“And the Lord said, ‘to what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by all her children.’” (Luke 7:31-35)
It appears as if in his dealings with human beings,
God planned to leave them without any excuses.
He uses so many ways and methods to reclaim and save them that it
appears as if He meant to try every possible means to win them away from death
so that he may give them eternal life.
John the Baptist was a harsh man. It doesn’t appear as if he spent a lot of
time with people except when he was ministering as a prophet. His message had an awful lot of reproof and
rebuke. His diet was locusts and wild
honey; and he seemed to have practiced a lot of abstinence. He didn’t visit Jerusalem as a public
teacher but he wandered in the wilderness of Judea where the people flocked to
listen to his teaching. His lifestyle;
his style of preaching; his abstaining from socializing with the people led his
enemies to say that he had a bad spirit; and that he was so far from being a
good man that he was possessed by a devil.
After the Scribes and Pharisees refused to accept
what John preached under the pretense that he had a devil: Jesus Christ began
His public ministry; and His lifestyle and relationship with the people were
completely different from John the Baptist.
Instead of confining Himself to the wilderness of Judea, Jesus visited
most of the public places, and spent a lot of time in Jerusalem as a public
teacher. He was sociable, friendly, and
mingled easily with almost every group of people so that He could instruct them
in the great doctrines of salvation. He
graciously accepted the invitations of the Pharisees to dine with them; and in
every situation, He was willing to honestly administer the reproof and
instruction that was best suited to the circumstances and characters of those
close to Him.
But when the Pharisees listened to his teaching,
they were filled with indignation and criticized the easy and gentlemanly
manner in which He accommodated himself to everybody when He shared with them,
and they objected about Him complaining that He was a gluttonous man, a
wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. They objected to John because he was somber and antisocial, that
he had a critical spirit and was therefore possessed with a devil. And they objected that Christ was just the
opposite. He was too sociable and
familiar with all classes of people. He
was not only a gluttonous man and a win-bibber, but that He was the friend of
publicans and sinners. This
inconsistency in them prompted Jesus to use the words of today’s passage. In our passage today, an allusion is made to
Eastern customs; to their times of festivity and dancing on one hand; and to
their loud lamentations and mornings at funerals on the other hand. Everyone knew that little children liked to
imitate adults when they play. When
children witnessed festivity, piping, and dancing, they found something that
looked like a musical instrument, and ran around piping and dancing, imitating
what they had seen. And when they
witnessed a funeral, where men and women were mourning, as was common in the
Mid-east; wailing loudly to induce the spectators to weep and lament by their
loud cries, the children would run off imitating this in their play.
The conduct of the Scribes and Pharisees was
compared to the children who sat in the marketplaces and complained that their
playmates were somber and non-social, and they didn’t want to play any games
with them at all. When they wanted to
play festival, their playmates were solemn and reserved, and were not
interested. And when they tried to play
funeral, they wanted to be merry. We
piped for you (they said), and you didn’t dance; we mourned for you, and you
didn’t weep. And after Christ talked
about the fussy behavior of these children, He applied what He had just said to
those who were listening to Him. “For
John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He
has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come
eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend
of tax collectors and sinners!’ But
wisdom is justified by all her children.”
(Luke 7:33-35)
From this
scripture, I will show that God cannot please sinners.
Many people
believe that much of the opposition to God in this world is because God’s
character is often misrepresented.
Sometimes it is true that His character is greatly misrepresented, and
when His character is misrepresented, the consciences of men are certainly
opposed to Him; but they are no happier when His character is truly
represented; for then their hearts are opposed to him.
Concerning religion, the heart and the conscience of
unrepentant sinners are opposed to each other.
The things that their hearts love, their consciences condemn, and the
things that their consciences approve, their hearts hate. Their consciences approve of the character
of God; but their hearts are opposed to His character. If the character of God should change to
please their wicked heart, then their conscience would condemn it.
Sinners don’t like God’s holiness, but they still
wouldn’t like Him if God were unholy.
Their hearts are bitterly opposed to His holiness. You cannot deny this. To believe that an unrepentant heart is not
opposed to holiness is like believing that an unrepentant heart is
repentant. Impenitence is the love of
sin. Sin and holiness are direct
opposites. Therefore, saying that an
impenitent heart is not opposed to holiness is like saying that opposites are
not opposites. God is infinitely holy,
and therefore the impenitent heart is totally opposed to Him. But suppose God was infinitely sinful; would
sinners be any happier with Him than they are now? No! They would then make
war upon Him because He was so wicked.
