Deuteronomy 23:5

“However, the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.”

To those who are ignorant of the way of salvation, we preach Christ crucified; for “there is no other name under Heaven but his, whereby any man can be saved.”

But to those who are well instructed in the fundamental truths of our holy religion, we bring forward rather what relates to the life of godliness; having laid the foundation, we endeavor to build upon it a suitable superstructure.

Now, a realizing sense of God’s care and love, such a sense of his goodness as leads us to live altogether by faith in him—is one of the sublimest attainments that can be made in this world. And to assist you in this, will be my endeavor at this time.

Let us notice, then, from the words before us,

I. God’s love to his ancient people.

This appeared in bringing them forth out of Egypt, and in preserving them throughout their wanderings in the wilderness; and especially, also, in the instance that is here specified, the counteracting of the designs of Balaam, and “the turning of his curse into a blessing unto them.”

See the account given to us by Moses.

To enter fully into this, the whole history of the transaction, the 22nd, 23nd, and 24th chapters of the Book of Numbers should be attentively perused. Instigated by a desire to obtain “the wages of unrighteousness,” yet conscious that he was under a restraint from the Most High God, Balaam madly pursued his object, even after he was rebuked for his iniquity by the donkey on which he rode, and which, was enabled to utter the reproof in language used by man, 2 Peter 2:15-16. Balaam constantly confesses his inability to go beyond what Jehovah should see fit to permit; yet as constantly sought to evade or change the divine counsels, and to execute the project for which he was hired. Every distinct prophecy which he utters, rises in force and grandeur; and when complained of by Balak for pouring forth blessings upon them, instead of denouncing curses against them, he confesses, “I have received commandment to bless; and God has blessed; and I cannot reverse it, Numbers 23:20.”

At last, finding how vain it was to seek by enchantments to alter the divine purpose, Balaam forbore to offer any more of his sacrifices. and yielded to the impulse within him to foretell the certain successes of those whom he had sought to destroy, Numbers 24:1-9. And, having thus provoked the king of Moab to dismiss him without the promised rewards, Numbers 24:10-14, he resumed his prophetic strains, and declared, not only that this people should triumph over Moab, but that from them should One arise, who should establish a universal empire, and have dominion over the whole world! Numbers 24:15-19.

All this, Joshua brought to the remembrance of Israel, long after they had been established in the land of Canaan; saying, “When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand, Joshua 24:9-10.”

Now all this was the fruit of God’s unchanging love.

God had chosen them to himself in Abraham, and had ordained that they should be to him a peculiar people above all others upon the face of the whole earth. In this choice of them God had been influenced, not by any foreseen worthiness in them; for he knew, from the beginning, what a stiff-necked people they would prove; but solely by his own sovereign will and pleasure, “He loved them because he would love them! Deuteronomy 7:6-9.” To them, also, had he promised the land of Canaan; and therefore, when the time was come for their possession of it, no enemy could stand before them, nor could any conspiracies which could be formed prevail against them. Hence, in despite of all the efforts which Balaam made to curse them—he was constrained to “bless them still.”

From the whole of God’s kindness to them, we may be led to contemplate,

II. God’s love to his elect people at this day.

His people are now redeemed, even as they were of old, only from infinitely sorer bondage, a bondage to sin and Satan, to death and Hell. They are brought also through a dreary wilderness, towards the heavenly Canaan. They have enemies also to contend with. True it is, they have not to dispossess any of their land; nor do they, by invading the property of others, provoke hostility; but they have enemies notwithstanding, yes, and enemies who are bent upon their destruction; but from all of them God will surely deliver his redeemed people.

He will deliver them both from men and devils.

From the beginning of the world have God’s chosen people been opposed and persecuted, even from the time of Abel to the present hour. It was the superior piety of Abel that called forth the resentment of the envious Cain, and stimulated him to imbrue his hands in his brother’s blood, 1 John 3:12. And our Lord puts the question to his malignant enemies, “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?” It might be thought, indeed, that it would be impossible for anyone to hate and persecute the holy Jesus, in whose whole life not a single flaw could be found, and who, by his benevolent and unnumbered miracles, must have endeared himself to every one. But the brighter his light was, the more were the children of darkness incensed against him; so that they never ceased, until they had prevailed against him, and “crucified the Lord of Glory.”

All his Apostles, too, were objects of the world’s hatred; and our Lord has told us, that all his followers will have their cross to bear, after the example which he has set for us. And do we not find it so? Is there a faithful servant of the Lord, especially if he fills any important station, and is active in honoring his Divine Master. Is there one I say, that is not reviled and persecuted for righteousness sake? True, fires are not now kindled, as once they were, to consume them, because the laws of the land forbid it; but it is as true at this day as ever it was in the apostolic age, that “all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

And has the hostility of Satan at all abated? Does not “that roaring lion go about at this day as much as ever, seeking whom he may devour?” What can the Apostle mean, when he says, “We wrestle not with flesh and blood, (not with flesh and blood alone,) but with principalities and powers, and spiritual wickednesses in high places? Ephesians 6:12.” Or for what end are we still enjoined to “put on the whole armor of God? Ephesians 6:13,” if we have not still many enemies to contend with?

But God will preserve us from them all, and “turn their curses into blessings.” “Whatever will ultimately advance our welfare, he will permit; but whatever would have an injurious effect, he will avert; as it is said, “The wrath of man shall praise You, Psalm 76:10.”

We may not see the precise way in which good shall be brought out of evil; Joseph could form no idea of the benefit which was ultimately to accrue from all his trials; nor could Job from his; but they were constrained to acknowledge, that, however designed for evil, the events, every one of them, issued in good; and thus has God engaged, that “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose! Romans 8:28.” And that their “light and momentary afflictions shall work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory! 2 Corinthians 4:17.”

To this Almighty God is pledged, by the love that he bears towards us.

God has loved his people with an everlasting love; and therefore with loving-kindness he both draws us to him, Jeremiah 31:3, and secures our welfare. Now, the record in my text is especially intended by God himself to illustrate and confirm this truth. Hear what God says by the Prophet Micah, “O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord, Micah 6:5.” God is a righteous and faithful God; and he has engaged, that “no weapon that is formed against his people shall prosper,” and that “none shall prevail against them to pluck them out of his hands.” We may be perfectly assured, therefore, that he will keep them to the end; and that “not one jot or tittle of his Word will ever fail.” “Having loved his own, he will love them to the end! John 13:1.”

I close with a word or two of advice.

1. Be not hasty in your anticipations of evil as the result of your trials.

Jacob, on the loss of his favorite son Joseph, exclaimed, “All these things are against me!” But that was the very event which God had ordained for the preservation of himself and his whole family; yes, and for the completion of all his promises respecting the Messiah, and the salvation of the whole world by him. And perhaps that very trial, of which we are ready to complain, is, according to his eternal purpose, to be the destined means of preserving us from destruction, and of preparing us for glory. Wait, and “see the end of the Lord, James 5:11;” and you will find as much reason to bless God for your severest troubles, as for the most acceptable of all his blessings.

2. Learn in every dispensation to acknowledge your heavenly Father’s love.

There is not, in fact, any single trial that does not proceed from God. “Not a hair of your head can fall” but by his gracious permission! Men, devils, yes the very elements, are only instruments in his hands to fulfill his will! Isaiah 10:5; Psalm 148:8. The Jews, in crucifying the Messiah, executed only “what God’s will and counsel had determined before to be done, Acts 4:28;” and, though “they neither meant nor thought so,” they were his agents to accomplish what was necessary for the redemption of God’s people. Men and devils may have prepared a furnace for you; but it is God who puts you into it, to purify you from your dross, and to “bring you forth as vessels fit for the Master’s use.” True, he will punish those agents; as he did Balaam, who was slain among the enemies of God. But you “he will make perfect through sufferings,” and recompense in proportion to all that you have endured for him.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 23:3-4

“No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation. For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to pronounce a curse on you.”

In reading the history of God’s ancient people, we shall do well to notice even the most minute occurrences; since there will scarcely be found one which is not capable of spiritual improvement, or one from which the most important lessons may not be derived. The record before us would be passed over by the generality of readers, as pertaining only to that particular dispensation, and as affording but little instruction for us at this time; yet it does in reality contain as great practical information as can be found in any of the more signal events with which the inspired history abounds.

A thousand years after this record was written, it was referred to, not by accident, as we call it, but by the special direction of Divine Providence; and was made the ground of the most self-denying command that could be given to men; and the ground, also, of the most prompt obedience to that command, that it was possible for fallen man to render.

The Jews after their return from Babylon had formed connections with the heathen that had occupied Judea in their absence; but Nehemiah, determining to rectify this great evil, read to all the people the very words which I have now read to you; and, by his clear and unquestionable inferences from them, prevailed on all the people of the land to “separate themselves from the mixed multitude,” and to act up to the spirit of the injunction there given, Nehemiah 13:1-3. Now it is to the practical improvement of them that I wish to direct your attention; and for that end I shall set before you,

I. The duty of benevolence in general.

Love is a duty.

Love is the very essence of all practical religion. It is in a most peculiar manner inculcated under the Christian dispensation; and it is to be exercised towards every man. God, who is love itself, “makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain both on the just and unjust;” and our duty is to resemble him, and to be “perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect, Matthew 5:44-48.” If we be doubtful how far this precept is to be obeyed, the parable of the good Samaritan gives us a clear and unerring direction, Luke 10:37. No man under Heaven can be so distant from us, but he is entitled to the offices of our love, so far as our opportunities and ability give scope for its exercise.

Love towards others is absolutely indispensable to our acceptance with God.

Whatever else we may possess, yes, whatever we may either do or suffer for the Lord’s sake, if we have not an active principle of love in our hearts, “we are only as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal! 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.” John even appeals to us on this subject, and makes us judges in our own cause, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 1 John 3:17.” In truth, the lack of this principle, whatever else we may possess, will be adduced by our Judge, in the last day, as the ground of our eternal condemnation, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me!’ Matthew 25:41-45.”

Thus, then, as the Moabites and Ammonites are condemned for not administering to the necessities of Israel in the wilderness, so shall we, if we do not exercise benevolence towards our indigent fellow-creatures, to whatever sect or nation they belong, so far as it shall be in our power to afford them the relief which they stand in need of.

Conceiving the general point established, that we should show benevolence to all, I proceed to mark,

II. Our special obligation to exercise it towards God’s ancient people.

The Jews have, at all events, the same claim to our benevolence as any other people whatever. There is no exception made in Scripture with respect to them; and, consequently, if we should fail in establishing their peculiar claims, our main argument would remain in all its force. But they have claims superior to any other people upon earth.

1. We are more indebted to them than to any other people under Heaven.

To whom are we indebted for all the instruction which we have received respecting the way of peace and salvation? We owe it all to the Jews. We know nothing of God and of his Christ, but as it has been revealed to us by Jewish prophets and Apostles; yes, the very Savior himself was of Jewish extraction; and, therefore, in that very fact we may well find a motive to exercise benevolence towards all who are related to him according to the flesh. Such infinite obligations as we owe to that people should surely be requited in acts of love towards their descendants; even as God himself often showed mercy to rebellious Israel for Abraham’s and for David’s sake; and as David for Jonathan’s sake spared Mephibosheth, who must otherwise, as a descendant of Saul, have been involved in the ruin of all his household, 2 Samuel 21:7.

