The Pulpit Commentary — Malachi — Section 56

t11re of pcnito □ ce on tl1e one side, 11nd sentimenta!Hy on the other. And sentimentality rn1ty be tlio more subtle evil. A mo.n may be distressed about the consequences uf sin, who ho.s no estimate of the evil of the sin. A man may be carried away by a ijUrrounding excitement of penitence without having any real humiliation of heart. This rno.y be illustrated from the excitement produced by Savonarola'~ preaching at Florence, and by the bad sides of modern revivals and missions. Convictions which reach no further than o. man's sentiments are not merely helpless to influence con- duct, but they are mornlly mischievous, because they delude, persuading tile rnan that he is right, when his motive and heart are untouched. Some men who pe1sist in living in &in nevertheless have see.sons of gushing penitence; but it is only surface feeling, they have no rrot in themselves. The test of repentance is found in this quq11tion.,-What does it !P.ake the man do,. II .. THE ,MORAL VALUE; OF :PRACTICAL :PENITENCE. The Apostle Paul calls it "godly sorrow," and reminds of its practical working. "Ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of your.elves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge!" If a man steals from another, all his protestations of sorrow are without moral value unless he restores what .be has stolen. God looks for moral value in everything relating to his people; .and finds it only when they bring in the tithes Vl'.hich they had. been withholding. Restorin~, dealit1g resolutely with. cherished sins, "cutting ot;r right bands, and plucking out right eyes," are the revelation of sincerity, depth,.. anq. moral. :value, in all professions of penitence. It is only when God can approve of and accept the penitence thus revealed that he can respond by opening the windows of.heaven to pour out blessing.-R. T. Vers.14, 15.-Doubt of p~ojit in servi~g God. "It is vain t_o serve God." The Prophet Zephaniah is more severe. "It shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with can,d,les, and punish the men that are settled on their lees : that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil" (Zeph. i. 12). "The prophet condescends to identify himself with thos.e whom he repruve,. • We call the. proud happy ; yea, we say, they that work wickedness are set up. T4erefo~e it. is vain to serv,e God; But he suddenly quits _the seat of the scoruers. He retires aside from the crowd, who proudly rely on their own popular ver,licts, vaunting their own intelligence, and setting at naught the decrees of God; and, staw:ling aloft;.f~oi;n them, he,Joins the smaller company of the faithful few who wait aild fear the_ L.9rd; and think upon his Name," I, THE SIN OF SERVING Gop FOR THE SAKE OF :PROFIT. 'This is seen in the case c;if Ananias and of Simon· Magus. It is illustrated by Bunyan, in his character Pliable, the man who_ was going on pilgrimage for the sake of what he could get. God asks for the .. serv.ic1:1 _of love., _Such service as alone can please him is the service rend~red_ u11der the impul~e of love~ It is not possible to serve God acceptably in the spi~it of tqe hireling. It is equally true that ,God cannot be rightly ,served Ullder the e~pectation of pay or reward in the next life. II. THE SIN Ob' DOUBTING WHETHER Goo REWARDS SERVlCE. It is the sin of unbelief. "He who conies to God must believe that he is, and that be is the Rewarder of ,them 'that diligently seek him." But it really is a deeper and a. more subtle sin than that; it is the sin of self-centredness. Only the man who thinks overmuch about himself questions whether his work will be fittingly recognized. This is a constant secret sin, even of good people. They never master it until they can learn of Obrist to work for love, and let rewards come or not as they may. A man never conceives of Divine indifference, or hai:dness,,or,unreasonableness, until be gets into a bad frarno of mind himself, and then he makes God .the shadow of his own badness. It was thus with the persons whom Malach\ reproves. Only because they wanted to serve thcm- selv<!s did th~y think _it was vain to serve God. The man who loves God aud wants to serve him is sure never to think.that. . Ill. THE BIN OF THINKL"IG, THOSE ARE, REWARDED WHO SERVE OTHERS AND NOT Goo! (Ver. 15:) The proud, who serve themselves. Good people, likt1 the poet Asaph, are often tempted to t_hink that the wicked have the best of it in this lii'e. To think liO is to" offend ag1;1inst the generation of the upright," and to dishon.our GoJ.-R 'l',  'l'Hl!: :MOK OF :M.ALACHt. ton. ut 1-18,