THE UNHAPPINESS OF SINNERS
Isaiah 57:20-21. The wicked are like the troubled sea, &c. [1728]
[1728] See pp. 318, 319.
A true picture of that continued state of restlessness, uncertainty, and apprehension in which the wicked are held daily by the terrors of an alarmed conscience; or even by the distrust and anxiety they are doomed to experience in the very midst of their fancied freedom and enjoyments! Whoever has looked upon the ocean when tossed by storm and tempest, must acknowledge that the prophet could have selected no better comparison to depict to the life the state of a sinner’s spirit.
I. The sea cannot, if it would, sink to repose, but is doomed to heave wave after wave uselessly to the shore, till the mind of the spectator is oppressed with a sense of weariness, and almost sorrow for such incessant and fruitless tossings. Such, exactly, is the state of the sinner’s mind; it cannot rest. With the stain of unrepented sin on the conscience, the mind can enjoy no peace, can taste no rational pleasure [1731]
[1731] H. E. I. 1331, 1332, 1334–1341; P. D. 560, 562, 569, 572.
I. In illustrating these declarations we are not required to maintain that the life of wicked men is one of pure and unqualified wretchedness; common experience would be against us, and such is not the meaning of our text. We may admit, in perfect conformity with Isaiah’s views, that the persons here mentioned are very often possessed of many worldly blessings, and have much apparent enjoyment (Psalms 35:15, &c.; H. E. I. 5045–5047). Yea, they are capable of deriving certain comforts from these outward benefits, and would sometimes be surprised if you told them that they were altogether strangers to peace. It is difficult to suppose that wealth, power, and distinction, although the portion of worldly and wicked men, convey to them no satisfaction. And especially if we contemplate that large class who spend their time amidst worldly amusements and dissipations—is there no comfort here? Is it possible that these buoyant and lively spirits are a prey to inward vexation? Can it be supposed that the thoughtless, the cheerful, and the gay, who seem to be far remote from anxiety and care, are, at the very moment, miserable? Must we suppose that even the sensual, who work all uncleanness with greediness, really do not find even any sordid pleasure in their pursuits? We need not make any statements so strong and unqualified. Nor, whatever be the alleged gratification that such persons can have, and whatever be their exemption, at any stated period, from harassing anxiety, it is not peace (α). The only condition which answers to the word peace is totally distinct both from the animal spirits, which are sometimes mistaken for it, and from the insensibility which marks the practised and daring sinner. True peace must be something essentially distinct from the changing objects of time and sense; it must be something which includes the freedom of the mind from just apprehensions of evil, and which breathes over the soul a calm which the world cannot take away. Now, there is nothing which can do this but the peace made known and offered to us by the Gospel (John 14:27; Romans 14:17).
Where there is no reconciliation with God, this peace cannot exist. The wicked, therefore, have it not; on the contrary, they “are like the troubled sea; for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt.” There may sometimes be a calm over the face of the deep, but it is not of long continuance; and the time comes when we observe the sea in commotion: no longer hushed in repose and presenting the stillness and clearness of a placid lake, but working up from its depths the sediment which is there deposited, and mingling it, even to the surface, with its waves. Such is the just and accurate image to represent the real state of mind of the wicked. Making all due allowance for the different natural dispositions of men, we see this to be generally the case with them. While all is cheerfulness and gaiety around them, while nothing occurs to interfere with their worldly pleasures, or the indulgence of their depraved minds, there is the apparent quiet and repose of the unruffled ocean: but let the soothing influence be removed, let the object of their gratifications and pursuits desert them, nay, let them be followed only to their own chamber and left to the solitude of their own thoughts, and how little have they of rest!
II. Why is there no peace to the wicked? Several reasons. 1. The unsuitableness of any earthly things to satisfy the soul. God created man in His own image; and although that image has been defaced, it is not absolutely destroyed; the temple which God created has not been ploughed up from the foundation; although a ruin, it is still a splendid ruin. The soul no longer possesses those elevated and lofty views and desires which distinguished it before the fall; but there is still in us a desire for something which this world cannot supply. Give to a man all that his heart can wish for of things visible: it will be found that the spirit is not satisfied. If we would give peace to the soul, we must have recourse to something better than the world with all its promises, and more suited to afford solid gratification than wickedness in all its branches (H. E. I. 4969–4974, 5006–5025).
