God is not Mocked

One of the mighty blessings, bestowed upon us by the Christian revelation, is that we now have certain knowledge of a future state, and of the rewards and punishments, that await us after death, and will be adjusted according to our conduct in this world.  We on whom the light of the Gospel shines, walk no longer in darkness, doubtful of the benefit of good, or the danger of bad actions; we know that we live and act under the eye of our Father and our Judge, by whom nothing is overlooked or forgotten, and who though to try our obedience, he allows in the present state of things, the same events to happen to the good and to the evil, will at last certainly distinguish them, by allotting them different conditions beyond the grave; when it will appear in the sight of men and of angels, how amiable is godliness, and how odious is sin; by the final sentence, which shall bring upon man the consequences of his own actions.  

There is no reason to wonder, that many enormities should prevail where there was nothing to oppose them.  When we consider the various and perpetual temptations of appetite within; when we see  that on every side there is something that solicits the desires; what can we expect but that those who know of no other world will eagerly make the most of this, and please themselves whenever they can, with very little regard to the rights of others.  

It was reserved for the preachers of Christianity to bring life and immortality to light.  It is now certain that we are here, not in our ultimate existence, but in a state of probation, commanded to qualify ourselves, by pure hearts and virtuous actions, for the enjoyment of future felicity in the presence of God; and prohibited to break the laws which his wisdom has given us, under the penal sanction of banishment from heaven into the regions of misery.  

In examining first, how sinners are deceived, it will immediately occur to us that no man is deceived to his damnation but by the devil himself.  The subtleties of the devil are undoubtedly many; he probably has the power of presenting opportunities of sin, and at the same time inflaming the passions, of suggesting evil desires, and interrupting holy meditations; but his power is so limited by the Governor of the universe, that he cannot hurt us without our own consent; his power is but like that of a wicked companion, who may solicit us to crimes or follies, but with whom we feel no necessity of complying; he therefore that yields to temptation, has the greater part in his own destruction; he has been warned of his danger, he has been taught his duty, and if these warnings and instructions have had no effect, he may be said voluntarily to desert the right way, and not so much to be deceived by another, as to deceive himself.

The far greater part of mankind deceive themselves, by refusing to think on their real state, lest such thoughts should trouble their quiet, or interrupt their pursuits.  To live religiously is to walk not by sight but by faith; to act in confidence of things unseen, in hope of future recompense, and in fear of future punishment. 

He that is willing to forget religion, may quickly lose it; and that most men are willing to forget it, experience informs us.  If we look into the gay, or busy world, we see every eye directed towards pleasure or advantage, and every hour filled with expectation, or occupied by employment, and day after day passes in the enjoyment of success, or the vexation of disappointment—indifference about eternity.  

Many men may be observed, not agitated by very violent passions, not overborne by any powerful habits, nor depraved by any great degrees of wickedness;  men who are honest dealers, faithful friends, and inoffensive neighbors; who yet live wholly without self-examination and indulge any desire that happens to arise, with very little resistance; who hardly know what it is to combat a temptation, or to repent of a fault.  They do not reform any vicious practice, or irregular desire.  God is not in their thoughts; they direct none of their actions to his glory, do nothing with the hope of pleasing, avoid nothing for the fear of offending him.  Let them not be deceived, they cannot suppose that God will accept him who never wished to be accepted by him, or made his will the rule of action. 

Others there are who, without attending to the written revelation of God’s will, form to themselves a scheme of conduct, in which vice is mingled with virtue, for the continuance of some vicious habit.  But to these men it may, with emphatical propriety, be urged that God is not mocked; he will not be worshiped nor obeyed but according to his own laws.  

The mode of self-deception which prevails most in the world is the art, which we are all too apt to practice, of setting the hour of death, and the day of account, at a great distance.

That death is certain, every one knows; nor is it less known, that life is destroyed at all ages, by a thousand causes; even the strong and the vigorous are liable to diseases.  Yet as the thought of dissolution is dreadful, we do not willingly admit it; every living being shrinks from its destruction; as we wish for long life, we hope that our wishes will be granted, and what we hope, we do not examine.  So tenaciously does our credulity lay hold of life, that it is rare to find any man so old, as to not expect an addition to his years, or so far wasted and enfeebled with disease, as not to flatter himself with hopes of recovery.

