Jeremiah 16:16-21 Behold, I will send for many fishers, said the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters… The striking imagery of these verses teaches us that there shall be no hiding-place, whether by sea or land, where God will not find those whom his vengeance pursues. The sinner may be sure that his sin will find him out. I. MEN DOUBT THIS. Reasons are: 1. Long impunity has made them bold. 2. Such findings of them out as have taken place, in defilement of conscience, hardening of the heart, loss of peace with God, etc., they do not care for. They only care for public exposure and punishment. 3. They see others go on in sin unpunished. 4. The power which we all have to believe what we wish to believe. 5. The direct agency of the devil in fostering such false belief. II. BUT THE DECLARATION OF GOD ON THIS MATTER IS NEVERTHELESS TRUE. 1. The Scriptures affirm it (cf. all those which teach the omniscience and omnipresence of God). 2. Conscience attests it. 3. There is nothing in sin to show wherefore it should not be. 4. The revelation of the future life distinctly provides for it. 5. And even now it is continually being proved true. A man's sin finds him out in many ways - in body, mind, estate, reputation, etc. And in one or more of these sin does ever find a man out, even now. 6. The apparent exceptions are accounted for on the ground of (1) God's long-suffering to the sinful; (2) God's purpose to test and exercise the faith of his own people. III. A DEEP AND ABIDING CONVICTION OF THIS TO BE GREATLY DESIRED. 1. What restraint it would exercise on the will! (cf. "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?"). 2. How exceeding sinful it would make sin appear! 3. What force it would lend to all endeavors after the reclamation and reformation of the sinful! IV. AND SUCH CONVICTION MAY BE HAD. It is the sacred and salutary power of prayer thus to make God real to us. In prayer we look to him and we see him looking upon us; we speak to him and he speaks to us; by aid of it we walk with him and he walks with us. He who thus lives in daily fellowship with God can never be without the conviction spoken of. V. BECAUSE SIN IS SURE TO FIND US, LET US AT ONCE SEEK AND FIND CHRIST. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. |
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