2. The corrupt influence of depraved appetites and ungoverned passions. The terrible results of this influence will be obvious to any one who will observe the wicked, the perpetual outbreaking of their bad passions, and the misery thus inflicted on them (H. E. I. 4955).
3. An unpacified conscience. This troubles them in their solitude even in the days of their health; but how terrible is the distress it causes when death seems at hand.
CONCLUSION.—1. The folly of continuing in any known sin. No man would willingly and avowedly pursue a course which must involve him in misery. Why, then, is it that men persist in transgression? 2. How conducive to our happiness, even in this life, must be the spirit of true religion in the heart—reconciliation with God; peace of conscience; the peace which Christ can give. 3. What cause have we for gratitude to God, that He has provided a way of reconciliation even for the chief of sinners!—W. Dealtry, D.D., F.R.S.: Sermons, pp. 281–297.
I. In illustrating these declarations we are not required to maintain that the life of wicked men is one of pure and unqualified wretchedness; common experience would be against us, and such is not the meaning of our text. We may admit, in perfect conformity with Isaiah’s views, that the persons here mentioned are very often possessed of many worldly blessings, and have much apparent enjoyment (Psalms 35:15, &c.; H. E. I. 5045–5047). Yea, they are capable of deriving certain comforts from these outward benefits, and would sometimes be surprised if you told them that they were altogether strangers to peace. It is difficult to suppose that wealth, power, and distinction, although the portion of worldly and wicked men, convey to them no satisfaction. And especially if we contemplate that large class who spend their time amidst worldly amusements and dissipations—is there no comfort here? Is it possible that these buoyant and lively spirits are a prey to inward vexation? Can it be supposed that the thoughtless, the cheerful, and the gay, who seem to be far remote from anxiety and care, are, at the very moment, miserable? Must we suppose that even the sensual, who work all uncleanness with greediness, really do not find even any sordid pleasure in their pursuits? We need not make any statements so strong and unqualified. Nor, whatever be the alleged gratification that such persons can have, and whatever be their exemption, at any stated period, from harassing anxiety, it is not peace (α). The only condition which answers to the word peace is totally distinct both from the animal spirits, which are sometimes mistaken for it, and from the insensibility which marks the practised and daring sinner. True peace must be something essentially distinct from the changing objects of time and sense; it must be something which includes the freedom of the mind from just apprehensions of evil, and which breathes over the soul a calm which the world cannot take away. Now, there is nothing which can do this but the peace made known and offered to us by the Gospel (John 14:27; Romans 14:17).
Where there is no reconciliation with God, this peace cannot exist. The wicked, therefore, have it not; on the contrary, they “are like the troubled sea; for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt.” There may sometimes be a calm over the face of the deep, but it is not of long continuance; and the time comes when we observe the sea in commotion: no longer hushed in repose and presenting the stillness and clearness of a placid lake, but working up from its depths the sediment which is there deposited, and mingling it, even to the surface, with its waves. Such is the just and accurate image to represent the real state of mind of the wicked. Making all due allowance for the different natural dispositions of men, we see this to be generally the case with them. While all is cheerfulness and gaiety around them, while nothing occurs to interfere with their worldly pleasures, or the indulgence of their depraved minds, there is the apparent quiet and repose of the unruffled ocean: but let the soothing influence be removed, let the object of their gratifications and pursuits desert them, nay, let them be followed only to their own chamber and left to the solitude of their own thoughts, and how little have they of rest!
II. Why is there no peace to the wicked? Several reasons. 1. The unsuitableness of any earthly things to satisfy the soul. God created man in His own image; and although that image has been defaced, it is not absolutely destroyed; the temple which God created has not been ploughed up from the foundation; although a ruin, it is still a splendid ruin. The soul no longer possesses those elevated and lofty views and desires which distinguished it before the fall; but there is still in us a desire for something which this world cannot supply. Give to a man all that his heart can wish for of things visible: it will be found that the spirit is not satisfied. If we would give peace to the soul, we must have recourse to something better than the world with all its promises, and more suited to afford solid gratification than wickedness in all its branches (H. E. I. 4969–4974, 5006–5025).
