The Old Way of the Wicked
A sermon
(No. 859)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, MARCH 7, 1869, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"Have you marked the old way which wicked men have trod? Which were cut
down out of time, whose foundation was swept away with a flood: Which
said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?"-
Job 22:15-17.
"HAVE you marked the old way?" Antiquity is no guarantee for truth. It
was the old way, but it was the wrong way. If our religion is to be
settled by antiquity, we shall presently pass back to the worst form of
idolatry, for we would have to become Druids. It is not always that
"the old is better." Sometimes, by reason of the depravity of human
nature, the old is the more corrupt. The oldest of all would be the
best, but how shall we come at it? Adam was once perfection– but how
shall we regain that state? Old, exceedingly old, is the path of sin
and the path of error, for as old as the Father of Lies is sin.
Antiquity is, moreover, no excuse for sin. It may be that men have long
transgressed, but use in rebellion will not mitigate the treason before
the eternal Throne. If you know better, it will not stand you in any
place that God winked at the ignorance of others in former ages. If you
have had more light than they, you shall have severer judgment than
they–therefore plead not the antiquity of any evil custom as an excuse
for sin. It was an old way, but they who ran in it perished in it just
as surely as if it had been a new way of sinning entirely of their own
invention. Antiquity will be no consolation to those who perish by
following evil precedents. It will serve no purpose to lost souls that
they sinned as thousands sinned before them! And if they shall meet
long generations of their ancestors lost in the same overthrow, they
shall by no means be comforted by such grim companionship.
Therefore, it becomes all of us to examine whether those religious
dogmas which we have accepted on account of their apparent
venerableness of age and universality of custom are, indeed, the Truth
of God. We are not among those who believe that the traditions of the
fathers are the ultimate tests of the Truth of God. We have heard the
voice which says, "To the Law and to the Testimony. If they speak not
according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." We
would not affect novelty for its own sake–that were folly–neither
will we adore and venerate antiquity for its own sake, for that would
lead us into idolatry and superstition.
Is the thing right? Then follow it, though you have discovered it but
yesterday. Is it wrong? Then, though the road were trod by sinners of
the first ages, yet do not pursue it unless you desire to meet with the
same end as they. Search and look to your creeds, your worships and
your customs, for this world has long enough been deluded by hoary
superstitions. Search, my Hearer, search and look right carefully
within your heart, for you may be deceived and it were a pity if it
should be so with you while there are such opportunities given you to
discover and rectify your mistakes. We shall now, this morning, in the
words of the text, mark the old way of wicked men, observe it carefully
and consider it well. There shall be three points this morning, the
way, the end, the warning.
I. The first shall be THE WAY–"the old way which wicked men have
trod." First, what it was. There is no doubt that Eliphaz is here
alluding to those who sinned before the Flood. He is looking to what
were ancient days to him. Living as he did, in what is olden time to
us, his days of yore were the days beyond the Flood and the old way he
speaks of is the way and course of sinners before the world was
destroyed by water.
Now this way, in the first place, was a way of rebellion against God.
Adam, our first parent, knew God's will–that will ought not to have
been irksome to him. The command was a very easy one. The denial of the
one tree to him should have been no great loss. He ought to have been
well content when all the rest of the garden was his own leasehold, to
have that one tree belong to the Great Freeholder of all–but he set
his will in direct antagonism to the will of the Most High.
The sin itself looked small. The act of plucking the forbidden fruit
appeared to be trivial, but within the loins of it lurked a dark
hostility to the mind of God which led to open breach of the Lord's
command.
That is the way in every transgressor's case, for every sinner is a
rebel against God. Though the man, at the time when he commits the sin,
may claim that he was not thinking of God, yet the fact of his acting
without regard to Him whom he ought always reverently to consider was,
in itself, a sin. Sin is a defiance of Divine authority, it throws down
the gauntlet and challenges the rights of the King of kings. Are there
any here, this morning, who are pursuing that old way which wicked men
have trod? Do not many of you neglect, as a rule, the consideration of
what is God's mind? Do you not act as unrestrainedly as if there were
no God at all? Do you not constantly follow after that which the Lord
abhors?
