Isaiah 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies… All men know themselves to be sinners against God. They know also that, as sinners, they are in peril. Hence their anxiety to find some refuge for safety. They know they might find this in the way of forsaking sin and turning to the Lord; but they do not choose to forsake their sins. Hence there seems to be no convenient resource but to hide themselves under some refuge. It is obvious that men who resort to lies for a refuge regard those lies not as lies, but as truth. This fact leads us to raise the primary fundamental question, Have we any rule or standard which will show what is truth, and what is falsehood? Men have countless opinions about religion; how can we determine which are true and which not true? We have an infallible test. Salvation, to be real and available, must be salvation from sin. Again, if it does not beget prayer, does not unify us with God, and bring us into fellowship and sympathy with Him, it is a lie. If it does not produce a heavenly mind, and expel a worldly mind, it is a lie. Here I must notice an objection. It is said, The Gospel does not, in fact, do for men all you claim. It does not make professed Christians heavenly minded, dead to the world, full of love, joy, and peace. I reply, Here is medicine which, applied in a given disease, will certainly cure. But it must be fairly applied. So with the Gospel. I. I will now proceed to NAME SOME THINGS THAT LACK THIS DECISIVE CHARACTERISTIC. They do not save the soul from sin. 1. An unsanctifying hope of Heaven. 2. An old experience, that is all old. 3. There are two forms of self-righteousness — the legal and the Gospel — both of which are refuges of lies. The legal depends on duty doing — evermore trying to work out salvation by deeds of law. The Gospel form sets itself to get grace by works. 4. Universalism. II. And now TAKE NOTICE OF WHAT GOD SAYS. "The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place." This hail is the symbol of God's displeasure. It is fit that God should be displeased with these refuges of lies. He loves truth too well to have the least sympathy with lies. He loves the souls of men too deeply to have any patience with agencies so destructive. The waters, He declares, shall overflow the hiding places. Every resort that leaves the soul in sin is a hiding place. 1. All religious affectation is such, and is nothing better. 2. So of all religious formality — going through the forms of worship, being in the Church, being baptized — what avails it all unless their piety be instinct with life and that life be the soul of real holiness 3. A great many people hide in the Church. 4. Others hide under the plea of a sinful nature. They are naturally unable to do anything. 5. Some dodge under professors of religion. ( C. G. Finney.) Parallel Verses KJV: Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. |
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