Bochim–Or, the Weepers

DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 10, 1882,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And it came to pass, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words unto
all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and
wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they
sacrificed there unto the Lord." Judges 2:4, 5

LET me give an outline of the chapter, that we may put the text into
its proper setting. God had brought His people out of Egypt and divided
Jordan that they might march through, dry-shod, into the land which He
had promised to their fathers. He charged them to drive out the
Canaanites, a race that had become so loathsome in God's sight that He
decreed their destruction and appointed the tribes of Israel to be
their executioners. It was for the good of the universal world that
this pest-house should be broken up and that the filthy races should be
destroyed–and God gave His people that charge to carry out.

Those who quarrel with this arrangement should remember that this is
not the only instance of aboriginal tribes being driven out by a
superior race. Our Anglo-Saxon nation drove out the original
inhabitants of this island, who survived only in the mountains of Wales
and Cornwall and in the highlands of Scotland. It certainly will not be
wise, on our part, as Anglo-Saxons, to condemn Israel for doing, under
Divine command, what our forefathers did for their own aggrandizement.
Alas, in more modern times, lands have been seized and nations
extirpated by the white man without Divine warrant or reasonable
excuse. We do not justify all this, but if any complain of Israel for
obeying the sentence of God, let them first raise their voices against
the driving out of ancient races by colonists of our own race!

The order to slay the Canaanites had a second objective, namely, that
Israel might dwell, alone, in the land and might keep themselves to
themselves–the great nonconformists of the universe–separated from
all the rest of mankind, both by residence and by manners, not
following the customs of the nations round about them, or falling into
their sins. That they might be sanctified they were to be separated.
"The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the
nations." Now, mark and note right well that it is an evil thing, under
any pretext, whatever, to depart, in any degree, from the Commandment
of the Most High God! Whatever may be the Law which God gives, either
to the whole race or to His chosen, they will find their safety in
keeping close to it.

But Israel forgot this. Soldiering was hard work–storming cities and
warring with men who attacked them with chariots of iron was heroic
service. All this required strong faith and untiring perseverance and,
in these virtues the Israelites were greatly deficient. And so, in
certain places, they said to the Canaanites, "Let us be neighbors. Let
us dwell together." They thought, perhaps, that they had abundant
reason for this easy mode of ending the dispute, for those who would
correct Infallible Wisdom have usually a great deal to say for
themselves! Certain persons thought, in those days, that the religious
notion of God's requirements was too severe, that He was, after all, a
mass of mercy, and that the best thing that they could do was to be
kindly tolerant of these Canaanites and make the best terms they could
with them.

They said that perhaps, after all, it was a pity to be so old-fashioned
and so rigid in carrying out the Divine order, and it would be better
to learn something of the civilization of the Canaanites, something of
their arts and sciences, something of their theory of religion–for men
ought to have liberal views and believe that there is latent truth in
all forms of worship. At any rate, it could do no harm to study their
archaeology and go to their temples to see the gods they worshipped and
get a general acquaintance with the advanced thought of the period–for
the Canaanites were a greatly advanced people–they were the advanced
thinkers of the period! They had thought out he-gods and she-gods, Baal
and Ashtaroth. And their lesser deities were many. They were, in fact,
a highly cultured people, always thinking out something fresh.

So Israel said, "It were a pity to carry out the Divine denunciation
quite to the letter. Let us tone it down. There are many things to be
learned from these people. No doubt they have their fine points and we
must not be too hard upon their imperfections. Therefore let us enter
into treaties with them and live with them." They did live with them
and fell into their ways! Tolerance led to imitation and Israel became
as vile as the heathen whom the Lord had condemned! And the Israelites
became a mixed race in whose veins there flowed a measure of Canaanite
blood. Yes, if you depart from God's Word by a hair's breadth, you know
not where you will end. It needs but a little to degrade the Christian
into a Ritualist and still less to turn the Ritualist into a Romanist!
We shall go far if we once start on the downhill road.