I fear many of you are traversing the way of rebellion and are daily
provoking the Great Judge. I pray you beware, for this is the old way
which wicked men have trod and you may be sure that as God met with
them, and their rebellion soon ended in terrible destruction, so will
He also meet with you, for God's ways are equal and He deals out
justice to sinners, now, as He did then.
In the next place, the old way was a way of selfishness. Why did Eve
take of that fruit? It was because she believed that the taking of it
would delight her appetite and would also make her wise. It was to gain
something for self that evil was done. And her children also have
participated in the same feeling. It was this that made Nimrod the
mighty tyrant of the world. It was this which led the sons of God
before the Flood to look upon the daughters of men, for they were fair,
because they sought their own pleasure and not the service of God. Self
reigned! The men cast themselves down before their own natural
propensities, indulged their wantonness and had no delight in God. This
is the old way which wicked men have trod and I fear it is a well-trod
path today.
How do the mass of mankind cry? "Show us any good! Show us something
that shall give us pleasure, amusement, sport–we care little what it
is! Let it be decent and respectable, if so it may be, but by any means
let us disport ourselves and find pleasure, or get gain, or heap to
ourselves honor!" Man seeks himself, still, and this is the root of
man's sin. He cannot believe that if he would find himself he must not
seek himself. He cannot believe the Savior's testimony that he that
would save his life must be content to lose it–that in looking after
God and denying self we follow the highest and surest road to promote
our own happiness.
No, the sinner resolves to serve self, first, and then, perhaps, he
will condescend, even, to follow God Himself out of self-love and be
religious and devout and worship God after his fashion in order to save
himself, still seeking self even at the foot of the Throne of God!
Well, dear Friend, if you, this morning, have not been taught that you
must live unto God and not to self. If you are still following out your
own ends and aims, and if the main object of your life is to acquire
wealth or to get position, or to live in comfort, or to indulge your
passions–then depend upon it, you are treading in the old way which
wicked men have trod–and as it has always ended in disappointment, so
will it with you! The apple stolen out of God's garden has turned to
ashes in the hand! The Abimelech of self has become a tyrant! Fire has
come forth from the bramble which men have made a king and their cedars
have been burned! Be wise, I pray you, and forsake the road which leads
to misery!
The old way, in the third place, was a way of pride. Our mother, Eve,
rebelled against God because she thought she knew better than God did.
She would be as a God–that was her ambition and the same thought had
entered into her husband's mind. He was not content to be what his
Maker would have him. He would, if he could, leap into the very Throne
of Deity and put upon his own head the diadem of universal dominion! An
ambitious pride led them both astray and this, I fear, is the road in
which many are constantly treading. Content to be as nothing before
God, no, they will not–they boast that they are something and they
lift up their heads and claim dignity and ask for respect.
Lie at the feet of Jesus Christ and receive salvation as a gift of
mercy, pure mercy? No, that they will not–they talk of merits,
prayers, tears! They will, if they can, find something of their own in
which to trust. They wrap their miserable rags about them and claim
that they are well-dressed, and being fascinated by self-deceit, they
imagine that they are rich and increased in goods when they are naked
and poor and miserable!
This old way which wicked men have trod is still frequented by the mass
of those who hear the Gospel, but who reject it, to their own
confusion. O you who are pilgrims in it, remember Pharaoh and how the
Lord crushed the pride of that haughty monarch! Remember He has always
cut down the lofty trees and leveled towering hills, and it is His
sworn
purpose to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all
the excellency of earth. Tarry awhile, O pilgrim of pride, and humble
yourself in dust and ashes that you may be exalted by the hand of God!
Hoping that each one before me is undergoing the process of
self-examination, I would further remark that the old way which wicked
men have trod is a way of self-righteousness. Cain, especially, trod
that road. He was not an outwardly irreligious man, but quite the
reverse. Inasmuch as a sacrifice must be brought, he will bring an
offering on his own account. If Abel kneels by the altar, Cain will
kneel by the altar, also. It was respectable and reputable in that age
to pay deference to the unseen God–Cain therefore does the same. But
mark where the flaw was in his religion!
