Jeremiah 22:21

I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear.

Influence of prosperity

In heaven, the more abundantly God’s bounties are dispensed, the more is He loved and adored; but on earth, the richer His gifts, the more will He be neglected and disobeyed. A striking proof of our depravity, that constant prosperity hardens, and is unfavourable to piety.

I. Abundant earthly blessings do tend to make the heart rebellious towards God.

1. Scripture teachings are emphatic on this matter (Deuteronomy 8:12; Hosea 13:6; Proverbs 30:8).

2. Experience confirms Scripture. In many instances we see that the highest human virtues and holiest saints of God were unable to withstand the influence of prosperity. They could endure affliction, and profit thereby; as certain liquors ripen in the shade, which under the noonday beams turn to acidity and corruption.

3. It is doubtful whether there ever was a single instance of piety which could pass uninjured through the ordeal of unmingled prosperity. The tone of religion is lowered amid riches and honours. Where simplicity and humility of spirit are preserved amid prosperity, it is owing to some hidden trouble, which like the cord on the feet of the aspiring bird keeps the proud spirit lowly and abased.

II. What, then, must be the effect of prosperity on those who have no religious principle to counteract it, and who are avowedly lovers of the world and its pleasures?

1. They will not heed the messages of God.

2. Religion, with its sober realities, is despised.”

3. Those favoured of fortune are the most pitiable objects in the world.

III. They who have worldly prosperity should be led to self-inquiry as to its effect on themselves.

1. Are you the same simple-hearted and sincere follower of Jesus as when you began to lay the foundation of your worldly exaltation?

2. What a caution is here to those who are seeking prosperity! Can you discover a means of preserving a lowly spiritual mind amid prosperity? Unless so, there is no alternative but that you must suffer adversity to keep you humble, or become worldly and spiritually hardened.

3. They who have become more indisposed to hear the voice of God should awake to their peril.

4. Prosperous ones may well regard their ease with apprehension. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)

Prosperity baneful

I. The exactness with which God observes all that relates to human character and conduct.

1. All our relative circumstances are immediately before His eye; and He notices with tender and faithful scrutiny the various effects which His merciful dispensations have upon the mind.

2. The circumstances of human life, however produced, are undoubtedly under the guidance of providence, and therefore subservient to a wise and perfect design. Each man’s history is arranged and adapted with utmost precision to the growth of permanent character.

II. The tendency of unsanctified prosperity to render us insensible to the claims of religion and separate us still further from God.

1. Uninterrupted comfort tends to lessen our confidence in God: to form in the mind a feeling of self-confidence: a security nothing can shake: so much so that religion can make no entrance into the mind.

2. It hardens the heart. God would have every temporal blessing raise the inquiry, “Lord, what is man?” But wicked and irreligious men are only concerned for enjoyment, and for scope for their ambition. They feed and grovel like swine beneath the oak, without looking up to the boughs that bore the fruit, or the hand that shakes it down.

3. Then comes pride. Nebuchadnezzar. God is forgotten, prayer neglected.

4. Leaves a dulness and lethargy of mind. All Divine threatenings, warnings, promises unheeded.

III. Various ways in which God rebukes this tendency and humbles men. God speaks to men in various ways, and He distinctly marks the various impressions produced upon the mind by His communications. He speaks to us by His Word and ordinances, by the instructions we receive in religious education, by the various dispensations of His providence, by affliction, by mercies. (S. Thodey.)

The perverseness of prosperity

Why is prosperity so perverse?

I. Because prosperity often tends to hardness of heart.

II. Because prosperity often grows proud and self-sufficient. Religion and the Bible are well enough for the poor, who need comfort, but what do they want with it, who have “more than heart could wish”?

III. Because prosperity is often immersed in cares or pleasures. There is no room for religion. The voices of the counting house, the mart of commerce, the shop; or the voices of the pleasure takers, who call men to partake of their pastimes, so fill their ear that they will not obey the voice of God. “I have my nest in the cedars.” (Anon.)

