THE DANGER OF FORGETTING GOD
By Charles Simeon THE WICKED SHALL BE TURNED INTO HELL AND
ALL THE NATIONS THAT FORGET GOD Psalm chapter 9 verse 17 The
words before us are a plain and unequivocal declaration from
God himself respecting the doom which awaits every impenitent
sinner. May God impress our minds with
a solemn awe as we consider them. Who does God regard as being
wicked? God regards all those as wicked
in his sight, who are heedless of his word. God's word ought
to be the invariable rule of our conduct. It should be our
constant inquiry, what is my duty? What does God command me
in his word? God regards all those as wicked
in his sight, who are forgetful of his benefits. Every day and
hour of our lives we have been laden with mercies by a kind
and bountiful benefactor. And should not God's mercies
to us have excited correspondent emotions of gratitude in our
hearts? God regards all those as wicked
in his sight, who are unmindful of his presence. God is everywhere
present, and every object around us has this inscription upon
it, You see me O God. Now it is our duty and privilege
to walk with God as his friends and to set him before us all
the day long. What will be the final doom of
the wicked? The word hell sometimes imports
no more than the grave. But here it must mean something
far more awful, because the righteous go into the grave as well as
the most vile. Hell is a place of inconceivable
misery. Men in general do not wish to
hear this place so much as mentioned, much less described, as the portion
of the wicked. But it is far better to hear
of hell, than to dwell in hell. Our Lord very frequently labors
to deter men from sin by the consideration of its terrors,
but I will show you whom you should fear, fear him who, after
the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell.
Yes, I tell you, fear him. Luke chapter 12 verse 5. Who
that reflects upon that lake of fire and brimstone, where
the wicked dwell with everlasting burnings, and weep, and wail,
and gnash their teeth, without so much as the smallest hope
of deliverance from it, and where the smoke of their torment ascends
up for ever and ever, Who that considers what it must be to
have the devils for our companions, and to have the vials of God's
wrath poured out upon us without intermission and without end,
who that considers these things, must not tremble at the thought
of taking up his eternal abode in that place. Yet hell must
be the portion of all who forget God. Now scoffers make light
of eternal torments and sneer at the denunciations of God's
wrath. but before long they will call
out to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us
from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath
of the Lamb. However reluctant they are to
obey the divine mandate, depart from me, you who are cursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels,
they must be turned into hell with irresistible force and with
fiery indignation. their numbers will not at all
secure them against God's threatened vengeance. Though there are whole
nations, they will not be able to withstand the omnipotent arm
of God, nor will they excite pity in God's heart. Neither
will their misery be the less because of the multitudes who
partake of it. For instead of alleviating one
another's sorrows with tender sympathy, they will accuse one
another with the bitterest invectives. The power and veracity of God
are pledged to execute this judgment, and sooner shall heaven and earth
be annihilated, than one jot or tittle of his word shall fail.
How awful is the insensibility in which the wicked are living!
Men seem as careless and indifferent about their eternal interests
as if they had nothing to fear, or as if God had promised that
the wicked would be received into heaven. O that they would
awake from their delusive dreams and flee from the wrath to come!
How just will be the condemnation of the wicked in the last day!
Many think it a harsh thing that so heavy a judgment should be
denounced merely for forgetting God. Shall they say to God, Depart
from us, we do not desire the knowledge of your ways? And shall
God be accused of injustice if he says to them, Depart from
me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for
the devil and his angels? Matthew chapter 25 verse 41