Abel brought a bloody sacrifice, a lamb, indicating his faith in the
great atoning sacrifice which was to be offered in the end of the world
in the Person of the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus. But Cain presented an
unbloody offering of the fruits of the earth, the products of his own
toil. And he thought himself as good as Abel, perhaps better. When the
Lord did not accept his service, the envious heart of the
self-righteous man boiled over with indignation and he became a
persecutor, yes, a murderer. None are so bitter as the self-righteous.
None so cruelly persecute the righteous as those who think themselves
righteous and are not.
It was because Saul of Tarsus boasted in a fancied righteousness of his
own that he breathed out threats against those who found their
righteousness alone in Christ. The old way of self-righteousness, then,
was trod by the feet of the first murderer and it is trod still by tens
of thousands of men. Ah, your Church attendance and your Chapel
attendance, your receiving of the sacrament, your Baptism, your
confirmation, your ceremonies of all sorts and kinds, your gifts to the
poor, your contributions to charities, your amiable speeches and your
repetitions of your liturgies, or of your extemporaneous
prayers–these, all put together, are rested on as the rock of your
salvation!
Beware, I entreat you, for this is the old way of the Pharisee when he
thanked God that he was not as other men! It is the old way of
universal human nature which evermore goes about to establish its own
righteousness and will not submit itself to the righteousness of
Christ! As surely as the Pharisees were condemned as a generation of
vipers and could not escape the damnation of Hell, so surely every one
of us, if we set up our righteousness in the place of Christ's
righteousness, will meet with condemnation and will be overthrown by
God's sudden wrath! Mark that old way and I beseech you, Brothers and
Sisters, flee from it! By God's Grace, flee from it now!
The old way which wicked men have trod was, in the next place, a way of
unbelief. Noah was sent to tell those ancient sinners that the world
would be destroyed by a flood. They thought him an old dotard and
mocked him to scorn. For 120 years that "preacher of righteousness"
continually lifted up his warning voice. He threatened that the world
would certainly be deluged and the ungodly sons of men would surely be
swept away. He pointed to the ark of safety which he was building in
testimony against them and besought them to humble themselves and break
off their sins by righteousness–but they would not believe the
Prophet, preacher of righteousness though he was–they turned his most
earnest words into jests and his tender invitations were made the
subject of their scorn.
This was the old way and the old way has not lost its pilgrims. In
different forms and different ways, the atheism of the human heart
still continues to discover itself, yes, and discover itself in
Christian congregations. You that are unconverted surely do not believe
that you will be condemned by the righteous justice of God, or you
would not be so much at ease. If you solemnly believed in the justice
of God, you would not dare to bring it down upon your heads! If you
really and in very truth believed in the great assize and in the Judge
of all, you would not spend your lives in violation of the Law and in
bringing upon yourself the penalty!
Oh, if you believed that there is a Hell for such as die out of Christ,
you would be afraid to remain out of Christ another day! You would seek
your chambers, fall upon your knees and cry to God in mercy that He
would now accept you and let you now be reconciled to Him through His
blood. Alas, you hear of God's anger and you profess to believe in it,
but you act like infidels and as you act, so you are! This old way of
disbelief has always ended in confusion, for the Flood did come and
their disbelief could not arrest its rising. The angry waters burst out
from their lairs like beasts of prey, hungry for human life and the
rebellious race was utterly destroyed! Even thus most surely shall the
vengeance of God overtake us, whether we believe it or not, unless we
fly to Christ, the Ark, and are housed in Him from the coming tempest.
I will not detain you much longer over this very terrible story, but
the old way which wicked men have trod is a way of worldliness and
carelessness and procrastination. What did those men do before the
Flood? They married and were
given in marriage till the Flood came and swept them all away. If any
of them believed in Noah, they, at any rate said, "We will wait a
little longer, there will be time for us to escape from the threatened
flood when the first appearance of the descending rains and the
upheaving fountains shall be visible to us." The whole world seems to
have been making festival on that black day that closed the years of
mercy. Never did the joy-bells ring more sweetly. Never was the
marriage dance more merry. Never did eyes of love speak to loved eyes
more than when the first booming of the terrible battle were heard afar
off and Jehovah came forth to vengeance, dressed like a man of war,
resolved to ease Him of His adversaries!
