THE AWFUL INGRATITUDE OF THE SINNER

 

Modernized by Cliff Collins from a sermon delivered on Sunday evening, December 29, 1850 by the Rev. Professor Finney of Oberlin College, U. S.) At the Tabernacle, Moorfields, London 

 

“And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” Psalm 59:5

 

David was a type of Christ. It was common for David to write Psalms in which he made many references to the Messiah. The spirit of prophecy within him said many things in these Psalms that applied particularly to himself as a type of Christ, as well as to Christ himself.  When referring to Christ, New Testament writers quoted portions of these Psalms. This passage also refers to Christ.

 

I.  First of all, let’s look at some situations where we can say that Christ loves the sinner but is hated in return. 

 

I shall now discuss situations where sinners reward Christ evil for good and return hatred for His love.  Christ gives sinners their very existence.  They are indebted to Him for all they have and are; all things are given over into His hands, and He administers the government of God for the benefit of sinners.  He preserves their lives, and continually loves them even while they are sinning. He is long-suffering towards them.  He lived in this world, denying Himself for them.  He suffered the deepest poverty and disgrace for their benefit.  I don=t know anyone who was in such deep distress as Christ was during His life! No one was in greater poverty!  Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matt 8:20)  He is represented in the Gospel as having become poor, “that you through His poverty might become rich.” (II Cor 8:9)  He allowed himself to be covered with the bitterest reproaches for us, until those reproaches had broken his heart.

 

Anyone who has been reproached for doing good has some idea of what He means by saying this.  Jesus labored with such zeal for the good of souls that He says, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”  He toiled night and day, from town to town, to do them good, and many times He spent whole nights in prayer.  We have reason to believe that at the early age of twelve His appearance and wisdom was way beyond His years (Luke 2:40-49).  And yet His punishment at the hands of man for His love was so severe that, “His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.” (Isaiah 52:14) He is represented as bearing your griefs and carrying your sorrows. (Isaiah 53:4) Do you remember how beautifully Isaiah represents this? “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:4-9)

 

This describes what Christ has done for sinners.  He suffered death at their hands, and then, amazingly, He turned right around and proposed to make the blood that they had murderously shed the very medium by which they might be saved!  Who has ever heard of such love as this?  The same blood, which their murderous hands have shed, is made to atone for their sins.  Today, He is still just as ready to reach out to the sinner in love, always living to befriend them and sitting right now at the right hand of God to make intercession for them.  All sinners are spared from day to day, and kept in existence by Him.  You are spared, like the barren fig tree, because he intercedes for you when justice would otherwise strike you dead.  In spite of all your abuse of Him, He is still eagerly waiting to step forward to save you the minute you will accept the mercy He offers it to you.  When justice would strike you dead He steps forward in your behalf, and that you are not in hell right now is only because of His prayer - " Oh! Spare him yet."

 

Now that I have shown His love for the sinner, let us look at some situations where sinners reward Jesus evil for good.

 

The Jews did this. I have never heard anyone who believed the Gospel deny that Christ labored persistently for their good, and yet they responded to His love with hatred.  But do others do that?  Yes, sinners, you do it continually!  He gives you life, and what do you do with your existence in this world, which is only prevented from being quickly terminated by His loving intercession?  I=m asking you, sinner; what are you doing with the life He gives and prolongs?  What are you doing with it?   What have you always done with it?  What! Do you only use it to oppose his law and authority?  How do you spend your time?  He spares you from day to day, how do you occupy yourself?  He gives you time, and commands you to repent - have you done so?  Oh! No! Instead, your whole existence is one continuous act of opposition to the One Who has thus wonderfully befriended you!  He has given you talents - what do you do with them?  Where does your power come from? Does it come from education, property, talents, or perhaps influence?  What do you render to Him for all the good that he has bestowed on you?  Do you really render evil for all this good?  Do you use your money, talents, and education against him?  Ah! Your lack of repentance tells the story!  I am not going to stand here and angrily accuse you.  God gave you lungs, and enabled you to breathe, but every breath is breathed in opposition to Him.  Are their any gifts of His providence that you have that you are not using against Him?  And is not this rendering Him evil for His good?  Suppose a child did this to his parent. Suppose your little one used every gift you bestowed on him against you.  Is it not remarkable that the more God gives the more and more proud you become, and the more stoutly you stand up against Him?  The more He loads sinners down with blessings and obligations; instead of being drawn to Him, they withdraw further from knowing him.  He multiplies their blessings, but every one of them is aware of their sin and rebellion against Him. They grow rich and great in affluence and talent, and are surrounded with favors, and as time goes by they become so proud and full of themselves - so great in their own esteem - that they will not allow an Ambassador from Heaven to tell them the truth. How strange. 

