lips of the pious, says, Worship God. But many would rather think about anything, or nothing, than about God. 3. It is a fearfully prevalent sin. 4. It is an ungrateful sin (Isaiah 1:2, 3). 5. It is a highly punishable sin. Many people imagine that none are sinners but those who openly sin. But what of the moral man, who does his duty towards his fellow men, but who forgets God? II. THE RESULTS OF THIS FORGETFULNESS OF GOD. 1. Dwarfed powers. Men cannot, if they wish, be totally inactive. If activity be not devoted to God, it will be devoted to the world, to "planting pleasant plants." 2. Secular knowledge is a pleasant plant. 3. Wealth is a pleasant plant. 4. Ambition is a pleasant plant. 5. Amusement is a pleasant plant. 6. Hence observe the ultimate result of this conduct. "The harvest shall be a heap," etc. Sooner or later men reap what they sow. Sin and suffering are bound together by an unbreakable chain. "The gods are just," says Shakespeare, "and of our pleasant vices make instruments to scourge us." (Galatians 6:7, 8.) Men break God's physical laws, and they suffer in their bodies and circumstances. They violate His moral laws, and personal debasement ensues. George Eliot says, "That is the bitterest of all — to wear the yoke of our own wrong-doing." (H. Woodcock.) Parallel Verses KJV: Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: |
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