Do You Weep For Sinners?

Through the years I have been writing against some of the beliefs and practices of those who call themselves "Primitive" or "Old School" Baptists (aka "Hardshells"). I have chastised them for not praying for the salvation of lost sinners and for lacking real empathy for those who are on the road to destruction. This was not the case, however, with a large number of their founding fathers of the 1820s and 1830s. They did pray and weep over lost sinners. In fact, one song that I have seen in some of their hymn books begins with these words:

Did Christ o’er sinners weep

And shall our cheeks be dry?

Let floods of penitential grief

Burst forth from every eye

This failing to have a genuine sorrow for the lost is not pleasing to the Lord. Notice these texts:

Luke 19:41: "And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it," showing Jesus's sorrow over those who rejected God's love and were lost.

Romans 9:2 & 10:1: Paul expresses "great sorrow and unceasing anguish" for his people, stating, "my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved." 

Lamentations 1:16: "For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me..." The weeping prophet was weeping over the lost condition of his people.

Psalm 126:5-6: "Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him," which shows a sorrow for the lost and for those unharvested.

Jeremiah 9:1: "Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" 

This lack of concern for the lost, and failure to weep for them, is a symptom of a terrible spiritual disease. You will never hear Hardshells praying for sinners and this is proof of their awful state. I pity them and weep for them, for I know it will go ill with them when they stand before the Lord and be judged for these things.