Chapter 54. USE 4. If God and Christ speak in the Word, how dreadful ought it to be to the neglecter
Chapter 54.
USE 4. If God and Christ speak in the Word, how dreadful ought it to be to the neglecters, disobeyers, and despisers of the Word?
If God and Christ do speak in the ministry of His Word, then, oh! what a dreadful point this is to all who neglect, disobey, and despise the ministry of the Word. You who neglect the Word, oh! what are you doing when you neglect it? You are turning your back on Jesus
Christ and refusing to hear Him. Therefore, consider the scripture:
He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination (Proverbs 28:9). What, do you turn away your ear from hearing the Word? God declares that He will turn away
His ear from hearing your prayers, and your prayers shall be abominable, for you have turned away your ear from hearing Christ speak to your soul. For it is in Christ's stead (says the Apostle) that the ministry speaks.
There will be a time when you would eagerly wish for God to hear you. As you wish for God to hear you then, so you must hear Him now. Take note of that text in Proverbs 1:24 concerning those who turn away their ear from hearing God speak: Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would have none of my reproof. Though you may have thought it was merely the word of a man, you have disregarded all my counsel and refused my reproof. Your hearts fretted and were vexed because you were reproved by such a man, but it is my reproof, says God. And mark the judgement that follows in verse 26: You shall call, and I will not answer. There was a time, friend, when I called to you through such a sermon, and you knew that I spoke to your heart, but you turned a
deaf ear to me. You shall call with all your heart, and I will not hear you.
There will come a time when you will call upon God's ministers to pray for you. What, would you have God hear His ministers for you, and will you not hear His ministers speaking from God? It was a saying of Ambrose to Emperor Theodosius, "Will you not hear me, seeing that you desire that I should be heard for you?" You wish, said he, that I should be heard for you, and therefore you ought to be willing to hear me. This was Ambrose's speech to Theodosius after he had committed a great sin and was being reproved. So I say to all who live in any way of sin: hear God's ministers now, for a day will come when you will be glad if God hears His ministers for you. Oh!
Hear us when we come in the name of God. We would not have you hear us if we spoke only our own fancies. This is a warning to those who neglect the Word.
Now a word or two to those who disobey the Word; they set their own judgments against those of the ministers, and, let him say what he will, they dismiss it as merely his opinion. Do you understand what you are doing? This rebellion is against God and against Christ.
It is as though there is a language in your hearts saying, "Christ says, 'I will have this done,' but your lusts say they will have something else done." Oh! This will be charged against you one day—that the voice of the devil was stronger with you than the voice of Christ.
But it is especially contemptible to scorn the Word, to set at naught God's counsels, to walk away and despise it. Do you know what you are doing? Let me apply two scriptures to you, you who despise and scorn the Word, who can go into company and talk about what you have heard in a contemptuous manner. Consider these two texts, I pray you. First, consider the text from which this point is raised—
about God speaking to you, whom you despise. Think about the text in Isaiah 37:23. When you gather with others and become emboldened by wine, oh! Then you lift up your voice and laugh. But against whom have you lifted up your voice? You think it is against Hezekiah, but no—it is against the Holy One of Israel. You think it is against a man who preached on such and such a day, but no, it is against the Holy God and Jesus Christ. This is recorded against you in Heaven: here is one who has reproached the Holy One and Jesus
Christ.
In Luke 10:16, it says, He that hears you, hears me... That applies not only to the disciples who were then on earth but to all faithful ministers to the end of the world. For Christ said, when He sent them out, I will be with you to the end of the world. They have been dead for more than a thousand years, yet Christ promised to be with those who succeed them to the end of the world. This text concerns every faithful minister as much as it did Christ's disciples. Every time you despise the ministry of His Word, you despise Jesus Christ and God,
His Father.
For the Lord's sake, take heed of what you do. When you have to deal with the Word, you are dealing with a sharp instrument; it is that which will either save you or destroy you forever. You who have been guilty of neglecting the Word, may the Lord strike and humble your hearts. For comfort in the time to come, I will apply one more scripture to you, and that is found in Hebrews 12:25: See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from Heaven.
The ministry of the Gospel and the ministry of the Law are compared here: one speaks from earth, and the other from Heaven, though, in
truth, they both come from Heaven. But now, in the ministry of the Gospel, God has sent His own Son to you. In these latter days, He has spoken by His Son, as the Apostle says in Hebrews 1:1–2: God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His
Son. In former times, God spoke by His prophets—there was the voice of God (though it wasn't as clear that it was the voice of God, even though Christ did speak through them). But now, in these days,
God has spoken by His Son, and He has reserved the ministry of His grace and His eternal counsels concerning the children of men for His Son—not just His Son personally, but His Son through the ministry of His Word.
You might say, "If Christ did preach (as you say He does), there would be more power." But remember, when Christ preached, even the Pharisees derided Him. In the original text, it means they
'sneered' at Him, and note this: those who were covetous mocked Him—they even mocked Jesus Christ Himself. A worldly heart that has become rich, rising from a lowly state to a greater one, will mock the most excellent preaching in the world.
Take heed that you do not despise the ministry, for certainly, the voice of Christ will prevail one day. If it does not prevail here in the Word, it shall prevail one day when Christ says, Depart from me, ye cursed. Though you do not obey the present voice of Christ, you will obey His voice on that day. I must conclude this point with a word of exhortation.