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The majesty of God, as displayed in creation and providence, ought to stir up our hearts in adoring wonder and melt them down in willing obedience to His commands. The almighty power of Jehovah, so clearly manifest in the works of His hands, should constrain us, His creatures, to fear His name and prostrate ourselves in humble reverence before His throne. The contemplation of the marvellous works which He doth upon "the great and wide sea," where He tosseth the waves to and fro, and yet keepeth them in their ordained courses, should draw forth our devoutest emotions, and I could almost say, inspire us with homage. Have these great things of God, these wondrous works of His, no lesson to teach us? Do they not while declaring His glory reveal our duty? Our poets, both the sacred and the uninspired, have feigned consciousness to those inanimate agents that they might the more truthfully represent their honourable service. But if because we are intelligent beings, we withhold our allegiance from our rightful Sovereign, then our privileges are a curse, and our glory is a shame. We might learn, even without the written oracles of Scripture, that we ought to obey God, if our foolish hearts were not so darkened; thus unbelief of the Almighty Creator is a crime of the first magnitude. If it were a petty sovereign against whom ye rebelled, it might be pardonable; if He were a man like yourselves, ye might expect that your faults would easily find forgiveness; but since He is the God who reigns alone where clouds and darkness are round about Him, the God to whom all nature is obedient, and whose high behests are obeyed both in heaven and in hell, it becomes a crime, the terrible character of which words cannot portray, that you should ever sin against a God so marvellously great. The greatness of God enhances the greatness of our sin. I believe this is one lesson which the prophet intended to teach us by the text. But while it is a lesson, I do not think it is the lesson of the text. There is something else which we are to learn from it. God here contrasts the obedience of the strong, the mighty, the untamed sea, with the rebellious character of His own people. The doctrine of the text seems to be this — that without supernatural means God can make all creatures obedient save man; but man is so disobedient in his heart, that only some supernatural agency can make him obedient to God, while the simple agency of sand can restrain the sea, without any stupendous effort of Divine power more than He ordinarily puts out in nature: He cannot thus make man obedient to His will. Now, look back into history, and see if it has not been so. What has been a greater problem, if we may so speak concerning the Divine mind, than that of restraining men from sin? How many restraints God has put upon man! "But what of this fact?" — you say — "we know it is true; verified in your own ease. Come, now, I want to ask of you, whether it cannot be said of you truly, "The sea is bound by sand; but I am one of those people who are bent on revolting from God, neither can any of His restraints keep me from sin." Let us review the various restraints which God has put upon His people to keep them from sins which, nevertheless, are altogether ineffectual, without the accompanying power of grace.

1. Then, remember there is a restraint of gratitude which, to the lowly regenerated heart, must necessarily form a very strong motive to obedience. I ask thee, O saint, viewing thy sins as sins against love and mercy, against covenant promises, covenant oaths, covenant engagements, ay, and covenant fulfillments, is not thy sin a desperate thing, and art not thou thyself a rebellious and revolting being, seeing that thou canst not be restrained by such a barrier of adamant as thy soul acknowledges? Next notice, that the saint has not only this barrier against sin, but many others.

2. He has the whole of God's Word given him by way of warning; its pages he is accustomed to read; he reads there, that if he break the statutes and keep not the commandments of the Lord, his Father will visit his transgressions with a rod, and his iniquity with stripes. And yet, O Christian, against all warning and against all precept, thou darest to sin. Oh! art thou not a rebellious creature, and mayest thou not humble thyself at the thought of the greatness of thine iniquity?

3. Again, the saint sins against his own experience. When he looks back upon his past life he finds that sin has always been a loss to him; he has never found any profit, but has always lost by it. Will you put the poisoned goblet to your lips again? Yes, you will; but because you do so in the teeth of your experience, it ought to make you weep, that you should be such desperate rebels against such a loving God, who has put not merely a barrier of sand, but a barrier of tried steel to keep in your lusts, and yet they will break forth; verily, ye are a rebellious and revolting people.

4. Then again, God guards all His children with providence, in order to keep them from sin. Ah! strange things happen to some of us. It was only a providence which on some solemn occasion, to which you never look back without regret, saved you from sin which would have been a scab on your character. Bless God for that! But remember, notwithstanding the girdlings of His providence, how many times you have offended; and let the frequency of your sin remind you that you must indeed be a rebellious creature.

5. Yet, once more let me remind you, that the ordinances of God's house are all intended to be checks to sin. Bow down your heads with shame while ye consider your ways, and then lift up your hearts, Christians, in adoring love, that He has kept you when your feet were making haste to hell, where you would have gone, but for His preserving grace. Will you not pray, that God should not cast you away, nor take His Holy Spirit from you, though you are a rebellious creature, and though you have revolted against Him?

II. Apply it to SINNERS. Come, then, sinner; in the first place, I bid thee consider thy guilt. The mighty ocean is kept in obedience by God, and restrained within its channel by simple sand; and thou, a pitiful worm, the creature of a day, the ephemera of an hour, thou art a rebel against God. The sea obeys Him; thou dost not. Consider how many restraints God has put on thee: He has not checked thy lusts with sand but with beetling cliffs; and yet thou hast burst through every bound in the violence of thy transgressions. Perhaps He has checked thy soul by the remembrance of thy guilt. Thou hast felt thyself a despiser of God; or if not a despiser, thou art a mere hearer, and hast no part nor lot in this matter. Dost thou not remember thy sins in the face of thy mother's counsels and thy father's strong admonitions? Thou knowest the threatenings of God; it is no new tale to thee, when I warn thee that sinners must be condemned. Consider, then, how great is thy guilt; thou hast sinned against light and knowledge; thou art not the Hottentot sinner, who sins in darkness; thou hast not sinned ignorantly, thou hast done it when thou knewest better. Some of you have had other things. Don't you remember, some little time ago, when sickness was rife, you were stretched on your bed? Methinks I see you; you turned your face to the wall, and you cried, "O God, if Thou wilt save my life, I will give myself to Thee!" Perhaps it was an accident; thou didst fear that death was very near; the terrors of death laid hold of thee, and thou didst cry, "O God, let me but reach home in safety, and my bended knees and my tears pouring in torrents, shall prove that I am sincere in the vow I make!" But didst thou perform that vow? Nay, thou hast sinned against God; thy broken vows have gone before thee to judgment.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

WEB: "Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,