Are there not some of you treading in this old way of worldliness, dear
Hearers, this very morning? Perhaps you are professors of religion and
yet treading in this way. I mentioned the sons of God just now who are
said by Moses to have looked upon the daughters of men and formed
alliances with them. Perhaps you may be contemplating the same act and
when the flood comes your profession will be no refuge to you, but you
shall be swept away with the rest. Alas, this is the world's great
catechism, "What shall we eat and what shall we drink and with what
shall we be clothed?" And this is the world's trinity in unity, "The
lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life." And
this is the course of this world–ever does it seek after its own gain
and its own pleasure, saying to more solemn and serious things–"When I
have a more convenient season I will send for you."
Though the King of Heaven has spread a banquet, yet men make light of
it! Though He has killed His oxen and His fatlings, they go their way,
every man, to his farm and to his merchandise and so will they do
till–
"God's right arm is bared for war, And thunder clothes His cloudy car."
Where shall the ungodly fly in that tremendous day? They have chosen
this old way and have walked in it, but how will they escape Him when
His flood shall sweep them away? Eliphaz says, "Have you marked the
way?" I want you to stop a little while and look at that road, again,
and mark it anew. The first thing I observe, as I look at it, is that
it is a very broad way. Our Savior's words are most true, "Wide is the
gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there are
which go in there."
The road of sin is so wide that it has room for rebels, for selfish
sinners, for proud sinners, for professors of religion, for infidels,
for the worldly and for the hypocrite. Those who tread the narrow way
must all go in at one gate. They must all partake of one washing in the
Savior's blood. They must all be renewed by one Holy Spirit. They must
walk in one command. But as for the ungodly, they may follow–
"Each a different way Though all the downward road." The road is so
wide that there may be many independent tracks in it and the drunkard
may find his way along it without ever ruffling the complacency of the
hypocrite. The mere moralist may pick a clean path all the way, while
the immoral wretch may wade up to his knees in mire throughout the
whole road.
Behold how sinners disagree and yet agree! How the Sadducee and the
Pharisee are opposed to each other in most respects and yet agree in
this–that they are opposed to God! It is a broad road. Observe that it
is a very popular road. The way downward to destruction is a very
fashionable one and it always will be. To follow God and to be right
has always been a thing espoused by the minority. Holy Richard Baxter
says that, when a child, he marveled that if he ever met with a man who
was much more holy than other men–spoke more of Christ, was more
prayerful, was more scrupulous in business–he was always the man of
whom the neighbors spoke worst! And he wondered more, as he read
history, that the children of God always were the nicknamed ones, the
persecuted ones, the despised ones–until he began to understand that
text of Scripture, "I will put enmity between you and the woman,
between your seed and her
Seed."
It must be so! The people of God must expect to go against the stream,
as the living fish always do. They must stem the torrent of custom and
of fashion. But if you want to follow the old way which wicked men have
trod, you will find plenty of companions and everyone will give you
good cheer. It is a very easy way, too. You need not trouble yourself
about finding the entrance into it, you can find it in the dark! And
the path is so exceedingly smooth that you need not exert yourself much
to make great progress in it.
If you desire to go to Heaven and you ask me what is to be done, why, I
am earnest to inform you rightly. But if you ask me what you are to do
to be damned, well, nothing at all, it is only a little matter of
neglect. "How shall we escape,"
says the Apostle, "if we neglect so great a salvation?" Leave your boat
alone, slip the oars, just sit still and fold your arms and she will
descend to the rapids swiftly enough. The way to total destruction is
most easy! But ah, if you would escape, Divine Grace must make you work
out your own salvation! You must trust in Jesus and by His Grace tug at
the oars like a man, for if the righteous scarcely are saved, where
shall the ungodly and the wicked appear?
This old way, if you look at it, is the way in which all men naturally
run. I called it a popular road and a crowded road, but, indeed, it is
the road of universal human nature! Only put a child on his feet and
leave him alone, and his first footsteps are towards this broad way. He
will need no teaching. You shall have no difficulties in training him.
He will find out the evil path and he will run in it. Yes, and will
delight in it–and unless the Grace of God shall turn him, he will
continue in it even when he leans upon his staff. And when his hair
grows gray he will still persevere in the old way which wicked men have
trod.
