There is a smoother and an easier
way to heaven than what the Scriptures have marked out. By Charles Simeon
Jeremiah chapter 6, verse 14 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious. Peace, peace, they say, when
there is no peace. Ezekiel 13, verse 10, they lead
my people astray, saying, Peace, when there is no peace. The above
verses are a scathing denunciation of every unfaithful minister. In the Christian church, there
are many who, while professing themselves to be ambassadors
of heaven, are only deceivers of the people. Their habit has
always been to preach peace, peace when there was no peace. there are still many ministers
who never teach their people the desperate depravity of the
human heart, the absolute necessity of the new birth, the impossibility
of being saved by their own righteousness, and the indispensability of thorough
devotion to God as his redeemed people. Instead, they tell their
hearers that there is a smoother and an easier way to heaven than
what the scriptures have marked out. Whether seduced by others
or not, all unbelievers are naturally prone to speak peace unto their
own souls. I have peace even though I walk
in the stubbornness of my heart. Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse
19. The unsaved will not receive
the plainest declarations of God concerning them. They cannot
endure to think that they are in such danger as God's word
declares them to be. They do not believe that the
way to heaven is as straight and narrow as the gospel represents
it. They persuade themselves that
they shall be saved at last, even though they scoff at both
the clearest principles and practices of Scripture. Yet the holy judge
of every person is unmistakable. There is no peace for the wicked.
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that
forget God. Isaiah 57 verse 21 and Psalm
9 verse 17.