A Foolish Bravery
W. Hoyt, D. D. Jeremiah 36:24 Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words. I. IT IS A FOOLISH BRAVERY TO IGNORE FACTS. Just that did Jehoiakim. It was a fact that he had sinned. It was a fact that Jeremiah was God's prophet. It was a fact that God, by the mouth of Jeremiah, had spoken doom for the sin of Jehoiakim unless he should repent. But Jehoiakim would have nothing of these facts. He cut the roll to pieces and threw it in the fire, &c. This did not change the facts. 1. It is a fact that good is what ought to be. 2. It is a fact that God is the good. 3. It is a fact that evil is what ought not to be. 4. It is a fact that the good which ought to be must be against the evil which ought not to be. 5. It is therefore a fact that God, who is the good which ought to be, must be Himself against the evil which ought not to be. 6. It is, therefore, a further fact that if I choose the evil which ought not to be, the good God, who must be against the evil which ought not to be, must be against me. II. IT IS A FOOLISH BRAVERY TO IMAGINE YOURSELF AN EXCEPTION FROM THE WORKING OF THE DIVINE LAW. Have you never been subdued into a vast awe, as the absolute irreversibleness of natural law has been pressed upon you? It is because natural law is so unchanging that we may build our cities, and send our ships, and plough our fields, and reap our harvests. But there is another and a fearful side to this irreversibleness of natural law. When, for any reason, man stands athwart one of these great natural laws, the penalty for violation is sure to smite. And this is as true in the moral realm. It is a foolish bravery to think yourself an exception to God's law. He said it — there am many who think it who do not so plainly say it — that young man, whom I was seeking to dissuade from courses of dissipation. "Oh," he answered, "it may hurt other fellows, but it won't me; I am an exception." How crammed with folly such temerity! III. IT IS A FOOLISH BRAVERY TO REFUSE TRUTH WHICH YOU DISLIKE. IV. IT IS A FOOLISH BRAVERY TO GO ON HEEDLESSLY, SAYING, "I DON'T CARE." V. IT IS A FOOLISH BRAVERY TO REFUSE REPENTANCE. (W. Hoyt, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words. WEB: They were not afraid, nor tore their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words.