Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus said the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might… I. False SOURCES OF HUMAN COMPLACENCY. 1. It is a false complacency when men prefer a lower to a higher species of good, when they prefer the material to the moral, the external to the internal possessions. If a man makes the culture of his soul the supreme concern of life, a due regard to riches will not injure him, because they become, in that case, a means to a worthy end. But if, ignoring his inward life, he fixes all his trust, and finds his treasure in something external, the passion for riches must lead in the end to the corruption of his character. 2. There is the preference of the physical or natural to the spiritual attributes of being. What is force without conscience? What is will without righteousness? What is might without mercy? It is like the blind fury of the earthquake, the hurricane, or the avalanche, inspiring terror, wonder, and pity, but no true joy to the rational part of the man. 3. There is the preference of the intellectual to the spiritual. While the pursuit of wisdom is of all the noblest to which we can devote ourselves, provided it be inspired by religion, it is, perhaps, of all the most disappointing if that inspiration be wanting. Of what profit this weariness of the flesh, this aching brow, these nightly vigils, this impaired health? How bitterly have such men, from Ecclesiastes downwards, turned in satire upon the wisdom they had spent a lifetime in acquiring. But it is not wisdom, it is the untrue spirit in which wisdom has been pursued, that deserves the satire. Had they from the first yielded up their souls to intercourse with the Father of Lights, had they cultivated wisdom as a gift and emanation from Himself, to be used in the service of His creatures, these disappointments might have been avoided. II. WHAT, THEN, IS THE TRUE SOURCE OF THE SOUL'S COMPLACENCY? It is to be found in the knowledge of the eternal God. 1. We believe in His just and merciful administration of the world's affairs. He exercises loving kindness, justice, and right in the earth. 2. We believe in the essential goodness of God. "In these things I delight," saith Jehovah. He governs the world in right and in love, because He is in Himself a righteous and a loving Being. Nowhere does the righteousness of God more impress the conscience, fill the soul with a deeper awe, than at the foot of that cross, where He was made sin for us Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And nowhere do the beams of the eternal mercy break forth more brightly from the parting sky than above that cross. There the grace that pardons sin, that justifies the sinner, that plucks up the love of sin by the roots, that pours the balm of celestial hope and peace into our wounds, the grace that deeply humbles, yet nobly exalts us, is ever revealed. (E. Johnson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: |
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