Guile Forsaken When Guilt Is Forgiven

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH 25, 1877,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile." Psalm 32:2.

THE only blessing the Law can give, it bestows on those who do no
iniquity and walk perfectly in God's ways–the Gospel, alone, has a
blessing for the guilty. Upon their believing in Jesus, it pronounces
the benediction, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, and
whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not
iniquity." To be "blessed" is to be in the most desirable state–at
peace with God, happy in yourself and full of Divine favor. A man
cannot be more than blessed, or, what if I say, doubly blessed since
the benediction is pronounced twice? Nor is it a stinted blessing, for
no limiting word is put before it or after it to mark an inferior
benediction.

When our Lord opened His mouth in the Sermon on the Mount, He poured
forth a stream of blessings, and even so does the Gospel, when it
speaks to the soul–rivers of blessing flow from its every word! The
language of the text is very emphatic in the original and implies a
multiplication of blessings. There cannot be a more true, real and
assured blessedness than that which belongs to the forgiven sinner. All
the blessedness which could have come to a perfect man comes to the man
whose transgression is forgiven.

O you who have sinned against God and are conscious of it, rejoice that
you are not shut out from blessedness! If, by faith, you can believe in
the sin-forgiving God and accept the matchless Atonement which covers
all your guilt and if you will exercise faith upon that blessed system
by which sin is no longer imputed, then you are even now among the
blessed! God Himself has blessed you and neither men nor devils can
reverse the benediction. Now, mark that at the very same time that the
guilt of sin is taken away and blessedness is bestowed, it happens unto
the forgiven man that he undergoes a change of nature.

The work of the Spirit is linked with the work of the Son–when the Son
removes guilt, the Spirit removes guile. He who takes away our
offenses, also cures our deceit. When we begin to be Believers, we
cease to be liars. He who was, before, crafty as Jacob no sooner
receives the blessing of the Lord in answer to prayer than he becomes
"an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile." It is to this fact that I
am going to draw your attention at this time. As I desire to use it as
a means for self-examination and awakening, I pray the Holy Spirit to
apply it with power to many souls.

You must all have noticed in David's case, that after he had fallen
into his foul sin with Bathsheba, he ceased to exhibit that transparent
truth-speaking character which had charmed us so much before. Until he
had obtained a sense of pardon for his great crime, David was as
crooked and perverse as he could be. Guile was as abundant in him as
guilt, for he made no confession of his sin and would not allow himself
to see the heinousness of it. He must have put a fearful strain upon
his conscience to have hushed its protests against his grievous
offense. Perhaps even months passed without any honest acknowledgment
to his own conscience and to God that he had so foully sinned. His
entire endeavors were concentrated upon the concealment of his crime
and, to that end, all his wits were set to work with horrible cunning.

What crafty devices he practiced in seeking to hide his sin–such as
bringing Uriah back and making him drunk! Could this be David–the
honest and conscientious David of former days? Could he have become so
mean, so full of low scheming? Could he be the Psalmist who sung so
sweetly? Could he deliberately plan the death of the man whom he had so
fearfully wronged? Yes, and worse, when Uriah, being willfully exposed
to danger, fell in battle, David manifested no compunction, nor uttered
a word by way of confession. He put it off with apparent indifference,
saying, "the sword devours one as well as another."

He knew right well how Uriah came to die, and Joab knew, also, and yet
he trumped up a message, as if nothing had been arranged between them
beforehand. Ah, David, what a deceitful heart you had and how you did
practice guile upon

guile! Yes, so blind had his mental vision become, as to his own
sinfulness, that when Nathan outlined a picture which was the very
photograph of his own case, he did not see it, but pronounced a fierce
sentence against the supposed culprit! It needed the Prophet to come
forward and say, "You are the man," before that guileful heart of David
was able to perceive that Nathan spoke of him!