I would to God that in these degenerate times we had back, again,
somewhat of the stern spirit of the Cameroonians and the Covenanters,
for now men play fast and loose with God and think that anything they
please to do will satisfy the Most High. The offal and the refuse will
suffice for sacrifices for Him. But as to strict obedience to His Word,
they can by no means abide. Mischief will surely come of this lax state
of things to the Churches of this day as surely as affliction came
abundantly to Israel of old!

Note, next, that whenever one sin is allowed, we may say of it, "Gad, a
troop comes." It seemed a pardonable sort of sin to be gentle to these
people and not to obey God's severer Word, but then, what came next?
Why, soon they, the children of Jehovah, were found worshipping before
the horrible Baal! Soon they had gone farther and the unclean goddess,
Ashtaroth, became their delight! And soon they forgot Jehovah
altogether amid their deities and demons. With these errors in religion
there had come in all sorts of errors in morals, for every fashion of
immorality and lewdness defiled the worshippers of Baal-Peer,
Baal-Berith and Baal- Zebub. Soon the chosen people of God could
scarcely be distinguished from the heathen nations among which they
dwelt, or if distinguished at all, it was by their greater sin,
inasmuch as they were transgressing against superior light and holding
down their consciences which God had rendered by His teaching much more
tender than the consciences of those about them!

I said before that if you turn aside from God's Words by a hair's
breadth, you know not where it will end. The rail diverges but a little
where the switches are turned, but before long the branch line is miles
away from the main track. Backslide a little and you are on the way to
utter apostasy! The mother of mischief is small as a gnat's egg–hatch
it and you shall see an evil bird larger than an ostrich! The least
wrong has in it an all but infinity of evil. You cannot say to sin, "Up
to here shall you go, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves
be stayed." Like the sea, when the dyke is broken, it stretches forth
its hand to grasp all the surrounding country! The beginning of sin is
like the beginning of strife and that is said to be as the letting out
of water–no man knows what a flood may come when once the banks are
burst.

So Israel went aside farther and farther from God because they regarded
not their way and did not, in all things, obey the Lord. But then comes
in a Truth of God which, though it may seem black in the telling, is
bright in the essence of it. God did not leave His people without
chastisement. Had He left them alone, to be given up to their idols,
their case would have been hopeless. For mercy's sake they must be
punished for their transgression, but this was a gracious punishment,
that they might not lie and wallow in their transgression and become
altogether like the swinish nations that surrounded them. God began to
punish them by their own sin. He suffered the Canaanite nations to grow
strong, so that they grievously oppressed Israel.

He put the Israelites under the yoke of those nations which they ought
to have utterly destroyed. If they would not be conquerors, they would
be conquered! If they would not lead captivity captive, they should be
led captives, themselves! The Lord laid His blows upon them thick and
heavy. But, before He did this, He sent a messenger to rebuke them. It
is always the Lord's way to have space for repentance before He
executes vengeance. The axes which were carried before the Roman
magistrates by the lictors were bound up in bundles of rods. It is said
that when a prisoner was before the magistrate, the lictor began to
untie the rods and with these the culprit was beaten–meanwhile the
judge looked in the prisoner's face and heard his defense. If he saw
reason for averting the capital sentence because of the repentance
which the offender expressed, then he only smote him with the rods and
the axe remained unused.

But if, when every rod was taken out, the culprit was still hardened
and the crime was a capital one and clearly proven, then the axe was
used–and used all the more sternly because space had been given for
repentance and the rods had been used in vain! When the rod is
despised, the axe is ready. It is certainly so with God–He waits to be
gracious, but when patience cannot hope for penitence, then Justice
takes her turn and her stroke is terrible. The Lord, on this occasion,
commissioned a special messenger to rebuke these people, for He sent an
Angel. I leave it to your own judgments

to discover who this Angel was, if it is discoverable. It may have been
an ordinary angel, but I think it must have been the Angel of the Lord.
He is so styled in the fourth verse and, besides, He uses language
which an ordinary angel could not have used!