2. The corrupt influence of depraved appetites and ungoverned passions. The terrible results of this influence will be obvious to any one who will observe the wicked, the perpetual outbreaking of their bad passions, and the misery thus inflicted on them (H. E. I. 4955).
3. An unpacified conscience. This troubles them in their solitude even in the days of their health; but how terrible is the distress it causes when death seems at hand.
CONCLUSION.—1. The folly of continuing in any known sin. No man would willingly and avowedly pursue a course which must involve him in misery. Why, then, is it that men persist in transgression? 2. How conducive to our happiness, even in this life, must be the spirit of true religion in the heart—reconciliation with God; peace of conscience; the peace which Christ can give. 3. What cause have we for gratitude to God, that He has provided a way of reconciliation even for the chief of sinners!—W. Dealtry, D.D., F.R.S.: Sermons, pp. 281–297.
I. In illustrating these declarations we are not required to maintain that the life of wicked men is one of pure and unqualified wretchedness; common experience would be against us, and such is not the meaning of our text. We may admit, in perfect conformity with Isaiah’s views, that the persons here mentioned are very often possessed of many worldly blessings, and have much apparent enjoyment (Psalms 35:15, &c.; H. E. I. 5045–5047). Yea, they are capable of deriving certain comforts from these outward benefits, and would sometimes be surprised if you told them that they were altogether strangers to peace. It is difficult to suppose that wealth, power, and distinction, although the portion of worldly and wicked men, convey to them no satisfaction. And especially if we contemplate that large class who spend their time amidst worldly amusements and dissipations—is there no comfort here? Is it possible that these buoyant and lively spirits are a prey to inward vexation? Can it be supposed that the thoughtless, the cheerful, and the gay, who seem to be far remote from anxiety and care, are, at the very moment, miserable? Must we suppose that even the sensual, who work all uncleanness with greediness, really do not find even any sordid pleasure in their pursuits? We need not make any statements so strong and unqualified. Nor, whatever be the alleged gratification that such persons can have, and whatever be their exemption, at any stated period, from harassing anxiety, it is not peace (α). The only condition which answers to the word peace is totally distinct both from the animal spirits, which are sometimes mistaken for it, and from the insensibility which marks the practised and daring sinner. True peace must be something essentially distinct from the changing objects of time and sense; it must be something which includes the freedom of the mind from just apprehensions of evil, and which breathes over the soul a calm which the world cannot take away. Now, there is nothing which can do this but the peace made known and offered to us by the Gospel (John 14:27; Romans 14:17).
Where there is no reconciliation with God, this peace cannot exist. The wicked, therefore, have it not; on the contrary, they “are like the troubled sea; for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt.” There may sometimes be a calm over the face of the deep, but it is not of long continuance; and the time comes when we observe the sea in commotion: no longer hushed in repose and presenting the stillness and clearness of a placid lake, but working up from its depths the sediment which is there deposited, and mingling it, even to the surface, with its waves. Such is the just and accurate image to represent the real state of mind of the wicked. Making all due allowance for the different natural dispositions of men, we see this to be generally the case with them. While all is cheerfulness and gaiety around them, while nothing occurs to interfere with their worldly pleasures, or the indulgence of their depraved minds, there is the apparent quiet and repose of the unruffled ocean: but let the soothing influence be removed, let the object of their gratifications and pursuits desert them, nay, let them be followed only to their own chamber and left to the solitude of their own thoughts, and how little have they of rest!
II. Why is there no peace to the wicked? Several reasons. 1. The unsuitableness of any earthly things to satisfy the soul. God created man in His own image; and although that image has been defaced, it is not absolutely destroyed; the temple which God created has not been ploughed up from the foundation; although a ruin, it is still a splendid ruin. The soul no longer possesses those elevated and lofty views and desires which distinguished it before the fall; but there is still in us a desire for something which this world cannot supply. Give to a man all that his heart can wish for of things visible: it will be found that the spirit is not satisfied. If we would give peace to the soul, we must have recourse to something better than the world with all its promises, and more suited to afford solid gratification than wickedness in all its branches (H. E. I. 4969–4974, 5006–5025).