Their consciences would then condemn Him, and although their hearts
would be satisfied, their conscience and their better judgment would be
completely opposed to Him.
By their nature, people cannot approve of the
character of a wicked being. No one
approves of the devil’s character.
Wicked men are opposed to both God and the devil for opposite
reasons. They hate God with their
hearts because He is so holy, and their consciences condemn the devil because
he is so wicked. If you placed God’s
character anywhere between the two extremes of infinite holiness and infinite
sinfulness, sinners would not be any happier with Him than they are now. The more God was holy, the more their hearts
would hate Him. The more He was wicked,
the more their consciences would condemn Him.
Therefore, God does not please them as He is, nor would He please them
if He changed.
Sinners do not like God’s mercy because of the
conditions that are necessary for God to exercise His mercy; but they wouldn’t
like Him if he were unmerciful.
If sinners liked God’s mercy with its conditions,
they would accept forgiveness; and would no longer be unrepentant sinners. But if God were unmerciful, then they would
certainly be opposed to Him.
Sinners do not accept God’s law as it is, but they
wouldn’t approve of it even if it were different. When they see that it is perfect, their hearts rise up against
it. But, if God’s law was imperfect and
God tolerated some degree of sin, their consciences would condemn it. Let God’s law remain as it is, or change it
as you please; and sinners will not be satisfied. Because the law requires perfect holiness, the sinner’s heart is
totally opposed to it. But, if the law
required total sinfulness, then his conscience would completely condemn
it. If the law was mixed, and required
some holiness and some sin; then their heart would hate that part of the law that
required holiness, while their conscience would condemn that part that required
sin. So, basically, they would be just
as unsatisfied as they are now.
The sinner does not like the penalty of the law as
it is; but he wouldn’t approve of it even if it were changed. The heart of the sinner rebels when the
penalty of eternal death is presented to him.
But if the penalty was less, his conscience would condemn it. Then he would say, “The penalty is not equal
to the importance of the law. Since the
importance of the law is infinite, it is common sense that the penalty is
infinite. For God to be just the
penalty must be proportional to the importance of the precept.”
He would also say, “But God has not done all that He
could to keep me from committing sin.
He has not given me the best incentives to obey that He could give; nor
has He given me the incentives that the nature of the situation demands: and so
He lacks love, common honesty and justice.”
Now, place the penalty of God’s law anywhere between eternal death and
no penalty at all, and the sinner is not satisfied.
If you make the penalty for sin less than eternal
death, you offend his conscience; and if you let it remain as it is, you offend
his heart.
Sinners do not like the Gospel as it is, but they
still wouldn’t like it if it were different.
They don’t like the requirements of the Gospel, but
they wouldn’t be satisfied if it prescribed any other rule. The Gospel requires that men should be holy as
God is holy: and it requires the same strictness and perfection as the moral
law. But this offends their
hearts. Suppose its requirements were
different, and God lowered its standard to suit the sinful inclinations of
men. Then their consciences would
oppose it.
“What?” They
would ask. “Does the Gospel repeal the
moral law? Does it make Christ the
minister of sin? Is it arrayed against
the government of God, and does it permit rebellion against His throne? What kind of Gospel is this? To this kind of Gospel, their consciences
would completely object.
Sinners don’t like the conditions of the Gospel, nor
would they be satisfied if those conditions were different. The conditions are repentance and faith: but
the sinner’s heart is opposed to these.
To hate his sins, to trust in Christ for salvation, to obtain the
consent of his heart, is asking too much.
But if the Gospel offered to pardon and save without repentance and
faith, the sinner’s conscience and his common sense would object. “What?”
He would say; “Shall the Gospel offer pardon while we continue our
rebellion? Should we be saved in our
sins? This is absurd and
impossible. And shall we be saved
without faith in Christ? Shall we be
received and pardoned while we make God a liar? Shall we go to heaven without believing there is a heaven? Shall we escape hell when we don’t believe
there is a hell? Shall we ever find our
way to everlasting life, when we have no confidence in the testimony of God;
and will not walk in the only way that will take us there? Impossible!
