Divine Mercy to Mourning Penitents 2
Back to SERMONS Samuel Davies
There is indeed a new turn given to his outward practice; the world may in some measure see that he is a new man; but this is not all; the first spring that turns all the wheels of the soul and actions of life is the heart—and this is first set right. The change within is as evident as that without; and could our eyes penetrate the heart—we would clearly see the great change. In short, "If any man is in Christ—he is throughout a new creature; old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new!" Apply this touchstone to your hearts, my friends—and see if they will stand the test!
The penitent proceeds, "After I came to understand, I struck my thigh in grief!" The same grace that turns him—also instructshim; nay, it is by discovering to him the beauty of holiness, and the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that it draws him. He is brought out of darkness, into marvelous and astonishing light, which surprises him with new discoveries of things! He is instructed particularly:
as to the necessity of turning to God,
as to the horrid ingratitude, vileness, and deformity of sin,
and as to his folly and wickedness in continuing so long alienated from God. By the way, have you ever been let into these secrets, my hearers?
And when instructed in these, "I struck my thigh in grief!" This gesture denotes consternation and amazement; and nature directs us thus to express these passions. Ezekiel is enjoined to use this gesture as a prophetic action, signifying the horror and astonishment of his mind. Ezekiel 21:12. This action, therefore, of the penitent, intimates what consternation and amazement he is cast into, when these new discoveries flash upon his soul. He stands amazed at himself. He is struck with horror to think what an ungrateful, ignorant, stupid wretch he has been all his life—until this happy moment! "Alas! what have I been doing? abusing all my days in ruining my own soul, and dishonoring the God of all my mercies! contentedly estranged from him, and not seeking to return! Where were my eyes, that I never before saw the horrid evil of my conduct and the shocking deformity of sin, which now opens to me in all its hideous colors! Amazing! that divine vengeance has not broken out upon me before now! Can it be that I am yet alive! Alive in the land of hope too! Yes, alive, a humble pardoned penitent! Let heaven and earth be astonished at this, for surely the sun never shone upon a wretch so undeserving! so great a monument of mercy!"
The pardoned penitent proceeds: "I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth!" Jeremiah 31:19.
We are ashamed when we are caught in a sordid, vile and scandalous action! We blush, and are confounded, and know not where to look, or what to say. Thus the penitent is heartily ashamed of himself, when he reflects upon the sordid dispositions he has indulged, and the vile and scandalous actions he has committed. He blushes at his own inspection; he is confounded at his own tribunal. He appears to himself—a sordid, vile contemptible wretch; and, though the world may honor him—he loathes himself, as viler than the earth he treads on; and is secretly ashamed before the face of man. And how then shall he appear before God? How shall he hold up his face in the presence of his injured Father?
He comes to God ashamed, and covering his head. He knows not what to say to him; he knows not how to look him in His face—but he falls down abashed and confounded at his feet. Thus was penitent Ezra ashamed before God. He fell upon his knees, and lifted up his hands (his eyes, like the publican, he dared not lift up) unto the heavens, and he says, "O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great. But now, O our God, what can we say after this? For we have disregarded your commandments!" Ezra 9:5-10.
Thus it was foretold concerning the repenting Jews. "Then you shall remember your ways and be ashamed. You shall be confounded and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame!" Ezekiel 16:61-63. There is good reason for thisconscious shame, and therefore it is enjoined as a duty: "Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel!" Ezekiel 36:32.
And what is the cause of this shame in the mourning penitent? "Oh," says he, "it is because I bear the disgrace of my youth!" That is, "I carry upon me (as the original word signifies) the brand of infamy. My youth, alas! was spent in a thoughtless neglect of God and the duties I owed him; my vigorous days were wasted in sensual extravagances, and gratifying my carnal inclinations. My prime of life, which should have been sacred to the author of my existence, was spent in rebellion against him! Alas! my first thoughts, my virgin love, did not aspire to him; nor did my young desires, as soon as fledged, wing their flight to heaven. In short, the temper of my heart, and my course of my life, from the first exercises of reason—to this happy hour of my conversion, were a disgrace to my rational nature! I have degraded myself beneath the beasts which perish!"
"Behold, I am vile! I loath and abhor myself for all my filthiness and abominations!" Ezekiel 36:31. "And how amazing is the grace of God—to honor so base a wretch with a place among the children of his love!"
Thus I have delineated the heart of penitent Ephraim. Let me ask you, my friends—is this your picture? Have you ever felt such sincere relentings, such just consternation, such holy shame and confusion? There can be no transition from nature to grace, without these. You all bear the disgrace of your youth, you have all spent some unhappy days in the scandalous ways of sin, and your consciences still bear the brand of infamy. And have you ever been made deeply sensible of it? Has God ever heard youbemoaning yourselves thus in some mournful solitude, "You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined." Is there any such mourner here this day? Then listen to the gracious voice of your heavenly Father, while,
3. I am illustrating the last, the sweetest part of the text, which expresses the tender compassion of God towards mourning penitents. While they are bemoaning their case, and conscious that they do not deserve one look of love from God—he is represented as attentively listening to catch the first penitential groan which breaks from their hearts.
