D. Scott Meadows
John Newton continues his exposé of man’s (humanity’s) sinfulness. In this letter, he laments its most glaring wickedness in hostility to the gospel. This is his further elaboration of the exclamation, “Lord, what is man!”
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1. Sinners are, by nature, earthly, unspiritual, and demonic (Jas 3.15). That really shows in their response to gospel light. Jesus said of His enemies, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin” (Jn 15.22). Their reaction to Him and His message brought into full view the hideousness of what was there in their hearts all along. Paul observed that “the law [of Moses] entered, that the offense might abound” (Rom 5.20), that is, be fully manifested, and the gospel can have the same effect. History demonstrates that people committed atrocious crimes against one another, but I write of man’s hostility toward God which is even worse.
2. To be specific, I have in mind people’s reactions to a Christian minister’s faithful discharge of his holy office in the preaching of the gospel with all its attendant doctrines. Yes, the message of salvation is in Scripture which is readily accessible and which people may read for themselves, but for most, it remains a closed book—little read, little understood, and therefore but little regarded—except in those places where men of God preach it earnestly with full conviction from personal experience of His grace to them and with persistent love for those who hear them, regardless of any response, favorable or hostile, that may be produced.
3. When any place first hears the gospel, the people there have been sinning with considerable ignorance. Some are openly immoral. Others are just worldly. Others are religious without any knowledge of true piety, and quite proud of themselves. The preached gospel declares that these ways are empty and even dangerous, as they all lead to ruin. It also proclaims a message of hope for sinners, so that none need despair. The preacher shows them the pit of hell under their feet and opens the gate of heaven, pointing the way. Apart from God’s grace, people respond in several ways that prove their gross depravity.
4. The most obvious rejection is seen when people refuse to hear the gospel any more and hate the preachers of it. Unbelievers told the prophet Jeremiah, “As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee” (Jer 44.16). People like this begin treating anyone who believes the gospel with utter contempt, even if they are the closest family members. The hate for their religion is so palpable sometimes that the unbeliever can barely stand to see them.
5. Most people will put up with listening to the gospel, at least now and then, and typically they come to a crisis point where they are deeply convicted of their sin and lostness, but they are eager for an antidote to this discomfort more than a man who has swallowed poison! They want to stifle and smother serious thoughts of God and so they turn to partying and drink and anything else for relief. They are glad for the return of their former indifference to spiritual things. Then they set about to bring as many as they can to share their reckless ungodliness. They act like it is their personal mission in life to ruin as many souls as they can.
6. If they continue attending church, they receive yet more spiritual light. They learn that all but true Christians are going to hell, and that makes them positively miserable. They might even come to wish they had never been born, but they harden their hearts even more. They pretend everything is alright; their smile is but a mask to hide their angst. They speak abusively about gospel truth. They look diligently for inconsistencies in Christians and publish any they find with wicked glee. They see how unbelievers die in grief and saints with peace, but none of this moves them. Neither providences nor ordinances, mercies nor judgments, can stop them, because they are determined to go on as they are and perish with their eyes open, rather than submit to the gospel.
7. But sometimes the unconverted are professing Christians and only reject gospel truths secretly. These parade the worst of man’s sinful nature. In effect, they make Christ the servant of sin and turn His grace into the approval of ungodliness. They are like Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus! This is the greatest possible example of wickedness. They pervert the gospel. They make the doctrine of election an excuse for living in sin. They argue for salvation without good works because they do not love obedience as they should. They preach the righteousness of Christ as if it were opposed to our own personal holiness. They make the merciful goodness of God a reason to persist in evil!
8. In this way, willful, impenitent sinners go from bad to worse and arrive at length, by different paths, in hell. In this life they usually settle into one of two places. Either they become hypocritical formalists or open apostates. The formalists would be fine if merely hearing the Word took the place of faith, love and obedience, but it doesn’t. They become sermon-proof! There are many in our churches like that.
9. Probably some of you reading this have been described in this letter. I pray God the Spirit may constrain you to read with great attention! Your case is dangerous but not necessarily hopeless. God’s grace is enough to pardon all your sins and subdue your most sinful ingrained habits. The gospel you have disbelieved is still the power of God to salvation (Rom 1.16). The blood of Jesus has power to cleanse sin’s worst stains and make you white as snow (Isa 1.18). He has mercifully kept you alive till now, and it is high time to stop this madness, to drop your weapons against Him, and humble yourselves at His feet. If you do, you may yet escape. If not, know for sure that His fiercest wrath is coming upon you, and you will find from your personal experience that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10.31). Signed, JN.
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Let us all examine ourselves in the light of these sobering diagnoses. Ω