Yes, sin gives a twist to our entire manhood and makes us play a
thousand tricks both with our conscience and with God. But notice, as
soon as Nathan said, "The Lord has put away your sin: you shall not
die," David became another man! He wrote the 51st Psalm, which is one
of the most honest pieces of writing that ever fell from human pen. How
plain-spoken it is all through! How bare is the penitent's bosom! In it
you do not so much hear the sound of vibrating harp-strings as of
throbbing, breaking /zeart-strings! All through it, the man's soul is
running over at his lips and at his eyes–concealment and trickery are
quite out of the field. Pardoned sin makes an honest heart, but while
sin is unconfessed and unforgiven the serpent rules within and men
twist, wriggle, wind and turn in a thousand deceitful ways.

My first head tonight is this–many men play tricks with God and their
consciences. Secondly, the forgiven man gives evidence of having ceased
from this evil habit–"In His spirit there is no guile."

I. While I speak upon my first head–that MANY MEN PLAY TRICKS WITH GOD
AND THEIR CONSCIENCES, I shall be very glad if you will each carefully
notice how much of what is said belongs to you personally. I want to be
very honest with you, but I should be sorry to be unjust. Do not take
home what does not apply to you, but anything which is really yours, I
pray you to lay to heart. Court the entrance of the Truth of God, even
though it should cut you to the quick. "Faithful are the wounds of a
friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Avail yourselves of
the opportunity which the Lord is now affording us to search our
hearts, as in the presence of the Lord who weighs the spirits. May the
Holy Spirit aid us in this business.

The guile of the human heart shows itself in a refusal to come to
serious consideration. Men cannot be induced to examine themselves and
to look to the state of affairs between God and their souls. We press
them to it and plead with them, even to tears, but they refuse to do
themselves this necessary service. They are more or less conscious that
something is very wrong, but they have no mind to enquire. Is this
truthful? Is it reasonable? If their house were reported to be on fire,
would they not see to it? But no, they could not enjoy the fool's
paradise of false peace if they were seriously to think and enquire
and, therefore, they prefer to take matters easily and ignore as much
as possible all that is unsatisfactory about their condition and
prospects.

From week to week there is no calling of conscience to account.
Sabbaths follow one another and though there may be a little occasional
awakening, there is no resolute determination to cast up accounts and
find out the soul's actual condition. They prefer to shut their eyes
and stop their ears rather than see signs and hear tidings which would
distress them. What childishness is this! It is worse–it is dishonesty
to their souls and God. When a steward declines to render an account,
you may easily guess the reason. When a shipmaster refuses to have his
vessel surveyed, you shrewdly suspect the sea-worthiness of the ship.
When a merchant does not care to look into his books, you judge on
which side the balance has turned.

Honest men are prepared to go into matters and are willing to see the
naked truth, but men who are not brave enough to face uncomfortable
facts play the foolish game of bandaging their eyes. Putting the
telescope to the blind eye and declaring that you see nothing is an old
trick, and commonly practiced even now. May we never be suffered to
persevere in the self-deception which is supported by a heedless
disregard of warnings. Most men will do anything sooner than think
about eternal things. The most frivolous amusements, the most stupid
songs, the most carking cares and even the most weary ceremonial
fashions are adopted as a happy release from the labor of reflection.
Death, judgment, eternity, Heaven and Hell–they dare not think of
these–and why? Because they know that all is wrong with them and so
they practice a crafty carelessness and a cunning indifference.

Others who do think a little are partial in their judgments of
themselves. They present accounts, but these are cooked and made to
appear other than they should be by a sort of spiritual financing.
Ungodly men color all that they do with a rosy tint and endeavor to be
gratified with the appearance of their lives. Is it not very usual for
business men, when their financial position is becoming more and more
unsound, to make a show of prosperity in order to keep up their credit?
Doubtful investments are reckoned as available assets and heavy
liabilities are toned down by clever adjustments. Public

companies often show us fine specimens of the art of coloring. Alas,
that reasonable beings should practice this art upon themselves in
relation to their most vital interests–yet they do so year after year!

