Deuteronomy 12:23-25

“But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.”

There are many injunctions in the Mosaic law which appear to have been given with more solemnity than their comparative importance demands; nor can we account for the importance laid upon them, but by supposing them to have had a typical reference. What is here said, for instance, respecting the eating of blood, if we consider it as intended only to give a hint of the duties of humanity and self-denial, is delivered in a far more emphatic manner than we should expect such an intimation to be given; for though a plain precept relating to them might fitly be enjoined in the strongest terms, and enforced by the strongest sanctions, it is not to be conceived that the image by which they would be shadowed forth, should be made to assume such an important aspect.

If we mark the force and energy with which the prohibition of eating blood is here repeated, we shall be well persuaded that it contains some deeper mystery, which demands our most attentive consideration. But as, from the strength of the expressions, we may be ready to imagine that it is still binding upon us, we feel it necessary to guard against that mistake; and shall therefore consider,

I. The prohibition given.

The manner in which it was given, must by no means be overlooked.

There is not in all the sacred volume any prohibition or command delivered more peremptorily than this. Four times it is repeated even in the short space of our text:

But be sure you do not eat the blood.

You must not eat the blood with the meat.

You must not eat the blood.

Do not eat it.

The frequency too with which it is received in the Scriptures is truly astonishing. When first the use of animals for food was permitted to Noah, the grant was accompanied with this restriction, “But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat, Genesis 9:3-4.” By Moses the restriction is repeated again and again, Leviticus 3:16-17; Leviticus 7:26-27; Deuteronomy 15:23 and several other places.

The sanctions with which it is enforced are also peculiarly solemn. Not only was the prosperity of the people suspended on their obedience to this command, see the text, but they were threatened with the most tremendous vengeance, if they should presume to violate it, “I will set my face against that soul that eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people! Read attentively Leviticus 17:10-14.”

Even if they took in hunting or caught by any means a beast or bird, they must “pour its blood upon the earth as water, and cover it with dust” and all these injunctions must be observed by all, by strangers and sojourners as well as Jews. Now I ask, Would this prohibition have been so peremptorily given, (read attentively Leviticus 17:10-14,) so frequently repeated, so solemnly enforced; would such particular directions have been added; and would they have been made so universally binding, if there had been nothing mysterious in this appointment?

We may be sure that the grounds of it are deserving of the deepest investigation.

We speak not of such grounds as might probably exist, such as those before referred to, namely, the promotion of humanity and self-denial, (though in both of these views the prohibition may be considered as highly instructive,) but of those grounds which we know assuredly to have been the principal object, if not the only object of the institution.

We must remember that offerings were by the divine appointment presented from time to time as an atonement for sin; that the blood of those offerings being, as it were, the life of the animals—was considered as exclusively prevailing for the remission of sins; and that on that very account it was poured out upon the altar, in token that it was presented to God as an expiation for iniquity, and was accepted by him instead of the life of the offender.

We must remember also, that all these offerings had respect to the sacrifice of Christ, which was in due time to be offered for the sins of the whole world.

Now it was of infinite importance that the highest possible veneration should be instilled into the minds of men for the offerings which they presented to God; and that they should be deeply impressed with a consciousness of their mysterious reference to the sacrifice of Christ. But, if they had been permitted to eat of blood, this reverence would have quickly abated; whereas by the strictness of the prohibition, it was kept alive in their minds; and even their common meals were rendered an occasion of bringing to their recollection the use of blood in their offerings, and the efficacy of that blood which was at a future period to be poured out upon the cross.

Here then was a reason for the prohibition—a reason, which accounts at once for the strictness, the frequency, the vehemence, with which it was given, and for the tremendous sanctions with which it was enforced. Nothing could be unimportant that had such a reference; and the more insignificant the prohibited thing was in itself, the more need there was that all possible weight should be given to it by the manner of its prohibition.

But we shall not have a complete view of the subject, unless we consider,

II. The prohibition reversed.

It is reversed, as it relates to the use of blood.

To the first converts indeed it was enjoined, that they should abstain from the eating of blood, Acts 15:20; Acts 15:29, no less than from fornication itself; and hence it has been supposed that there was a moral evil in the one, as well as in the other; and that, consequently, the prohibition still equally exists against both.

But this is by no means the case. There was a necessity at that time to prohibit fornication, because the Gentile converts, who had been habituated from their youth to regard it as allowable, and in some instances even to practice it in their idolatrous worship, were still in a great measure insensible of its moral turpitude. They therefore needed to be more clearly informed respecting that sin, and to be cautioned against it; while we, having been educated with clearer views and better habits, are well aware of the sinfulness of such a practice.

There was also a need to prohibit the eating of blood, because the Jews, who had been accustomed to regard the use of it with such abhorrence, would have been greatly offended when they saw Christians taking so great a liberty in direct opposition to what they considered as the law of God. On this account it was thought right to continue the prohibition for a time, that they might not shock the prejudices of the Jewish nation.

But Paul assures us repeatedly that another part of this same prohibition was revoked; and declares that the circumstance of meat having been offered unto idols does not render it unfit for a Christian’s use, provided he sees the liberty into which the Gospel has brought him, 1 Corinthians 8:4; 1 Corinthians 8:8.

In like manner he declares, that “there is nothing unclean of itself,” but that “to the pure all things are pure, Romans 14:14; Romans 14:20; 1 Timothy 4:4-5.” Hence we are sure, that the prohibition in our text is reversed.

It is reversed also in a far higher sense.

The real intent of the offerings under the Old Testament is abundantly declared in the New; and the blood of Christ which was once shed on Calvary for the remission of sins, is uniformly represented as the great Antitype to which all the types referred. Now it is true, that that material blood cannot be drunk by us; but in a spiritual sense it may. Do I say, It may? I must add, It must; we are required to drink it; and the command is enforced with sanctions still more solemn than those by which the prohibition in our text was enforced.

Let us attend to the words of Christ himself, “Unless you eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood, you have no life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life; for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed! John 6:53-55.” Here the command is as universal, as, before, the prohibition was.

Need we to explain this to any of you? We would hope, there are few so ignorant as not to know what was designed by our blessed Lord; he meant that, as he was about to give himself as an offering and a sacrifice for sin—we must all believe in him as the only Savior of the world, and apply to ourselves all the benefits of his atonement.

But lest this injunction of his should be forgotten, he actually instituted an ordinance, wherein he appointed wine to be drunk in remembrance of his blood, and expressly said of the cup, when he put it into the hands of his disciples, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins! Matthew 26:27-28.”

And Paul explaining the reason of this ordinance, observes, that it was instituted in order that we might “show forth the Lord’s death, until he comes, 1 Corinthians 11:25-26.”

Here then we see that the prohibition under the Old Testament, and the command under the New Testament, have one and the same object.

The prohibition was to call the attention of men to the death of the Messiah at his first advent.

And the command is to keep up the remembrance of his death until his second advent.

The ends of the prohibition are the same, whether we consider it as given, or as reversed; and the duty of every living creature is pointed out, that we must look unto the blood of our great Sacrifice as the only means of reconciliation with our offended God! Colossians 1:14; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 9:22; Romans 3:25. In reference to that therefore we must say, “Be sure you eat the blood; you may eat; and you shall eat it, that it may go well with you.”