A Gospel that pretends to save on such conditions must be from hell.”
Now whether you let the conditions of the Gospel
remain as they are, or change them any way you want to, the sinner is not going
to be satisfied. The conditions of the
Gospel will not disturb his conscience, but it will offend his heart. Change those conditions to satisfy his heart
and you offend his conscience. As long
as the sinner remains unrepentant, there is no conceivable alternative that
would please him!
The fact is sinners are at war with themselves. Their hearts and their consciences are
always fighting each other. One view of
a subject will please their hearts, and offend their consciences; while another
view of it, will satisfy their consciences, but arouse the enmity of their
hearts; and as long as they are in this state, it is impossible to please them.
Sinners don’t like the means of grace as they are,
but they wouldn’t be happy if any other means were used to save them. They don’t like the minister’s sermon when
he preaches the truth. But they
wouldn’t be satisfied if he preached error.
Even if a pastor preached the Gospel in all its
purity, and bore down on the hearts and consciences of men with the claims of
God, their hearts would rise up in instant rebellion. “That,” they would say, “was an abominable message.” But if the minister waters down the Gospel,
their conscience would not be satisfied; and the sinner, if he is familiar with
the subject would say that the minister is afraid to tell the truth; that he is
building a foundation on sand; that he is deceiving the people and leading them
down to hell.
Now, whether the minister preaches the whole truth
and nothing but the truth, or he preaches error and nothing but error, or a mixture
of right and wrong, the sinner's heart opposes only as far as he preaches the
truth; and whenever he preaches something the sinner knows is wrong, his
conscience condemns it. So, let the
minister preach what he wants to, it doesn’t matter. As long as the sinner is unrepentant, he will not be satisfied.
Sinners do not like how ministers preach, but they
wouldn’t like it even if their manner were different. If the minister’s manner is rousing and pointed; forceful and
impressive, the sinner's heart will rise up against it. If his manner is lazy, cold, and dry, his
conscience will condemn it. In the
first situation, the sinner says that the minister is too enthusiastic, and
mad; that he appeals to ones passions and excites a lot of emotion; that he frightens
the women and children and will drive people insane. In the second situation, he says that the preacher is boring, and
puts the people to sleep. That he not
only is boring and dull, but he also does not believe the Gospel himself. Now let the minister's manner be right or
wrong, or a mixture of right and wrong, and the sinner will not be
satisfied. When his manner is right,
his conscience takes sides against it.
As long as the sinner is so inconsistent with himself, it is useless to
try to please him.
Sinners do not like the lives of ministers as they
are, nor would they be satisfied if ministers lived differently. If the minister is determined to know
nothing among his people, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, if he makes
religion his entire business and always focuses his attention and lifestyle on
Christ, the sinner’s heart will be filled with indignation. He will call the minister a bigot full of
superstition, or a hypocrite. He will
say that he is not sociable and approachable like a minister should be; that he
has no interest for the common concerns of men; that he does not know human
nature and that he is always forcing his religion down everybody’s throat. He thinks that the minister needs to do more
good works, to be a little more like other people. But if the minister associates with the world like other people;
takes an interest in what is happening in the world around him, if he is
interested in politics, reads magazines and books, tells jokes, is cheerful and
sociable, and he is at home among his people all the time, then the sinner’s
conscience condemns him.
“Oh” He says, “I don't see that he is any better
than anybody else. He is not what a
minister should be. He is fond of
politics, and spends too much time with the business of this world, just like
other people. I’d like to see a
minister confine himself to the duties of his office.” Now, let the minister live as he wants to,
whether it is right or wrong, and the sinner will be unhappy. Or even if there is a mixture of consistency
and inconsistency, or right and wrong in a minister’s life; then they say that
he is not at all what he should be; that he is sometimes very hot and sometimes
very cold; that he is sometimes all religion, and sometimes no religion; that sometimes
his conversation is too religious, and sometimes too worldly. They think that this inconsistency in the
minister is going to cause a lot of damage.
They would like a minister to be consistent and always the same.
Now, it is clear that as long as the sinner is
completely inconsistent with himself, he will be upset with the lives of
ministers no matter how those ministers live.
To the degree that the minister lives as he should, the impenitent heart
hates him; and to the degree that the minister lives as he should not; his
conscience condemns him.
