God's Barriers Against Man's Sin

Spurgeon uses God's remarkable question — "Will you not tremble at my presence, who placed the sand as a boundary for the sea?" — to highlight a stunning contrast: the mighty ocean stays within its limits held back by nothing more than a strip of sand, yet human beings, despite every conceivable barrier God has erected, go on revolting against him in stubborn, relentless sin. He first turns this sobering truth on believers, walking through the many barriers God has placed around his own children — gratitude for election and redemption, biblical warnings, painful experiences of sin's consequences, providential interventions, the ordinances of worship, and a tender conscience — yet showing how even saints repeatedly break through all of these, making their sin all the more grievous because it is committed against such overwhelming love. He then addresses sinners with great urgency, pressing home that their guilt is compounded by every mercy, warning, answered prayer, and near-death deliverance they have received — before turning on a dime to proclaim the gospel: since Christ came specifically to save sinners, any person who today knows their guilt and their helplessness to change themselves has every reason to cry out to God for a new heart and trust the promise that whoever comes to Christ will never be cast out.Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on November 16th, 1856.