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The Sin of Unbelief
A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, January 14, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
"And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes but shalt not eat thereof"2 Kings 7:19.
One wise man may deliver a whole city; one good man may
be the means of safety to a thousand others. The holy ones are "the salt of the
earth," the means of the preservation of the wicked. Without the godly as a conserve,
the race would be utterly destroyed. In the city of Samaria there was one righteous
manElisha, the servant of the Lord. Piety was altogether extinct in the court. The
king was a sinner of the blackest dye, his iniquity was glaring and infamous. Jehoram
walked in the ways of his father Ahab, and made unto himself false gods. The people of
Samaria were fallen like their monarch: they had gone astray from Jehovah; they had
forsaken the God of Israel; they remembered not the watchword of Jacob, "The Lord thy
God is one God;" and in wicked idolatry they bowed before the idols of the heathens,
and therefore the Lord of Hosts suffered their enemies to oppress them until the curse of
Ebal was fulfilled in the streets of Samaria, for "the tender and delicate woman who
would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness,"
had an evil eye to her own children, and devoured her offspring by reason of fierce hunger
(Deut 28:56-58). In this awful extremity the one holy man was the medium of salvation. The
one grain of salt preserved the entire city; the one warrior for God was the means of the
deliverance of the whole beleaguered multitude. For Elisha's sake the Lord sent the
promise that the next day, food which could not be obtained at any price, should be had at
the cheapest possible rateat the very gates of Samaria. We may picture the joy of
the multitude when first the seer uttered this prediction. They knew him to be a prophet
of the Lord; he had divine credentials; all his past prophecies had been fulfilled. They
knew that he was a man sent of God, and uttering Jehovah's message. Surely the monarch's
eyes would glisten with delight, and the emaciated multitude would leap for joy at the
prospects of so speedy a release from famine. "To-morrow," would they shout,
"to-morrow our hunger shall be over, and we shall feast to the full."
However, the lord on whom the king leaned expressed his disbelief. We hear not that any of
the common people, the plebeians, ever did so; but an aristocrat did it. Strange it is,
that God has seldom chosen the great men of this world. High places and faith in Christ do
seldom well agree. This great man said, "Impossible!" and, with an insult to the
prophet, he added, "If the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing
be." His sin lay in the fact, that after repeated seals of Elisha's ministry, he yet
disbelieved the assurances uttered by the prophet on God's behalf. He had, doubtless, seen
the marvelous defeat of Moab; he had been startled at tidings of the resurrection of the
Shunamite's son; he knew that Elisha had revealed Benhadad's secrets and smitten his
marauding hosts with blindness; he had seen the bands of Syria decoyed into the heart of
Samaria; and he probably knew the story of the widow, whose oil filled all the vessels,
and redeemed her sons; at all events the cure of Naaman was common conversation at court;
and yet, in the face of all this accumulated evidence, in the teeth of all these
credentials of the prophet's mission, he yet doubted, and insultingly told him that heaven
must become an open casement, ere the promise could be performed. Whereupon God pronounced
his doom by the mouth of the man who had just now proclaimed the promise: "thou shalt
see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof." And providencewhich always
fulfills prophecy, just as the paper takes the stamp of the typedestroyed the man.
Trodden down in the streets of Samaria, he perished at its gates, beholding the plenty,
but tasting not of it. Perhaps his carriage was haughty, and insulting to the people; or
he tried to restrain their eager rush; or, as we would say, it might have been by mere
accident that he was crushed to death; so that he saw the prophecy fulfilled, but never
lived to enjoy it. In his case, seeing was believing, but it was not enjoying.
I shall this morning invite your attention to two thingsthe man's sin and his
punishment. Perhaps I shall say but little of this man, since I have detailed the
circumstances, but I shall discourse upon the sin of unbelief and the punishment thereof.
I. And first, the SIN.
His sin was unbelief. He doubted the promise of God. In this particular case
unbelief took the form of a doubt of the divine veracity, or a mistrust of God's power.