 

The longer God spares sinners the more abusive and presumptuous they become. Look at sinners. The older they get, the longer they are spared, the more they are loaded down with favors, until their heads are covered with the frosts of many winters, and the more rebellious, and stupid, and drunken in their sins they become!  The longer God defers their punishment, the more they tempt His patience. 

 

From this we can see that all sinners render to Christ evil for good.  Sin from its very nature rejects Christ's authority in everything that He does for us. They practically and publicly deny their obligations to Christ. They insult Christ Himself, and oppose Christ=s efforts to do them and others good.  All sin, from its very nature, is sympathy with hell, and hostility to heaven.  Also, sinners hate to be reminded of their obligations to Christ, and will not quietly submit to it even from their best friends.  Many a husband in his sins will scarcely allow his pious wife, whose spirit has wept almost tears of blood over his soul, to speak to him about his duty.  No. The fact that sinners render Christ hatred for His love is obvious.  They become disturbed if they hear Christ spoken of, and his name praised!  Go almost anywhere and you will find this opposition manifested. 

 

It is plain that sinners do not sympathize with Christ's friends; in fact, they actually sympathize with his enemies.  If I had time, I could give you a thousand examples.  Here=s one.  Sinners show their hatred to Him by their satisfaction in the things that grieve Him, they make light of sin, and rejoice when religion is dishonored by those who profess to be Christians. They show their pleasure and instead of praying for the saints and trying to support those saints who are tempted to disobey God, they actually throw obstacles in their path. They appear to approve of the temptation rather than grieve when it is not resisted.  When saints sin, they triumph.  See how ready sinners are to take up an evil report against their neighbors, especially if that neighbor professes to be a Christian.  They would not feel this way if they were Christ's friends. It is extremely unnatural for us to desire evil of those we love, and sympathize with.  If sinners, therefore, had sympathy with Christ and his people it would be utterly unnatural for them to act the way they do towards them. 

 

It is also extremely unnatural for us Christians to promote the circulation of evil reports concerning those who love Christ.  We would be careful of the reputation of Christ's children if we love them.  Are sinners grieved when those who profess to fear His name dishonor Christ and his cause; and are they careful to conceal, rather than to spread abroad that which is disgraceful concerning them?  No! They are not only very quick to believe scandalous rumors and stories of any kind; they are even quicker to spread them.  This hatred of Christ is a mortal hatred.  The Jews displayed this to the fullest extent. They were not satisfied with anything short of His life.  Sinners refuse to submit to Christ's authority and embrace the Gospel offer, and as far as their altered circumstances permit, they manifest precisely the same spirit that the Jews of old did who hung Him on that accursed tree.

