A
Sermon
Preached on
Sunday Morning, December 15, 1850
BY THE REV. C. G.
FINNEY
at the Tabernacle, Moorfields
“The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.” (Isaiah 28:17)
A
refuge is, of course, a place that you can retreat to in times of distress; a
place of protection and security against danger. It is very similar to a hiding place, which is a place where an
individual can secure himself against danger.
The image used in our text is a hailstorm, a sweeping hailstorm that destroys
everything before it, even the places of refuge into which people have run for
shelter from its desolating power; and so great is the flood that it fills up
all the low places and the caves; all the places where people have gone to
hide.
The connection in
which these words are found is very simple: they were addressed by the prophet
Isaiah to the Jewish church; who were, of course, professors of religion,
claiming to be saints. At the ninth
verse he says, “Whom will he teach knowledge?
And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept
upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a
little. For with stammering lips and
another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, ‘This is the rest
with which you may cause the weary to rest’, and, ‘This is the refreshing’; yet
they would not hear.” But the word of
the Lord was to them, ‘Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here a little, there a little’, that they might go and
fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.” (Isaiah 28:9-13) God was
determined to leave them completely without excuse. If they would deceive themselves, they must bear the guilt and
punishment, He had by the mouth of His prophets spoken to them line upon line,
and precept upon precept. “Therefore
hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in
Jerusalem,” (Isaiah 28:14) that is the religious rulers of those days—“because
you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in
agreement’.” They thought they were
sure of their salvation; that they were God's people. They regarded themselves as being justified and accepted in so
high a sense, that they were ready to say, “we have made a covenant with death,
and with hell we agree”; “When the
overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made
lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves. Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I
lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a
sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily. Also I will make justice the measuring line,
and righteousness the plummet; the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and
the waters will overflow the hiding place.
Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol
will not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be
trampled down by it. As often as it
goes out it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass over, and by day
and by night; it will be a terror just to understand the report.’ For the bed is too short for a man to
stretch out on, and the covering so narrow that he cannot wrap himself in
it.” (Isaiah 28:15-20) The bed is a figure representing the
character of their righteousness. Their
religion, on which they placed so much dependence, was like a bed “so short
that a man could not stretch himself on it; and the covering so narrow that he
can’t wrap himself in it”. Thus their
religion they depend on was utterly inefficient. “For the Lord will rise up as
at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon that He may do
His work, His awesome work, and bring to pass His act, His unusual act. Now therefore, do not be mockers, lest your
bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, a
destruction determined even upon the whole earth.” (Isaiah 28:21-22) The
prophet delivers this very solemn message, and he warns the people about being
mockers, for that is the true idea of ‘mocking’ in this passage. Do not be mockers, he says, do not play the
hypocrite, do not deceive yourselves; “I have heard from the Lord God of hosts,
a destruction determined even upon the whole earth.”
My purpose this
morning is to point out some of those refuges that men hide behind today, and
show that they are really refuges of lies.
It is often very important to draw attention directly to those refuges
to which men are in danger committing themselves to, and to which too many run
to and hide. It is very remarkable to
the extent men will deceive themselves on the subject of religion. We find more of the most remarkable cases of
self-delusion in connection with religion, than with any other subject. They are so very remarkable sometimes, that
they appear altogether incredible, that men with reason and in possession of
the Bible should ever commit themselves to such refuges. It is remarkable that they should, by any
possibility, make themselves believe that the road they take has any chance of
taking them to heaven.
I don’t have time
to mention the great many currently popular forms of error and sin, but I will
refer to a few that are very common among men.
The first thing that I will mention, as a false refuge that many indulge
in, is a selfish religion. And here let
me say, and I am sorry that I have to say it, that the longer I live, and the
more people I meet, especially professing Christians, the more am I afflicted
with the conviction that multitudes are completely mistaken concerning the
nature of religion. With great
multitudes, religion is nothing more than a form of selfishness. An entire sermon could be preached on
selfishness, but I can only make a few remarks on it. Let me say, selfishness in any form is the exact opposition of
religion. It makes no difference what
type of selfishness we are talking about.