2. The very blessings which we enjoy were taken from them, on purpose that they might be transferred to us.

The Jews were once the only people upon earth who possessed the blessings of salvation. But God, in righteous indignation, cast them off; and, in a way of sovereign grace and mercy, took us Gentiles from a wild olive-tree, and grafted us in upon the stock from which they had been broken, and “from which they had been broken on purpose that we might be grafted in, Romans 11:19-20.” The fact is, that every soul among us, that now derives sap and nourishment from God’s olive-tree, actually occupies, as it were, the place of a Jew, who has been dispossessed of his privileges, in order that we Gentiles might enjoy them.

Now, I would submit it to your own judgment. Suppose a person to have been disinherited by his father, on purpose that I, who had no relation to him, nor any more worthiness in myself than the disinherited offender, might he made his heir; suppose that disinherited son, in a state of extreme distress, should ask alms of you, while I was living in affluence close at hand; would you not refer him to me, as the person who might well be expected to attend to his case, and to relieve his necessities? If I dismissed him from my door as a worthless vagabond, in whose welfare I had no concern, would you not feel surprise and grief, yes, and a measure of indignation too? If I professed to be a man of piety and benevolence, would you not spurn at my profession, as downright hypocrisy?

Now, then, if under such circumstances you would condemn me, know that “you yourself are the man.” For, all that you have of spiritual good was once the exclusive heritage of the Jew; and you are possessing what has been taken from him; yes, you are reveling in abundance, while he is perishing in utter want; and all the obligation which, by your own confession, would attach to me in the case I have stated, is entailed on you; and you, in refusing to fulfill it, are sinning against God, and against your own soul.

3. This very transfer of their blessings to us has been made for the express purpose that we might dispense them to that bereaved people in the hour of their necessity.

True, we are permitted to enjoy them ourselves, yes, and to enjoy them in the richest abundance; but we are particularly entrusted with them for the benefit of the Jews. Hear what God himself has declared on this subject, “Just as you (Gentiles) who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they (Jews) too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you, Romans 11:30-31.”

Now, take again the case before stated; and suppose the man who had disinherited his son, and left me his estate, to have declared in his will, that he left me the estate on purpose that in the hour of his son’s extremity I might show kindness to him, and relieve his necessities; what would you say of me then, if I spurned him from my door, and left him to perish with hunger, when I was myself reveling in all manner of luxurious abundance?

Well, “You are the man!” and what you would say of me, you must say of yourself, as long as you neglect to promote the welfare of God’s ancient people; yes, “out of your own mouth shall you be judged, you wicked servant.”

God has made you a trustee for the Jew; and you have not only betrayed your trust, but left him to perish, when you had in possession all that his soul needs; and which you could impart to him, to the full extent of his necessities, without feeling any sensible diminution of your wealth; yes, when, strange to say! you might increase your wealth by relieving him. Tell me, then, in this view of the matter, whether you have not special obligations to show benevolence to the Jew?

But I must go further, and mark,

III. The more particular obligations which we have to exercise benevolence towards them at this time.

God, by his providence, called the Ammonites and Moabites to show kindness to Israel; and their guilt was greatly aggravated by their manifesting such unwillingness to cooperate with him in his designs of love towards them; and on this account was so heavy a judgment denounced against them, “even to their tenth generation.” And is not God now calling us to concur with him in what he is doing for his ancient people? Yes, I think his call to us is clear and loud. Observe,

1. The interest which is now felt in the Christian world for the restoration of the Jews to God.

This interest is really unprecedented. There have been times when a few people have labored for their welfare; but now there is, throughout Europe and America, a very great and general increase of kindness towards them. They are no longer made the universal objects of hatred and persecution, as in former ages; even where there is no love towards them, there is a great diminution of hostility; and in many instances they have been treated with much liberality and respect by Christian governments, being raised by them to a measure of respect and honor that has not been accorded to them in former times. And for their conversion to Christianity, and their restoration to the divine favor, exertions are making to a considerable extent. And is not this of the Lord? Methinks, such a victory over the prejudices of Christians is scarcely less a work of divine power, than was the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Egyptians; and, as such, it is a call from God to concur with him in his labors of love towards them. See what is at this moment doing among the more pious part of the Christian community, in the circulation of the Scriptures, and especially of the New Testament; and what efforts are making by Christian missionaries for the conversion of the Jews! and I must say, that this is a call from God to us, and that it is no less our privilege, than it is our duty, to obey it.

2. The stir which prevails among the Jews themselves.

This also obtains to a degree unprecedented since the early ages of Christianity. “Truly, there is a stir among the dry bones throughout the whole valley of vision, Ezekiel 37:7-8.” Great numbers of Jews, upon the continent especially, and to a certain extent at home also, begin to think that Christianity may be true; and that that Jesus, whom their fathers crucified, may be the Messiah; and, if they did but know how, in the event of their embracing Christianity, they might support themselves and their families, great multitudes, I doubt not, would pursue their inquiries, until they had attained the true knowledge of their Messiah and of his salvation.

Let me then ask, Whence is this? Is not this the work of God? And is it not an encouragement to us to exert ourselves for their entire conversion? Methinks they are saying to us: “Come over to Macedonia, and help us!” And we ought, one and all of us, according to our ability, to obey the call.

3. The pledges which God has given us in the actual conversion of some to the Christian faith.

If we cannot speak of Pentecostal days, we can declare that God has accompanied his Word with power to the hearts of some; and that “one of a city and two of a tribe” have already, as God has given us reason to expect, Isaiah 17:6, been brought to the saving knowledge of their Messiah. Of those who have embraced “the truth as it is in Jesus,” some have attained to a real eminence in the divine life, and are at this moment not inferior to the most exalted characters in the Christian world. This shows that God is about to rebuild his temple; and surely it does not befit us “to dwell in our paneled houses” at ease Haggai 1:4, when he is so plainly calling upon us to co-operate with him; we should rather “strengthen the hands of those who are laboring in this good work,” and, like Cyrus, afford every possible facility for the accomplishment of this vast and glorious undertaking, Ezra 1:5-7.

We should endeavor to improve “this acceptable time, Isaiah 49:8;” removing to the utmost of our power all obstacles to their conversion, Isaiah 62:10; and laboring, if by any means we may be God’s honored instruments, to bring them home to him, and to present them as “an offering in a clean vessel to the Lord, Isaiah 66:19-20.”

4. The general voice of prophecy.

Prophecy begins to be better understood among us; and it is the united conviction of all who have studied the prophecies, that the time for the restoration and conversion of the Jews is near at hand. The twelve hundred and sixty years spoken of by Daniel, as the period fixed in the divine counsels for the establishment of the Redeemer’s kingdom among them, are, on any computation, nearly expired. Ought we not then, like Daniel, to put forth our prayers to God for the consummation of this great event, and by all possible means to help it forward?

I think, that, putting all these circumstances together: the concern of Christians, the stir among the Jews, the real converts from among them, and the unquestionable ground which is given us in prophecy to expect their speedy conversion; we may regard it all as a call from God, scarcely less powerful than that given to the Moabites and Ammonites of old, to “come to the help of the Lord,” and to labor with all our might for their salvation. In truth, if we do not act thus, we can expect nothing but “the curse of God, Judges 5:23,” and the most lasting tokens of his displeasure.

1. You will say, perhaps, that You have no connection with the Jews, and therefore may well be excused from all concern about them.

But what had the Ammonites and Moabites to do with the Jews? They were descended, not from Abraham, but from Lot, and had never had any fellowship with them. But this was no excuse for their neglect; nor can any similar excuse avail for us.

2. You will reply that it is God’s work, and that it should be left to him to accomplish it in his own time and way.

And might not the Ammonites and Moabites say the same? God not only could, but did, supply Their needs by miracle; but this was no justification of those who refused to them the proper offices of love. Nor will this be any justification of our neglect.

Permit me, in conclusion, to bring two things to your remembrance:

1. That the Ammonites and Moabites had an excuse which you have not.

They might have said: These Israelites are going to extirpate the seven nations of Canaan; and we will not concur in such a work as this. But, in converting the Jews to Christ, we adopt the readiest and most certain way for the salvation of the whole world. If they, then, were excluded from the congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth generation, for their inhumanity—then judge what tokens of God’s displeasure await you for your indifference.

2. That they were condemned for not coming forth, as volunteers, to “meet Israel with bread and water”.

What shall you then be, who are thus entreated and solicited to concur with Jehovah in this good work, if you still refuse your aid, or give it with such indifference, as to show that your heart does not go forth with your hands in the service of the Lord? You remember, that when Nabal said, “Shall I take my bread and my water, and give them to those whom I know not whence they came?” it well near cost him his life; yes, it actually did cost him his life, 1 Samuel 25:11; 1 Samuel 25:21-22; 1 Samuel 25:37-38. And I tremble to think what judgments await you, if you resist our importunity, and refuse to co-operate with God in the work proposed.

But “I hope better things of you, my brethren, though I thus speak;” and I hope and trust that you will henceforth, each according to his ability, be workers together with God for the salvation of God’s ancient people, and through them for the salvation of the whole world.

Let me not be misunderstood; I am far from intending to say that all who have neglected this sacred cause are equally liable to God’s displeasure; for it is but lately that the attention of the Christian world has been called to it; but I think you will agree with me, that it is now high time to exert ourselves for God, and to redeem, as far as possible, the time we have lost. The cause well deserves our most assiduous efforts; and we may be sure that God, who so indignantly resented the supineness of the Ammonites, will richly repay all that we can do for the furtherance of his gracious designs; for he has said, “Blessed is he who blesses you; and cursed is he who curses you.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 21:6-8

“Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for.”

The ceremonial law of the Jews was confessedly figurative and typical in every part; nor was even their judicial law altogether destitute of a spiritual import. The injunction, “not to muzzle the ox that trod out the corn,” appears as void of any, except a literal, meaning, as any law whatever; yet was there in that law a particular reference to the preachers of the Gospel, who were to be supported by the people to whom they ministered.

In the law that we are now to consider, there is indeed a manifest appearance of mystery; and we shall find it by no means unprofitable to consider the mystery contained in it. We shall endeavor then,

I. To explain the ordinance.

In doing this we must notice,

1. Its general design.

God, no doubt, intended by this law, to prevent the commission of murder. The shedding of human blood was, in his eyes, so great a crime, that it must never be pardoned by the civil magistrate. If a willful murderer had fled to a city of refuge, or even to the altar itself, neither the one nor the other was to prove a sanctuary to him; he must be taken thence, and be carried forth for execution. See Numbers 35:31; Numbers 35:33; Deuteronomy 19:11-13 and Exodus 21:14.