They put darkness for light and light for darkness, and reckon
themselves to be rich and increased with goods while they are naked and
poor and miserable. Well-skilled are many in the method of "making the
worse appear the better reason." They exaggerate any little excellence
which they think they possess and greatly underestimate their faults.
They deny, or extenuate, or altogether excuse their sin–they blame
their nature, or their circumstances, or the Tempter–but they,
themselves, must be excused. How could they help sinning? Others would
have done the same had they been in their shoes–why, then, should they
be blamed?

Moreover, what they did was not so very bad, after all, and there are
all their good deeds as a set off against the bad! Men use false
weights and deceitful balances when they are dealing with their souls.
They will not endure honest handling. They cry, "peace, peace," where
there is no peace and prophesy smooth things for themselves. Like the
unjust steward, they permit false statements to be made of what is due
to their Lord and when they come up to their false standard they
congratulate themselves as if they were the pink of honesty! Again,
many are evidently tricking themselves willfully because they rest on
such frivolous grounds of confidence. Could any man depend on his own
good works unless he had juggled with his judgment?

What do you think? Do you believe that any man would build his hope for
eternity upon his being christened when he was a baby and his having
taken the communion at certain seasons since if he were not anxious to
be deceived? Do you think that any man, unless willingly duped, could
believe that he was made a child of God by an outward ceremony? Do you
think any man would rely upon sacraments unless he desired to be
misled? A mortal man believes in absolution given to him by a fellow
sinner who calls himself a priest–is he not willingly deceived? If any
man relies upon outward performances as a means for the putting away of
sin, do you think he has not sense enough in him, if he chooses to use
it, to know that this is utter absurdity?

True, many are duped by the teachings of others, but if they possess
even so much as a trace of brain, might they not see through such false
teaching if they chose? If a man would sit down and only think, would
he not see that confidences based upon such frail foundations are as
sure to fall as houses built upon the sand? But, alas, multitudes of
men play such tricks with themselves so that they are led by the nose
by the servants of Antichrist! They see that others yield their assent
to the pretensions of priests and they conclude that they will go with
the many. It is inconvenient to be too particular and so they leap with
the majority!

But what a wretched way of doing business and how hollow the peace
which comes of it! Men will trust their souls upon statements so flimsy
that they would not risk a half-crown upon them. There is guile at the
bottom of this and those who profess to be easy in these confidences
are not so. Sirs, there is no man honest in his peace but the man who
gained it through the blood of Jesus Christ! If you come to testing and
trying, all other confidences fail you except confidence in the Christ
of God! But the sinner is full of guile and does not want to test and
try. Like the simple, he believes every word because it would be
tedious to discriminate and troublesome to doubt a good report.

Some practice guile in another way. They avoid all home truths and keep
clear of searching doctrines. If they hear a faithful sermon and it
comes home to them, do you know what they say? "The preacher was so
very harsh. I could not hear a man like that. I want more love." Of
course they cannot abide a ministry which reveals their true state,
for, "he that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light
lest his deeds should be reproved." Only honest hearts ask to hear that
searching Word of God which lays bare the thoughts and intents of the
heart–gracious men know that to be turned inside out by a searching
discourse is the very thing they need–and they are grateful to the
honest man of God who will not spare them.

Those persons must be very foolish who prefer a doctor who, when they
are dreadfully diseased and near to death, nevertheless flatteringly
says, "Oh, this is but a small matter! I shall soon set you right. Here
is my wonderful pill–take a certain quantity of boxes and you will be
perfectly restored. I have seen many cases worse than yours completely
cured." The poor wretch is almost in his grave and yet he promises him
long life! Sensible men hate such a deceiver. Rational men choose a
trustworthy physician who will, so far as he knows, tell them what ails
them and not bolster them up in falsehood. So, if men would but let
their senses exercise themselves on the best things, they would prefer
an honest teacher

and prize his faithful warnings. And they would be glad that things
should be put plainly, even if harshly, lest haply they should perish
in self-deception.