Either he doubted whether God really meant what he said, or whether it was within the
range of possibility that God should fulfill his promise. Unbelief hath more phases than
the moon, and more colors than the chameleon. Common people say of the devil, that he is
seen sometimes in one shape, and sometimes in another. I am sure this is true of Satan's
first-born childunbelief, for its forms are legion. At one time I see unbelief
dressed out as an angel of light. It calls itself humility, and it saith, "I would
not be presumptuous; I dare not think that God would pardon me; I am too great a
sinner." We call that humility, and thank God that our friend is in so good a
condition. I do not thank God for any such delusion. It is the devil dressed as an angel
of light; it is unbelief after all. At other times we detect unbelief in the shape of a
doubt of God's immutability: "The Lord has loved me, but perhaps he will cast me off
to-morrow. He helped me yesterday, and under the shadows of his wings I trust; but perhaps
I shall receive no help in the next affliction. He may have cast me off; he may be
unmindful of his covenant, and forget to be gracious." Sometimes this infidelity is
embodied in a doubt of God's power. We see every day new straits, we are involved in a net
of difficulties, and we think "surely the Lord cannot deliver us." We strive to
get rid of our burden, and finding that we cannot do it, we think God's arm is as short as
ours, and his power as little as human might. A fearful form of unbelief is that doubt
which keeps men from coming to Christ; which leads the sinner to distrust the ability of
Christ to save him, to doubt the willingness of Jesus to accept so great a transgressor.
But the most hideous of all is the traitor, in its true colors, blaspheming God, and madly
denying his existence. Infidelity, deism, and atheism, are the ripe fruits of this
pernicious tree; they are the most terrific eruptions of the volcano of unbelief. Unbelief
hath become of full stature, when quitting the mask and laying aside disguise, it
profanely stalks the earth, uttering the rebellious cry, "No God," striving in
vain to shake the throne of the divinity, by lifting up its arm against Jehovah, and in
its arrogance would
"Snatch from his hand the balance and
the rod,
Re-judge his justicebe the god of God."
Then truly unbelief has come to its full perfection, and
then you see what it really is, for the least unbelief is of the same nature as the
greatest.
I am astonished, and I am sure you will be, when I tell you that there are some strange
people in the world who do not believe that unbelief is a sin. Strange people I must call
them, because they are sound in their faith in every other respect; only, to make the
articles of their creed consistent, as they imagine, they deny that unbelief is sinful. I
remember a young man going into a circle of friends and ministers, who were disputing
whether it was a sin in men that they did not believe the gospel. Whilst they were
discussing it, he said, "Gentlemen am I in the presence of Christians? Are you
believers in the Bible, or are you not?" They said, "We are Christians of
course." "Then," said he, "does not the Scripture say, 'of sin,
because they believed not on me?' And is it not the damning sin of sinners, that they do
not believe on Christ?" I could not have thought that persons should be so fool-hardy
as to venture to assert that, "it is no sin for a sinner not to believe on
Christ." I thought that, however far they might wish to push their sentiments, they
would not tell a lie to uphold the truth, and, in my opinion this is what such men are
really doing. Truth is a strong tower and never requires to be buttressed with error.
God's Word will stand against all man's devices. I would never invent a sophism to prove
that it is no sin on the part of the ungodly not to believe, for I am sure it is, when I
am taught in the Scriptures that, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into
the world, and men love darkness rather than light," and when I read, "He that
believeth not is condemned already, because he believeth not on the Son of God," I
affirm, and the Word declares it, unbelief is a sin. Surely with rational and
unprejudiced persons, it cannot require any reasoning to prove it. Is it not a sin for a
creature to doubt the word of its Maker? Is it not a crime and an insult to the Divinity,
for me, an atom, a particle of dust, to dare to deny his words? Is it not the very summit
of arrogance and extremity of pride for a son of Adam to say, even in his heart, "God
I doubt thy grace; God I doubt thy love; God I doubt thy power?" Oh! sirs believe me,
could ye roll all sins into one mass,could you take murder, and blasphemy, and lust,
adultery, and fornication, and everything that is vile and unite them all into one vast
globe of black corruption, they would not equal even then the sin of unbelief. This is the
monarch sin, the quintessence of guilt; the mixture of the venom of all crimes; the dregs
of the wine of Gomorrah; it is the A1 sin, the master-piece of Satan, the chief work of
the devil.
I shall attempt this morning, for a little while, to shew the extremely evil nature of the
sin of unbelief.