The
question is, does a man make his own interest the object of his pursuit? If so, such conduct is the exact opposite of
the benevolence manifested by Christ, when He sacrificed His life for the good
of mankind and the glory of God. He
lived, not to please Himself, but to please God. And the Apostle Paul says, “Let each of you look out not only for
his own interests, but also for the interests of others”. (Phil 2:4)
Indeed, everywhere, both in the law and the gospel, religion, that is
true religion, is presented to us as unselfish benevolence. By unselfish benevolence, of course, I don’t
mean a lack of interest in the great subject of salvation itself; but I mean
that we should be religious not from any selfish motives or reasons, but that
we should love God for who God is, and that we should love our neighbors as we
love ourselves. This involves loving
God with all our heart and regarding God’s interest as supreme, and His nature
as a God of holiness.
Where
there is true religion, it will manifest itself in prayer, praise, and
obedience. It will manifest itself with
respect to God in efforts to please Him, to honor Him, and to glorify Him, and
in an earnest desire to secure the love, confidence, and obedience of all
men. Now this naturally must be
true. With respect to man, true
religion will manifest itself in simplicity of character, in seeking the good
of all men, in caring for them as we care for ourselves, in caring for their
interests as we care for our own interests; in caring for their salvation as we
care for our own salvation, in rejoicing in their prosperity as we rejoice in
our own, and in sympathizing with their afflictions as if they were our
own. In a word, there will be a
determination with a single eye, focused on promoting the interests of mankind
and the glory of God. Now this is the
natural result of faith in Christ.
All
selfishness is sin. But listen! It is not selfish for a man to have a proper
regard for his own salvation; but it is selfish for him to only consider his
own salvation, and not care about the salvation of his neighbor. Suppose a man cares so much about his own
salvation, but does not care about the salvation of his neighbor; this is
supreme selfishness! And the more
intensely anxious a man is about his own soul, if he cares nothing about the
salvation of his neighbor, the more intensely selfish he is. This should always be understood. Men who are religiously involved just so
they might receive grace, and who make their own salvation a matter of deep
concern, but who, after all, care little or nothing for the salvation of
others, are deceiving themselves. They
are trusting in a false refuge.
Why,
it is perfectly clear in such cases, that their religion is mere selfish
religion. Let me ask you, where does
the Bible allow men to make any separate, selfish interest their great object
of pursuit? The teaching of Christ is,
“you shall love your neighbor as yourself”.
Christ Himself lived by this principle; and so did the apostles. Instead of making their own enjoyment,
happiness, or salvation the great end of their pursuit, they sacrificed their
lives for the good of the world. This
is the true way for a man to secure his own salvation; by caring for the
salvation of others. “For whoever
desires to save his life”, said Christ”, will lose it, and whoever loses his
life for My sake will find it”. (Matt
16:25) Therefore, it should always be
remembered that any religion that terminates on us, or on our friends who are
close to us, is a religion of supreme selfishness, and it is not the religion
of the Bible. Now a great many people
make this mistake. They think that
people can be selfish in religion and still be true Christians. They know that when men are worldly and
engrossed with the world, why, of course, that is not religion. Most of them admit that. But when individuals are seen at Sunday
services, show up to Church gatherings, and are found praying for themselves,
and those who are close to them; we think they are very pious! But this is a serious error; because they
have not escaped the narrow circle of their own selfishness.
This
surely is selfishness in another form!
It was once worldly; directed to some worldly object, glory, wealth,
character, or something else; but circumstances have led many to change their
course, and now they have begun to care about religion. However, they are just as selfish now as
when they were in the world. The form
of their selfishness has changed, but the principle is still the same. Before they tried to profit from their
fellow men; and now they try to profit from of God! Before, their goal was to take advantage of others; and now their
goal is to take advantage of God!
Instead of entering into sympathy with the benevolence of God; instead
of sacrificing themselves on the altar, they are as selfish as ever. They are as selfish in seeking to secure
their own salvation, as they were to secure a worldly estate. The end they have in view is still a selfish
end.
I
will tell you how you can know for yourselves whether someone who claims that
he is a Christian, is a selfish man.
When he was engaged in worldly matters, his goal was completely selfish:
how much he could make for himself; all his bargaining and trading were for
this end. If he cared about a man’s
bankruptcy, it was for some selfish reason; perhaps hoping that he could profit
from it. Look at a selfish man in
trade. He only cares for his own
business; he does not “look also on the things of others”, because he is trying
to please and benefit himself.
Now
he becomes what is called a religious man.
Well, look at him now! Is he any
more benevolent in his religion than he was in his business? Does he give any indications that his
selfishness has been abandoned? Suppose
he used to partake in society’s business relations because it was in his interest
to do so, he had a good reason for doing it.