 

This hatred of the sinner toward Christ is supreme. They are more opposed to Him and His work than to anything else in the world.  On all other subjects it is easy for you to gain adherents and make friends.  In many cases where hatred between two people has been lengthy and intense, a change of circumstances will frequently reconcile them.  This is true with political and social disagreements; even where the hostility has become, in a sense, hereditary on both sides, a circumstance sometimes comes up which makes reconciliation a mutual advantage, and how quickly enemies become friends!  There are many remarkable cases on record of two people having eventually become, not only friends, but also firm and attached friends to a degree correspond­ing with or perhaps even greater than their former enmity. They have become not only willing to help and support each other, but unwilling to say or even to believe anything evil about each other.  This is, in fact, quite common.  Where do you find hatred existing between parties that cannot be overcome even by a moderate exhibition of kindness and love?  But how is it with the sinner?

 

Few men understand how deep their hatred of Christ is, and in order to have a proper appreciation of this they must consider what Christ has done, what He is doing, and what He has promised to do for them.  Suppose that in this city there are two men who have been enemies for a long time.  Suppose that this has gone on for a very long time and it has escalated to such a pitch that their families have come to regard each other as mortal enemies simply because of their family name and relationship.  They scarcely look at each other when they pass in the street.  But suppose this ill feeling was all on one side.  Suppose one man had a deep-rooted enmity against the other.  Suppose there had never been any actual quarrel, but that the one had continually misunderstood and abused the other, and badgered him with persecution and slander from time to time.  The other man was always good to him and treated him kindly. When the one man lost his job, the other lent him money and tried in every way to gain his confidence but all to no avail. 

 

One day, that other man was horse back riding in the park and met the dearly beloved son of the other who was approaching in a horse drawn carriage; the carriage swerved to avoid a stray dog, the horses bolted and the son was all but thrown out. Listen, at the risk of his life, this gentleman rushed to save the boy. He seized the horses by the reigns and thus saved the life of his enemy's son.  The young man, of course, was moved when he saw who it was to whom he was so greatly indebted.  He went home and told his father what happened.  His father was deeply touched and lowered his head.

 

“Did he know you?” he asked the son.

“Oh! Yes;” the son replied, “And he not only saved my life but kindly spoke to me in terms of encouragement, and blessed me.”

 

That very night the father aroused and discovered that his entire house was on fire.  The very carpet beneath his feet was in flames. The house was ready to collapse. Fire trucks arrived as a crowd began to gather on the street outside the burning building, but there seemed to be no way of escaping the flaming inferno.  The flames were pouring up the stairway and out of a just opened window.  Suddenly, in the middle of these circumstances, an individual came rushing up the stairway and gathered up one after another the frightened occupants and hurried them off to a place of safety.  Women fainted, children screamed; and their father when he recovered, found himself lying in the arms of his deliverer.  Ah! Who was this deliverer? Why, it was this very man who a few hours ago risked his life to save his son, and he was now sadly burned himself because he risked his life to save the father! These circumstances powerfully changed the relationship between these two people!  If he had enough strength left, the father would have fallen on his knees before his deliverer and bathed his feet with his tears, and if the fire had spared his hair he would have wiped them with it!  Does he say, “don't you see that my heart is so hard that I can’t love you even though you saved by life?”  No! Indeed!  From now on, whenever you mention that man's name you mention the name of a friend; and anything that is spoken against him now will grieve him.  He is ready now to confide in him, to think and speak well of him.

 

But now look at the enmity of the sinner, in spite of everything that God daily and hourly does for him.  When you were a baby and helpless He kept your little lungs in motion.  How often did his unseen hand intercede to save your life when disease was dragging you pale and quivering down to the gates of death!  As you have grown up he has followed you with kindness.  When death has lurked in ambush He has always watched kindly over you, and you are tonight not only out of hell but able to come to the house of God. And after all this good how do you feel towards Him?  Has it produced any change in your heart?  Ah! You are treasuring up for yourselves wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

 

Let me discuss in a little more detail this peculiar feature of the sinner's conduct - that this opposition and hatred for God is really rendered to Him for His love.  Do you know what the reason is for their opposition to Christ?  First of all, everyone knows sinners have no real good reason for their hatred and opposition to Christ; and they also know that their hatred stands in defiance of His love, or at least in spite of it. They have no reason to hate Him.  He has never been as men are - sometimes good and sometimes evil, sometimes deserving well of sinners and sometimes deserving ill of them. They can't say that in some things He has been good to them, but He has done other things for which they have reason to hate him. No! They have nothing but His love for which to hate him!

