Rejecters Of The Gospel Admonished

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 17, 1881,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"To whom He said, This is the rest with which you may cause the weary
to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear." Isaiah
28:12.

ASSUREDLY Isaiah was one of the most eloquent of preachers and yet he
could not win the ears and hearts of those to whom he spoke, for it is
written, "they would not hear." Beyond all question he was thoroughly
evangelical, for, as Dr. Watts truly says, he spoke more of Jesus
Christ than all the rest of the Prophets and yet the message of love
was treated as though it were an idle tale. His doctrine was clear as
daylight and yet men would not see it, so that he had to ask with
sorrow, "Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed?" It was not the fault of the preacher that Israel
rejected his warnings–all the fault lay with that disobedient and
gainsaying nation.

The people to whom he spoke so earnestly were drunken in a double
sense. They were overcome with wine and so general was this vice that
Isaiah says, "But they also have erred through wine and through strong
drink are out of the way. The priest and the Prophet have erred through
strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way
through strong drink. They err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For
all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place
clean."

What can be conceived of more potent to blunt the point of Gospel Truth
than intoxication or excess? When a man is given to wine, how can the
Spirit of God dwell in him? How is it likely that the Truth of God
shall enter an ear which has been rendered deaf by this degrading vice?
How is the Word of God likely to operate upon a conscience that has
been drenched and drowned by strong drink? I charge you, if any of you
are given to drunkenness, flee from this destroyer before your bonds
are made strong and you are hopelessly fettered by the habit! It is
small wonder that the preacher is defeated if his ardent zeal has to
compete with ardent spirits! When Bacchus rolls the wine cask against
the door, it is hard to force an entrance even though we demand it in
the name of King Jesus. Men are in an evil state for hearing when the
barrel and the bottle are their idols. It is not at all marvelous that
the Gospel should be neglected by men who have put an enemy into their
months to steal away their brains.

The people to whom Isaiah spoke were also drunken in another sense,
namely, intoxicated with pride. Their country was fruitful and its
major city, Samaria, stood on the hilltop like a diadem of beauty
crowning the land–and they delighted in the glorious beauty which is
on the head of the fat valley. They, themselves, were brave and among
them were many champions whose strength sufficed to turn the battle to
the gate. Therefore they hoped to resist every invader and so their
hearts were lifted up. Moreover, they said–"We are an intelligent
people! We need no teaching, or if, indeed, we endure instruction, it
must be of a high class! We are men of cultured intellect, instructed
scribes and we do not need persons like Isaiah to weary us with their
ding-dong of 'precept upon precept, line upon line,' as if we were mere
children at school. Besides, we are good enough. Do we not worship our
god under the form of the golden calves of Belial? Do we not respect
the sacrifices and the holy days?"

So spoke the more religious of them, while the rest gloried in their
shame. Being intoxicated with pride, it was not likely that they would
hear the message of the Prophet who bade them turn from their evil
ways. Even so, he that is righteous in his own esteem is never likely
to accept the righteousness of Christ. He who boasts that he can see,
will never ask to have his eyes opened. He who claims that he was born
free and was never in bondage unto any man is not likely to accept the
liberty of Christ. Pride is the devil's dragnet in which he takes more
fish than in any other except procrastination. The destruction of those
who are proud is certain–for who can help the man that refuses to be
helped–and where is the likelihood that there shall be either
repentance for his sin or faith in Christ in the man who does not know
that he has sinned and who believes that if he has done so, he can
easily wipe away the stain?

The two forms of drunkenness are equally destructive and I beg to call
your attention to this fact. Whether body or soul is intoxicated,
mischief will surely come of it. Many are pleased if I speak against
drunkenness of the body and I feel bound to speak as earnestly as I
possibly can, for it is a monster evil. But I beseech you who are sober
and, perhaps, total abstainers, to dread the other intoxication–for if
any one of us should be intoxicated with pride on account of our own
sobriety–it will be ruinous to our souls! What if we are temperate and
self-denying–there is nothing in this in which to glory–we ought to
be greatly ashamed of ourselves if we were not so. Let us not get drunk
with pride because we are not drunkards, for if we are so vain and
foolish, we shall as certainly perish by pride as we should have done
by drink.

