Cheering Words and Solemn Warnings
A sermon
(No. 729)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, JANUARY 13, 1867, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"Say you to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they
shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill
with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him."- Isaiah
3:10,11.
THERE are two classes mentioned here, the righteous and the wicked. And
into these two orders the Book of God is accustomed to divide the whole
population of the globe. It speaks but little of upper and lower
classes. It says but little concerning the various ranks into which
civil and political institutions have divided the race of man–but from
its first page to its last it is taken up with this grand division–the
righteous and the wicked. Very early in human history we find the "Seed
of the woman," and the "seed of the serpent." And we meet with Cain,
who was of that Wicked One, and slew his brother, because his own works
were evil and his brother's righteous.
While the deluge destroys the ungodly, Noah floats in the ark in
security as the representative of the righteous. And when the
destroying angel smites the rebellious Egyptians, Israel feasts in
safety upon the Passover. The two races have always been in existence
and at enmity. Israel was oppressed in Egypt, attacked by Amalekites in
the wilderness, beset by foes in Canaan and carried away captive into
Assyria or Babylon. In the nation of Israel itself the very heart of
the people was depraved by an idolatrous seed and at length eaten out
by the hypocrisy of a generation of vipers who were of Israel, but were
not the Lord's chosen.
In our own age, when the Church of God is found among the Gentiles, we
see still the broad mark of distinction between men who fear the Lord
and men who fear Him not. The line of nature and the line of Divine
Grace run the same as ever–the seed of the woman and the seed of the
serpent contend with each other still. And it is not the intent of God
in His Providence that the line of demarcation should be withdrawn. He
would not have His people enter into alliance with the camp of evil,
but "come out from among them and be separate." Nonconformity, in its
spiritual sense, is the duty of every Christian man. "Be not conformed
to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your minds."
The flood came upon the world when the sons of God were united with the
daughters of men, and unholy alliances between the Church and the world
provoked God to the highest possible degree. He will have the
distinction maintained between the precious and the vile till time
shall be no more.
God of old divided light from darkness. The light He called Day, and
the darkness He called Night. And He will not have us call light
darkness, nor darkness light. He forbade the Jews to sow with many
seeds intermingled, or the wearing of linsey-woolsey, because He would
typically forbid unhallowed blending. He will have a seed that shall
serve Him and that shall fear Him, and go outside the camp bearing the
reproach of His dear Son, and these shall be evermore distinct from
that other seed under the dominion of the prince of the power of the
air, whose rebellious enquiry is, "Who is Jehovah that we should obey
His voice?"
A crimson line runs between the righteous and the wicked–the line of
atoning sacrifice. Faith crosses that line, but nothing else can. Faith
in the precious blood is the great distinction at the root, and all
those Divine Graces which spring out of faith go to make the righteous
more and more separate from the ungodly world. They, having not the
root, have not the fruit. Do you believe on Jesus Christ? On whose side
are you? Are you for us or for our enemies? Do you rally at the cry of
the Cross? Does the uplifted banner of a dying Savior's love attract
you? If not, then you remain still out of God, out of Christ–an alien
to the commonwealth of Israel–and you will have your portion among the
enemies of the Savior.
This distinction is so sharp and definite that there are more who dwell
in a borderland between the two conditions. There is a sharp line of
division between the righteous and the wicked, as clear as that which
divides death from life. A man cannot be between death and life–he is
either living or dead. If there is but a spark of life he cannot be
numbered
with the dead–he lives, and he will, let us hope, live to a better
purpose. But if he is dead and the vital spark is quite quenched–you
may dress him as you will and hang ornaments on his ears, and fill his
mouth with the sweetest dainties–but you cannot breathe into his
nostrils the breath of life again. He is dead.
A clear line of demarcation exists between life and death, and such a
division is fixed by God between the righteous and the wicked. There
are no "betweenities"! There are no amphibious dwellers in Divine Grace
and out of Grace. There are no monstrous nondescripts who are neither
sinners nor saints. You are, dear Hearer, this day, alive by the
quickening influences of the Holy Spirit or else you are dead in
trespasses and sins! He that is not with Christ is against Him. He that
gathers not with Him scatters abroad, so that to every man, woman and
child in this place, my text, with its double utterances, has a voice.