In the event of a slain man being found, and the murderer being unknown, this law was to be carried into effect; the elders of the city that was nearest to the slain man, (which, if doubtful, was to be ascertained by measurement,) were, together with the priests, to go to a uncultivated valley, and there slay a heifer, and wash their hands over him, protesting their own innocence, and their inability to discover the offender; and in that manner to implore forgiveness for the guilty land, verse 1-9.

Now this had a tendency to strike a terror into the minds of all the people, to fill them with an abhorrence of murder, to show them what pains would be taken to discover the person who should be guilty of it, and what terrible vengeance he must expect at the hands of God, though he should escape the punishment that he deserved from man.

Somewhat of a similar process prevails among us; a coroner’s inquest is taken whenever a suspicion of murder or of suicide appears to have any just foundation. But there is no comparison between our law and that which existed among the Jews; so far superior was the solemnity of their proceedings; and so much more calculated to beget in the minds of men an abhorrence of the dreadful sin of murder.

But besides this more obvious end of the law, God designed also to provide means for removing guilt from his land. No sooner had the whole world sinned in Adam, than He devised means for their restoration to his favor through the incarnation and death of his only dear Son.

And when “all flesh had corrupted their way before him,” and determined him to execute vengeance upon them, he still waited to be gracious unto them, and sent them messages of mercy by the hands of Noah for the space of a hundred and twenty years.

When the destruction of Nineveh was so imminent, that there remained but forty days before its completion, he sent them a prophet to warn them of their danger, and to bring them to repentance. Thus at all times has God been slow to anger, while the exercise of mercy was his delight.

Now considering the wickedness of the human heart, it could not be but that sometimes murder should have been committed; and God had declared that, in that case, “the land could not be cleansed from blood but by the blood of him who shed it.” Yet, as it must sometimes happen that the criminal could not be discovered, here was a method provided for expiating the guilt, so that God’s judgments might not fall upon any in this world, but only on the criminal himself in the world to come. How amiable does God appear in this view! How plainly may we see in this very ordinance that “judgment is a strange act,” to which he is extremely averse; and that he is rich in mercy unto all those who call upon him!

2. Its particular provisions.

These deserve a minute attention. Some have thought that the heifer which had not drawn in the yoke represented the murderer, the son of Belial, who refused to bear the yoke of God’s law; and that “the uncultivated valley in which he was to be slain, denoted the worthlessness of the criminal’s character, or the disagreeableness of the business.” But we apprehend that much more was designed by these particular appointments.

The heifer that had not drawn in the yoke represented Christ, who, though he died under the curse of the law, had no previous obligation to do so, but did it voluntarily, giving himself freely for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. Compare Numbers 19:2 and Ephesians 5:2. His death marked the utter excision which the murderer deserved; and the uncultivated valley in which the heifer’s neck was broken, marked the desolation, which the land itself merited for the transgression that had been committed. See Psalm 107:34 and Hebrews 6:8.

Thus, the victim, the death, the place, all conspired to impress the minds of the beholders with the malignity of the offence, which required such a sacrifice; while the presence of the priests, which was especially required, (not to officiate themselves, but to overlook and direct the offices of others,) intimated the indispensable necessity of seeking pardon precisely in God’s appointed way, and not in any method of their own devising, Deuteronomy 17:8-12.

To this sacrifice was to be added a public profession of their personal innocence, and, at the same time, a public acknowledgment of their national guilt; they must profess their innocence both by an appropriate sign, (washing their hands over the slain heifer,) and an express declaration; and they must acknowledge their guilt, with earnest supplications for mercy and forgiveness.

Thus, namely, by their protestations and petitions, did they show to all that, as God would “not hear those who regarded iniquity in their hearts,” so neither would he punish any, who would humble themselves before him in his appointed way. Truly, in this view, the ordinance, though merely judicial, was most interesting and most instructive.

The mystical import of the ordinance being explained, we proceed,

II. To point out some lessons which may be learned from it.

We of course pass over those things which are less appropriate, and fix our attention upon those which seem to arise most naturally out of the subject before us.

We may learn then,

1. The importance of preventing or punishing sin.

The concurrence of the elders and the priests in this ordinance shows, that magistrates and ministers should unite their efforts for the preservation of the public morals, and the averting of guilt from the land in which they dwell. To discourage, detect, and punish evil, should be their constant endeavor; that the interests of society may not suffer, and that the honor of God may be maintained. The magistrate ought “not to bear the sword in vain;” he should be “a terror to evil-doers, and a revenger to execute wrath upon them;” and though it does not comport so well with the ministerial office to be exercising civil authority, the minister should be forward on every occasion to aid and stimulate to the utmost of his power those whom God has ordained to be his viceregents upon earth. Were such a cooperation more common, the flagrant violations of the Sabbath, and a thousand other enormities which are daily committed in our streets, would vanish at least from public view, and in a great measure be prevented.

But it is not only public sin which should be thus discountenanced; the crimes perpetrated in secret, and especially the hidden abominations of our own hearts, should be carefully investigated by us, and unreservedly suppressed. Every one should consider sin, of whatever kind it be, as that “abominable thing which God hates;” and should remember, that, though it should never be detected and punished in this world. God will expose it in the world to come, and manifest his righteous indignation against all who commit it. Then at least, if not now, “our sin will find us out;” and therefore it befits us now with all diligence to search and try ourselves, and to beg of God also to “search and try us, to see if there be any wicked way in us, and to lead us in the way everlasting!”

2. The comfort of a good conscience.

The people who were thus solemnly to assert their innocence in the presence of God, would doubtless feel happy that they were able to make their appeal to him in truth. To do so with respect to all sin, would be impossible, because “there is no man that lives and sins not;” but with respect to allowed and indulged sin, we all ought to be able to call God to witness that we are free from it. We must be Israelites indeed, and without any allowed deceit. And O! what a comfort is it when we can say with Job, “O God, you know I am not wicked! Job 10:7.”

Such was the comfort enjoyed by Paul, “Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conduct in the world, 2 Corinthians 1:12;” When indeed we can make that appeal to God, we should do it with holy fear and jealousy, lest there should, after all, be some sin undiscovered by us. We should say with Paul, “Though I know nothing by myself—yet am I not hereby justified; but he who judges me is the Lord, 1 Corinthians 4:4.”

We may see in the instance of Pilate how awfully a man may deceive his own soul; he washed his hands before the multitude, and said, “I am free from the blood of this just person;” but his reluctance to commit sin could not excuse the actual commission of it; any more than the washing of his hands could cleanse his soul. Nevertheless we should labor to “keep a conscience void of offence,” and so to have every evil disposition mortified, as to be able constantly to say with David, “I will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord, and so will I come to your altar, Psalm 26:6.”

3. The efficacy of united faith and prayer.

As great as the guilt of murder was, the Lord declared that it should not be imputed to the land, if this ordinance were duly complied with. And what sin is there that shall be imputed to us, if we look by faith to that great Sacrifice which was once offered for sin, and implore mercy from God “as his redeemed people?” Not even murder itself should be excepted, if the forgiveness of it were diligently sought in this manner. Hear how David prayed, after the murder of Uriah, “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, you God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness! Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow! Psalm 51:2; Psalm 51:7; Psalm 51:14.” O glorious truth! “Though our sins be as crimson, they may be made white as snow.”

Beloved brethren, see your guilt as already irrevocably contracted; see the judgments of God hanging over you; see death ready to execute its commission, and the jaws of Hell opening to swallow you up. And now turn your eyes to the “heifer slain in the uncultivated valley,” and averting from you the wrath of an offended God; in that heifer, see the Lord Jesus Christ, who has “redeemed you from the curse of the law, being made a curse for you.” To you, even to you, that blessed Redeemer says, “Look unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!” O look to Him, plead with him, trust in him! and “he will never cast you out.” This is “the violence by which the kingdom of Heaven is taken,” even the violence of faith and prayer; and this force shall never be exerted in vain! Matthew 11:12.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 18:13

“You must be blameless (KJV “perfect”) before the LORD your God.”

It seems strange that any who have ever heard of Jehovah, should need to be put on their guard against alienating their hearts from him, and placing their affections on any created object in preference to him; but the Israelites, who had seen all his wonders in Egypt and in the wilderness, were ever prone to depart from him, even as we also are, notwithstanding all that we have heard respecting that infinitely greater redemption which he has given to us through the incarnation and death of his only dear Son.

Permit me, therefore, to remind you, as Moses reminded the people committed to his charge, that you must on no account, and in no degree, transfer to the creature the regards which are due to your Maker alone; since his injunction to you, and to every man, is, “You shall be perfect with the Lord your God.”

In order to bring home to your hearts and consciences this solemn injunction, I will,

I. Unfold its import.

As for absolute perfection, there is no hope of attaining it in this world. Job himself, whom God pronounced a “perfect man Job 1:1; Job 1:8,” declared, that if he should arrogate to himself a claim of absolute perfection, his own mouth would condemn him, and prove him perverse, Job 9:20-21. But uprightness there is, and must be, in all who shall be approved of their God. In this sense, we must be perfect with the Lord our God:

1. In love to his name.

We are commanded to “love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength.” And every one of us should be able to say with David, “Whom have I in Heaven but you? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides you! Psalm 73:25.”

2. In trust in his care.

Whatever our trials be, there should be no leaning either upon our own strength or on any created power; for “cursed is the man that makes flesh his arm, whose heart departs from the Lord his God, Jeremiah 17:5.” Our trust should be in God alone; and on him should we rely without the smallest measure of diffidence or fear. Our continual boast should be, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear what either men or devils can do against me!”

3. In zeal for his glory.

As we have received our all from him, so we should improve everything for him. We should live entirely for our God; and, if only he may be glorified in us, it should be a matter of indifference to us, whether it be by life or by death.

Are we called to act? We must resemble Asa, who, with impartial energy, dethroned his own mother for her idolatry, and ground her idols to dust! 1 Kings 15:13.

Are we called to suffer? We should yield our bodies to be burned, rather than swerve a hair’s breadth from the path of duty, Daniel 3:17-18. In the whole of our Christian course we should be “pressing forward continually towards the goal, if by any means we may obtain from God the prize of our high calling.” This is the true nature of Christian perfection, Philippians 3:15.

Such being the injunction, I will proceed to,

II. Enforce its authority.

Without real integrity before God, we can have,

1. No comfort in our souls.

A man may, by aN excessive conceit of his own attainments, buoy himself up with somewhat of a pleasing satisfaction respecting his state; but there will be secret misgivings in hours of reflection, and especially in that hour when he is about to enter into the immediate presence of his God.

Even at present, an insincere man feels no real delight in God; and a consciousness of that, will occasionally disturb his ill-acquired peace. But the man whose heart is right with God will have a holy confidence before him; according as the Psalmist has said, “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace, Psalm 37:37.” Hezekiah’s blissful retrospect, if not in its full extent—yet in good measure, will be his, “I beseech you, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight, 2 Kings 20:3.”