I am, indeed, rejoiced when a man gives up his cups, but I am far
happier when, at the same time, he renounces his self-confidence, for,
if not, he may still remain so besotted as to refuse the Gospel and
perish by his own willful rejection of mercy. May the Holy Spirit
deliver us all from such a sad condition! I confess I feel encouraged,
this morning, by Isaiah's need of success. When he says, "They would
not hear," I comfort myself concerning those who pay no heed to my
exhortations–perhaps it is no more my fault than it was Isaiah's. At
any rate, if Isaiah still went on speaking, even when he cried, "Who
has believed our report?" much more may I, who am so much inferior to
him, be willing to persevere in telling out my Master's message as long
as my tongue will move!

Perhaps God may grant repentance to the obstinate and ears may yet be
unstopped and hearts may yet be softened! Therefore, let us try again
and once more publish the glad tidings of peace. If the blessed Spirit
is with us, we shall not give the Gospel call in vain, but men will fly
to Jesus as doves to their windows! First, I wish to speak, this
morning, upon the excellence of the Gospel. Secondly, upon the
objections taken to it. And thirdly, upon the Divine counterattack of
these objections.

I. Let us consider THE EXCELLENCE OF THE GOSPEL as it is set forth in
the passage before us. This Scripture does not allude to the Gospel,
primarily, but to the message which Isaiah had to deliver which was, in
part, the command of the Law and in part the promise of Grace. But the
same rule holds good of all the Words of the Lord and, indeed, any
excellence which was found in the Prophet's message is found yet more
abundantly in the fuller testimony of the Gospel in Christ Jesus. Using
the passage for ourselves and referring it to the Gospel ministry in
this day, the excellence of that Gospel lies, first, in its
objective–it is excellent in its design, for it is a revelation of
rest.

We, as Christ's ambassadors, are sent to proclaim to you that which
shall give you ease, peace, quiet, rest. It is true we have to begin
with certain Truths of God that disturb and distress, but our goal is
to dig out the foundation into which may be laid the stones of
restfulness. The message of the Gospel which fell from the mouth of its
own Author is this–"Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." Over Bethlehem the angels sang,
"Peace on earth, goodwill toward men." The objective of the Gospel is
not to make men anxious, but to calm their anxieties. It is not to fill
them with endless controversy, but to lead them into all the Truths of
God.

The Gospel gives rest of conscience by the complete forgiveness of sin
through the atoning blood of Christ. It gives rest of heart by
supplying an Object for the affections worthy of their love and it
gives rest of the intellect by teaching it certainties which can be
accepted without question. Our message does not consist of things
guessed at by wit, nor evolved out of man's inner consciousness by
study, nor developed by argument through human reason–it treats of
revealed certainties, absolutely and Infallibly true upon which the
understanding may rest itself as thoroughly as a building rests upon a
foundation of rock.

The Word of the Lord comes to give believing men rest about the present
by telling them that God orders all things for their good. And as for
the future, it brightens all coming time and eternity with promises. It
rolls away the stone from the door of the sepulcher, annihilates
destruction and reveals resurrection, immortality and eternal life
through Jesus Christ, the Savior! The man who will hear the Gospel
message and receive it into his soul shall know the peace of God which
passes all understanding–which shall keep his heart and mind by Jesus
Christ. The believer of this Gospel shall not make haste by reason of
fear. He shall not be ashamed nor confused world without end. It is
true that after being a Believer he may, at times, be disturbed in
mind, yet this shall not be the result of the Gospel, but of that in
him which the Gospel promises to remove!

