Bible Commentaries

DISCOURSE: 780

THE CHARACTER AND END OF THE WICKED

Proverbs 13:5. A wicked man is lothesome, and cometh to shame.

THE world in general uphold and countenance one another in their evil ways; some will even “make a mock at sin,” and glory in it. But God’s testimony respecting the wicked man is, that, whatever be his rank, or talents, or estimation among men, he is indeed “lothesome, and cometh to shame.”

In these words we behold,

I. The character of the wicked—

The wicked comprehend all who are not righteous—

[There are but two classes of persons mentioned in the Scriptures; and to one or other of them we all belong. There is no intermediate character. We indeed cannot always determine to which of these classes men belong, because we cannot discern the heart; but God, to whom all things are naked and open, will distinguish them from each other as easily as we do sheep from the goats.

It is of infinite importance that we should have this truth impressed on our minds: for we are ready to rank among the wicked those only who are guilty of great enormities: whereas all are wicked who are not truly righteous; all, who are not converted to God, and renewed in the spirit of their minds.]

God’s testimony respecting them is applicable to them all, whether they be more or less wicked in respect of gross sins—

[The openly profane are doubtless exceeding lothesome in the sight of God. Let any one but notice their conversation; how replete is it with lewdness and blasphemy! Let their tempers be marked; what evil dispositions do they manifest on all occasions! Let their conduct be scrutinized, their drunkenness, their whoredoms, and all their other abominations; and who must not confess the justice of that representation, which compares them to swine wallowing in the mire, and dogs devouring their own vomit [Note: 2 Peter 2:22. See also Job 15:16. Psalms 53:1-3.]?

The more decent, it is true, are not so vile in the eyes of men, (yea, perhaps they are honoured and esteemed) but they also are lothesome in the sight of God. What monsters of ingratitude are the very best of unregenerate men! What mercies have they received from God; what inconceivable love has been shewn them by the Lord Jesus Christ; and yet they have never spent one hour in humble and grateful adorations. If they had laboured thus to win the affections of some worthless wretch, and after many years of unintermitted kindness were requited by him as they requite their God, would they not consider him as deserving of utter execration? How lothesome then must they be, whose obligations are infinitely greater, and whose conduct is inexpressibly more vile! Their actions, it is confessed, may have been fair and specious: but what have their hearts been? have they not been a very sink of iniquity [Note: Jeremiah 17:9. Genesis 6:5.]? Yes; so depraved are the very best of men, that there are few, if any, who would not rather die, than have all the secrets of their hearts known to men as they are known to God. What then are such persons, but whited sepulchres [Note: Matthew 23:27.]? No wonder that, however they be esteemed among men, both their persons and services are an abomination to the Lord [Note: Luke 15:16. Proverbs 15:8; Proverbs 15:26; Proverbs 28:9.].]

Conformable to their character must surely be,

II. Their end—

Sin is in itself inconceivably vile, and will bring its votaries to shame,

1. In this world—

[How often are the fairest characters blasted by detection, and exposed to infamy! The deeds of darkness, when brought to light, often reflect such dishonour upon men, as to make them shun society, and put a period to their own existence. And how many are brought to die by the hands of a public executioner, and to entail disgrace on their latest posterity! Little do men think, when first they yield to temptation, whither sin will lead them. It is a principal device of Satan to conceal the consequences of sin, and to make men believe that they can recede from it whenever they please: but when he has once entangled their feet, they find to their cost, that they cannot escape from his net.]

2. In the world to come—

[There are many who pass honourably through life, and, for their conduct in society, deserve every token of our respect. But God will try the hearts of men in the last day: and “will bring to light every secret thing, whether it be good or evil.” Then what shame will overwhelm the most specious moralist, whose heart was unrenewed by grace! A want of love to Christ now is thought but a light matter: but then it will appear in its true colours, as deserving of God’s heaviest indignation [Note: 1 Corinthians 16:22.]. Secret lusts too are overlooked, as though they did not at all defile the soul: but they will then be found to have made us altogether lothesome and odious to God [Note: Ezekiel 14:4; Ezekiel 14:7.]. Then will Christ [Note: Matthew 7:22-23.] with all his saints [Note: 1 Corinthians 6:2.] and angels [Note: Matthew 13:41-42.] unite in expressing their abhorrence of these whited sepulchres; so fully shall that declaration be verified, They shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt [Note: Daniel 12:2.].]

