Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1470
“Shall horses run upon the rock? Will one plow there with oxen?” Amos 6:12.
THESE expressions are proverbs, probably taken from the familiar adages of the country, but, anyhow, right worthy to be used as proverbs. The wiser men become, the more sententious are their utterances, the more terse and full of meaning are their sayings and, therefore, the wisdom of the wise condenses into proverbs and the language of Prophets is sure to abound in them. But a proverb is generally a sword with two edges, or, if such a metaphor might be tolerated, it has many edges, or is all edge and hence it may be turned this way and that way and its back stroke will be as sharp as its direct cut, for every part of it will have force and point. A proverb has often many bearings and you cannot always tell what was the precise meaning of him who uttered it, except by the connection.
Now, I believe that the connection would abundantly tolerate two senses in this place. An ancient commentator asserts that there are seven meanings of it and that any one of them would be consistent with the context. I cannot deny the assertion, for if it is correct, it is only one among many instances of the manifold wisdom of the Word of God. Like those curious carved Chinese balls in which there is one ball within another, so in many a holy text there is sense within sense, teaching within teaching and each one worthy of the Spirit of God.
The first sense of the text I would say just a word or two upon is this—the Prophet is expostulating with ungodly men upon their pursuit of happiness where it can never be found. They were endeavoring to grow rich and great and strong by oppression. The Prophet says, “you have turned judgment into gall and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock.” They had transformed the judgment seat into a place where justice was bought and sold and the Book of the Law was made to be the instrument of chicanery and high-handed fraud. “Yet,” says the Prophet, “there is no gain to be gotten this way—no real profit, no true happiness. As well may horses run upon the rock and oxen plow the sand—it is a foolish attempt, it is labor in vain.”
And truly, dear Hearers, if there are any of you, and probably there are, who try to content yourselves with this world and hope to find a Heaven in the midst of your business and your family without looking upward for it, you labor in vain! If any of you endeavor to find pleasure in sin and think that it will go well with you if you despise the Law of God and seek your own pleasure by breaking the natural laws which concern your body, you will find that you have made a great mistake! You might as well seek for roses in the grottoes of the sea, or look for pearls on the bare pavements of the city! You will find what your soul requires nowhere but in God. To seek after happiness in evil deeds is to plow a rock of granite. To labor after true prosperity by dishonest means is as useless as to till the sandy shore.
“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not?” Young man, you are killing yourself with ambition and if your objective were worthy, we might not be so grieved, but your ambition is selfish—you seek only your own honor and emolument—and this is a poor, poor objective for an immortal soul. And you, too, Sir, are wearing out your life with anxiety—your mind and body both fail you in endeavoring to amass riches, as if a man’s life consisted in the abundance of the things which he possesses! You are plowing a rock! Your avarice will not bring you joy of heart or content of spirit, but will end in failure.
And you, too, who labor to weave a righteousness by your works apart from Christ and fancy that with the diligent use of outward ceremonies you may be able to do the work of the Holy Spirit upon your own heart—you, too, are plowing thankless sand! No harvest will ever repay your self-elected toils. Merit can no more spring from human hands than fruit from an iron rod! The strength of fallen nature exerted at its utmost can never rescue a soul from the storm of wrath which awaits the guilty. You may row hard to bring that galley of yours to shore, but it shall be broken by the fierce storm. Why, then, attempt the impossible when faith would, in a moment, calm the sea and bring the ship to shore?
Woe unto those who kindle a fire, surround themselves with sparks and delight themselves in the blaze of their own kindling, for they shall have this of the Lord—they shall go down in sorrow!
So far, I believe, I have not misread the text, but have mentioned a very probable meaning of the words as they stand in the context. But, still, another strikes me which I think equally suitable and upon it I shall dwell, by God’s help. It is just this. God will not always send His Prophets to warn people, or employ His ministers to call them to repentance. When it turns out that men’s hearts remain obdurate and they do not and will not repent, then God will not always deal with them in mercy. “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” There is a time of plowing, but when it comes to be quite evident that the heart is willfully hardened, then Wisdom, itself, suggests to Mercy that she should give over her efforts. “Shall horses run upon the rock? Will one plow there with oxen?”