The gospel profitless to an unbelieving heart.
With the Israelites their sin was not so much actual and active unbelief, a bold denial of Jehovah's truth, as the lack of an actual and active faith. There was no active spiritual energy in them to meet the abundant energy of their liberating and guiding God. The parable of the seed in the four kinds of ground may well be applied to them. The great bulk of them gave not the slightest real attention to any Divine word of promise or duty. Some doubtless did mean to be docile, obedient, and patient; and a few at least must have been in real accord with Jehovah's aim. But what availed a few, if the bulk of the people sat before Jehovah in carnal indifference? If we would profit by the greater gospel to us—
I. WE MUST BELIEVE IT TO BE TRUE. This very thing we think we do, and yet on inquiry we find we do it not. There is no mistake when a man feels he is dealing with realities. And the way in which we not seldom talk of the gospel or behave when it is set before us shows that to us it is no reality. And yet, just because it is a reality, we shall have to deal with it some day. True strength, peace, and blessedness lie in reconciliation with God. To believe the gospel as true is to come to know this in time. But sooner or later we shall have to know that strength, peace, and blessedness lie nowhere else.
II. WE MUST BELIEVE THE WORK TO BE NEEDFUL. The gospel includes purification, trial, discipline, service. The gospel does not always look like a gospel. For instance, Jesus says, "It is expedient for you that I go away." The gospel has allowed its heralds and its recipients to be put in prison and to go to death. Trust is needed in the reality of love behind the appearance of indifference; the heart of the believer feeling God to be near when to the worldly spectators it may seem that nothing is near but trouble, pain, loss, confusion. We have to trust God as to his way, his time, or the gospel will be profitless to us.
III. WE MUST GET OUT OF OUR HEARTS A PREFERENCE FOR BELIEVING THE FALSE. As our eyes look out upon the world with its opportunities and its varied scenes, its paths for ambition and adventure, we make gospels for ourselves out of the things we see. Nature seems full of evangelists, and we believe everything they have to say; and then at last discover the gospel to be one of our own making. For the time the false is more attractive than the true, and we mix strong faith with our hearing of it. But as a true gospel is profitless without faith, so a false gospel is profitless, however strong the faith may be. God's truth cannot do without our faith, nor our faith without God's truth.—Y.