 

The real reason for this opposition is that He is their moral opposite.  All His great love is in direct opposition to their selfishness.  His infinite holiness is in direct contradiction to their sinfulness. It is also a contradiction to say that one so opposite to Christ should not be opposed to Him, opposed because he stands out in contrast right over against Christ! Our Lord=s infinite love is in direct contrast to their selfishness, and as long as they live selfishly, this selfishness must be opposed to His unselfish love. As long as they entertain a spirit of injustice they must stand opposed to His justice. As long as they continue to entertain a spirit of inequity they must stand opposed to His justice.  As long as they continue to entertain an unmerciful spirit, they must stand opposed to His mercy. Their falsehood stands opposed to His truth. Their unrighteousness stands opposed to His righteousness.  Because these are moral opposites, it is impossible for sinners while in such a state of mind not to be opposed to Him. It=s not because Christ is evil that they are opposed to Him; they hate Him simply because He is good. Because they are evil, they naturally hate One so diametrically opposed to them.

 

It sounds almost impossible, but the very effort that God makes to save them from sin arouses their hostility.  This has always been, and always must be the case. They love the yoke of their sins; and His pressing them to give up their sins will be met with continued opposition as long as God insists on their doing what they are unwilling to do.  The more persevering and long-suffering He is, the more they will oppose and hate Him.  By “hatred” I do not mean that sinners are always aware that they hate God; but there is a ceaseless resistance to all His efforts to do them good. Their carnal minds are at enmity against Him.

 

This leads me to make a few general remarks, and the first is this - Nothing wounds a virtuous mind more deeply than ingratitude.  Every person who has had experience on this subject knows that doing a particular favor to an ungrateful individual is deeply painful.  Parents know what this is like. They know how bitter filial ingratitude can be.  Everyone who has done a lot of good has felt this to some degree; although some have never had hatred rendered for their love.  This is a most serious thing; from the nature of our mind it is deeply wounding.  Many of you perhaps know the bitterness of the sting you have felt when you had to say about a child or someone you have greatly befriended. “They have rendered me evil for good, and hatred for my love”. (Psalms 109:5) 

 

At the same time this is no more amazing than being aware that you deserve to be loved by those who hate you. It is a great satisfaction to be able to say, “Ah! I did not merit such treatment at their hands. It is rendering me evil for my good.” Christ will not fail to have this consolation.  Sinner! Are you glad of it?  I don=t need to ask the Christian for I know that he must rejoice at the thought.  Christ will have this reflection when he sees the smoke of their torment rolling up and up forever and ever!  “I tried to do them good,” he will say “and they not only vexed me without cause and they returned hatred for my love!”  I ask you sinner, are you glad of it?  If you persevere in your sins and die in them are you glad that Christ will be always able to say this! If the inhabitants of hell are permitted to listen to the song of heaven, what will you say when you see that Christ enjoys the luxury of knowing that he died to save you - that he offered to do you all possible good, but you rendered him hatred for his love?

 

From the nature of our mind as we have it revealed to us, there is no remorse more unbearable than the remorse that comes from the conviction that we have “rewarded evil for good; and hatred for love.” Anyone who has ever been thoroughly convicted of this sin will agree with me.  Anyone who wants to be honest with himself and let his conscience speak has known something of what that bitterness, which results from the reflection of having rendered evil for good, is like.  Even in matters relating to this world, it is one of the most poignant sufferings that can be endured.  For example the internal suffering that churns deep within when an individual remembers that he has injured one who has been good to him. That he has wronged those who sought his welfare, how deeply that cuts!  How invariably and unendurably it wounds their conscience whenever they think, “I have rendered evil for good, and hatred for love.”  From the very nature of the mind it is one of the bitterest agonies that can seize the mind.