Very commonly we meet with people foolish enough to endeavor to turn
the edge of an unpalatable home truth by finding fault with the
preacher. He is too censorious and that is your excuse for remaining in
spiritual apathy. He blundered in pronunciation, or grammar, or
style–and that is tacitly placed as an excuse for your rejecting the
Gospel which he preached. Even books come in for the same censures! The
plain-speaking volume is not "conceived in a gentle spirit," or is too
narrow, bigoted and one-sided. The witness is hated because he
prophecies only evil. If the sinner cannot escape the censure of his
conscience, he will raise a deal of dust and throw handfuls of it upon
those who seek his good, so that in the fog he may effect a retreat.
Ah, foolish trickery!

Beyond this, many are clever at parrying home thrusts by introducing
other themes. Many imitate the Samaritan woman at the well. When our
Lord began to unveil her character and touch her conscience about those
five husbands of hers, she sought to change the subject by the remark,
"Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and You say that in Jerusalem
men ought to worship." Thus with questions about rites or ceremonies,
or doctrines, or types, or prophecies, men shield themselves from the
blows of the Spirit's sword! A brother minister told me, some time ago,
that he visited a woman whose husband had died very suddenly, and he
found that she had at one time been an attendant upon his ministry.

She was sitting with her brother, who was an elder of the Scot Church,
who began at once, somewhat harshly, to remind her of her negligence of
Christian ordinances. The woman evidently feared that the minister
would follow in the same strain and so she cleverly warded off the
expected attack by stating that she had a great difficulty which she
could by no means get over. The minister had no idea of rebuking her
while just newly made a widow, but her conscience was evidently putting
her into a state of alarm. And so she again interrupted the minister's
kindly earnest remarks by saying, "But still, you see, Sir, I cannot
get my mind easy about this one thing. In the Shorter Catechism it says
that God is without beginning and I cannot understand how that can be.
That He should be without end I can understand, but that He should be
without beginning is quite beyond me."

"Well," said the pastor, "my good Soul, I do not think that this is
quite the time to talk about such a mysterious matter. You see the Lord
has removed your husband from you and it is well for us to hear the
voice of the rod." It was of no use, for the woman held to her shield
and repeated that still she could not understand how God could be
without a beginning. At last her brother, the elder, silenced her
objection, by saying, "Woman, what are you doing? Why make such a fuss
about a plain subject? Of course the Lord never had a beginning and He
never needed any, for He was always

there."

This, for awhile, silenced that particular form of caviling, but before
long the woman was at the same mode of defense. You know how the
lapwing pretends to have a broken wing and flies as if it must be taken
and all with the view of leading the passenger from her nest–so do our
hearers try to lead us away from the main matter. When comparing notes
about the way in which the unconverted meet us when we try to deal
personally with them, ministers can all bear witness to the cleverness
of many in the art of turning the switch and shunting the conversation.
You know how it has been with some of you when you have been hard
pressed, you have crept under the Doctrine of Election! You have hidden
in the dark corner of Predestination, or dodged the Gospel behind some
theory of free agency.

This is sheer trickery, a display of evil subtlety, exceedingly
mischievous! What would it help you if you could understand all
mysteries? As long as you are unreconciled to God, what does it matter
about what you understand or do not understand? Is it not your business
to confess your sin and go and seek mercy at the hands of the Most
High? What degree of knowledge will excuse you if you neglect this
chief duty? Those points which are worth your knowing, God will teach
you in due time by His Spirit. I beseech you, attend to the main
business which is that you should be saved from sin by faith in the
Lord Jesus!

