The Hope of the
Hypocrite
Preached at Zoar Chapel, London, on Thursday
Evening, August 3, 1843, by J. C. Philpot
"For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has
gained, when God takes away his soul? Will God hear his prayer when trouble
comes upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call
upon God?" Job 27:8-10
What was the main subject of controversy between Job and
his three friends? It was whether Job was a hypocrite or not. His friends,
seeing him afflicted with such heavy calamities, and hearing the passionate
and rebellious expressions that came out of his lips, unanimously came to
the conclusion in their minds, that a child of God could neither, on the one
hand, receive such heavy visitations from the Lord's hand, nor, on the
other, make use of such peevish and rebellious language; they set him down
therefore to be a hypocrite.
Job, on the contrary, knew he was not that. Why the hand
of the Lord had so gone out against him he knew not; and why his soul was
permitted to be so harassed and distressed he could not understand. But one
thing he was certain of, from God's past dealings with his soul, and from
the experience which the Lord had wrought in his heart, that he was not the
character his friends believed him to be. He would not yield, nor submit to
such a charge; and God himself knew that Job was in the right; and that
however harassed he was in his mind, and whatever self-righteousness might
lurk in him, yet he was free from that imputation.
By way then of answer to his friends' accusation, Job in
the text brings forward certain marks and tests which he knew hypocrites had
not, and which he knew he had. He says, "Will he delight himself in the
Almighty? Will he always call upon God?" Job knew well that no hypocrite
could ever come up to these two marks; and that with all his craft and
subtlety, he never was in possession of these two tests.
But before we come to this part of the subject, it will
be desirable to go through the preceding portion of the text. And I do not
know a simpler or better way than to take it as it stands, and see what
light the blessed Spirit may throw upon it.
I.
We will commence then, first, with
the CHARACTER pointed out in the expressive word
"hypocrite." What is the meaning of the term? It signifies, at
least in our acceptation, "a stage-player; one who assumes a part, and wears
a character that is foreign to him; one who is not the man he professes to
be." This is as simple and as concise a definition as I can give of the
character of a hypocrite.
But it appears to me that there are two classes of these
characters; one, who knows what he is, and the other, who knows it not.
There is one who may deceive others, but does not deceive himself; and there
is another who may deceive himself, but does not deceive others. Thus, there
are those, I believe, who know they are wrong, and yet never put up a
cry to a heart-searching God to make them right; who know that they have
taken up religion for wrong ends and base motives, and that they were never
led into any portion of truth by the Spirit of God; but in order to gratify
some carnal design, have embarked upon a profession without any moving power
felt in the heart.
The other, who form the more numerous class, and most
abound in the professing church, are people so deceived by Satan, so
ignorant of themselves and of the God they have to deal with, and having
such a veil of delusion over their hearts, that they are self-deceived,
according to that word, and a solemn word it is, "deceiving, and being
deceived." (2 Tim. 3:13.) Not merely deceiving others, but being deceived
themselves; not base designing hypocrites, but believing they are right,
and only learning they are wrong when "trouble comes upon them, and God
takes away their soul."
And be it remarked, that neither of these two classes are
ever troubled or distressed about their hypocrisy; the first, because their
conscience is seared, and the second, because they are fully persuaded they
are right. So that I believe we may lay it down pretty well as a general
truth, that those who are exercised with distressing doubts and fears about
hypocrisy, are not hypocrites; and, on the other hand, that those who, with
brows of brass, and necks of iron, would resent with the greatest warmth the
imputation of hypocrisy, would, could you look into their hearts, be found
really guilty of the charge.
II.
But having considered his character, I
pass on to consider the hypocrite's
HOPE. "For what is the hope of the
hypocrite?" He has then a hope. Scripture speaks of two kinds of hope.
"There is a hope that makes not ashamed," (Rom. 5:5); "a good hope through
grace," (2 Thess. 2:16); "a hope, as an anchor of the soul, sure and
steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil," (Heb. 6:19); the
hope that stands as a sister with faith and love, (1 Cor. 13:13); and the
hope whereby the soul is saved. (Rom. 8:24.)
And there is another kind of hope, which the Scripture
also speaks of, and which it has stamped with peculiar and indelible marks.
It is compared for instance to "a spider's web," (Job 8:14); and this
comparison throws a little light on its character. What is the spider's web?
