The Excuses of Men Their Condemnation

Luke xiv. 18. And they all, with one consent, began to make excuse.

This passage is from that part of the evangelical history, which has generally been called the Gospel Supper. It was uttered by the Saviour, on the occasion of his going into the house of one of the chief Pharisees, to eat bread on the Sabbath day.” Then said he, a certain man made a great supper, and bade many; and sent his servants at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent, began to make

This is an affecting exhibition, on the one hand, of God’s great love and mercy; and on the other, of man’s great ingratitude and sin. God, on his part, has made a grant of his Son Jesus Christ, as an all-sufficient Saviour, to this lost and perishing world. To the guilty and condemned, he proclaims pardon; to the rebellious and contending, peace, reconciliation, and hope; to the sorrowful, glad-tidings of great joy; to the poor, imperishable riches; to the hungry, a feast of fat things; to the dying, life and immortality in the heavens. He has not merely revealed a general knowledge of Jesus Christ, but has directly and solemnly made the unembarrassed offer of him to men, and that they may be saved by faith in his great sacrifice. The offer and the gift are equally free; independent in every possible manner of the worthiness of men, and recognizing them only as sinners. They are proclaimed indiscriminately to all the hearers of the Gospel, and to every one of them in particular. No sin, however enormous and aggravated, places any sinner beyond the reach of this offered salvation. Nay, more, God has made it the duty of every one who hears the Gospel to accept it that he may be saved; and he cannot reject it but at his peril. And in all this, we cannot fail to see infinite love and mercy. Men reject this salvation, and make light of it; and as though this were not enough, all begin to make excuse for their conduct. And in this we see man’s great ingratitude and sin.

The object of the present discourse, therefore, is to show,

That men are naturally disposed to excuse their conduct in rejecting the Gospel of Christ;

That there is no foundation for their excuses;

That the motives which induce them thus to excuse their conduct, only condemn them; and that

There is great danger in making such excuses.

I. I am to show that men are naturally disposed to excuse their conduct in rejecting the Gospel of Christ.

The language of the parable is here worthy of a passing remark. No sooner than the invitation was given, than “all began to make excuse.” This is the first and most natural reception the Gospel meets with. Men do not seem to themselves deliberately to have made up their minds to reject it; but postpone their decision by offering some plausible excuse.

It is among the painful evidences of man’s apostasy, and one of the strongest proofs that his understanding is darkened, his conscience faithless, and his heart depraved, that he can ever consent to excuse himself for rejecting the dear-bought and freely-offered mercy of God in the Gospel of his Son. It would seem to belong to the nature of sin always thus to excuse itself. It is a self-exalting, self-justifying, and not a self-reproaching and self-condemning spirit. Men naturally shut their eyes upon the deformity of their own conduct, and are slow to see it as it is. They have inherited a self-excusing spirit, and cover their sin, like Adam; and under whatever circumstances they persist in rejecting the divine mercy, are sure to invent some apology for their impenitence. When they are reproved and rebuked for their reluctance to fall in with the offers of salvation, instead of confessing their fault, as their duty, their honor, their safety and their happiness bind them to do, and as they are called and bound to do by the most solemn considerations; they resort to a thousand unworthy subterfuges. Sometimes they find an apology in their age; sometimes in their peculiar circumstances; sometimes in their business; sometimes in their domestic or public relations; sometimes in their own natural dispositions and temperaments; and sometimes in the temptations by which they are surrounded. Sometimes they find it in the character of God; in the unbending claims of his law; in his unchanging and everlasting purposes; and in their dependence on his Spirit. Sometimes they find it in the conduct of the professors of religion, or its ministers; sometimes in the truth of God, and sometimes in error; but find it they will, and are ever ready to open their lips in palliating their indifFerence, neglect, and rejection of the Gospel. From the hour in which the Tempter infused the first taint of sin into the bosom of man, breathing his deadly poison in the language of apology for his proposed crime, the poison has spread, and contaminated the race. Old and young have imbibed it. It is found even in good men, just in the measure in which their goodness is imperfect. But nowhere is it found more certainly than in men who are strangers to the great salvation, and who, like those in the parable, seem pleased and gratified that they have found some apparently solid excuse for declining the invitations of redeeming mercy. But

II. There is no foundation for their excuses.

I am not going into any labored argument to prove this; because a true and solid excuse there cannot be. We may be always sure, that when men excuse themselves for neglecting to do what God requires, there is some fallacy in their excuses, whether we can discover it or not. There is a delusion in sin; and the heart of man is “deceitful above all things, as well as desperately wicked.” The spirit of excuses comes first from the love of sinning; then, from a wilfully blinded conscience; and then, from perverting and resisting the instructions of God’s truth. Truth always exposes sin; it condemns sin; and throws off the veil by which men attempt to conceal, or excuse it.