As an improvement of this subject, we beg permission to add a few words of advice:

1. Do not think light of any sin.

The Jews might readily have said, “What need is there of being so particular about getting out all the blood? The meat will be improved by retaining some of it; and no injury will be done to anyone.” We read indeed on one occasion, that they acted upon this presumption; they had taken great spoils from the Philistines, and were so eager to get some refreshment, that they overlooked in their haste the divine command. But was this deemed a just excuse for their conduct? No! They were severely reproved for it; and all the people were commanded to take their cattle to be slaughtered at a particular place, where the observance of this law might be scrutinized and secured, 1 Samuel 14:31-34.

Let us not then presume to set aside any of God’s commands, however small they may appear, or whatever reasons we may have to extenuate the violation of them. In fact, the commission of every sin very much resembles this of which we are speaking. God has allowed us every species of gratification, if we will take it in the way and manner prescribed by him. But we say, ‘No, I will have it in my own way; I will not be content with the flesh, but I will have the blood. I will not indeed drink it in bowls; but I will reserve a little of it to improve the flavor of my food.’ What would we think of a Jew that would deliberately provoke God to anger, and bring ruin on his own soul, for such a gratification as this?

Yet such is the conduct of every sinner; and such are the gratifications for which he sells his soul! O remember, that, if we could gain the whole world at the expense of our own souls, we would make a sad exchange. Be careful therefore not only not to violate any command of God, but not to lower in any one particular the standard of his law. For, “if in one thing only you deliberately and allowedly offend, you are guilty of all, James 2:10,” and infallibly subject yourselves to his everlasting displeasure!

2. Above all things, do not think lightly of the blood of Christ.

The means used to beget a reverence for the blood which only shadows it forth, may clearly show us what reverential thoughts we ought to entertain of the sin-atoning blood of Christ. In that is all our hope, “by that alone we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins. Through the sin-atoning blood of Christ, the vilest sinner in the universe may obtain mercy, for it is able to “cleanse us from all sin.”

It is of the sin-atoning blood of Christ, that the hosts of Heaven are making mention continually before the throne of God; their anthems are addressed “to Him who loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood!” Of that then should we also sing; and in that should we glory.

But if we be disposed to disregard it, let us contemplate the fate of him who disregarded the typical injunction, “God declared, that he would set his face against him and cut him off!” The proper reflection to be made on that, is suggested to us by God himself, “If he who despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses, of how much sorer punishment suppose you shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing! Hebrews 10:29.”

It was terrible to “die without mercy;” but there is a “much sorer punishment” than that; there is a “second death,” which they shall suffer, who trample on the blood of Christ! May the Lord grant that we may never turn the means of happiness into an occasion of so great a calamity! Let us rather take the cup of salvation into our hands, and drink it with the liveliest emotions of gratitude and joy!

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 11:26-28

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.”

On whatever occasion these words had been spoken, they must have appeared most weighty, and most important; but, as the parting address of Moses to the whole nation of Israel, when he was about to be withdrawn from them, they have a force and emphasis that can scarcely be exceeded. Imagine the aged servant of Jehovah, who, forty years before, had delivered to their fathers the law written with the finger of God, and who had lived to see the utter extinction of that rebellious generation for their transgressions against it; imagine him, I say, now affectionately warning this new generation, with all the solicitude of a father, and all the fidelity of one who was about to give up an immediate account of his stewardship. In this view, the words inspire us with solemn awe, and impress us with a fearful sense of our responsibility to God. May God accompany them with a divine energy to our souls, while we consider,

I. The solemn alternative proposed to us.

As addressed to the Jews, these words may be understood as containing the terms of their national covenant, in which the blessings promised them depended on their obedience to the divine commands. But if we enter fully into the subject, we shall find it replete with instruction to us also, especially as exhibiting to our view the Christian covenant. Let us consider,

1. The fuller explanation which Moses himself gave of this alternative.

The blessing and the curse are more fully stated in the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth chapters of this book. But to what is the blessing annexed? To an unreserved obedience to all God’s commandments, Deuteronomy 28:1. And against what is the curse denounced? not only against some particular and more flagrant transgressions, Deuteronomy 27:15-25, but against any single deviation from the law of God, however small, however inadvertent, Deuteronomy 27:26; and all the people were required to give their consent to these terms, acknowledging the justice of them, and professing their willingness to be dealt with according to them, Deuteronomy 27:26.

Now, I ask, who could obtain salvation on such terms as these? who could even venture to indulge a hope of ultimate acceptance with his God? It is obvious that according to these terms the whole human race must perish. But was this the design of God in publishing such a covenant? Did he intend to mock his creatures with offers of mercy on terms which it was impossible to perform, and then to require of them a public acknowledgment of their approbation of them?

No, he intended at this very time to show them their need of a better covenant, and, in reality, to point out that very covenant for their acceptance. He intended to show them, that, however in their national capacity they might secure a continuance of his favor by an observance of his commands, they could never attain eternal blessedness in such a way; they must look to their Messiah for the removal of the curses, which, according to their own acknowledgment, they merited; and obtain through him those blessings, which they would in vain attempt to earn by any merits of their own.

That this is the true scope of those chapters, will appear from the light thrown upon them by Paul; who quotes the very words of Moses which we have been considering, and declares, that, according to them, every human being is under a curse, and is therefore necessitated to look to Christ who became a “curse” for us, and to expect a “blessing” through him alone, Galatians 3:10; Galatians 3:13-14.

But this will receive additional light by considering,

2. The peculiar circumstances attending the publication of it.

It was particularly commanded by Moses, that as soon as that portion of the promised land on which Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim stood should be subdued, an altar of whole stones should be erected to the Lord; that it should be plastered over; that the law should be written in very large and legible characters upon it; that burnt-offerings and peace-offerings should be offered upon it; that the terms of the covenant should be recited in the hearing of all the people; that the blessings should be pronounced on Mount Gerizim, and the curses on Mount Ebal; and that all the people should give their public assent to the whole and every part of that covenant, Deuteronomy 27:2-8.

Now, while this command was a pledge to the people of their future success—it was an intimation to them that the work of covenanting with God should take precedence of every other; and that, whatever were their occupations, whatever their difficulties, they must on no account forget to serve and honor God.

Accordingly, as soon as Joshua had conquered Jericho and Ai, and had obtained possession of that spot of ground, notwithstanding he was surrounded by enemies on every side, he convened the people and complied with the divine command in every respect, “there was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua did not read before all the congregation of Israel, Joshua 8:30-35.”

But why were these burnt-offerings to be offered on the occasion? and how could the people “eat their peace-offerings there, and rejoice before the Lord, Deuteronomy 27:7.” Methinks, if they were ratifying a covenant by which they could never obtain a blessing, and by which they must perish under a curse, there was little reason to “rejoice.” But these burnt-offerings were to direct their attention to the great sacrifice, by which all their curses should be removed, and all the blessings of salvation be secured to them. In the view of that great sacrifice, they might hear all the curses published, and feel no cause of dread or apprehension. In the view of that great sacrifice, they might contemplate the imperfections of their obedience without despondency; yes, they might “eat their peace-offerings” in token of their acceptance with God, and might “rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

By this sacrifice they were taught, not to confine their views to the Law, but to extend them to the Gospel; and, in the terms to which they assented, they were taught to include obedience to the Gospel, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, even to that great “commandment of God, which enjoins us to believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ John, 6:29 and 1 John 3:23.”

To this we also may assent; yes, to this we must assent; and we now set before you the blessing and the curse; we now propose to you the great alternative. If you will obey the commandments of the Lord, believing in his only dear Son as the only ground of your hopes, and, from a sense of love to him, endeavoring unreservedly to fulfill his will—we promise you, in the name of Almighty God, a fullness of all spiritual and eternal blessings. But, if you will not thus obey his commandments, we declare to you, that the curse of God shall rest upon your souls in time and in eternity!

