“But are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God” (2 Chronicles 28.10.)
Introduction. When the children of Israel had bloodthirsty thoughts towards their brethren of Judah, the prophet discouraged them. “Are there not with you…sins against the Lord your God?” This is a good question to pose to nations, sects, and classes among men. Let reformation begin at home before we attempt it elsewhere. We must not shun to declare the full counsel of God. But we must first deal with ourselves. I am not ashamed of being a Baptist. But we have our faults too. The question may be repeated continually in the ears of all. The poor man has his tavern. But the rich man has his drinking parties. We have the same gospel for all. We acknowledge no class distinctions. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
(1) A Home Question. Let me single out the moralist. He has no religion maybe. But he has the outward form of morality. He condemns the thief, and rightly so. My dear moralist, have you never broken a command? Have you never read that the Lord shall judge a man for every idle word? Turn your attention to yourself. And what if other men are worse than you are? Will that save you? Morality is good, but not enough to save. You need a living faith in a dying Saviour. Remember, one sin will sink your soul lower than the lowest hell. Repent, O moralist. I turn now to the accuser of the brethren. I have seen men, and women too, who are prone to observe the evil in another rather than what is good. But what about yourself? If you have directed false accusations against a servant of God, you have brought down upon your head the worst doom that can ever fall on a man. And now I turn to the religious man, the one who tries to carry out every Christian ritual. “If ye say that ye have no sin…the truth is not in you.” Next there is the honest man who professes no religion. Your honesty is a mask. And do you suppose that God will accept you because you are honest about never professing to serve him? Now let this eye look into every face. “Are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?”
(2) A Common Sense Inquiry. They say that common sense is worth all the other senses together. It is a fine thing to use in matters of religion. Young says, “All men think all men mortal but themselves.” But who are you to think you will escape the punishment of sin? Will your fine pedigree exempt you? Even princely blood springs from Adam, the dishonest gardener. It will be vain to plead respectability before the throne of God. Evil works must be punished unless a substitute is found through whom sin can be put away. To the man who hugs or cloaks his sin, there is no pardon, only the sword of divine justice that is ready to be plunged into his heart.
(3) A Little Advice. Quit your slander, for fiery coals do wait to burn the false tongue. Judge yourself instead. Lay on the whip. Do not spare yourself. He that condemns himself will God forgive. He that stands self-convicted may look to Christ and see his sins forever put away by the sacrifice of him upon the tree. Look to the salvation of your own soul.
Selection from Conclusion. “What is thy shop, compared with thy soul? Nay, what is thy body, thine eyes, thy senses, thy reason, compared with thine immortal soul?…I beseech thee, look well to thyself, lest eternity should become to thee a sea without a shore, where fiery billows shall forever toss thy wretched soul…Oh! sinner, hear the cry of thy poor starving soul; hear, I beseech thee, the cry of thy poor body. The body does not wish to be cast into fire, and thy soul shrinketh from the thought of everlasting torment…come, I pray you, to penitence and to faith.”
