TO many it is a light thing to sit in the seat of the scornful, but the Holy Ghost shows in the first psalm that no man who is truly blessed ever sits there, thus branding the scornner as one who has reached the last stage at which the wicked arrive before going to their final account, as Thomas Adams, one of the Puritan divines, says, “the chair of the scornner is the seat of Satan, the lowest stair and very threshold of hell.” This fact ought to claim the serious attention of all who would seek to be truly blessed, for the very position which the scornner takes up, if continued in, will shut him out from God’s blessing in time and eternity.
The fact that the scornner directs his scorning against true religion reveals the folly that is in his heart, for we read in God’s Word that “fools make a mock at sin.” This, further, shows an inability to appreciate the awfulness of sin as committed against a holy God, and its awfulness in the ruin it has brought upon the whole human race. To the scornner it is a light thing that God should be robbed of His glory, and as to the fact that millions will be damned eternally because of sin he does not believe it. Thus it is plain that the scornner not only makes a mock at sin but also at the punishment of sin. Calvin in his commentary on the first psalm says, “Those are called scorners who, having thrown off all fear of God commit sin without restraint, in the hope of escaping unpunished, and without compunction or fear sport at the judgment of God as if they would never be called to render up an account to Him.”
To the scornner the word “hell” is a cause of laughter. If he professes at all to believe in God, it is a God who will send none to hell, and who will receive all as His dear children whether they are changed in their state and nature or not. To him it is preposterous to think that God would sanction the fearful doom of sinners as recorded in the ninth psalm, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
The inevitable result of this attitude is that the scorer despises the warnings that are issued to him from God’s Word as unnecessary. God in His mercy strives with sinners by tenderly warning them in His Word and by His providential dealings with them, but these alike fall on deaf ears as far as the scorer is concerned, and it is with him as Solomon states in connection with indulgence in another sin, “They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not; when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.” He may be often reproved but he hardens his neck.
His poisoned shafts are directed against true religion in an endeavour to exalt self. The scorer often parades himself as being as good, if not better, than those who profess religion. He has a quick eye to detect the faults of the Lord’s people, and even their virtues are distorted by him in order to appear to the world as faults. In this way he convinces the unwary in far too many cases that religion is a sham. He takes advantage of the apparent prosperity of the ungodly and the poverty of many of the Lord’s people to prove to his own satisfaction that “it is vain to serve God,” thus manifesting his inability to see beyond the things of time. As if this was not sufficient he often talks to the grief of those whom God has wounded by putting himself in the company of those who were saying to the Lord’s people by the rivers of Babylon, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion,” which in effect means, “Where is thy God?”
Further, as if he were determined on all possible occasions to range himself on the side of the kingdom of darkness, the scorer will do his utmost to keep others from following the means of grace. He does not countenance these means himself, unless very rarely, and scruples not to employ biting sarcasm and other weapons which Satan has placed at his disposal to empty God’s house. Many a young man who could bravely stand against the most powerful enemies on the battlefield, found to his cost that he was not proof against the tongue of the scorer.
The one who comes to occupy the “seat of the scornful,” as a rule, did not come there suddenly. His progress was gradual. He began by walking “in the counsel of the ungodly,” then he was found standing “in the way of sinners” and ultimately came to the “seat of the scornful.” Those who may have watched his progress could see that he was getting more hardened in sin, more vulnerable to temptation, and more heedless to the reproofs of God’s Word, while, if he himself had practised a little introspection, he could have seen that the voice of conscience was getting fainter. He was thus qualifying for the seat of the scornful where the conscience becomes seared as with a hot iron. The result of this is that he becomes so daring that he will caricature not only the Lord’s people and true religion, but even God Himself. This evidently is the spirit which animates not only the producers of such films as “Green Pastures,” but also those who take a delight in going to see these blasphemous films.
The hardness of heart to which the scoffer is given over is but one aspect of his punishment. There are but few instances on record where the scoffer turned from his scorning and laid hold on the path of life. God, in His Word and in His providential dealings, reproveth him but he sees it not. Warnings, reproofs and entreaties alike seem to be wasted on him, and thus he places himself in the company to whom God says, “Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more.” Thus he goes blindly on till God’s long-suffering comes to an end as regards him, and he comes to know by a bitter experience that, “He that being often reprov’d hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”
This ought to be a warning to all who come in contact with the scoffer, for the spirit which animates him is to be found in the bosom of every one of Adam’s race, and where it has not broken out, all the praise is due to God’s restraining grace. As we are naturally biased towards evil the practice of the scoffer appeals to us in our fallen state. He pretends to a cleverness which many, and especially the young, are ready to imitate and thus make themselves Satan’s dupes.
It is dangerous to associate even occasionally with the scorer for we read that, “evil communications corrupt good manners,” and where one has to associate with the scorer at one’s lawful calling it would be as well to have as little conversation with him as possible, even at the risk of being counted unsociable. All who truly love the Lord Jesus will shun the scorer as they would shun the plague, yea, they need no exhortation to shun him for on account of the new principle begotten in their souls by the Holy Spirit his conduct causes them extreme pain. Such as have not this new principle, and who, even occasionally sit in the seat of the scorer would do well to consider the words of Dr. Hugh Martin in reference to those who crucified the Lord Jesus, “Beware! when you scorn the righteous, you may succeed in injuring, you may succeed in paining them. But the hour in which you do so, coincides with the hour and the power of the devil. How horrible! if your opportunity and Satan’s coincide! They carried these men the length of crucifying the Lord of Glory. May they not carry you the length of crucifying Him afresh.”
A scorer is an abomination to the eternal God for we read that, “Surely He scorneth the scorners, but He giveth grace unto the lowly.” The scorer can never hurt God, and even the hurt which he does to the cause of Christ in the world will be turned to the good of that cause, but alas! when God begins to show His scorn for the scorer, and all other rebels against His authority, He not only “shall have them in derision” but He shall “break them with a rod of iron” and “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Therefore, while they are still in the room of mercy it is a seasonable advice which is given, “Kiss thee Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little.”—J. C.