He begins, "I made you go up out of Egypt." Note, He does not say that
the Lord said this or that, but the Angel, Himself, says it–"I made
you go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I
swore unto your fathers." Who could this have been, then, but that
Covenant Angel who, on other occasions, appeared to holy men and who,
on this occasion, preached a sermon to the assembled multitude at
Shiloh? My Brothers and Sisters, you know that our Lord was here among
men many a time before He came in mortal flesh to suffer and to die. He
was here, "rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, and His
delights were with the sons of men." He was with Abraham under the
tree; with Jacob at Jabbok; with Joshua by the walls of Jericho; with
Gideon at the threshing floor and with the three Holy Children in
Nebuchadnezzar's furnace.

He was not in such a body as God had prepared for Him when He took upon
Himself the form of a Servant, but in such a form and fashion as seemed
most congruous to His Divine Majesty and to the circumstances of those
He visited. This Angel of the Divine Covenant, whom we delight in, came
and spoke to this people. Such is the judgment of many who have thought
most upon it, but I leave it to you to decide. At any rate, it must
have been grand hearing to hear an angel preach! And grander hearing,
still, to hear the Angel of the Covenant plead with the covenanted
ones! Oh, what a sermon! What a sermon it must have been! Scarcely was
such a Preacher seen on earth! And yet that sermon did not do as much
good as when the seafaring man, Peter, preached at Pentecost!

The sermon at Bochim, if I were to sum up its results, ended in
disappointment. When our adorable Christ, Himself, preached to the men
of Nazareth, they would have cast Him headlong from the brow of the
hill, so that all His eloquent words had fallen upon dead ears and no
good result had come, even, from His instruction. Be not disappointed,
servant of God, if sometimes you seem to fail! Do not say, "I will give
it up." Your bread has been cast upon the waters. Wait a while, for
after many days, you may find it. If Israel is not gathered, God will
reward you for your toil. It is yours to labor–it is God's to give the
results–and He does not always grant pleasing results to us at once.
He did not allot great triumphs to this Angel of the Lord, as we shall
have to show you.

It was a great congregation. It was a great Preacher and it was a great
sermon! And yet there was not a great ingathering. Read the sermon
through and note that though it is a short one, it is all the greater
for its brevity. Sermons may grow little by being long and a sermon may
be great through being short, if it is big with thought as this angelic
sermon was. He began, first, by telling them what mercies they had
received. Read the chapter. "I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have
brought you unto the land which I swore unto your fathers." Brothers
and Sisters, this subject should most readily lead us to
repentance–that God should have dealt so well with us should make us
grieve that we have behaved so badly to Him!

Do I address a backsliding child of God? I do not think that any
exercise is more likely to benefit your heart than to remember what God
did for you in years gone by. He took you up out of the horrible pit
and out of the miry clay and set your feet upon a rock. He brought you
out from the iron bondage of your despair and gave you liberty. He
broke the yoke of sinful habits and the chains of furious passions. And
now are you wandering away from Him? Are you making something else to
be the god of your spirit? If so, be ashamed of your ingratitude and
let this first head of the Angel's discourse have power upon your mind.
"You use no other friend so ill"–and yet you have not a friend who can
be compared with your God. "I beseech you, Brethren, by the mercies of
God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice" unto your God and
sin no longer against Him.

Then the angel passed on to mention the mercies guaranteed to them–"I
said, I will never break My Covenant with you." Oh, that is a blessed
theme! If, indeed, you are a Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord has pledged Himself to make you perfect and to bring you Home to
Himself with exceedingly great joy! You shall not perish. Christ has
said, "I give unto My sheep eternal life and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave
them to Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out
of My Father's hand." You see the two hands–one inside the other–and
you are in the middle, enclosed within the palm of Omnipotent
faithfulness! Jehovah says, "I have loved you with an everlasting
love." He will never break His Covenant with you!