It is a filthy thing– spun out of the creature's own bowels– only intended
to catch flies– and broken to pieces by the first puff of wind. Now carry
these ideas into the spiritual figure. The "hope of the hypocrite" comes
from himself; it does not spring out of any testimony of God in his
conscience, any dealings of the Spirit upon his soul, any drawings up of his
affection towards the Lord Jesus, or any discovery of God's presence or
favor– but it is spun, laboriously spun, out of his own filthy heart. As the
spider also spreads out its web in order to catch flies for its food and
sustenance, so the hypocrite spreads out his hope before the eyes of men,
that he may catch the buzzing flies that flit about the religious world, and
feed upon their flattery and applause. But, like the spider's web, it will
be blown away by the first puff of God's anger; by the first blast of his
nostrils it will be swept away, and no trace of it left.
But the Scripture (Job 8:11, 12, the same chapter that
compares it to the "spider's web'") gives us another description of this
hope, and illustrates it by another figure. "Can the papyrus grow up without
mire? can the reed grow without water? While it is yet in its greenness, and
not cut down, it withers before any other herb. So are the paths of all that
forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish." The "hope of the
hypocrite" is here compared to "the papyrus" and "the reed." What is their
location? Not the flowing stream, but the miry, sluggish ditch. Out of the
mud they grow, and by the mud they are supported; let the muddy water be
dried up, and "they perish before any other herb." Thus the "hope of the
hypocrite" is not a tree that rests on a rock; it has no solid
foundation on the work, blood, love, grace, and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, but grows up as a perishing reed out of the mud and mire of
his own corrupt nature. It is not "a tree planted by the waters, that
spreads out her roots by the river, whose leaf is ever green," (Jer. 17:8);
but a wretched reed that stands in a sluggish pool, and fades and dies while
yet in its greenness, as soon as the ditch dries up.
III. But we pass on to consider the GAIN of the
hypocrite.
"What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has
gained?" He has then a certain object in view, which he is often allowed to
gain. Now this gain is not necessarily, nor perhaps in the majority of
cases, money, or filthy lucre. It may indeed happen that a man may put on a
profession of religion for the sake of filthy lucre; but we cannot confine
the gain here spoken of to that one thing. If he has obtained his purpose in
any way, it is gain; and Job seems to intimate this, by not mentioning any
specific object, but leaving the nature of the gain ambiguous. But "what is
the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained?"
God then allows him to gain his ends. And if this be
money, perhaps while he is thwarting every plan that his people set their
hand to, and blighting every prospect that rises up before their eyes; while
he is bringing them continually to poverty, and never allowing them to
prosper in anything; every project that the hypocrite puts his hand to
flourishes; and, like the fabled Midas, everything becomes gold under his
touch. Let him, for instance, commence business under the most unpromising
circumstances, let him set up a shop in the most unlikely neighborhood,
everything succeeds, customers come in, and all things are prosperous.
But I have hinted that we should err, if we limited this
gain to filthy lucre. Each man has a peculiar object, and in the
attainment of that object his gain consists. Thus, the approbation of others
may be an object of gain with many; to have the good opinion of his
fellow-creatures, and to be highly thought of may be his darling aim.
Perhaps such a one may have a strong memory, and being well versed in the
Scriptures, and very fluent in quoting them, may draw a certain degree of
approbation from those before whom the gift is exercised; and this is his
gain.
Or he may be well informed in his judgment upon
Scriptural truth, may compare passages together with great clarity, and so
cast light upon the word; and may derive much pleasure from being "confident
that he is a guide to the blind, a light of those who are in darkness, an
instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes;" when all the time he has but
"the form of knowledge and of the truth" in the letter. (Rom. 2:19, 20.) Or
he may have a gift in prayer, and this gift may so shine in the eyes of
professors as to draw their approbation; and thus this wretched creature may
gain his ends, in having the applause of others bestowed upon his gift.
Or it may be, and this perhaps is the most common case of
all, that his gain is his own good opinion. The good of opinion of
others is only now and then given, and that perhaps rather grudgingly– but
our own good opinion, what a constant companion is that! It gets up with us,
and it lies down with us; there is no one to contradict it, and it is always
present to whisper its sweet flattery into our ears. If a man only gets his
own good opinion and his own approbation, he has a constant source of
pleasure opened up in his own mind. There are a great many people,
therefore, who become hypocrites merely to gain a good opinion of
themselves, and will adopt any mode of compassing this end.
