DISCOURSE: 1165
MEN’S DISREGARD OF THE GOSPEL
Hosea 8:12. I have written to him the great things of my Law, but they were counted as a strange thing.
GOD, in estimating the sins of men, takes into his consideration all the aggravations with which they are committed. For instance; the warnings which have been given us against sin, the judgments with which we have been visited on account of it, the mercies that have been vouchsafed to us in the midst of it, are all regarded by him as enhancing our guilt in the commission of it. Hence, in criminating his people, whom now he was about to punish, he particularly charges home upon them their contempt of his word, which he had sent to guide them in the paths of righteousness, and to encourage them in a faithful discharge of their duty towards him. In this view our sins are peculiarly aggravated, inasmuch as we have been favoured with a more perfect revelation of God’s mind and will. And to evince this, I will shew,
I. What great things God has written to us in his law—
By God’s “law,” we are to understand his word in general; and by “the great things of it,” are meant its fundamental truths.
Let us take a view of them, as recorded in God’s blessed word—
[Our fall in Adam, our recovery by Christ, and our restoration to the Divine image by the Holy Spirit, these are plainly written in every part of the inspired volume. They were made known in the Old Testament, so far as was necessary for the instruction of men under that dark and temporary dispensation. The rite of circumcision marked, that we brought into the world a corrupt nature; and the appointment of sacrifices, whilst it shewed to all their desert of death, evinced to them the necessity of looking forward to that great sacrifice which should in due time he offered for the sins of men. The various lustrations also that were enjoined, gave a striking intimation of what should in due season be effected on the souls of men, through the operation of the Spirit of God. In the writings of David and the prophets, a further light is thrown upon these things: man is declared to be shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin [Note: Psalms 51:5.]: and his guilt is said to be removed only through the vicarious sufferings of the Son of God, “on whom the iniquities of all mankind are laid [Note: Isaiah 53:5-6.].” And for the renewal of our nature, we are taught to look to that Divine Agent, who is sent from heaven on purpose to impart it [Note: Ezekiel 36:25-27.].
In the New Testament, these points are more fully opened: and every thing relating to them is developed with all the clearness and certainty that the most scrupulous mind can desire.
Who can doubt the corruption of our nature, when we are told that “we are by nature children of wrath [Note: Ephesians 2:3.]?” What stronger proof can we have of the necessity of believing in Christ, than the assurance that there is salvation in no other, and “no other name given under heaven whereby we can be saved [Note: Acts 4:12.]?” As to the Spirit’s operations upon the soul, we are expressly told, that “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”]
And are not these things justly called “great”?
[Verily, in whatever light we view them, they are “great.” Contemplate the mysteriousness of them. How do they, in every part of them, surpass all human conception! What shall we say to our fall in Adam, and the consequent condemnation of all the human race? What shall we think of the incarnation of God’s only dear Son, for the purpose of satisfying Divine justice in our behalf, and working out a righteousness wherein we guilty creatures may stand before God without spot or blemish? What shall we say of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person in the ever-blessed Trinity, making our polluted souls his temples, for the purpose of renewing our fallen natures, and rendering us meet for glory? Well may the Apostle say, “Great is the mystery of godliness [Note: 1 Timothy 3:16.]!” and well may every one, in the contemplation of it, exclaim, “O the depth [Note: Romans 11:33.]”—]
But consider also the importance of these things. There is not any child of man, to whom the tidings of them are made known, that can be saved without an experimental acquaintance with them, and a suitable operation of them upon his soul. Under a sense of our fallen condition, we must lie low before God, in dust and ashes: under a conviction that there is no salvation for us but in Christ Jesus, we must cleave unto him with full purpose of heart: and, under a consciousness of our incapacity to do any thing for ourselves, we must commit ourselves altogether to the care of God’s Holy Spirit, that he may “work all our works in us,” and “perfect that which concerneth us.”
Say, then, whether things so deeply mysterious and so infinitely important be not great. Truly there is nothing in the whole universe that deserves a thought in comparison of these stupendous truths.]
But it is humiliating to observe,
I. How they are regarded by an ungodly world—
“They are counted as a strange thing:”
1. They are neglected as unimportant—
[One would imagine that the book which reveals these great truths should be universally sought after with insatiable avidity; and be studied day and night, in order to the obtaining of a perfect knowledge of its contents. But how is this book treated? It is thought a proper book for children, that they may be made acquainted with its truths so far as their slender capacities can comprehend them: but for persons of adult age it is supposed to contain nothing that is interesting; and it is laid aside by them, as undeserving any serious attention. Angels in heaven are searching into its unfathomable mysteries with an anxiety worthy of the occasion; but men, who are far more deeply interested in them, suffer them to remain without any serious inquiry. In fact, there is no other book so generally slighted as the inspired volume; not a novel or a newspaper but is preferred before it; so little is the excellence of its mysteries contemplated, and so little the importance of its truths considered.]
2. They are ridiculed as absurd—
[Universally is the corruption of our fallen nature regarded as a subject calculated only to inspire gloom, and therefore injurious to the happiness of man. The salvation which Christ has wrought out for us, and freely offers to the believing soul, is reprobated as a licentious doctrine, subversive of morality. The sanctifying influences of the Spirit, also, are held in contempt, as the dreams of a heated imagination, or the pretences of a hypocritical profession. Sin itself, unless in its most hideous forms, is not so universally despised and hated as are the truths of our most holy religion. They were so when proclaimed by prophets, and Apostles, and by our blessed Lord himself. “Ah, Lord God, doth he not speak parables [Note: Ezekiel 20:49.]?” is the slightest expression of contempt that any preacher of them can expect. In truth, no man can preach them with success, without being accused as “deceiving the people,” and “turning the world upside down.”]
Application—
How great is the blindness of the natural man!
[The depths of philosophy may be successfully explored by men of studious habits and of intellectual attainments. But who, by any powers of his own, can comprehend the great things of God’s law? Verily, they are “to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness;” and the most learned man on earth, no less than the most illiterate, must say, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law [Note: Psalms 119:18.].”]
2. How inestimable are the privileges of God’s people!
[“They have been brought out of darkness into marvellous light;” and the “things which God has hid from the wise and prudent, he has revealed unto them” — — — Still, however, there remains a veil upon their hearts, which yet they need to have removed. “They still see only as in a glass darkly;” and must wait for a full vision, till they come to the regions of the blest above.]