2. No stability in our ways.

“A double-minded man will be unstable in all his ways, James 1:8.” Let but a sufficient temptation arise, and he will turn aside, even as Demas did, to the indulgence of his besetting sin. The stony-ground hearers, for lack of a root of integrity within themselves, will fall away; and the thorny-ground hearers, not being purged from secret lusts, will never bring forth fruit unto perfection. It is “the honest and good heart” alone that will approve itself steadfast unto the end. But the upright man God will uphold under every temptation; as an inspired prophet has assured us, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him, 2 Chronicles 16:9.”

3. No acceptance with our God.

We may deceive ourselves, but we cannot deceive our God, “to him all things are naked and open;” and, however we be admired by our fellow-creatures, he will discern our true state; as he did that of the Church at Sardis; of whom he says, “I know that you have a name to live, but are dead; for I have not found your ways perfect before God, Revelation 3:1-2.” It is to no purpose to dissemble with him; for “he searches the heart and tries the thoughts, and will give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings, Jeremiah 17:10.”

Address,

1. Those who are unable to ascertain with confidence their real state.

Surely you should not allow this to remain in doubt. Look into the Scriptures; and you will find in the saints of old a well-grounded persuasion that they had passed from death unto life. Real uprightness is like light, which carries its own evidence along with it. I would not encourage an ill-founded confidence; nor would I, on the other hand, encourage that kind of distrust which puts away the consolations provided for us in the Gospel. Examine yourselves as before God; and never rest until you have the testimony of God’s Spirit, that you are Israelites indeed, in whom is no deceit.

2. Those who have an inward evidence that their hearts are right with God.

What is there under Heaven that can equal such a blessing as this? Paul himself had no greater joy, 2 Corinthians 1:12. For you, brethren, death has no sting, and the day of judgment itself no terror. You may look and long for the coming of your Lord. Be thankful then; and let the brightness of your prospects increase your vigilance in the path of duty, that “you may never fall, but have an entrance ministered unto you abundantly into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! 2 Peter 1:10-11.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 16:3

“Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.”

Of all the facts recorded in the Old Testament, the Resurrection of our blessed Lord created the most general and intense interest; because, by that, the hopes of his enemies were blasted, and the fears of his followers were dispelled.

We may judge of the emotions that were excited by it from this circumstance, that, when two of the disciples, in their way to Emmaus, had seen their Lord, and had returned to Jerusalem to inform their brethren, they, on entering the room where they were assembled together, found them all saying one to another with most joyous exultation, “The Lord is risen indeed! the Lord is risen indeed! Luke 24:1-3; Luke 24:30-34.”

Between that and the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, there is a strict analogy. In fact, the deliverance from Egypt was typical of our redemption by Christ; and, as God required that the people of Israel should remember the one to their last hour, so does he expect that we should remember the other “all the days of our life.”

The words which I have read to you are assigned by Moses as the end for which the paschal feast, and the feast of unleavened bread, were instituted; namely, to keep up in the minds of that people, to their last posterity, the remembrance of the typical deliverance.

With the same object in view, I would now call your attention to the Resurrection of our blessed Lord. Beloved brethren, it is a subject of supreme importance; and to every one of you I would say,

I. Treasure it up in your minds.

There was good reason why the Jews should remember their deliverance from Egypt.

Most grievous was their bondage there, Exodus 3:7; and most wonderful were God’s interpositions for them. The ten plagues, and the passage of the Red Sea, etc. Never, from the beginning of the world, had God exerted himself in behalf of any people as he did for them, Deuteronomy 4:32-34. There was good reason, therefore, why so singular a mercy should be had in everlasting remembrance.

But far greater reason is there why we should bear in mind the resurrection of our blessed Lord.

Far more grievous was our bondage to sin and Satan, death and Hell. And infinitely more wonderful were the means used for our deliverance—the incarnation and death of God’s only-begotten Son. Yes, and infinitely more blessed the outcome of it—not mere temporal benefits in Canaan, but everlasting happiness in Heaven! Shall we, then, ever forget this? Would not the “very stones cry out against us?”

Yet, dwell not on it as a mere fact, but,

II. Improve it in your lives.

The Jews, in remembrance of their redemption, were to kill the Passover lamb, and to keep the feast of unleavened bread verse 1-3. Just so, if we would answer God’s end in our deliverance, we must improve it:

1. By a renewed application to that sacrifice by which the deliverance was obtained.

It was by sprinkling the blood of the paschal lamb on the door-posts and lintels of their houses, that the Jews obtained deliverance from the sword of the destroying angel, Deuteronomy 12:21-24. Just so, to the blood of Christ, who is “the true paschal sacrifice,” must we apply, “sprinkling it on our hearts and consciences, Hebrews 10:22,” and expecting from it the most perfect deliverance, Psalm 51:7. To those who use these means, there is no danger, 1 John 1:7. But to those who neglect to use them, there is no escape! Hebrews 2:3.

2. By more diligent endeavors after universal holiness.

What the meaning of the unleavened feast was, we are told by the Apostle Paul, who urges us to carry into effect what that typified, “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth! 1 Corinthians 5:7-8.”

In vain we keep the Passover, if we do not also keep the feast of unleavened bread; they are absolutely inseparable. The very end for which Christ redeemed us, was, “that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works! Titus 2:14.” Just so, if we would reap the full benefit of his resurrection, “we must seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God! Colossians 3:1.” This was designed by God in the appointment of the feast we have been speaking of, Exodus 13:8-10; and the same is designed in the mercy given to us Romans 14:9.

In conclusion, then, I say,

Be thankful to God for the special call which is now given you to observe this day. If to the Jews it was said, “This is a night to be much observed to the Lord, for bringing them out of the land of Egypt; this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations, Exodus 12:42;” then how much more may it be said to us! Methinks, any man who kept the Passion-week, as it is appointed to be observed among us, could scarcely fail of attaining the salvation of his soul; so plain are the instructions given us throughout the whole course of our services, and so exclusively is Christ held forth to us as “the way, the truth, and the life.”

My dear brethren, we really are great losers by our neglect of these seasons. Doubtless they may be observed with superstitious formality; but they may be kept with infinite profit to the soul. And I beg of you not to let the present opportunity pass away without a suitable improvement. But, as David said, with a direct reference to the Savior’s resurrection, “This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it Psalm 118:22-24.” Just so, engage with your whole souls in securing the blessings which the Redeemer’s triumphs, as on this day, have obtained for us.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 15:16-17

“But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant.”

The work of redemption was typified, not only by stated proclamations of liberty every fiftieth year, which was called the year of jubilee—but also by provision that all Hebrew servants, for whatever cause they had become bond-men, should be liberated from their bondage after the expiration of six years. But it would sometimes happen that a person might be so well pleased with his situation as not to wish to leave it, but to prefer it before that to which he was entitled. For such cases particular provision was made by God himself; and a very singular rite was appointed for the ratification of his purpose; on declaring before a magistrate that he chose to continue his master’s bond-servant, his master was to bore his ear through with an awl to the door or door-post; and the servant could never afterwards claim his liberty until the year of jubilee.

We should not have ventured to annex any great importance to this ordinance, if the inspired writers themselves had not led the way. But we apprehend that they refer to it as a type; and in that view we conceive it deserves peculiar attention. We shall endeavor therefore to point out to you,

I. Its typical reference.

It is well known that our Savior, as Mediator between God and man, was the Father’s servant, Isaiah 42:1; John 12:49; in this capacity he set himself wholly to do the Father’s will, John 4:34; and never for one moment admitted so much as a thought of relinquishing his service, until he could say, “I have finished the work which you have given me to do.”

Let us briefly notice this at the different periods of his humiliation.

At his incarnation. When the fullness of time was come, and the season had arrived when he must assume our fallen nature in order to execute the work assigned to him, though he must empty himself of all his glory, and leave his Father’s bosom, and “make himself of no reputation, and take upon him the form of a servant,” and be “made in the likeness of sinful flesh,” and bear all the infirmities (the sinless infirmities) of our nature, he would not go back from the engagements which he had entered into with his Father, but condescended to he born of a virgin, and to become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He loved the work he had undertaken; he delighted in the prospect of glorifying his Father, and saving our ruined race; and accounted no condescension too great for the accomplishing of this stupendous purpose.

At the time of his sufferings and death, he still persisted in his resolution to do and suffer all that was necessary for our redemption. He often forewarned his disciples of the precise sufferings which he was to endure; and when one of the most highly favored among them endeavored to dissuade him from his purpose, he reproved him with great severity, Matthew 16:21-23, determining never to recede until he had completed the work which he had engaged to perform.

When, under the pressure of inconceivable agonies, his human nature began, as it were, to fail, he still maintained his steadfastness, “Not my will, but may yours be done.” Had it pleased him, even when apprehended by his enemies, or hanging on the cross, to terminate his sufferings before the time, he might have had legions of angels sent for his deliverance, Matthew 26:53-54; but he would not allow the cup to pass from him until he had drunk it to the lowest dregs.

All this, it may be said, is very true; but what relation has it to the point before us? We answer, that this steadfastness of his in performing engagements, which without any necessity on his part he had undertaken, was the very thing typified in the ordinance we are now considering.

The Psalmist expressly speaking of Christ’s appointment to make that atonement for sin which the Mosaic sacrifices only prefigured, says, (in allusion to the ordinance before us,) that God the Father had “opened, or bored, the ears” of his servant, Psalm 40:6-8. And Paul, citing that very passage, quotes it, not in the same precise words, but according to their true meaning, “Sacrifice and burnt-offering you did not desire; but a body have you prepared for me, Hebrews 10:5-7.”

Moreover both the inspired writers go on to mark in the strongest terms the determination of heart with which the Messiah should fulfill, and actually did fulfill, the inconceivably arduous task which he had undertaken. Note the varied expressions, “Lo, I come; I delight to do your will, O my God; yes, your law is within my heart.” These, applied as they are to the whole of the Messiah’s humiliation, (Hebrews 10:8-10) mark strongly his determination as grounded upon love.

Trusting that we have not been guided by fancy in our interpretation of this type, let us inquire into,

II. The practical instruction to be deduced from it.

As a civil ordinance, it seems to have been well calculated to instill into the minds both of masters and servants a strict attention to each other’s happiness and welfare, so that neither of them might ever wish for a dissolution of their mutual bonds. (And O! that our present consideration of it might be so improved by all who sustain either of those relations!) But, as a typical ordinance, it must, in its practical improvement, have a wider range.

Our blessed Lord has not only redeemed us to God by his blood, but has also “set an example for us, that we should follow in his steps.” Hence it is evident that we should:

1. Love the service of our God.

We should not account any of “his commandments grievous,” or say concerning any precept of his, “This is a hard saying.” He himself has told us that “his yoke is easy, and his burden is light;” and we acknowledge that his service to be perfect freedom. Such was the language of David, “O how I love your law!” “I esteem your commandments concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.” Let it “not then be of constraint that you serve him, but willingly and of a ready mind.” And if you foresee difficulties and trials in your way, be not ashamed; but give up yourself unreservedly to God, and adopt the language of the Messiah himself, “Lo, I come; I delight to do your will, O my God; yes, your law is within my heart!”

