Isaiah 36:5 I say, say you, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? I. Let us put this question, and collect A LITTLE BUNDLE OF ANSWERS. 1. I think I hear some answer, "I do not know that I have thought about the matter at all; I hope it is a long time before I shall die, and there is no need to trouble myself before it is necessary, and, therefore, I put the matter off." Do not you think that you are very foolish? There is a gate to death, ay! and to hell, too, from the place where you are now sitting. Suppose you were sure of a long life, would you wish to delay being happy? 2. I hear one say, "I thank God I am about as good as most people; when my poor neighbours have needed charity, they have never found a churl in me. I hope I can say it will go well with me, and if it does not, sir, it will go badly with a good many." I am afraid it will go badly with a great many; but I do not see what consolation you ought to get out of that, for company in being ruined will not decrease, but rather increase the catastrophe. The sum and substance of your confidence is, that you are trusting in yourself. Now, do you really and honestly think that you are of yourself sufficient to bring yourself safe to God's right hand? I think your conscience can remind you of some slips and flaws. 3. "I trust in my priest; he has been regularly ordained; he belongs to an Apostolic Church; he tells me that he will forgive my sins if I confess them to him, and that when I come to die he will give me my viaticum." Do not be misled; your priest might as well trust in you as you trust in him. 4. "Well, God is merciful. He is not so severe as to be unkind towards us, and we dare say, though we may have a good many faults, yet as He is a very good and gracious God, He will forgive our sins and accept us." If you go to God out of Christ, you will find Him to be a consuming fire, and instead of mercy you shall receive justice. 5. "Well, sir, I do not say that I can trust to my works, but I am a good-hearted man; I am a man of good intentions, and though I have a great many faults, yet I am good-hearted at bottom, and I think God will look at my heart, and will put me right at the end, notwithstanding my slips and wanderings by the way." It will turn out, I am afraid, to be a delusion and a snare. Your heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Do not talk about its goodness any more, for when you do, you give God the lie, and how can you expect to go to the heaven where God is, when you are thus insulting Him all the while? II. THE CHRISTIAN'S ANSWER. "I trust," says the Christian, "a triune God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." To some this does not look like a real trust. "Why, we cannot see God," says one. "How do we know all about this Trinity? Is this a real trust?" Cannot you trust in a thousand things you have never seen or heard? Some of you may be earning your living by electricity, but you never saw it. Some have said, "But does God interfere to help His people? Is the trust you impose in Him so really recognised by Him that you can distinctly prove that He helps you?" Yes, we can. We can say, also, by way of commending our God to others, that we feel we can rest upon Him for the future. III. SOME WORDS OF ADVICE TO THOSE WHO ARE SO TRUSTING. 1. Drive out all unbelief. If we have such a God to trust to, let us trust with all our might. 2. Let us seek the Holy Spirit's help in this matter. The Author of our faith must be the Finisher of it also. 3. Let us try to bring others to trust where we have trusted. 4. We must prove our faith by our works. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? |
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