The Hedge of Thorns and the Plain Way
A SERMON DELIVERED
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns: but the way of
the righteous is made plain." Proverbs 15:19.
You must have noticed how frequently godly people almost wear out their
Bibles in certain places. The Psalms, the Gospel of John and parts of
the Epistles are favorite portions and are thumbed in many an old
Believer's Bible till the fact is very noticeable. There are certain
sheep-tracks up the slopes of Scripture which are much more trodden
than the rest of the holy fields. I suppose it has always been so and I
will not quarrel with the instincts of the saints.
I do, however, regret that any portion of Holy Writ should be
neglected. There are Bible readers who keep clear of the historical
parts of Scripture and also greatly avoid the Book of Proverbs–indeed,
they almost wonder how Proverbs and Ecclesiastes came to be a part of
the Word of God! Very singular it must seem to them that this Book of
Proverbs should be placed so very near to Solomon's Song–that sacred
Canticle which is the center and climax of inspired Scripture–a book
which I do not hesitate to call "the holy of holies," the innermost
sanctuary of Divine Love. Concerning that deeply mystical, mysterious
and rapturous Canticle, it would be impossible to speak too highly. It
is, indeed, the Song of Songs–a song, however, which none can sing but
such as are made songsters by God, Himself, by partaking of the
Inspiration, not of the fountain which gushed from Mount Parnassus, but
of that fountain of every blessing which flows from the mount of
Everlasting Love.
It is certainly remarkable that, hard by such a deeply-spiritual Book,
there should be placed the Book of Proverbs, which mainly consists of
instructions for this life. Doubtless there is a meaning in that
arrangement. The Lord would not have the highest spirituality divorced
from common sense. God has made us body and soul and He would have us
serve Him with both. There is a part of us that is material and there
is a part that is spiritual–and both need guidance such as the Holy
Spirit affords us in the inspired Book. The Lord Jesus Christ has
redeemed us, not as to our soul, alone, nor our spirit, alone, but as
to our body, also–and He would have us recognize this fact.
While we are in the world we are not to regard ourselves as if we were
pure spirits, having nothing to do with earth, but we are to look to
our lower nature and our earthly surroundings and order all these in
accordance with the will of the Lord. It is not enough that our hearts
are cleansed–our bodies are to be washed with pure water. We are in
the world and we must eat, drink, work and trade even as other men do.
And all this must be as much brought under the rule of wisdom as our
higher nature and its actions. The Christian's faith does not come to
him merely to create holy raptures and heavenly emotions–it comes to
help him in the business of every day.
Grace is intended to sanctify all the relations of life. There is no
necessity that a man who is wise unto salvation should, in other
respects, be a fool! The reverse should be constantly seen–sanctity
should beget sagacity and purity should be the mother of prudence. We
are to make the common things of this world sacred to God so that the
bells of the horses may be as truly, "Holiness unto the Lord" as was
the miter of the consecrated priest who served at the altar.
I pray my friends not to be so spiritual that they cannot do a good
day's work, or give full measure, or sell honest wares! To my disgust I
have known persons professing to have reached perfect purity who have
done very dirty things. I have been suspicious of superfine
spirituality since I knew one who took no interest in the affairs of
this world and yet speculated till he lost thousands of other people's
money! Do not get to be so heavenly-minded that you cannot put up with
the little vexations of the family, for we have heard of people of whom
it was said that the sooner they went to Heaven the better, for they
were too disagreeable to live with below!
As the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ is meant for this world as
well as for worlds to come, the volume of Holy Scripture is fitly made
to contain Proverbs as well as Psalms. I have been told, but I do not
know how true it is, that
Scotland owes very much of its practical shrewdness to the fact that
the Book of Proverbs used to be printed in a small form and was one of
the first books read by all the children at the public schools. I can
only say that if it were so, it showed much wisdom on the part of those
who made the arrangement and I have no doubt that if it were still so,
it would be a clear gain to the rising generation. It is a right thing
to have practical teaching in connection with sound doctrine–and
common sense in conjunction with deep spirituality. Let the Gospels,
Psalms, Prophets and Epistles be your bread–and let the Book of
Proverbs be your salt. Neglect neither the one nor the other.