Is it then to be gained by a profession? By a
profession it shall be gained. Is it to be obtained by receiving the
doctrines? By the doctrines it shall be obtained. By talking about
experience? By talking of experience it shall be attained. By humble looks?
By humble looks it shall be had. By acts of liberality? By such actions it
shall be gained. Whenever a hypocrite is fully bent upon gaining a certain
object, he will put in practice every artifice in order to get it. And God
lets him gain it. He does not deal with him as with his own children; he
will not let them do anything that is not for their welfare; but he deals
with him spiritually, as you do with yours naturally. If you have children,
and see them playing in the streets, and quarreling or acting wrong, you
rush out, or call them in doors, and chastise them if you know it is
necessary.
But if you look through a window, and see others fighting
and quarreling who are not your children, you leave them alone and take no
notice of them. The reason is, because they are not yours; if they were, you
would punish them severely, rather than they should be doing those things
which you know to be wrong. Thus it is with those who are God's children,
and those who are not. The Lord lets the hypocrite fill up the measure of
his iniquities; he allows "his eyes to stand out with fatness, and lets him
have more than heart could wish" (Psalm 82:7); but he sets his feet in
slippery places, and he is brought into desolation in a moment. Be not
surprised then that ungodly men and hypocrites flourish in the world, and
are at ease in Zion, while you, on the contrary, are poor in circumstances,
and are tried and exercised in your mind. Be not surprised, if you see every
dishonest plan and scheme of theirs flourish, while every honest plan of
yours is marred and blighted. God has reserved some better things for you;
therefore he chastises you with affliction as a child; but he has reserved
eternal wrath for them, and therefore they have their portion in this life.
IV.
But we pass on to consider
the hypocrite's TROUBLE. "Will God hear
his cry when trouble comes upon him?" It seems then there is a period when
troubles comes upon him. And what is that period? The blessed Spirit has
marked it out in the text. "What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has
gained, when God takes away his soul?" That is his time of trouble,
"when God takes away his soul;" when he stands before the eyes of an angry
God on his deathbed, and his soul is about to pass into eternity. Now it is
very sweet to my mind, that the time of the hypocrite's trouble in thus
distinctly marked out, because it shows that he has no soul-trouble until he
comes to die. If you and I, then, have known something of soul trouble
before now, we have not this mark against us. He embarked smoothly on a
profession; his religion never began nor went on with trouble; his was an
easy, comfortable, flesh-pleasing path from first to last. He never knew
sighs, groans, tears, and cries; he never rolled upon his bed, full of
anguish, and bitterness of soul; his conscience never bled under wounds,
bruises, and putrefying sores. In all his profession of religion, all his
life long, he had been cheerful, easy, and comfortable. But now, when God is
going to "take away his soul;" when the wrath of the Almighty, the foretaste
and prelude of wrath to come, flashes into his conscience, then for the
first time he begins to be in trouble.
V.
But with this trouble we read of
the hypocrite's CRY. "Will God hear his
cry?" No; he will not. But why should not God hear his cry? Has he not
promised to hear cries and groans? He has. But not the cries of hypocrites;
he has never promised to hear them. When a man has mocked God all his
life-time, insulted him to his face, done everything to provoke him, and to
deceive and distress his people; when it comes to the last, and he stands
upon the brink of eternity, should natural convictions at last press a cry
from his carnal mind– will God hear that? No– I say, God will not hear that
cry; because it is not the cry of a child, not the cry which the blessed
Spirit raises up in the soul, not the breathings forth of a broken and
contrite heart into the ears of a listening God. It is nothing but the cry
of a natural conviction; and God has never promised to hear and answer that.
Nor after all, is it so much a cry to God for mercy, as a
howl of fear and anguish as the Lord says (Hos. 7:14), "They have not cried
unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds." But whether so
or not, he never cried to God before– it was with him all assurance and
confidence. I dare say, had he been here he would have sung at the top of
his voice every hymn given out that spoke of assurance. I cannot doubt but
his voice would have been heard swelling among the throng; and the higher
the assurance, the louder would the note have swelled. But there was no cry
when alone in his room; when he sat by his fire-side, and hung his head upon
his hand, there was no groaning prayer going out of his soul unto God; when
he was engaged in his daily business, there was no secret sigh that the Lord
would look upon him and bless him. His religion never consisted in sighs and
cries unto the Lord; but was a web of deceit and hypocrisy from beginning to
end.
