The fruit of their doings.
This expression is a most suggestive one. It occurs three times in the Prophet Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 17:10 God declares, as one of the signs of his omniscient, heart-searching power, that he can not only recompense each individual according to his ways, but "according to the fruit of his doings." In Jeremiah 21:14 a similar declaration is addressed to the royal house of David: "I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings." And in Jeremiah 32:17-19 the prophet expresses his admiration at the discriminating omnipotence of God—"great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon the ways of the sons of men: to give unto every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." Our text calls for exposition and admits of illustration.
I. EXPOSITION. An act is one thing; the fruit of that act is another thing. By fruit we understand that which is the natural result of the acts we perform. Those natural results under the reign of moral law we might foresee. Acts, like trees, bring forth fruit "after their kind." For such fruit we are held responsible. Responsibility varies according to knowledge acquired or attainable. A child's falsehood, though fraught with lifelong disasters, is lees criminal than the less injurious lie of an adult. But we cannot disconnect our acts and their fruit. We cannot kill them in the seed, or nip them in the bud, or blight them in the flower; they will bear fruit of some kind. We are not held responsible for what we may call the accidental issues of our acts Our good may be evil spoken of. The most unjustifiable inferences may be drawn from our words or deeds. Our Lord's teaching has been the occasion of discord in families and strife in states (Matthew 10:34-36). St. Paul's doctrine was perverted (Romans 3:8). A clear judgment is needed to discern what will be the natural effect of our conduct. We may not, dare not, leave our influence on others out of the account. We must use the enlightening Word, and pray for the aid of the illuminating Spirit, that we may acquire an enlightened conscience. And then we must seek so to live that the fruit of our doings will bring honour to God and be for our own "praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."
II. ILLUSTRATION. Our first class of illustrations will be those in which the fruit of our doings, like the fruit of the tree in the garden, is "good ' and "pleasant to the eyes," and "to Be desired" as food for the soul,, through all eternity.
1. The life and work of Jesus Christ. The "good Master" "went about doing good." He did the will of him that sent him, and in doing it "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," What is the fruit of these doings? Eternity alone can reveal. His reward will be according to it—according to the glory brought to God and the blessedness to men (Isaiah 53:11,Isaiah 53:12).
2. The characters and labours of devoted servants of Christ. The life and work of Christ is a pattern and an encouragement to all his followers (Luke 6:40). Sow now the seed of Christian bring and doing. It may seem to be lost, like the seed cast on the surface of flooded lands, but you shall find it after many days. You may die without seeing the fruitage in this life; you may rest from your labours, but your works will follow you (Galatians 6:7-9). Incidents confirming this frequently come to light. At a Unitarian anniversary in New England a few years ago, one of the ministers, speaking of the small results of his work, added, "It must be remembered where my field is. The Connecticut valley is the home of Jonathan Edwards, and though he has been dead a century, he is a great name and a power for orthodoxy through all that country today." A devoted Pastor, Rev. Thomas Hall, laboured for twenty-seven years at Heckmondwike, Yorkshire amid great discouragement because he saw so little fruit from his labours. His successor could report that for a long time after his death most of those who were added to the fellowship of the Curch acknowledged their indebtedness to their deceased pastor for their first religious impressions or some other special spiritual help. Take courage, fellow labourers. If you seem to have laboured in vain, you can add, "My judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God" (Isaiah 49:4). He will recompense you according to the natural results of your life's work, "the fruit of your doings" (Isaiah 3:10). Yet this fruit must vary with the quality of our work (see this lesson taught in 1 Corinthians 3:8-15). But the truth of our text has its shady as well as its sunny side.
3. A nation will be recompensed according to its national sins and the fruit of them. Illust.: Great Britain and the opium traffic. Even national repentance and reformation may not avert some of the disastrous consequences of past transgressions. Colonial slavery has left some of its foul stains on the present generation.
