Isaiah 42:19-25 - Homilies By W. Clarkson

(latter part)

The hidden hurt.

I. THERE ARE PENALTIES WHICH ARE PALPABLE TO EVERY EYE . When vice or crime leads down to poverty, or to serious sickness, or to desertion and consequent loneliness, or to confinement in prison, there is no possibility of mistake. God is "pouring out his anger" against the transgressors of his Law; he is "magnifying his Law, and making it honourable" ( Isaiah 42:21 ). But—

II. THERE ARE PENALTIES WHICH ARE UNDETECTED EVEN BY THOSE WHO PAY THEM . As bodily privations—deafness, blindness, feebleness,—come on and sometimes reach even an advanced point before their subjects will allow it to be true, so is it with mental and moral evils, which are the righteous penalties of sin.

1 . Mental. The gradual but serious decay of the intellectual powers—of memory, of judgment, of the creative faculty.

2 . Moral and spiritual. Loss of self-control; an increased absorption in self; a growing eagerness for fleshly enjoyments or worldly advantages; withdrawal of interest from those things which are spiritual and Divine; in fact, deterioration of soul.

III. THIS UNDETECTED PENALTY IS DECIDEDLY THE MOST SERIOUS , For:

1 . It is the most inward. It affects our very selves; it means that we , ourselves, are "set on fire," are being consumed, are perishing.

2 . It is likely to be the most lasting. What evil thing a man sees and recognizes he takes care to expel; that which escapes his notice he leaves to itself, and, left undisturbed, it spreads and grows, it becomes rank, ruinous, fatal.

IV. IT IS A PENALTY PAID BY THE APPARENTLY GOOD AS BY THE AVOWEDLY EVIL . "Who is blind, but my servant?" etc. ( Isaiah 42:19 , Isaiah 42:20 ). The sons of privilege, the members of the visible Church, are sometimes found to be sadly deceived respecting their own condition; they are on the borders of bankruptcy when they think themselves rich and strong ( Revelation 3:17 ). Pride, or worldliness, or indulgence, or covetousness, has eaten into their soul, and made them degenerate and unworthy before God, and they "know it not."

V. IT IS A CASE WHICH CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE AND EARNEST EFFORT . When the truth is discovered, or even suspected, it becomes us