VI.
But having seen what he is, we will now
proceed to see what the hypocrite is not.
The Holy Spirit by Job speaks in the text of certain marks and tests which
this wretched character, with all his gains, never attained to, and which
Job knew his soul was in possession of. He says, "Will he delight himself in
the Almighty? Will he always call upon God?" As though he had said, "You
have charged me with hypocrisy; and though you have known me many years, and
have seen how God has dealt with me in time past; yet now, because this
trouble has come upon me, you accuse me of the blackest of crimes, you
charge me with being a hypocrite. Now I ask you," said the Patriarch "this
question– answer me as honest men. Call to mind all the hypocrites you ever
knew; look at them in their various classes– gauge and measure them in their
different bearings; and then tell me, if you can find these two marks in any
one of them, 'Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call
upon God?'" Depend upon it they were speechless. Not one of them could say,
that of all the hypocrites they had known in the course of a long life, they
had ever found one with these two marks on him.
1. "Will he delight himself in the Almighty?"
No– he will not. And why not? Because with all his self-assumed religion, he
was never made a partaker of a new nature, was never regenerated by the Holy
Spirit, never had a new heart given to him, and a new spirit put within him;
in a word, he never had bestowed upon him an inward, spiritual, and
supernatural faculty, whereby alone God can be seen and known. And that was
one and the main reason why he could not "delight himself in the Almighty."
Nature, however highly polished and varnished, can never rise up to a
spiritual knowledge of eternal realities, still less rise up to any
spiritual acquaintance and communion with the blessed God. But, besides
this, the Lord had never, in any degree, let down a measure of his mercy and
grace into his soul; and for lack of this also, he could not "delight
himself in the Almighty."
But what does delighting himself in the Almighty imply?
It implies reconciliation. God and man by nature are at variance;
there is a bar between them; sin has interposed, and cut asunder the
original knot that linked the Creator and the creature together. Man has
become "alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in
him, because of the blindness of his heart." He is born in sin; his "carnal
mind is enmity against God;" therefore he needs reconciliation. And in order
that this reconciliation may be effected, there must be an external and an
internal reconciliation. Sin must be put away, righteousness brought in, and
God well-pleased with the sinner, before external reconciliation takes
place. And this was effected by the sacrifice of Christ once on the cross,
when "by that one offering he perfected forever those who are sanctified."
(Heb. 10:14.) The apostle therefore says, "And that he might reconcile both
unto God by the cross, having slain the enmity." (Eph. 2:16.)
But besides the external there is an internal
reconciliation, according to Rom. 5:11, "And not only so, but we also
rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement," or, as it is in the margin (which is the more literal
rendering of the word), "by whom we have received the reconciliation." To
receive this reconciliation is to receive into our heart and conscience the
reconciliation Christ has effected by the substitution of his sacred person;
and to receive into our affections the Lord Jesus Christ as Mediator between
God and man.
But the wretched character in the text never knew the
enmity of his carnal mind; sin was never opened up to him in its
hideous colors; he had never felt the alienation of his heart from God; he
never knew the curse of God's law; and therefore he knew nothing
experimentally of reconciliation, because he had never experimentally known
variance. Nor had his eyes been enlightened, his heart touched, or power
been given to him to embrace the Lord Jesus as the Reconciler of the
church to God. Nor again, had the Lord God Almighty ever let down any
measure of his love into his soul, or ever indulged him with a taste of his
presence. He had never found the word, and eaten it. (Jer. 15:16.) He
had never fed upon it, and found it "sweeter than honey or the honey-comb."
He never had his affections fixed where Jesus sits at the right hand of God;
he never enjoyed, feelingly enjoyed the truths of the gospel, nor did his
soul ever banquet on them, and find them to be "fat things, full of marrow,
and wine on the lees well refined."
He had never, in all his religion, any sensible enjoyment
in his soul of the truths which he professed to believe; for they had no
place in him, as the Lord said to the Jews, "My word has no place in you."
The truths of the gospel were never grafted in his heart; never formed his
spiritual food and drink; never were the element in which his soul lived.
