THE parable of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the ten virgins states that five were wise and five were foolish, and it appears from a general view of the parable that the foolish virgins appeared to be similar to the wise in everything except that they took no oil with them. This vital lack on their part was their undoing when the bridegroom came, for they had no oil in their lamps or for their lamps (Matt. xxv. 1-12). And so it is in the affairs of religion and the visible Church of Christ, that some who to all appearances, in their own estimation and in the opinion of others, have been separated unto the gospel of Christ, have nevertheless no genuine and heart experience at all of the indwelling and saving work of divine grace. The evil heart of unbelief which departs from the living God reigns supreme within them, whatever they may have felt by way of some sort of religious experience or whatever they may profess. It would be well then to examine the nature and depth of any religious feelings or experiences we may have had, as it is an inexpressibly solemn and vain procedure to go to Eternity with a lie in our right hand regarding our souls and to awaken there out of delusion beyond hope of remedy or recovery.
The lamentable lack of gracious heart religion may be covered over by drawing nigh to God with one’s lips, by religious conversation, by a circumspect outward conformity to conduct becoming the gospel of Christ Jesus, and by availing oneself of the ordinances of Christ’s Church, such as the Lord’s Supper. “Wherefore the Lord said, For as much as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men . . . Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?” (Isa. xxix. 13, 15). Thus is seen from the Scriptures the utter vanity and also danger of a religion which hath not its origin and rise in the heart by the secret and powerful operations of the Holy Spirit, coming with the Word of God to begin and carry on the “good work” of grace. But a false and formal religion never had within it, “Thou God seest me,” in any real beneficial measure.
And in relation to the ministry of the Word exercised by those who are sent of God to teach and preach His Word to the people, there can exist in the case of some sinners an outward and seemingly interested attendance upon the same, with a semblance of appreciation of and a desire to benefit from what God the Lord doth speak. Yet their hearts are not sincere in this; as when the Lord revealed to the prophet Ezekiel that although the people in his day appeared to desire and value his ministrations as a true prophet, their minds were otherwise exercised, as we discover from the following words: “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy words, but they do them not (Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32).
Then, sinners may have a sense of sin, and even of their personal sins, borne in upon their consciences, which experience is frequently as the morning cloud and the early dew that passeth away. This may come about under the rod of affliction in the providence of God, as we find in the history of Pharaoh, who confessed to Moses and Aaron, “I have sinned this time; the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked” (Genesis ix. 27). And time and again he was to mend his way in compliance with the demand to let Israel go out of Egypt. But no change came upon Pharaoh’s evil heart as his sense of sin was indeed superficial and temporary. And in the case of the scribes and Pharisees who brought to Jesus a woman taken in adultery; after Jesus had said to them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John viii. 7), then “They which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one . . .” (ver. 9). And the sad feature is that they went out from Jesus, no doubt to apply some false remedy to appease and calm their consciences, which could not be healed from guilt but by Jesus himself. What a dangerous expedient to turn to false remedies or to further acts of sin to pacify a troubled conscience! It is to be feared that there are constantly cases of this kind finding peace of conscience, but not by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Others emotionally may incline to an interest in the pure gospel of the grace of God, and their natural feelings are moved, stirred up and affected, maybe with some sense of sin and then agreeably by comforting aspects of gospel truth to a superficial appreciation of the same, so that they enter upon an experience, more or less, comparable to that of the “stony ground” hearers, of whom we read: “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the Word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he no root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, by and by he is offended” (Matt. xiii. 20, 21). Without the roots of faith, hope and love in Christ Jesus, no person’s religion can stand when God brings to hear upon it times of testing.
Then there are those described in the Gospel of John, chapter six, as disciples of Christ and who followed Him as such for a time, but they came to a stage, on account of Christ’s doctrine as to His broken body and shed blood, when their apparent satisfaction with Him came to an end, when we are told that “they went back and walked no more with him.” Although, in cases of a like nature, some may endeavour to retain the outward appearance of unchanged attachment to the Lord and His Word, and persevere in the profession of the Christian religion; yet God is not mocked or deceived, inasmuch as He looketh upon and searcheth the heart, and knoweth where the real work of the Holy Spirit is not to be found. And so intellectual notions of what the Gospel ought to be in the judgment of men, natural feelings and emotions, and conclusions arrived at as to one’s spiritual condition of heart by the judgment of carnal wisdom, will not put any of us in possession of heart and spiritual understanding of the glories of Christ’s Saviourship.
In the Acts of the Apostles there is the extraordinary case of Simon, the sorcerer in Samaria. After Philip preached concerning the Kingdom of God, many believed and were baptized, we are told (Acts viii). And following upon this, “Simon himself believed also; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done” (v. 13). But later we read that “When Simon saw that through laying on of the Apostle’s hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power . . .” But Peter among other things said to him in reply, “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.” And so Simon believed after a manner (and we shall not wait here to speculate on the nature of his superficial believing), and was baptized and affected with wonder at the miracles; but after all this Peter by divine authority declares regarding him that his heart was not right in the sight of God and much more to the same solemn effect. Simon’s religion was purely superficial and proceeded from an unrenewed heart which knew not that work and faith which is saving and of the operation of the Holy Spirit, and he was totally ignorant in his heart of the precious truth of salvation by free grace. So we are well warned in the Scriptures against being deceived by the covetousness of our own hearts and the devil.
And finally, under what we may call the external influence of the Word of God and the preaching of the gospel of salvation, many acquire an intellectual acquaintance with the rudiments of sound doctrine, becoming proficient in their knowledge of the letter of the Word of God regarding sin, redemption through the blood of Jesus, the office and work of the Holy Spirit, the nature of faith and those elements which are essential to evangelical repentance, and so on. Now we do not by any means despise such a knowledge of sound doctrine as to the letter, inasmuch as the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth, uses the Word to bless savingly when and to whom He pleases. But when sinners so privileged affect to be religious and spiritually enlightened on the basis of intellectual knowledge alone, then they are in danger of putting that in the place of that secret and spiritual understanding of gospel truth which is the product of the Holy Spirit’s work alone. The familiar words of our Lord Jesus Christ, viz., “Ye must be born again” are vital words of truth which, so to speak, appear over the very entrance into the Kingdom of God. We would seek to discourage none, but would encourage all who require encouragement as to the life of grace and true religion in the soul. But let everyone, in this time of false charity, and shallowness in spiritual matters, look well and seriously to their religion in the light of the Bible and not by what fallible men think or say, inasmuch as it is a solemn thing to claim that we are something, when we are nothing in relation to Christ and with regard to the Holy Spirit’s saving work. False feelings and fair claims will bind us in deception upon the broad way that leadeth to destruction in hell for ever, and all the emotional, superficial and external religion in the world will not bring us one step toward heaven. Our cry should be: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm cxxxix. 23, 24).