If you are righteous, it shall be well with you. If you are not
righteous, though you may think that you are not wicked and may feel
indignant that the term should be applied to you–yet it must be and my
text means you when it says, "Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with
him." There ought to be at the outset of our discourse this morning a
great searching of heart, and each one should say to himself–
"And what am I?–My Soul, awake,
And an impartial prospect take.
Does no dark sign, no ground of fear,
In practice, or in heart appear?
"What image does my spirit bear?
Is Jesus form'd, and living there?
Say, do His lineaments Divine
In thought, in word, and actions shine?" Do not ask such questions and
then leave their answer in cloudland! Rather wait at the Mercy Seat
till you know for a certainty that Christ is yours and you are His.
Dear Hearer, if there is a comfortable word spoken this morning, do not
apply it to yourself! If you are not among the righteous–if you are
not made righteous through the blood of Christ and through the
transforming power of His Spirit–do not steal a dangerous consolation
from the Word. On the other hand, if there is a dark and dreary threat,
which in solemn truth applies to you, tremble at it but let it come
home with power! For it may be that God will visit you in the whirlwind
or in the storm of the threat, making the clouds of the text to be the
dust of His feet–and while He rebukes you, you shall find it to be in
love.
If the Lord shall break your heart, consent to have it broken, asking
that He may sanctify that brokenness of spirit to bring you in earnest
to the Savior and that you may yet be numbered with the righteous ones.
We shall now come, as God may help us, to the text.
I. THE WELL-BEING OF THE RIGHTEOUS. Here let us read the words again,
that we may get the fullness of their meaning. "Say you to the
righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit
of their doings." Observe attentively the fact mentioned, the great
fact–it shall be well with the righteous! The statement is singularly
simple. There are few adverbs or adjectives to describe, and,
therefore, to limit the announcement. The statement is made broadly. It
is almost as grand in its simplicity, as the saying, "Let there be
light, and there was light."
"It shall be well with them." That is the whole of the declaration. But
the very fewness of the words creates and reveals a depth of meaning.
Observe, then, we may gather from the fact that the text is without
descriptive limits that it is well with the righteous ALWAYS. If it had
said, "Say you to the righteous, that it is well with them in their
prosperity," we must have been thankful for so great a gift, for
prosperity is an hour of peril. Or if it had been written, "Say you to
the righteous that it is well with them when under persecution," we
must have been thankful for so sustaining an assurance, for persecution
is hard to bear!
But when no time is mentioned, all time is included! When no particular
occasion is singled out, it is because upon every occasion the saying
is alike true–
"Well when they see His face, Or sink amidst the flood. Well in
affliction's thorny maze, Or on the mount with God."
"Say you to the righteous, that it shall be well with them," from the
beginning of the year to the end of the year, from the rising of the
sun unto the going down of the same! From the first gatherings of
evening shadows until the daystar shines! It shall be well with them
when, like Samuel, God calls them from the bed of their childhood! It
shall be well when, like David in his old age, he is stayed up in the
bed to conclude his life with a song of praise! It shall be well if,
like Solomon, they shall abound in wealth, and well with them if, like
Lazarus, they shall lie upon a dunghill and the dogs shall lick their
sores.
It shall be well, if like Job they wash their feet with oil and their
steps with butter! If the princes are before them bowing their heads,
and the great ones of the earth do them obeisance. And it shall be
equally well if, like Job in his trial, they sit down to scrape
themselves with a potsherd, their children gone, their wives bidding
them curse their God, their friends miserable comforters to them, and
themselves left alone–it shall be well, always well!–
"'Tis well when joys arise,
'Tis well when sorrows flow,
'Tis well when darkness veils the skies,
And strong temptations blow." The text evidently means that it is well
with the righteous at all times alike, and never otherwise than well,
because no time is mentioned, no season is excluded, and all time is
intended–
"What cheering words are these!
Their sweetness who can tell?
In time, and to eternal days,
'Tis with the righteous well."
It shall be well with the righteous, especially in the future. The text
says, "it shall be well with them." They often dread the future, but
they certainly have no reason for unbelieving fear. It shall be well
with the righteous. They may look forward to a day of trouble which
they clearly foresee, but they have no reason for foreboding, for it
shall be well with them in the coming struggle. And if, perhaps, on the
heels of that trouble there shall come another and yet another, it
shall still be well with them, for is it not written, "In six troubles
I will be with you, and in seven there shall no evil touch
you"?