I preach at this time from the word of Solomon which is now before us
and I shall not withhold from you its everyday meaning. But I shall
also exhibit its higher lights, for I believe that there is not a moral
truth in the Book of Proverbs which does not also wear a spiritual
aspect. I shall try to show you that our text, while it has its
temporal bearings which we will not conceal, has, beyond these, its
higher and spiritual teachings with which we will conclude.
I. First, then, take THE TEXT IN ITS TEMPORAL BEARINGS. It runs
thus–"The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns: but the way
of the righteous is made plain."
Note then, first of all, that a slothful man is the opposite of a
righteous man. In the text they are set in opposition. "The way of the
slothful man" is placed in contrast, not with the way of the diligent
man, but with "the way of the righteous"–as if to show that the
slothful man is the very opposite of being a righteous man. A sluggard
is not a righteous man and he cannot be–he misses a main part of
rightness. It is very seldom that a sluggard is honest. He owes at
least more labor to the world than he pays. He is guilty of sins of
omission, for he fails in obedience to one of the laws laid upon
manhood since the Fall–"In the sweat of your face shall you eat
bread." He aspires to eat his bread without earning it! He would, if he
could, eat bread for nothing, or eat the bread for which others
toil–and this verges upon coveting and stealing–and generally leads
up to one or both of these sins.
The sluggard evades the common law of society and equally does he
offend against the rule which our Apostle promulgated in the
Church–"If any would not work, neither should he eat." The sluggard is
not righteous, for he does not render to God according to the strength
lent to him, nor to man according to the work assigned him. A slothful
man is a soldier who would let others fight the battle of life while he
lies asleep under the baggage wagon–until rations are served! He is a
farmer who only farms his own strength and would eat the grapes while
others trim the vines. He would, if possible, be carried on his bed
into the Kingdom of Heaven–he is much too great a lover of ease to go
on pilgrimage over rough and weary ways. If the Kingdom of Heaven
suffers violence from others, it will never suffer violence from him!
He is too idle to be importunate, too slothful to be earnest.
He cannot be a righteous man, for slothfulness leads to the neglect of
duty in many ways and, very soon, leads to lying about those neglects
of duty–and no liar can have a portion in Heaven. Idleness is
selfishness and this is not consistent with the love of our neighbor,
nor with any high degree of virtue. Every good thing withers in the
drought of idleness. In fact, all kinds of vices are comprehended in
the one vice of sloth and, if you tell me that a man is a sluggard, I
have his whole character before me in the blackest of letters! His
fallow fields are well adapted for evil seed and, no doubt, Satan will
raise a fine crop of weeds in every corner of his life! What this world
would have been if we had all been gentlemen, with nothing to do, I
cannot tell. The millions that have to work are largely kept out of
mischief by their toil and although crimes are abundant enough in our
great city as it is, what would they have been if there had not been
daily tasks to keep men from excessive indulgence in drink and other
forms of evil?
Without labor the ale-houses would have been crammed every one of the
24 hours. Folly would have held unbroken carnival and licentiousness
would have burst all bounds. Among the sanitary and salutary
regulations of the moral universe there is none much better than
this–that men must work. He who does not work is not a righteous man,
for he is out of accord with that which makes for righteousness. In
some form or other, with either brain or hands, either by working or
enduring, we share the common labors of the race appointed them of
Heaven. And if we are not doing so, we are not righteous. I call to
your remembrance the remarkable words of the Savior, "You wicked and
slothful servant." Those two adjectives are nearly related–"wicked and
slothful." Might not our Lord have said "slothful," alone? He might,
but He knew how much of wickedness goes with sloth and is inherent in
it and, therefore, He branded it with the condemning word.
