False confidence.
I. THE GROUNDS OF FALSE CONFIDENCE.
1. Assumed innocence. Israel says, "I am innocent;" "I have not sinned." This assumption may result from
2. A claim to be favored by God. Israel says again, "His anger has turned from me." Present peace is taken as a warrant for expecting continued security, so that the very forbearance of God is converted into an excuse for presumption and indifference. Perhaps, too, pride comes in and aids the assumption that the guilty people are special favorites of Heaven and will be protected, whatever wrong they do. This was the mistake of the contemporaries of our Lord when they relied on the mere fact that they were Abraham's children (John 8:39).
3. Trust in human aid. Judah turned first to Assyria, and then to Egypt. So men look to worldly associations for security in trouble.
4. Reliance on diplomatic skill. Israel turned from Assyria to Egypt when the former power failed and the latter was in the ascendancy. Men think to protect themselves by their own ingenuity.
II. THE FAILURE OF FALSE CONFIDENCE. The reasons of this may be noted:
1. The reality of sin. This is not the less real because it is denied. God still sees it. It still bears its necessary fruits.
2. The rejection of God. Israel turned from God to man. How then could he expect God's continued protection?
3. Lack of principle. Israel turned about from Egypt to Assyria. There was no settled policy. When expediency is the sole guide of conduct we are sure to be landed in ultimate failure.
4. The character and fate of the human objects of confidence. These were rejected by God. They who trust them must share their doom. It is always vain to "put confidence in princes" (Psalms 118:9). But when these are bad men, godless men, rejected by God, the consequences of trust in them will be fatal. We are always involved in the fate of what we trust ourselves to. If we trust to the world, to human aid, to errors and falsehoods, to evil things, the certain overthrow of these must involve us in its ruin.