4. Sinners must await "the harvest" which is "the end of the world" before they can receive the just recompense of their deeds. William Cowper, in a letter to John Newton, alluding to the translation of Homer on which he was engaged, says very truly, "An author had need narrowly to watch his pen, lest a line should escape it which by possibility may do mischief when he has been long dead and buried. What we have done when we have written a book will never be known till the day of judgment; then the account will be liquidated, and all the good that it has occasioned will witness either for or against us." Homer himself supplies an illustration of this. We are told it was the 'Iliad' that did much to mould the character of Alexander of Macedon. The life of Alexander was the inspiration of two other notorious warriors—Julius Caesar and Charles XII. of Sweden. In contrast to the posthumous influence of Jonathan Edwards, there stands on record the baneful effect on a village in Berkshire of the infidel, wit, and libertine, Lord Bolingbroke. He died in 1751; but he had so poisoned the minds of the poor villagers against religion, that three quarters of a century afterwards "the fruit of his doings" was most distinctly to be traced. Nor need our acts be flagrantly evil to bring forth hitter fruit. The neglect of duty tends to make others neglect it, and thus to leave that duty altogether undone. The neglect of "assembling ourselves together" in public worship tends to the dissolution of such assemblies and the abandonment of such worship. The fruit of secret discipleship would be the dying out of Christian Churches. What can be the fruit of sin but sorrow, suffering, loss? "The harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow" (Isaiah 17:11). Even though sin be forgiven through repentance and faith, the consequences of misused or wasted years will remain. And as those consequences, ever widening, cannot be summed up till the great day of God, "we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Let us therefore "make it our aim … to be well pleasing unto him" (2 Corinthians 5:9, 2 Corinthians 5:10).—E.S.P.
Matchless mercy.
"The Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee." These words of Moses receive a striking illustration in the fact that every one of the "minor" prophets who threatens judgments against Israel ends by promises of deliverance which anticipate the days of the Messiah. In none is this more strikingly seen than in Micah. In this chapter the prophet, who has been lamenting the universal corruption of the people (verses 1-6), finds comfort in God alone, to whom he looks with submission and hope, and obtains an assurance of renewed Divine favour when the chastisement is past (verses 7-15). This encourages him to pray (verse 14). His prayer is answered by a promise of deliverance such as God accomplished for his people in Egypt (verses 15-17). Upon this he breaks forth in adoration of God's matchless mercy, and anticipates the fulfilment of promises which would only be realized by the coming of the long looked for Deliverer (verses 18-20; and cf. Luke 1:70-75). This matchless mercy is shown both in God's essential character and in his treatment of sinners. Each clause suggests some fresh thought on this attractive subject.
I. "WHO IS A GOD LIKE UNTO THEE?" The reference to the Exodus (verse 15) reminds us of Moses' words (Exodus 15:11). If there is none like God, "glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders," what wonder can be so great as deliverance from sin? If even ungodly men are charmed rote adoration for a brief period as some deliverance from danger, how profoundly and unceasingly should we adore and glorify God for salvation from sin, which is a more dreadful evil than cholera, lunacy, or death! Notice how a question like this is often asked or answered; e.g. in regard to God's power (Deuteronomy 33:26), his faithfulness (1 Kings 8:23), his deliverance of the oppressed (Psalms 35:10), his condescension to the lowly (Psalms 113:5, Psalms 113:6). In a word, in his character and in all his dealings he stands alone (Psalms 89:6-8).
II. "THAT PARDONETH INIQUITY." This is as essential a part of God's character as is maternal love in a mother's heart. When Moses said to God, "I Beseech thee, show me thy glory," the answer was, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee" (Exodus 33:18, Exodus 33:19). And when the sublime proclamation was made, one of the essential elements of Jehovah's character, as revealed in his Name, was "forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" (Exodus 34:5-7). God loves to be reminded of his Name, and to see that it is that on which our hopes of pardon rest; e.g. Numbers 14:17-20; Psalms 25:11; Psalms 86:5, Psalms 86:15; Psalms 130:4; Daniel 9:9.
III. "AND PASSETH BY THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE REMNANT OF HIS HERITAGE." This denotes a continual action on the part of God. Isolated acts of pardon would not meet the case. He comes with his eyes as a flame of fire, and yet he does not "mark iniquities" (Psalms 130:3; and cf. Numbers 23:21). What he commends he practises (Proverbs 19:11). Yet not because of any laxity in his relations to sin, but because of his righteous grace. Such declarations of Divine mercy as the Old Testament is full of can only be perfectly understood when read in the light of the New Testament, and of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, "for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant;" "Whom God set forth to be a Propitiation, through faith, by his Mood, to show his righteousness, because of the passing over of the sins done afore time, in the forbearance of God" (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 9:15).
IV. "HE RETAINETH NOT HIS ANGER FOREVER, BECAUSE HE DELIGHTETH IN MERCY." In the midst of words of grace we have a distinct recognition of anger as one of God's perfections. So in Exodus 34:7, "that will by no means clear the guilty." If he were not angry with sinners he would be less perfect. This truth needs to be emphasized in the present days of superficial views of sin. But if he were to retain his anger forever, it would be fatal (Isaiah 57:16). So "he will not always chide," etc.; he "will not cast off forever; but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies" (Psalms 103:9; Lamentations 3:31, Lamentations 3:32). And this "because he delighteth in mercy." In its literal sense "he is bent on mercy." Proofs of this crowd on us from every side. We see it in the history of Israel (Nehemiah 9:16-19, Nehemiah 9:26-31; Psalms 78:1-72.), in the cross of Christ (1 John 4:10), in the long lives of many of the most impenitent (Romans 2:4), and in the experience of those who are now rejoicing in salvation (Ephesians 2:4-7; Titus 3:4-7). It is therefore a joy to God to forgive and save. The parables of Luke 15:1-10 remind us of this. The pearl of parables that follows might be called, not "The prodigal son," but "The long suffering and rejoicing father."