Will you wander away from Him who passes by your iniquity,
transgression and sin, and does not let His anger smoke against you
forever–He to whom you are joined in an everlasting wedlock which
shall never know a divorce? Oh, cruel heart! Cruel heart! Can you
offend against such love as this? Can you break with God when He
declares that He will never break with you? The Angel pleads this
longsuffering, eternally-enduring love, and pleads it well. I know of
no two greater arguments than mercy received and mercy promised. Let us
not sin against these! May the Holy Spirit hold us fast with these
cords of love.

And then the Angel came to close grips with them and said, "You shall
make no league with the inhabitants of this land; you shall throw down
their altars; but you have not obeyed My voice: why have you done
this?" He came to their sin. He put His finger on their failure, their
omission and their commission. He did not flinch from stating to them
exactly what their transgression was, nor from demanding, "Why have you
done this?" And oh, surely, this shall help to lead us to repentance,
when God, "sets our iniquities before Him; our secret sins in the light
of His countenance." When we see our sin, we ought to be distressed by
it and to flee from it, "hot foot," as men say, and be clean rid of it
once and for all. Oh, may the Spirit of God convicts any wandering one
here of sin and may he then turn to God with a penitent heart!

The Angel expostulated in most chosen words, saying, "Why have you done
this?" Why have you turned away from God? Why have you let your own
enemies multiply upon you? Why have you been disobedient to the command
which was given to you so positively? Know you not that cursed is he
that does the work of the Lord deceitfully? You have acted
disobediently and you have brought upon yourselves a terrible
retribution! Why have you done this? Backslider, are you here tonight?
Have you gone aside from Church fellowship and left the profession of
religion? Why have you done this? Can you mention a reason which will
bear the light? We know you cannot! There is no sense in sin, no
justification for iniquity.

Ungodliness is madness! Irreligion is irrational. Disobedience to God
is a breach of every Law of common sense and logic. In God's creation
it is unreasonable, unnatural, monstrous for the creature to rebel
against the Creator! Why have you done this? "Turn you, turn you; why
will you die, O house of Israel?" Then the Angel completed His
discourse by declaring to them that further chastisements would surely
follow. He was not sent to preach the Gospel and, therefore, mercy is
not His theme. He was sent to preach the Law and He did preach it!
Listen to the judgment which He de-nounces–"Therefore I also said, I
will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in
your sides and their gods shall be your ruin"–so some read the
passage. It was a just but terrible threat that He thus thundered in
their ears. Notice it! They were to be punished by their own sin. The
Lord as good as said–"Fou would not drive them out and now I will not
drive them out. Your negligence and time-serving shall come home to you
and place thorns in your suffering flesh. Your omission shall sting you
where you will feel it. You have sowed thistles, and thorns shall stuff
your pillows."

Then, next, He tells them how sharp and keen this sin should be to
them. "They shall be as thorns in your sides," pricking you in one of
the most tender parts–in the very region of life, itself. Wherever you
turn, these sins of yours– these enemies that you spared–shall prick
you in the side and their gods shall be your ruin. You dote upon their
false deities and think them your glory, but they shall be your
dishonor! The heathen may trust in them, but you shall not be able to
do so. They shall be a snare and a mischief to you. What a sermon that
was! As I have said, there was a great occasion, a great congregation,
a great Preacher, a great sermon, and, as far as one could see on the
spot, a great movement produced.

Now I want you to notice what looks like a great result and we shall
talk of it under two heads. The people, when they heard this solemn
discourse, lifted up their voice and wept, yet they continued as they
were. How hopeful! How disappointing!