The tokens of God's favor never were his happiness and his heaven, and he
could be perfectly contented without them; indeed he was more happy without
religion, even such as he had, than he was with it; for his heart was in
the world, buried in the things of time and sense.
He had never, in all his professing life, one feeling
desire after God, one spiritual panting after him, "as the deer pants after
the water-brooks." He and the Almighty never enjoyed blessed converse; he
never walked and talked with him "as a man talks with his friend." He never
sat alone that he might converse with God, away from all intrusion; he never
hid himself in his chamber, or buried his head beneath the bed-clothes, that
he might commune secretly with the Almighty. He never enjoyed the presence
of God, nor mourned his absence; never sought his favor, nor feared his
frown. His heart was never lifted up towards the Lord that he would come
down and bless his soul. So that all his profession, his gain, and his hope
were idle and vain, because he lacked this one grand thing, "delighting
himself in the Almighty." Spiritual joy and consolation were never known in
his soul, but were always foreign to his experience, and always a stranger
to his feelings.
Now, do you think, with all your doubts, fears, troubles,
and exercises, that you did ever "delight yourself in the Almighty?" Was
your soul ever drawn out in unutterable partings and longings after the
blessed enjoyment of his presence? Was this ever your heart-felt language,
"Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none upon earth I desire beside
you." And have you ever said to Christ, "You are all my salvation, and all
my desire." Was there never an object on earth that yielded such delight to
your soul as the Lord Jesus Christ? never an object so embraced in the arms
of your affection as his glorious Person; never anything that so melted,
moved, and softened your heart as a sense of his dying love?
Then you are not a hypocrite, nor can all the men or
devils in the world make you out to be one; for you are one that "delights
yourself in the Almighty." God himself has stamped that as an indelible mark
on his children, as a proof of their sincerity; and recorded it in these
burning letters of ever-living light, as a testimony for them, as well as a
mark against all, however high in their pretensions, or consistent in their
profession, who live and die ignorant of it.
2.
But the Lord in the text has given us
another test, "Will he always call upon God?"
No. How beautiful it is to see the evidences that the Lord has given us in
his Scripture. If we look at these two evidences, we shall see how wisely
they are put together. For there are doubtless living souls that might say,
"The test just brought forward is too high for me; I fear I do not delight
myself in the Almighty; I cannot come up to that; it is beyond my reach– My
heart is so hard, my faith so weak, my love so little, my affections are so
roving after the things of time and sense, and my soul walks in such
darkness, that I cannot reach up to this solemn test, delighting myself in
the Almighty; it seems to cut me off!"
Well, but the Lord has not cut you off, because you
cannot come up to this test; he has given you another. So that if the first
test cuts your head off, the other test will put it on again. "Will he
always call upon God?" See the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in the position of
the words. Men sometimes think they can improve the Scriptures; they are
going to introduce this alteration, and make that wonderful correction; but
they would only mar the word of God, if they were to touch it with their
critical fingers. Suppose then the word, "always," were transposed; what
would the effect be? "Will he always delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he call upon God?" The mere transposition of the word always would
spoil both tests. For where is the man who always "delights himself in the
Almighty?" And the hypocrite himself may and does call upon God once in his
life, when trouble comes upon him, and God "takes away his soul." So that
could we transpose the word "always," by that little transposition we would
spoil both tests.
But when we look upon the word "always" as applicable to
"calling upon God," we see how it suits and exactly fits in with the
experience of a living soul, and gives the prayerless hypocrite no quarter.
Does not he then, "always call upon God?" No– you never hear of his calling
upon God, until "God takes away his soul;" and then just before he breathes
out his miserable soul into a never-ending eternity, he howls upon his bed,
and cries unto God for mercy. But he never always "called upon God:" it was
never his habitual practice– prayer had never been wrought in him by the
hand of the Spirit; and it was only just when hell was opened before him
that he prayed, sooner than be plunged into it. But the living family are
marked by this test, that they always call upon God; that is, they are a
praying, groaning, crying, sighing people, ever calling upon God– not
calling upon him once, twice, or a few times in their lives, but it is more
or less, their daily and habitual practice.