Such being the alternative proposed to us, we would set before you,

II. Some reflections arising from it.

We cannot but notice from hence,

1. That ministers must faithfully execute their high office.

It was not from a lack of tenderness that Moses thus faithfully declared the whole counsel of God, but because his duty to God, and to the people also, constrained him to declare it; and there is something peculiarly instructive in the directions he gave respecting the delivery of the blessing and the curse from the two juxtaposed mounts. Six of the tribes were to be stationed on the one mount, and six on the other; those who were born of the free-women, were to be on Mount Gerizim; and those who were of the bond-women, together with Reuben, who had been degraded, and Zebulun, the youngest of Lean’s children, (to make the numbers equal,) were to be on Mount Ebal, from whence the curses were to proceed.

The tribe of Levi then were, where we should expect to find them, on the side from whence the blessings were pronounced, Deuteronomy 27:11-13. This showed, that, while the liberty of the Gospel led to true blessedness, it was the true end and scope of the ministry to make men blessed, Deuteronomy 10:8; that is the delightful employment of the sons of Levi; the highest character of a pious minister is, to be “a helper of your joy.”

But it was ordered that some of the Levites should also be stationed on Mount Ebal to pronounce the curses, Deuteronomy 27:14-15; because, however painful it may be to ministers to exhibit the terrors of the law, the necessities of men require it, and the duties of their office demand it.

Let us not then be thought harsh, if on proper occasions we make known to you the dangers of disobedience, “a necessity is imposed upon us; and woe be to us if we decline” executing the commission we have received. We must “warn every man, as well as teach every man, if we would present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, Colossians 1:28.”

It would be a more pleasing task to dwell only on the brighter side, and to speak to you only from Mount Gerizim; but we must occasionally stand also on Mount Ebal, and make you to hear the more awful part of the alternative which we are commissioned to propose. The message which we must deliver to every creature that is under Heaven, consists of these two parts, “He who believes and is baptized, shall be saved; and he who believes not, shall be damned!”

2. That faith and works are equally necessary to our salvation, though on different grounds.

God forbid that for one moment we should attempt to lessen the importance and necessity of good works; they are indispensably necessary to our salvation; they are as necessary under the Gospel, as under the law. The only difference is, that according to the strict tenor of the law, good works were the ground of our hope; whereas, under the Gospel, good works are the fruits and evidences of our faith.

To found our hopes of salvation on our obedience to the holy law of God, would, as we have before seen, cut off all possibility of salvation; because our obedience must be perfect, in order to secure the promised “blessing;” and every act of disobedience has entailed on us an everlasting “curse;” but, if we comprehend, in our views of obedience, an obedience to the Gospel; if we comprehend in it the trusting in Christ for salvation, and the free endeavors of the soul to serve and honor him; then we may adopt the words of our text, and address them confidently to every living man.

But then we must not forget, that it is the sin-atoning sacrifice of Christ that alone enables us to hear even such a proposal with any degree of comfort. We can no more yield a perfect obedience to the Gospel, than we could to the Law; our faith is imperfect, as well as our works; but, if we seek reconciliation with God through the death of his Son, we shall have peace with him, and may eat our peace-offering with confidence and joy.

In our views of this subject, we need only set before our eyes that solemn transaction, to which we have referred; we shall there see, on what all the hopes of Israel were founded, namely, the sacrifice of Christ; we shall see at the same time, to what all Israel were bound, namely, a life of holy and unreserved obedience.

It is precisely thus with ourselves:

Our obedience does not supersede the necessity of faith.

Nor does our faith set aside the necessity of obedience.

Faith is the root, and obedience is the fruit.

Faith is the foundation, and obedience is the superstructure.

Faith is the means of acceptance with God, and obedience is the means of honoring him and of adorning our holy profession.

3. That happiness or misery is the fruit of our own choice.

The very proposal of an alternative implies a choice; but this choice is yet intimated in a subsequent passage to the same effect, Deuteronomy 30:15; Deuteronomy 30:19; nor can there be any doubt but that every man is called to make his choice; and that his eternal state is fixed agreeably to the choice he makes. Not that we mean to set aside the election of God; for we know full well, that God’s people are “a remnant according to the election of grace, Romans 11:5;” and that “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy, Romans 9:15-16.”

Nevertheless, no man is brought to Heaven against his own will. He has felt the attractive influences of divine grace, and has been “made willing in the day of God’s power, Psalm 110:3.” He is drawn indeed, but it is “with the cords of a man, and with the bands of love.”

On the other hand, no man is sentenced to misery, who has not first chosen the ways of sin. He perishes, not because God has “ordained him to wrath, 1 Thessalonians 5:9,” but because “he will not come to Christ that he may have life, John 5:40.” Christ would gladly have “gathered him, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but he would not.”

It may be said perhaps, that, while we thus attempt to vindicate the justice of God, we countenance the workings of pride in man. But we have no fear that anyone who has been drawn by the Spirit of God, will ever ascribe his conversion to the operations of his own natural will; he will readily own, that “it is God, who of his own good pleasure has given him both to will and to do, Philippians 2:13;” and that it is “by the grace of God he is what he is.”

On the other hand, all excuse is cut off from the ungodly; they must ever take the whole blame of their condemnation to themselves, and never presume to cast the least atom of it upon God.

Make then your choice, beloved brethren! We this day set before you life and death, a blessing and a curse; choose therefore life, that your souls may live. God has declared that “he wills not the death of any sinner; therefore turn and live! Ezekiel 18:32; Ezekiel 33:11.” In his sacred name I promise to the righteous, that “it shall be well with him; but I denounce a woe unto the wicked, for it shall be woe with him, and the reward of his hands shall be given to him, Isaiah 3:10-11.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 11:18-21

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.”

To have the holy oracles in our hands is one of the greatest advantages that we enjoy above the heathen! Romans 3:2. A due improvement of them therefore will be expected of us. The Jews, who were in like manner distinguished above all other nations upon earth, were required to show the most affectionate, obediential regard to the writings of Moses. But the injunctions given to them with respect to the revelation they possessed, are still more obligatory on us, who have the sacred canon completed, and, by the superior light of the New Testament, are enabled to enter more fully into its mysterious import.

The words which we have just read, point out to us,

I. Our duty with respect to the Word of God.

A revelation from Heaven cannot but demand our most serious attention.

1. We should treasure Scripture up in our hearts.

It is not sufficient to study the Scriptures merely as we read other books; we must search into them for hidden treasures! Proverbs 2:1-4, and lay up “in our hearts,” yes, in our inmost “souls,” the glorious truths which they unfold to our view; and be careful never to let them slip, Hebrews 2:1. They should be our delight, and our meditation all the day, Psalm 119:92; Psalm 119:97.

2. We should make Scripture a frequent subject of our conversation.

It is to be regretted that there is no other subject so universally proscribed and banished, as that of religion. But, if we loved God as we ought, we could not but love to speak of his Word, that Word which is our light in this dark world, and the one foundation of all our hopes.

When Moses and Elijah came from Heaven to converse with our Lord, the prophecies relating to the sufferings and glory of Christ were their one topic of discourse, Luke 9:30-31. Thus at all times and places should our conversation be seasoned with salt, Colossians 4:6, and tend to the use of edifying, Ephesians 4:29. If it were thus with us, God would listen to us with approbation, Malachi 3:16-17, and Jesus would often come and unite himself to our company, Luke 24:14-15.