I. First, HOW HOPEFUL. One could not desire anything better,
apparently, than this. They were all attentive hearers. There was not
one that looked about him, or that forgot the pointed words that were
spoken. They all seemed to open their ears wide and take in the Divine
admonition. There they stood before the Lord, all of them amazed and
confounded, while the Angel delivered His solemn message and then
returned to Him that sent Him. It is a great thing to win people's
attention and it is not everyone that can do it, for there are
congregations that act as if the Word of God had nothing to do with
them, leaving the poor preacher to prophesy to dead walls. These
Israelites took the warning and

drank in the Truth of God. They were attentive hearers and anybody
would have said, "Blessed be God, that sermon has done a great work.
Blessed be God for such an attentive congregation! The nails are
fastened in a sure place."

Moreover, they were very feeling people, for they felt what they heard.
What would you think, tonight, if the congregation should suddenly cry
out? "They lifted up their voice and wept"–wept aloud! Orientals, you
know, are generally louder in their demonstrations than we are of a
chillier climate, but still it must have been a solemn sight to notice
men and women, together, loudly lamenting their transgressions! I have
no doubt that many who were there at that time were right with God and
said, "What a wonderful opportunity! Glory be to God for such a
revival! That one sermon has stirred the people through and through.
Thank God that He has sent such a messenger with so fitting a message
and blessed it so, for certainly these people are all converted,
otherwise they would not cry out and weep."

They were all sorrowful hearers as well as attentive and feeling
hearers. Out of the whole company there was not one that laughed, not
one that was indifferent, not one who scorned and disregarded the
message, but, as far as the text goes, the statement is that all
unanimously lifted up their voice and wept. Heaviness was upon them!
Their souls were exceedingly sorrowful! They expressed their sorrow in
a great and bitter cry and, meanwhile, their tears flowed abundantly,
even as when the rock was smitten in the desert and the waters gushed
forth! They were all turned into weepers and they called the name of
that place, Bochim, or, the Place of Weepers. You would think, "Surely
this is full of promise–every eye is filled with tears as they stand
before God!"

Alas, that such drops did not precede a shower of Grace, but passed
away as the morning cloud! Yes, and they all became professing hearers,
for as soon as ever that service was over, they held another and, "They
sacrificed unto Jehovah." They avowed themselves to be Jehovah's
servants and they took the sacrifice which He had appointed and offered
it for their sins and outwardly they, all of them, became ardent
worshippers of the Most High and true penitents! Well, dear Friends,
all this looks very hopeful because it is what we may expect when God
presses home the Law upon the consciences of men. When sin is laid
before a man, should he not weep? Hope glitters in every tear! Oh that
men were sane enough to weep for their transgressions!

I am amazed that some of you can read your Bibles with dry eyes.
Unsaved, rejecting the Savior–can you read the four Evangelists
without weeping? That Savior whom the Jews crucified you reject, and
so, in fact, you crucify Him, too! Can you read the Ten Commandments
without an aching heart? You know that these are 10 great pieces of
artillery, all aimed at you for your destruction, since you have
offended God by the breach of His Law! Why, surely, you ought scarcely
to sleep at night, lest God's mighty judgment should fall upon your
guilty heads while you are asleep! It is not amazing at all that people
should cry out and weep–the wonder is that every sanctuary where the
Law is preached and where the Gospel is preached–should not become a
Bochim, or a place of weepers!

Oftentimes this deep emotion does come with true conversion–often,
though not always–as I shall have to show you. Men convinced of sin
may well weep. I have seen a strong man weep under a sense of his
guilt–weep as though the fountains of his eyes would be exhausted–and
the eyes, themselves, would turn to coals of fire. Frequently people
are unable to restrain themselves and break out, even, in the midst of
the congregation, and cry to God for mercy! It is not amazing–it is
what we should expect! It is not undesirable, for it is an effect which
frequently accompanies real conversion to God. It may well go with
sorrow for sin, and sorrow for sin is essential to eternal life.
Repentance is an old-fashioned doctrine which, in these days, has been
despised, but, if I stand alone, I will bear testimony for it!