For all that, it is a most unsatisfactory road. Dangerous, I should
think, it must clearly be seen to be, even by those who think the least
of it. Since you set out on it, my Brother, how many have perished from
the way? Look back, I pray you, upon your companions–where are they
now? They have gone to the place appointed for all living, one by one,
and I will ask you, now, what testimony have they left behind as to the
way? When I speak of the pathway to the skies, I can recount a thousand
testimonies of dying Christians who have all spoken well of the ways of
God. Their unanimous testimony, borne, mark you, in the light of
another world where hypocrisy will be impossible–the unanimous
testimony has been, that her, "ways are ways of pleasantness and all
her paths are peace."
But who ever heard of the testimony of an ungodly man, when dying, to
the sweetness of sin and to the excellence of unholiness? Why, I think
I might stake the whole matter upon the testimony of such a one as
Byron, a man of gigantic genius, having an experience of the widest
kind, who had drunk of the bowl of pleasure and of fame to its very
dregs. His testimony put into other words is precisely that of
Solomon–"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." He became an unhappy man,
wearied of life and died disgusted with all that he had seen. Better
far for him had he lived the most obscure Believer in Christ, who,
dying, could have exclaimed, "I have finished my course, I have kept
the faith, therefore there is laid up for me a crown of life that fades
not away." Let the testimonies, then, of those who have trod this road
and found it out to be so poor a one, convince you that it is dangerous
for you to tread it, for all along the route you meet with nothing but
disappointments. If you wish to spend your money for that which is
bread and your labor for that which truly profits, you will leave this
tempting but deceptive pathway and fly to another road in which you
shall have present comfort and everlasting felicity.
One thing more I want you to notice before I take you away from this
old way which wicked men have trod, and it is this, that across it here
and there Divine mercy has set bars. Along the road of sin men dash
with increasing rapidity every year. It is marvelous the rate at which
wickedness will travel when it has once overcomes all the drags and
brakes of common sense and of respect to one's fellows. The course of
sin is downhill and the rate of sinning is every day accelerated.
Across the first part of the ungodly man's course, God has been pleased
to place many chains and bars and barricades–and one of those, though
it may be but a frail one–is to you, dear Hearer, the subject of this
morning.
You were led here that I might say to you as solemnly as I can, if you
are selfish, if you are proud, if you are self-righteous, if you are
indulging the lusts of your flesh, you are on the old way which wicked
men have trod and, for your own sake, stop! The Angel of Mercy stands
before you, now, and bids you tarry. Why will you die? Why will you
choose a path that even now gives you no rest? Why select a way which
hereafter shall fill you with eternal misery? O tarry awhile and ask
yourself whether it is well to fling away your everlasting hope and
ruin yourself for present willfulness! O pause awhile!
That dead child at home lies in your pathway like the dead Amasa, who,
as he lay decaying in his blood, made an army pause. That sickness of
yours from which you have just recovered. That loss of property which
has made you so sorrowful. That dire affliction which you see in a
beloved wife–all these are bars and chains–will you leap over
them–will you go steeple-chase to Hell? Oh, sorry exertion for so
miserable an end! No, but let Mercy arrest you. God's hand is put upon
the bridle now–He reins up your horse. He thrusts back the steed upon
its haunches–will you heed your Maker? Will you let your conscience
listen to His voice? Stay on the plains of mercy! If you break through
this warning, you may have another and another, but the further the
road is traveled the fewer the barricades and the impediments
become–till the last part of that tremendous road which leads down to
death is all smooth as glass and a
soul may take a dreadful slide–as down the steep sides of an Alpine
mountain and so glide into Hell without the soul being disturbed.
The Lord may give you up and then, like the train of which we read the
other day in the newspapers, when the engine had become overpowered by
the weight and the brakes were of no further use, the whole will run
down the tremendous decline to destruction. God permits the last end of
many men to be just such an awful descent. Oh, for God's sake, put the
breaks on this morning! For Christ's sake, I pray you, seek to arrest
the growing force of your lusts–its growing tendency towards evil–and
may His Spirit make use of the words which the text has suggested to
us, to come to a dead halt, and to be saved by faith in Jesus!