Our second observation is this–if we avoid sloth we have not done
enough, we must also be righteous. If it had been sufficient to shake
off idleness and become industrious, the text would have run thus–"The
way of the slothful is as a
hedge of thorns: but the way of the diligent is made plain." Ah, dear
Friends, a man may be very industrious, energetic and earnest, but if
it is in a wrong cause, he might have been less mischievous had he been
slothful! To be exhibiting industry by doing a great deal of mischief
is not commendable. To be actively disseminating your opinions, if
those opinions are false, is to be doing grievous harm. To rise up
early and sit up late and to eat the bread of carefulness, merely for
selfish ends, is not to secure a blessing. There is a diligence which
is produced by greed, or ambition–and this is no better than the
selfishness which is the cause of it! Many wear themselves to skin and
bone to gather that which is not bread, to hoard up that which can
never satisfy them. We are to become the servants of righteousness when
we escape from the servitude of sloth. "Not slothful in business" is
very well, but to complete the change we must be gracious in our
diligence, being "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." We must do that
which is right, kind and holy–and so we must live to the honor and
glory of Him to whom we owe all things.
Young men who are beginning life, it is well that you should be urged
to be diligent. But it is better that you should be led to be
righteous! Worldlings would have you industrious, but saints would have
you righteous. You can be made righteous in state through faith in
Jesus Christ–and righteous in character through the renewal of your
heart by the Holy Spirit. Mind this.
The text leads us to make a third observation which repeats its very
words, namely, that a slothful man's way is like a hedge of thorns.
Here we enlarge. The idler's way is not a desirable way. Unthinking
persons suppose that the sluggard lives a happy life and travels an
easy road. It is not so. Many believe in "the sweet doing of nothing,"
but it is a sheer fiction. Surface appearances are not the
truth–though it may seem that idleness is rest, it is not so. Though
sloth promises ease, it cheats its votaries. Of all unrest there is
none more wearisome than that of having nothing whatever to do. The
severest toil is far more endurable than utter sloth. I have heard of
retired business men going back to the counter from absolute weariness
of idleness. It is far more desirable to be righteous than it is to be
at ease. Labor of a holy sort has ten thousand times more joy in it
than purposeless leisure!
The way of the sluggard is also difficult. The idle man walks a hard
road in his own apprehension–he has to break through thorns. Every
molehill is a mountain to him; every straw is a stumbling block. There
is a lion in the way–he will be slain in the streets. You look out and
can only see the smallest possible dog, but he is sure that it is a
roaring lion and he must stay at home and go to bed! He cannot plow by
reason of the cold. The clods are frozen, he is sure. They are hard as
iron and will break the plow! If you look out of doors, you will see
the neighbors' teams going, but he has another excuse if you beat him
out of the one he has given you! The difficulties that he sees are
created in his own mind by his natural sluggishness–he has such a
creative faculty that he has always 20 arguments against exerting
himself once! The first thing such persons do in the morning, when they
open their window, is to look out and see a difficulty. Whenever they
are sent about a task, or on an errand, they straightway begin to
consider the great labor that will be involved in it, the imminent risk
that will surely come of it–and the great advantages of leaving it
undone!
To the slothful man, his way, when he gets so far as having a way at
all, always appears to be as hard to pursue as a hedge of thorns and,
mark you, if he continues slothful, it will actually become a hedge of
thorns. Difficulties imagined are apt to arrive! Duty neglected today
will have to be done some time or other and the arrears of neglected
service are grim debts. The slothful is like the spendthrift who does
not reckon what he spends, but contents himself with crying, "Put it
down." The score increases and again he cries, "Put it down." He
resolves to do better and then gives a bill, or renews a former bill
and dreams that the debt is paid!