He shall have rest in Christ, even "quietness and assurance forever."
It is written, "for this Man shall be the peace." "Being justified by
faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord." This
message, which Isaiah had to deliver, saying, "This is the rest and
this is the refreshing," is the glad tidings which we are taught to
deliver in still clearer

words, saying to you that in Christ Jesus, in the atoning Sacrifice, in
the great plan of Grace through the Mediator there is rest for the
weary, sweet rest for burdened souls, rest for you if you come and cast
yourself at the feet of the blessed Savior! Our authorized message from
the Lord God is a Revelation of rest. The Lord has promised to obedient
minds that they shall dwell in quiet resting places.

More than that, it is the cause of rest–"This is the rest with which
you may cause the weary to rest." The Gospel of our salvation is not
only a command to rest, but it brings the gift of rest within itself.
Our Lord says, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I
am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls."
Let the Gospel be admitted into the heart and it will create a profound
calm, hushing all the tumult and strife of conscience, removing all
apprehensions of Divine wrath, stilling all rebellion against the
Supreme will and so working in the spirit, by the energy of the Holy
Spirit, a deep and blessed peace. Oh that we may know and possess this
peace of God!

The Gospel, then, is a message which speaks of peace and also creates
peace. He who sends it is "the Lord and Giver of peace" and His
effectual power goes with the message where it is faithfully delivered
and honestly accepted, creating peace within the secret chambers of the
soul. This rest is especially meant for the weary. "This is the rest
with which you may cause the weary to rest." If you have been trying to
find peace for years and cannot find it, here is the goodly pearl you
have been seeking! If you have been laboring and toiling to keep the
Law and have failed, here is more than the righteousness that your
conscience has been craving! In Jesus Crucified you will find all
things, for "He is made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption!"

Oh you that are weary with the round of worldly pleasure–satiated,
nauseated with the vanities and delusions of the carnal mind–come here
and find true joy! O you that are worn with ambition, fretted with
disappointment, embittered by the faithlessness of those you trusted
in, come and confide in Jesus and be at rest! Weary, weary, weary
ones– here is the rest, here is the refreshing! Jesus expressly puts
it, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest." If your backs are breaking; if your hearts are
breaking; if your eyes are failing through weary watching and waiting,
come to the Savior just as you are, for He will be your rest!
Despondent and despairing, condemned and, in your own conscience, cast
out to the gates of Hell–yet look to Jesus and rest shall be yours!
You cannot be too far gone for the Mighty Redeemer! You cannot be too
lost for the Savior to find; too black for His blood to cleanse; too
dead for the Spirit to quicken!

This is the rest with which He makes the weary to rest. Oh, it is a
blessed, blessed message that God has sent to the sons of men! How is
it that they refuse it? In addition to bringing us rest, the message of
mercy points us to a refresh-ing–"This is the rest with which you may
cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing." If the rested one
should grow weary, again, the Good Shepherd will give him refreshing.
If he wanders, the Lord will restore him. If he grows faint, He will
revive him! Yes, He has begun His gracious work of renewing and He will
continue it by renewing the heart from day to day, blending the will
with His own and making the whole man more and more to rejoice in Him.

I know there are some of God's people here who are faint and thirsty.
You are specially invited, as well as those who never came before, for
this is the rest for the weary! This also is the refreshing for the
fainting and if the sinner may come and find peace in Christ, much more
may you, who though you have wandered from Him like lost sheep, have
not forgotten His Commandments. Come, you desponding ones, come back to
Jesus, for this is the rest and this is the refreshing!

Now note with peculiar joy that Isaiah did not come to these people to
talk about rest in dubious terms and say, "There is no doubt a rest to
be found somewhere in that goodness of God of which it is reasonable to
conjecture." No! He puts his finger right down on the Truth of God and
he says, "This is the rest, and this is the refreshing." Even so, we,
at this day, when we come to you with a message from God, come with
definite teaching! Laying our hand upon the slaughtered Lamb of God, we
cry, "This is the rest and this is the refreshing." We speak of
Substitution, of Christ's dying in the sinner's place! We speak of a
vicarious Sacrifice, of Christ's being numbered with the transgressors
and of our sin laid upon our Surety and borne by Him and put away from
us by Him so as never to be mentioned against us any more forever! And
we proclaim in the name of God that whoever believes in Christ Jesus
has everlasting life–this is the rest and this is the refreshing!

