A Sermon
Preached on Sunday
evening, December 8, 1850
by the Rev. C. G. Finney
at the Tabernacle, Moorfields
“Out of your own mouth I
will judge you, you wicked servant.”
(Luke 19:22)
These
words are part of a parable, which is as follows: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for
himself a kingdom and to return. So he
called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do
business till I come'. But his citizens
hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man
to reign over us’. And so it was that
when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these
servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might
know how much every man had gained by trading.
Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas’. And he said to him, ‘Well done, good
servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten
cities’. And the second came, saying,
‘Master, your mina has earned five minas’.
Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities’. And another came, saying, ‘Master, here is
your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. For I feared you, because you are an austere
man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow’. And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I
will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man,
collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the
bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the
mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas’. ("But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas’.) ‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has
will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken
away from him. But bring here those
enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before
me.’” (Luke 19:12-27)
The purpose of
this parable is clearly this: First, it
is presumed that what God requires of men is the right use of the talents committed
to Him. This is assumed throughout the
parable. God expects this, and men make
themselves completely responsible and without excuse for not immediately
obeying God. Their very admission
reveals that they know about the duty delegated to them. The fact is, they know they are sinners,
that they should repent, that they need a Savior; and who will admit that he
should repent if he doesn’t have sufficient conviction to see that he
should? As soon as they admit that they
should repent, men assume that they have the ability to do so. They may deny it, but they still believe it,
or they never would admit that they should repent any more than they would
admit that they should fly.
This admission
shows that they lack confidence in their own excuses, that their excuses aren’t
enough to justify themselves. They know
all too well, that not one of their excuses will justify them when things come
to be seen in their true light. If this
were not true, they would honestly and confidently present their excuses to
justify their conduct. This is natural,
and you will find it everywhere, from the smallest children upwards. Whenever they think that they have a good
excuse, they will quickly make it. They
will deny their obligation whenever they honestly feel that they have a valid excuse. This shows conclusively, that when sinners
admit their obligation to become Christians, they assume, by their admission,
that their excuses are worthless. If
they had just one really good excuse among all of them, they would rest calmly
on it, and immediately deny their obligation.
These excuses also
show that these people are really hypocrites.
If they were not hypocrites, they would deny their obligation; for if
they had a valid excuse for their conduct, they would use that excuse to
justify themselves. But they don’t deny
it; they cannot deny it without belying their very nature; they can no more
deny their obligation than they can deny their own existence. They virtually admit their own hypocrisy, by
not doing what God tells them they should do, by not doing what they know and
feel that they should do, and excusing themselves in a way that does not even
satisfy their own consciences.
These admissions
on the part of sinners also show that they know very well that God must condemn
them, for if not, they must condemn God!
They condemn themselves, and they therefore assume that God must condemn
them; for if God does not condemn them, they feel that He can’t be just. Sinners themselves acknowledge their
wrongdoing. They even violate their own
standard of moral obligation. They sin
against their own consciences, no matter how dull those consciences may
be. They feel that, since God is a good
being, He must condemn them; and if He does not, then their own consciences
will condemn Him.
Their admission
again shows that, in the deepest assumptions of their minds, they justify
God. The laws in their own minds are
God’s witnesses, and they stand up forever to testify for Him. So truthful are these laws of the human mind
that they will speak, and speak the truth.
To be sure, there is no virtue in admitting what you can’t honestly
deny. There is no virtue when a man’s
conscience says, by a necessary and natural law, what it must say and cannot
deny. True, the heart would bribe the
conscience if it could, but the testimony of their nature forever leaves them
without excuse before God. These
admissions show that they themselves know their pleas of inability, and every
other plea is only a refuge of lies by which even they themselves, as I have
said, are unsatisfied.
From these things,
we see why sinners everywhere have such a fear of death. Why are they afraid to die? Is it because they are afraid that God is
unjust? No! Is it because they are afraid that they will fall into the hands
of a cruel and relentless tyrant who will trample them down in their weakness,
regardless of their merit? No! They are not afraid to meet God because they
think He is wicked; but they are afraid to stand before God because they know,
by the irresistible assumption of their own minds, that God has an account with
them, and they have no apology for their sins.
They do not say, “Oh! I have a
good excuse, I know I have; but God will not listen to it. I know that I was born with such a sinful
nature that I have a good excuse for my conduct, if God would only listen to
me. But instead of listening to me, He
wants to destroy me with His power."