3. We should bring Scripture on all occasions to our remembrance.

The Jews, putting a literal construction on the passage before us, wrote portions of God’s Word on scraps of parchment, and wore them as bracelets on their wrists, and as frontlets on their heads. But we shall more truly answer the end of this commandment by consulting the Scriptures on all occasions as our sure and only guide, and making them the one rule of our faith and practice. There are many general precepts and promises which we should have continually in view, as much as if they were fixed on our doors and gates; which also, as if fastened on our foreheads and our hands, should both direct our ways, and regulate our actions.

4. We should instruct the rising generation in the knowledge of the Scriptures.

All are solicitous to teach their children some business, whereby they may provide a maintenance for their bodies; and should we not endeavor to instruct them in the things relating to their souls? Abraham was particularly commended for his care with respect to this, Genesis 18:19; and the injunction in the text, confirmed by many other passages, Exodus 13:8; Exodus 13:14-16; Psalm 78:5-8, requires that we should “diligently” perform this duty. Nor should we imagine that the mere teaching of children to repeat a catechism will suffice; we should open to them all the wonders of redemption, and endeavor to cast their minds, as it were, into the very mold of the Gospel.

In the close of the text we are directed to bear in mind,

II. Our encouragement to fulfill this duty.

This sincere love to the Scriptures will be productive of the greatest good:

1. It will tend greatly to our present happiness.

A peaceful enjoyment of the promised land, and of all the good things of this life, was held forth to the Jews as the reward of their obedience; but we are taught rather to look forward to the possession of a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Nevertheless, “godliness has at this time also the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come, 1 Timothy 4:8;” and therefore we may properly consider the present benefits arising from a due attention to the Scriptures.

Suppose then that the blessed Word of God were regarded by us as it ought to be, that it engaged our affections, entered into our conversation, regulated our conduct, and were instilled into the minds of the rising generation.

Would not much frivolous, obscene, and impious discourse be suppressed?

Would not sin of every kind receive a beneficial check?

Would not many of the diseases, the troubles, the feuds, and the miseries that result from sin, be prevented?

Would not many of the judgments of God which now desolate the earth—the wars, the famines, the pestilences, be removed? verse 13-17.

Would not, in numberless instances, knowledge be diffused, consolation administered, and virtue called forth into act and exercise?

Would not our children, as they grow up, reap the benefit of such examples? Proverbs 22:6.

Let anyone judge impartially, and say, whether a due regard to the Scriptures would not greatly improve the state of society, and of every individual, in proportion as his life was conformed to them? Psalm 19:11.

2. It will secure an inheritance beyond the grave.

The earthly Canaan was typical of the Heavenly Canaan; when therefore we see the possession of that good land promised to the Jews, we must, in applying the promises to ourselves, raise our views to the heavenly Canaan above.

Now what are the means which God has prescribed for the securing of that glorious inheritance? Certainly an attention to the Scriptures is that one means, without which we never can attain to happiness, and in the use of which we cannot but attain it. It is by the Scriptures that God quickens us, Psalm 19:7-8; Psalm 119:50, and brings us into God’s family, James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23. See also Acts 8:28-39. It is by the Scriptures that God directs our way, Psalm 119:105, and keeps our feet, Psalm 119:9; Psalm 119:11; Psalm 37:31, and sanctifies our hearts, Ephesians 5:26, and makes us wise unto salvation, 2 Timothy 3:15, and gives us a very “Heaven upon earth.”

And shall not the hope of such benefits allure us? When we have the one way to eternal life explained in the Scriptures—shall we not search them? John 5:39, yes, and meditate upon them day and night! Psalm 1:2. Let then the word be sweeter to us than honey or the honey-comb, Psalm 19:10, and be esteemed by us more than our necessary food! Job 23:12.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 10:14-16

“To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer!”

The true tendency of religion is marked in the words preceding our text. Under the Christian dispensation, no less than under the Jewish dispensation, it is altogether practical; so that in every age of the Church we may adopt that appeal of Moses, “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?”

But we must not in our zeal for morals overlook those principles which alone have efficacy to produce them. The principles which call forth our hopes and our fears, have necessarily a powerful effect on our conduct; but a more refined operation is derived from those principles which excite our love and gratitude. The electing love of God, for instance, when brought home with a personal application to the soul, has a constraining influence which nothing can resist.

Hence Moses so often reminds the Israelites of their peculiar obligations to God, such as no other people from the beginning of the world could ever boast of; and takes occasion from those distinguishing favors to urge them the more powerfully to devote themselves to his service.

What he considered as their duty we have already noticed; his mode of urging them to perform it comes now to be more particularly considered, “The Lord set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.”

From these words we shall show,

I. That God’s people are brought into that relation to him, not by any merits of their own, but solely in consequence of his sovereign electing love.

The whole universe, both “the heavens and the earth,” is the Lord’s; it owes its existence to his all-creating power; and it is altogether at his disposal. He has the same power over it as the potter has over the clay; and, if it had pleased him to mar, or to annihilate, any part of the creation, as soon as he had formed it—he had a right to do so.

But, while he has the same right over all his intelligent creatures, he has seen fit to bring some, and some only, into a saving relationship with himself.

Into this state he brings them of his own sovereign will and pleasure.

Abraham was an idolater, as all his family were, when God first called him by his grace; nor had he any more claim to the blessings promised him, than any other person whatever.

Isaac was appointed to be the channel of these blessings in preference to Ishmael, long before he was born into the world.

Jacob also the younger was chosen before Esau the elder, “even while they were both yet in the womb, and consequently had done neither good nor evil.” “Just as it is written: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated! Romans 9:13.

And why were they chosen? Was it for their superior goodness either seen or foreseen? It could not be for anything seen; for they were yet unborn when the blessings were promised to them; and it could not be for anything foreseen, for they proved a rebellious and stiff-necked people from the very first! Deuteronomy 9:13; Deuteronomy 9:24. The selection of them can be traced to nothing but to God’s sovereign will and good pleasure! Deuteronomy 7:6-8.

In every age he has done the same. Those who love and serve God have always been a remnant only; but they have been “a remnant according to the election of grace.” All true believers at this day, as well as in the apostolic age, must acknowledge that, “God has called them, not according to their works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given them in Christ Jesus before the world began! 2 Timothy 1:9.” It is “to the good pleasure of his will,” and not to anything in themselves, that they must ascribe the gift of their election, spiritual privileges, and spiritual attainments. No one of them can say, that he “made himself to differ,” or that he possesses “anything which he has not received.” All that even the most eminent saints possess, is a free unmerited gift from God!

Moreover, in this exercise of his sovereign will and pleasure, he gives no just occasion for any to complain.

This exercise of his sovereignty is condemned by many, as being an act of injustice; since to choose some and to leave others gives to the chosen ones a preference which they do not deserve. But it must be remembered, that none had any claim upon God; and, if we had all been left, like the fallen angels, to endure the full consequences of our transgression, God would still have been holy and just and good; and, if for his own glory he has decreed to rescue any from destruction, he does no injury to any, nor is accountable to any for this display of his sovereign grace.

I well know that this doctrine is controverted by many. But the very people who deny the doctrine of election, as applied to individuals, are constrained to acknowledge it in reference to nations. But where is the difference? If it is unjust in the one case, then it is unjust in the other. If it is unjust to elect any to salvation, then it is unjust to elect them to the means of salvation; those from whom he withholds the means, have the same ground of complaint as those from whom he withholds the end.