Now look at that man after he becomes a religious man, after he is
introduced to the church of God; and what proofs does he exhibit that he has
undergone a radical change? Does he
care about his own salvation? Is he
laboring for the salvation of others?
Is he anxious for others? Does
he pray for others, care for others, and rejoice with others? Does he mourn over the desolations of
Zion? Has he come into full sympathy
with Christ? Does he feel a deep
concern for the souls that are around him?
Does he care nothing for worldly things, except when they can be made
the instruments of saving the souls of men?
Does he pray for grace that he may be useful; that he may be able to
save souls, to pull them out of the fire?
Is he engaged in building up the true church of God?
Now
you can easily see if you have fled to a refuge of lies concerning this. Have you felt your soul stir when you have
heard or read of the awful things that God has said about the wicked? Has His hand come near you, and struck down
a companion, a friend, or a neighbor, and has your heart awakened from your
dream of worldly mindedness? Have you
been led to see that life is short and death is near, and that a solemn
judgment is to follow? Do you
understand the value of religion?
Furthermore, have you so studied its nature as to see that your starting
point is a firm resolution concerning your purpose in life? That to begin, you must renounce self, and
live for God: if not, you are still self-sufficient, and know nothing about
true religion at all. Suppose that you
are selfish in religious matters instead of worldly matters, are you any better
off? There is no real difference, which
you will see if you think about it. Selfishness
has put on a new face, but the man is not new, and therefore you are no
better. Selfishness may often change
its form. It takes on one form in the
child, another in youth, and another in adulthood. It is manifested in ambition, the love of fame, the love of
character, the love of power, and so on.
I might chase these things down from one stage to another, and
selfishness would everywhere unfold itself.
In almost every man’s lifetime we should find that at some period in his
life it takes on a religious appearance, sometimes in youth, and sometimes at a
riper age. Please, I beg you not to
make the mistake of thinking that religion consists in paying attention to
religious things from selfish motives, where everything done finally terminates
on self.
Next, let me say
that another refuge of lies that mankind hides behind is religious impulse. By this I mean that they are excited and
stirred by their feelings. This is a
prevailing form of selfishness. This
delusion consists in appealing to our feelings instead of to God’s law that has
developed in our conscience and reason.
These people think that they are very religious because they feel deeply
about the subject. You will very often
hear such people, when the subject of religion is brought up, say something
about their feelings. They will tell
you that they feel this way and that way; but take away their feelings and they
have no religion.
Now
listen! I call this an emotional
religion, because it is not a religion of principle. These people are only as religious as the degree of their own
excited feelings. Bring them into
exciting situations, and they are very religious. No! Strongly excite them,
and they will do almost anything; excite and rouse their feelings, and you can
carry them along. But let those
circumstances that excited their feelings subside, and you will see that they
don’t have any spiritual foundation within them. Now, the extent that we see the religion of impulse prevail today
is remarkable. These people are
wonderfully religious as long as the excitement prevails; but let it be swept
away by neglecting the means that produces grace, and they will become very
dull, and know very little about piety.
If they do attend any religious activities at all, it will perhaps only
be communion. Perhaps they will be
superstitious enough to religiously partake of communion, for a lot of this
takes place in every country that I have visited.
People
who are not really religious in their daily life, will make a point of
appearing at the Communion table. Now
it is very clear that such people have no religion, and they make an ordinance
of religion a refuge of lies in which they trust. They are like the Roman Catholics, who are very careful about attending
Mass. They make paying attention to
Christian rites one of the prominent features of their religion. Now let me tell you right here and now; and
you can write it down as a universal truth, that wherever the prominent feature
of a person’s religion is attending rites and services, it is a sure sign that
he is not a Christian. What are
ordinances? Ordinances are Christian rites;
the Eucharist is an example. They are
the means of perpetuating certain truths in the world. The purpose of the Lord’s Supper was to
perpetuate the remembrance of our Lord’s death. “As often”, said the apostle, “as you eat this bread and drink this
cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes”. (II Cor 11:26) It is symbolic
and commemorative. The same is true
with baptism. They commemorate two
great truths, and are very important as such; but no Christian makes them his
religion. He is not sanctified by baptism
and the Lord’s Supper, but by the reality that they represent. The Christian has the reality in his own
heart; he leans on Christ, he feeds on Christ, he loves to commemorate the
ordinances of Christ; but listen! If he
is not self-denying, prayerful, anxious for the salvation of others, and making
efforts for this end, but merely cares about ordinances, he is not religious,
he’s superstitious.