It was said of a certain preacher of the modern school that he taught
that our Lord Jesus Christ did something or other which in some way or
other was connected with the pardon of sin–this is the preaching of a
great number of our

intellectual divines! But we have not so learned Christ, neither is
this the doctrine by which we have obtained rest to our souls. God has
revealed fixed and positive Truths and it is ours to state them clearly
and without hesitation. Our cry is, "This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners! This is the rest and this is the refreshing!" Isaiah had
to preach to the people something definite, something positive and yet
they would not hear.

Perhaps if he had prophesied conjectures and dreams, they would have
listened. Nor did he preach a rest of a selfish character. They say we
teach men to get peace and rest for themselves and make themselves
comfortable, whatever becomes of others. How these men lie in their
throats–they know better and they forge these lies because their heart
is false! Are we not always bidding men look out from themselves and
love others even as Christ has loved them? Our words and acts for the
good of others prove that we do not delight in selfishness! We abhor
the idea that personal safety is the consummation of a religious man's
desires, for we believe that the Life of Grace is the death of
selfishness! This is one of the glories of the Gospel–"this is the
rest with which you may cause the weary to rest."

Get rest, yourself, and you will soon cause other weary minds to rest.
As soon as you have learned the Divine secret, it will become in your
hands a blessed charm with which you, too, by God's Grace, may become
givers of rest! With this lamp you may enlighten all that are in the
dark as God shall help you. That secret something which your own heart
possesses shall enable you to communicate good cheer to many a weary
heart and hope to many a desponding mind. "This is the rest with which
you shall cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing." But
this is true of the Gospel and of that only. If you get away from Jesus
Christ and His Atonement and God's great plan of Grace, you can cause
no rest to oth-ers–and there is none for you, either. This, then, is
the excellency of the Gospel, that it propounds to men a blessed rest.

The other excellency of the Gospel, of which I shall speak at this
time, lies in its manner. First, I count it a great excellency of the
Gospel that it comes with authority. Read the 9th verse. Even the
quibblers acknowledged its authority, for they called the Prophet's
message, "knowledge" and, "doctrine." The Gospel does not pretend to be
a speculative scheme or a theory of philosophy which will suit the 19th
Century but will be exploded in the Twentieth. No, we speak what we do
know, not what we dream nor imagine, but what we know!

If, my Brothers and Sisters, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a fact,
I dare not ask you to believe it, but if it is a fact it is not my
"opinion," not, "my views," as men are always saying–it is the great
fact of time and of eternity which is and must be true forever! Christ
stood in the place of men and has become God's Salvation for the sons
of men–this is the witness of God! We do not make guesses, we utter
knowledge! The Word of God, which is, in this place, translated,
"doctrine," is, in the Hebrew, "message." And it is the same which is
used in the passage, "Who has believed our report?" which should better
run, "Who has believed our message?"

The Gospel comes to men as a message from God and he that speaks it
aright does not speak it as a thinker uttering his own thoughts–he
utters what he has learned and acts as God's tongue–repeating what he
finds in God's Word by the power of God's Spirit. The Gospel that I
have thought out may not be half as good as one which you have thought
out and your understanding and mine and all the rest of the produce of
thinkers put together, may only be fit to make a fire and a smoke in
the garden with the rest of the weeds. But if we receive and accept a
message direct from God, then this is its main excellence! I pray you
delight in the Gospel because it comes from God to us and tells us
unmixed Truth with absolute certainty. If we believe it, we shall be
saved and he that believes not well deserves the damnation which is
pronounced against him. There is no hope nor help for it–this is the
inevitable alternative–believe the Gospel and live, refuse it and be
destroyed!