It is nothing to say that the injury is less in the one case than in the other; for if it is injurious at all, God would never have done it; but if it is not injurious at all, then does all opposition to the doctrine fall to the ground.

The principle must be conceded or denied altogether. Denied it cannot be, because it is an unquestionable fact that God has exercised his sovereignly, and does still exercise it, in instances without number. But if it be conceded, then is the objector silenced; and he must admit that God has a right to do what he will with his own.

Perhaps it may be said that election is, and has always been, conditional. But this is not true. As far as related to the possession of Canaan, the election of the Jews might be said to be conditional; but on what conditions was the election of Abraham, or of Isaac, or of Jacob, suspended? On what was the election of their posterity to the means of salvation suspended? On what conditions has God chosen us to enjoy the sound of the Gospel, in preference to millions of heathens, who have never been blessed with the light of revelation?

The truth is, we know nothing of the doctrines of grace but as God has revealed them; and his choice of some to salvation now stands on the very same authority as his choice of others to the means of salvation in the days of old. If such an exercise of sovereignty was wrong then, it is wrong now. If it was right then, it is right now. If it was right in respect to nations, it cannot be wrong in reference to individuals. The same principle which vindicates or condemns it in the one case, must hold good in the other also. The extent of the benefits conferred cannot change the nature of the act that confers them; it may cause the measure of good or evil that is in the act to vary; but the intrinsic quality of the act must in either case remain the same.

That this doctrine may not appear injurious to morality, I proceed to observe,

II. That the circumstance of God’s exercising this sovereignty is so far from weakening our obligation to good works, that it binds us the more strongly to the performance of them.

Moses says, “The LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.” Here observe,

1. The duty enjoined.

We are all by nature a rebellious and stiff-necked people. We wonder at the conduct of the Israelites in the wilderness; but in that we may see a perfect image of our own conduct. We have not been obedient to God’s revealed will. We have been alike rebellious, whether loaded with mercies, or visited with judgments. As light and easy as the yoke of Christ is, we have not taken it upon us, but have lived to the flesh and not to the Spirit, to ourselves, and not unto our God.

But we must no longer proceed in this impious career; it is high time that we cast away the weapons of our rebellion, and humble ourselves before God. We must “be no more stiff-necked,” but humble, penitent, obedient. Nor is it an external obedience only that we must render to our God; we must “circumcise our hearts,” mortifying every corrupt propensity, and “crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts.” It must not be grievous to us to part with sin, however painful may be the act of cutting it off. We must cut off a right hand, and pluck out a right eye, and retain nothing that is displeasing to our God. There is no measure of holiness with which we should be satisfied; we should seek to “be pure even as Christ himself is pure,” and to “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

2. The motive to the performance of it.

To this duty the Jews are urged by the consideration of God’s electing love, and of the distinguishing favors which he of his own sovereign grace and mercy had given unto them!

And what more powerful motive could Moses urge than this? It was not to make them happy in a way of sin that God had chosen them, but to make them “a holy nation, God’s own special people, zealous of good works.” And, if they did not follow after universal holiness, they would counteract the designs of his providence and grace. They would deprive themselves also of the blessings provided for them. For it was only in the way of obedience that God could ever finally accept them. And thus it is with us also; we are “chosen unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them;” and it is only “by a patient continuance in well-doing that we can ever attain eternal life.” We are “chosen to salvation,” it is true; but it is “through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth;” and it is in that way alone that we can ever attain the end.

But there is another view in which the consideration of God’s electing love should operate powerfully on our hearts to the production of universal holiness; namely, by filling our souls with holy gratitude to him, and an ardent desire to obey him in the way that he himself directs.

There is nothing under Heaven that can constrain a pious soul, like a sense of redeeming love! Let anyone who has been “brought out of darkness into the marvelous light of the Gospel, and has been turned from the power of Satan unto God,” look around him, and see how many, not of heathen only, but of professed Christians also, are yet in the darkness of depravity and the bonds of sin; and then let him recollect who it is that has made him to differ both from them and from his former self; and will not that make him cry out, “What shall I render to the Lord for all the benefits he has done unto me!” Yes, that view of his obligations to God will so inflame and penetrate his soul, that its utmost energies will from thenceforth be employed in honoring his adorable Benefactor.

This we say is the true and proper tendency of the doctrine in our text. The Jews, if they had justly appreciated the favors given to them, would have been the holiest of all people upon earth; and so will Christians be, if once they are sensible of the obligations conferred upon them by God’s electing and redeeming love.

Improvement.

1. Let those who are zealous about external religious duties, not be forgetful of their obligations.

It is frequently found that people altogether hostile to all the doctrines of grace, profess a great regard for the interests of morality. I stop not at present to inquire how far their professions are realized in practice; all I intend is simply to suggest, that sincere and holy affections are necessary to all acceptable obedience; and that those affections can only be excited in us by a sense of our obligations to God. If we attempt to lessen those obligations, we weaken and paralyze our own exertions. If we have been forgiven much, we shall love much; if we have received much, we shall return the more.

If then it be only for the sake of that morality about which you profess so much concern, we would say to the moralist: Search into the mysteries of sovereign grace, and of redeeming love. If without the knowledge of them you may walk to a certain degree uprightly, you can never soar into the regions of love and peace and joy; your obedience will be rather that of a servant, than a son; and you will never acquire that delight in God, which is the duty and privilege of the believing soul.

2. Let those who boast of their obligations to God, not be inattentive to their duties.

They who “cry, Lord, Lord! and neglect to do the things which he commands,” miserably deceive their own souls. And it must be confessed that many such self-deceivers do exist, and ever have existed in the Church of God. But let those who glory in the deeper doctrines of religion bear in mind, that nothing can supersede an observance of its duties; for “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God, Romans 2:28-29.”

That is a solemn admonition which God has given to us all, “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done—burn with no one to quench it! Jeremiah 4:4.”

It is not by our professions, but by our practice, that we shall be judged in the last day! “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you! Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:21-23!

To all then who account themselves the elect of God, I say: Let the truth of your principles be seen in the excellence of your works! And, as you profess to be more indebted to God than others, let the heavenliness of your minds and the holiness of your lives be proportionably sublime and manifest. For it is in this way alone that you can approve yourselves to God, or justify your professions in the sight of man.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

“And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?”

[This sermon was given on a New-Year’s Day]

Peculiar seasons call for the exercise of peculiar duties. A new era was just opening upon the Hebrews, at the time when this address to them was delivered. They had, by the worshiping of the golden calf, entirely annulled the covenant which God had made with them, and had subjected themselves to his heavy displeasure. But at the intercession of Moses, God had graciously renewed his covenant with them, by giving them again a copy of that Law which they had broken, and by committing them again to the care of Moses, whom he had appointed to conduct them to the land of Canaan.

Now, therefore, Moses called on them to renew their solemn dedication of themselves to God, according to the tenor of those commandments which he had given them.

Somewhat of a similar era has commenced to us this day. Many have been our offences in the past year; and God might have justly cast us off, and abandoned us to utter ruin. But he is now renewing to us his tender mercies; and may, therefore, justly call upon us to renew our surrender of ourselves to his service.

The words which I have just read to you will lead me to point out,

I. What God requires from us.

Israel had been redeemed from Egypt, and were regarded as a peculiar people unto the Lord. And such is our state. We have been redeemed from a far sorer bondage, by the blood of God’s only dear Son; and by the very name we bear, we profess ourselves to be followers of Christ, and servants of the living God. Our duty, then, is “to serve our God,” and to serve him in the very way prescribed in our text.