Is that the reason
why sinners are afraid to die? No! That is not the reason. It is because they know they have done
wickedly, and that they are without excuse!
They are not afraid to meet God because they think that He is
unreasonable and partial, but because they are wicked, and He is good. That is the problem. They feel that goodness should be armed
against them, because they have no possible excuse for their sins. It is a real eye opener to sit down by the
deathbed of a sinner who has gone on in sin for many years without a serious
thought in his mind; if you look into the workings of his mind, it is striking
to see how many things after all, he has assumed. It is remarkable how many points of self-accusation present
themselves, and in how many points his conscience is disarmed.
It is absurd for
any individual to acknowledge their obligation, and still plead that they are
unable. If it were naturally impossible
for a man to do something, consistency would lead him, of course, to deny his obligation
to do it. It is absurd to acknowledge one’s obligation and deny the ability to fulfill that
obligation. No human being can be
guilty of such an absurdity. Men may
theorize about it, and think that they can be guilty of not doing something
that is naturally impossible; but this principle is true and universal. This principle applies to every excuse. Because, if we have an excuse that is truly
a reasonable one, it is a justification and it would set aside the obligation,
then the best thing to do would be to plead the excuse and deny the obligation. The mind is true to itself, and always does
do this; for if a man has a reasonable excuse that justifies him for not doing
certain things, it is a direct contradiction to say that he can possibly, at
the same time, admit that he is obligated to do those things. The mind never does or can do this; and
therefore, when men admit their obligation, they assume that God is reasonable
in requiring it, and that it is naturally possible for them to do it.
The excuses men deceive
themselves with, when viewed in the light of their own admissions, is a glaring
proof of the madness of their wickedness.
How strange! Here is an
individual admitting that he should obey God, and in the same breath, he
excuses himself for not obeying God!
Does everyone see the absurdity of admitting your obligation and
excusing yourself at the same time?
I
know very well that sinners don’t really consider what is actually implied in
those admissions. Multitudes of people
here have followed these admissions saying, “Oh! Yes. I admit that! I admit that there is a God, a right and a
wrong, that God is good, and that I should obey and love Him. I know that I have sinned and should repent
and become a Christian; and I know that I should do it now.” But have you really considered what is
implied in these admissions? You are
naked, speechless, and without excuse in the presence of God!
Although
sinners deny, as they often do in theory, their ability to obey God, they know
the truth, and while they admit they are sinners and have done wrong, their
consciences convict them of wrong, and assure them that they could have done
right. Now take any situation whatever
where a sinner has done something that he condemns himself for. He sees that it is wrong. He knows that he shouldn’t have done
it. Now in this very situation, he
assumes that it was possible for him not to have done it. He would never have admitted doing something
wrong if he knew that he had no power to do otherwise than what he did. In any and every case where a moral agent
believes he could not have done differently, he will justify what he did.
It
is useless for a man to pretend to believe that, by outward circumstances, he
is irresistibly propelled along a certain track; God has so constructed his
mind that he can’t believe it. He may
get wound up supporting his illogical argument; still, his own nature will
speak out and tell him that it is a downright lie from beginning to end. Let him go and commit a crime and then try
to justify himself if he can. He can’t
do it. Let him go and commit murder, or
any other crime; he can’t, for the life of him, conceal his wickedness from
himself. He may bring up this doctrine
of fatality, but it is useless. He
can’t satisfy his conscience with it.
There is something within him that says, “You are to blame. You should have done otherwise and could
have done otherwise.” This pursues him
wherever he goes. There is always a
sentinel from God, a witness that will speak out and tell him that he lies just
as often as he attempts to justify himself. See him wandering around in the
dark! What’s the matter with him? His hair stands on end, what ails him? Why doesn’t a horse feel such terrors as he
feels? Because a horse is not a moral
agent, and doesn’t have, written in his mind, those great facts that are
written in the mind of man. See that
individual try to persuade himself into believing that there is no hell, no
judgment, or final retribution! There
is something within him, which causes an awful sound in his ear and in his
soul; when he is in darkness and in secret places, it quakes within him.
Furthermore, if
sinners really and truly believed in their excuses, they would not admit their
obligation and need for repentance.
Take a man, for example, who honestly believes he can’t do better than
he does, wouldn’t he immediately tell you that he has nothing to repent
of? He cannot honestly tell you
anything else. He quickly responds with
a full and flat denial of his moral obligation. He would say, “God can’t send me to hell because I don’t deserve
it. God can’t, with justice, keep me
out of heaven.”