But the debt remains, accumulates and follows the man's track. Old
debts pursue a man. Like wolves which hunt the fleeing traveler across
the snowy plains of Russia, neglects and obligations follow a man with
swift and sure pursuit and there is no way of escape. It is the past
which makes the present and the future so difficult. The sluggard's way
appears to lie not only over a thorny brake, but over a compacted mass
of thorns of set purpose planted for a hedge. Dear Friends, do not put
off till tomorrow that which can be done today! Keep the road clear of
arrears. Do the day's work in the day. I am persuaded that in your
ordinary business work some of you Christian people need to be warned
against shiftless delay. Believe me, there is a piety in keeping your
work well in hand, in having the house right, the business in order,
the daily task well done. True religion seeks to honor God in all the
transactions of life and this cannot be done by idling, by postponement
and by allowing work to run behind. No sluggard can be a saint; no
sluggard can glorify God. Life grows
hard and unenviable to men who try to make it easy. A man who neglects
his duty, whether he is a carpenter, a bricklayer, a clerk, a minister,
or an archbishop, will find his way increasingly difficulty until it
becomes almost impassable.
Before long, the sluggard's course becomes a very painful way, for a
way of thorns tears a man's garments and wounds his flesh–you cannot
be neglectful of the ordinary duties of life without, by-and-by,
suffering for it. Loss of character, loss of position and actual need
all come from idleness.
Continue in that course and you will find your way become a hedge of
thorns in a further sense, for it will be blocked up altogether. You
will be unable to go on at all. You took it easy, once, but what will
you do now? You neglected duty, you chose to put off the service of the
day and, at last, your sins have found you out–nobody will have you
and you are a burden to yourself! Now have you found a hedge of thorns
in your way. This is clear enough and it has been seen by most of us in
actual life in several cases.
The other Truth of the text is equally clear–a righteous man's way
becomes plain– "The way of the righteous is made plain." When a man,
by the Holy Spirit's gracious influence upon him, is made thoroughly
truthful, thoroughly honest, so that he walks in his integrity, it is
most pleasant to note how soon, by some means or other, his way opens
up before him. We have seen good men in great straits and
adversities–their own conscientiousness may appear to narrow their
course and, of course, the depressions of business fall upon righteous
men as much as upon the unrighteous. But in the long run you will see
that if a man keeps straight and walks in strict integrity and faith,
the Lord will make darkness light before him and crooked things
straight. Ask the aged man of God, whose life has been full of Grace
and truth, and he will tell you that though he was brought low, the
Lord has helped him.
He will interest you with his account of the struggles of his younger
days and how, when he had his large family of little children about
him, he was tempted to do a questionable act, but was enabled to hold
fast his integrity and found, in his steadfastness, the way to success.
Those stories, which some of us heard as boys at our father's fireside,
or which our grandfathers told us before they were taken up to Heaven,
are, to some of us, heirlooms treasured as tokens for good, and proofs
of the faithfulness of God. We know that integrity and uprightness are
the best preservatives. If we will not put forth our hand unto iniquity
even during the worst pinch, we shall come forth as the light.
But if in trouble you try to get out of it by indirect means, you will
involve yourself in tenfold difficulty. It is far better to be poor
than dishonest. Yes, it is better to die than to dishonor our
profession. It is God's business to provide for us and He will do it.
We are not to be too fast in providing for ourselves. We must not
command the stones to be made bread by forestalling the Lord in that
which is His own peculiar province. Remember our Lord's answer to the
tempter, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that
proceeds out of the mouth of God." We shall dwell in the land and,
verily, we shall be fed, but how this is to be accomplished is the
Lord's business rather than ours. "The way of the righteous is made
plain." Only wait and watch–and you shall see the salvation of God.
Thus I have set before you the moral or temporal meaning of the text,
commending it earnestly to the consideration of all, especially of men
of business, begging them to see to it that there is no neglect about
any part of their calling, for a Christian's business ought to be the
best done of any man's in the world.