1. And first the sin of unbelief will appear to be extremely heinous when we
remember that it is the parent of every other iniquity. There is no crime which
unbelief will not beget. I think that the fall of man is very much owing to it. It was in
this point that the devil tempted Eve. He said to her, "Yea, hath God said, ye
shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" He whispered and insinuated a doubt,
"Yea, hath God said so?" as much as to say, "Are you quite
sure he said so?" It was by means of unbeliefthat thin part of the
wedgethat the other sin entered; curiosity and the rest followed; she touched the
fruit, and destruction came into this world. Since that time, unbelief has been the
prolific parent of all guilt. An unbeliever is capable of the vilest crime that ever was
committed. Unbelief, sirs! why it hardened the heart of Pharaohit gave license to
the tongue of blaspheming Rabshaketyea, it became a deicide, and murdered Jesus.
Unbelief!it has sharpened the knife of the suicide! it has mixed many a cup of
poison; thousands it has brought to the halter; and many to a shameful grave, who have
murdered themselves and rushed with bloody hands before their Creator's tribunal, because
of unbelief. Give me an unbelieverlet me know that he doubts God's wordlet me
know that he distrusts his promise and his threatening; and with that for a premise, I
will conclude that the man shall, by-and-bye unless there is amazing restraining power
exerted upon him, be guilty of the foulest and blackest crimes. Ah! this is a Beelzebub
sin; like Beelzebub, it is the leader of all evil spirits. It is said of Jeroboam that he
sinned and made Israel to sin; and it may be said of unbelief that it not only sins
itself, but makes others sin; it is the egg of all crime, the seed of every offence; in
fact everything that is evil and vile lies couched in that one wordunbelief.
And let me say here, that unbelief in the Christian is of the self-same nature as unbelief
in the sinner. It is not the same in its final issue, for it will be pardoned in the
Christian; yea it is pardoned: it was laid upon the scapegoat's head of old: it was
blotted out and atoned for; but it is of the same sinful nature. In fact, if there can be
one sin more heinous than the unbelief of a sinner, it is the unbelief of a saint. For a
saint to doubt God's wordfor a saint to distrust God after innumerable instances of
his love, after ten thousand proofs of his mercy, exceeds everything. In a saint,
moreover, unbelief is the root of other sins. When I am perfect in faith, I shall be
perfect in everything else; I should always fulfill the precept if I always believed the
promise. But it is because my faith is weak, that I sin. Put me in trouble, and if I can
fold my arms and say, "Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide," you will not find
me using wrong means to escape from it. But let me be in temporal distress and difficulty;
if I distrust God, what then? Perhaps I shall steal, or do a dishonest act to get out of
the hands of my creditors; or if kept from such a transgression, I may plunge into excess
to drown my anxieties. Once take away faith, the reins are broken; and who can ride an
unbroken steed without rein or bridle? Like the chariot of the sun, with Phaeton for its
driver, such should we be without faith. Unbelief is the mother of vice; it is the parent
of sin; and, therefore, I say it is a pestilent evila master sin.
2. But secondly; unbelief not only begets, but fosters sin. How is it that
men can keep their sin under the thunders of the Sinai preacher? How is it that, when
Boanerges stands in the pulpit, and, by the grace of God, cries aloud, "Cursed is
every man that keepeth not all the commands of the law,"how is it that when the
sinner hears the tremendous threatenings of God's justice, still he is hardened, and walks
on in his evil ways? I will tell you; it is because unbelief of that threatening prevents
it from having any effect upon him. When our sappers and miners go to work around
Sebastopol, they could not work in front of the walls, if they had not something to keep
off the shots; so they raise earthworks, behind which they can do what they please. So
with the ungodly man. The devil gives him unbelief; he thus puts up an earthwork, and
finds refuge behind it. Ah! sinners, when once the Holy Ghost knocks down your
unbeliefwhen once he brings home the truth in demonstration and in power, how the
law will work upon your soul. If man did but believe that the law is holy, that the
commandments are holy, just, and good, how he would be shaken over hell's mouth; there
would be no sitting and sleeping in God's house; no careless hearers; no going away and
straightway forgetting what manner of men ye are. Oh! once get rid of unbelief, how would
ever ball from the batteries of the law fall upon the sinner, and the slain of the Lord
would be many. Again, how is it that men can hear the wooing of the cross of Calvary, and
yet come not to Christ? How is it that when we preach about the sufferings of Jesus, and
close up by saying, "yet there is room,"how is it that when we dwell upon
his cross and passion, men are not broken in their hearts? It is said,
"Law and terrors do but harden,
All the while they work alone:
But a sense of blood-bought pardon
Will dissolve a heart of stone."