1. We must serve God with reverential fear.

Never for a moment must we forget that we are sinners, deserving of God’s wrath and indignation. The circumstance of our having been forgiven by him, so far from removing all occasion for reverential fear, is rather a reason for the augmentation of it. We should “loath ourselves the more because our God is pacified towards us, Ezekiel 16:63;” for his very mercy shows how basely we have acted, in sinning against so good a God.

If the glorified saints in Heaven fall upon their faces before the throne, while yet they are singing praises to God and to the Lamb, much more should we on earth, who have yet so much corruption to mourn over, and so many evils to deplore. As for that kind of experience which some think to be warranted by their views of God’s faithfulness to his promises, and which others derive from a conceit of their own sinless perfection, (I mean, that confidence, on the one hand, which is divested of fear; and that familiarity, on the other hand, which is not tempered with contrition,) I cannot but regard it as most delusive and dangerous. It would be well, too, if some who are not carried to these extremes of doctrinal error are not equally defective, through a captious abhorrence of all forms in external discipline and deportment. Many, from a zeal against what they are pleased to designate as Popish superstition, conduct themselves with sad irreverence in the worship of the Most High; and, if they feel not already a contempt for the Majesty of Heaven, I am sure that they take the most effectual means to generate it in their hearts.

Men, as sinners, should lie low in the dust before God; and though, as redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, they are to put away slavish fear, they are never for a moment to divest themselves of that fear which is filial, but to “walk in the fear of the Lord all the day long.”

2. We must serve God with ardent love.

A filial fear will not in the least degree impede the exercise of love; but will temper it with a befitting modesty and care. Blended with fear, love cannot possibly be too ardent. We should so “love our God, as to serve him with all our heart and with all our soul.” In truth, without love, our obedience, however exact, would be worthless. Love is the crown of all. Even among men, it is love which constitutes the essence of every acceptable service.

We value not the efforts of friends by their intrinsic worth, so much as by the measure of affection displayed in them; and much more is this the standard by which the Almighty will try, and estimate, our services to him.

It was this which rendered the widow’s mite a more acceptable offering to God, than all the treasures of the opulent; and if only we give our whole souls to God, the very disposition to glorify him shall be equivalent to the act. We may not be able to do great things for him; but, if we have the desire, he will accept it, and say, “You did well, in that it was in your heart.”

3. We must serve God with unreserved faithfulness.

There is to be no limit to our obedience; no line beyond which we will not go, if God call us. “No commandment is to be considered as grievous, 1 John 5:3;” nor is anything to be regarded as “a hard saying, John 6:60.” We are to “walk in all God’s ways,” obeying every commandment “without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

We are to “do his will on earth, even as it is done in Heaven.” Of the angels we are told, that “they do God’s will, hearkening to the voice of his Word.” They look for the very first intimation of his will, and fly to execute it with all their might. They never for a moment consider what bearing the command may have on their own personal concerns; they find all their happiness in fulfilling the divine will.

This should be the state of our minds as well; it should be “our food and our drink to do the will of Him who sent us.” And, if persecution is allotted to us, we should “rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for His sake.” Even life itself should not be dear to us in comparison with His honor; and we should be ready to lay it down, at any time, and in any way, that the sacrifice may be demanded of us.

The text will lead me to show you further,

II. The reasonableness and excellency of God’s requirements

That they are reasonable, is evident from the appeal which Moses makes respecting them.

Two things are intimated in this appeal to Israel:

the one, that these things were required of them;

the other, that the requisitions were such as they could not but approve.

If they only considered themselves as God’s creatures, they could not but acknowledge that these services were due to him; but when they viewed the mercies that had been given unto them, and the blessings which God had yet further in reserve for them, they could not doubt God’s right to every return which it was in their power to make.

How much stronger his claim is to our obedience, must be obvious to every considerate mind. Think of yourselves, brethren, as redeemed from death and Hell by the blood of God’s only dear Son, and then say whether you are not bound to love and serve him with your whole hearts! Think how mercifully God has borne with your transgressions hitherto, (for you have been a stiff-necked people, even as Israel of old were,) think how your every need is still supplied, not only for the body, as theirs was, but for the soul, by the bread of life sent down from Heaven, and by water from Christ Jesus, the stricken rock! Think how mercifully God has committed you to the guidance of his own Son; and to what a glorious land he is leading you, even “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Can you, in the contemplation of these things, doubt whether the entire surrender of your souls to God be “a reasonable service Romans 12:1.” Or rather say, whether the smallest wish to reduce or limit His claims would not be the most unreasonable thing that could enter into your minds?

But the excellency of them also is equally apparent.

Every command of God is given us “for our good.” There is not one which has not a direct tendency to make us happy.

If they require us to subdue and mortify our indwelling corruptions, what is this, but to heal the diseases of our souls, and to restore us to the image of our God?

If they require us to love and serve our God, what is this, but to bring us, so far as they are obeyed, to a foretaste of our heavenly inheritance?

Who ever found an evil issuing out of a conformity to God’s holy will? If it has brought a cross upon us, who has not found that very cross an occasion and a ground of more exalted joy? Were present happiness alone consulted, there is nothing in the universe that can advance it like the service of our God; but, if the future state is considered, and the augmented weight of glory which shall be accorded to us in proportion to our services, we may well say, that every command of God is good, and that “in keeping his commandments there is great reward.”

Let me now address you, brethren, in a way,

1. Of faithful reproof.

You all profess yourselves to be the “Israel” of God; and are convinced that your obligations to Jehovah are as much superior to those of the Jews, as your redemption and your destination are superior to theirs. But how have you requited the Lord? Oh! compare your lives with what has been before spoken, and with what you cannot but acknowledge to have been your bounden duty. Which of you, in the retrospect, has not reason to blush and be ashamed?

And as for the generality among us, is there not just ground to utter against them that complaint of the Prophet Jeremiah, “I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward! Jeremiah 7:23-24.”

In truth, this is but too faithful a picture of the generality among us. And what can be expected, but that God’s wrath should break forth to the uttermost against such a sinful and rebellious generation!

Let me then add a word,

2. Of affectionate admonition.

“I call Heaven and earth to record this day against you all, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that you may live! Deuteronomy 30:19-20.” You cannot but acknowledge that everything which God requires of you is both good in itself, and conducive to your greatest good. “Observe, then, to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left, Deuteronomy 5:32.” You surely have every inducement to serve God that your hearts can wish.

Oh, be not stiff-necked; be not like that faithless generation, respecting whom “God swore, in his wrath, that they should never enter into his rest;” but “today, while it is called today,” devote yourselves altogether to His service! And “then shall you not be ashamed, when you have respect unto all his commandments! Psalm 119:6.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 10:1-2

“At that time the LORD said to me: “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden chest. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you are to put them in the chest.”

Those to whom the modes of communication which are common in eastern countries are but little known, are at a disadvantage respecting everything that is figurative and emblematical. But even in the New Testament there is much that is hidden under figures. The whole life of our blessed Savior is justly considered as an example; but it is rarely considered that in all its principal events it was also emblematical of what is spiritually experienced in the heart of the believer: the circumcision of Christ representing the circumcision of our hearts; the baptism of Christ, also, and the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Christ, marking our death unto sin, and our new birth unto righteousness. If then in the New Testament, where truth is exhibited so plainly, there are many things revealed in shadows, we may well expect to find much that is figurative in the Old Testament, where the whole system of religion was veiled under types and figures.