2. Adhere to it steadfastly to the last hour of your life.

Many reasons might have operated on the mind of a servant to prevent him from perpetuating his bondage. He might fear an alteration in the behavior of his master, and comfort himself with the idea of liberty.

In like manner we may paint to ourselves many trials that may be avoided, and many gratifications that maybe enjoyed, by declining the service of God. But let no considerations operate upon your minds; you shall lose no gratification that shall not be far overbalanced by the comfort of a good conscience; nor suffer any trial, which shall not be recompensed with a proportionable weight of glory in a better world.

You are not likely to lose more than Paul; yet he says, “Whatever was gain to me, that I counted loss for Christ; yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of him.” You are not likely to suffer more than he, yet he says:

“But none of these things move me; neither do I count my life dear unto myself.”

Thus let it be with you, “Be not weary in well-doing;” but “cleave unto the Lord with full purpose of heart.”

“Be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in his work.”

“Be faithful unto death, and he shall give you a crown of life!”

Address,

1. Those who have already declined from the Lord’s ways.

I ask not what sufferings you have avoided, or what pleasures you have gained. This only will I ask: Are you as happy as you were? I am content to put the whole to the issue; and to abide by the decision of your own conscience. I know that though a conscience may be seared, a soul cannot be happy that departs from God. O think what a Master you have slighted; and say, “I will return unto my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.”

2. Those who are doubting whether to devote themselves to God or not.

Many there are who, seeing the necessity of serving God, are contriving how they may do it with the least risk or trouble to themselves. They are thinking to “serve both God and Mammon.” But this is impossible, because the two services are opposite and inconsistent.

Let us not however be misunderstood. We may, and must, fulfill our duties in the world, yes, and fulfill them diligently too; but God alone must be our Lord and Governor. He will not accept such a measure of our affection and service as the world will deign to allow him; but says, “My son, give me your heart,” your whole heart. Every interest of ours, and every wish, must be subordinated to his will. Determine this then with yourselves, that you will be his, wholly and forever. Let your ears be bored to his door-post; and let, not your actions merely, but your very thoughts, be henceforth kept in a willing captivity to him. “If Baal is God, serve him; but if the Lord is God, then serve him!”

3. Those who profess themselves his willing and devoted servants.

Show to the world that his service is a reasonable and a delightful service. Let not the difference between you and others be found merely in some foolish peculiarities, but in a holy, heavenly life. And be not mournful and dejected, as if God were a hard master; but “serve him with gladness and joyfulness of heart,” that all around you may see the comforts of true religion, and know, from what they behold in you, that the Church militant and Church triumphant are one; one in occupation, and one in joy.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 15:12-15

“If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.”

Benevolence characterized the whole of the Jewish law; as well of that law which regulated the state, as of that which was to govern the souls of individuals. Some things indeed were tolerated under that dispensation which do not accord with the more sublime morality of the Gospel. Polygamy and divorce were allowed, on account of the hardness of the people’s hearts, and in order to prevent the still greater evils which would have resulted from the entire prohibition of them. Slavery also was permitted for the same reasons; but still there were restraints put upon men in relation to these things, and many regulations were framed, to counteract the abuses which were likely to flow from the licence afforded them. It was permitted to men to purchase slaves, and that even from among their brethren. But an express command was given, that no man should “rule over them with rigor;” that every slave should be liberated after six years of service; and that ample provision should be made for him on his dismissal, in order that he might be able in the future to support himself. It is of this ordinance that we are now to speak; and in it we may see,

I. An encouraging emblem.

As the whole of the ceremonial law, so parts also of the judicial law, were of a typical nature. This appointment in particular emblematically represented two things:

1. The redemption which God gives to his people.

Both Scripture and experience attest, that all mankind are in a state of bondage. They are “tied and bound with the chain of their sins;” they are “led captive by the devil at his will.” But the time has come when we are permitted to assert our liberty. The Lord Jesus Christ has “proclaimed liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;” and it must be by our own voluntary consent alone that we can be retained any longer in our former bondage.

Whatever had been the occasion of the Hebrew servant’s bondage, whether he had sold himself through poverty, or been sold by a relentless creditor to pay his debts, or been sentenced to such a punishment by the civil magistrate for his crimes, he was equally free the very moment that the six years of his servitude were expired.

Thus it is with us; there is no room to ask in desponding strains, “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? Isaiah 49:24-25.” For the truth now sounds in our ears, and “the truth shall make us free! John 8:32.” As surely as ever Moses was sent to the oppressed Israelites to deliver them, so surely are the tidings of salvation now sent to us; and though our tyrannical master may use his utmost efforts to keep us in subjection, he shall not prevail. The Lord Jesus Christ has come to deliver us; and “if the Son makes us free, we shall be free indeed! John 8:36.”

2. The mercy which God exercises towards his redeemed people.

There was a direction given to Moses, that the people at their departure from Egypt should “borrow of their neighbors jewels of silver and jewels of gold, and that they should plunder the Egyptians.” “When you go,” said God to them, “you shall not go empty, Exodus 3:21-22.” In like manner this injunction was given to the Hebrew master, at the time when he should be required to liberate his slave, “When you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.”

Is it not thus that God deals with his redeemed people? “Does he require any man to go a warfare at his own charges?” True it is, he does not set up his people with a stock of grace, that they may afterwards live independent of him; but “he will supply all their need” out of the fullness which he has treasured up for them in Christ Jesus; and “out of that fullness they shall all receive, even grace upon grace, Colossians 1:19 with John 1:16.” Yes assuredly, this picture shall be realized in all who receive your liberty from sin by sincerely trusting in Christ; for “those who fear the Lord shall lack nothing that is good.”

But besides this emblematical representation, there is in the test,

II. An instructive lesson.

The Hebrew masters were bidden to “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today,” and that on that very account God had given them this command in relation to their slaves. From hence it appears, that we are to regard God’s mercies,

1. As a pattern for our imitation.

When Israel were groaning under their burdens in Egypt, God said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people; I know their sorrows;” and on another occasion we are told, “His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel, Judges 10:16.” And when once they were liberated from their bondage, what incessant kindness did he show them, administering to all their needs, and fulfilling all their desires! This was the conduct which the Hebrew masters were to imitate; and this tenderness, this compassion, this sympathy, this love, is to characterize his people to the end of time. Remarkable is that direction given us by the Apostle Paul, “Be imitators of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ has loved us, Ephesians 5:1-2.” Here the same principle is established; we are to imitate God in all his imitable perfections, and especially in that which is the crown and summit of them all, unbounded love. We are, as far as it is possible for finite creatures to do it, to tread in the very steps of Christ himself, and to follow him even in that stupendous effort of love, his dying on the cross; for John, having spoken of his “love in laying down his life for us,” adds, “And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren, 1 John 3:16.”

What an object for our ambition is here! O that we might be satisfied with nothing short of this! That instead of admiring ourselves on account of more common exercises of love, we might rather see how defective we are even in our best duties; and might learn to overlook all past attainments as nothing, and to be pressing forward for higher degrees of conformity to our God and Savior! Philippians 3:13-15.

2. As a motive for our exertion.

The mercy given to the Jewish nation was to operate on all of them as an incentive to obedience; and, as God has required acts of love to our brethren as the best evidence of our love to him, it is in that more especially that we must endeavor to requite the loving-kindness of our God. The man that grudges a few pence to a fellow-servant after having been forgiven by his Lord a debt of ten thousand talents, can expect nothing but indignation from the hands of God! Matthew 18:32-34.

The true spirit of God’s redeemed people was well exemplified in the Apostle Paul, when he declared, “The love of Christ constrains us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again.” If then we have any hope that we ourselves have been partakers of saving mercy, let us feel our obligations, and say with David, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits that he has done unto me?” And, if we have in ourselves an evidence that God has “bought us with a price,” let us strive to the uttermost to “glorify him with our bodies and our spirits, which are his! 1 Corinthians 6:20.”

Address,

1. Those who are yet in bondage to sin and Satan.

Why should you continue in bondage another day? May not the past time suffice to have served such hard masters? and is not liberty at this moment proclaimed to you? “Behold, this is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation.” Think not of the difficulties that are in your way, but of the power that will enable you to surmount them. He who rescued Israel from Egypt yet lives; and “will show himself strong in behalf of all who call upon him.”

If you continue in your bondage. O think of the wages that you will receive! “the wages of sin is death!” But if you receive your liberty from sin by sincerely trusting in Christ—then you shall be numbered among “the freemen of the Lord,” and have him for your portion in time and in eternity!

2. Those who profess to have been freed from their bondage.

You have seen wherein you are to glorify your God. Remember, that it is in common life especially you are to show forth the power of divine grace. Let it be seen in your households, that you are enabled to walk worthy of your high calling. It is in your families that the truth and excellence of your Christian principles is to be displayed. It is easy enough to be kind and liberal abroad; but look to it that these graces are exercised at home. Let your wife and children reap the benefit of your conversion. Let love be in your hearts, and the law of kindness in your lips. Show that your religion is an operative principle in your life at home. Know that a profession of religion without such an exhibition of its power, will be accounted no better than hypocrisy either by God or man! If you would be approved of God at last, you must “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 15:7-11

“If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

The existence of various ranks and orders among men is the necessary consequence of civilization. A perfect equality among them is impossible in the nature of things; nor, if it were made to exist, could it continue for any time. An inequality of condition is even far more conducive to the general good, not only in that it tends to keep up a due subordination of the lower to the higher classes, but that it binds all the classes of men together by the ties of mutual usefulness and dependence. Even in the state that was formed by God himself, it was ordained that such a diversity of ranks should exist “The poor shall never cease out of the land,” verse 11. Still, however, it never was the divine intention that some should be left destitute of all the comforts of life, while others rioted in opulence and prodigality. To prevent this he commanded his people to forgive the poor their debts at the year of release. He assigns as his reason for this ordinance. “to the end that there may be no poor among you,” verses 3, 4; and required all who should enjoy a comparative state of affluence, to relieve the poor and indigent.

In discoursing on the words before us, we shall consider,

I. The duty enjoined.

God commanded his people to exercise liberality to the poor.

He had appointed every seventh year to be a year of release, verses 1, 2. By this means the poor could not be oppressed for any length of time. But this very law might also tend to the disadvantage of the poor. To prevent any such evil consequence, God ordered that his people should be equally favorable to the poor notwithstanding the year of release. He enjoined the rich to lend to the poor, even under a moral certainty of losing their debt. Yes, they were to perform this duty in a bountiful and willing manner.

His injunctions to the Jews are, as far as it respects the spirit of them, equally binding upon us.

God requires us to “do good and lend, hoping for nothing again, Luke 6:35.” And certainly this is our duty. The relation which the poor bear to us necessarily involves in it this obligation. They are four times in the text called “our brethren.” The force of this idea is admirably expressed in Job 31:15-19, and it is further confirmed by the words of our Lord, Matthew 25:40. The Scriptures at large, as well as the immediate expressions in the text, inculcate this duty in the strongest terms, “You shall not harden your heart or your hand. You shall surely lend. You shall surely give. I command you saying. You shall open your hand wide,” etc. See this enjoined:

on all generally, Luke 11:41;

on all individually, 1 Corinthians 16:2;

and in the most solemn manner, 1 Timothy 6:17. “I charge you,” etc.