Methinks the tale of Calvary is enough to break a rock.
Rocks did rend when they saw Jesus die. Methinks the tragedy of Golgotha is enough to make
a flint gush with tears, and to make the most hardened wretch weep out his eyes in drops
of penitential love; but yet we tell it you, and repeat it oft, but who weeps over it? Who
cares about it? Sirs, ye sit as unconcerned as if it did not signify to you. Oh! behold
and see all ye that pass by. Is it nothing to you that Jesus should die? Ye seem to say
"It is nothing." What is the reason? Because there is unbelief between you and
the cross. If there were not that thick veil between you and the Saviour's eyes, his looks
of love would melt you. But unbelief is the sin which keeps the power of the gospel from
working in the sinner: and it is not till the Holy Ghost strikes that unbelief outit
is not till the Holy Spirit rends away that infidelity and takes it altogether down, that
we can find the sinner coming to put his trust in Jesus.
3. But there is a third point. Unbelief disables a man for the performance of
any good work. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," is a great truth in more
senses than one. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." You shall never
hear me say a word against morality; you shall never hear me say that honesty is not a
good thing, or that sobriety is not a good thing; on the contrary, I would say they are
commendable things; but I will tell you what I will say afterwardsI will tell you
that they are just like the cowries of Hindostan; they may pass current among the Indians,
but they will not do in England; these virtues may be current here below, but not above.
If you have not something better than your own goodness, you will never get to heaven.
Some of the Indian tribes use little strips of cloth instead of money, and I would not
find fault with them if I lived there; but when I come to England, strips of cloth will
not suffice. So honesty, sobriety, and such things, may be very good amongst menand
the more you have of them the better. I exhort you, whatsoever things are lovely and pure,
and of good report, have thembut they will not do up there. All these things put
together, without faith, do not please God. Virtues without faith are whitewashed sins.
Obedience without faith, if it is possible, is a gilded disobedience. Not to believe,
nullifies everything. It is the fly in the ointment; it is the poison in the pot. Without
faith, with all the virtues of purity, with all the benevolence of philanthropy, with all
the kindness of disinterested sympathy, with all the talents of genius, with all the
bravery of patriotism, and with all the decision of principle"without faith it
is impossible to please God." Do you not see then, how bad unbelief is, because it
prevents men from performing good works. Yea, even in Christians themselves, unbelief
disables them. Let me just tell you a talea story of Christ's life. A certain man
had an afflicted son, possessed with an evil spirit. Jesus was up in Mount Tabor,
transfigured; so the father brought his son to the disciples. What did the disciples do?
They said, "Oh, we will cast him out." They put their hands upon him, and they
tried to do it; but they whispered among themselves and said, "We are afraid we shall
not be able." By-and-by the diseased man began to froth at the mouth; he foamed and
scratched the earth, clasping it in his paroxysms. The demoniac spirit within him was
alive. The devil was still there. In vain their repeated exorcism, the evil spirit
remained like a lion in his den, nor could their efforts dislodge him. "Go!"
said they; but he went not. "Away to the pit!" they cried; but he remained
immoveable. The lips of unbelief cannot affright the Evil One, who might well have said,
"Faith I know, Jesus I know, but who are ye? ye have no faith." If they had
faith, as a grain of mustard seed, they might have cast the devil out; but their faith was
gone, and therefore they could do nothing. Look at poor Peter's case, too. While he had
faith, Peter walked on the waves of the sea. That was a splendid walk; I almost envy him
treading upon the billows. Why, if Peter's faith had continued, he might have walked
across the Atlantic to America. But presently there came a billow behind him, and he said,
"That will sweep me away;" and then another before, and he cried out, "That
will overwhelm me;" and he thoughthow could I be so presumptuous as to be
walking on the top of these waves? Down goes Peter. Faith was Peter's life-buoy; faith was
Peter's charmit kept him up; but unbelief sent him down. Do you know that you and I,
all our lifetime, will have to walk on the water? A Christian's life is always walking on
watermine isand every wave would swallow and devour him, but faith makes him
stand. The moment you cease to believe, that moment distress comes in, and down you go.
Oh! wherefore dost thou doubt, then?
