Suppose there has been a rebellion. What would the rebels who are holding out round country say to the king? Would they say, ‘I am hungry, please give me some food and then I will go back to rebellion?’, and yet we say something like this to God. ‘Help me now and then I will go back to rebellion against you.’ We want his favour, and we want him to ease the hard circumstances that our sin has brought upon us, but we have no intention of submitting to him in any meaningful way. Why would that general want to rebel anyway? He has a nice house – not like the slaves. He has clothes, status, authority and the reward of lands at the end. How mad he would be to throw it all away? Why get too big for his boots? We are not to be belligerent with God and say life is unreasonable. He is holy, perfect. Always have reverence. If you have an axe to grind, something is wrong with you.
Are you wise or simple? Do you know the way to approach God? A wise man’s heart knows how to come to God. There is a protocol to be observed. We cannot just breeze into his presence and expect him to be indifferent to the way we come. Some are like those who try to force their way in to see the king, but you cannot come without a Mediator. ‘Oh Lord, do this, do that.’ They have no consciousness of their sin. There is only one person who can introduce you. Why? We are sinful, wretched and fallen. We can’t approach God in our own moral rags. We are so foul and unclean that we cannot come into the presence of God, unless Christ has paid the price for us. The problem of sin is so great that God had to send his Son into the world to die for sinners. Until we are forgiven, we can have no relationship with God. But our sin cannot be forgiven unless Christ, our surety, takes our punishment in our place. You have to confess in a real way all your sins. Humble yourself before God. Go down on your knees, and yield your life to him. We don’t just say, ‘Lord forgive my sin’, but also, ‘Give me a new nature. Take away this temper, these lies,’ whatever it is, and say, ‘Lord I give my life to thee. I yield to thee. I am not my own any longer’, and the King will have mercy on you.