Ephraim, in the depth of his despondency, probably did hardly hope that God took any notice of his secret sorrows, which he suppressed as much as possible from the public view. But God did hear him—God was watching to hear the first mournful cry; and he repeats all his complaints, to let him know (after the manner of men) what particular notice he had taken of them. "I have surely heard, or hearing I have heard." That is, "I have attentively heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus!"
What strong consolation may this give to desponding mourners, who think themselves neglected by that God to whom they are pouring out their weeping supplications! He hears your secret groans, he courts your sighs, and puts your tears into his bottle! His eyes penetrate all the secrets of your heart, and he observes all their feeble struggles to turn to himself; and he beholds you—not as an unconcerned spectator—but with all the tender emotions of fatherly compassion! For, while he is listening to Ephraim's mournful complaints, he abruptly breaks in upon him, and sweetly surprises him with the warmest declarations of pity and grace:
"Is this Ephraim, my dear son, whose mourning voice I hear? Is this my pleasant child, or (as it might be rendered) the child of my delights, who thus wounds my ear with his heart-rending groans?" What strange language is this—to an ungrateful, unyielding rebel, who continued obstinate—until he was wearied out; who would not turn—until drawn; who deserved to fall a victim to justice! This is the language of compassion all divine, of grace that befits a God.
This passage contains a most encouraging truth: that, however vile and abandoned a sinner has been—yet upon his repentance, he becomes God's dear son, his favorite child! God will, from that moment, regard him, provide for him, protect him, and bring him to his heavenly inheritance, as his son and heir! "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" Romans 8:38-39. Nothing shall separate him from his father's love—but "he shall inherit all things." Revelation 21:7. Yes, all things are his already in title, and he shall be made "greater than the kings of the earth!" He shall be made such as befits so dignified a relation as that of a son to the King of kings, and Lord of lords!
And is not this magnet sufficient to attract all this assembly to their Father's house? Can you resist the almighty force of such compassion?
Return, you perishing prodigals! Return! Though you have sinned against Heaven, and before your Father, and are not worthy to be called his son—yet return, and you shall be made his dear son—the child in whom He delights! Are none of you in need of such strong consolation as this? Do you need encouragement to return, and are you ready to spring up and run to your Father's arms upon the first assurance of acceptance? If this is what you need, you have an abundance for your supply. Are all your souls then in motion to return? Does that eye which darts through the whole creation at once, now behold your hearts moving towards God? Or am I wasting these gracious encouragements upon stupid creatures, void of sense, who do not care for them; or that are so conceited of their own worth, as not to need them? If so, I retract these consolations, with respect to you, and shall presently tell you your doom!
But let us further pursue these melting strains of paternal pity: "Though I often spoke against him—I still remember him." Many and dreadful were the threatenings denounced against the sinner, while impenitent; and, had he continued impenitent, they would certainly have been executed upon him. But the primary and immediate design of the threatenings, are to make men happy—and not to make them miserable! They are designed to deter them from disobedience, which is naturally productive of misery; or to reclaim them from it, which is but to restrain them in their career to ruin.
And consequently these threatenings proceed from divine love—as well as the promises of our God; from love to the person, though from hatred to sin. So the same love which prompts a parent to promise a reward to his son for obedience, will prompt him also to threaten him, if he takes some dangerous weapon to play with. Or, to choose a more pertinent illustration, for God is themoral ruler—as well as the gracious father of the rational world: the same regard to the public well-being, which induces a lawgiver to annex a reward to obedience, will also prompt him to add penalties to his law to deter from disobedience. His immediate design is not to make any of his subjects miserable—but to keep them from making themselves and others miserable by disobedience! Though when the threatening is once denounced, it is necessary it should be executed, to vindicate the veracity of the lawgiver, and secure his government from insult and contempt.
Thus when the primary end of the divine threatenings, namely, the deterring and reclaiming men from disobedience, is not obtained—then it becomes necessary that they should be executed upon the impenitent in all their dreadful extent! But when the sinner is brought to repentance, and to submit to the divine government, then all these threatenings are repealed, and they shall not hurt one hair of his head! And the sinner himself will acknowledge that these threatenings proved necessary mercies to him, and that the denunciation of everlasting punishment was one means of bringing him to everlasting happiness, and that divine vengeance in this sense conspired with divine grace—to save him!
Consider this, you desponding penitents, and allay your terrors. That God, who has written such bitter things against you in his Word; earnestly and affectionately remembers you still, and it was with a kind intent to you that he thundered out these terrors at which you tremble. These acids, this bitter medicines, were necessary for your recovery. These coals of fire were necessary to awaken you out of your lethargy. Therefore read the love of your Father, even in these solemn warnings. He affectionately remembers you still; he cannot put you out of his thoughts.