Faith fosters every virtue; unbelief murders every one. Thousands of prayers have been
strangled in their infancy by unbelief. Unbelief has been guilty of infanticide; it has
murdered many an infant petition; many a song of praise that would have swelled the chorus
of the skies, has been stifled by an unbelieving murmur; many a noble enterprise conceived
in the heart has been blighted ere it could come forth, by unbelief. Many a man would have
been a missionary; would have stood and preached his Master's gospel boldly; but he had
unbelief. Once make a giant unbelieving, and he becomes a dwarf. Faith is the Samsonian
lock of the Christian; cut it off, and you may put out his eyesand he can do
nothing.
4. Our next remark is unbelief has been severely punished. Turn you to
the Scriptures! I see a world all fair and beautiful; its mountains laughing in the sun,
and the fields rejoicing in the golden light. I see maidens dancing, and young men
singing. How fair the vision! But lo! a grave and reverend sire lifts up his hand, and
cries, "A flood is coming to deluge the earth: the fountains of the great deep will
be broken up, and all things will be covered. See yonder ark! One hundred and twenty years
have I toiled with these my hands to build it; flee there, and you are safe."
"Aha! old man; away with your empty predictions! Aha! let us be happy while we may!
when the flood comes, then we will build an ark; but there is no flood coming; tell that
to fools; we believe no such things." See the unbelievers pursue their merry dance.
Hark! Unbeliever. Dost thou not hear that rumbling noise? Earth's bowels have begun to
move, her rocky ribs are strained by dire convulsions from within; lo! they break with the
enormous strain, and forth from between them torrents rush unknown since God concealed
them in the bosom of our world. Heaven is split in sunder! it rains. Not drops, but clouds
descend. A cataract, like that of old Niagara, rolls from heaven with mighty noise. Both
firmaments, both deepsthe deep below and deep abovedo clasp their hands. Now
unbelievers, where are you now! There is your last remnant. A manhis wife clasping
him round the waiststands on the last summit that is above the water. See him there?
The water is up to his loins even now. Hear his last shriek! He is floatinghe is
drowned. And as Noah looks from the ark he sees nothing. Nothing! It is a void profound.
"Sea monsters whelp and stable in the palaces of kings." All is overthrown,
covered, drowned. What hath done it? What brought the flood upon the earth? Unbelief. By
faith Noah escaped from the flood. By unbelief the rest were drowned.
And, oh! do you not know that unbelief kept Moses and Aaron out of Canaan? They honored
not God; they struck the rock when they ought to have spoken to it. They disbelieved: and
therefore the punishment came upon them, that they should not inherit that good land, for
which they had toiled and labored.
Let me take you where Moses and Aaron dweltto the vast and howling wilderness. We
will walk about it for a time; sons of the weary foot, we will become like the wandering
Bedouins, we will tread the desert for a while. There lies a carcass whitened in the sun;
there another, and there another. What means these bleached bones? What are these
bodiesthere a man, and there a woman? What are all these? How came these corpses
here? Surely some grand encampment must have been here cut off in a single night by a
blast, or by bloodshed. Ah; no, no. Those bones are the bones of Israel; those skeletons
are the old tribes of Jacob. They could not enter because of unbelief. They trusted not in
God. Spies said they could not conquer the land. Unbelief was the cause of their death. It
was not the Anakims that destroyed Israel; it was not the howling wilderness which
devoured them; it was not the Jordan which proved a barrier to Canaan; neither Hivite or
Jebusite slew them; it was unbelief alone which kept them out of Canaan. What a doom to be
pronounced on Israel, after forty years of journeying: they could not enter because of
unbelief!
Not to multiply instances, recollect Zechariah. He doubted, and the angel struck him dumb.