2. The corrupt influence of depraved appetites and ungoverned passions. The terrible results of this influence will be obvious to any one who will observe the wicked, the perpetual outbreaking of their bad passions, and the misery thus inflicted on them (H. E. I. 4955).
3. An unpacified conscience. This troubles them in their solitude even in the days of their health; but how terrible is the distress it causes when death seems at hand.
CONCLUSION.—1. The folly of continuing in any known sin. No man would willingly and avowedly pursue a course which must involve him in misery. Why, then, is it that men persist in transgression? 2. How conducive to our happiness, even in this life, must be the spirit of true religion in the heart—reconciliation with God; peace of conscience; the peace which Christ can give. 3. What cause have we for gratitude to God, that He has provided a way of reconciliation even for the chief of sinners!—W. Dealtry, D.D., F.R.S.: Sermons, pp. 281–297.
II. The sinner, in his impurity, is like the troubled sea, “whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” As in a tempest the waves of the ocean fling nothing but foam and weed and refuse to the shore, so the mind of the sinner is productive of nothing but polluted thoughts and corrupted actions, as worthless as the mire and clay left behind it by the retiring storm. This is of all others the greatest evil that sin brings with it. By it true happiness of soul and nobleness of life are rendered impossible. It is only when the stain of sin has been blotted out by faith, and the feelings of the heart purified by grace continually sought for in fervent prayer, that the peace of God reigns in the heart, and the fruits of peace show themselves in the life and practice.
III. Several things render the sinner unhappy even in this life. Not only shall he have no peace hereafter, but he has no peace here and now. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”
1. The wicked have no real comfort of mind from the pleasures of this world.
(1.) Nothing can afford us any real or lasting pleasures except so far as it can be enjoyed innocently and with a good conscience. The indulgence of disordered passion may, indeed, sometimes give a momentary delight; but it is always followed, on reflection, by the pangs of remorse and sorrow.
(2.) Even those delights which are pure and innocent the sinner enjoyeth not like other men; for his taste is too much corrupted and deadened by the intoxicating draughts of sin to relish the simple pleasures of innocence and virtue.
2. The wicked must necessarily want all effectual support under the many evils and calamities of life. In the time of affliction, what a contrast there is between the faithful Christian and the sinner. What the Christian can say (Psalms 57:1; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18). But when the storm overtakes the sinner, it finds him naked and exposed to its influence, without one single prospect of succour or of safety. He cannot retire within himself, and derive comfort in his adversity from the uprightness of his conduct and the purity of his intentions, for these never have had a place in his bosom; he cannot look back with pleasure on the past, and he dare not look forward to the future. Moreover, the world feels no pity for the unfortunate sinner, and his own companions in guilt will be the first to shun and the last to succour him.
3. The wicked are troubled perpetually with the reproofs of conscience, and unwelcome thoughts of death.—R. Parkinson, B.D.: Sermons, vol. i. pp. 148–158.
Words have different meanings on different lips. “A rich man”—a farmer’s wife will so describe a man on whom a Baring or a Rothschild looks down as poor. To God and His inspired prophets “peace” has a loftier significance than it has to us, when uninstructed by them. Their peace means a condition of the heart arising from the harmony of the heart with God. A great work has been accomplished in any heart in which there is this peace. Its source is invisible, its results supernatural. The world does not give it; the world cannot take it away. It is independent of circumstances. Those who possess it are conscious of it when resting in the pleasant shade around which falls the pleasant sunshine of a summer day, and also when tossed to and fro at midnight on a stormy ocean. Christ, who gives it, had it when the cross was full in view: it was when He was on His way to torture and death that He bequeathed it to His disciples (John 14:27).
If we forget what “peace” means in Scripture, we shall be disposed to regard this Scripture declaration as inaccurate, as exaggerated. Great was Asaph’s distress when he forgot it (Psalms 73:2-4). In the world there are many counterfeits of peace on which our observation is apt to rest. These counterfeits of peace prevail: nevertheless to the wicked there is no peace. What they imagine is peace is like the smoothness of the ocean on a summer evening: there is in it no stability. The wicked man, after all, is “like the troubled sea.”
I. He cannot rest. That is true of the sea, and it is just as true of the sinner, for there are mighty winds from which he cannot long escape.