But what is it "to call upon God?" You will
observe that the cry and the call are here distinguished from each other. It
does not say, "Will God hear his call?" but "Will God hear his cry?" Nor
again does it say, "Will he always cry unto God?" but, "Will he always call
upon God?" There is, then, a difference which the Holy Spirit here makes;
that a man may cry who never calls. We read in Genesis (4:26), "Then began
men to call upon the name of the Lord;" and in the first verse of the sixth
chapter, which is connected with it read, "When men began to multiply on the
face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, the sons of God saw
the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all
which they chose." Thus we see the connection (for the two chapters are
closely connected), the fifth being, as it were, in a parenthesis, between
calling on God, and being sons of God.
To call on God is to call on him with "a spirit of grace
and supplication" interceding in a man's heart. It therefore implies a
knowledge of God. When the Lord first quickens the soul into spiritual life,
he implants in it "a spirit of grace and supplication." I have always
insisted on this mark, for I felt it so my self. I must always, then, insist
upon it, that whenever God quickens a soul into spiritual life, with his
quickening work on the conscience, he communicates to the soul "a spirit of
grace and supplication," and that spirit is never lost out of the heart,
until the "spirit of supplication" is lost in the universal song of praise
before the Lamb.
Now no man ever did call upon the Lord, unless he had "a
spirit of grace and supplication" implanted in him. He might have squeezed
out a few formal prayers; he might have gone through a daily round of
self-imposed forms; yet he never worshiped God "in spirit and in truth." Or,
he might, as very many do, pray what is called extempore– he might have
kneeled down night and morning, or perhaps even seven times a day, and might
have prayed without a form as the thoughts rose in his mind; and yet all the
time never have had a breath of true prayer in his soul, nor once offered up
a spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
But the soul that "calls on God," calls on him through
the Spirit interceding within him, "with groanings that cannot be uttered."
He has God set before his eyes, as the Psalmist says, "I have set the Lord
always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved."
(16:8.) He has at times the presence of God in his heart, and the fear of
God ever in his soul. He worships him "in spirit and in truth," and he
serves him "acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." He does not worship
an unknown Jehovah, but he knows whom he worships, because he has had a
spiritual discovery of the being and character of God to his soul. And no
man will or can call upon God, until he in some measure discovers himself to
him, and draws out the pantings, longings, hungerings, and thirstings of the
soul to himself.
But, as I have before hinted, much of the force of the
expression lies in the word always. The word always is not to be
taken in the strictest sense of the term; that is to say, it does not imply
that a child of God is praying all day long, but that once having been
favored with "a spirit of grace and supplications" he never loses it out of
his heart; but, from time to time, as the Lord the Spirit draws it forth, he
pours it out into the bosom and ears of Jehovah. For instance, there are
times of soul adversity, trouble, and affliction; and when these come, the
living soul will still be calling upon God; he will not be waiting for the
sun to rise and shine before he seeks the Lord's face; he will not be
waiting until a promise comes with power to his heart, before he visits the
throne of mercy with sighs and tears.
But when the soul is troubled and distressed, then
prayers and supplications begin to flow out of the heart into the ears of
God. And I believe, if I know anything about it, the more a man is pressed
down with trouble, the more he will call upon God. When everything is smooth
with us, our visits to a throne of grace are short and rare; but when the
soul is burdened, pressed down, afflicted, and troubled, these things press
and squeeze prayer out of our bosoms; so that a man is never so prayerful,
so continually seeking the Lord's face, and pouring out his heart before
him, as when he is in soul trouble.
Was it not so with Hannah? What made her pour out her
soul before the Lord? Because she was "in bitterness of soul, and wept
sore." (1 Samuel 1:10.) She spoke "out of the abundance of her complaint and
grief." (5:16.) When did Hezekiah pray? Was it when he was displaying the
treasures of the temple to the Babylonish ambassadors? There was no prayer,
I will venture to say, going out of the heart, when, in his pride, he was
showing them "the house of his precious things." But when the prophet came
with a message, that he was to "set his house in order," then "he turned his
face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore." When did Jonah
call unto God? Not when he was asleep in the sides of the ship; but when he
was in the whale's belly, then "he cried unto the Lord out of the belly of
hell."
Thus it is that times of soul trouble, force, so
to speak, cries and sighs out of the heart of God's people. And then God
will bow down his ear, and hear them; for he says, "Call upon me in the day
of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me," (Psalm. 50:15);
especially pointing out that as the season for the soul to call, and, that
as the season when God will hear and deliver the soul that calls upon him.