Another excellence of the Gospel as to its manner was that it was
delivered with great simplicity. Isaiah came with it, "Precept upon
precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little." It is the
glory of the Gospel that it is so plain. If it were so mysterious that
nobody could understand it but doctors of divinity–I do not know how
many there may be here this morning, I do not suppose above a dozen or
so–what a sorry case the rest of us would be in! If it were so
profound that we must take a degree at a university before we could
comprehend it, what a miserable Gospel it would be for mocking the
world! But it is divinely sublime in its simplicity and, therefore, the
common people hear it gladly.

As the verse seems to imply, it is fit for those who are weaned from
the breast–those who are little more than babes may yet drink this
unadulterated milk of the Word of God! Many a little child has
comprehended the salvation of Jesus Christ sufficiently to rejoice in
it and there are those in Heaven not much above two or three years of
age, who, before

they went there, bore good witness for Christ to those who loved them
and marveled at their words. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
has God ordained strength! Christianity has been called the religion of
children and its Founder said that none could receive it except as a
little child.

I bless God for a simple Gospel, for it suits me and thousands of
others whose minds cannot boast of greatness or genius. It equally
suits men of intellect and it is only quarreled with by pretenders. The
man who lacks breadth of mind and depth of thought is the man to
quibble at the Wisdom of God. An affected creature who is little above
an idiot will brush his hair backwards, put on his spectacles, wrinkle
his brows and amend the Infallible Word of God, but a man who really
has a spacious mind is usually childlike and, like Sir Isaac Newton, is
glad to sit at Jesus' feet! Great minds love the simple Gospel of God,
for they find rest in it from all the worry and the weariness of
questions and doubts.

It is an excellent thing that the Gospel is taught us by degrees. It is
not forced home upon men's minds all at once, but it comes thus,
"Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a
little." God does not flash the everlasting daylight on weak eyes in
one blaze of glory–but there is, at first, a dim dawn and the soft
incoming of a tender light for tender eyes–and so by degrees we see.
The Gospel is repeated–if we do not see it at once, it comes again to
us–for it is "precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and
there a little."

From morning to morning, from Sunday to Sunday, by Book after Book, by
text after text, by spiritual impression after spiritual impression,
the Divine gentleness makes us wise unto salvation. This is a grand
excellence of the Gospel method. It is brought down to us and brought
home to us in ways suitable to our capacity. It is told to us, as it
were, with stammering lips (see verse 11), just as mothers teach their
little children in a language all their own. I should not like to speak
from the pulpit as mothers talk to their babies, yet they use the best
language for the baby, the very words for a little child to understand.
Even so, in much of the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, we see
how God condescends to lay aside His own speech and talk the language
of men.

I know not with what language the Father converses with His Son, but to
us He speaks after our own fashion. "As the heavens are high above the
earth, so are His thoughts above our thoughts," but He bows to us and
tells us His mind in types and ordinances which are a sort of child
language fitted for our capacity. In the Gospel of John, what child
language, what depth! What love! If you, my Hearer, do not understand
the Word of God, it is not because He does not put the words plainly,
but because of the blindness of your hearts and the besotted condition
of your spirit. Take heed that you are not drunk with the wine of
pride, but be willing to learn, for God, Himself, has not darkened
counsel by mysterious words, but He has put His mind before you as
plainly as the sun in the heavens. "Precept upon precept, line upon
line, here a little and there a little."

II. Alas, my time is nearly gone and I need much more space in which to
do justice to my subject. I have now, in the

second place, to notice THE OBJECTIONS WHICH ARE TAKEN TO THE GOSPEL.
First, let me say that they are

most wanton. For men to object to the Gospel is a piece of wanton
foolishness because they object to that which promises them rest! Above
all the things in the world, this is what our troubled spirits
need–rest is our heart's craving–and the Gospel comes and says, "I
will give you rest." And do men reject that blessing? This is
lamentable, indeed! What? Were you ill and did you insult the only
physician that could cure you? Why were you so foolish?