The Christian prospering in business

The voice of God to the prosperous, which they are in danger of not hearing, concerns--

I. Humility.

1. This humility will be shown towards God. There is a natural tendency in wealth to foster a spirit of sinful self-sufficience and independence of God. Many things conspire to this. Wealth is power. Not only the labour of the hands, but the thoughts, the will, and consciences of men may be bought. Wealth not only gives a sort of independence, but a sort of sovereignty. And, thus, it is an object of esteem and reverence. Now, whatever natural religion may teach us, it is certain that the Bible teaches, that “God giveth power to get wealth,” and that we have nothing “which we have not received.” Now, how comprehensive is the claim for humility involved in all this! It makes every difference, whether we be the authors of our wealth, or whether it be the gift of God. If we receive all, the more we have, the more we have received. The prosperous Christian should realise this; and, realising this, he will be grateful. The bounty of Providence will endear the thought of God. In proportion to his joy will be his thankfulness.

2. This feeling of dependence will respect the future, will influence the mode of regarding the continuance of good things. He who feels deeply that we are in the hands of God; that we are in a state of probation; that the great purpose of God is to try us, to reveal us, to exercise us, and especially to sanctify us; that we deserve nothing, while we receive everything; and that crosses and afflictions are often among the most gracious methods of Divine discipline; will regard the fluctuations of life as Divine dispensations. He will not say only, “It is the course of things,” “It is the lot of man,” “It must be expected,” “It can’t be helped,” but he will say also, “It is the will of God.”

3. Another aspect of this humility will be towards men. In pleading for humility in the rich Christian, I do not advocate an impossible equality, or a forgetfulness of outward distinctions. But I mean, that the feeling of human brotherhood and of Christian respect and affection should be displayed towards all; and that the favours of Providence should only bind us to a more careful regard to the will of our common Father, and a more delicate respect to the feelings of our brethren.

II. Spirituality.

1. Spirituality is opposed to extravagance. He who prizes the manliness and integrity of his soul; he who would not render himself unfit for the possible reverses of life; he who would maintain a taste for the most exalted pleasures; he who is duly alive to the perilous corruption within him, ever ready, like a magazine of powder, to ignite from the smallest spark, or, like a river, on the removal of a little portion of embankment, to burst forth with desolating violence; he will err on the side rather of defect than of excess, and “deny himself” too much rather than smooth the way and strengthen the temptations of “the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.”

2. Spirituality is opposed to worldliness. He is worldly who “walks” not “with God; whose conversation is not in heaven; whose affections are not “set on things above”; who has no keen eye for the mysteries of the kingdom, no quick ear for its voices, no delicate sensibility to its impressions. Have you not many before your minds who have become worldly through prosperity

3. Spirituality is opposed to indolence. Prosperity says, “Take thine ease”! and men are but too ready to comply with the suggestion. The man well-to-do contributes to societies that perform the works in which he was engaged. He now works by proxy. He assigns his sphere to others. He is not idle; he supports all good things. But, my brother, the power to do this is additional to the powers you used to have, not instead of them. You did good then by personal service. That obligation remains. The ability to give does not destroy the ability to labour, and the purse cannot answer the demand for activity and effort.

III. Benevolence. The very means of riches, the common way and method of getting rich, should teach this lesson. Why has God appointed commerce? Why given to men different faculties and spheres? Is it not all designed to impress the doctrine of brotherhood, and to draw out affections and promote deeds in keeping with it? The prosperous Christian should be a liberal Christian. It is not enough that he continue his gifts; he must increase them Proportion is God’s rule. He estimates what we part with according to what we keep. A healthy saint will delight in being able to relieve his brethren, and one of the chief charms of prosperity, will be the power it gives him to be a minister for good. His first care will be his own, the needy kindred whose trials he may soothe by generous gifts, or whom he may more worthily and wisely serve by enabling them to serve themselves. His next will be the welfare of those by whose assistance he has succeeded. He will not think his duty done by a mere payment of wages; but will seek to promote their physical and mental and moral well-being. (A. J. Morris.)