If they shall extend their vision to those years of coming
decline–when the sere leaves shall cover their path, when the
grasshopper shall be a burden, and the grinders fail because they are
few and they that look out of the windows shall be darkened, it shall
be well with them at eventide. Their last days shall be their best
days. They shall dwell in the land Beulah, and sing upon the bank of
Jordan, for their souls shall be ravished with foretastes of the rest
which remains for the favored ones.
Should the man of God extend his view yet further, and through the
telescope of faith should gaze upon unknown worlds, he may discern
distinctly, by the light of gracious promises, that it shall be well
with him in the land of the hereafter! The text hints at no end. It
does not say it shall be well with us up to a certain point, but beyond
that the text says nothing. No, the words are simply and grandly, "it
shall be," and nothing less. God's "shalls" must be understood always
in their largest sense, and so we know that when the cycles of time
shall cease, and the wheels of this huge engine shall go to rack, it
shall be well with the righteous!
Let the nations be dashed in pieces. Let there come terrific conflicts.
Let Armageddon's last dread shout be heard. Let the Euphrates be dried
up. Let the sea be licked up with tongues of forked flame. Let the very
mountains melt like wax in the Presence of God! Let the elements be
consumed with fervent heat–it matters nothing to the Christian what
shall happen in all those days of dread catastrophe–for has not God
said it shall be well with the righteous? Always well, then, and well
in the future, we add, upon Divine authority.
A wise man may say to us, "It is well," and his experience may be so
little at fault that the utterance may be accurate. We ourselves may
sometimes come to a fairly safe conclusion that things are well with
us. But oh, how much better it is to have it under the hand and seal of
Omniscience! He who searches the heart, who sees every secret thing,
says that with the righteous it is well! It is the mouth of God that
speaks the comforting assurance! Oh Beloved, if God says that it is
well, ten thousand devils may say it is ill and we laugh them all to
scorn! Blessed be God for a faith which enables us to believe God when
the creatures contradict Him.
It is, says God, at all times well with you, you righteous one! Then,
Beloved, if you cannot see it, let God's Word stand in the place of
your sight. Yes, believe it on Divine authority more confidently than
if your eyes and your feelings told it to you. Whom God blesses is
blest, indeed! And what His lips pronounces as the Truth is most sure
and steadfast. It is well, we may rest assured again, with our best
selves. The text does not say it is always well with our bodies, but
our bodies are not ourselves–they are but the casket of our nobler
natures–our soul is the true jewel. Our bodies are but the garments,
our soul is the precious life which wears them for awhile. I understand
the text to mean our nobler parts, our new God-given life–it shall be
well with it.
If it is passed through the fire, it is but to refine it of its dross.
If it is compelled to take a pilgrimage through the floods, it is that
it may come up like a sheep from the washing. It is always well with
our better and nobler natures! If God is but with us to sanctify us and
sustain us, the worst of circumstances shall work for our good. When I
looked at the text, studying it as best I could, I thought, "Yes, and
if God says it is well, He means it is well emphatically." It is well
with weight. It is not a superficial statement–that it is apparently
well–but it is a deep, true, lasting, sincere "well."
Conceive, if you can, of the soul's being well in the best sense in
which it could be well. Now all that you have imagined and more is true
of the righteous–"it shall be well." It shall be so well with the
righteous man in the sight of God as to the grand matter that it could
not be better. He shall be as pure, as happy, as ennobled as a man
could possibly be when Divine Grace has fulfilled its purpose in him.
God has already given the Believer all that his heart can desire, for
He has given him all things in Jesus. And He has insured to that man by
oath and by Covenant all that he can ever want in time and eternity. In
the best, highest, largest, truest sense of the term, it is well with
the righteous!
I want you to observe, before I leave this fact, that it is so well
with them that God wants them to know it. He would have His saints
happy, and therefore He says to His Prophets, "Say you to the
righteous, it shall be well with them." It is not wise, sometimes, to
remind a man of his wealth, and rank, and prospects–for pride is so
readily stirred up in us. If a Brother is endowed with remarkable
talents, he will generally find that out soon enough himself. It is
dangerous, perhaps, to tell him so. But it is not dangerous to assure
the Christian that it is well with him, for otherwise the Lord would
not command us to repeat the assurance in the ears of the godly!