What? Were you in debt and did you actually refuse help from a generous
friend who would have given you all you needed? "No," you say, "we are
not so foolish." But oh, the intense folly, the desperate insanity of
men that when the Gospel sets rest before them, they will not hear it,
but turn upon their heels! There is no system of doctrine under Heaven
that can give quiet to the conscience of men–quiet that is worth
having–except the Gospel of Jesus Christ! And there are thousands of
us who bear witness that we live in the daily enjoyment of peace
through believing in Jesus and yet our honest report is not believed,
no, they will not hear the Truth of God!

Now, if God came demanding something of you, I could understand your
refusing. I have heard of a poor woman who locked her door and when she
heard a rap did not answer it, behaving as though she was not at home.
Her minister saw her a day or two after he had called and he said, "I
called to see you the other day. I wanted to give you help, for I knew
that you were very poor. But no one answered to my knocking." "Oh," she
said, "I am very sorry, but I thought it was the landlord calling for
the rent." She shut out her benefactor through mistaking him for her
creditor! The Lord is not calling in the Gospel for that which is due
to Him, nor asking anything of you–He approaches you with perfect rest
in His hands–the very thing you need and yet you shut the door of your
heart against Him. O do not do so! Be wise and

play not the fool any longer! May God help you to be wise for your own
eternal good. Admit your God with all His heavenly gifts!

Next, objections against the Gospel are willful, even as it is here
said, "This is the refreshing, yet they would not hear." When men say
that they cannot believe the Gospel, ask them whether they will
patiently hear it in all its simplicity. No, they say, they do not want
to hear it. The Gospel is so difficult to believe, so they say. Will
they come and hear it preached in its fullness? Will they carefully
read the Gospels for themselves? Oh, no, they cannot take the time!
Just so. But a man who does not want to be convinced, must not blame
anybody if he remains in error. He that will not hear what the Gospel
has to say needs not wonder that objections swarm in his mind.

The Gospel asks of men a fair hearing. The Lord says, "Incline your
ears and come unto Me; hear and your soul shall live," for, "faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." How sad that they
will not even hear God's message of love! It is a willful objection to
the Gospel, then, when men refuse, even, to hear what the Gospel has to
say, or if they hear it with the outward ear, but will not give hearty
attention to its Truths. Such objections are wicked because they are
rebellion against God and an insult to His Truths and mercy. If this
Gospel is of God, I am bound to receive it– I have no right to cavil
at it, nor raise questions, philosophical or otherwise! It is mine to
say, "Does God say this and that? Then it is true and I yield to it.
Does the Lord thus set before me a way of salvation? I will run in it
with delight."

But these people raised objections that were the outgrowth of their
pride. They objected to the simplicity of Isaiah's preaching. They
said, "Who is he? You should not go to hear him–he talks to us as if
we were children. Go hear the learned Rabbi over there who is refined
and cultured. As for this man, he is not fit to teach any but those who
are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts, for with him, it
is, 'precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a
little.' He is so very homely that his sermons may be OK for servant
girls and old women and so on, but they are not to be endured by
intellectual people. Besides, it is the same thing over and over again.
You may go when you like, he is always on the same string."

They say this very savagely, too, for as old Trapp says, "The duller
the brains, the sharper the teeth with which to rend the preacher."
Have you not heard folks say in these days concerning a true Gospel
preacher that he is always preaching about Sovereign Grace or the blood
of Christ, or crying out, "Believe, believe and you shall be saved"?
They sneer and say, "It is the old ditty over and over again." I am not
a Hebrew scholar, but those who are, tell us that the passage
translated, "precept upon precept, line upon line," was uttered in
ridicule and sounded like a ding dong rhyme with which they mocked
Isaiah. You would smile if I read you the Hebrew according to the sound
with which, in all probability, it was pronounced.