Sinners do not like the conduct of Christians as it
is, but they wouldn’t be satisfied if it were different. When Christians are preoccupied with
religion, hold lots of meetings, and work hard to save men’s souls, the hearts
of sinners become very disturbed. They
call them enthusiastic, and hypocrites, and think they should spend more time
on their worldly business before their families fall apart. They do not thank
them for their boldness in visiting from house to house, and introducing Christ
to all their neighbors. If Christians
are opposed to drinking and partying, and all kinds of sinful amusements; then
they say they are gloomy, sour, and unsociable and opposed to all the
sympathies and courtesies of life. They
feel that these Christians want to make everybody else just as gloomy and sour
as they are; that they would be better off doing anything else than muttering
their prayers, running to meetings, and exhorting their neighbors to repent as
if nobody had any religion but themselves.
However, if Christians rarely talk about God, seldom
attend meetings except on Sunday; are just as involved in business as worldly
men; and appear to enjoy wild parties and time-killing amusements; now they say
that these professing Christians are all hypocrites and they are no better than
anybody else. They don’t care about the
souls of their neighbors. They don’t
warn or exhort them. They don’t live
like they believe there is a heaven or a hell.
If they are Christians, I don’t want any part of their religion. So whether Christians live right or wrong,
sinners are not satisfied. And they are
no happier even if there is a mixture of good and evil in those Christians
lives. If sometimes Christians are
spiritually awake and sometimes asleep, if sometimes they do their duty and
sometimes neglect it; sinners will say that their inconsistency is an obstacle,
that they don’t like this up and down religion; where one day it’s all zeal,
and the next day everything is cold and dead.
The truth is, if Christians are doing their duty, the sinner's heart
will be disturbed; and if they are not, his conscience will rise up to condemn
them. If Christians are neither hot nor
cold, the warmer they are, the more their hearts oppose; and the colder they
are, the more their consciences condemn.
So, who can please them?
Sinners are unhappy if the church exercises
discipline, and turns away unworthy members; but they are also unhappy if the
church doesn’t do it. Their conscience
will oppose a church that allows disorderly and wicked people in their
fellowship. They say these church
members are all hypocrites, to allow such conduct. “WHAT”! They say. “Have fellowship with such people? The church can never prosper while they allow
such hypocrites in their midst. By
having fellowship with them, they show that they approve of their deeds.” But, if on the other hand, the church rises
up and excommunicates these offending members, then their hearts are
disturbed. They maintain that the
church is persecuting some of its best members. They think that the proceedings of the church are very
uncharitable to deal that way with people, who, as far as they can see, are as
good as any other people in the church.
There have been situations where the ungodly advised the excommunicated
members to sue the church for slander.
The truth is that, as long as sinners continue to be so inconsistent
with them, nothing concerning religion can please them. What is right offends their hearts; and
what is wrong offends their consciences.
I will
conclude with several remarks:
1). From what I have said, you can see why sinners
find it impossible to rest in any form of error unless their consciences become
seared as with a hot iron. It is heart
wrenching to see how many people there are today who constantly try to hide
themselves behind some refuge of lies.
These lies agree with the sinner’s feelings, and the sinner wants to
believe in these lies; and in the excitement of debate, or when his error is presented
as if it is the sober truth, he feels as if he truly believes in it. As long as this excitement lasts, he seems
to rest in it. But when the tumult of
his feelings subside and his enlightened conscience finally gains a hearing,
his conscience proclaims the sentence of condemnation against his favorite lie
or false teaching. His conscience
stands up and writes “falsehood” across that lie. This leads his heart to mutiny against his conscience, and an
internal struggle and war begins from which it would seem that the sinner can
only escape by working himself into such an excitement, that he loses sight of
Scripture, reason, and common sense. In
the wild uproar of his tumultuous feelings, the voice of his conscience is
drowned out and, for the time being, the sinner feels somewhat quiet in his
sins.
Thus, you will see sinners of almost every
persuasion and description arguing.