We cannot improve this subject better than by pointing out,

1. What is that repentance which such persons need—

[It is by no means sufficient to confess that we are sinners: we should feel that we are indeed lothesome [Note: Isaiah 64:6.]; and should be filled with shame on account of the extreme vileness of our hearts [Note: Ezekiel 36:31; Ezekiel 16:63 and Romans 6:21.]. Nothing less than this will constitute that “repentance which is not to be repented of [Note: See Ezra 9:6. Job 40:4; Job 42:6.].”]

2. How their character and end may be completely changed—

[Lothesome as we are we may be purified by the blood of Jesus, and be made without spot or blemish in the sight of God [Note: Ephesians 5:25-27.]. Our natures also may be changed by his Spirit, so that we shall possess a beauty that God himself shall admire [Note: 1 Peter 3:4.]. Yea, instead of having shame for our portion, we shall be made to inherit “glory and honour and immortality.” We shall be sons of the living God, and be seated with Christ on thrones of glory. Let us then seek this change, and rely on God’s promises, that by means of them it may be accomplished in us [Note: 2 Corinthians 7:1.].]

DISCOURSE: 781

THE WAY OF TRANSGRESSORS HARD

Proverbs 13:15. The way of transgressors is hard.

THE Scriptures abound with weighty aphorisms, which deserve the deepest consideration. For the most part, they will be found directly opposed to the general opinions of mankind. The maxims of men are too often founded on the appearance of things, and on the respect they bear to our temporal advantage; but the declarations of God exhibit things as they really are, and as they will approve themselves to be, if we take into consideration their aspect on eternity. The transgressors of God’s law account themselves happy in having cast off his yoke, and freed themselves from the restraints which his law would impose upon them. But the truth is, that he is under a most desperate delusion, and grievously deceives his own soul. “A good understanding,” regulating the conduct agreeably to God’s commands. “will ensure to a man favour” and comfort, both in this world and the next:” “but the way of transgressors is hard.” Their whole life is a state,

I. Of bondage—

[Whatever be the besetting sin of the ungodly, it has within them the force of a law, to which alas! they yield a willing obedience [Note: Romans 7:21.].” As the ten tribes “ran willingly after the commandment” of Jeroboam to the commission of idolatry, to which they had an inward and almost invincible propensity [Note: Hosea 5:11.]; so do the worldling, the sensualist, the drunkard, follow but too readily, the impulse of their own corrupt hearts. A spring will not more naturally rise, when the power which compressed it is removed, than their lusts will rise to demand their wonted gratification, when an opportunity for indulgence is afforded them. The poor infatuated agents will call this liberty [Note: 2 Peter 2:19.]; but the whole Scriptures designate it bondage: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey [Note: Romans 6:16.]?” Yes, in yielding to temptation we are “the servants of sin [Note: Romans 6:17.];” and the servants of Satan also: for “he it is who worketh in all the children of disobedience [Note: Ephesians 2:2.],” and leads them captive at his will [Note: 2 Timothy 2:26.]”. In fact, the whole Gospel takes this for granted: for Christ was sent on purpose to redeem us from this bondage [Note: Luke 4:18.], and to “make us free indeed [Note: John 8:36.].” But, whilst thus enslaved, are we not in a most pitiable condition? True, we may not be sensible of the bondage, because the service of sin and Satan is in accordance with our own corrupt inclinations: but we are, in fact, the more to be pitied, because of our insensibility: even as a maniac is, whose whole life is occupied in things which tend to the destruction of his own welfare. The transgressor’s life is also a state,]