It is no difficult matter to refute all the excuses which the impenitent urge in defence of their rejecting the Gospel; and to follow out, and show the absurdity of every form, and turn, and change of the sophistical and false reasoning by which they excuse themselves for rejecting it. It may, perhaps, be well sometimes to do this; but after all, it may be questioned whether much is gained by thus reasoning with them. The strong hold which the Gospel has over every man that rejects it, will be found to be his own conscience. The strength of the divine government over wicked men, lies in their own consciences. The great advantage which the ministers of the Gospel have, in enforcing its claims upon those who reject it, is the concurrent claims of their own consciences. When a child once begins to excuse himself for a fault alleged against him, he at once betrays his own weakness. When a criminal at the bar once begins to excuse himself for the crime of which he is indicted, he at once implicitly confesses his guilt. And so, when a sinner once sets himself to framing excuses for rejecting the Gospel, he only betrays his weakness, and implicitly confesses his crime. His conscience is ill at ease. He feels within his own bosom that he is doing wrong. He has not a conscience void of offence. If he were not inwardly conscious that he did in fact sinfully reject the Gospel, he would deny the charge, and no longer attempt to extenuate it. We may assume it as a universal truth, that whenever a man attempts to excuse his sinful conduct, he himself is conscious of his wrong. Conscience was implanted in the human bosom on purpose to bear this testimony for God. It is not necessary to refute the excuses which men make for rejecting the divine mercy. They themselves have no confidence in them. The intuitive decisions of conscience refute them all, however ingenious they may be. They know too well all “the wickedness which their heart is privy to,” and the motives which govern them in turning a deaf ear to the calls of God. If there are instances in which they do not know, it is because their mind and conscience are defiled and impaired by sin. No man, who believes the Bible to be the word of God, and is satisfied that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; can deny his obligations to receive the Saviour, or question the inexcusable wickedness of rejecting him. He may still the voice of conscience for a time; but it is only for a time. When you tell him that the day is coming in which God will fasten a sense of his guilt upon his soul; when you point him to a dying bed, and to the scenes of the Last Judgment, and tell him that he will be speechless then, and without excuse; he feels and knows that what you say is true, because he is even now convinced that his excuses are nothing but refuges of lies.

Men who reject the Gospel, know a great deal of the state of their own minds. Their consciences do not fail them so often as we suppose. It is not so dark and blinded, but it sees what they are doing. It is not so bound and imprisoned, that it cannot speak. It is not so badly instructed and faithless, that you have need to enter upon a tedious process of argumentation in order to show them the sin of denying and rejecting the Lord that bought them. And when they feel themselves obliged to enter upon such a process, in order to defend their unbelief, it is because they know it is sinful, and needs the excuses they oflfer. Why should they attempt to excuse it, if it is not sinful; and if they themselves have no sense of its sinfulness? If there is no guilt in their rejecting the Gospel, it needs no excuse; and if there is guilt in rejecting it, it admits of none. We affirm, therefore,

III. In the third place, that the motives which induce them to excuse their conduct in rejecting the Gospel, only condemn them. Why is it that all begin to make excuse when God sets before them the provisions of his mercy, and invites them to become partakers of this bounty?

1. It is because they have an unhumbled mind. It is because the Gospel reproaches and condemns them as sinners, and they are not willing to reproach and condemn themselves. A man wlo is willing to acknowledge his fault, does not desire any excuse for it. A man who sees and feels the sinfulness of living in this world of mercy, and being surrounded with all the tokens and memorials of his Saviour’s love, and rejecting that love and mercy, and is willing honestly to confess his iniquity in so doing; does not seek for any excuse for his conduct. He lays his hand upon his mouth. He feels that he is without excuse. He condemns himself, and wonders that he is not consumed. The motive which induces him not to do this, is the self-justifying spirit of an unhumbled mind. Need I say this condemns him?