They seem to be unhappy unless they can be engaged in some exciting
conversation that will drown the voice of their conscience. However, until, by
violent force, they silence their conscience, they can never rest quietly in
any form of error after they have been rightly instructed. It is futile for them to expect to get their
enlightened conscience to take sides against truth and against God. God has not left Himself without a witness
in the sinner’s conscience. No matter
how much the sinner’s warring passions and his desperate heart may mutiny against
high heaven, he can rest assured that his own conscience will write out, sign
and seal his death-warrant; and then, in anticipation of coming judgment, hand
him over to the executioner of eternal justice.
You can see why sinners will praise a good work at
one time, and then turn around and condemn the same thing at another time. Listen!
A sinner will go to hear a minister preach who preaches to please the
sinner. He will listen to one whose
velvet lips utter the honed words of deceitfulness and guile and who puts
darkness for light, and light for darkness.
He will praise the minister who makes falsehood appear like truth, and
truth like falsehood; and whose flowing eloquence comes from one who has a
pleasant voice, and can also play an instrument quite well. That minister hides the danger of the
sinners’ ways. He says nothing about
the sinners’ guilt. By promising the
sinner life, he strengthens the hands of the wicked so that he won’t turn from
his wicked way.
“Oh,” cries
the sinner, “what a charming preacher”.
His feelings are stirred and he feels so wonderful. He goes home
praising the sermon. But let his
feelings subside; let him have time to think about what was said; and when he
has thought about the message for a while, he will change his tune. Once his conscience has a chance to rise up,
and when he speaks from the sober dictates of his conscience, he will condemn
the preacher and his sermon, claiming that his message was designed to bewitch
and deceive, rather than to reform and save.
Let another sinner listen to a minister who brings
the truth of God to bear with the most impressive force on the hearts and
consciences of men, and his heart will rise up in rebellion. And, while he is still agitated, he will
pour out accusations against the minister and his sermon, and declares that he
will never listen to him preach again.
He is ready to quarrel with everybody that will justify either the
preacher or the sermon. However, give
him time to cool down. Let the lawless
rebellion in his heart settle down. Let
his conscience gain a hearing and you will soon find him speaking a different
language. Let the same preacher preach
a second time in his neighborhood, and you will find him at the house of
God. He will eventually say, “I might
as well go; the man preaches the truth, and I should go and hear him preach. Although I was angry after his last sermon, I
respect his honesty; I will go once more and hear what he has to say.” Now, at first, the sinner speaks the
language of his heart; later, he speaks the language of his conscience.
2). Can you
now see that a minister, whose preaching pleases the hearts of sinners, cannot
commend himself to their consciences in the sight of God? Many ministers try to reconcile the feelings
of the unrepentant people in their congregation. The minister seems to think that it is a testimony of his wisdom
and prudence that his preaching is so popular with the ungodly. But let these sinners be converted, and they
will lose their confidence in such a minister.
Their consciences, when enlightened, have never been satisfied with him. They have praised his preaching, and loved
to hear him because he appealed to their hearts, and not to their
consciences. If they are ever truly
converted, and their hearts are brought into agreement with their consciences,
it is highly probable that they will go away and join some other
congregation. If they don’t do this,
there is reason to fear that they are not truly converted. But where a minister preaches to the conscience,
and sinners get angry and go away, if they are converted later, they will want
to come back again, and sit under the preaching that used to disturb them while
they were in their sins.
3). Anytime a Christian tries to become popular with
sinners by watering down his or her religion to comfort their feelings while
they remain in their sins, the Christian will never do the sinner any
good. For although the Christian
pleases the hearts of sinners, the sinners’ consciences condemn him. And as long as their consciences condemn the
behavior of the Christian, it is impossible that what the Christian is doing
can do them any good.
Many people try to become popular with people in
high places by imitating them and conforming their lives, habits, and dress, to
their taste and mode of living. In this
way, they seem to think that they will gain access to them and influence
them. But the access and influence they
will gain will never do the sinner any good, because this whole course of
conduct by which this influence is gained is condemned by the sinner’s
conscience. It is not a religious, but
a worldly influence that is gained. It
is not a sanctified, but a sinful influence.
And, instead of giving the sinner assurance that he is a Christian, it
has exactly the opposite effect. It
destroys the confidence of the sinner that he is a Christian. By taking this proud and worldly course to
gain influence, he may appease the sinner’s feelings, and satisfy the sinner’s
heart, but the sinner's conscience repels and condemns him.
