Homilist Isaiah 55:2-3 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? listen diligently to me… I. THE FALSE. 1. The false is expensive. All false pleasure is sought from one or other of the following sources — sensual gratification, secular wealth, or popular fame — each very expensive. They cost what is infinitely more precious than gold — time, energy, moral peace, mental independency, and frequently health. 2. The false is not sustaining: it is not "bread." Were it obtained, it would not strengthen. It does not give mental strength: sensuality enervates the intellect. The love of gain makes man a tactician, not a thinker. The breath of mammon is poison to a free intellect, and the love of fame fills the mind with the unhealthy sentiment of vanity; nor does it give spiritual strength — strength to resist temptation — to bear trials — to help humanity — to serve God — to face death. It destroys this. 3. The false is not satisfactory. " Satisfieth not." II. THE TRUE. 1. True pleasure consists in spiritual communications from God. "Hearken diligently unto Me," etc. Three things are implied in this language: — (1) That God has made spiritual communications to man. This is a fact. They are the substance of the Bible. (2) That man has a capacity to appreciate these communications. A wonderful argument this for the native dignity of the soul. (3) That to appreciate these communications requires the most diligent study. The Bible is a difficult book, challenging the concentration of intellectual power. 2. That the pleasure thus derived is of the highest conceivable description(1) Essentially excellent — "good."(2) Abundantly sufficient — "delights itself in fatness."(3) Spiritually quickening — "your soul shall live." 3. That the continuation of this, the highest pleasure, is guaranteed by the solemn assurance of God. "And I will make an everlasting covenant with you.' Here is a pledge of its perpetuity. If a promise is not fulfilled, it must be for one of three reasons: either that the author was insincere when it was made, or that he subsequently changed his mind, or lacked the necessary power to redeem the pledge. Neither of these suppositions is admissible; therefore, this true pleasure is everlasting. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. |
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