The Lord would have every preacher comfort His people! He would have
the Book, the good old Book itself, speak plainly to them of the
dignity of their relationships, of the security of their portion, of
the comfort of their present estate, and the glory of the world to
come. "Say you to the righteous, it shall be well with them." Say it
often and plainly, for the statement will be beneficial. I desired to
have said this upon the present occasion in such a way that you could
see it and feel it, and rejoice in it!
Are you in Christ, my Brother, my Sister? Have you come to the fountain
of His precious blood? Have you washed there? Have you trusted in
Jesus? Now it may seem to you that everything goes amiss with you and
the more you try to set matters right, the worse they become. But God
has said to His servant, this morning, "Say you to the righteous, it
shall be well with them," and I do say it, yet not I, but God says
it–it shall be well with you–it is well with you! Oh that you would
believe it! Ah, if you did believe it you would be so joyful!
Well, and should not the righteous be joyful? Ought they not
exceedingly to rejoice? The thought has been crossing my mind many
times this week that I am not joyful enough, and that God's people, as
a whole, are not joyful enough. Am I mistaken in that idea? What is the
truest worship in the world? Why, it is joy in the Lord! "Rejoice in
the Lord always." I believe that we adore God best and please Him most
when the thought of Him does bring to our soul exalted pleasure. But
alas, we give our God little of the sweet odors of our delight! We get
to muddling our brains about our worldly estate, our sins, our
conflicts and inward corruptions, and we forget what a good God we
have–and His loving kindness is disregarded.
What a blessed God is ours in Christ Jesus! A sea of never-failing
delights! A river of boundless joys, forever flowing on! Blessed be the
name of the Lord forever and ever! Let our hearts exult at the thought
of His goodness and leap for joy at the sound of His name. God Himself
is our exceeding joy! And then to help us in all our holy exultation He
cheers us with these heavenly words, "It is well with you, My dear
Child. It is well with you now, and shall be throughout eternity." A
few minutes will scarcely suffice in full length to account for this
Truth of God. As I have but so short a time, will you accompany me with
earnest attention while I give a bare outline and hasty list of the
causes of the Christian's joy? More than this it were vain to attempt.
It is no wonder that it is well with the Believer when you consider
that his greatest trouble is past. His greatest trouble was the guilt
of sin. This threw him into the dungeon where there was no water, from
which he has now escaped, for sin is pardoned and the repenting sinner
is set free from the terrible bondage of the Law. Sin he mourns over,
but he knows that the guilt of it was endured and taken away by the
great Substitute! And he rejoices that he now stands an absolved person
against whom the justice of God can bring no account, for he is
completely forgiven! Do you not remember the time when you thought that
if God would but forgive you your sins you would not make another
stipulation? If He would command you to be a galley slave, yet if sin
were pardoned, you felt you could tug the oar and bear the smart of the
driver's whip right cheerfully, so long as the legal whip was taken
away. Now, Christian, your sin is pardoned! That which separated you
from God is gone! Your iniquity is forgiven through Jesus Christ, and
none can lay anything to your charge.
Then your next greatest trouble is doomed. Your second greatest trouble
is indwelling sin. The power of sin plagues you now. Well, that is
doomed! Christ, by His death, has driven the spear through the heart of
sin as to its power over you. It shall not have dominion over you, for
you are not under the Law but under Grace! The day is hastening on when
you shall drop all tendency to sin. Oh, blissful hour! Oh, joyous
change, when the tendency shall be all upward, all toward good, all
toward God, and not one whisper of temptation toward evil! Not one
carnal passion, not a thought of crime, not one unsubdued desire–but
the whole soul, through and through, washed and cleansed and made like
unto God! The holiness, without which no man can see the Lord, is
guaranteed to every Believer in the Covenant, and so his second
greatest mischief is moved away by the blessing of his God. This ought
to make him a happy man! If neither the guilt nor the power of sin can
curse him, he ought to rejoice!
With regard to the Christian, he knows that his best things are safe.
If the ship is wrecked, yet he never had his treasure on board this
earthly vessel! If the thief should break through and steal, yet the
thief cannot get at his jewels, for his jewels are hidden with Christ
in God! If the moth should corrupt and fret his garments, yet his
everlasting robe will never be moth-eaten, for that hangs up in the
great House above ready for him that he may put it on after he has
undressed himself and left his weekday garments in the tomb! His best
things are all secure! Time cannot change them, nor death destroy them,
or Satan rob him of them!