See to it, also, that there is no swerving from righteousness in
anything that you do, for the safest and surest road is the way of
truth, the path of righteousness. If you keep close to God and make Him
your Guide even unto death, you will have no need to trouble yourself
about your way–the Lord will make it plain.
II. Now I come to THE SPIRITUAL TEACHING OF THE TEXT and may the Lord
anoint our eyes by His Holy
Spirit that we may see!
Take the first side of the text, the spiritual sluggard–what is said
of him? His way is "as a hedge of thorns." I gather from the opposition
of the text that the spiritual sluggard's way is the way of unbelief
because the opposite of his way is the way of the righteous. Now, the
way of the righteous is the way offaith–"We walk by faith." Therefore
the spiritual sluggard's way is the way of unbelief.
I will describe him. He has a way, for he is not altogether dead to
religious matters. He hears sermons and attends the House of God. He
sometimes reads his Bible and he often has a correct notion of what the
Gospel is. But he fails in faith–he has not faith enough in the truth
of the things which he professes to believe, to ever be affected by
them in his daily life, or in his truest feelings. If he did really
believe these things to be true, his life would not be slothful. When a
man believes that there is a Hell, he labors to escape from it. When a
man verily believes that there is a Heaven, unless he
is demented, he has an ambition to partake in its glories! When a man
really and truly accepts the fact of his having sinned against a
righteous God and believes in the evil of sin, he pines to be cleansed
from sin. When he heartily believes in the power of the precious blood
of Christ to make him clean, he seeks to be washed therein, that he may
be pure before the sight of God. The spiritual sluggard does not
believe after that practical fashion. He says, "It is true," but he
acts as if it were false. He is too much a sluggard to become an
infidel–he is too lethargic to argue against the Truth of God which
condemns him–he nods assent. It is the nod of sleep.
We might have more hope for him if he would begin to contradict. If he
would think enough of the Truth of God to endeavor to justify his
unbelief of it, we might hope that he had opened one of his eyes! But
while he continues to cry "Yes! Oh, yes," and to do all that is proper,
but nothing that is decided and earnest–we have small hope for him. He
prays at times, but it is a dreamy devotion. He has not faith enough in
prayer to continue in it till he is heard in Heaven. He listens to the
preaching of the Gospel, but as a sluggard, he lets what is said go in
one ear and out the other–he grasps nothing, feels nothing, retains
nothing. He is often on the verge of some good and great thing, but it
ends in smoke. He has resolved in real earnest to look to his eternal
state and seek the Lord with all his might. But his resolves are frail
as bubbles. If you were to tell him that in seven years' time he would
be just as dull, stupid and sinful as he now is, he would angrily deny
it–but such will be the case. He intends only to delay a little longer
and then he is going to entertain the great question in the most
serious manner. If I recollect rightly, he was in the same mind 20
years ago and I fear he will continue in the same mind when death comes
upon the scene and ends all his dreaming! I fear that of him it will be
true, "in Hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." He will not
open his eyes till then.
I must not forget that this sluggard did once make an effort. He gave
up one of his vices–that is to say, he almost did so, but he soon
returned to it. He was a drunk and he went the length of not drinking
quite so much. Perhaps he even went so far as not drinking at all,
which was a good thing for him, but then he made up for his self-denial
in that direction by indulgence in another way. If you cannot sink a
ship by a hole in one place, you can do so by boring a hole in another.
While some go down to perdition by one sin, others destroy themselves
by another. The sluggard spent all his strength in tinkering one
breakage and he had no energy left to mend a second flaw. He was so
much asleep that he murmured in his dream, "Well done! I am a splendid
fellow."
