Jeremiah 7:19 Do they provoke me to anger? said the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? I. THE RESULTS OF SIN ON OTHERS ARE TERRIBLE. 1. What may not be their deadly influence upon those with whom the sinner comes in contact? How hereditary, how contagious, how virulent, the poison of sin! As no man liveth unto himself, so also "no man dieth unto himself." If he die by reason of his sin, he ever drags down others into the same doom. 2. And their results Godward. It is said they "provoke him to anger;" "God is angry with the wicked every day;" "God is slow to anger, and of great mercy." But still sin is "the abominable thing that he hates." He will not tolerate it in his children, and hence, however severe the measures necessary to separate it and them, those measures will be taken. "Our God is a consuming fire." But - II. THE RECOIL OF SIN ON THE SINNER HIMSELF IS TERRIBLE ALSO. It is described in the text. 1. It provokes him to anger. It is not alone the Lord whose anger is aroused, but the sinner's anger also is provoked. As he looks back on the folly, the utter madness, of what he has done, how completely he has been deceived, what rage of remorse fills his soul! How he flogs himself with the lashings of his own self-upbraiding! What epithets of anger and contempt does he heap upon his own head! He is filled with the fruit of his own ways. And another of these bitter fruits is: 2. Confusion of face. He is ashamed, abashed, confounded, because of his sin. He is so (1) before his own conscience, He cannot bear to think of himself. From the companionship of his own thoughts he flees as from a haunting ghost. Like a sheeted specter conscience seems to be pointing at him with its dread finger, its stony eyes ever glaring upon him, so that, turn which way he will, he cannot escape their gaze. He is ashamed of himself, covered with confusion of face before his own conscience. Oh, miserable, miserable wretch that he is! (2) Before God. He cannot pray. He shuns the throne of grace. His iniquities have so "taken hold of him" that he cannot "look up." All joy, all confidence, all hope in God, have fled. He feels himself an outcast from the Divine presence; he would feel the eye of God upon him if he knelt down to pray, and that he cannot bear. (3) Before man. He cannot forever conceal his sin and folly, and even when it is as yet undiscovered, he is conscious of this "confusion of face "in the presence of others. And when at length the sin is discovered, oh, what agony of shame and remorse then! Death is chosen rather than life, and men rush to the suicide's grave as to a positive relief. "Anywhere, anywhere out of the world," which has become aware of their sin! Oh, this awful recoil of sin! "I believe that if the mental sufferings of such backsliders could be written and faithfully published, they would astound you, and be a more horrible story to read than all the torments of the Inquisition. What racks a man is stretched upon who has been unfaithful to his covenant with God! What fires have burned within the souls of those men who have been untrue to Christ and his cause! What dungeons, what grim and dark prisons underground, have saints of God lain in who have gone aside into by-path meadows instead of keeping to the King's highway! He who sins must smart, especially if he be a child of God, for the Lord hath said of his people, 'You only have I known of all the people of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your iniquities.' Whoever may go unchastised, a child of God never shall" (Spurgeon). III. THE ALONE CURE FOR THIS CONFUSION OF FACE IS THE CONTRITE CONFESSION OF THAT WHICH HAS CAUSED IT. God's word is passed that such confession shall avail; but let not him who has gone back from God think that the return will be as easy as the departure. It will not. David was never the same after his sin as he was before. Oh, it is dreadful to think of this recoil of sin, and how it staggers and wounds and weakens the soul for the whole life long. We slide back, gliding easily as over smooth ice. Not so do we return. Still, let the return be ever so difficult, the Lord bids us return, and he will heal all our backslidings. Oh, let us all go straight away to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for fear we should be backsliders; for there is the surest standing-ground, there our footsteps never slip! And if we have thus sinned, and sin's recoil is now terribly felt by us, then still go to the same cross; for our only hope of healing is there, and there alone. "Come, let us to the Lord our God With contrite hearts return; Our God is gracious, nor will leave The penitent to mourn." C. Parallel Verses KJV: Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? |
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