II. We come now to say a little concerning THE END–"Which were cut
down out of time, whose foundation was swept away with a flood." The
end of these ancient travelers was that the Flood came and swept them
all away. It is a parallel case to the end of all ungodly men. I do not
intend, however, to detain you long upon the horrible subject, but only
to utter these few words. The end of these travelers was not according
to their unbelief, but according to the despised Truth of God. They
would not believe Noah, but the Flood came. You may reject the
testimony of God's Bible. You may despise the daily warnings of God's
ministers, but the result will be as we have said.
God is bound to make true His threats as well as His promises. His
people bear witness that He has never lied to them in a single gracious
Word and you may be sure He will never lie to you if you persevere in
your sin–every single threatening Word will be fulfilled. He is very
loath to punish, but He will do it. He will unsheathe His heavenly
sword, and He will strike and none shall stand against the stroke. God
did not fail at the end of the 120 years to visit the guilty world, and
He will not fail, when your iniquities are full, to visit you. If your
ears refuse the language of His Grace, as surely as there is a God in
Heaven, you shall be made to feel the power of His vengeance.
Those who will not be covered by the wings of Mercy, as a hen covers
her chicks, shall see Justice darting upon them as with the wings of an
eagle. Power reigned in the world's creation–Providence reigns in the
world's preservation. Mercy reigned in its redemption, but Justice will
reign in its condemnation. Remember this, then, unbelief will not,
laugh as it may, remove one jot of the penalty! The Flood, like the
destroying fire which will come upon ungodly men, was total in its
destructiveness. It did not sweep away some of them, but all, and the
punishments of God will not be to a few rebels, but to all. It will
find out the rich in their palaces, as well as the poor in their
hovels. The sword of Vengeance will not be bribed, neither will it be
made quiet by prayers and entreaties–when it is once drawn out of the
scabbard of Mercy–it shall find out the sinner, even though he seeks
sanctuary in the Church of God and lays hold on the horns of the altar
of profession.
He that is not washed in Jesus' blood and covered with His
righteousness, shall find the overthrow of God to make no exceptions.
It will be an overthrow of the most awful kind. What a sight the angels
must have seen as they saw the miserable men and women of that old
world fleeing to the hills and to the mountains and to the tops of the
craggy rocks to escape, if possible, the ever-advancing Flood! I shall
not try to make your ears listen to their cries and their imprecations.
Oh, will it ever be your fate, thus hopelessly, to fear the floodgates
of Divine Vengeance drawn up and the wrath of God, like flaming fire,
let loose upon you and your fellow sinners?
Moreover, it was a final overthrow. None out of the ark outlived the
Flood. They perished, every one of them. So shall it be when the wrath
of God comes–it shall be eternal destruction from the Glory of the
Lord and from the presence of His power. There is no hope for those
with whom God deals in justice–no expectation–no, not a ray of
expectancy can ever reach the gloomy chambers of their despair. Their
death-knell is tolled. Their prison is fastened forever. God has turned
the key in the lock and hurled that key into the abyss where even He
will never find it to unlock and to unloose. The fetters of the damned
are everlasting! The fires that burn about them never can be quenched
and their worm shall never die!
O that men would take heed of this and not wantonly incur that
tremendous wrath of which the Scripture, if it speaks but sparingly,
yet speaks most solemnly! I am not of those who delight to dwell upon
this subject. I have accused myself, sometimes, that I have so seldom
spoken of the terrors of the Law, that I have not entered into details
with regard to the wrath to come and the judgments that await the
wicked. O let me urge you not to tempt the mercy of God, nor provoke
His wrath lest you should know in your own experience with a bitter and
fearful knowledge far more than I
either care to say to you this morning, or could say if I cared!
Consider the old way which wicked men have trod and how they were swept
away with the devouring Flood.
The text gives us two pictures and these two may suffice to bring out
the meaning of Eliphaz. First, he says, they were "cut down out of
time." The representation here is that of a tree with abundant foliage
and wide-spreading boughs, to which the woodsman comes. He feels his
axe–it is sharp and ready–and he gives blow after blow till the tree
begins to shake and quiver. And at last, leaning to the side to which
it must fall, with a tremendous crash it falls headlong on the turf.