 

Sinners will carry their minds to hell, and if they die in their sins they cannot fail to think about what they’ve done.  What a thought.  Memory will be perfect there.  Here, as the body grows old, from the very nature of the relationship that the mind has to the body, memory fails.  In fact, it is one of the first faculties that begins to decay. But, in eternity, there is reason to believe that memory will be perfect.  Circumstances often occur here to show how amazing memory can be.  I know a young man who almost drowned, and he said it seemed to him that he remembered everything that he had ever done clearly in a moment.

 

 I have often seen that during times of high emotional excitement, things which have taken place a long time ago and have long been forgotten will suddenly pop into our mind. Many remarkable illustrations like this have been recorded.  Men are destined, from the nature of their minds, to remember and distinguish throughout their entire lives every fact of their history.  Because of the nature of the mind, it is often crippled by the infirmities of the body; and there is reason to believe that as soon as the body expires and separates from the mind, as soon as our fleshly body is gotten rid of, we will remember with the utmost precision every detail of our existence.  No doubt this will prove a fearful addition to the future misery of the lost.  God did not design the mind of man to have facts pass forever from it.  It is striking sometimes to see, when people draw close to the grave, what an amazing power the memory has; there seems to be such a mighty resuscitation of their memory that their faculties seem to arouse themselves, and burst forth with an astonishing splendor and energy.

 

There was a case reported to have occurred in Germany many years ago of a young woman who was accustomed to hear her master, a minister, read his Hebrew bible aloud in his study, while she was at work in the next room. She could hear him read aloud to himself for his own gratification. Without understanding the meaning of the sounds she heard, or being able to divide one word from another, she became so familiarized with it, that much later when she became very sick and was on the verge of death, she began to talk, as they supposed, in “an unknown tongue,” but which turned out to be Hebrew, and the matter was passages of Scripture, which she repeated with the same intonations of voice her former master was accustomed to give them. She recited verse after verse verbatim, just as she had heard them read. This may serve to show how the mind of the moral agent awakes in the world to come.

 

If this is true, when sinners come to reflect on the circumstances of their entire life over and over and over again; their ingratitude to Christ in return for His love will look them straight in the face, and they will never, never, never be able to erase it from their minds.  They will find it impossible to forget it.  What more will be needed to create eternal and unbearable torment than to be obliged to read over and over again the tablets of your memory - the horrible record of a life long opposition to Him who died to save you?

 

 One moment's view of the fact that Christ deserves your love, and the awareness of the hatred you have rendered for His love, will fully convince you of the justice of your dreadful doom.  Today, you have good reason to be reconciled even if your own children and those you love the most are punished.  Can they rebel against Christ when He finds it impossible any longer to spare the sinner?  No!  They cannot.

 

The whole universe will see the infinitely disgraceful conduct of sinners.  What would you think of a child who treats his parent as you treat Christ?  Would you not despise that child, and consider him wicked and evil?  Would you have such a sinner for a companion, or friend?  What then will be thought of you, sinner, in a future world when you come to be seen in your true colors? 

 

The most blessed and honored here on earth will be despised the most in the world to come.  I mean the sinner who has had the greatest number of blessings here and abused those blessings, will be the most despised there. Sinners themselves will not admit that they return evil for good; the Jews of old gave other reasons for their opposition to Christ; they would not admit that they returned hatred for His love; but, nevertheless, we all know that they did.  The same is true with sinners today; they will not admit that they oppose Christ's goodness; but they know it=s true, and that they oppose Him only because of his opposition to their sins, and because of His efforts to do them good.  You know very well you are without excuse, sinner!  And now the question is, will you continue to persecute Christ?  Shall He, from this moment on throughout eternity, say about you that you continue to render Him evil for good, and hatred for His love?

 

What do you say, sinner?