"Therefore my heart is troubled for him—my heart yearns for him!" adds the all-gracious Jehovah! This is astonishing beyond conception! How can we bear up under such words as these? Surely they must break our hearts, and overwhelm our spirits! Here is the great God, who has millions of holy beings to serve him, and who is absolutely independent of them all—is troubled, his very heart troubled—for a rebellious, useless, trifling worm! Be astonished at this, you angels of light, who are the witnesses of such amazing, such unbounded compassion! And wonder at it, O you sons of men, who are more intimately concerned in it! Stand and adore, as it were, in statues of admiration!
It is true? Surely, these words are not to be taken literally, as though the Deity were capable of sorrow, or any of the human passions! But he here condescends to adapt himself to the language of mortals, and to borrow such images as will convey to us the most lively ideas of his grace and tenderness to mourning penitents. And no image can answer this end better than that of a father, whose affections are yearning over his mourning child, prostrate at his feet, and who, with eager embraces, raises him up, assuring him of pardon and acceptance!
If any of you know what it is to receive a penitent child in this manner, while all the father is tenderly working within you—you may form some affecting ideas of the readiness of our heavenly Father to receive returning sinners from this tender illustration.
The Lord concludes this moving speech with a promise that includes in it—more than we can ask or think, sealed with his own sacred name. "I will surely have mercy upon him!" That is, "I will show abundant mercy to him! I will give him all the blessings which infinite mercy can bestow!"
What more can be needed? This promise includes pardon, acceptance, sanctification, joy in the Holy Spirit, peace of conscience, and immortal life and glory in the eternal world! Oh sirs! what a God, what a Father is this! "Who is a God like you—who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea!" Micah 7:18-19
And can you, you mourners in Zion, can you fear a rejection from such a tender Father? Can you dread to venture upon such abundant mercies? Is there a mourning Ephraim in this assembly? I may call you, as God did Adam, "Ephraim, where are you?"
Let the Word of God find you out, and force a little encouragement upon you: "Your heavenly Father, whose angry hand you fear, is listening to your groans, and will measure you out a mercy—for every groan; a blessing—for every sigh; a drop, a whole draught of consolation—for every tear. His affections yearn for you, and he addresses you in such language as this, "Is this my dear son? is this my pleasant child?"
And as to you, you sturdy impenitents, you abandoned profligates, you careless formalists, you almost Christians; can you hear these things—and not begin now to relent? Do you not find your frozen hearts begin to thaw within you? Can you resist such alluring grace? Can you bear the thoughts of continuing to be enemies to so good, so forgiving a Father? Does not Ephraim's sincere petition now rise in your hearts, "Restore me—and I shall be turned?" Then I praise God upon this happy day; you have this day become God's dear sons, the children of his delight.
But is there a wretch so senseless, so wicked, so abandoned to sin—as to refuse to return? Where are you, hardy rebel? Stand forth and meet the terrors of your doom! To you I must change my tone, and instead of representing the tender compassions of a father—I must denounce the terrors of an angry judge:
Your DOOM is declared and fixed—by the same lips which speak to penitents in such encouraging strains; by those gracious lips that never uttered a harsh censure. "God is angry with you every day!" Psalm 7:11. "Unless you repent—you shall surely perish!" Luke 13:3. The example of Christ authorizes me to repeat it again; "Unless you repent—you shall surely perish!" verse 5. "The God who made you—will destroy you! And he who formed you—will show you no favor." Isaiah 26:11. "You are treasuring up wrath in horrid affluence against the day of wrath!" Romans 2:5.
"The LORD is a jealous God, filled with vengeance and wrath. He takes revenge on all who oppose him and furiously destroys his enemies! The LORD is slow to get angry, but his power is great, and he never lets the guilty go unpunished. He displays his power in the whirlwind and the storm. The billowing clouds are the dust beneath his feet. At his command the oceans and rivers dry up! In his presence the mountains quake, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles, and its people are destroyed. Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence!" Nahum 1:2-6
These flaming thunderbolts, sinners, are aimed at your heart, and if you can harden yourself against their terror—then let me read you your doom before we part! You have it pronounced by God himself: "Let none of those who hear the warnings of this curse consider themselves immune, thinking: 'I am safe, even though I am walking in my own stubborn way.' This would lead to utter ruin! The LORD will not pardon such people. His anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the LORD will erase their names from under heaven. The LORD will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the covenant curses recorded in this Book of the Law!" Deuteronomy 29:19-21
And now, stubborn sinner, if you can return home careless and senseless with this heavy curse upon you—do not expect a word of comfort; do not expect any blessing—until you are made truly penitent! "For how shall I bless—those whom God has not blessed?"
The blessing of our text may fall upon one on your right hand, and one on your left hand—but the curse is your lot! And this curse—you must have from the hand of God himself! If you continue hardened and insolent in sin—you must lie down in eternal sorrow! "Consider this, you who forget God—or He will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue!" Psalm 50:22
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