They say that repentance is nothing at all–that it is merely,
according to the Greek, a change of mind. That shows what little Greek
they know! A little of such knowledge is a dangerous thing. A pity that
they do not learn more. Repentance is a change of mind, but do you say
that it is only a change of mind? That is a pretty big, "only." A
change of mind, a radical change of mind–from the love of sin to the
love of holiness–is that a small affair? It is always attended with
sorrow and regret for past sin and, if there is a man here who thinks
that he will get to Heaven by a dry-eyed faith, he will be mistaken! He
that never mourned for sin has never rejoiced in the Lord!

If I can look back upon my past life of sin and say, "I have no grief
over it," why, then I should do the same, again, if I had the
opportunity! And this shows that my heart is as perverse as ever it was
and I am still unregenerate. Dear Mr. Rowland Hill used to say that
faith and repentance were his daily companions as long as he lived, and
that, if he had any thought of regret at entering Heaven, it would be
to think that he might have to part with his dear friend, Repentance,
as he went through the gate! Godly sorrow is a blessed grief! Let no
man speak evil of it. "Repent and be converted" is as

much the Gospel as, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," and it is not
to be omitted in our preaching at the hazard of doing damage to men's
souls!

He who has experienced holy sorrow for sin will continue to feel it. I
should wonder if he did not often pull up the sluices and let his soul
flow in a flood of loving regret–

"If tears of sorrow would suffice To pay the debt I owe, Tears should
from both my weeping eyes In ceaseless torrents flow."

A weeper in that sense, always repenting, is, also, always growing in
Grace! So this place Bochim looks extremely hopeful, does it not?

II. Now let me turn to the other side and show you that there was
nothing permanently good in Bochim's sudden water floods. These people
were made weepers through hearing the Angel's sermon, but their weeping
was VERY DISAPPOINTING. I half suspect that their tears and
lamentations were produced as much by the Preacher's Person as by
anything else. It was the Angel of the Lord and who would not be moved
at His Presence? God gifts certain speakers with the power of moving
the natural feelings and that gift abundantly rested upon the Covenant
Messenger. Some men so preach that it were almost impossible to remain
unsoftened. There is a pathos about them, or there is an earnestness so
intense, so manifest, that for the heart of the hearer to be touched is
a natural consequence!

Now, I dread lest any of you should be so moved by me, when I preach,
that your feeling should arise from my tone or mannerism, or because
you have an affection or esteem for me–for be sure of this–that which
comes to you from a man will come to an end before long! A temporary
cause cannot produce an everlasting change! "You must be born again,"
not of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but by the Spirit of God!
Everything about the preacher's choice words, or musical tone, though
proper enough as an accessory–if it becomes the principle and the
power that moves you–will end in failure! That which begins with wind
will end with whirlwind! That which comes of words will evaporate in
words, by-and-by.

It may be a great blessing to you to hear a very useful preacher, but
if you depend upon him in the least, it will be mischievous to you. Go
and hear the Gospel from any of my Master's servants and never depend,
in the least, upon any one man, whoever he may be! Seek that your
repentance may be a repentance which is worked by the Spirit of God in
your heart and conscience, for if it is not so, it will, one day,
curdle into greater depravity! Sham religion is an injury rather than a
benefit. I suggest to you that you ask your heart many a question and
catechize it after the manner of Bed-dome's hymn–

"Why, O my Soul! Why do you weep? Tell me from where arise Those briny
tears that often flow, Those groans that pierce the skies! Is sin the
cause of your complaint, Or the chastising rod? Do you an evil heart
lament, And mourn an absent God? Lord, let me weep for nothing but sin,
And after none but Thee. And then I would–oh, that I might A constant
weeper be."