His mouth was closed because of unbelief. But oh! if you would have the worst picture of
the effects of unbeliefif you would see how God has punished it, I must take you to
the siege of Jerusalem, that worst massacre which time has ever seen; when the Romans
razed the walls to the ground, and put the whole of the inhabitants to the sword, or sold
them as slaves in the market-place. Have you never read of the destruction of Jerusalem,
by Titus? Did you never turn to the tragedy of Masada, when the Jews stabbed each other
rather than fall into the hands of the Romans? Do you not know, that to this day the Jew
walks through the earth a wanderer, without a home and without a land? He is cut off, as a
branch is cut from a vine; and why? Because of unbelief. Each time ye see a Jew with a sad
and somber countenanceeach time ye mark him like a denizen of another land, treading
as an exile in this our countryeach time ye see him, pause and say, "Ah! it was
unbelief which caused thee to murder Christ, and now it has driven thee to be a wanderer;
and faith alonefaith in the crucified Nazarenecan fetch thee back to thy
country, and restore it to its ancient grandeur." Unbelief, you see, has the
Cain-mark upon its forehead. God hates it; God has dealt hard blows upon it: and God will
ultimately crush it. Unbelief dishonors God. Every other crime touches God's territory;
but unbelief aims a blow at his divinity, impeaches his veracity, denies his goodness,
blasphemes his attributes, maligns his character; therefore, God of all things, hates
first and chiefly, unbelief, wherever it is.
5. And now to close this pointfor I have been already too longlet me
remark that you will observe the heinous nature of unbelief in thisthat it is the
damning sin. There is one sin for which Christ never died; it is the sin against the
Holy Ghost. There is one other sin for which Christ never made atonement. Mention every
crime in the calendar of evil, and I will show you persons who have found forgiveness for
it. But ask me whether the man who died in unbelief can be saved, and I reply there is no
atonement for that man. There is an atonement made for the unbelief of a Christian,
because it is temporary; but the final unbeliefthe unbelief with which men
dienever was atoned for. You may turn over this whole Book, and you will find that
there is no atonement for the man who died in unbelief; there is no mercy for him. Had he
been guilty of every other sin, if he had but believed, he would have been pardoned; but
this is the damning exceptionhe had no faith. Devils seize him! O fiends of the pit,
drag him downward to his doom! He is faithless and unbelieving, and such are the tenants
for whom hell was built. It is their portion, their prison, they are the
chief prisoners, the fetters are marked with their names, and for ever shall they know
that, "he that believeth not shall be damned."
II. This brings us now to conclude with the PUNISHMENT.
"Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof." Listen
unbelievers! ye have heard this morning your sin; now listen to your doom: "Ye shall
see it with your eyes, but shalt not eat thereof." It is so often with God's own
saints. When they are unbelieving, they see the mercy with their eyes, but do not eat it.
Now, here is corn in this land of Egypt; but there are some of God's saints who come here
on the Sabbath, and say, "I do not know whether the Lord will be with me or
not." Some of them say, "Well, the gospel is preached, but I do not know whether
it will be successful." They are always doubting and fearing. Listen to them when
they get out of the chapel. "Well, did you get a good meal this morning?"
"Nothing for me." Of course not. Ye could see it with your eyes, but did not eat
it, because you had no faith. If you had come up with faith, you would have had a morsel.
I have found Christians, who have grown so very critical, that if the whole portion of the
meat they are to have, in due season, is not cut up exactly into square pieces, and put
upon some choice dish of porcelain, they cannot eat it. Then they ought to go without; and
they will have to go without, until they are brought to their appetites. They will have
some affliction, which will act like quinine upon them: they will be made to eat by means
of bitters in their mouths; they will be put in prison for a day or two until their
appetite returns, and then they will be glad to eat the most ordinary food, off the most
common platter, or no platter at all. But the real reason why God's people do not feed
under a gospel ministry, is, because they have not faith. If you believed, if you did but
hear one promise, that would be enough; if you only heard one good thing from the pulpit
here would be food for your soul, for it is not the quantity we hear, but the quantity we
believe, that does us goodit is that which we receive into our hearts with true and
lively faith, that is our profit.
But,
let me apply this chiefly to the unconverted. They often see great works of God done with
their eyes, but they do not eat thereof. A crowd of people have come here this morning to
see with their eyes, but I doubt whether all of them eat. Men cannot eat with their eyes,
for if they could, most would be well fed. And, spiritually, persons cannot feed simply
with their ears, nor simply with looking at the preacher; and so we find the majority of
our congregations come just to see; "Ah, let us hear what this babbler would say,
this reed shaken in the wind." But they have no faith; they come, and they see, and
see, and see, and never eat. There is some one in the front there, who gets converted; and
some one down below, who is called by sovereign grace; some poor sinner is weeping under a
sense of his blood-guiltiness; another is crying for mercy to God: and another is saying,
"Have mercy upon me, a sinner." A great work is going on in this chapel, but
some of you do not know anything about it; you have no work going on in your hearts, and
why? Because ye think it is impossible; ye think God is not at work. He has not promised
to work for you who do not honor him. Unbelief makes you sit here in times of revival and
of the outpouring of God's grace, unmoved, uncalled, unsaved.
