Part 35 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 36 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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II. The PEOPLE to whom these precious promises are made; and I here let us observe these three things.
First, Their sin; and this you have in verse 17, "I was enraged by his sinful covetousness." The sin that is charged upon him is a very great and grievous, it is a very vile and heinous sin; it is called not only greed—but the sinful greed, to show the height and transcendency of this their wickedness!
"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of covetousness; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15. Covetousness is—a very great and grievous sin—a mother-sin—a breeding sin—a sin which has all sin in its womb—a very vile and heinous sin—the root of all evil. Covetousness makes the soul earthly—which should be celestial. Covetousness is an evil which subjects
men to the basest and vilest evils.
Covetousness makes a man a fool! "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" Luke 12:20.
Covetousness robs a man of all true peace, comfort, contentment and quiet. Covetousness brings men into snares which drown their souls in perdition. Covetousness renders men unsatisfied under all their outward enjoyments. Though a covetous wretch has enough to sink him--yet he can never have enough to satisfy him. First he wishes for a bag full, and then achest full, and then a room full, and then a house full, etc.
The plague of unsatisfiedness, is the great plague which covetous men are under. Certainly you shall as soon fill a triangle with a circle, and a chest with grace--as you shall be able to fill and satisfy a covetous mind with money.
A covetous man is like a swine--which is good for nothing while it lives. The horse is good to carry, the ox is good to draw, the sheep is good for cloth, the cow is good to give milk, and the dog is good to guard the house--but the hog is good for nothing while he lives! Just so, a covetous man is only serviceable when he is dead. That scripture often proves true, "the riches of a sinner are laid up for the just," Job 27:17.
No sin lays men under greater woes! "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6:9-10.
Secondly, They grew worse under the afflicting hand of God; "I was enraged by his sinful greed; I punished him, and hid my face in anger, yet he kept on in his willful ways." They were like peevish, self-willed, stubborn children—which grow more cross, crooked, and perverse under all the chastenings of their father. And this was no small aggravation of their sin—that they grew worse under the rod! Plutarch writes that it is the quality of tigers, that if drums sound about them, they will grow mad, and rip and tear their own flesh in pieces; and so it was with these sinners in the text. Oh, how did they fret and fume, and tear—when they were under the rebukes of God! But,
Thirdly, They persevered and went on against all warnings; "I have seen his ways," that is, I have seen his obstinacy and incorrigibility in sin. "Ah, poor creature!" says God, "he sees not his present misery and slavery; he takes no notice of his own folly and vanity—of his own perverseness and peevishness; he scorns to bend or bow under my mighty hand; he is resolved to stand it out to the death; he will persist on in his own ways, though he eternally perishes—though hell stands at the end of his ways—yet on he will go!"
Well! what is the outcome of all this? God says, "I have seen his ways—and I will heal him." It is not, "I have seen his ways—and will curse him!" No, but "I have seen his ways—and I will heal him." It is not, "I have seen his ways—and will never have any more to do with him!" No, but "I have seen his ways—and will heal him!" It is not, "I have seen his ways—and will damn him!" No, but "I have seen his ways—and will heal him."
Oh the freeness! Oh the unsearchableness! Oh the riches of God's grace!
And thus you see that the precious promises last cited are promises which are made over to sinners as sinners.
And this is further evident in Isaiah 43:22-25. "Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel. You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense. You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses. I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more!"
For sins of omission and sins of commission, what can be more charged upon a sinful people than here is charged upon them? They were not only negligent of his worship and service—but they were also weary of his worship and service, and counted it rather a burden than a benefit, rather a toil than a pleasure. In all their outward observances they did but court the Lord, they did but compliment God; for while they were in his service, their hearts were secretly weary of his service; and by their sinful commissions, oh, how did they grieve, vex, oppress, and burden the Holy One of Israel! And yet, in verse 25, God does passionately and emphatically proclaim their free pardon, "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more!"
The metaphor is taken from men's blotting out of debts out of their debt-book. Now when a debt is blotted out of the debt-book, it is never more charged upon the debtor; it is never more regarded nor remembered. Just so, when God proclaims the sinner's pardon, when he forgives him his transgressions—he blots out, he erases, he crosses his books, and cancels all debts—so that he will never count his sins against him, and never charge his sins upon him! Being once forgiven—they shall be forever forgotten, they shall never more come into his remembrance!
And all this he will do for his name's sake, and for the praise and glory of his own free grace.
Just so, in Ezek. 36:26-29. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness!"
Now by all these scriptures it is most plain and evident that the precious promises of special grace and mercy are made over to sinners as sinners; and if so, then doubtless sinners may lawfully put these promises into suit. O sirs, don't you know that desire is the soul of prayer? and who—but such as are witless and graceless—will say that a wicked man may notdesire the accomplishment of God's gracious promises—who will say an unregenerate man may not desire to be pardoned, sanctified, and renewed; and that the Lord would bestow his Spirit upon him, and that, by the finger of the same Spirit, the law of the Lord may be written in his heart, that he may observe his statutes, and do them? These are things that God has engaged himself to do for poor sinners, and therefore certainly sinners may put God in mind of his engagements. But,
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Part 36 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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