4). God speaks and acts in order to address Himself
to every person's conscience. The
sinner’s heart is completely opposed to God; but God pursues a course that
places a witness of the truth in the sinner’s conscience. Conscience will testify for God. Now, we know that the sinner’s heart must be
reconciled to God, or he will be eternally miserable. His judgment and conscience will always bear witness that God is
right; and unless his heart is brought over to agree with his conscience, the
sinner must be damned.
5). Ministers and Christians should do the same
thing that God does. They should live
their lives and speak in such a way that they address themselves to the
sinners’ conscience.
If we live to bring the sinner’s conscience over to
our side, no matter how much he may hate us now, it is certain that he must
love us or he must be damned. If we
have done those things that are approved by his conscience, he must be
reconciled to us or God will never be reconciled to him.
6). The
newly converted often show the greatest love for those Christians whom they hated
the most before they were converted.
Those Christians that lead the most holy lives, are most likely to be
hated by unrepentant sinners; and it often happens that the more Christians
reprove, warn, and rebuke them; the more sinners will hate them. But if those sinners become truly converted
you will always see that they will have the most confidence in those very same
people; the reason is that their hearts are changed. Their conscience took offense with those faithful Christian
before; and now that they are converted, both their heart and conscience
approve his character.
7). When people are converted, they show the least
attachment for and the least confidence in those professing Christians that
they were the closest to while they were in their sins. Those professing Christians they were the
happiest with while they were sinners, were agreeable to them not because those
professing Christians had so much piety, but because they had so little. It wasn’t because they did their duty to
them so faithfully, but because they neglected their duty. Now when they are converted, they cannot
have much confidence in the piety of those professing Christians they used to
be close to when they were intimate with the world. They suspect that they have no piety. Maybe it was a husband or his wife who was a professing
Christian, and the one concealed his or her light to please the unconverted
companion. Now if the husband becomes
truly converted, I can promise you that there will be very little Christian
confidence between the newly converted husband, and his wife. In some situations, husbands have said after
they were converted, that they have very little confidence in their wife’s
religion because she never manifested enough religion to disturb him in his sins.
8). Do you
now see that compromising with sinners; lowering, concealing, or evading the
claims of the Gospel can do them no good.
If we succeed in our attempt to please them while they are in their
sins, we will ruin them. Their hearts
must be changed; and the only way to bring this about is by taking the deepest
possible hold on their conscience.
Instead of expecting to change their heart by concealing the offensive
features of the Gospel, the only way we can expect to change their heart is by
spreading out before their conscience the claims of God in all its length and
breadth. The heart is to be won over,
through the instrumentality of conscience.
The more fully the claims of God are presented before the conscience,
the more likely the sinner will be converted.
To hide the truth from his conscience, and attempt
to win the sinner over by a lovely song, lulls him to sleep with a soft voice,
until he plunges into eternal death.
9). Convicted sinners often display their greatest
opposition just before they submit to God.
It is often true that the more the sinner is agitated and the more he
rebels, the more his conscience is pressed.
And when his conscience is thoroughly enlightened, and the truth has
obtained a firm footing so it can exert its utmost power on his heart; a
desperate conflict often takes place; and in the madness of his exasperated
feelings the sinner is sometimes almost ready to blaspheme the God of
heaven. I have often seen that the
hatred sinners have for God will be most violently displayed, while his
conscience is taking its most thorough lessons from the truth and Spirit of
God. But when his feelings become
exhausted and he settles down to some degree, the power of truth presented by
the Spirit of God exerts on his heart such tremendous power through his
conscience that it makes the sinner cry out, throw down his weapons, and submit
to God.
10). Can you see God’s long-suffering in sparing
sinners? It is amazing how long God
spares sinners in spite of all their unreasonable faultfinding and
rebellion. Nothing that God does
pleases them, and nothing that He can do would please them. What would you think of your children, if
they should act like that towards you?
Suppose they had never obeyed you, and had never so much as wanted to
obey you. When you live your life in
such a way that it appeals to their consciences, their hearts oppose you; and
when you appeal to their hearts, their consciences oppose you. No matter what you do you have not, and
cannot please them. They are never
satisfied, and murmur at everything you do.
Oh, how little patience would the kindest earthly parents have with
their children, when compared with the long-suffering of the blessed God?