The manner also of performing this duty is as strongly enjoined as the duty itself. We must act bountifully towards the poor, proportioning our alms to our own ability, and, as far as possible, to their necessities “You shall open your hand wide. You shall lend him sufficient for his need.” See:

true bountifulness defined, 2 Corinthians 8:12;

true bountifulness exemplified, 2 Corinthians 8:2;

true bountifulness encouraged, 2 Corinthians 9:6.

We must also administer relief cheerfully. Grudging and niggardly thoughts are apt to arise in our minds; but they proceed from a “wicked heart;” and must be guarded against with all possible circumspection. “Beware that your eye be evil against your poor brother. Beware that your heart shall not be grieved when than give,” etc. See similar directions in Romans 12:8; 1 Timothy 6:18. “Ready to distribute; willing to give.” Our alms are then only acceptable to God, when they are offered with a willing heart, 2 Corinthians 9:7.

To call forth a just sense of our duty, let us consider,

II. The arguments with which it is enforced.

Waving all other arguments that might be adduced, we shall confine our attention to those specified in the text. There are two considerations urged as inducements to the performance of this duty:

1. The danger of neglecting this duty to the poor.

Men are apt to think themselves sole proprietors of what they have; but, in fact, they are only God’s stewards. The poor have, from God’s command, a claim upon us; and when their distresses are not relieved, he will hear their complaints. He expressly warns us that, “when they cry to him, it shall be sin to us.” Our guilt contracted by lack of liberality, shall surely be visited upon our own heads; it shall bring upon us the execration of our fellow-creatures, Proverbs 28:27, a dereliction from our God, Proverbs 21:13, yes, an everlasting dismissal from his presence and glory, Matthew 25:41-43. Who that reflects a moment on these consequences, will not “beware” of indulging a disposition that must infallibly entail them upon him?

2. The reward of practicing this duty to the poor.

Heaven cannot be purchased by almsgiving; and to think it could, would be a most fatal delusion. Nevertheless God has annexed a blessing to the performance of this duty, “For this thing the Lord your God shall bless you in all that you do.” Supposing our motives and principles be such as the Gospel requires, and our alms be really the fruits of faith and love—the Scriptures assure us that they shall be followed with:

Temporal blessings, Luke 6:35, and Proverbs 3:9-10.

Spiritual blessings, Isaiah 58:7; Isaiah 58:10-11.

Eternal blessings, Luke 16:9; Luke 14:14; 1 Timothy 6:19; Matthew 25:34-35.

Yes, God, speaking after the manner of men, condescends to say, that we make him our debtor; and to promise, that He will repay us the full amount of whatever we give to others for his sake, Proverbs 19:17 and 2 Corinthians 9:6. What greater encouragement can we have than such assurances as these?

APPLICATION.

The occasion on which we now solicit your alms, is urgent; the objects of distress are many. The season is inclement. Work is scarce. Needs are numerous. There are few to administer relief.

Consider then:

The urgency of the call.

The danger of non-compliance.

The blessings promised.

And especially, the great account to be given.

Guard against a grudging spirit; and act towards the poor at this time, as you, in a change of circumstances, would think it right for them to act towards you.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 13:6-11

“If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.”

There is a striking difference between the laws of man and the laws of God; those which are framed by human legislators, proportion always the sanctions to the influence which crimes have upon the public welfare; whereas those laws enacted by our heavenly Lawgiver, mark with greater severity the evils which more immediately affect His own honor and glory.

If one man robbed or maimed another, his law required only a four-fold restitution, or the infliction of a punishment precisely similar to the injury sustained. But if a man, even the dearest relative they had, should only propose to any of his people to worship another God in preference to Jehovah, he must instantly be brought before the magistrates, and, on conviction of the offence, be stoned to death.

It will be proper to consider this ordinance in a two-fold view;

I. As a temporary enactment.

This enactment, or law, appears at first sight to be severe; but we undertake to show that:

1. This law was just, as it respected the individual.

The greatest crimes against any human government are treason and murder; and, by the general consent of mankind, the principals who are found guilty of those crimes are put to death. Now, in the tempting of men to idolatry, both of these crimes were contained:

there was treason against the King of kings;

and there was murder, not indeed of the bodies, but of the souls, of men.

The person who made the proposal, did by that very act endeavor to draw men from their allegiance to God, and to engage them on the side of God’s enemy and rival. And, as far as his endeavors were attended with success, he eternally destroyed all who complied with his solicitations.

Now compare the crimes, and see whether those committed against God and the souls of men be not infinitely more heinous than those which reach no further than to human governments, and the bodily life; and, if they are, the justice of the punishment annexed to them will admit of no doubt:

it will be just that He whose throne we would subvert, should inflict upon us the penalty of death;

and that those whom we would ruin forever, should be made the executioners of that sentence.

2. This law was merciful, as it respected the public.

The Jews had been nurtured in the midst of an idolatrous nation; and, after their settlement in Canaan they were surrounded with idolaters on every side. Moreover they were of themselves exceedingly addicted to idolatry. But the consequence of their departure from God would be, that they would bring his heaviest judgments upon them, and be reduced to a more calamitous condition than any people under Heaven. But God was graciously pleased to put a barrier in their way, which, it might be hoped, they would never be able to pass. He not only annexed the penalty of death to an act of idolatry, but even to a proposal to commit that sin! Yes, to prevent such a proposal from being ever made, he not only authorized, but commanded, the person to whom it was made, to give immediate information of it to the magistrates, and to be the first in inflicting the punishment of death. If the person making the proposal should be ever so dear to him, though it should be his own brother, or son or daughter, or even the wife of his bosom, or his friend that is as his own soul—he must make no difference; he must show no respect of persons whatever, “You shall not consent unto him, says God, nor hearken unto him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him; but you shall surely kill him!” All natural affection must be laid aside, and be swallowed up in a concern for God’s honor; and the man himself must become the informer, the witness, and the executioner, even where the delinquent is dearer to him than his own soul.

What child, what wife, what friend, if he had conceived an idolatrous inclination in his heart, would dare to mention it, when the person to whom he should mention it was precluded from all exercise of mercy, and was constrained to proceed against him according to this law?

Thus then provision was made to prevent the possibility, as it should seem, of the nation ever yielding to idolatry, or provoking God to abandon them according to the threatenings which he had denounced against them. We are informed in the text that the very execution of this law was designed to produce this beneficial effect, verse 11; and therefore much more must the enactment of it be an expression of love and mercy to the whole nation!

This law indeed was only temporary; it was to continue in force only during the continuance of the Jewish polity; but it is nevertheless most instructive to us,

II. As a lasting admonition.

To the very end of time it will speak loudly to us: it declares to us, in the strongest terms:

1. The evil of departing from God.

The annexing of the penalty of death, and of so cruel a death as that of stoning, is of itself no slight intimation of the evil of idolatry; but the requiring a man to execute this sentence against the wife of his bosom, or the friend that is as his own soul; the requiring him to do it even on account of a mere proposal, though the proposal was never carried into effect; the not allowing him to overlook or conceal the matter, but constraining him instantly to enforce the law without pity! How was it possible for God himself to mark the evil of this sin in blacker colors, or to show his abhorrence of it in a stronger manner, than by such an enactment as this? The command to destroy a whole city for idolatry was scarcely a more awful demonstration of his anger than this, verse 12-18.

But it may be said, “This was idolatry, a sin to which we have no temptation.” It was idolatry; but permit me to ask, wherein the great evil of idolatry consists? Is it not in alienating our affections from God, and placing them on some creature? Is it not justly described by the Apostle as “loving and serving the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore?” Is it not in this very view of the subject that covetousness is called idolatry, and that men are said to make “a god of their belly?” Is it not in this view that John says to all the Christian Church, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols!”

What then does it signify, that we are not bowing down to stocks and stones, if there are idols enthroned in our hearts? God is equally provoked to jealousy, whether our idolatry be open and carnal, or secret and spiritual; and though he does not authorize man to proceed against us—He will take the matter into his own hand, and inflict upon us the punishment we deserve.

It is in reference to this that Paul utters that severe denunciation against all who decline from their love to Christ, “If any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema! Maranatha;” that is, His departure from Christ deserves the heaviest judgments; and though we are not now at liberty to inflict them, God surely and quickly will.

O that all who have waxed cold in their affections towards God, would lay this to heart! If God is not seated on the throne of our hearts and sweetly ruling and reigning there—then the creature is! And whether the idol is pleasure, or riches, or honor, or anything else, however excellent or however base—we are idolaters! And we shall be made to feel, that “it is an evil and bitter thing to forsake the Lord;” yes, that “It would have been better never to have known him, than, after knowing him, to depart from him.”

2. The danger of being accessory to any one’s departure from him.

There are a variety of ways in which we may be instrumental in turning others from God. What if we scoff at religion, and deride the practice of it as folly or enthusiasm; do we not, in fact, say to those around us, “Come, let us serve other gods?” What if we exert our influence and authority to deter people from attending where the word is preached with fidelity and power, or from associating with the despised followers of Jesus—are we not yet more decidedly guilty of hostility to God? For when we only scoff at religion, we leave people an alternative; but when we set ourselves to intimidate men from following after God, we are no longer seducers, but persecutors.

But, supposing we do not take so decided a part against God—yet, if all our fears are against excess in religion, and none against a defect in it, if all the advice we give is to shun the cross and avoid the shame of a religious profession, and none at all to “endure the cross and despise the shame,” whom is it that we serve? Can we with propriety be called the friends and servants of our God? No! Find in all the sacred records one single servant of his that ever showed such dispositions as these. I forget; we can find one; we remember Peter’s kind solicitude for his Master, and his affectionate expression of it too, “Master, spare yourself!” But we remember also the answer of Jesus to him, “Get behind me, Satan; you are an offence unto me; for you savor not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.” Let me then warn friends and relatives of every description how they use their influence; lest, while they think that they are showing kindness to man, they be found in reality fighting against God.

Let me remind them, that, whether they succeed or not, their guilt is the same; they have made the proposal, and for that proposal they shall die; and would to God that the being stoned to death were the worst punishment they shall endure! But, alas! it were infinitely “better that a millstone were put about their neck, and that they were cast into the midst of the sea, than that they should offend one of God’s little ones.” It would have been better, I say; because they would lose only the bodily life; but in turning anyone from God, they forfeit their own souls, and expose themselves to everlasting misery in Hell!

If friends would see what use they should make of their influence, the prophet will tell them; they should endeavor to draw one another nearer unto God; and should themselves endeavor to lead the way, Zechariah 8:21.

3. The need we have of firmness and steadfastness in religion.

No one can tell what temptations he may have to encounter, or from what quarter they shall spring, or how specious and powerful they may be. Perhaps the children whom we have fondled with delight, or the wife of our bosom, or the friend that is as our own soul—may be our tempters to decline from God, or the occasions of our yielding to temptation. Perhaps the suggestion may be so specious, that it shall appear to have come from a prophet of the Lord, and to have been confirmed by a sign from Heaven! verse 1-5; 2 Corinthians 11:13-13.

