Sincerity does not guarantee we will not ever fall but it helps us up again when we do. The hypocrite, however, lies where he falls until he dies. Thus he is said to “fall into mischief” (Proverbs 24:16). The sincere man stumbles as any traveler might do, but he gets up and resumes his journey with more caution and speed than before. But the hypocrite plunges as a man from the top of a mast who is engulfed past any hope of recovery in the devouring sea.
We see this principle in King Saul’s life. When his false heart discovered itself, he tumbled down the hill and did not stop, but went from one sin to another. In just a few years he had plummeted far from the place where he first left God. Once he had been so ready to worship God that he could not wait for the prophet Samuel to arrive—but later he was so far from seeking God that he went to a witch for council. And in the last act of his bloody tragedy, Saul desperately threw his life into the devil’s mouth by self-murder.
The reason Saul’s sin crushed him to death was that his heart was never right with God in the first place. Samuel hinted at this truth when he told Saul “The Lord sought him a man after his own heart? (1 Samuel 13:14). Of course David himself fell into a sin far worse than Saul’s wickedness—for which God rejected that first king—but the difference was that in David’s life sincerity was the “root of the matter” (Job 19:28).
There is double reason for the recovering strength of sincerity. One stems from the nature of sincerity itself and the other proceeds from God’s promise which settles into the sincere Christian’s soul.
Restoring nature of sincerity itself kindles the soul. Sincerity is to the soul as the soul is to the body, a spark of divine life kindled in man’s heart by the Spirit of God. It is the seed of God remaining in the saint.
—William Gurnall
The most notorious false prophet in the world is the vain hope, which men take up for their salvation. It prophesies peace, pardon, and heaven as the portion of one who was never God’s heir. But the day is coming, and soon, when this false prophet will be confounded. Then the hypocrite will confess he never had any real hope for salvation except an idol of his own imagination; and the religious man will throw off his profession, by which he deceived himself, and appear naked in his sinfulness. It is enough to make us carefully search our own hearts and find out what our hope is built upon.
Now hope of the right kind is well grounded. “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). All Christians, no matter how weak, have grounded their hearts in Scripture for the hope they profess. What entitles you to inherit God’s kingdom without a promise from Him? If someone should say that your house and land was his, would you give him your property just because he demanded it? Yet many hope to be saved who can give no better reason than this.
Just as a saint conquers fear by asking his soul why it is disquieted, a similar question can throw the bold sinner from his prancing hopes. “What reason do you find in the whole Bible for you to hope for salvation, when you live in the ignorance of God?” Certainly his soul would be as speechless as the man without the wedding garment was at Christ’s question. This is why some dare not let themselves think about salvation—they know this thought would make a disturbance in their conscience that will not be stilled quickly. Or if they do ask, it would be like Pilate, who asked Christ what was truth but had no intention of waiting for His answer.
—William Gurnall
The sinner who is thoroughly convicted by the Spirit sees himself like a condemned prisoner held by so many irons that escape is impossible. It is not their disease but their physician that kills sinners. They think to cure themselves; and this deception leaves them incurable. If you cling to the self-confidence of repentance and reformation, they will betray you into the hands of God’s justice and wrath. But if you have turned away from this religious self-confidence, you have escaped one of the finest snares that the wit of hell can weave.
Not only is the convicted sinner so convicted that he knows he is helpless, but he welcomes the full provision laid up in Christ for him. And this attitude is necessary prior to faith. Without it the soul convicted of sin is more likely to go to the gallows with Judas, or fall on the sword of the law, than to run to Christ.
The Spirit powerfully but sweetly renovates the rebellious will so it can deliberately choose Christ as Lord and Savior. During a storm a person may run under an enemy’s shelter he would not have even glanced at in fair weather. Do you take pleasure in choosing Christ? Do you go to Him not only for safety but also for delight? As the lover said of her bridegroom, “I sat down under his shadow with great delight” (Song of Songs 2:3). This must be a deliberate choice; wherein the soul seriously weighs the covenant Christ offers and then chooses Him. Even when Naomi spoke the worst she could to discourage her daughter-in-law, Ruth enjoyed her mother’s company too much to give it up regardless of the potential hardships involved in her decision.
—William Gurnall