The circumstances before us, we do not hesitate to say, have a hidden meaning, which, when brought forth, will be highly instructive. But in exploring the mysteries that are hidden under these shadows, there is need of the utmost sobriety, that we impose not on Scripture any other sense than that which God himself designed it to convey. However some may gratify themselves with exercising their ingenuity on the sacred writings, and please themselves with their own fanciful interpretations of God’s blessed word, I dare not proceed in that unhallowed course; I would “take off my shoes, when I come upon this holy ground;” and be content to leave untouched what I do not understand, and what God has not enabled me to explain, with a good hope at least that I express only “the mind of his Spirit.”

With this reverential awe upon my mind, I will endeavor, as God shall help me, to set before you what I conceive to be contained in the passage which we have just read. In it we notice,

I. The breaking of the two tablets of the law.

God, after he had published by an audible voice the law of the Ten Commandments, wrote them upon two tablets of stone, and gave them to Moses upon Mount Horeb, that they might serve as a memorial of what all who entered into covenant with him were bound to perform. But when Moses, on descending from the mount, found that the whole people of Israel were worshiping the golden calf, he was filled with righteous indignation, and “broke the two tablets in pieces before their eyes! Deuteronomy 9:10; Deuteronomy 9:15-17.”

1. The breaking of the two tablets imported that the covenant which God had made with them was utterly dissolved.

Repeatedly are the two tablets called “the tablets of the covenant, Deuteronomy 9:9; Deuteronomy 9:11; Deuteronomy 9:15;” because they contained the terms on which the Israelites were ultimately to find acceptance before God. But their idolatry was a direct violation of the very first precept of the decalogue, or rather an utter subversion of the whole; and as they had thus broken the covenant on their part, Moses by breaking the two tablets declared it to be annulled on God’s part. God now disclaimed all connection with them; and by calling them “your people,” that is, Moses’ people, he disowned them as His people; and threatened to “blot out their name from under Heaven.” All this was intimated, I say, by Moses, in this significant action.

A similar mode of expressing the same idea was adopted by Jehovah in the days of the Prophet Zechariah. He took two staffs, one to represent the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; and the other, the ten tribes. These he broke, the one after the other, in order to show that as they were disjoined from each other, so they should henceforth be separated from him also, and that “his covenant with them” both was dissolved, Zechariah 11:7; Zechariah 11:10; Zechariah 11:14. Thus far then, we apprehend, the import of this expressive action is clear.

The further light which I shall endeavor to throw upon it, though not so clear to a superficial observer, will to a well-instructed mind approve itself to be both just and important.

2. The breaking of the two tablets imported that that mode of covenanting with God was from that time forever closed.

This, I grant, does not at first sight appear; though it may be inferred from the very circumstance of the same law being afterwards given in a different way. This mode of conveying such instruction repeatedly occurs in the Holy Scriptures. The Prophet Jeremiah tells the Jews that God would “make a new covenant with them;” from whence Paul infers that the covenant under which they lived, was old, and “ready to vanish away, Jeremiah 31:31 with Hebrews 8:13.” The Prophet Haggai speaks of God “shaking once more the heavens and the earth;” and this Paul interprets as an utter removal of the Jewish dispensation, that “the things which could not be shaken,” the Christian dispensation, “might remain, Haggai 2:6 with Hebrews 12:26-27.” Now if these apparently incidental words conveyed so much, what must have been intended by that action—an action which, in point of singularity, yields not to any within the whole compass of the sacred records?

But is this view of the subject confirmed by any further evidence? I answer, Yes! It is agreeable to the whole scope of the inspired volume. Throughout the New Testament we have this truth continually and most forcibly inculcated, that the law, having been once broken, can never justify; that, while under it, we are, and ever must be, under a curse; and therefore we must be dead to it, and renounce all hope of acceptance by it.

And the breaking of the tablets before their eyes was in effect like the driving of our first parents out of Paradise, and the preventing of their return to it by the threats of a flaming sword. The tree of life which was to them in their state of innocence, a pledge of eternal life, was no longer such when they had fallen; and therefore God in mercy prohibited their access to it, in order that they might be shut up to that way of reconciliation which God had provided for them in the promised seed. And thus did Moses by this significant action cut off from the Jews all hope of return to God by that covenant which they had broken, and shut them up to that other, and better, covenant, which God was about to shadow forth to them.

But the chief mystery lies in,

II. The manner in which they were replaced.

Moses, having by his intercession obtained forgiveness for the people, was ordered to prepare tablets of stone similar to those which he had broken, and to carry them up to the mount, that God might write upon them with his own finger a fresh copy of the law. He was ordered also to make an ark, in which to deposit the tablets when so inscribed. Now what was the scope and intent of these directions? Truly they were of pre-eminent importance, and were intended to convey the most valuable instruction. Mark,

1. The renewing of the tablets which had been broken.

This intimated that God was reconciled towards them, and was still willing to take them as his people, and to give himself to them as their God. The very first words of the Law thus given said to them, “I am the Lord your God.” So that on this part of the subject it is unnecessary to dwell.

2. The putting of the tablets, when so renewed, into an ark.

Christ is that ark into which the law was put. To him it was committed, in order that he might fulfill it for us. He was made under the law for this express end, Galatians 4:4-5; and he has fulfilled it in all its parts; enduring all its penalties, and obeying all its precepts, Galatians 3:13-14; Philippians 2:8. This he was appointed of God to do; the law was put into his heart on purpose that he might do it, Psalm 40:8; and having done it, he is “the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believes, Romans 10:4.”

Hence we are enabled to view the law without fear, and to hear it without trembling. Now we can contemplate its utmost requirements, and see that it has been satisfied in its highest demands. We can now even found our hopes upon it; not as obeyed by us; but as obeyed by our surety and substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ; by whose obedience it has been more magnified than it has ever been dishonored by our disobedience.

It is no longer now a “ministration of death and condemnation, 2 Corinthians 3:7; 2 Corinthians 3:9,” but a source of life to those who plead the sacrifice and obedience of Jesus Christ. In this view, the law itself, no less than the prophets, bears, testimony to Christ, Romans 3:21-22, and declares that, through his righteousness, God can be “a just God, and yet a Savior, Isaiah 45:21,” “just, and yet the justifier of all those who believe, Romans 3:26.” This is the great mystery which the angels so much admire, and which they are ever endeavoring to look into. Carefully compare Exodus 25:17-20 with 1 Peter 1:12.

If it appears strange that so much should be intimated in so small a matter, let us only consider what we know assuredly to have been intimated in an occurrence equally insignificant, which took place at the very same time.

When Moses came down with these tablets in his hand, his face shined so brightly that the people were unable to approach him; and he was constrained to put a veil upon his face in order that they might have access to him to hear his instructions, Exodus 34:29-35. This denoted their incapacity to comprehend the law, until Christ should come to remove the veil from their hearts, 2 Corinthians 3:13-16.

And precisely in the same manner the putting of the law into the ark denoted the incapacity of man to receive it at it is in itself, and the necessity of viewing it only as fulfilled in Christ. “Through the law” itself which denounces such curses, Galatians 2:19, and “through the body of Christ” which sustained those curses, Romans 7:4, we must be “dead to the law,” and have no hope whatever towards God, but in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, Galatians 2:15-16; Philippians 3:9, who, in consequence of obeying its precepts and enduring its penalties, is to be called by every man, “The Lord our Righteousness!”