But when a friend shook him, he yawned and turned over–and went to
sleep again. He was almost awakened, but he preferred to doze till a
more convenient season. He heard a sermon the other day upon, "One
thing you lack," and he cried, "That's me!" and slumbered again. He
heard a discourse upon judgment to come and he at once admitted the
absolute need of being prepared for death and judgment. But he did not
prepare and, in all probability, he will die in his sins. The man has
no resolution, no soul for action, no spirit for anything good. He is
given up to slumber! He always pleads for a little more folding of the
arms to sleep. He will, he will–he assures you that he will wake
up–but he never does. Oh, that by the Grace of God this dreamer could
be awakened! His way is the way of unbelief and he keeps to it with a
deadly persistence which must end in destruction.
Now, that way is full of thorns. It is a very hard way. I will show
you, in a minute, that it is so. People who are in this state cannot
quite give up religion and yet they have never really taken to it. Do
you notice how hard everything is to them? To begin with, ministers
always preach such dreadfully long sermons. The sermon is not long to
you who feed upon the Word of God, but to those who sleep at the table
it is intolerably tedious! The whole service is dreary to them, though
to Believers it is bright and happy. And Sundays! To me the Sabbath is
the pearl of the week, but to these sluggards in religion, it is a day
of gloom. We hear them speak of "dreary English Sundays." They
piteously describe the closed shops, theatres and museums–and enquire
what a man is to do in so sad a case! To go to church? To hear of the
best things? This is much too hard a task for sluggish minds. Poor dear
souls!
As for a Prayer Meeting, they never condescend to consider such a
gathering–it is too dreary! Or if, perchance, they go, nobody ever
prays to please them–their ideal of devotion is not reached! Ask them
whether they read the Bible at home. They might do so if they were
fogged to it, but the Bible does not interest them and it requires so
much thought. They cannot muster mind enough for it. To us it is a Book
which sparkles with the most Divine Truths of God–it is the Book of
God! The Lord of books! There is no volume like it. But to these
people, Bible reading is hard labor and worse. Prayer is also slavery.
Repentance is impossible. The revival plan of "Believe and live,"
without any repentance–they rather take to for a time–till they begin
to understand more of what the evangelist means.
They go into the Enquiry Room and get "converted" in five minutes–and
have done with godliness for the rest of their lives! Possibly some
time after they hear of a sanctification to be had in the same manner,
they believe themselves to be perfect and feel that there is no more
need for watchfulness or striving, for sin is dead and they are
perfect! When they are told what repentance and faith really are and
that these are for daily, life-long use–and that we must every day
watch and strive against temptation, without and within, they disappear
from among our hearers, for they do not wish to trouble themselves with
so great an enterprise. If they could be carried to Heaven in a sedan
chair, or trip there in their slippers, they would be glad of it. But
to go on pilgrimage, up hill and down dale, is another matter. Their
way is as full of difficulties as a thorn-hedge is full of prickles!
Moreover, it is full of perplexities. Do you ever meet with these
sluggards? I do. They sometimes come to see me and when they come, this
is their style of talk. They say, "Well, Sir, I have heard about
believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you tell me what it means?" I
explain that it is a simple acceptance of God's testimony and trust in
the Lord Jesus. Do you understand that? They say, "Yes." Then they
raise a difficulty, which I explain. Do you quite comprehend that?
"Yes, Sir, I see that, but"–and then follows a further doubt. This
also is cleared up in time to make room for another. Again and again it
is–"Yes, but then_." Thus I continue grinding wind by the hour
together! Their minds are bottomless buckets and their memories are
bags full of holes–it is very unprofitable work to endeavor to fill
them. I seem to be trying to catch a fox. I stop up its hole, but it is
out at another opening! This also I stop and 50 more and, to my
surprise, I hear the shout, "Hark, away! My fox has gone across
country."
He is further off than ever. It was great folly on my part to imagine
that I could bring him to earth, or dig him out of his burrow. These
people are great at questions, the whole difficulty really lying in
their unbelief–they are unwilling to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!