As for his worst things, they only work his good. He has his worst
things as other men, for he cannot always feast, but his worst things
are among his mercies. He gains by his losses. He acquires health by
his sicknesses. He wins friends through his bereavements, and he
absolutely becomes a conqueror through his defeats! Nothing, therefore,
can be injurious to the Christian when the very worst things that he
has are but rough waves to wash his golden ships home to port and
enrich him!
My dear Friends, I was about to say of the Christian that it is so well
with him that I could not imagine it to be better! He is well fed–he
feeds upon the flesh and blood of Jesus! He is well clothed–"Bring
forth the best robe, and put it on him"–he wears the imputed
righteousness of Christ! He is well housed–he dwells in God who has
been the Dwelling Place of His people in all generations. He is well
married–his soul is knit in bonds of marriage union to Christ! He is
well provided for–for the present, the Lord is his Shepherd and he
will not want. And he is well provided for the future–
"This world is his, and worlds to come. Earth is his lodge, and Heaven
his home."
Time would fail me to say that it must be well with the Christian,
because God has put within him many Graces which help to make all
things well. Has he difficulties? Faith laughs at them, and overcomes
them. Has he trials? Love accepts them, seeing the Father's hand in
them all. Has he sicknesses? Patience kisses the rod. Is he weary? Hope
expects a rest to come. The sparkling Graces which God has put within
the man's soul qualify him to overcome in all conflicts, and to make
this world subject to his power in every battle. I mean that he gets
good out of the worst ill, or throws that ill aside by the majesty of
the life that is in him.
Then mark how the Christian has, beside what is put within him by the
Holy Spirit, this to comfort him–namely, that day by day God the Holy
Spirit visits him with fresh life and fresh power! If our eternal life
depended upon what we have within, apart from fresh spiritual help, we
might find it to be far other than well with us. But the perennial
fountains which winters' frosts cannot freeze, and which the burning
heats of summer can never dry flow perpetually to
us! We draw living waters from the depth that lies under the eternal
fountain which couches beneath. The everlasting fullness of God, which
is treasured up in the Person of Christ, is given over by an immutable
Covenant to be the provision for the faithful! Fortifications of
stupendous rocks are our secure dwelling places, and the inexhaustible
fullness of God in Christ Jesus is our never-failing supply.
Briefly let me run over a few things which the Christian has, from each
of which it may be inferred it must be well with him. He has a Bank
that never breaks, the glorious Throne of Grace. And he has only to
apply on bended knee to get what he will. Over the door there is
written, "Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened to you." He has ever near him a most
sweet Companion, whose loving converse is so delightful that the
roughest roads grow smooth, and the darkest nights glow with
brightness. The coldest and most shivering days become warm when that
Companion talks. "Did not our hearts burn within us while He spoke with
us by the way?"–
"Though enwrapt in gloomy night,
We perceive no ray of light,
Since the Lord Himself is here,
'Tis not meet that we should fear.
Night with Him is never night,
Where He is, there all is light.
When He calls us, why delay?
They are happy who obey."
The Believer has an arm to lean upon–an arm that is never weary, never
feeble, never withdrawn–so that if he has to climb along a rugged way,
the more rough the road the more heavily he leans, and the more
graciously he is sustained. Moreover, he is favored with a perpetual
Comforter–not an angel to whisper of Heaven, but God Himself, the
blessed Paraclete, the Holy Spirit–to pour in oil and wine into every
wound, and to bring to his remembrance the things which Christ has
spoken. Why, Sirs, if there were anything that the Christian needed
which were not supplied to him, I might admit that it must sometimes be
ill with him! But when I read, "All things are yours, whether things
present or things to come; or life or death, all are yours; and you are
Christ's, and Christ is God's," truly I conclude that it is and must be
well with the righteous!
It is well with the righteous when he comes to die. Here we speak what
we know, and testify what we have seen. The dying songs of saints are
often in our ears. During nearly all the term of my ministry in London
I have had the privilege of knowing a dear Friend in Christ Jesus to
whom my heart has been greatly knit. One of the noblest and happiest of
the sons of men. Yet it was not bodily vigor which made him so
uniformly joyous, for as long as I have known him he has been of very
weakly constitution–so that as often as the wintry months came on he
has had to wend his way to Egypt, Madeira, or South America–there to
pass through the winter in banishment, and return to his ministry as
soon as the season allowed.