He
wouldn’t be afraid to die. He would
say, “Why? Do you think that I’m afraid
to meet a God of justice? Not me. God has nothing against me. He has no right to have, and I am therefore
not afraid to die.” Tell him to repent
and be converted. “I don’t need to”, he
responds, “I’m fine the way I am”. If
they sincerely believed in their excuses, they would no more condemn themselves
than a windmill. If they really
believed they were machines, their consciences would never be disturbed. But the fact is, men assume and know that
they are not machines in the sense that machines are not free and accountable. As long as they live, they can never escape
the conviction that they are both free and accountable.
If they believe
that men are machines, they wouldn’t blame the conduct of others. If you are sincere in professing this, if
someone hits you, or steals your wife, your child, or any of your property, you
can’t blame him; for how can he help it?
He is only a machine. How can he
help it? Why, if you really believe you
are machines, you could no more blame a man for knocking you down in the
streets than you could blame the arm of a windmill for knocking you down. If the arm of a windmill knocks you down,
why not blame it? Because you can’t
assume that it was to blame; it is only a machine, and you pick yourself up as
well as you can and walk away. But why
blame a man, when according to this idea of yours, he is not any more
blameworthy? But can this infidel
believe this in his heart? No! I say he can’t. He cannot show to mankind, or even to himself, that man is not a
moral agent. It is a remarkable fact
that this law is always true to itself; you could not for an instant think of
blaming the windmill, but in spite of your theory, in your heart you blame the
man, because after all, you actually believe that he is a moral agent. When infidels can carry out this absurdity
in a practical way, really admitting and feeling that a man is no more
responsible for his actions than a windmill, then we have a right to believe
that they think so, but not until then.
It
is therefore very important that all men should question themselves as to their
own deep convictions. I love to search
the deepest recesses of my own mind, to see what will come up; to trace back
the logical connection of my own thoughts and admissions, in order to see what
must lie as an eternal principle in my own mind, by which I must be eternally
judged. Oh! Are men going to the judgment seat, the great white throne, when
the Judge will appear and take His seat, and the whole universe shall tremble
before Him? What are the books that
will be opened? First, mark my word,
the Book of the Laws of your own nature, wherein by the pencil of inspiration,
was written, at creation itself, the immutable law which gave you the knowledge
of your moral agency, and your responsibility to God. God will first question your own conscience, your deepest nature,
for He knows its laws; and it will rise up and testify against you. You will carry this self-condemnation with
you into hell if you go, and it will never perish! Thus Christ will say, “Out
of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant”.
Now, dying sinner,
what is your remedy! What will you do
when He says, “As for these men who try to excuse themselves, bring them out
here, and slay them before Me”! Now, do
you say to yourselves, “well, if this is true, my case is hopeless”! Now, you know better. The reason you are saying this is because
your wicked heart is stirred. Here is
Christ who uttered this parable, who has committed to you this talent, and now
He says, “Consecrate it to me”. Ah! But perhaps you have spent some of it! Have you?
Indeed! Then you are worse than
the individual in the text, for he kept all that was entrusted to him! Ah!
How much of it have you spent?
How old are you? Oh! See those gray hairs on your head! Have you burned out life’s lamp, and left
nothing but a smoking wick? Then you
have served the devil your whole life!
Indeed! Then, when God comes,
you cannot even pull the talent out of your pocket and say, “here is the talent
that You gave me”. No! You have taken all this money, all these
powers all this time, and all this influence that God has so kindly blessed you
with, and gone over and squandered it in the service of his greatest enemy, the
devil! Have you? Indeed!
Well, your situation is a bad one! But listen to me, dying sinner. Can you believe it? In spite of this, even so, that bleeding hand is held out, and Christ is saying, “Come! Come! Come! All things are ready, and always have been”. But now, will you come to Christ and consecrate the little remnant that is left? How much is left? Some of you are young, and still have a lot of time before you, in which you can do something to promote God’s glory. But do you want to serve the devil a little longer? Now isn’t it unspeakably wicked for you to speculate on the chance of sinning a little longer, and still be saved? Ah! Doesn’t God’s keen eye see that thought? Why, come right to God right now and say, “Lord, here I am. I can’t undo what I have done. I can’t go back to the beginning of my moral existence. But I will come now, and O Lord Jesus, I will devote my whole life to You, body, soul, influence, health; all I have and am. And by your assistance, I will, from this day forward, be consecrated to Your service, in helping forward that great work of love that I have been, up until know, hindering by my sin.”