Isaiah 58:1

DISCOURSE: 992
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE

Isaiah 58:1. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

CERTAINLY, one of God’s richest mercies unto man has been the appointment of an order of men to be his ambassadors to a guilty world, and to beseech their fellow-sinners to be reconciled to him. The ungodly indeed have never appreciated this mercy aright: for, from the very beginning of the world, have the Prophets of the Most High been regarded as “the troubles of Israel,” fit objects for hatred and contempt. “Which of the prophets,” says our blessed Lord, “have not your fathers persecuted?” But when a dispensation is committed to any man to declare the mind and will of God, woe will be unto him if he execute not the office that has been assigned him.
The words which I have read will naturally lead me to set before you,

I. The office of a minister—

This is, “to shew to men their transgressions and their sins.” But it may be asked, What need is there for their services for such an end as this? Do not all of us know ourselves better than any one else can know us? Can any one be so well acquainted with the workings of my heart, or with the actions of my life, as I myself am? To this, however, I answer, that,

1. The world at large stand in need of such monitors—

[There is, in the generality of men, a thoughtlessness about their ways; so that they are altogether unconscious of having contracted any great guilt. They never consider the requirements of God’s Law; they never refer their conduct to any other standard than public opinion; and they rest satisfied that all is right, so long as they do not violate the laws which the common consent of those around them has established for the regulation of their lives. As for the spirituality of God’s Law, they are utterly unacquainted with it; and consequently they never dream of their responsibility to God for any thing beyond their overt acts: or, if they think themselves accountable for their motives, they give themselves credit for meaning well, even where they are conscious of having acted ill: and, though their actions have not been altogether correct, they persuade themselves that their hearts are good, and that their aberrations from the path of duty have been the result of chance rather than design, and of temptation rather than of any inveterate propensity to evil.]

2. Those also who are called “God’s people,” and who consider themselves as “the seed of Jacob,” are not a whit less in need of instructors than the careless world—

[See the account given of those to whom the prophet was sent: “They sought God daily; and delighted to know his ways, even as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinances of their God: they even asked of God the ordinances of justice; they took delight in approaching unto God [Note: ver. 2.].” Could such as these have any transgressions of which they needed to be informed, and any sins which endangered their souls? Yes: “their hearts were not right with God:” they were “partial in the law:” they put their outward obedience in the place of vital godliness: they trusted in their works also as recommending them to God, and as forming a justifying righteousness before him; and they even complained that God did not recompense them according to their deserts. And how many such characters are found amongst us! how many, who, whilst they find pleasure in attending upon the House of God, imagine that, by their religious observances, they shall entitle themselves to his favour!

Now, in reference to all such characters, I must say, that the duty of ministers is to “shew them their sins.” It is their duty to search out, for the information of others, the mind and will of God; and to bring home to the consciences of all a sense of their manifold transgressions. They must endeavour to hold up before men the glass of God’s Law, that they may see the deformity of their own fallen image, and be stirred up to seek reconciliation with their offended God. To every one must they point out the sins which most easily beset him; and declare to him the judgments which God, in his word, has denounced against him.]
Whilst we assert this to be their duty, it will be proper for us to notice,

II.

The manner in which it must be discharged—

The direction here given is clear and strong. Those who have received a commission to speak for God must deliver their message,

1. With earnestness—

[Mere advice or friendly counsel is not that which becomes them on such occasions as these: “they must cry aloud, and lift up their voice us a trumpet,” if by any means they may awaken the drowsy consciences of those to whom they speak. Viewing themselves as ambassadors from God, they must speak with all authority, fearing the face of none; but declaring the truth, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear: and they must shew, by the very manner in which they deliver their divine message, that it is a matter of life and death; and that the word they utter is “not the word of man, but indeed and in truth the word of God.”]

2. With fidelity—

[They must “not spare,” even though the offender be ever so great and powerful, or ever so dear and tenderly regarded. As John the Baptist reproved Herod, in whose hands his life was, so must they approve themselves faithful even to the mightiest upon earth. They must shew no respect of persons, nor conceal any thing which they are authorized to declare; but must be impartial in their reproofs, and make known “the whole counsel of God.” “Having received God’s word, they must speak it faithfully.” They must be faithful for God’s sake, whose ambassadors they are; and for the people’s sake, whose eternal welfare is at stake; and for their own sake, seeing that “if any perish through their want of faithfulness, the blood of all such persons will be required at their hands.”]
Permit me now, Brethren, to discharge my office with respect to you—

1. To those who are altogether careless and indifferent—

[You may imagine that God takes no notice of your sins: but indeed they are all viewed by him with abhorrence, and recorded by him in the book of his remembrance, in order that they may be brought forth against you at the future judgment. True it is, that if you repent of them, they shall all be “blotted out, as a morning cloud;” but if you remain impenitent, they will all be visited upon you, and sink you into everlasting perdition. I have no wish to alarm you needlessly; but I must, at the peril of my own soul, declare the truth; and must say, that except ye repent, ye shall all perish. But “if ye repent, and turn from all your transgressions,” I am authorized to declare, that “your iniquities shall not be your ruin.”]

2. To those who account themselves the people of God—

[I ask not now, whether ye be self-righteous formalists, or hypocritical professors: but, of whichever class ye be, I must declare, that “God is not mocked; but whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap: he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; and he only who soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Do not imagine that God will judge according to the estimate which you form of yourselves. No: He will take off the mask from the hypocrite, and judge every man according to his works. Intreat him, then, to put “truth in your inward parts, and to make you altogether new creatures in Christ Jesus; so shall you be accepted in his beloved Son, and stand before him with boldness in the great day of his appearing.”]