Eighth Device: Satan will present to us those who seem to prosper in their wickedness. You will find that he adopted this same strategy to cause Israel to turn their backs on God in Jeremiah 44:16-18.
First Remedy: Consider that no one truly understands why God stays his hand of judgment against a man. Remember that judgment delayed is not judgment deferred! God's hand of mercy may be toward a man while his heart is against him, as you see in the case of Saul, while there are also times when His hand may be against a man though his heart is dearly set upon him, as in the case of Job. No man can boast of God's favor solely on the evidence of outward blessing. Blessing and misery come to both the just and the unjust.
Second Remedy: Consider that there is no evil that so provokes God's wrath as using His goodness and mercy as an excuse to practice sin. It is for this reason that the world was destroyed through flood and Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire. Jeremiah 44:20-28 is worthy of your best meditation here! To argue from mercy to sinful liberty is the devil's logic and no man who employs it can avoid the wrath of God. The strongest chains of darkness are prepared for such a man.
Third Remedy: Consider that there is no greater misery in life than to be allowed to sin with impunity. Woe to that man that God will not discipline! It is the saddest state of all when God refuses to chastise (Hosea 4:17; Isaiah 1:5). Prosperity without affliction has been a stumbling-block that has broken the necks of countless souls forever.
Fourth Remedy: Consider that what wicked men lack is greater than the pleasures they enjoy. It may be true that they have money, fame and power, yet this is nothing compared to what they lack. They lack righteousness, justification, sanctification, adoption and redemption. They lack the pardon of sin and power against sin. They lack the experience of grace and joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, and the peace that surpasses all understanding. They lack those riches that never perish and a house that is built upon the rock, whose builder and maker is God. They lack wealth that never perishes, glory that never fades and a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Wicked men, despite all outward appearances are the most needy men in the world! What are honor, riches and the favor of men if we lack the favor of God, the pardon of our sins, an interest in Christ and the hope of glory?
Fifth Remedy: Consider that outward appearances are not what they seem. While wealth and possessions seem glorious on the outside, they fill the head with worry and the heart with fear. Men who possess them are forever in fear of losing them.
Sixth Remedy: Consider that God's plan in heaping outward mercy upon the wicked is to bring them that much lower in judgment. There is not a wicked man in the world that is set up as high as heaven with Lucifer, who will not be brought down just as low as him to hell. Consider the following scriptures (Psalm 73:17-20; Psalm 92:7;Exodus 9:16). It is far better to be little in this world in order that we may be great in the next! Lord, let us be clothed with rags now so at last, we may be clothed with your robes! Place me on a dunghill now so that at last I may sit with you upon your throne! Make us gracious rather than great; inwardly holy rather than outwardly happy and make us nothing now so that we can inherit all things in eternity!
Seventh Remedy: Consider that God often plagues and punishes those those whom others think he most spares and blesses. Meditate on these Scriptures (Psalm 81:12; Psalm 78:26-31; Psalm 106:15). It is a heavy plague to have a healthy body and lean soul; a house full of gold and a heart full of sin. A man who experiences all this life's pleasures yet disregards God has been reserved for greater condemnation. He has judgment at his back wherever he goes.
Eighth Remedy: Rather than looking at their outward enjoyments.consider the strict account vain men must give for all the good that they now enjoy. A day will come when they curse the crowns that they wore and the treasures that were heaped up in their laps. Cursed will be the day that prosperity so shined upon them that it caused them to forget God, to slight Jesus Christ and to neglect their eternal souls. God's patience with such men now does not mean that he has forgotten their sin. The day is coming when wicked men will pay for every abuse of mercy. God keeps exact accounts and abused mercy will most certainly turn into righteous fury. Men's actions are all recorded in heaven and God will one day read them aloud before the whole world so they may say, "Amen" to his righteous judgments.
No comments:
Post a Comment