But, sirs, the worst fulfillment of this doom is to come! Good Whitefield used sometimes
to lift up both his hands and shout, as I wish I could shout, but my voice fails me.
"The wrath to come! the wrath to come!" It is not the wrath now you have to
fear, but the wrath to come; and there shall be a doom to come, when "ye shall see it
with your eyes, but shall not eat thereof." Methinks I see the last great day. The
last hour of time has struck. I heard the bell toll its death knelltime was,
eternity is ushered in; the sea is boiling; the waves are lit up with supernatural
splendour. I see a rainbowa flying cloud, and on it there is a throne, and on that
throne sits one like unto the Son of Man. I know him. In his hand he holds a pair of
balances; just before him the books,the book of life, the book of death, the book of
remembrance. I see his splendour, and I rejoice at it; I behold his pompous appearance,
and I smile with gladness that he is come to be "admired of all his saints." But
there stands a throng of miserable wretches, crouching in horror to conceal themselves,
and yet looking, for their eyes must look on him whom they have pierced; but when they
look they cry, "Hide me from the face." What face? "Rocks, hide me from the
face." What face? "The face of Jesus, the man who died, but now is come to
judgment." But ye cannot be hidden from his face; ye must see it with your eyes: but
ye will not sit on the right hand, dressed in robes of grandeur; and when the triumphal
procession of Jesus in the clouds shall come, ye shall not march in it; ye shall see it,
but ye shall not be there. Oh! methinks I see it now, the mighty Saviour in his chariot,
riding on the rainbow to heaven. See how his mighty coursers make the sky rattle while he
drives them up heaven's hill. A train girt in white follow behind him, and at his chariot
wheels he drags the devil, death, and hell. Hark, how they clap their hands. Hark, how
they shout. "Thou hast ascended up on high; thou hast led captivity captive."
Hark, how they chant the solemn lay, "Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth." See the splendour of their appearance; mark the crown upon their brows;
see their snow-white garments; mark the rapture of their countenances; hear how their song
swells up to heaven while the Eternal joins therein, saying, "I will rejoice over
them with joy, I will rejoice over them with singing, for I have betrothed thee unto me in
everlasting lovingkindness." But where are you all the while? Ye can see them up
there, but where are you? Looking at it with your eyes, but you cannot eat thereof. The
marriage banquet is spread; the good old wines of eternity are broached; they sit down to
the feast of the king; but there are you, miserable, and famishing, and ye cannot eat
thereof. Oh! how ye wring your hands. Might ye but have one morsel from the
tablemight ye but be dogs beneath the table. You shall be a dog in hell, but not a
dog in heaven.
But to conclude. Methinks I see thee in some place in hell, tied to a rock, the vulture of
remorse gnawing thy heart; and up there is Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. You lift up your
eyes and you see who it is. "That is the poor man who lay on my dunghill, and the
dogs licked his sores; there he is in heaven, while I am cast down. Lazarusyes, it
is Lazarus; and I who was rich in the world of time am here in hell. Father Abraham, send
Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue." But no!
it cannot be; it cannot be. And whilst you lie there, if there be one thing in hell worse
than another, it will be seeing the saints in heaven. Oh, to think of seeing my mother in
heaven while I am cast out! Oh, sinner, only think, to see thy brother in heavenhe
who was rocked in the selfsame cradle, and played beneath the same roof-treeyet thou
art cast out. And, husband, there is thy wife in heaven, and thou art amongst the damned.
And seest thou, father! thy child is before the throne; and thou! accursed of God and
accursed of man, art in hell. Oh, the hell of hells will be to see our friends in heaven,
and ourselves lost. I beseech you, my hearers, by the death of Christby his agony
and bloody sweatby his cross and passionby all that is holyby all that
is sacred in heaven and earthby all that is solemn in time or eternityby all
that is horrible in hell, or glorious in heavenby that awful thought, "for
ever,"I beseech you lay these things to heart, and remember that if you are
damned, it will be unbelief that damns you. If you are lost, it will be because ye
believed not on Christ; and if you perish, this shall be the bitterest drop of
gallthat ye did not trust in the Saviour.
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