Another very cunning trick which is often practiced by sinners who are
full of guile is this–they pass on to other people anything which is
uncomfortably applicable to themselves. It seemed as if the preacher
had made a cap specially to fit that head, but the result was that the
person who watched the making exclaimed, "Dear me! How well he has
taken my neighbor's measure." The letter is meant for him, but he puts
it in another envelope, drops it into his friend's mailbox

and runs away! If there is a solemn warning for unregenerate men, he
does not see its bearing on himself. He perceives somebody in the crowd
who needs just such a serious word and he hopes that it will be useful
to him.

You will hear him sometimes say after a sermon in which almost every
point has been put personally to himself, "I cannot think how our
friend Smith could keep his seat while the pastor was dealing so
faithfully with him." "You are the man" is an application as much
needed now as ever, for it is one of the common tricks of sinners to
get another to wear their robes that they, themselves, may pass
unwounded through the battle. Alas for such wretched deceit!

One sorry piece of craft which Satan teaches to many is to make them
doubt, or pretend to doubt, anything in Scripture which frowns upon
them. If they find that, dying as they are, they will be driven from
the Presence of God forever, they comfort themselves by recollecting
that a wise man has discovered that everlasting does not mean forever!
And they hear that a clever Divine has found out that there is to be a
general jail release in Hell and everybody is to be admitted into
Heaven in due time. They hear this and they hear that–and as drowning
men catch at straws, so do they cling to any new inventions which
promise them ease in their sins. They lay the flattering unction of
false doctrine to their souls as if it were the balm of Gilead.

"Perhaps it may be so," they say, and thus they risk their future
happiness upon so poor a chance as the hope that, perhaps, these modern
thinkers may turn out to be right and the plain teaching of Scripture
prove to be a mistake! It is a wonderfully easy thing to make yourself
out to be an honest skeptic and from this earthwork to assail your
assailants. And yet all the while you may have no doubt at all, but in
the core of your heart you may, like the devil, believe and tremble!
Ah, you pretended doubters! If you were stretched on a dying bed, you
would believe the old Revelation, fast enough, and begin to cry out for
mercy in the fear which the approach of death would bring upon you!

Half the men who talk so much about their not believing, believe a
great deal more than they would like to admit– but they dare not test
their own imaginary infidelity by spending an hour alone in their
chamber at eventide and looking into their own hearts. There are many
hypocritical Believers, but are there not quite as many pretended
unbelievers to whom doubting is a mere sop to quiet the cerberus of
their conscience? Guile plays its part with the human intellect and
conjures up an army of ghosts in the form of doubts–but when the sun
of the Truth of God arises, they immediately disappear.

Let us examine another product of the deceit of the natural heart.
While yet they are far from God, many calm and quiet themselves with
outward religion. They never pray in sincerity–neither does their
heart speak at any time with God–and yet they dare not go to bed at
night without kneeling down at their bedside and repeating a form of
prayer! They have never repented of sin and yet they will repeat words
of confession most humbly. They do not praise the Lord in sincerity and
yet their voices may be heard in Psalm and hymn. On the Lord's Day they
go up to the House of God and sit there and do as God's people do–and
they would not be easy if they did not do so–but their heart is in
none of the worship.

Far be it from me to discourage even outward reverence, but it is a
strange cheat that a man puts upon himself when he supposes that mere
formal, heartless worship can be a reason for peace of mind! To have
mocked God with solemn sounds upon a thoughtless tongue ought not to be
a ground of comfort! Repeating words of prayer without life and feeling
should rather move us to self-condemnation than to self-congratulation!
How can men feel content with rending their garments when the Lord bids
them rend their hearts? O Sirs, if you do not pray with your hearts,
what are all your forms worth? What are bended knees without broken
hearts? If you do not, indeed, repent of sin and lay hold on Christ,
what are all your Church goings, or your Chapel goings, however
constant they may be? Of what good can external religion be to you
while you deny to God the homage of your minds? And yet too many wrap
themselves up in this garment of guile.