Again, I am afraid that the repentance of these people had a great deal
to do with their natural softness. They were tender and excitable
because there was little grit in their nature–their manliness was of a
degenerate type. They feared to go to battle for God–they dreaded the
noise and the slaughter. They were, moreover, easily moved by their
fellow men, and took shape from those who lived near them. They went to
worship Baal because their neighbors said, "Come and worship Baal." And
they worshipped Ashtaroth because their friends said, "Come, let us
reverence the goddess." They were malleable, pliable, ductile.

We have numbers around us of that kind. What shall I call them–men of
wax? Creatures of India rubber? They go to be shaped, even, by your
finger, like clay upon the potter's wheel, not yet hardened in the
fire. No one knows what

their shape will be when they leave the wheel. Some have been here for
many years and have often been moved and molded by the preacher–and
yet they are not saved! While stout-hearted rebels have stood in the
aisles with half a sneer and God has brought the hammer down upon their
flinty hearts, broken them to pieces–and now they are saved by mighty
Grace and rejoice in the Lord! Some have a natural tenderness which
hinders the attainment of spiritual softness. Now, mark you, that which
is natural may be used by God towards that which is spiritual, but
still it is not, in itself, spiritual!

All that readiness to cry, all that readiness to receive the Word of
God with joy and to leap at once into faith may be nothing but mental
weakness. Some men weep profusely because they have been drunk and that
gives them a drop in their eye–this is a miserable business! I like
the strong man who cries within and is weary of the visible rain
showers. I know really tender-hearted men who could not shed a tear for
their lives, but feel a far deeper anguish than those whose griefs are
shallow and watery. It is very beautiful to talk of the tears streaming
down their faces, but many converts have never shed a tear and,
perhaps, never will. But this does not prove that they are not
converted–far from it–the tear is but a natural drop of moisture and
soon evaporates! The better thing is the inward torrent of grief within
the soul which leaves an indelible mark within. You know how we sang
just now–

"Tears, though flowing like a river, Never can one sin erase; Jesus'
tears would not avail you, Blood, alone, can meet your case; Fly to
Jesus!

Life is found in His embrace."

One grain of faith is better than a gallon of tears. A drop of genuine
repentance is more precious than a torrent of weeping.

There is another thing about the weeping of these people and that is
that it was caused a great deal by threats of punishment. I am afraid
that they did not weep because they sinned, but they wept because God
said that He would not drive out any more Canaanites. They wished to
conquer more of them–more of the most disreputable sort–but they did
not wish to drive them all out. Yet they mourned because those whom
they had spared would now get the upper hand! The more comfortable sort
of Canaanites they were willing to save, but when they found that they
were to have them for thorns in their sides–then they brought out
their handkerchiefs–for there was reason for selfish grief.

Yes, and you may preach the fires of Hell till men are willing to
abandon darling lusts of the more glaring sort. To such we would put
searching questions. Is there any holy salt in your tears? Is it sin
that you weep for? Is it sin that you repent of? Every murderer repents
at the gallows, they say–that is, he repents of being hanged, but he
does not repent of having killed others. He might do the same thing
again if he had the opportunity. We ought clearly to discern between
the natural terrors that come of vivid descriptions of the wrath to
come and that real spiritual touch of God, the Holy Spirit, which
breaks and melts the heart and then casts it into another mold.

These people were deceived as to the depth and sincerity of their own
feelings. Doubtless they reckoned themselves choice penitents when they
were only cowardly tremblers, laboring under impressions which were as
useless as they were transient! Their feeling was but as a meteor's
blaze, shedding strong but momentary light–

"What sadder scenes can angels view Than self-deceiving tears? They
give you hope, a hope untrue, Then deepen al your fears."