2. Nor is this disposition to frame excuses to be sought for only in the want of a self-condemning and humble mind; but in the want of all present purposes of forsaking sin. It is not the sinner’s object, by making excuses, to become a Christian; but rather his object to keep himself from becoming a Christian. One reason why awakened sinners stay away so long from Christ is, that they make so many excuses. The Gospel saves, but only on the condition of repenting of sin, and forsaking it. Where men have no present purpose of doing this, their love of sin, and the present determination to practise it, drives them to their vain excuses.

Were they willing to forsake their sins, they would desire no excuse for rejecting the Gospel, but would gratefully accept it, and with all their hearts. It is their love of sin, therefore, that originates their excuses.

3. They take refuge in their excuses in order to soothe an awakened conscience. They” mean to continue in the rejection of the Gospel, but wish to do it with the least possible self-reproach. And hence these excuses! Their object is to quiet conscience. Very few persons have hardihood and boldness enough to continue in the rejection of the Gospel, without some open or secret apology for so doing, that brings at least a temporary relief, a soothing balm for a wounded and bleeding conscience. They may succeed in doing this, and they may not; but if they do, they will certainly destroy their souls Let us pass, then,

IV. To show the great danger of thus making such excuses.

And wherein does it lie? It lies simply here. The understanding becomes blinded by them, and the heart hardened, and men persevere in rejecting God’s salvation, with a gradually diminished impression of the sinfulness of their conduct, till they come to believe in the validity of their own excuses, and at length to feel that there is no sin in rejecting it. They have reasoned sophistically so long, and so boldly, that not only is their pride enlisted in defending their own conclusions, but they themselves confide in them. When they first occurred to their minds, they may have appeared perfectly absurd. No deranged man ever reasoned more absurdly, in relation to things of this world, than men sometimes reason in order to exctise themselves for not becoming Christians. We could scarcely believe, if we did not know it, how foolishly and weakly they reason; yet they themselves, though at first dissatisfied, become at last satisfied with their excuses. Men, in this way, become their own deceivers and their own destroyers. They misinform and mislead themselves, and stifle the voice of conscience, on purpose that they may continue in their unbelief with the least possible self-reproach. Then it is that they sin with great rapidity and power. No light of truth convinces them, and no threatenings move them, and no voice of tenderness assails them. The faint echoes of a stifled conscience become weaker and weaker, and there is nothing to hold them back from destruction. God becomes angry with them, and withdraws his Spirit, and in judgment abandons them to their own delusions. Other things are displeasing in his sight; but when he sees an immortal being ruined by sin, and for whom he has given his only Son to die, making light of his proffered mercy; and when he hears him soberly excusing himself for rejecting this salvation; what wonder if he should swear in his wrath that he should never enter into his rest? The man who is willing frankly to confess that he has no excuse, and who will confess and forsake his sins, shall find mercy; while he who attempts thus to cover his iniquity, not only shall find that his excuses fail him, but that he has been deluding and overreaching himself, and treasuring up unto himself wrath against the day of wrath.

“And they all, with one consent, began to make excuse.” What an indelible reproach is this to the human character! And yet how many, among this audience, have been living upon their excuses up to the present hour? And even now, when once more assured that there is enough in their heavenly Father’s house, and to spare; nay, that there are wine and milk, without money and without price; that Wisdom has furnished her table, and that her oxen and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; are still saying, “I pray thee, have me excused!”

Bear with me, a few moments, while I set before you what you are actually doing. You are a fallen sinner by nature; and all your days, hare done nothing but disobey the God of heaven, and abuse his goodness and love. His law condemns you, and you will very soon be called to answer its demands before his bar. You live in a world, the most remarkable and interesting event in the history of which is the incarnation and death of his own Son, on purpose to satisfy the divine justice, which you yourself can never satisfy, and to reconcile you to God by the blood of his cross. The blessings of this salvation, God freely offers to you. He sets life and death before you, and calls upon you to choose life, that you may live. Jesus himself stands and cries in the midst of you, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” God pledges his word and oath to you that he is willing you should enjoy all the blessings of this salvation, both in this world, and that which is to come. He offers them all to you on the simple condition that you will accept them; and holds himself ready and bound actually to bestow them upon you, on your acceptance of his offer.

