Bible Commentaries

DISCOURSE: 1227

THE SECURE AND ATHEISTICAL CONDEMNED

Zephaniah 1:12. It shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees; that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.

SUCH was the state of the Jews for a long time previous to the Babylonish captivity, that the prophets had little to do, but to denounce the judgments of God against them. The promises which they were inspired to utter had respect to a different and distant period, a period for the most part yet future; shadowed forth indeed by their deliverance from Babylon, but to be realized only by their future conversion to the faith of Christ. Nevertheless, the warnings given to them are of use to the Church of God in all ages. The Christian Church at this time is in a state not very dissimilar to that of the Jews in the land of Canaan. We are externally the chosen people of God: we enjoy the ordinances of religion in their purity: and we have all the means of grace richly afforded us. But we rest in external services, as they did; and have as little of real piety as the generality of that infatuated nation. Whilst we call ourselves the people of the Lord, we differ but little from the nations that know not God. We conform in many things to customs most repugnant to true religion; and in the spirit and habit of our minds, shew, that, whatever we may retain of “the form of godliness, we are strangers to its power.” The evils which God reproved amongst them, are to be found in no less degree amongst us also: and the judgments that were denounced against them shew what reason we also have to dread the displeasure of God. In confirmation of this truth, we will consider,

I. The characters here described—

Such we behold in every place; persons sunk in,

1. Carnal security—

[The metaphor by which the state of these persons is depicted exhibits it in a most striking point of view. Wine, when “settled on its lees,” retains for a long time its strength and flavour, which, if it were emptied from vessel to vessel, it would soon lose. In like manner, when, through a long period of ease and prosperity, persons have their natural dispositions fixed, and inveterate habits formed, they retain throughout their whole man, and manifest throughout their whole conduct, a savour of earthly things. The very habit of sin hardens them in sin; and the forbearance which God in his mercy exercises towards them, confirms in them an expectation of final impunity. This is the description which the Prophet Jeremiah gives of Moab [Note: Jeremiah 48:11.]; and with it agrees the testimony of David respecting the ungodly in all ages: as long as they have no changes “to awaken them from their slumber, they fear not God.” How true this is, we cannot but see in all around us. How securely do men live in a total neglect of their everlasting concerns! They have no dread of God’s displeasure; no anxieties about the future judgment; no alternations of hope and fear as arising from an examination of their state before God. Whatever God may say in his word, they regard it not. If he tell them, that “broad is the road that leadeth to destruction, and that many,” even the great mass of mankind, “walk therein; but that narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it;” they account it worthy of not the least attention: they cannot believe that they are in any danger; and they hold fast their delusions with a confidence that nothing can shake.]

2. Atheistical presumption—

[Persons, the more effectually to exclude all misgivings from their minds, deny that God takes any cognizance of their state. “Tush, say they, how shall God know? is there knowledge in the Most High [Note: Ps. 73 11.]?” They think it would be dishonouring God to conceive of him as marking all the ways of the children of men in order to a future judgment. True indeed, they hear him denounce many threatenings against the ungodly: but they will not believe that he will execute them. They hear him, too, promising many things to his humble and obedient people: but they cannot persuade themselves that he will fulfil them. They imagine that he has, as it were, “forsaken the earth [Note: Ezekiel 8:12.]:” and quite contented are they that he should do so, since the very thought of his presence would disquiet them. Thus do they, in fact, “say like the fool, ‘There is no God [Note: Psalms 14:1.]’”

Not that this is the language of their lips: they would be ashamed to avow such sentiments as these. But it is the language of their hearts: “they say in their hearts, The Lord will not do good; neither will he do evil.” If they believed in their hearts the promises and threatenings of God, they would manifest a suitable regard to them in their lives: but, as they neither delight themselves in the one, nor tremble at the other, they shew beyond all doubt what the secret feeling of their hearts is, and that the construction which God puts upon their conduct is true. They may be moral and decent in their outward conduct; but radically in their hearts they are “Atheists in the world [Note: Ephesians 2:12. See the Greek.].”]

After this view of the persons described in our text, we shall not wonder at,

II. The judgments denounced against them—

Two things God declares in the words before us;

1. That however hidden they may suppose their state to be, God will search it out—

[The Jews at the passover would search every corner of their houses with candles, in order to find the smallest portion of leaven which might lie concealed: and God will search with candles, not Jerusalem only, but every place, yea and every heart, to find the abominations which have been just described. They may not betray themselves by any overt acts, so as to excite the attention of men: they may even exist where all the outward conduct is correct; even as the most offensive masses of corruption are hid under a whited sepulchre. But God will not be deceived by any appearances, however specious; “The darkness is no darkness with him; but the night is as clear as the day:” before him all things are naked and opened: the thoughts and intents of the heart are discerned by him: and “he will make manifest its most hidden counsels.” “He searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins,” and “weigheth the spirit” as in a balance; and will interpret as infallibly the language of the heart, as if it had been manifested by ten thousand acts. Let this be duly considered. We may deceive others, and we may deceive ourselves: but we cannot deceive our God; for “he knows the things that come into our mind, every one of them.”]

