The abject helplessness which resorts to false pretensions and its failure.
I. ABJECT HELPLESSNESS. This follows the discovery or punishment of sin. It is when Israel "is spoiled." Israel is boastful and self-confident before the disaster comes; the prophet advises him to consider what he will do after it has fallen on him. What can be done in such a case? The sin cannot be undone; once revealed it cannot be hidden again; punishment from God cannot be successfully resisted by man. It is vain, then, to call on the mountains to fall and cover us (Luke 23:30). How dreadful to be thus confounded! Left without excuse, without refuge, without remedy! How much better to anticipate this conclusion and prevent it!
II. FALSE PRETENSIONS. There are the refuges now resorted to and trusted in for the future, but in vain.
1. Outward glory is a mockery when once internal wretchedness is discovered. What use are purple and fine linen to the leper?
2. When character is revealed, profession counts for nothing.
3. When true worth is destroyed, the most frantic attempts to recover it at the last moment will prove fruitless. The character once lost is hard to retrieve. Consider, then, the common mistake of living for appearances, making the outside of life respectable while the heart is corrupt, and, in the event of discovery, not repenting and amending, but simply excusing one's self, "making the best of the matter, trying still to put on a fair show. This is common at all times. So many people are more anxious to seem good than to be good. All the petty contrivances and miserable deceptions of such lives will be one day disclosed.
III. ULTIMATE FAILURE. "Thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life."
1. Once discovered, the attempt to win favor by false appearances will not only defeat its own object; it will aggravate the evil it is intended to avoid. It aims at securing honor; but when detected it is the butt of ridicule, the deserved occasion of contempt.
2. The friends of sinful days become foes in the time of trouble. The lovers of the daughter of Zion are the first to despise her and seek her life. The ties of friendship in wickedness are brittle. This is based on selfishness. No high constancy can be expected from people of bad character. The only friend who will be a refuge in the shame and ruin which follow sin, is not the partner in guilt, but the very God against whom the sin is committed.