There are others who conceal in the secret of their hearts a
blasphemous notion which they hardly dare to put into words, but it
amounts to this–the reason why they are not saved is not by any means
due to themselves. They reject the Savior and refuse to leave their
sins, but they are not to blame for it! In fact, they dare not actually
say so, but they insinuate that the blame of their condition lies with
God, Himself! They have been waiting, but Grace has not come! They are
quite ready, but God is not! They are poor victims of adverse fate and
rather to be pitied than condemned! Or so they endeavor to make out for
themselves. Distorted truth is used to support their lies and
conscience is drugged into a

dangerous slumber. Thus do men trick themselves out of their souls with
sophistical arguments forged by him who from the beginning is a
murderer and a liar!

Be not hoodwinked by this slanderous falsehood, but read God's Word
where He declares, "As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the
death of him that dies, but that he turn unto Me and live." He
testifies that He waits to be gracious and all day long stretches out
His hands to a disobedient and gainsaying generation! What a strong
delusion is this, when men dare to lay their blood at God's door and
make Him to be the Author of their sin! In their consciences they know
better, but their inward crookedness delights in lies.

Perhaps the most numerous victims of this guile are those who flatter
themselves that they will be right some day. They have been hearers of
the Gospel for 20 years and are not saved–but they have a full
persuasion that they shall not die as they are now. They nurse the fond
idea that one of these days it will be convenient for them to seek the
Lord. The convenient day has never come, yet, but still they think it
will. There will be a favored hour and a peculiar time–and they half
promise that it shall not be very much longer. O you who play at
procrastination! You are knaves to your own souls! Think about it–if
you resolve that you will repent in a year's time, what is that but a
daring defiance of God by declaring that you will continue in sin for
12 more months, at least? Have you ever looked at it in that light?

Even if a man knew that he would live a year and that on this day 12
months from now he would carry out his resolution to become a
Christian, yet if he should make such a resolution, what would it
amount to but this–"I mean for 12 months to refuse the Savior's claims
and remain an enemy to God"? Do you think that he who thus resolves is
in a hopeful condition? If he is determined to rebel against his Lord
for 12 months, do you not conclude that at the end of the year he will
be a worse man and be even less likely to yield himself to God?

Thus have I exposed a few of the many "knavish tricks" by which our
unrenewed hearts manifest their deceit. May God the eternal Spirit
bless the searching word to all who are deceiving themselves.

II. But now, secondly, THE PARDONED MAN GIVES EVIDENCE OF CEASING FROM
THIS GUILE, for, in

the first place, he makes an open confession of his sin to God. Here he
stands before the Most High and cries, "God be merciful to me, a
sinner," for he feels his guiltiness. He takes his fault and
criminality to himself and does not cloak his iniquity. He admits that
he has sinned against Heaven and in the Presence of the Most High. This
he does all the more freely because he has no motive to do otherwise.
Why should he hide his sin? There is full forgiveness for him! Why
should he deny it when the precious blood of Christ is ready to put it
all away?

I think the most honest confession is that which falls from the
Believer's lips when he gazes upon the–

"Fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins." "There,"
says a creditor to his debtor, "you owe me a great deal of money, but
if you will bring me the account, I will receipt it all." My Friend,
would you not willingly put down all you owed in such a case? Ah, I
think you would rather put down too much than too little when such a
promise was before you! You would be afraid lest you should overlook
anything and would be eager to make a clean breast of all your
liabilities. And so when the Lord Jesus gives a full pardon to the soul
that believes in Him, it is sure to be met with a full confession. How
could it be otherwise?

The pardoned man has, also, done with all sorts of excuses. He does not
try to set his virtues in a brighter light than that of Truth of God or
to make his sins appear less heinous than they are. He confesses all
their guilt and heartily humbles himself in the sight of God. The lowly
words in the language he loves best. The lowest place in the synagogue
is his choice. Once he boasted that he was almost a saint, but now he
admits that he is altogether a sinner. You shall hear no extenuations,
excuses, or denials. The man beholds the pardon of God and it makes him
honest.

