Local Preacher's Treasury Jeremiah 13:21 What will you say when he shall punish you? for you have taught them to be captains, and as chief over you: shall not sorrows take you… Advert to the time when, in the order of the Divine government, ungodly sinners will be punished according to law. What wilt thou say in extenuation of thy guilt, and against the justice of the punishment that He shall inflict upon thee? 1. Will you say that you did not know the law which you had broken? Whose fault was that? Had you not a Bible as your own? Had you not a law in your conscience which acquitted or accused you in the actions of life? 2. That you meant no wrong in what you had done? Then why do wrong? For pleasure? For profit? Was this any justification of wrong-doing? 3. That your sins had not done such evil as to deserve such punishment? Can you be a judge in this? 4. That God might have prevented you sinning, and the results of your sins, if He had been so disposed? Yes, had He destroyed your free agency. But did not God use means to prevent you, and you would not? 5. That you sinned only a short time in comparison with the duration of your punishment? Punishment is not given in its duration according to the time taken in the act of transgression. The act of murder, and its punishment. 6. That you have only done as others have done? A thousand doing wrong is no justification or extenuation of one doing a similar or the same wrong that they have committed. 7. That you have not been so bad as others? The law knows nothing of degrees in crime, so far as exempting from punishment. Besides, he that offends in one point is guilty of all. 8. That while you have done many things that have been wrong, you have done others that have been right? Doing a right will not save you from the punishment of doing a wrong. 9. That you had great temptations to do as you have done? But there were at your command resources of help sufficient to keep you from their power. 10. That you were led into sin by bad examples? There were good examples to follow as well as bad, why did you not follow them? 11. That you were never educated? Education has nothing to do with moral principles and actions. 12. That you were never warned or admonished against sin? Can this be true? If you were not, whose fault was it? Had you not warnings and admonitions of conscience and of the Spirit of God? 13. That the Spirit of God never strove with you? This is false, or God's Word is, and human experience. Perhaps you so quenched the Spirit as to harden your heart. 14. That you were born into the world with a sinful nature, and could not help sinning? But God made every provision to meet your case in this respect. 15. That the inconsistencies of Christians were a stumbling block to you? If one man walk awry, or if he stumble, is that any reason why you should do so 16. That you were preordained by God to do as you have done? This is false, both in reason and in Scripture. 17. That your punishment is too severe? It is no wonder you should say this. Is it undeserved? Is it against law and justice? 18. That your punishment is more than you can bear? You should have thought of this before. Did you in committing sin think of how others could bear the wrong you were doing them? How God could bear your sins? (Local Preacher's Treasury.) Parallel Verses KJV: What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail? |
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