1. The wind of an accusing conscience. No opiate will consign conscience to an endless slumber; no gag will keep it always silent. There are times when it will escape, and the work it does then is like the work done by a hurricane on the ocean. In solitude, in the sleepless midnight hours, in the season of sickness, the wicked man feels himself helpless before it.
2. The wind of approaching death, for which the wicked man feels he is not ready (P. D. 684).
3. The wind of judgment beyond death. In health, he scoffed at the thought of it as a silly superstitious delusion; but when he feels the chill hand of death is upon him, where is his “peace”?
These mighty winds render it impossible for the wicked man to rest. They expose the worthlessness of the counterfeits in which for a little while he rejoices.
II. He cannot permanently conceal the foulness that is within him. When the storm strikes the sea, “its waters cast up mire and dirt;” it is seen that they are not throughout as pellucid as on a quiet summer evening they seem. Their charm is merely superficial. On the wicked man, likewise, forces are exerted which show what is in him. For a time there may be a fair outward appearance, that deceives himself and others; but ere long it is dispersed by such things as these—
1. The fierce gale of sensual passion. What scandals shock society every day! What surprise is felt! And yet how unreasonable is the surprise! The temptation only showed what was in the man.
2. The fierce gale of disappointed ambition. What falsehood, meanness, cruelty, appears in men who are being deposed or hurled from power! With what base weapon they seek to defend themselves, and to retain their position!
3. The fierce gale of pecuniary necessity. There are in jail to-day men whose word a year ago was considered “as good as their bond;” but there never was in them real honesty. All these things show what is in the wicked; that beneath the surface, yea, to the very depths of their being, there is foulness.
CONCLUSION.—
1. Let us not envy the wicked in their time of success and serenity (Psalms 37:34-37; H. E. I. 4943–4948, 4955–4966).
2. Let us seek the true peace and the permanent serenity we need where alone it can be found.
3. Let us have Divine compassion for the wicked.—R. A., 73.
THE HYPOCRITE UNMASKED
Isaiah 58:1-5. Cry aloud, spare not, &c.
The history of nations is pre-eminently the history of God’s providential government of the world. The special charge laid at the door of Israel in our text is that of hypocrisy: a malady from which many a modern temple-worshipper is suffering. Indeed there is the tendency of it to be found lurking in the nature of us all. Consider—
I. The false professions with which the Israelites are charged.
1. An apparent diligence in the search after truth and justice.
2. They appeared to be regular and punctual in their observance of the ordinances of religion. Often secondary motives prompt to a religious profession and to attendance at the house of God. It is considered fashionable and respectable to keep the Sabbath and to be present at the sanctuary at least once on the Lord’s Day. Besides, it is pleasing to our friends, &c. If these are your only motives to a religious profession, they are unworthy, and will not stand the lightning glance of Him who is the searcher of all hearts. This will help us to account for the apparent lapses and so-called backslidings of professing Christians. Learn the vital difference between a spurious and a genuine piety.
3. Look also at the spirit in which their sacrifices were made.
4. Evidently some of them were possessed of a strong desire to maintain the standard of orthodoxy (Isaiah 57:4; 1 Corinthians 1). To-day the olden spirit of strife and sectarian jealousy still stalks through Christendom, and there is the same smiting at any rate with the mental fist that we find in the dark days of old. How is it with ourselves? What is the great object of all our self-sacrifice and labour? Is it merely to bolster up our own little sect or Church, &c.
5. The spirit of mock humility in which the Israelites indulged (Isaiah 57:5). Custom of the East; the humiliation was feigned (Job 8:12). Such are some of the false professions with which the Israelites are here charged.
II. The vehement rebuke with which, because of their false professions, they are visited (Isaiah 57:1; Ezekiel 33:3). It is possible for God’s people even to harbour in their midst the accursed thing which God hateth. And although we are sometimes slow to detect and confess the lurking evil, which like a worm is gnawing the root of our piety, and sapping the very fount of our spiritual life; yet God detects it, and it must be put away if we would still be accepted of Him.
CONCLUSION.—If your character answers at all to that of Israel, suffer the word of honest rebuke. Of all hateful things in God’s sight, hypocrisy is the chief.—J. W. Atkinson: The Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 882.