The danger of self-confidence

Christians are taught, at least in words, to believe that riches and, indeed, any kind of worldly prosperity are exceedingly dangerous to us--that they prove, very often, too great a trial for men’s principles; a snare in which they are entangled to their own destruction. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” to submit himself to the mortifying precepts of the Gospel. The word in the text translated “prosperity” signifies properly “calmness, tranquillity, self-satisfaction.” It does not merely mean the possession of money, and other such advantages, but also any state or business of life, which makes a person unwilling to apply to his heart or his conscience those truths of the Gospel especially, which might lessen his confidence about himself, and him spiritual estate. When “God speaks to men in this their” fancied prosperity, “how often in the pride. .. of their hearts do they refuse to hear.” They will “not hear, because they will not consider.” Thus, for instance, when things go well with a man, and he has sufficient to maintain himself and his family comfortably his case is one of great difficulty and danger. There is this which makes prosperity a greater danger to us than adversity, that it renders us less willing to listen to the voice of truth and conscience. When worldly things have gone well with a person, and he has yet neglected his eternal interests, there is still hope that adversity may bring him back to his God. But if things have gone ill with a man, and yet he is still worldly-minded and irreligious, what hope is there that prosperity will effect what adversity could not do? The reason is, because worldly business, especially if it be at an successful, is apt to intoxicate the mind, as a dram, and to make a man unable to collect his thoughts and fix them steadily on any object which is not some way or other connected with his immediate interests. But adversity, and suffering, if the heart be not quite hardened against the convictions of conscience, as they make us feel our frailty and dependency, so they have a natural tendency to make us look beyond this present scene for support and consolation. Let it also be considered, that a life of prosperity, and ease, and freedom from trouble, is the least suited for the exercise of those graces and virtues which are peculiarly Christian, and by which our souls are to be fitted for an entrance into that blessed land where sin and sorrow shall be lab more. It is quite certain and unquestionable, that the Gospel of Christ is uniformly addressed to us, as to persons on their trial and probation for an everlasting reward,--to persona who have it in their power to refuse or to receive the gracious offers made to them,--to persons who are to be through life exercised and disciplined, and led on by degrees towards that perfection of holiness from which our nature was degraded by the transgression of our first parents. Here, then, we may see and acknowledge the great danger of a life of prosperity, ease, and self-satisfaction; and, at the same time, the real benefit of adversity, suffering, and self-distrust. If, then, our gracious God have spoken to us in our prosperity, and we have refused to hear; if He have spoken to us in adversity, and our hearts have been somewhat softened at His gracious chastisement, then let us learn to bless Him for all His dispensations, indeed, but most of all for His punishments. (Plain Sermons by Contributors to the Tracts for the Times.)

Man in material prosperity

I. Addressed by almighty God.

1. Be humble. “Charge them that are rich,” etc. Through the depravity of the heart, wealth has a tendency to fill the soul with self-sufficiency and pride.

2. Be spiritual. Through the depravity of the heart, wealth is often used so to pamper the appetites as to carnalise the soul.

3. Be generous. There is a tendency in wealth so to feed selfishness.

II. Refusing an audience with his Maker. Material indulgence deadens the moral tympanum of the heart. “I will not hear” though Thou speakest in nature, in Providence, in the Bible, in conscience, in a thousand holy ministries, I will not hear. Why?--

1. Because I am happy as I am. I have all that I want; not only to supply my needs, but to gratify my passions, to satisfy my vanity and ambition.

2. Because Thy voice will disturb me. (Homilist.)

Sin in prosperity

I. The divine condescension. “I spake unto thee.” What is man that God should notice him at all? It is not so much that man is fallen, but he is rebellious, wilfully ignorant, deliberately sinful, and infinitely beneath God in capacity, duration, power.

II. The hardness of man. “Thou wouldst not hear.” Surely, one would think that when the great God comes down to commune with man, man, out of mere reverence, would stay to listen. On the contrary, he turns away with disdain. The worm turns upon its Maker and King. This hardness is astonishing--

1. On account of the disrespect it manifests. So great, so good, so merciful a Being demands our attention, our love, our all.

2. On account of the pain it gives. Could you spurn a loving friend, and not cause him grief?

3. On account of the loss it entails. Why does God speak to man?

(1) In order that He may save him from evil--from the evil of sin, of death, of eternal loss.

(2) In order that He may do him good--that He may raise his intellect body and soul, and exalt him to eternal life and glory. It is, then, an astonishing fact that man refuses to hear.

III. The unnatural reason implied. “I spake unto thee in thy prosperity.”

1. This is a strange assertion. It is strange because--

(1) All prosperity comes from God. The natural thought respecting it, then, would be that it would excite greater reverence and love towards Him who so mercifully bestowed it.

(2) All prosperity gives greater prosperity and enjoyment, and demands a greater return in thanksgiving and sacrifice.

2. It is a true assertion, as history and experience infallibly prove.

(1) When men have prosperity, they get engrossed with their possessions.

(2) When men have prosperity, they get satisfied with what they possess. This makes them refuse the invitations and solicitations of God. (Homilist.)

Danger of prosperity

The long reign of Philip of Macedon--over forty years--witnessed the great decadence of the Hellenic Empire. When he came to the throne she was still a strong empire, full of fairest prospects. But he was one of those characters that are only kept within the bounds of good sense and justice by the sternest adversity. As soon as he found himself safe, his idleness, his tempers and lusts broke out. It was a misfortune both to himself and the world that he was not obliged, Like his predecessors, to recover by arms the kingdom to which he had succeeded by right. Prosperity enervated him; adversity would have braced him. (H. O. Mackay.)

How God’s voice is drowned

On entering a mill the noise of the machinery stunned and bewildered me. The owner of the mill explained the various processes as we went on, but it was a dumb show to me, I heard nothing. Suppose when I came out I had been asked whether the gentleman spoke to me during my visit and I had replied No! would it have been true? Certainly not. He spoke but I did not hear. His voice was drowned in the surrounding noise. And so it is with thousands of those around us. God speaks to them, but His voice is drowned in the hubbub by which they are surrounded. They are awakened in the morning with the postman’s knock, and before they have time for a though about God or eternity the noise of their own mill is all around them; before the letters are finished the morning papers arrive, and the roar of the world is added to the sound which already existed, and henceforth it is whirl and excitement till evening. (Charles Garrett.)

This hath been thy manner from thy youth.

Youthful habits retained

I. Habits formed in youth generally continue in future life. This applies to those--

1. Whose Life is given to the luxury of pleasure.

2. Who pass the season of youth in gross vices.

(1) Sabbath breaker.

(2) Profaner.

(3) Drunkard.

3. Equally relevant to vices of the mind.

(1) Selfishness.

(2) Pride.

(3) Malignity.

4. So also as regards their attitude towards religion.

(1) Those who pass their youth in a merely formal regard to the external duties of religion usually become formalists.

(2) Those who practise guile and deceit become hypocritical.

(3) Those who in youth slight the Gospel, in old age are seen to be unfeeling and hardened.

(4) Those who are sceptical frequently become confirmed infidels.

II. Custom in any course generally issues in confirmed habits.

1. The commencement of a course in life is often attended with a struggle and with difficulties.

2. But continuance in a course renders habits congenial and easy.

III. Solemn cautions and exhortations.

1. Cautions. Guard against slighting--

(1) Parental instruction.

(2) The Gospel.

(3) The Sabbath.

(4) Avoid ungodly companions.

2. Exhortations.

(1) Accustom yourself to consider your accountability to God.

(2) Study the sacred Book, by which your future should be directed.

(3) Decide early in favour of religion. (Anon.)