For
example, look at Roman Catholics. Now,
I don’t want you to think that I am saying that no Roman Catholic is pious, for
some of them may be and are. But, there
are many who make ordinances the chief feature of their religion; and the same
may be said about many other denominations, to a considerable extent. They consider their Mass so important, and
other rites, that instead of sacrificing themselves to do good, instead of
leading holy lives, instead of being religious in everything, why, their
religion is confined to attending certain ceremonies.
Now
listen, this is a horrible mistake.
Religion is not a form, it is not an ordinance; it is a life. True religion must, from its very nature,
show itself in a man’s business as well as in his prayers. That’s right! Inasmuch as his business occupies most of his time, the principal
place to see his religion, if he has any, is in his daily lifestyle. Religion will be seen there the most, if he
has any. Now if you see people
religious on Sunday; religious in ordinances; religious in particular forms,
but not in their everyday life, you can be quite sure that their religion is
mere superstition and nothing more.
Some
men are very particular in attending to what they call their religious
duties. They make a distinction between
religious duties and their duties to their fellow men. Now this is a fundamental error. Listen to me! A man who does not live a religious life cannot be religious on
Sunday. If he is not religious in his
business he cannot be religious at the communion table, and he has no more business
to be there than the devil has. Not one
bit more! If he is not religious in his
daily business, he has no more right to be at the table of the Lord than those
harlots have who spend their lives in abominations, too horrible to be
mentioned.
Now this is no new
doctrine! This is no American
heresy! It is God’s naked truth! If you don’t believe it, you have fled to a
refuge of lies.
But, let me say
again: others have an intellectual religion, which is just the opposite of an
emotional religion. The emotional
religion implies that a man feels strongly, and he acts according to his feelings. But on the other side of this is the
religion of opinion, which is another refuge of lies. These men hold very strongly to a set of opinions. Right or wrong, they hold on to them. These opinions do not mould their lives
nevertheless; but they hang on to their doctrines and opinions, and consider
them to be very important; yet they don’t obey the commands involved in
them. They live very careless and
worldly lives, but no matter how corrupt they are, they think that they are
Christians. But their religion is only
a pile of opinions, a mere question of doctrines, a mere holding on to certain
doctrines that do not mould, and fashion, and influence their lives. They cling to doctrines
that lie in their minds, but have never come into sympathy with their hearts;
and as long as this is the case with people, they are only trusting in a refuge
of lies. They have no real
religion. Their orthodoxy is very important
to them. They can’t bear to hear a word
said that does not agree with their particular notions of orthodoxy. They come to meeting, they hear a sermon,
and when it chimes in with their views, they say it is sound doctrine.
Now
the question is, do these doctrines affect their hearts? If so, that’s fine. But if these doctrines don’t affect their
hearts, then their sound doctrine is only leading them on the shortest road to
hell. Their orthodoxy is the most
direct road to hell, because they are living in the full blazing light of God’s
word. They will speculate about
doctrines, but they don’t do anything to pull sinners out of the fire, and to
build up the kingdom of Christ. They
are selfish, and close fisted. You
would think that they were holding their worldly possessions with a death
grasp. Now listen, they are very
orthodox, and you can’t offend them more than by touching their orthodoxy, but
they are not living for God, and are not sacrificing themselves for the
salvation of men. They live for
themselves, and maintain certain opinions; and if the doctrines that they are involved
with, were taken to heart and molded to their lives, they would stand out as
beautiful specimens of Christianity.
But I repeat, much of today’s religious opinion is only a refuge of
lies.
Another
refuge of lies is the religion of sectarianism. I have seen a lot of this, and I could say plenty. We see this mainly in the Catholic Church,
for she tells everybody not within her membership that they will go to
hell. But it is not confined to that
church; it is the doctrine of every church who says that salvation can only be
obtained within her four walls. One
particular sect sets itself up and claims to have apostolic succession, and
everybody who does not belong to it is not a Christian. That church is right, and every other church
is wrong. When these sectarians, to
whatever group they belong, speak of “the church”, they don’t mean the
congregation of believers in every community, but their particular system or
form which they call “the church”.