We are quite sure that these people, though they wept, were none the
better for it, because if they had been, they would have cried, "Come,
Brothers, get your swords! Let us go and fight these Hivites and
Hittites and cast down their altars, and sweep away their images and
groves." No, they kept their idle swords in their scabbards and made
treaties with the condemned races! They used not their axes to cut down
the false gods, but they said, "Let us have respect to the religion of
others. There is no doubt that their idolatry is wrong–in fact, their
practices are questionable and we are very sorry for it–but we need
not interfere, nor execute Jehovah's sentence with a bare literalness."

In addition, they very likely confessed and deplored their own laxity
and went the length of saying, "It is very grievous that we should be
so obstinate. It is really a dreadful thing." I heard one say, "It is
an awful thing to be a slave to the wine cup. I wish that I had never
tasted it. The first opportunity I get, I will turn over a new leaf."
He did not say what

the new leaf would be, but he was going to do any quantity of reforming
work. Alas, he never did anything at all, for he was drunk, again, the
next day! A beautiful penitent to look upon, but a wretched hypocrite
in due time, for he returned, like the dog, to his vomit, and the sow
which was washed to her wallowing in the mire. If you repent of sin,
down with sin! In God's name, down with sin! When repentance is hearty
it is practical. When a man truly turns to God, he turns away from sin.
If Satan is effectually driven out of a man, the emancipated one sweeps
his house and purges himself of the filth which he formerly harbored.
He plucks out right-eye lusts and cuts off right-arm sins, for he feels
that he can no longer transgress against his God.

Next, these people had not repented, for they did not bring their
children up rightly. The next generation, it is said, knew not the
Lord, neither the mighty works of the Lord. That was because their
parents did not teach them. Not that parents can teach children so that
they know the Lord in their hearts, but God has so put it–"Train up a
child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart
from it." That is the great general rule of God's moral government. If
parents make known the things of God to their children, it cannot be
said that the children do not know the works of God. If parents teach
with affectionate earnestness, their children learn, at least, the
letter of the Truth of God. I do not believe in your repentance for sin
if you tolerate your child's living in it! I cannot believe that you
know the Lord unless you long for your offspring to know Him!

A man says, "Oh, it is an evil thing, but, you know, young people will
have their own way and we must not be too strict." Sorrowfully do we
foresee what will become of young people who have parents that do not
love them enough to restrain them from doing evil! Well may you weep,
for you are murdering the souls of your own flesh and blood! Woe unto
you, with all your tears, if you have no regard for your household and
no care to bring up your children in the fear of God! I know that these
people did not repent aright because they went from bad to worse. They
went from weeping before God to worshipping Baal–like some I have
heard of who are found crying in the House of God on Sunday night–and
are laughing at the theater on Monday night!

O base hypocrites! Penitents-at a dance! Broken-hearted sinners on
Sunday, crying, "Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable sinners," and
whole-hearted drunkards before the week is up, yelling, "We won't go
home till morning!" Look at the miserable sinners! See what they are
at! Are these your weepers? These your men of tender conscience? Their
Bochim is all a lie–a mere pretense! The more tender you are, if
afterwards you harden yourselves, so much the greater will be your
guilt. And if you humble yourselves before God in mere appearance, so
much the more terrible will be your doom if that humbleness departs and
you go back to the sin from which you professed to turn! I know that
these people were not penitents because God did not take away the
chastisement. The punishment which He threatened, He brought upon them.
He gave them over to the spoilers and sold them to their enemies. But
where there is a hearty repentance of sin, God will never lay
punishment on a man. He will forgive him and receive him to His bosom
and restore him.

To sum up, in a word, all that I have said, salvation lies not in
feeling, but in believing! Salvation lies not in weeping, but in
trusting in Christ! Repentance is not to be measured by outward
manifestations of sorrow. The Prophet says, "Rend your heart and not
your garments." Let your hearts be torn away from sin and from
everything that leads to sin–and then shall you weep acceptably before
God! The Lord bless this word to those it is meant for. I do not know
who they are, but He does. And may He send His blessing by His Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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Shutting, Sealing and Covering–or, Messiah's Glorious Work