Now he desires to know the worst of his case and longs to be searched
and probed. He who has found peace through Jesus Christ surrenders the
keys of the most secret chambers of his soul and asks for inspection.
"O Lord," he says, "I pray You make sure work with my case. I beseech
You cut from my heart this dreadful cancer of sin, even though the
painful knife must follow every root of the hideous evil, for I desire
Truth in the inward parts and the complete eradication of the love of
sin." He is not content to make the outside of the cup and platter
clean and leave the inward part filthy, but he cries for inward
cleansing and for renewal in the hidden fountains of thought and
action.

Now he courts Divine investigation and begs his Redeemer to let the
winnowing fan discover and remove his chaff. Now would he put himself
in the full blaze of Jehovah's light and desire the consuming fire to
burn up his dross. He

cultivates heart-searching and practices daily repentance. He
continually desires a lowly estimate of himself because he feels that
self-abhorrence endears Christ to his heart as the great Savior of
unworthy ones. He would rather have a little true Grace than abound in
great pretensions and he considers the lowest place among the children
of God to be better than he deserves.

Sincerity has, also, entered into the sinner's belief in the terrible
things of God's Word. He now sees their certainty and their justice and
does not pretend to question them. He is one who trembles at the Word
of the Lord and he leaves the cavilers to do their daring work alone.
He knows in his own conscience that there is a Hell. He confesses,
also, that it is just that there should be such a place of punishment
and he only marvels that he has not been driven there, himself. Such a
man now wishes to be dealt with personally and impartially whenever he
reads a book or hears a sermon. He does not want the preacher to speak
to others and leave him out. No, but he has come hungering and
thirsting after the Word and he opens his mouth and pants for his
portion.

And if, instead of getting comfort, he is to receive rebuke, he is
reverently ready to receive it so long as it shall be for his real
good. He is ready to take bitter medicine, for he is anxious to be
healed. He lays bare his breast, for he desires the heavenly Surgeon to
inflict any wound rather than leave the heart of stone within his
flesh. He delights in the searching Word, and the more closely it tries
and tests him the more thankful he is for it. The pardoned man, also,
desires everything that he does to be true. He is often afraid to pray
in public lest he should say more than he feels. When he rises from his
knees in private, he frequently questions himself–"Has it been real
devotion? Did I really mean all that I said?" He catechizes himself
lest he should be a hypocrite!

And I have known a man, whose sins have been pardoned, when he has
dared to preach a sermon, sit down afterwards and take all his
sentences to pieces lest he should have said more than he altogether
knew and actually felt, for he was exceedingly afraid of going beyond
the line of his actual knowledge. The saved soul hates paste gems and
mimic jewels. He desires to have true precious stones or none at all.
He is afraid of shams. He wants to be real in all things and,
therefore, he sometimes doubts his own safety because he is in the
habit of pulling himself to pieces–to dissect his heart and to see
whether it is sound all through. This habit may be carried to excess,
but, in itself, it is an exceedingly good one. It is infinitely better
than the dishonesty of setting down all our gilt as gold.

The really pardoned man, also, desires to be rid of all sin. I know
some who can never hope to obtain forgiveness, for they continue in
their iniquity. Can a woman expect to find peace with God while she
goes on taking her sly drop and becoming intoxicated in private? Can a
man find joy in God who still clings to the drunk's vice? Will God
receive into His favor those who continue to practice dishonesty in
trade? Shall sin be fondled and yet pardoned? No one dares to expect it
and yet deceitful hearts attempt to think so. They will condemn other
people's pet sins and yet excuse their own! They pretend much sorrow
for sin in general, but hold to one favorite sin in particular.