Here
in England, I believe that most of those who claim the right of being called
“the church”, do admit that there are dissenters that may be Christians; and
those dissenters will not deny that there may be good people in the church that
is established by law in this land. But
listen! There is a lot of zeal that is
sectarianism. Really! There have been times in this country that I
have been astonished to hear ministers “thank God for Methodism”. I don’t know how many times I have heard
that! The first meeting that I attended
in England was a missionary meeting, especially connected with the Wesleyan
body, and I was astonished and appalled at first that so much was said about
the glory of Methodism; thanking God for Methodism, and so on. I was not accustomed to hear such things in
a missionary meeting, and it struck me as very surprising that they should have
invited people of different communities to be present, and talk that way while
they knew that the very man who was going to preach that night was not a
Methodist! They had gathered together a
group of people that didn’t belong to their denomination in order to take up a
collection for the missionary cause, and yet there was so much glorifying of
Methodism! I did not rebuke it at the
time, but I felt like rebuking it; and I have since made up my mind, that if I
ever hear it again under any circumstance, I will rebuke it! I will rebuke either the glorifying of
Methodism, or the putting forward of any kind of sectarianism whatsoever, when
Christianity ought to be the theme. It
should not be tolerated. It has no part
in religion. For my life I cannot enter
with zeal into any efforts to build up any particular sect. I have my own opinions, but I know that
others hold opinions different from mine, with as much honesty as I hold
mine. Therefore, I don‘t mean that I
have no particular opinions, but I will not glorify any particular denomination,
and spend my life building up one party.
There is way too much of this party spirit, and what is the result? The result is selfishness of heart, and no
openness of soul. No going out for the
salvation of the world. I don’t mean to
say that I don’t consider some of the distinctions that prevail aren’t important,
because I do; but I don’t regard them to be so important that everything has to
be turned in their favor. I can respect
the gospel and myself too, and therefore I can’t devote my time to building up
any sect. The salvation of men is the great issue! The salvation of men’s souls is our first concern! Do not lay too much stress on sectarian
differences. Make your great aim the
good of souls and the glory of God!
Another refuge of
lies is being concerned with external things; performing certain external actions
without the love of God in the heart.
Religion is often, with many people, only an outward act; there is no
spiritual life in the heart. This is
ungodliness in the true sense of the word, which means unlike God!
Many
people think that they are religious because they pay their debts. They place a lot of importance on that. If you question them about their lives, they
have everything on which to pride themselves.
But is honesty, Christianity?
There are many infidels who are honest in their daily life, and are
honest towards their fellow men, and are good neighbors, good husbands, good
wives; people who in their relationships with men, may be depended on in
worldly matters; men whose opinions are sound on worldly questions, men who are
trustworthy in business; and all of this is based on worldly principles, and
for worldly motives. Now let me say
that these things are all important in a certain sense; but I also say that in
all this there is no virtue. There is
not one particle of piety in it, since there is no recollection and recognition
of the claims of God, no living for God.
If there was piety in it, it would express itself in prayer and praise,
and in all those forms of sympathy with God, which piety always puts on. There must be supreme love for God wherever
there is true piety. And listen! There will always be true love to man
wherever there is real love for God.
Let no one deceive themselves, and think that because you are moral, you have done all that is required of you! Suppose you are exempted from punishment, are you prepared for heaven? Have you come into sympathy with God? Are you prepared to enjoy God? Could you dwell happily with the righteous in heaven? What sort of place would heaven be if you could enjoy it? You have not come into sympathy with Christ; you reject Christ; you reject the Sabbath; you reject the Holy Ghost; and do you think that a supposed morality will justify you? Let me warn you to flee away from such a refuge of lies as that!
Before I sit down,
let me say to those who claim to be religious, who claim to be born of God. Is
your religion a thing that can be known?
Do your neighbors know it? Does
your family know it? Or are you hiding
somewhere? Hiding behind some refuge of
lies? Are you hiding behind that
pastor? For you might use him as your
refuge of lies! Are you hiding behind
some evangelist? For you can use him as
a refuge of lies! Don’t hide yourselves
anywhere! Be satisfied with nothing but
Christ. Don’t get behind that woman! Put no false standard before you. Set no standard but Christ before you! Don’t be satisfied with opinions that don’t
mold your life. Don’t be satisfied with
a religion that is not the life of your souls.
Flee away from every source of error, every refuge of lies, and trust
only in that which will mold your character, sanctify your life, and make you
blessed forever. I beg of you to think
on these things.