They said, "This is the way Isaiah preaches–I Tzav latzav, tzav
latzav; kav lakav, kav lakav: zeeir sham, zeeir sham." The words were
intended to caricature the preacher, though they do not suggest the
idea when translated– "precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line"–but they do suggest it, readily
enough, in the Hebrew. There are people now living who, when the Gospel
is plainly and simply preached, exclaim, "We want progressive thought,
we want_"–they do not quite know what they want. They are something
like the congregation

who, when a certain Bishop of London was preaching to them, were
utterly inattentive. Whereupon the good man took up his Hebrew Bible
and read them five or six verses in the Hebrew tongue–and at once they
were all awake! Then he rebuked them by saying, "Verily, I perceive
that when I preach you good doctrine you do not care about it, but when
I read to you in a tongue which you do not comprehend, straightway you
open your ears."

An affectation of special refinement is supported by listening to talk
which is incomprehensible. Too many wish for a map to Heaven so
mysteriously drawn that they may be excused from following it.
Multitudes delight in prayers in the Latin tongue and others prefer
them in no tongue at all, but intoned through the nose! Music and
millinery, processions and pomposities are preferred by thousands
because they prefer sensuous enjoyment to spiritual instruction. We
know those who prefer the Gospel shrouded in a mist–they love to see
the wisdom of man shut out the wisdom of God! This was the style of
objection current in Isaiah's day and it is still fashionable.

Did I hear someone remark–"Why you, yourself, preach nothing but
faith, Atonement, Free Grace, and so on. We want novelties and will go
elsewhere for them!"? So you may if you like–I shall not change my
tune while God preserves me!

III. The third point will be a warning to those who have no relish for
the Truth of God–let us consider THE DIVINE COUNTERATTACK OF THESE
OBJECTORS. The Lord threatens them, first, with the loss of that which
they

despised. He has sent them a message of rest and they will not have it
and, therefore, in the 20th verse, He warns them that they shall have
no rest from now on: "For the bed is shorter than that a man can
stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap
himself in it." All those who willfully reject the Gospel and take up
with philosophies and speculations will be rewarded with inward
discontent. Ask them, "Have you found rest?" "Oh, no," they say, "we
are further off than ever." "But you hoped that if you listened to this
philosophical doctrine you would then be happy." They reply, "Oh, no,
we are still seeking."

Ask the preachers of that kind of doctrine whether they, themselves,
have found an anchorage and, as a rule, they will answer, "No, no, we
are in pursuit of truth; we are hunting it, but we have not reached it
yet." They are never likely to reach it, for they are on the wrong
track! The Gospel was made to rest conscience, soul, heart, will,
memory, hope, fear–yes, the entire man–but when men laugh at the
Truth of God, how can they be rested? Dear Friend, if you have not
found rest, you have not yet grasped the simple Gospel and you have
need to go back to the fundamental principle of faith in Jesus, for
this is the rest and this is the refreshing.

This is the condemnation of the unbeliever, that he shall never find a
settlement, but like the wandering Jew shall roam forever. Leave the
Cross and you have left the hinge of all things and neglected the one
sure Cornerstone and fixed Foundation and, from now on you shall be as
a rolling thing before the whirlwind. "There is no peace, says my God,
to the wicked." "The wicked is like the troubled sea, when it cannot
rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." Furthermore the Lord
threatens them that they shall be punished by a gradual hardening of
heart. Read the 13th verse. They said that Isaiah's message was
"precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a
little," and justice answers them, "Even so it shall be to you, a thing
despised and ridiculed, so that you will go further away from it; you
will fall backward and be broken, and snared and taken."