A loving heart and a large mind were blended in him. He was always
making friends, and I should say never lost one. He was deeply
interested in the work here, and was much at home in the midst of this
great assembly–for our songs and praises, which he compared to the
noise of many waters–were sweet to his ears. Now it pleased the Lord
but a day or two ago that be should fall asleep–much to my loss, but
to his own eternal gain! He thought that perhaps he could labor through
this winter and his soul was warmed by holy zeal to stay with his
people if he could, and preach the Gospel which he loved so well.
That zeal has cost his life. He wrote me one or two sweet letters on
his dying bed, and when at last he closed his eyes, he uttered for his
last testimony, words so like my own John Anderson that I am sure
nobody could have invented them. His last words were "All right!
Farewell!" Yes, that is how a Christian man can live! And how he can
die! "It is all right," says he. "It is well with me. It is right
here–I have done my work, and God accepts it! It is right up
there–Christ has finished His work on my account, and now farewell,
till we meet again." No tinge of sadness–no, not a whisper of
grief–it is ALL, all, all right! He had served his Master long, and
was glad to rest. He had fought his battle, and as the warrior sheathed
his sword his eye caught the flashes of his Master's welcome, and he
said to his comrades, "All right! Farewell!" He is with God, and we are
following on! All right is it now, and all right it shall be with us,
also, if we are depending upon the finished work of the Well-Beloved.
Lastly, it is well with the righteous after death. His disembodied
spirit is in Jesus' bosom! Is it not well? When the trumpet sounds, his
spirit comes down to meet the risen body–to behold the glorious advent
of the once despised Son of David! To reign with Him in His reign, and
triumph in His triumph, and then to be caught up to sit upon His Throne
and dwell with Him where the glorified Church is, world without end.
"Say you to the righteous, it shall be well with
them."
We have only a word or two left concerning the ground upon which it is
well with the righteous. The text says that "they shall eat the fruit
of their doings." Dear friends, that is the only term upon which the
Old Covenant can promise that it shall be well with us. But this is not
the ground upon which you and I stand under the Gospel dispensation!
Absolutely to eat the fruit of all our doings would be, even to us, if
judgment were brought to the line and righteousness to the plummet, a
very dreadful thing. Yet there is a limited sense in which the
righteous man will do this. "I was hungry, and you gave Me meat: I was
thirsty, and you gave Me drink," is good Gospel language. And when the
Master shall say, "Inasmuch as you did this unto one of the least of
these My people, you did it unto Me," the reward will not be of debt,
but still it will be a reward, and the righteous will eat the fruit of
his doings.
I prefer, however, to remark that there is One whose doings for us are
the grounds of our dependence, and, blessed be God, we shall eat the
fruit of His doings! He, the Lord Jesus, stood for us and you know what
a harvest of joy He sowed for us in His life and death! That living
holiness, that dying obedience has purchased for us unnumbered
blessings! His the smart, but ours the sweet. His the sweet, but ours
the rest. As we sit down at Heaven's feasts, the food which we shall
there eat will be the fruit of His doings. The joy we shall there
receive will be the result of His griefs, and the "well done" will be,
in its real merit, the reward of His righteousness.
It shall be well with us, for we shall eat the fruits of our faith
through the righteousness of Christ, the fruits of our love through His
love to us, being with Him forever, and beholding His Glory. Time
forbids a further enlargement. I have set you down in a garden of nuts,
among groves of pomegranates–pluck and eat as you will–for all things
are yours if you are numbered with the righteous!
II. The second part of the text can only occupy a minute or two. It
reveals THE MISERY OF THE WICKED. "Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill
with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him." I need not
be long, because you have only to apply the negative to all that I have
already said about the righteous. Observe this–it is ill with the
wicked–always ill with him.
There is no time mentioned, all time is therefore meant. It is always
ill with him, whether he is by prosperity made fat for the slaughter,
or is made in adversity to feel the first drops of the eternal shower
of Divine Justice. It is ill with the wicked on Divine authority. God
says that it is ill–it must be very ill, then. It will be ill with him
in the future. It shall always be ill with him. Worse and worse will
his portion be till the worst thing of all shall come upon him. Beware,
you that forget God, lest He tear you in pieces and there are none to
deliver you!
It is ill with their best nature. If their body is healthy, their soul
is sick. If their feet dance, yet their souls are condemned. If their
mouths can sing their wanton songs, yet the wrath of God abides upon
their spirits. It is ill with them in the weightiest sense. Our words
are only ounce words, God's words fall like avalanches! It is ill with
you, O unconverted man, O unregenerate woman! It is ill in the most
tremendous sense! It is ill, and you ought to know it, for God has told
us to say it to you–"Woe unto the wicked–woe unto the wicked! It
shall be ill with him."