Such is the sinner in his prosperity, spreading himself like a green
bay tree–birds of song are among his branches and his fruit is fair to
look upon. But the axe of Death is near and where the tree falls there
it must forever lie. Fixed is its everlasting state. The crash which we
hear in this world as the sinner dies does but foretell to us his
perpetual doom.
The other picture of the text is that of a building which is utterly
swept away. Here I would have you notice that Eliphaz does not say that
the Flood came and swept away the building of the wicked, but swept
away their very foundations! If in the next world the sinner only lost
his wealth or his health, or his outward comforts of this life, it
would be subject for serious reflection. But when it comes to
this–that he loses his soul, his very self. When not the comfort of
life, but life itself is lost–not the comforts of the mind, but the
mind itself–oh, then it becomes a thing to consider with all one's
reason and with something more of the enlightenment which God's Spirit
can add to our reason!
O that we would but be wise and think of this! May God grant that we
may not run the risks of having the foundation of our hope, our
comfort, our very joy torn up by an overwhelming torrent and swept
away, every stone of it, while we poor fools who built on sand shall
wring our hands with anguish to think that we would not take the
warning and build on the Rock while we might have done so!
III. And now our last word is THE WARNING of the text. And its warning
seems to me to be summed up in the enquiry of everyone of us, "Am I, or
am I not, treading in that broad way?" I would not like a hearer to go
out of this place, this morning, without my having accosted him
personally, as best I may while standing here and put to him the
question, Are you treading in the old way which wicked men have trod?
"Ah," says one, "I do not know." Do you want to know? I will help you
to answer it. Are you traveling in the narrow way in which Believers in
Christ are walking? "I cannot say that," you say. Well, then, I can
tell you without hesitation that you are treading in the broad way, for
there are but two ways–the one the way of mercy that leads upward to
the chambers of peace–and the other the way of sin that leads down to
the gates of Hell. Be not deceived, there are no neutrals here!
Christ's word is, "He that is not with Me, is against Me. And he that
gathers not with Me, scatters abroad."
Do you say, "I take no part in this quarrel. I am not for God and I am
not against Him"? No, then, out of your own mouth are you condemned! If
you are not for God, who made you, then you have thrown off your
allegiance and denied the rights of God to possess the creature which
He Himself has formed! You are in the wide and broad way. The Lord help
you! But if you cannot answer the question, I will help you in another
way. Friend, did you ever experience a great change? Are you a new man?
If not, you are in the old way, for the way of nature for every one of
us is the old way and none ever runs in the way of righteousness but
such as are renewed by the interposition of the Holy Spirit.
"You must be born again." "Except a man be born again from above, he
cannot see the kingdom of God." "That which is born of the flesh is
flesh. And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Do I hear one
say, "Then I trust I am changed. I trust I have come into the narrow
way"? Brother, bless God for it this morning! Hang your head in shame
to think you have been in the broad road, but bless the Grace which has
taken you from it! And be sure to prove your gratitude by trying to
rescue others! This very day, as much as lies in you, tell the Gospel
of your salvation, that it may be the Gospel of their salvation, too.
Have you bread to eat while others starve? Eat not your morsel alone.
Have you light while others are in the dark? Lend them your candle–you
shall see all the better for the loan. God help you, dear Brothers and
Sisters, to prove by your life to others that you love God because you
love your brother also.
As for you who confessedly are in the old way, would you turn, would
you leave it? Then the turning point is at yonder Cross where Jesus
hangs a bleeding Sacrifice for the sons of men. Stop there, stay there!
Look up and count the purple drops which flow from His dear hands and
feet and side! And if the Holy Spirit shall help you to say, "Jesus,
accept me, wash me from my sin and take me to be Your servant and lead
me in a right way, even the way everlasting,"
then it is done and this very day you may go your way rejoicing! The
turning point is not a thing of months, weeks, and years, but rather of
seconds when the Grace of God comes to work with man!
My prayer is that some who came in here today the slaves of Satan, may
go out the Lord's free men and that pilgrims in the way to ruin may
become travelers on the road to Heaven and to God be the glory! Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–2 Peter 3.