II. Of disquietude—

[The ungodly man, whatever be his pursuit, finds nothing in which his soul can rest. Possess what he may, “in the midst of his sufficiency he is in straits [Note: Job 20:22.].” There is always a secret something unpossessed; some object which he thinks would make him happy, but which, even when in appearance almost attained, eludes his grasp: and after he has “hewn out to himself a cistern with great labour, he finds it only a broken cistern, that can hold no water [Note: Jeremiah 2:13.].” His continual disappointments fill him with vexation; so that he finds even the objects of his fondest hope prove, in the issue, to be “vanity and vexation of spirit.” Not being devoted to his God, he wants those enjoyments and those prospects which alone can afford consolation to him under his trials — — — To his other pains are added those of a self-condemning conscience. He tries indeed to stifle the voice of conscience; and betakes himself to business, and pleasures, and company, in order to get rid of its remonstrances: but there are times when it will speak, especially a time of sickness and approaching dissolution; and at those seasons he feels regret that he has so long and so entirely disregarded his eternal interests. Gladly at such a season would he consent to have his miserable life protracted to an indefinite period, yea, or to suffer annihilation; not because he could contemplate either the one or the other with pleasure, but because he dreads the judgment for which he has neglected to prepare.

Say, Brethren, whether such away be not hard and painful? Yet I appeal to the conscience of every man, whether that declaration be not verified in his own experience; “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked [Note: Isaiah 57:20-21.].” Yes, verily, this testimony is incontrovertible; and it proves beyond all doubt the truth in my text, that “the way of transgressors is hard.”

But all this is heightened by the consideration of the transgressors’ way as a state,]

III. Of danger—

[In some respect it may be said of every man, that he is exposed to danger, and that “we know not what a day or an hour may bring forth.” But, if we be servants of Christ, we have nothing to fear; since He is pledged to preserve us from every thing that shall be really evil, and to make “all things work together for our good [Note: Romans 8:28.].” Even death itself is a blessing to the pious man, who is privileged to count it amongst his richest treasures [Note: 1 Corinthians 3:22.]. Far different from this, however, is the state of the ungodly man: he knows not but that the next moment may precipitate him into the bottomless abyss of hell. Death waits but for its commission from on high, and it will in an instant transmit his soul to the bar of judgment, and to the presence of his offended God. What a fearful thought! With what terror would it inspire the unconverted man, if it were contemplated aright! Could we but conceive a transgressor hurried to the tribunal of his Judge, to give up his great account, and to receive his final doom, what a view should we have of the folly of his ways! Oh! the anguish to which he is now subjected under the wrath of an avenging God? what “weeping” under the load of his misery! what “wailing” on account of his folly, in having so wasted his day of grace! and what “gnashing of teeth,” with unprofitable execrations against his avenging God! Such is the danger to which the unconverted man is every moment exposed. At his most joyous feasts, this sword is suspended over him by a single hair; which cut or rent asunder, he is instantly consigned to endless woe. Whether the transgressor think of it or not, this is his state; and a miserable state it is: and if he awake not out of it before death shall seize him, it were better for him that he had never been born.]

Improvement—

1. How desirable is the conversion of the soul to God!

[Compare the state of a converted soul with that which has been before described. The saint, doubtless, has his trials, as well as the ungodly man: but in him, so far as it prevails, religion makes a most essential difference: “it frees him from the law of sin and death [Note: Romans 8:2.];” and he finds all its ways to be the ways of pleasantness and peace [Note: Proverbs 3:17.].” If men consulted only their happiness in this life, they would devote themselves to God, whose service is perfect freedom: but if they take eternity into the account, they will confess him to be the only happy man, who enjoys the Divine favour and looks forward with confidence to a participation of the Divine glory.]

2. How infatuated are they who delay to seek it!

[Truly, if men were conscious of their danger in an unconverted state, they could no more sleep than they could in a ship that was on fire, or on a rafter on which they were making their escape to land. I pray you, beloved, consider the shortness and uncertainty of time! Consider how every day’s continuance in sin operates to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, to harden your own hearts, to confirm your evil habits, to accumulate your load of guilt, and to augment the misery that awaits you. O! will you delay to turn unto your God? Will you delay one single hour? What if your soul be required of you this very night, and your doom be fixed without a hope or possibility of change for ever? I beseech you, to-day, while it is called to-day, harden not your hearts; but “repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”]