V. "HE WILL TURN AGAIN, HE WILL HAVE COMPASSION UPON US." In our idiom "He will again have compassion on us." When God sent Jesus Christ "preaching peace" to Israel, it was no new thing. It was the latest and sublimest illustration of a Divine habit (Hebrews 1:1). In the wilderness days, "he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath" (Psalms 78:38). Thus God treated them all through their history. See the summary of the later history of Judah in 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, "...till there was no remedy," etc. But he again had compassion; he turned again their captivity, according to his promises by Moses (Deuteronomy 30:1-6). And though they crucified the Christ, and were "broken off," they are still "beloved for the father's sake." God will again have compassion on them (Zechariah 12:10-14; Zechariah 13:1). "And so all Israel shall be saved." These repeated acts of the mercy in which God delights may encourage the vilest to appeal for forgiveness, "according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies" (Psalms 51:1).
VI. "HE WILL SUBDUE OUR INIQUITIES" He will tread them down, trample them underfoot. One of the marked peculiarities of the Divine forgiveness is the result on the sinner himself. No one pardons with such a good effect on the sinner pardoned. Some are disappointed in those they forgive. Not so God. Whenever he remits sin he reforms the sinner. His salvation being from the love and the power as well as the punishment of sin; a sinner cannot grasp the pardon and neglect the purity. Nor does he desire to. The most sacred motives forbid. The promise of pardon is accompanied with the assurance of the purifying Spirit (Ezekiel 36:25-27; Romans 8:1, Romans 8:2; 1 Corinthians 6:11). Sin is a serpent to be crushed under the heel (Romans 16:20). It is a foe to be conquered, and who shall be conquered because we are "not under the Law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14). The victory is God's, though the blessedness of it is ours (Psalms 98:1), "He will subdue our iniquities."
VII. "THOU WILT CAST ALL THEIR SINS INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA." This indicates the completeness of the Divine salvation. Elsewhere we have the promise (Psalms 103:12). Hezekiah says, "Thou hast cast all my sins behind my back," so that the accuser cannot get them without going behind the very throne of God; and God himself will never turn to see them. Here the figure is still more striking; sins cast, not in the shallows, subject to the tidal waves which might throw them up into sight again, but into the depths of the sea (cf. Jeremiah 1:1-19 :20). Other figures are used to teach the same truth—the cloud blotted out, never to be seen again (Isaiah 44:22); sin forgotten, even by God himself (Isaiah 43:25). Such is God's matchless mercy in pardoning sin. And when our sins are finally subdued as well as pardoned, cast into the depths of the sea, while we are standing on the eternal shore, justified, sanctified, glorified, then we shall sing the final song, "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." And because we are already being saved by a God of such matchless mercy, in whom we have placed our trust, we have no fear as to the issue (Romans 8:38, Romans 8:39).
"We lift our hands exulting
In thine Almighty favour,
The love Divine, which made us thine,
Shall keep us thine forever."
E.S.P.
HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND
A pardoning God.
In the days of Micah the social and religious condition of Jerusalem was deplorable. All through the country evils prevailed, but they were worst at its centre. Instinctively the vicious make their way to a crowded city. If vice is condemned in the nation, its disgracefulness is less conspicuous in a crowd; and if vice is not condemned, the city affords the best opportunities for the gratification of unholy desire. It still needs courage and wisdom to recognize and combat evils prevailing in great cities, and God still requires knights of the cross who will fight, not as of old for the grave of Christ, but for his Church. Micah was one of these. The prevalent sins of the prophet's days were threatening the existence of society, loosening the ties which gave unity to the nation, and dividing into factions members of the same family. The wealthy were sucking the very life blood of the poor, and the judges openly asked for bribes, without the smallest sense of shame; so that the prophets were not only the teachers of truth, but also the tribunes of the people. Unbelief in God lay at the root of such wrong doing, for unless rulers recognize responsibility to him, one of the greatest safeguards against their abuse of authority is destroyed. Persuading themselves that God was such a one as themselves, idolatry prevailed, and although the temple still stood and its worship was as gorgeous as ever, unreality and hypocrisy rendered such religion worse than useless. A few voices were lifted up boldly against this condition of things. Isaiah and Micah stood side by side in their protests, and did much to stem the tide of iniquity. With all their vigorous denunciation of sin, however, hope was constantly held out to the sinner, and never was the mercy of God more clearly set forth than in the words of our text. Seven hundred years after this prophet's death, Wise Men from the East came to Jerusalem inquiring for him who was born to be the King of the Jews and the Light of the world. They were answered in the words of Micah, and it was through following his directions that they saw and worshipped the infant Jesus. Even in our day we may say, "He being dead yet speaketh," While the splendid orations of Cicero and Demosthenes have no influence over modern society, and the speeches recorded by Tacitus and Thucydides have only their marvellous literary value, the words of thin ancient prophet meet our necessities, give us guidance and comfort, emboldening us to trust in the mercy of a pardoning God. The subject of Divine pardon suggested here will now have our consideration.
