The Imminent Danger and the Only Sure Resource of This nation # 3

The Imminent Danger and the Only Sure Resource of This Nation # 3

Oh, for a glance of what Isaiah saw, and has described! "In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord! He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Hovering around Him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two wings they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flow. In a great chorus they sang, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty! The whole earth is filled with His glory!" The glorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire sanctuary will filled with smoke! Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!" (Isaiah 6:1-5). 

Oh! that we, by the power of that faith, could behold the glory of the Lord filling this house; that we could realize the presence and the attitude of His attendant angels! They cover their faces and their feet with their wings, as overpowered by the beams of His majesty; and conscious, if not of defilement like us, yet of unavoidable inability as creatures, to render Him the whole of that praise and homage which are justly due to Him!

Oh! that, by faith, we could enter into the spirit of their ascription - "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is filled with His glory!" If we were all thus affected, as the prophet was, surely each one for himself would adopt the prophet's language. Or, if a comfortable hope in the Gospel prevented us from crying out, "Woe is me, for I am ruined!" we should, at least, say, (the Hebrew so rendered,) "I am silenced, I am struck dumb! I am overwhelmed with confusion and shame; for I am a man of unclean lips myself, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!"

If we have a degrees of this impression, we shall not perplex ourselves concerning the second cause, or immediate instruments of our calamities. The evil of sin, contrasted with the holiness and glory of God, will engross our thoughts! And we shall ascribe all the troubles we either feel or fear - to our own sins, and the sins of those among whom we dwell.

1. Let us first look to OURSELVES. "I am a man of unclean lips! I am a sinner!" This confession suits us all, and is readily made all who know themselves. A person approaching London from the neighboring hills, usually sees it obscured by a cloud of smoke. This cloud of smoke is the aggregate of the smoke, to which every house furnishes its respective quota. This cloud of smoke is a fit emblem of the sin and the misery which abound in this great metropolis! The Lord said of the Amorites, at a certain period, "Their iniquity is not yet full." (Genesis 15:16). I hope the measure of our iniquity is not yet full; but it is filling more every day, and we are all daily contributing to fill it.

True believers, though, by grace, delivered from the reigning power of sin, are still sinners. (Romans 6:14). In many things, we are all in thought, word, and deed. We are now called upon to humble ourselves before God, for the sins of our ignorance, and for the more aggravated sins we have committed against light and experience; for those personal sins, the record of which is known only to God and our consciences; for the defects and defilements of our best services; for our relative duties as parents, as children, husbands, wives, masters, or servants, and as members of the community. Our dullness in the ways of God, our alertness in the pursuit of our own will and way; our indifference to what concerns His glory, as compared with the quickness of our concerns, when our own temporal interests are affected, are so many proofs of our ingratitude and depravity! The sins of the Lord's own people are so many, and so heightened by the consideration of His own goodness, that, if He was to enter into judgment with them alone, they could offer no other plea than that which He has mercifully provided for them, "If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared!" (Psalm 130:3-4).

2. It is easy to declaim against the wickedness of the times. But only they who are duly affected with the multitude and magnitude of their own sins can be competent judges of what the prophet meant or felt, when he said, "I live among a people of unclean lips." We ought to be no less concerned (though in a different manner) for the sins of those among whom we dwell, than for our own. We shall be so, if, with the eyes of our mind - we behold the King, the Lord Almighty; because His glory, which should be the dearest object to our hearts, is dishonored by them.

II. Have we not, therefore, cause to say, with the Ninevites, "Who can tell?" Is there not at least, "a perhaps?" Is there at least a possibility - that we may yet obtain mercy?

If our sins are no less numerous, no less of a scarlet dye, than those of other nations; and exceedingly aggravated beyond theirs, by being committed against clearer light, and the distinguished advantages we have long enjoyed; if we have not only transgressed the laws of God in common with others - but daringly trampled upon the gracious offers of His forgiveness, which He has long continued to propose to us, with a frequency and energy almost peculiar to ourselves; if "All day long I have spread out My hands to a disobedient and defiant people," (Romans 10:21) and, hitherto, almost in vain; if neither tokens of His displeasure, nor the declarations of His love, have made a suitable impression upon our minds - who can tell if He will yet be entreated? May we not fear, lest He should say, "My Spirit shall strive with them no more!" "They are joined to their idols - let them alone!" "When you lift up your hands in prayer - I will refuse to look. Even though you offer countless prayers - I will not listen!" (Hos. 4:17; Isaiah 1:15).

~John Newton~

(continued with # 4)