See verse thirteen. A fall backward is the worst kind of fall! If a man
falls forward, he may somewhat save himself and rise again. But if he
falls backward, he falls with all his weight and is helpless. Those who
stumble at Christ, the sure Foundation Stone, shall be broken! When
opposers hope to retrieve their position, they find themselves snared
by their habits, entangled in the net of the great fowler and taken by
the Destroyer. This downward course is followed, full often, by those
who begin caviling at a simple Gospel–they cavil more and more and
become its open enemies to their eternal ruin! If men will not have the
Gospel of rest as the Lord has appointed it, He will not alter it to
their tastes, but permit it to exercise its inevitable influence upon
opposers by its being a savor of death unto death.

If they dislike it today, they shall dislike it more tomorrow. If they
refuse to feel its energy today, they shall refuse yet more obstinately
as time rolls on and its power shall not go forth to enlighten or
impress or comfort their hearts. This is a terrible thing, but what is
still worse, if worse it can be, is this to be followed by a growing
inability to understand– "For with stammering lips and another tongue
will he speak to this people." Since they would not hear plain speech,
God will make simplicity, itself, to seem like stammering to them. Men
that cannot endure simple language shall, at last, become unable to
understand it!

You know, my Brothers and Sisters, how large a body of mankind are, at
this day, unable to understand the Savior. The Savior said, "This is My
body" and straightway they conclude that a piece of bread is
transformed into the flesh of Christ! The Savior commands Believers to
be baptized into His death and straightway they proclaim that the water
of Baptism regenerates children! They will not understand what is clear
as the sun. They take our Lord's illustrations literally and when He
speaks literally they dream that He is using metaphors! If men will not
understand, they shall not understand! A man may shut his eyes so long
that he cannot open them. In India many devotees have held up their
arms so long that they can never take them down, again. Beware lest an
utter imbecility of heart come upon those of you who refuse the Gospel.

If you charge God's Word with being childish, you shall grow childish
yourselves, as many great philosophers of our day have done. If you say
that it is simple and refuse it because of its plainness, you will
become simpletons yourselves. If you say it is beneath you, it will
turn out that you will be beneath it and it will grind you to powder!
Lastly, this warning is given to those who object to the Gospel that
whatever refuge they choose for themselves shall utterly fail them.
Thus

says the Lord–"Judgment will I also lay to the line, and righteousness
to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and
the waters shall overflow the hiding place."

Down come the great hailstones, dashing everything to shivers–the
threats of God's Word breaking to pieces all the false and flattering
hopes of the ungodly! Then comes the active wrath of God like an
overwhelming flood to sweep away everything on which the sinner stood
and he, in his obstinate unbelief, is carried away as with a flood into
that utter destruction–that everlasting misery which God has declared
shall be the lot of all those who refuse the living Jesus Christ!
Beware, you despisers! Beware!

I have earnestly tried, at this time, in simple language, to set before
you the wickedness of refusing the Gospel of rest. May the Spirit of
God grant that any here who have, up to now, neglected it may, at once,
accept it! Try it, weary heart! Try it, despondent spirit! Try what
faith in Jesus can do! Come and trust in Jesus and see if it does not
bring peace to your soul. If Jesus fails you, let me know, for I will
never preach again if He breaks His promises! He can never cast off or
cast away a believing heart! Oh, if there is sweet peace, calm, joyful
hope, gladness, strength and life to be had by childlike faith in God's
testimony concerning His dear Son, I pray God that you may obtain it at
once!

If you feel an objection to the preacher who now addresses you, pray
God that he may preach better. And if you have done so and he is still
distasteful to you, go and hear somebody who will not be personally
objectionable, for it would be a grief of heart to me to stand in the
way of even one anxious heart! I fear that you stand in your own light.
O Man, act like a man and hear the Gospel candidly. O Self! Will you
destroy yourself? O Pride! Lower your crest. O Drunkenness! Quit your
cups. O hardened Sinner! God help you to leave your sin! Come and trust
Jesus this day. May God enable you to do so by His Holy Spirit, for
Christ's sake. Amen.
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The Candle