When a man does not wish to believe, reasons for doubting gather about
him in swarms, like flies. Besides, it is such a fashionable thing, you
know, to doubt. You are aware that all the cultured folk display great
facility in fashioning doubts, while those who believe God to be true
and do not mistrust His Word are commonplace persons of a very low
order of mind. You smile, but this is a very convincing argument to our
sleepy friend. No great logic is needed to lull a sluggard to repose.
It is the fashion to doubt and you may as well be dead and buried as
out of fashion! These sluggish people will not take the trouble to sift
evidence. They have no wish to be driven to turn from their sins and
seek a Savior and be reconciled to God. This would take too much
exertion and involve too many self-denials and heart-searching. They
prefer a way full of perplexities to the new and living way! They
choose a thorn-hedge rather than the King's Highway of righteousness!
Nor is this all. In addition to perplexities, their way becomes full of
miseries. The sermon which pleases the Believer and cheers his heart,
saddens the sluggard. The prayer, which is to us a delight, is to them
a cause of anxiety if they enter into it at all. The sight of bread is
a great joy to a hungry man, but suppose he does not eat it and there
it stands? Well, then, it becomes an instrument of torture fit for
Tantalus to use! I should suppose that nothing could aggravate thirst
much more than the mirage of the desert when the traveler sees a stream
of bright, sparkling water rippling at his feet and yet not a drop is
there. His fancy torments his thirst! So, for some of you to hear of
the Feast of Love and to see the joy of the children of God must be
horrible if you, yourselves, have neither part nor lot therein. That
promise quoted by the preacher–how it must have grated on your ears if
you knew its value and yet did not embrace it by faith!
Painful is this predicament. You are sadly placed, for you enjoy
neither good nor evil. If you were to go straight out into the world
and plunge into the pleasures of it, you would, at least, know one side
of life. But you dare not do that– you have too much conscience, too
much training in religious ways to run with the worldling in his
wantonness–so that you neither know the pleasures of the world, nor
the pleasures of Grace! You feel restraints from both sides, but you
know not the liberties of either side. Between two stools you come to
the ground. Neither Heaven nor Hell is on your side! Both saints and
sinners are shy of you and so your way is as a thorn hedge. It is
dreadful for a man to have enough conscience to know that he is lost,
but not enough Grace to find salvation! To have enough religion to make
him uncomfortable in sin, but not enough to make him happy in Christ! I
know some who continue in sin and yet at night have terrible dreams and
wake up in a cold sweat of fear. They dare not think of the course of
conduct, which, nevertheless, they persevere in–they go onward to
destruction and, by-and-by, they will take a leap in the dark because
they are too idle to wake up. O mighty Grace, wake these sluggards, or
else they will sleep themselves into eternal misery!
"The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns." One of these
days he will come to the end of his way and he will see that hedge of
thorns blocking him out of Heaven–blocking him out from God! His sins,
like a thick hedge, will stand in front of him as he is about to die
and will shut him out from hope, while his despairing soul will cry,
"Oh, that I could find mercy! Oh, that I could find deliverance!"
Recollection of wasted opportunities, of a rejected Gospel and of
despised Sabbaths will come up before him–and through that thorn hedge
his naked soul will be unable to force its way into hope and peace! God
grant that we may not be among the sluggards at the end of the way!
We will now consider the other side of the text very briefly and notice
that the righteous man's way shall be made plain. This is a cheering
promise, especially to any of you who are walking in the dark at this
time. "The way of the righteous is made plain." The Lord will see to
this. The way of the righteous is the way of faith. They see Him who is
invisible and they trust in God. They look for their pardon to the
precious blood of Jesus Christ. In fact, they look to God in Christ
Jesus for everything! Their way has impediments in it–crooked things
are in it, mountains are in it, and deep gulfs–but see the beauty of
the promise, "The way of the righteous is made plain." Difficulties
shall be removed, the valleys shall be exalted and the mountains and
hills shall be laid low. The crooked shall be made straight and the
rough places plain. Child-like confidence in God shall march on as upon
a raised causeway and always find a road for itself.
