And then, all
shall be forgiven and forgotten; "though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as wool."
Surely, my friends, these things are worth taking to heart; for this
is the sin which most destroys all men and nations--high religious
profession with an ungodly, covetous, and selfish life. It is the
worst and most dangerous of all sins; for it is like a disease which
eats out the heart and life without giving pain; so that the sick man
never suspects that anything is the matter with him, till he finds
himself, to his astonishment, at the point of death. So it was with
the Jews, three times in their history. In the time of Isaiah, under
King Hezekiah; in the time of Jeremiah, under King Josiah; and last
and worst of all, in the time of Jesus Christ. At each of these
three times the Jews were high religious professors, and yet at each
of these three times they were abominable before God, and on the
brink of ruin. In Isaiah's time their eyes seemed to have been
opened at last to their own sins. Their fearful danger, and
wonderful deliverance from the Assyrians of which you heard last
Sunday, seem to have done that for them; as God intended it should.
Pages:
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261