The man who died yesterday, had purchased an estate, to which he intended some time to retire; or built a house, which he was hereafter to inhabit; and planted gardens and groves that, in a certain number of years, were to supply  delicacies to his feasts, and shades to his meditations.  He is snatched away, and has left his designs and his labors to others.  

Among the more enlightened and judicious part of mankind, there are many who live in a continual disapprobation of their own conduct, who know that they do every day what they ought to leave alone, and every day leave undone what they ought to do; and who therefore consider themselves, as living under the divine displeasure, in a state in which it would be very dangerous to die.  Such men answer the reproaches of conscience with promises of amendment, promises made with sincerity and intention of performance, but which they consider as debts to be discharged at some remote time.  They neither sin with stupid negligence, nor with impious defense; they fear the punishments denounced against sin, but pacify their anxiety.

Projects of future piety are perhaps not less common, than of future pleasure; and are, as there is reason to fear, not less commonly interrupted; with this dreadful difference, that he who misses his intended pleasure, escapes a disappointment, but he who is cut off before the season of repentance, is exposed to the vengeance of an angry God.

He who, accused by his conscience of habitual disobedience, defers his reformation, apparently leaves his soul in the power of chance.  We are in full possession of the present moment.  Let us remember that if our lot should fall otherwise than we suppose; if we are of the number of them to whom length of life is not granted, we lose what can never be recovered, and what will never be recompensed, the mercy of God.

Neither is an efficacious repentance so easy a work as that we can be sure of performing it, at the time appointed by ourselves.  The longer habits have been indulged, the more imperious they become; it is not by bidding them to be gone that we can at once dismiss them.    

The longer sin has been indulged, the more irksome will be the retrospect of life.  So much uneasiness will be suffered, at the review of years spent in vicious enjoyment.

Neither is it certain that the grace, without which no man can correct his own corruption, when it has been offered and refused, will be offered again; or that he who stopped his ears against the first call, will be vouchsafed a second.  Such presumption is, in some degree, a mockery of God.  How certain it is, that God is not mocked.

God is not mocked in any sense.  He will not be mocked with counterfeit piety, he will not be mocked with idle resolutions; God will not allow his decrees to be invalidated; he will not leave his promises unfulfilled, nor his threats unexecuted.  What he has spoken will surely come to pass.

To sow and to reap are figurative terms.  To sow signifies to act; and to reap is to receive the product of our actions.  As no man can sow one sort of grain and reap another, in the ordinary processes of nature; in the final dispensations of Providence, the same correspondence shall be found in the moral system; every action shall at last be followed by its due consequences; we shall be treated according to our obedience or transgressions; the good shall not miss their reward, nor the wicked escape their punishment; but when men shall give account of their own works, they that have done good shall pass into everlasting life, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. 

Let us therefore at this, and at all times, most heartily and fervently beseech God to give us faithful and sincere repentance, to pardon and forgive us all our sins, to endue us with the grace of his holy spirit, and to amend our lives according to his holy will and commandments.

This is part of a sermon written by Dr. Samuel Johnson in the middle of the Eighteenth Century. I have shortened it considerably for brevities sake. He based this sermon on Galatians 6:7

Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap.

I have previously used other sermons by Dr. Samuel Johnson in four of my Hubs:

Dr. Johnson

This Life Is Short

Walk That Lonesome Valley

King Solomon

Dr. Samuel Johnson was the greatest intellectual, as well as the eminent literary critic, in the history of England. His preternaturally sublime achievement—indeed unsurpassed in the history of world scholarship—was the Dictionary of the English Language, which he published in 1755.

Dr. Johnson created many aphorisms that are widely quoted today, e.g., " 'Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt." Dr. Johnson also wrote dozens of sermons. He was not a preacher. It was not uncommon in those days for high-profile ministers to have a professional write his sermons.