But our principles of religion should be so fixed, as to be incapable of being moved even by an angel from Heaven, Galatians 1:8-9; and our practice of it should be so determined, that no considerations whatever should be able to make us swerve for one moment from the path of duty. The fate of the man of God who listened to the lying prophet, should teach us this, 1 Kings 13:18-24. Our rule is clear, and we should follow it without turning either to the right hand or the left, verse 4.

But it will be asked, How shall I obtain this steadfastness? I answer: Compare the God whom you serve, with all the gods that are his rivals and competitors. This is the consideration by which God himself enforces that which might otherwise have appeared as a bloody edict; he grounds the severity of his displeasure on the greatness of the mercies he had bestowed upon them, verse 10. But what were those mercies in comparison with the blessings he has conferred on you?

Think from what a bondage you are redeemed!

Think by what means that redemption has been accomplished for you!

Think what an inheritance is purchased for you!

And then say whether anything in this world can have such a claim to your regards as the Lord Jesus Christ has. Only get your hearts impressed with a sense of his dying love for you—and the vanities of time and sense will be to you no more than the dirt under your feet! Only commit yourselves to Christ, “and be strong in the grace that is in him,” and you will find, that “neither angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus!” “He is able to keep you from falling,” and “will preserve you blameless unto his heavenly kingdom.” Whatever then your temptations are, or from whatever quarter they may spring, I say to every one of you, “Hold fast what you have, and let no man take your crown! Revelation 3:11.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 13:1-3

“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

It has commonly, and with justice, been thought, that the two great pillars on which a revelation from God must stand, are miracles and prophecies. Without these, we cannot be assured, that any discovery which may have been made to man, is really divine. The points that are traced to a divine origin may be highly reasonable and excellent in themselves; yet, before they are clothed with a divine authority, we very properly ask, What proof is there that they are from God? What evidence do you give that they are not the offspring of your own mind? If they are from God, I take for granted that God does not leave you without witness; tell me then, what works do you perform, which no created power can perform; or what other credentials have you, whereby your heavenly mission may be known? If you can foretell things to come, I shall then know that you are from God; because none but God can certainly foreknow them. Or if you can work things above, and contrary to the course of nature, then I shall know that you have that power from on high; because no created being can impart it.

This, I say, is the established mode of judging concerning a revelation from God; and, according as anything professing to be from God is thus confirmed, or not, we give to it, or withhold from it, our assent. It is from grounds like these that we judge of the revelation given to Moses; and from similar grounds must we judge of the truth of Christianity also.

We must indeed inspect the matter of the thing revealed, to see whether it be worthy of him from whom it is said to come; and from its internal evidence our faith will derive great strength; but still in the first instance we look rather to external proofs, such as we have before spoken of.

But the Jews imagine that they are precluded from judging of Christianity on such grounds as these, since Moses, in the passage we have just read, guards them against any such inferences as we are led to draw from the prophecies and miracles on which our religion is founded. He concedes that some prophecies may be uttered, and some miracles be wrought, in favor of a false religion; and that, even if that should be the case, the Jews are not to regard any evidences arising from those sources, but to hold fast their religion in opposition to them.

This is an objection commonly urged among the Jews, when we invite them to embrace the Christian religion. That we may meet it fairly, we will, first, state the objection in all its force, and then give what we apprehend to be the proper answer to it.

I. We begin then with stating the objection; and we will do it in such a way as to give the Jew all possible advantage.

The scope of the passage is to guard the Jews against idolatry. They were, and would continue to be, surrounded by idolatrous nations, who would strive to the utmost to draw them from Jehovah to the worship of false gods. And the Jews themselves having from the earliest period of their existence as a people been accustomed to see the idolatrous worship of Egypt, were of themselves strongly attached to idolatry; so that it was necessary to guard them against it by the most awful threats, and the most impressive cautions.

The caution here given is certainly most solemn. That we may give it all the force of which it is capable, we will notice distinctly these three things:

The supposition here made.

The injunction given notwithstanding that supposition.

The argument founded on that injunction.

First, mark the supposition here made, namely, that God may permit miraculous and prophetic powers to be exercised even in support of a false religion. We are not indeed to imagine that God himself will work miracles in order to deceive his people, and lead them astray; nor are we to imagine that he will allow Satan to work them in such an unlimited way as to be a counterbalance to the miracles by which God has confirmed his own religion; but he will, for reasons which we shall presently consider, permit some to be wrought, and some prophecies to come to pass, notwithstanding they are designed to uphold an imposture. The magicians of Pharaoh, we must confess, wrought real miracles. When they changed their rods into serpents, it was not a deception, but a reality; and when they inflicted plagues upon Egypt after the example of Moses, it was not a deception, but a reality. But at the same time that they thus, in appearance, vied with Moses himself, and with Jehovah, in whose name he came, there was abundant evidence of their inferiority to Moses, and of their being under the control of a superior power; for the magicians could not remove one of the plagues which they themselves had produced; nor could they continue to imitate Moses in all the exercises of his power (from whence they themselves were led to confess their own inferiority to him,) nor could they avert from themselves the plagues which Moses inflicted on them in common with the rest of the Egyptians. They were permitted to do so much as should give Pharaoh an occasion for hardening his own heart, but not sufficient to show that they could at all come in competition with Moses.

In every age there were also false prophets, who endeavored to draw the people from their allegiance to God; and in the multitude of prophecies that they would utter, it must be naturally supposed that some would be verified in the outcome. Our blessed Lord has taught us to expect, even under the Christian dispensation, that some efforts of this kind will be made by “Antichrist, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who perish, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10.” He has moreover told us that these false prophets should “show such signs and wonders as to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect, Matthew 24:24;” nay more, that in the last day some will appeal to him respecting the prophecies they have uttered, and the miracles they have wrought in his name, and will plead them in arrest of judgment, Matthew 7:22. We may therefore safely concede what is here supposed, namely, that God may allow miraculous and prophetic powers to be exercised to a certain degree even in support of idolatry itself.

Now then, in the next place, let us notice the injunction given to the Jews notwithstanding this supposition. God commands them “not to give heed to that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, even though his predictions should be verified, if his object is to turn them from him; for that he himself allows these illusions to be practiced upon them, in order that their fidelity to him may be tried, and their love to him approved.”

It may seem strange that God should allow such stumbling-blocks to be cast in the way of his people; but it is not for us to say what Jehovah may, or may not, do. We are sure that “he tempts no man,” so as to lead him into sin, James 1:13; and that the “Judge of all the earth will do nothing but what is right.” But it is a fact, that he thus permitted Job to be tried, in order that he might approve himself a perfect man; and in like manner he tried Abraham, in order that it might appear whether his regard for God’s authority, and his confidence in God’s Word, were sufficient to induce him to sacrifice his Isaac, the child of promise, Genesis 22:1-2; Genesis 22:12. It was for similar ends that God permitted his people to be tried for forty years in the wilderness, Deuteronomy 8:2; and in the same way he has tried his Church in every period of the world.

This is the true reason of so many stumbling-blocks being laid in the way of those who embrace the Christian faith. Christianity is not revealed in a way to meet with the approbation of proud and carnal men; it is foolishness to the natural man. Yes, even Christ himself is a stumbling-block to some, as well as a sanctuary to others; and such a stumbling-block, as to be “a snare to both the houses of Israel,” among whom it was foretold, “many should stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken, Isaiah 8:14-15.”

It is God’s express design in the whole constitution of our religion, to discover the secret bent of men’s minds; and while to the humble he has given abundant evidence for their conviction, he has left to the proud sufficient difficulties to call forth their latent animosity, and to justify in their own apprehensions, their obstinate unbelief, Luke 2:34-35. He gave originally to the Jews, as he has also given to us, sufficient evidence to satisfy any honest mind; and this is all that we have any right to expect. It was not necessary that our Lord should give to every man in the Jewish nation the same evidence of his resurrection, as he gave to Thomas. It was reasonable that there should be scope left for every man to exercise his own judgment on the evidences that were placed within his reach; as our Lord said to Thomas, “Because you have seen, you have believed; but blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.”

Hence then God enjoined his people not to regard any person who should attempt to draw them to idolatry, even though he should work a miracle before their eyes, or foretell an event that should afterwards come to pass. They had had abundant evidence, that the religion they had embraced was from God; they possessed also in the very nature of that religion an internal evidence of its excellency; and they had received from God such demonstrations of his power and goodness, as ought to unite them to him in the most indissoluble bonds of faith and love. If therefore they should be induced to renounce their allegiance to him, and to transfer it to dumb idols that had never done anything for them, nor ever could do anything—they would betray a manifest lack of love to him, and must blame themselves only, if they should ultimately be “given up to a delusion to believe a lie, and be left to perish” in their iniquity! 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12. He would have them therefore upon their guard in relation to this matter, and resolutely to resist every attempt to draw them from him, however specious that attempt might be.

The argument founded on this injunction comes now before us with all the force that can be given to it. A Jew will say, ‘You Christians found your faith on prophecies and on miracles; and admitting that Jesus did work some miracles, and did foretell some events which afterwards came to pass, God permitted it only to try us, and to prove our fidelity to him. He has cautioned us beforehand not to be led astray from him by any such things as these; he has expressly forbidden us to regard anything that such a prophet might either say or do. Nay more, he commanded that we should take such a prophet before the civil magistrate, and have him put to death; and therefore, however specious your reasonings appear, we dare not listen to them or regard them.

Having thus given to the objection all the force that the most hostile Jew can wish, I now come in the second place to,

II. Offer what we hope will prove a satisfactory answer to the above objection.

It cannot but have struck the attentive reader, that in this objection there are two things taken for granted; namely, that in calling Jews to Christianity we are calling them from Jehovah; and that our authority for calling them to Christianity is founded on such miracles as an impostor might work, and such prophecies as an impostor might expect to see verified.

But in answer to these two points we declare:

First, that we do not call them from Jehovah, but to him.

Next, that our authority is not founded on such miracles and prophecies as might have issued from an impostor, but such as it was impossible for an impostor to produce.

Lastly, that, in calling them to Christ, we have the express command of God himself.

First, we do not call our Jewish brethren from Jehovah, but to him.

We worship the very same God whom the Jews worship; and we maintain his unity as strongly as any Jew in the universe can maintain it. As for idols of every kind, we abhor them as much as Moses himself abhorred them. Moreover, we consider the law which was written on the two tablets of stone as binding upon us, precisely as much as if it were again promulgated by an audible voice from Heaven.