Oh that you felt this, for then you might escape from its future
terror! If you did but know this mischief, the dread of it might drive
you to the Savior! His heart is open, the gates of mercy are not shut!
He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him! But
why is it ill with the wicked? It must be ill with him–he is out of
joint with all the world. Though ordinary creatures are obedient to
God, this man has set himself in opposition to the whole current of
creation. The man has an enemy who is Omnipotent, whose power cannot be
resisted.
He has an enemy who is all goodness, and yet this man opposes Him! How
can it be well with the stubble that fights with the flame, or with the
wax that strives with the fire? An insect fighting with a giant, how
will it overcome? And you, poor nothingness contending with the
everlasting God–how can it be anything but ill with you? It is ill
with you, Sinner, because your joys all hang upon a thread. Let life's
thread be cut and where are your merriments? Your dainty music, and
your costly cups–the mirth that flashes from your wanton eyes, and the
jollity of your thoughtless soul–
where will this be when Death, with bony hands, shall come and touch
your heart and make it cease its beating? It is ill with you because
when these joys are over you have no more to come.
You may have one bright chapter in the story, but ah, the never-ending
chapter, it is woe, woe, woe from beginning to the end! The woe of
death, and after death the judgment–and after judgment the woe of
condemnation, and then that woe that rolls onward forever–eternal woe,
never coming to a pause, never knowing an alleviation! God help you,
Sinner, God help you to escape from this ill of yours! It is ill with
you now. You have no Mercy Seat to go to to pour out your troubles
before God. You have no Father in Heaven to help you in the sorrows of
this mortal life. You have no Son of Man to tread the furnace with you
when your afflictions are heated seven times hotter. You have no
Comforter to bring home to you the promises–you have no promises that
can be brought home to you!
You have no faith to sustain you! You have no love to Christ to cheer
you! You have no patience to support you! You have no hope of another
and better world to make your eyes glad! You miserable wretch, where
are you? If you ride in your chariot yet I will not envy you–I will
prefer to be like rugged Lazarus rather than be as you are! And if you
are in poverty, yet hope not to escape! You are wretched in your
present poverty, but what will eternal poverty be, when you are driven
from the Presence of God without hope to pine in vain for a drop of
water to cool your parched tongue! It shall be ill with the wicked, and
let no present appearance lead you to doubt it!
You are like a field that is not plowed, overgrown with weeds–and you
laugh at the field that has been tormented with the plowshare! But
wait, O prosperous Sinner! Your time will come! When the weeds have
gathered thick and foul, there will be a burning–for the great
Husbandman will not forever endure the thorns and the thistles! And
then you will wish that you, too, like the tried Christian, had known
the plow of spiritual trouble and felt repentance for sin. The eyes
that never weep for sin here will weep in awful anguish forever!
It will do you good to taste a little of the brine of your tears here,
or else you will have to drink them forever and forever in eternity! It
will be a profitable thing for you to feel the wrath of God heavy on
your spirit now, for if not, it will crush you–crush you down and down
without hope, world without end! It shall be ill with you. I will not
stop to picture your dying bed. I know one, not far removed from me by
relationship, who, when he died had no bright hopes to gild the gloomy
hour, but could only say in his last moments, "It is all dark! It is
all dark!"
And as he pointed to the fire grate that was without a fire he said,
"It is dark like that black fireplace. I cannot see so much as a single
spark of hope. Dark, all dark!" And so will it be with you! No, worse
than that–it may be ghastly with the furnace blaze of Divine wrath!
And as to the infinite future, I will not stop to speak of it. Forever!
Forever! Forever! It shall be ill with the wicked. Oh, the wrath to
come! The wrath to come!–
"There is a death whose pang
Outlasts the fleeting breath.
Oh, what eternal horrors hang
Around 'the second death'!
Lord God of Truth and Grace,
Teach us that death to shun
Lest we be banish'd from Your face,
And evermore undone."
God help you to flee from His dreadful anger, while flee you may! And
may all of us be found among the righteous with whom it is forever
well! If so it be, unto God shall be all the praise, while immortality
shall last and Heaven's high throne endure!
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Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
A sermon