All the House of Israel Are Impudent and Hardhearted
The sermon highlights the universal charge of impudence and hardheartedness among God's people, but offers hope for redemption through Christ's precious blood.
C.H. Spurgeon addresses the impudence and hardheartedness of the House of Israel, emphasizing that even the chosen people are not exempt from these charges. He reflects on his own past, acknowledging a lack of shame and humility in sin, and the struggle to maintain a contrite heart after conversion. Spurgeon laments the hardness of his heart, recognizing that despite receiving a new heart through grace, remnants of his former obduracy remain. He expresses a deep desire for his heart to be softened by the love and sacrifice of Jesus, affirming that the Savior's blood can heal and transform even the hardest of hearts. Ultimately, he calls for self-examination and repentance, urging believers to seek a genuine response to God's grace.
Text
Are there no exceptions? No, not one. Even the favoured race are thus described. Are the best so bad?--then what must the worst be? Come, my heart, consider how far thou hast a share in this universal accusation, and while considering, be ready to take shame unto thyself herein thou mayst have been guilty. The first charge is impudence, or hardness of forehead, a want of holy shame, an unhallowed boldness in evil. Before my conversion, I could sin and feel no compunction, hear of my guilt and yet remain unhumbled, and even confess my iniquity and manifest no inward humiliation on account of it.
For a sinner to go to God's house and pretend to pray to Him and praise Him argues a brazen-facedness of the worst kind! Alas! since the day of my new birth I have doubted my Lord to His face, murmured unblushingly in His presence, worshipped before Him in a slovenly manner, and sinned without bewailing myself concerning it. If my forehead were not as an adamant, harder than flint, I should have far more holy fear, and a far deeper contrition of spirit. Woe is me, I am one of the impudent house of Israel.
The second charge is hardheartedness, and I must not venture to plead innocent here. Once I had nothing but a heart of stone, and although through grace I now have a new and fleshy heart, much of my former obduracy remains. I am not affected by the death of Jesus as I ought to be; neither am I moved by the ruin of my fellow men, the wickedness of the times, the chastisement of my heavenly Father, and my own failures, as I should be. O that my heart would melt at the recital of my Saviour's sufferings and death.
Would to God I were rid of this nether millstone within me, this hateful body of death. Blessed be the name of the Lord, the disease is not incurable, the Saviour's precious blood is the universal solvent, and me, even me, it will effectually soften, till my heart melts as wax before the fire.
Sermon Outline
- The Universal Charge of Impudence and Hardheartedness
- Personal Reflections on Impudence and Hardheartedness
- The Hope of Redemption through Christ
- The Charge of Impudence
- The Charge of Hardheartedness
- The Author's Personal Experience of Impudence
- The Author's Personal Experience of Hardheartedness
Key Quotes
“For a sinner to go to God's house and pretend to pray to Him and praise Him argues a brazen-facedness of the worst kind!” — C.H. Spurgeon
“Would to God I were rid of this nether millstone within me, this hateful body of death.” — C.H. Spurgeon
“Blessed be the name of the Lord, the disease is not incurable, the Saviour's precious blood is the universal solvent” — C.H. Spurgeon
Application Points
- Recognize your own guilt and shame in impudence and hardheartedness, and be willing to take humility in acknowledging it.
- Seek redemption through Christ's precious blood, which can soften even the hardest of hearts.
- Cultivate a deeper contrition of spirit and a holy fear of God in your daily life.