Instead of calling them from the law, we call them to it; we declare that every man who has transgressed it in any one particular, is deservedly condemned to everlasting misery! Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10; and it is from a consciousness that this sentence must fall on every person who has not fled for refuge to the hope set before him in the Gospel, that we are so anxious to call both Jews and Gentiles to a belief of the Gospel. We go further, and say, that no human being can be saved, who has not a perfect obedience to that law as his justifying righteousness. But where shall we find a perfect obedience to that law? Where shall we find a man who can say, he has fulfilled it in every jot and tittle? Alas! we all have transgressed it times without number; we are all therefore condemned by it; and being condemned for our disobedience, we can never be justified by our obedience to it. Would to God, that this matter were understood by the Jews! We would find no difficulty then in leading them to Christ. Did they but know what wrath they have merited, they would be glad to hear of one who has borne it for them; and did they but know how impossible it is for an imperfect obedience to that law to justify them, they would be glad to hear of one who has fulfilled it in all its extent, and brought in an everlasting righteousness for all who believe in him.

Yes, my Jewish brethren, know assuredly that the Christian “does not make void the law, but establishes the law, Romans 3:31;” and has no hope of salvation in anyway, but such as “magnifies the law and makes it honorable, Isaiah 42:21;” and it is his earnest desire that you should agree with him in this matter; because he is sure that when once you come to understand your own law, and see how “Christ was the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believes,” your difficulties will all vanish as the morning dew before the rising sun.

With respect to the ceremonial law, we do indeed call you from the observance of that; and we have good reason so to do; for you yourselves know, that all the essential part of your religion existed before the ceremonial law was given; and that Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, who lived hundreds of years before the ceremonial law was given, were saved simply and entirely by faith in that promised “Seed, in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed.” By faith then in this promised Seed must you be saved; every child of Abraham must seek for acceptance in the way that Abraham did.

If you ask, Why then was the ceremonial law given? I answer, To shadow forth your Messiah, and to lead you to him; and when he would come and fulfill it in all its parts, it was then to cease; and you yourselves know that it was intended by God himself to cease at that appointed time. Do you not know that your Messiah was to come out of the loins of king David; and that he was also to be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek? But if there was to be a new priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, the priesthood of Aaron must cease; and if the new priest was to spring from David, who was of the tribe of Judah, and not from Levi to whose descendants the priesthood was confined, then it is clear from this also that the Aaronic priesthood must cease; and if that is changed, then must there of necessity be a change of the law also Hebrews 7:11-12; so that you yourselves know that the ceremonial law was never intended to continue any longer than the time fixed for its completion in the predicted Messiah.

If then we call you away from the outward observances of that law, it is not from disrespect to that law, but from a conviction that it has been fulfilled and abrogated by the Lord Jesus. We call you only from shadows to the substance. We call you to Christ as uniting in himself all that the ceremonial law was intended to shadow forth. He is the true tabernacle, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is the true “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” even that “Lamb of God who, as John the Baptist testified, takes away the sins of the world.” He is the great High-Priest, who, having “through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,” is now “entered into the holy place with his own blood,” and there “he ever lives to make intercession for us;” and is to come forth from thence once more to bless in his Father’s name his waiting people.

I wish then, my Jewish brethren, that you would particularly bear this in mind. We honor the ceremonial law as admirably calculated to prepare your minds for the Gospel; not only because it exhibited so fully and so minutely every part of the mediatorial office which our Lord was to sustain, but because by the burdensomeness of its rites, it tended to break your spirit, and to make you sigh for deliverance. And methinks, it should be no grievance to you to be called from those observances, because you neither do, nor can, continue them. The destruction of your city and temple, and your whole ecclesiastical and civil polity, have rendered impossible for you to comply with them, and have thus shut you up to the faith of Abraham, which is the faith of the Gospel.

I am aware that in calling you to worship the Lord Jesus Christ we appear to you to be transferring to him the honor due to God alone. But if you will look into your own Scriptures, you will find that the person who was foretold as your Messiah is no other than God himself. Examine the Psalm before referred to, Psalm 110, and see how David speaks of your Messiah, “The Lord said unto my LORD, Sit on my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” David here calls him Jehovah; and how could he do that, if that title did not properly belong to him? This question Jesus put to the Pharisees in his day; and they could not answer him a word; nor can all the Rabbis upon the face of the earth suggest any satisfactory answer to it now. The only answer that can be given is, that the same person, who as man, was David’s son; as Jehovah, was David’s Lord, or, as Isaiah calls him, “Emmanuel, God with us.” Receive him in the character in which the Prophet Isaiah foretold his advent, as “the Child born, the Son given, the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace.” Call him, as another prophet instructs you, “Jehovah our righteousness;” and know, that, in thus “honoring Christ, you will honor the Father who sent him.”

This then is my first answer: that in no respect whatever do we call you from God, but wholly and altogether to him:

to Him, as the One true God, in opposition to all idols;

to his law, as fulfilled in Christ, and directing you to him;

and to his Gospel, as the completion and consummation of all the wonders of his love.

In as far as we call you from your present course, it is only from types and shadows to the substance and reality. You remember that at the moment of our Lord’s death the veil of the temple was rent in twain, and the most holy place was laid open to the view of all who were worshiping before it. The way into the holiest being thus opened to you by God himself, we invite all to enter in with boldness, and assure you in God’s name that you shall find acceptance with him.

The next thing which we proposed to show was, that our authority for calling you thus to Christ is not founded on such prophecies or miracles as might have issued from an impostor, but on such as it was impossible for an impostor to produce.

Consider the prophecies: they were not some few dark predictions of mysterious import and of doubtful outcome, uttered by our Lord himself; but a continued series of prophecies from the very fall of Adam to the time of Christ; of prophecies comprehending an almost infinite variety of subjects, and those so minute, as to defy all collusion either in those who uttered, or those who fulfilled, them. A great multitude of them were of such a kind that they could not possibly be fulfilled by any but the most inveterate enemies. Who but an enemy would have nailed him to the cross, or pierced him to the heart with a spear, or offered him gall and vinegar to drink, or mocked and insulted him in the midst of all his agonies? Do not these put his Messiahship beyond a doubt?

I will mention only one prophecy of Christ himself; but it is such a one as no impostor would utter, and no impostor could fulfill. What impostor would rest all the credit of his mission on his being put to a cruel, ignominious, and accursed death, and rising from the dead the third day? Or if an impostor were foolish enough to utter such a prophecy—then how, when he was actually dead, could he fulfill it? But the whole Scriptures predicted these things of Jesus, as Jesus also did of himself; and the exact fulfillment of them proves beyond all reasonable doubt his true Messiahship.

Consider the miracles also: these were beyond all comparison greater and more numerous than Moses ever wrought. The healing all manner of diseases was the daily and hourly employment of the Lord Jesus for the three or four last years of his life. The whole creation, men, devils, fish, elements—all obeyed his voice; and at his command the dead arose to life again. But there is one miracle also which in particular we will mention. Jesus said, “I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again;” and the former of these he proved by speaking with a loud voice the very instant he gave up the Spirit, showing thereby, that he did not die in consequence of his nature being exhausted, but by a voluntary surrender of his life into his Father’s hands.

And at the appointed time he proved the latter also, notwithstanding all the preparations made to defeat his purpose, all of which proved in the outcome the strongest testimonies to the truth of his Word.

Could an impostor have pretended to such a power; or when actually dead, could he have exercised it? And, when the interval between his death and resurrection was to be so short, would not the stone, the seal, the watch, have been sufficient to secure the detection of the imposture? Further, would an impostor have undertaken to send down the Holy Spirit after his death for the purpose of enabling his followers to speak all manner of languages, and of working all kinds of miracles; or if he had predicted such things, could he have fulfilled them?

Judge then whether here be not ground enough for that faith which we call you to exercise towards him? If there are not, how do you prove the divine authority of your own lawgiver? In point of testimony, great as was that which proved the divine mission of Moses, it was nothing when compared with that which substantiated the Messiahship of Jesus. We therefore confidently call you to believe in him, and to embrace the salvation which he offers to you in the Gospel.

But there is one great argument which we have reserved until now, in order that it may bear upon you with the greater weight.

We declare to you then, in the last place, that, in calling you to Christ, we have the express command of God himself.

Moses, in chapter 13 of Deuteronomy, bids you, as we have seen, not to listen to any false prophet. But in Deuteronomy 18:18, 19, he most explicitly declares, that a Prophet should arise, to whom you should attend. Hear his own words, “I will raise up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I command him. And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”

Now I ask you, Who is the Prophet here spoken of? Where was there ever, besides Moses, a prophet that was a Mediator, a Lawgiver, a Ruler, a Deliverer? Was there ever such a one, except Jesus? And was not Jesus such a one in all respects? Yes; he has wrought for you not a mere temporal deliverance like Moses, but a spiritual and eternal deliverance from sin and Satan, death and Hell. He has redeemed you, not by power only, but by price also, even the inestimable price of his own blood. Having thus bought you with his blood, he ever lives in Heaven itself to make continual intercession for you.

A new law also has he given you, “the law of faith,” in conformity to which he enjoins you to walk, and by which he will judge you in the last day. Of this blessed person all your own prophets have spoken; and this very Moses, in whom you trust, declares to you, that, “if you will not hear and obey this Prophet, God will require it of you.” When therefore you plead the authority of Moses, we join issue with you, and say: Be consistent.

Renounce false prophets, because he bids you; but believe in the true Prophet, whom God according to his Word has raised up to you, because he bids you. Let his authority weigh equally with you in both cases; and then we shall not fear, but that you will embrace the salvation offered to you in the Gospel, and be the spiritual children, as you already are the natural descendants, of believing Abraham. “Abraham looked forward with eager expectation to see the day of Christ, and saw it, and was glad.” May you also now see it, and rejoice in him as your Savior for evermore!

It is for your unbelief in this respect that God has punished you now these eighteen hundred years, and is punishing you at this day. He told you, “he would require of you” your rejection of this Prophet; and he has required it more severely, than he has all your other sins ever since you became a nation. O repent of this evil, and turn to God in his appointed way! So shall his wrath be turned away from you, and “you shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation!”

We cannot conclude our subject without suggesting a suitable improvement of it to our Christian brethren.

As the Jews were constantly assailed by idolaters who sought to draw them from the worship of the true God—so are you by infidels, or worldlings, to draw you from the belief or practice of the Gospel. But do infidels assault you? Ask them whether their objections, all of which arise from ignorance alone, are sufficient to invalidate all the evidences which may be adduced in support of our religion? If not, then “hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering.”

Do worldlings tell you that God does not require you to renounce the world, and to give yourselves up entirely to him? Ask them, what proof they can give that God has authorized them to set aside the plainest declarations of his Word. You may expect at least that they shall be possessed of miraculous and prophetic powers, or else they have not so much as the semblance of true prophets. But even if they had these powers and displayed them evidently before your eyes—yet you ought not to regard their counsels, because they seek to turn you from God to a poor perishing and worthless idol; from God, who has redeemed you by the blood of his only dear Son, and given you all things in and with him, to an idol, that never has done anything for you, nor ever can.

Be firm therefore, even though your father or your mother, your brother or your sister, or even the wife of your own bosom, should seek to turn you from the Lord. Your plain answer to them all is, “Whether it is right to hearken unto you more than unto God, you judge.” Whatever temptations they offer, or threats they employ, let nothing induce you to draw back from following the Lord fully. “Be faithful unto death; and he will give you a crown of life!”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)