11). Do you see that it is useless for God to try to
please you, sinner, as long as you are in your sins. He cannot please you if He wanted to, and He would not please you
if he could as long as you remain in sin.
You often imagine that if God were exactly like you want Him to be, you
would love Him. You do not realize that
if you manufactured a God to suit your heart, He would still fail to appease
your conscience. Sinner, your
conscience already approves of the character of God. If His character could be changed in any conceivable way, it
would not make you any happier than you are now. As long as you are in your sins; if you could change His
character to satisfy your heart, you would only upset your conscience; and the
only possible way for you to be happy is to change yourself instead of
expecting or desiring God to change.
12). The need for a change of
heart is obvious. The consciences and
hearts of sinners are opposed to each other.
This is true even where the light of the Gospel has never shone. People, in following the desires of their
hearts, violate their consciences. This is a fact known and acknowledged by every nation under
heaven. Many acknowledge this publicly
by the sacrifices they offer to appease their offended gods. No matter how absurd and foolish their ideas
of God are, their sacrifices show that they have violated their consciences;
and there is probably not one person on earth who can honestly say that in
yielding to the desires of his heart he has not violated his conscience.
An enlightened conscience will never change. Its testimony will be louder and louder in
favor of truth forever. There must be a
change or there can be no inward peace; and this change must take place in the
heart, and not in the conscience.
13). It is useless for sinners to wait for God to
use means that suit them better before they are converted.
Most sinners are waiting to hear some different kind
of preaching; and sometimes they will go from one church and religion to
another because they think that the means are not what they would like them to
be. Sometimes they hear preaching that
pleases their hearts, but then their consciences are not impressed enough to do
them any good.
And then again, they hear preaching that impresses
their consciences; but their hearts rise up in rebellion.
Now if they could only hear some preaching, or God
could use some means that would please both their conscience and their heart,
they think they would be converted.
However, such means cannot possibly exist as long as the heart and
conscience are opposed to each other.
Sinner, there is no use in waiting.
To expect God, or anybody else, to satisfy you before you are converted,
is futile; and if you wait for such an event, you will wait until you are in
the depths of hell.
14). Sinners should not want any preaching or
witnessing to please their hearts as long as they are in their sins. If any preaching or witnessing makes you
feel pleasant; if your heart is delighted with it, I assure you that these
means will do you no good.
Such preaching will only deceive you, and make you
overlook your need for a change of heart.
15). Can
you now see how terrible the torments will be in hell.
Sinners are often thrown into great agony in this
life by internal struggles and the battle between their consciences and
hearts. Now let them go into eternity
with their hearts unchanged. Let the
full blaze of eternity's light be poured on their consciences. With a heart opposed to God, the sinner will
experience a horrible rebellion, and an unbearable conflicting battle with
self, and with God.
With a conscience that will eternally side with God, and a
heart that supremely hates Him, the conflict within the sinner will be
unbearable.
Finally. Sinners
should not follow their feelings, but obey the voice of their conscience. In situations where sinners find that their
feeling are opposed to their better judgment, they will often put down their
foot, and resist the current of their feelings. They will say, “I am not going to get carried away, and yield to
my feelings. I must exercise my
judgment. I must act like a reasonable
being.” But oh, when it comes to
religion, men will not hesitate to give in to their wicked hearts.
Sinner, you should come forward right now, and act
like a man, and say that you will not take another step towards death. Why refuse to be reasonable, and give in to
the desires of your heart? Why drive
with reckless abandon towards hell? Why
allow yourself to be carried here and there by every gush of feeling, and by
every breath of emotion that passes over the surface of your soul? Sinner, if you do not exercise your reason,
if you do not listen to the voice of your conscience, if you do not gather up
your reigns, gird up your loins, and address yourself to the work of your
salvation like an intelligent human being, if you do not make up your mind to
resist the whole tide of your carnal feelings and put yourself under the clear
blaze of heaven's light, then when your conscience gives forth its verdict,
unless you will promptly obey, you must die in your sins. Now will you here, in the house of God,
while your true character and danger are now revealed before you, while mercy
waits to save, and death brandishes his weapon to destroy, while heaven calls,
and hell groans, while the spirit strives, and Christians pray, will you have
the moral courage, the decision of character, the honesty, and manhood, to
resolve to submit immediately to Jesus Christ?