But you desire to he excused. To be excused from what? From receiving Christ Jesus as he is offered in the Gospel. From accepting pardon at his hands, though no other being in the universe can give you pardon; and without receiving it from him, you must go into eternity unforgiven, and with all your sins upon your head. From receiving his pure robe of righteousness, when nothing else can cover your shame. From taking your place at his table, when if your souls feed not on that bread of life, you starve and perish. You would be excused from a place in his kingdom, from a crown of righteousness; though, if you have not these, you must dwell in utter darkness, where is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. You would be excused from participating in these unmeasured joys! Others will wear that crown; have a place in that kingdom; sit at that table; be clothed with that righteousness; rejoice in that society, and shout that song; but when your place and name are inquired for, as among the invited guests, they learn that you desired to he excused!

What madness is this! When the world invites you to its gayety and joys; you may beg to be excused. When sin allures, and the great Adversary solicits, and the world of darkness and sorrow tempts and draws you; you may ask to be excused. But when God calls you; when the Saviour entreats you to come; when heaven invites; send no expressions of regret, make no excuses, and give no refusal. No, plead nothing; but go at their bidding. Plead no unworthiness; but go just as you are. Plead no poverty; but go to be made rich. Plead no mean excuse; no nakedness even; but go to be clothed in white raiment. Plead no youth, no age, no pressure of worldly business; but make every other engagement give way to the invitation of the King of kings. Plead for no future and more convenient season; all things are now ready;

HOW is the accepted time, and whosoever will may come.

But if you still insist on being excused, unreasonable and wicked as is your importunity, it must, for all we can see, be gratified. There is a period when God sends the invitation for the last time, and when, on hearing your perpetual excuses, he says, “None of those men that were hidden shall taste of my supper!” Yes, he will excuse you from the heavenly banquet, if you are set on meaner food. He can hold the feast without you, though he should even compel them to come from the highways and hedges, that his house may be filled. Nay, this very invitation rejected, and he may shut the door upon you forever!

In defiance then of the discouraging influence of all these subtle and erroneous apologies, I once more lay before you the invitations of heaven’s tenderest mercy. In his name, who came to seek and save that which was lost, I beg you not to venture another, and peradventure, a final refusal. It may be, that some of you feel that you are exposed to eternal death. You are weary and heavy laden, under the burden of your transgressions, and would fain escape the coming wrath. You are distressed, and anxiously concerned for the salvation of your souls. Nor is it with any doubt of the glorious all-sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour, or any secret misgiving that you will not find him every way adequate and fitted to all your wants, that I proclaim to you a free salvation through the merits of his blood. If you have any due sense of your sins, you must see that it is impossible for you to be justified by any righteousness of your own. The law you have broken; and therefore cannot live by it. Its condemning sentence is the stern and sweeping language, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.” The claim is just and unalterable. ‘’If there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe.” This is the method of deliverance; and it is vain that you look for any other.

Our subject, therefore, urges you without delay, without resorting to any devices of your own, to accept the only salvation which infinite love and wisdom have devised, or ever will devise. It is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus — the rich, the glorious redemption that is in Christ Jesus! As poor, guilty, perishing sinners, repair to Jesus Christ, and you will find from him, and in him, all that your perilous and ruined condition requires.

I have no warrant to treat with you at all, until you abjure all your excuses. It is not any excusable rebellion to which the Gospel is adapted, but it is to the rebel who is self-condemned, and to the sinner who feels that he is without excuse. And now, if any of you will still urge your excuses, I have not another word to say. Your duty is plain; and I leave you to plead your excuses in the presence of your Maker. The claim is his, and not mine. He knew your condition, and all your excuses, when he gave his Son to die; and he knows them all now, when he says, “Come, for all things are ready.” Nor will you refuse to hear his voice, except from radical aversion of heart to him, from an inward dislike to his Gospel, and the terms

THEIR CONDEMNATION. 2g|

on which it is offered, — engendered and fostered by a desire to be saved in some other way than that which the Gospel proposes, and a lurking purpose to be saved in some other way, or not to be saved at all. I can only set life and death before you, and urge you to choose life; and if you refuse it, assure you, in God’s name, that you must die in your sins.

It is the King of heaven himself that bids you come; and if there are those of you who still slight his invitation, the time is at hand when you shall know what that Scripture meaneth,” They that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.*’