I. THE PREROGATIVE OF PARDON IS CLAIMED BY GOD FOR HIMSELF. He knew the needs of his children, and therefore proclaimed his pardoning love from the first. Even amid the terrors of Sinai he revealed himself as a God "pardoning iniquity." David was emboldened to come into his presence, after the commission of most grievous sins, praying, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, according to thy loving kindness," etc. He pardons of his own free will, because, as Micah says," he delighteth in mercy; and with a perfect knowledge of what is worst in us, he declares his willingness to forgive all who are penitent. This power he has delegated to no man. If Jesus had simply been human, the Pharisees would have been justified in saying, "This man blasphemeth," when he forgave the sins of the paralytic. Nor did our Lord's declaration to his apostles, "Whose sins soever ye remit, they are remitted unto them," endue them with a super natural or exclusive privilege. Their right was only ministerial and declarative, and is shared by all those who, by Divine grace, have been made "kings and priests unto God."
II. DIVINE PARDON SEEMS THE MORE WONDERFUL WHEN COMPARED WITH MAN'S FORGIVENESS. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways," etc. Suppose the case of an employee, who, having robbed his master, is detected, but on evidence of sincere contrition is reinstated in his position. His restitution is accompanied by hard terms, he is watched suspiciously, and his employer considers that he has been exceptionally generous to restore him at all. Contrast this with what our Lord tells of God's pardoning love in his parable of the prodigal son. Instead of being refused, his father sees him "when a great way off;" instead of angry reproaches, he has "compassion upon him;" instead of cold reserve, he falls on his neck, and kisses him; instead of suspicion, there is gladness, and all the house is filled with music and dancing. Or take, as another contrast, the reception given at home to a girl who has gone wrong, with the touching story of our Lord's love to the woman who was a sinner. And Jesus says, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity?"
III. DIVINE PARDON IS PROFFERED FOE ALL KINDS OF SIN. Different words are used here and elsewhere in order to show that no sort of wrong doing is exempt from pardon; so that the moral and the vicious, those who have sinned inwardly or outwardly, may alike be encouraged to return to the Lord. "Transgression" is an act of evil committed against a Law acknowledged to be holy. It signifies stepping across a line which is drawn and visible. "Inquiry" is the inward tendency which responds to suggestions of evil; which we cannot root out, and which makes self-reformation hopeless. "Sins" are acts done from wrong motives. All these it is promised shall be done away with on our repentance.
IV. DIVINE PARDON IS COMPLETE AND THOROUGH.
1. "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." If we drop a knife into a tidal pool, we can see it and regain it; but if we sail out of sight of land, and drop it overboard in the "depths of the sea," it is gone forever. So completely gone are our forgiven sins.
2. "He will subdue our iniquities." If our nature is not sanctified, we shall only do again our evil deeds. All our affections and thoughts must be subjected to the Divine will, and this can only be the result of God's own work.
CONCLUSION. How can God be just, and yet our Justifier! This mystery, which lies at the root of his moral government, finds its only answer in the cross of Christ. God's laws are eternal and inexorable. He cannot swerve from absolute righteousness. Sin must bring shame, misery, and death, here and hereafter. If, therefore, God had said all shall be overlooked, the penalty shall be removed, the Law repealed, it would appear to myriads of intelligent beings (compared with whose multitude the human race is as nothing) that the Law was either unjust in its enunciation or unjust in its repeal. Yet a sense of the perfect integrity of God is the foundation of his creature's bliss. But the Son of God became the Son of man. He gathered up into himself all the sympathies, powers, and sufferings of our race. He stood forth as our Representative, vindicating the Law by his obedience, and dying on the cross for transgressors. This would evoke grander reverence for Law than if the race had been punished; and such a display of love wins all hearts from disobedience.
"My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of thine,
While like a penitent I stand,
And there confess my sin."
A.R.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS