Ezekiel 20:49

REFLECTIONS

READER! what an awful account is here given, and by the Lord Himself, of a congregation of worshippers. Are there any such in the present hour? Alas! it is to be feared but too many; for, in every age, there are multitudes who draw nigh to God to honour Him with their lips, while their hearts are far from Him. Thou art ever in their mouth (saith the Lord by the Prophet), and far from their reins.

It will be no unprofitable improvement of this chapter, if, from beholding the deception of the heart, in this instance, of the elders of Israel before the Prophet, you and I, Reader, bring home the subject to ourselves. In how many ways, and by how many avenues, evil enters into the soul. Corruption within and temptation without, rob the soul of sweet communion and fellowship with the Lord, even where a work of grace hath passed upon the soul; so that every true believer in Jesus finds but too often cause to complain with the Apostle, When I would do good, evil is present with me. And if so, what must it be in the heart wholly unawakened by grace, unregenerated by the Holy Spirit, and uninterested by any sense of the divine goodness? Precious Lord Jesus! how eminently here, as in a thousand other instances of grace and mercy, is the recollection of Thy High Priestly office, in bearing away the iniquity of our most holy things! Thy one offering once offered, and the everlasting and eternal efficacy of it, pleaded in Thine unceasing intercession, become the only cause of Thy Church's acceptance. Yea, Lord our very prayers, but for this, would seal our condemnation, Reader! let us both beg of God the Holy Ghost to impress these soul-reviving considerations upon the mind and heart of each. While you and I but too often, in the great congregation, hear as though we heard not, and pray or sing as though we felt not, oh! what a relief to my poor soul is the conviction; that in the same moment there is one with the Father whom the Father heareth alway, and Who is the propitiation for our sins. His glorious person and His finished work become the security and sanctity of all His redeemed. And while the Lord Jehovah hath respect to Him, and the Church in Him, in all the purposes of grace, so the everlasting acceptance and joy of the Church will only arise out of the same, in all the manifestations of glory.