Their delicate Agag must live! Kill all the rest, but surely, as to
this one, the bitterness of death has passed! O Sirs, be not
deceived–you must be willing for all sin to go! If you desire one sin
to live, you will not live yourself! The honest-hearted sinner–he whom
the Lord absolves of iniquity–desires to see all his sins brought
forth and hung up like the kings whom Joshua found in the cave at
Makkedah–hung up in the face of the sun that they might die the
death–

"The dearest idol I have known, Whatever that idol be, Help me to tear
it from Your Throne, And worship only Thee."

We are not perfect, but every really pardoned man wishes that he were
so. Though there are sins into which we fall, there are no sins which
we love. Though we come short of the Glory of God, yet we do not rest
happy in falling short, and we can never be wholly content till it is
no longer so with us.

Beloved, the pardoned man is cleansed from the guile which would ask
for quarter for darling sins. He seeks after perfect purity of life and
he has heartily ceased from guile, for now, as an heir of Heaven, he
lives in the Presence of God and delights to remember the all-seeing
eye. Now he does not say to God, "Depart from me: I desire not the
knowledge of Your ways," but he looks upon every action of every day as
done before his Father's face. He needs nothing but the Truth of God
and that which will bear the test of the Judgment Day. Beloved, I can
well understand why a pardoned man becomes a man without
deceit–because his pardon is a real pardon–there is no fiction in it.
God justifies him, but He does not justify him by a deception, as some
have blasphemously ventured to say.

No, but there is my sin. Christ took it and was punished for it and,
therefore, my sin was honestly put away without any violation of
justice, for Christ has made a full Atonement for it–and so my sin has
justly ceased to be! Why, with such an honest foundation as that, an
honest pardon may well make an honest man! God makes the Believer
righteous– righteous beyond dispute. His faith is counted to him for
righteousness, seeing he has believed in Jesus Christ, and that is a
righteousness which, at the Last Great Day, will stand the test of the
most searching enquiry! The man is saved on honest principles and,
therefore, from now on there are no tricks for him. He stands erect and
fears no accuser while he cries, "Who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It
is Christ that died, yes, rather that is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who, also, makes intercession for us."

The lesson from the whole is this–be honest. Sinner, may God make you
honest. Do not deceive yourself! Make a clean breast of it before God.
Have an honest religion, or have none at all. Have a religion of the
heart, or else have none. Put aside the mere vestment and garment of
piety and let your soul be right within. Be honest. And you who are
Christians, remember that your blessedness will never be enjoyed by
yourselves unless you continue to be without guile. Some Christians
live rather by policy than by honesty–I hope they are Christians, but
I am not sure–for their life is full of scheming. They never go
straight. They would not care to go straight–they like going a little
round about just to show that they can dodge in and out. There are men
of this sort in business and you need not go out of your road to meet
them. Even their thinking seems to revolve on a wheel–all round about
and round about.

Now, Friends, you will never be happy while you act craftily. The only
life in which a man can enjoy the blessedness of pardoned sin is a
downright straightforward life. Be like clear glass so that all who
choose to do so may see right through you. There is a way of living
guardedly in which you never speak your mind, but are diplomatic and
reserved. You take your words out of your mouth and look at them–and
judge what other people will think of them. And then you put the best
of them back again. There is a system of living, as it were, in armor,
buckled up, with your visor down–you never dare show your real self,
but maintain great prudence and reserve. What is this but to live in
fetters? I would sooner die at once–

"I would rather not be, as live to be In awe of such a thing as I
myself." To speak his heart and to act honestly is, to a true Believer,
the path of peace and happiness. If any man chooses another path and
tries diplomacy and policy, so he may, but as sure as he lives he will
come to a sorrowful ending and find that such a course is not a way
which God approves, nor will He let His servants have peace in it. May
God, in His infinite mercy, bring us all to follow Jesus, trusting in
His blood and treading in His footsteps! And to Him be glory forever
and ever. Amen.
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