Faith travels by an unseen track to honor and glory, neither shall
anything turn her aside. Her way may not be plain at this moment, but
it shall be made so. God is with those who trust in Him and what or
whom shall we fear when God is with us? In due time the hand of the
Lord shall be seen. To the moment the Divine Power will time its
interposition. The Red Sea was not divided a single second before
Israel passed through it. The Jordan only flowed apart when the feet of
the Lord's priests actually came to the water's brim. Tomorrow's
difficulties are real and tomorrow's Grace will be real. When tomorrow
comes, sufficient unto the day shall be the Divine help thereof. When
you come to the sepulcher, you shall find that the stone is rolled away
from its mouth. In due time the way of the righteous shall be made
plain and that is all the righteous should desire or expect.
Sometimes the way of the righteous is mysterious and perplexing. I have
known the best of men say, "I long to do right and, by God's Grace, I
will not stoop to anything which is evil–but which of the two ways now
before me is the right way? Each of them seems to be both hopeful and
doubtful. Which way shall I turn?" This is a condition which causes
great anxiety to one who is deeply earnest to be right. Oh, for an
Oracle which could plainly indicate the path! Superstition and
fanaticism shall not be gratified by either voice or dream, but yet the
way of the righteous shall be made plain. Brothers and Sisters, when
you do not know your way, ask your Guide. Stand still and pray. If you
cannot find the way upon the chart, commit yourself to the Divine
guidance by prayer. Down on your knees and cry to the Lord! Few go
wrong when they pray over their movements and use the judgment which
God has given them. The last is not to be omitted, for I have known
persons pray about a matter which was perfectly clear to anyone with
half a grain of sense. In order to escape from an evident but
unpleasant duty, they have talked about praying over it. Where a plain
command is given, an unmistakable finger points the way and hesitation
is rebellion! Sluggards make prayer an excuse for doing nothing. On the
other hand, willful people make up their mind and then pray–and this
is sheer hypocrisy!
God is insulted by prayers which only mean that the petitioner would be
glad of Divine allowance to do wrong– glad of an event which might be
twisted into guidance in a doubtful direction! Such prayers God will
never hear. But the way of the righteous shall be made plain. The path
of faith shall end in peace. The way of holiness shall conduct to
happiness. Your way may be so dark that you cannot see your hand before
you, but God will, before long, make it bright as noonday. At this
moment all the wise men in the world might not be able to predict your
path, but the Lord will direct you. Only trust in the Lord and do
good–and He will light your candle. Yes, He will cause His sun to
shine upon you. There is a blessing in the very act of waiting upon
God–and out of it comes this joy–that your way shall be made plain.
I find one excellent translation runs thus–"The way of the righteous
is a highway." The righteous do not follow the blind alleys and back
streets of craft and policy–"The way of the righteous is a
highway"–it is the open road where none may challenge the traveler. It
is the King's Highway where the passenger has a right to be. It is a
grand thing to feel that in your position in life you are where you
have a right to be and that you came there by no trespass, or breaking
of hedges–that you are doing what you have a right to do before the
living God and none may criticize you. He that is in
the King's Highway is under the King's protection and he that stops him
by daylight shall come under the strong hand of the law. Our King has
said, "No lion shall be there, neither shall any ravenous beast go up
thereon."
He that is on the King's highway will come to a good end, for the King
has completed that way so that it does not fall short, but leads to a
city of habitations whose Builder and Maker is God. Oh, to be right
with God! Yes, to be right with Him in our daily life and private walk!
Let that be the case and our way shall be judged of by the Lord as His
own royal highway and upon it the light of His love shall shine so that
it shall become brighter and brighter unto the perfect day!
O God of great mercy, keep us in Your fear and through Your Grace lead
us, in imitation of Your dear Son, to abide in holiness! And to Your
name be praise forever and ever! Amen,