So the children of Israel, who were typical of God's people, when in Egypt
their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, cried unto the Lord. So in
their various captivities, when they were oppressed by the Midianites, or by
the Philistines, or by their other numerous enemies, they always "cried unto
the Lord in their trouble," and he heard and delivered them "out of their
distresses." (Psalm. 107:13.)
But again. Worldly things are often much against God's
people. Dark clouds in providence encompass their path, so that they
cannot see their way; and this makes them call upon the Lord. But hypocrites
do not go to the Lord in worldly trouble; they cannot go about mumping for
charity, and "living," as they call it, "on Providence," when they have no
object but to get all they can out of the affections of God's compassionate
children; while a true child of God, in his lonely garret, will be calling
upon the Lord, and beseeching him to appear. The hypocrite will go down to
Egypt and Assyria for help, and never think of asking it from the Lord. But
his real children, who are suffering from poverty, will often conceal their
needs even from the Lord's people, and go to the Lord himself, and tell him
how they are suffering under temporal distresses.
The word "always" implies further, that under all
circumstances and all states, at all times and seasons, and in all places, a
God-taught soul will call upon the Lord. God's people will not be waiting
for the morning or evening to come that they may pray. As they walk the
streets, sometimes even as they are in worldly company, if thrown into it by
business or accident, or as they are occupied in the various employments of
life, from time to time there will be a lifting up and a breathing forth of
their hearts unto God. They must call upon the Lord, because they cannot be
truly happy without him. Guilt sometimes oppresses, condemnation burdens,
and heavy temptations harass them; God hides his face; and they cannot
obtain what their soul longs to enjoy. These things cause groans and
supplications to flow out of their souls unto God that he would appear for
them, come down, bless, and deliver them.
There may be, perhaps, some here who are exercised (as, I
believe, many of God's people are at times exercised) as to their hypocrisy;
and sometimes they may think themselves the most consummate hypocrites that
ever stood in a profession. They may even think themselves so crafty and
subtle that they are deceiving those who have the keenest discernment. But
if you are exercised with these painful surmises, these doubts and fears,
just see (and the Lord enable you to bring it to the light of his
countenance) these two features of a spiritual character. Do not talk about
your hope; it may be "a spider's web." Do not boast of your gifts; they may
be altogether in the flesh. Do not bring forward the good opinion of men;
they may be deceived by you. But just see if, with the Lord's blessing, you
can feel these two tests in your soul, as written there by his own hand.
If so, you are not an hypocrite; God himself, by his
servant Job, has acquitted you of the charge. Did you, then, ever "delight
yourself in the Almighty?" It is a solemn question. Did your heart and
soul ever go out after the living God? Did affection, love, and gratitude
ever flow out of your bosom into the bosom of the Lord? Did you ever feel as
if you could clasp him in the arms of faith, and live and die in his
embrace? Now if your soul has ever felt this, you are no hypocrite; and
nothing can rise up out of your wretched heart, as an accusing devil, that
can prove you to be one.
Or if you cannot fully realize this, if you are one that
always calls upon God, you are no hypocrite. I do not mean your
family prayer, social prayer, wife or husband prayer, or your private night
and morning prayers. I do not speak of your regular prayers, or any other of
your regularities; for I believe that there is often more of God's Spirit,
and more craving after God and delighting in him, in your irregularities,
than in all the daily regularities which hypocrites delight in. But I mean,
is there a sigh or cry by night, as well as by day; a pouring out of the
heart into the bosom of God from time to time, as the Lord works it in you,
in trouble, in perplexity, in sorrow, and in distress? This is a test and a
mark which no hypocrite ever had or ever can have.
But if neither of these marks are to be found in you,
what then must I say? Why, it is greatly to be feared that if you are a
professor, you are a hypocrite. If you have never known, in all your
profession, what it was to "delight yourself in the Almighty;" if you have
never turned away from creatures to converse with God; never felt his word
precious, and enjoyed the sweetness of it in your heart. Or if you do not
know what it is always thus to call upon God, as I have endeavored to
explain it, I say, it is a black mark against you, and it is to be feared,
that your religion began in hypocrisy, is going on in
hypocrisy, and is likely to end in hypocrisy; or I would rather say,
end in an ineffectual cry, which God will not hear, when "he takes away your
soul."