"WHAT MEANEST THOU?"
“WHAT MEANEST THOU?”
It has been estimated that over seventy-five per cent of the inhabitants of this country have no concern about the salvation of their souls. They are not atheists or infidels, nor do they make any profession of being saved; they are simply indifferent to the whole matter. If the thought of having to do with God comes into their minds, they solace themselves by a comparison of their own state with that of their fellows, and they conclude that as they are not worse than others, and perhaps better than many, there is no reason why they should have any concern as to their spiritual state. Any occasional alarm is speedily stilled by the thought that God is merciful — a sentiment which in the mind of an indifferent sinner means that he likes to think of God as One whose judgment of sin is not much more severe than his own. It is to this large body of people, and to each individual in it, that the following plain words are addressed.
You are not indifferent to things which affect your health, your circumstances, the prosperity of your business, or your future in life. Nor are you uninterested in current events and great social movements. You are in deep concern when your child is sick and lies on the border-line between life and death. You spend hours in thought about the interests of your political party. You have regard to the maintenance of your credit, character, and reputation. Then why so indifferent to that which is of vastly greater importance than all these things put together — your eternal salvation? A friendly voice asks you the question which stands at the head of this paper — a question which once rang on the startled ear of Jonah — “What meanest thou, O sleeper?”
You would be the first to condemn the folly of indifference if you saw it displayed when good opportunities presented [p. 8] themselves for pecuniary gain, mental improvement, or social elevation. Yet eternal gain is within your reach, and the greatest possible elevation is offered to you without awakening in your heart the least desire to secure it for yourself. What should we say of a sick man who took no interest in what is known to be an unfailing remedy for his disease? of a culprit sentenced to death who was heedless when tidings of a royal pardon were brought to his cell? of a drowning man who would not regard the life-line which he sees within his reach? you would say of such persons that they were bereft of their senses. Then what must we think of a sinful creature who has no care or anxiety about his soul, and who looks upon the gospel as unworthy of his notice? Surely such indifference is not wise?
But, further than this, it is fraught with danger. To walk blindfold on the edge of a precipice is a dangerous as well as a foolish performance. Unbelief does not annihilate God, responsibility, sins, judgment, eternity. The peril is great and real; do not trifle with it. You may remember reading how the signalman at the end of the Tay Bridge crept along the structure on that wild December night amid the fury of the storm, until, peering through the darkness, he could discover the awful chasm through which the tempest was sweeping. You may depend upon it he did not return to his cabin to put the signals right for another train to pass on to the bridge. But what would you have thought of the driver and guard of the next train if, in utter disregard of the signals and of the entreaties of the signalman, they had persisted in going forward, the driver saying, “I don’t believe the bridge is down”, and the guard adding, “Nobody can know until they get there, and we must take our chance”? You would have exclaimed, “Madmen!” You would have said that they were rushing headlong not only into danger, but into certain destruction.
Beware! The signals of Holy Scripture are all against [p. 9] you, and another warning reaches you now as you speed along to eternity. “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them ... and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5: 3).
In the year of the Great Plague 90,000 persons died in London. With the earliest symptoms of the disease all indifference fled. Many went mad with terror, and ran screaming through the grass-grown deserted streets, as if to escape from the pursuit of death. Have you no symptoms that might justly fill your conscience with alarm? “The thought of foolishness is sin”. “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin”. “God shall judge the secrets of men”. The plague of sin is in your heart; your members are yielded as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; and the end of these things is death. Have you never been astounded at the evil thoughts of your own heart? or are you so thoroughly accustomed to them as to be “abominable and filthy”, and to drink “iniquity like water”? (Job 15: 16). In any case it is high time for indifference to be thrown off as a dangerous and deadly thing.
Another fact deserves consideration; indifference will soon have an end. You may look upon the things of a future life as being a “great secret”, and may throw aside all serious thought about them with the flippant assertion that “nobody has come back to tell us”. You may treat the soul’s relations with God, and all that He has made known, as merely matters of opinion. But such thoughts can only delude you for a very short time. The poor comfort which they yield will be snatched away by the hand of death. The man who probably never prayed on earth prays earnestly in hell (Luke 16). He who would have laughed at any spiritual concern is now anxious about the souls of his brethren. The virgins who cared nothing about the oil until it was too late to buy, were in great [p. 10] diligence about it then, but could only give vent to their anguish in the unanswered cry, “Lord, Lord, open to us”. Sad, sad, that bitter wail — “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved”.
I would have you to consider carefully that indifference to the gospel is a sin of no ordinary kind; it is pure and simple wickedness. To rightly estimate this we must call to mind what it is that men treat with indifference. It is the claims of God that are set at naught, and the grace of God that is despised. The gift of the Son of God, His work of infinite love at Calvary, the glory which that work has thrown open, and all the present blessings of the Salvation of God, are so many trifles to the indifferent sinner; he can afford to treat them all with contemptuous disregard, if not disdain. After all the resources of divine love have been taxed to the utmost; after the heart of God has told itself out in the most wonderful way; after all the treasures of heavenly grace have been presented for acceptance, after the invitation has gone forth in its fulness — “Come, for all things are now ready” — the insulting answer which goes back to the Giver of the feast is, “I pray thee have me excused; I have other and more important matters in hand; I cannot come”.
How you must hate God, when you will perish rather than have His blessings! the hardihood which ventures to brave His wrath is only equalled by the hatred that refuses His grace, and both combine in the indifferent soul. In saying this I am assuming that you have heard the proclamation of grace; but perhaps, in doing so, I am taking too much for granted. Perhaps my reader is entirely ignorant of the good things which God has provided, and which, through His grace, a large number of people in this world are enjoying. Let me say, then, very briefly, that through a crucified, risen, and glorified Saviour — the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord — God is proclaiming the forgiveness of sins, and eternal [p. 11] salvation. The poor may freely take these priceless blessings, for they are the gift of God. The rich surely cannot afford to be without them. That they are expressly for the guilty and the lost is made certain by the very nature of the things in themselves. And as for the good and righteous, even they may be saved if they cast their pride to the winds, and take the sinner’s place in repentance before God.
“God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17: 30).
“God ... will have all men to be saved” (1 Timothy 2: 4). It is at an infinite cost that God has secured for Himself in righteousness the title of SAVIOUR GOD. The Son has been given; Jesus has died; and the whole universe can see at the cross of Christ that God is neither indifferent to sin, nor to the need of His poor creature who has fallen under its power. Then let indifference be banished from your heart. Turn in true repentance to God, and receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour. For your life hangs on a thread; the record of your sins is on high; and the blackest midnight is brighter than the darkness of a Christless grave. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10: 9).