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I. WHO HAVE REFUSED TO RETURN?

1. Those who have said as much. With unusual honesty or presumption, they have made public declaration that they will never quit their sinful ways.

2. Those who have made a promise to repent, but have not performed it.

3. Those who have offered other things instead of practical return to God — ceremonies, religiousness, morality, and the like.

4. Those who have only returned in appearance. Formalists, mere professors, hypocrites.

5. Those who have only returned in part. Hugging some sins while hanging others.

II. WHAT THIS REFUSAL UNVEILS.

1. An intense love of sin.

2. A want of love to the great Father, who bids them return.

3. A disbelief of God: they neither believe in what He has revealed concerning the evil consequences of their sin, nor in what He promises as to the benefit of returning from it.

4. A despising of God: they reject His counsel, His command, and even Himself.

5. A resolve to continue in evil. This is their proud ultimatum, "they have refused to return."

6. A trifling with serious concerns. They are too busy, too fond of gaiety, etc.

III. WHAT DEEPENS THE SIN OF THIS REFUSAL?

1. When correction brings no repentance.

2. When conscience is violated, and the Spirit of God is resisted. Repentance seen to be right, but yet refused: duty known, but declined.

3. When repentance is known to be the happiest course, and yet it is obstinately neglected against the plainest reasons.

4. When this obstinacy is long-continued, and is persevered in against convictions and inward promptings.

5. When vile reasons are at the bottom: such as secret sins, which the sinner dares not confess or quit; or the fear of man, which makes the mind cowardly.

IV. WHAT IS THE REAL REASON OF THIS REFUSAL?

1. It may be ignorance, but that can be only in part, for it is plainly a man's duty to return to his Lord. No mystery surrounds this simple precept — "Return."

2. It may be self-conceit: perhaps they dream that they are already in the right road.

3. It is at times sheer recklessness. The man refuses to consider his own best interests. He resolves to be a trifler; death and hell and heaven are to him as toys to sport with.

4. It is a dislike of holiness. That lies at the bottom of it: men cannot endure humility, self-denial, and obedience to God.

5. It is a preference for the present above the eternal future.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

WEB: O Yahweh, don't your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.