2. That however innocent they may suppose their state to be, God will punish it—

[God cannot look upon persons of this description without the deepest resentment: for they place him on a level with the basest idol, whose proper character is, that “it can do neither good nor evil [Note: Jeremiah 10:5.].” And how can a holy and jealous God endure this? Be it so: their wickedness is only, as it were, of a negative kind; and consists rather in a neglect of what is good, than in a perpetration of what is evil: but was this unpunished in the antediluvian world? “They ate, they drank; they planted, they builded; they married, and were given in marriage:” and, What harm, it may be asked, was there in all this? None: but the evil was, that they lived without any regard for God: and therefore God sent a deluge, and swept them all away. And so will he do with respect to those who now cast off all fear of him, and, in heart at least, banish him from the world which he has created. See in what light he views such conduct: he declares “the iniquity of it to be exceeding great [Note: Ezekiel 9:9.];” and denounces against it his heaviest indignation [Note: Deuteronomy 29:19-20.]. And so far are these persons from being out of danger, that the more secure they apprehend themselves to be, the greater and more imminent their danger is. They may say, Peace and safety; but “sudden destruction will come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape [Note: 1 Thessalonians 5:3.];” they may sleep; but “their judgment lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” “The sins of some are open beforehand, going before to judgment: but they that are otherwise cannot be hid [Note: 1 Timothy 5:24-25.].” It is in vain to say that they do no harm: for the unprofitable servant, no less than the openly wicked, shall be “cast into outer darkness, where is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.”]

Address—

1. Those who are living in the state above described—

[I will appeal to you yourselves respecting the wickedness of your lives. Judge ye between God and your own souls. Consider yourselves but as creatures; and does it become you to live without any regard for your Creator? But view yourselves as sinners redeemed by the blood of God’s only dear Son; and then say, whether a life of carnal security and atheistical presumption be such an one as your condition calls for? — — — Look into the Scriptures, and see whether you can find any countenance for such a life, either in the commands of God, or in the examples of his saints? — — — Think whether your own opinion of such a state will always remain what you now profess it to be? Do you find that any awakened soul looks back on such a life with complacency? Does it appear to him a light matter to have lived all his days as without God in the world? If you continue to harden yourselves against God, he may give you up to your own delusions, and leave you under the power of them in your dying hour: but what think you will be your views of such a life the very instant your eyes are opened on the invisible world? What will be your views of it when standing in the presence of your Judge? and what will be your views of it, when you are eating the fruit of your own ways in that place from whence there is no return, and in which your residence will be fixed to all eternity? If in your hearts you think that you will then rejoice in the retrospect of a carnal life, go on; and sleep out the little remainder of your days. But if conscience tell you, that in that day you will have far different views from those which you now profess, then awake from your slumbers, and turn unto God without delay. God has given you a candle wherewith to search yourselves; (for “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly [Note: Proverbs 20:27.]:”) make use of it then with all diligence: “search and try your ways, and turn unto the Lord your God:” and doubt not but that in Christ you shall find a full and complete redemption. “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall give thee light.”]

2. Those who have attained deliverance from it—

[Blessed be God, if any of you have been quickened from your death in trespasses and sins: and now beware, lest ye relapse again into your former state of atheistical supineness. It is no uncommon thing for persons to run well for a season, and then turn back again; to “begin in the Spirit, and end in the flesh.” But to you also will I make my appeal: Is it “a vain thing to serve the Lord?” Will he not do good to those who seek him in sincerity and truth? Is he not, as he has said, “the Rewarder of all such?” Does he not even now impart to the soul blessings that are of more value than ten thousand worlds? Does he not answer prayer? Does he not communicate to the soul a peace that passeth all understanding? Does he not lift up the light of his countenance on the poor and needy? Does he not shed abroad his love in the heart? Does he not give the witness of his Spirit to the soul, and seal it unto the day of redemption? On the other hand, does he not hide his face when you become remiss, and leave you to feel what “an evil and bitter thing it is to depart from him?” Yes: you can testify that there is a God that ruleth in the earth; you can testify how rich his grace is, and how abundant his mercy in the Son of his love. You can testify that Christ “reveals himself to his people as he does not unto the world;” and that he dwells in them, and gives them, by the manifestations of his love, an earnest and a foretaste of their future inheritance. Go on, then, living by faith upon him, and cleaving unto him with full purpose of heart; and shew to all around you what the Christian life is. Run, as in a race, for an incorruptible crown: wrestle as one that is striving against all the principalities and powers of hell: and fight manfully till all your enemies are put under your feet. So shall you be living witnesses for God in this world, and partakers of all his blessedness in the world to come.]