3. The preparing of the tablets on which the law was written.

The first tablets were prepared by God himself; but, when they were broken, and to be renewed, Moses was ordered to prepare the tablets, and carry them up to the mount, that they might there have the law inscribed upon them by God himself. Commentators have suggested that this was intended to intimate, that though God alone could write the law on the heart, means were to be used for that end by people for themselves, and by ministers in their behalf.

But I rather gather from it a deeper and more important lesson, namely, that notwithstanding the law was fulfilled for us by Christ, we must seek to have it inscribed on our stony hearts; and that, if we go up with them to the mount of God from time to time for that end, God will write his law there. I the rather believe this to be the true meaning, because our deadness to the law as a covenant of works is continually associated with a delight in it as a rule of life. See Galatians 2:19 and Romans 7:4 before cited; and because the writing of the law upon our hearts is the great distinguishing promise of the New Covenant, Jeremiah 31:31-33 with Hebrews 8:8-10. In this view the direction respecting the tablets is very instructive, seeing that it unites what can never be separated, a “hope in Christ” as the only Savior of the world, and a “purifying of the heart as he is pure, 1 John 3:3.”

Improvement.

1. Let us be thankful that the law is given to us in this mitigated form.

The law is the same as ever; not a jot or tittle of it was altered, or ever can be; it is as immutable as God himself, Matthew 5:17-18. But as given on Mount Sinai, it was “a fiery law;” and so terrible, that the people could not endure it; and “even Moses himself said, I exceedingly fear and quake! Hebrews 12:19-21.”

But in the ark, Christ Jesus, its terrors are abated; yes, to those who believe in him, it has no terror at all; its demands are satisfied in their behalf, and its penalties sustained; and, on it, as fulfilled in him, they found their claims of everlasting life! Isaiah 45:24.

It must never be forgotten, that the mercy-seat was of the same dimensions with the ark; and to all who are in Christ Jesus does the mercy of God extend, Exodus 25:10; Exodus 25:21-22. Mark the promise in verse 22. If we look to the law as fulfilled in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, we have nothing to fear, “we are no longer under the law, but under grace, Romans 6:14;” and “there is no condemnation to us, Romans 8:1.” “Only let us rely on him as having effected everything for us, Romans 8:34, and all that he possesses shall be ours! 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.”

2. Let us seek to have the law written upon our hearts.

None but God can write it there; our stony hearts are harder than adamant. Nevertheless, if we go up to God in the holy mount, “he will take away from us the heart of stone, and give us a heart of flesh, Ezekiel 36:26;” and then “on the fleshly tablets of our heart” will he write his perfect law, 2 Corinthians 3:2-3.

O blessed privilege! Beloved brethren, let us covet it, and seek it night and day. Only think, what a change will take place in you when this is wrought! What a luster will be diffused over your very countenance! Exodus 34:29-30. Yes truly, all who then behold you shall “take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus,” and “confess, that God is truly with you.” Despair not, any of you; though you have turned from God to the basest idolatry—yet has your great Advocate and Intercessor prevailed for you to remove the curses of the broken law, and to restore you to the favor of your offended God.

Bring, says God, your hearts of stone, and I will so inscribe my law upon them, that “you shall never more depart from me, nor will I ever more depart from you.” brethren, obey the call without delay; lose not a single hour. Hasten into the presence of your God; and there abide with him, until he has granted your request. So shall “you be God’s people, and he shall be your God, forever and ever!

Jeremiah 32:38-41, “They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 9:7

“Remember, and forget not, how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness.”

There is no sin more deeply rooted in the heart of man than pride; nor is there anything which will not serve as a foundation for it. Even an excess of impiety will afford to some an occasion of glorying; and a precedence in rebellion against God, give them a title to praise among those whom they have out-stripped in the career of wickedness.

It may well be expected that success in any lawful enterprise should very generally be thought to give a man a legitimate ground for self-applause. Yet, doubtless, if ever there were a people less entitled to self-admiration than others, it was the people of Israel, who were a stiff-necked people from the very first moment that God took them under his peculiar care. And, if ever there were a matter that entirely precluded all ground of glorying, surely it was the establishing of that people in the land of Canaan. Their fathers had all provoked God to destroy them in the wilderness; and they themselves were also a rebellious generation; so that they at least might be expected to acknowledge themselves indebted to the sovereign grace of God for all the blessings of the promised land.

But behold! God, who knew what was in man, was constrained to caution them against the enormous evil of ascribing to their own superior goodness all the interpositions of God in their behalf, “After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.” This was the state of mind which befit them; and this is the habit that befits us also.

To fix this admonition the more deeply on your minds, I will endeavor to show:

I. What impression sin makes upon the mind of God.

It is not so light an evil as we are ready to imagine. It is most offensive to God; it is “that abominable thing which his soul hates! Jeremiah 44:4.”

1. In what abhorrence God holds sin, we may see by

his own positive declarations.

“In the day that you eat of the forbidden tree, you shall surely die! Genesis 2:17,” was the declaration of God in Paradise.

And “The soul that sins, it shall die! Ezekiel 18:4,” has been his solemn warning to all mankind, even to the present hour.

Yes, “the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men! Romans 1:18.”

“The wicked,” says David, “shall be turned into Hell, and all the people that forget God! Psalm 9:17.”

And again, “Upon the ungodly shall God rain snares, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest; this shall be their portion to drink! Psalm 11:6.”

“They shall go into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels! Matthew 25:41.”

“They shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and the smoke of their torment shall ascend up forever and ever; and they shall have no rest, day nor night! Revelation 14:10-11.”

They shall be “where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched! Mark 9:44; Mark 9:46; Mark 9:48.”

They shall spend eternity itself in “weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth! Matthew 25:30.”

Now I would ask, What can such declarations mean? Or rather, What can they mean who willingly ignore them, and say, “I shall have peace, though I walk after the imaginations of my own evil heart! Deuteronomy 29:19.”

2. In what abhorrence God holds sin, we may see by

the actual exhibitions of his wrath.

It is easy to say, “The Lord does not see, neither will the Almighty regard it.” But how do his actual dispensations accord with these foolish thoughts?

Was the sin of Adam visited with no expression of his wrath?

Was there no manifestation of his anger at the deluge?

Was there no wrath on the cities of the plain—the punishment of which was a figure of Hell itself?

Look at his dealings with Israel in the wilderness—was sin unpunished there?

Do we see there no marks of his displeasure, no proofs of the connection which he has established between sin and misery?

Does the destruction of that whole people in the wilderness give us no insight into this matter?

When we see what was inflicted:

on a man for gathering sticks upon the Sabbath, Numbers 15:33-35,

on Uzzah for a mistake, 2 Samuel 6:6-7,

on the men of Bethshemesh for unhallowed curiosity, 1 Samuel 6:19,

on Herod for pride, Acts 12:23,

on Ananias for a lie, Acts 5:3-10

—shall we listen to the voice that tells us, that “the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil? Zephaniah 1:12.”

Know of a truth, beloved brethren, that “God is angry with the wicked every day! Psalm 7:11;” and that “though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished! Proverbs 11:21.”

From hence, then, we may see,

II. The impression which sin should make on our minds.

Truly, as sin makes a deep impression upon God’s mind, so should it also upon ours. We should remember it; and never forget so much as one sin, if it were possible; but should have the iniquity of our whole lives ever treasured up in our minds, and standing in one accumulated mass before our eyes.

This is necessary for the unpardoned sinner.

We are not to imagine that it is sufficient for us to acknowledge in a general way that we are sinners, or to have our minds fixed on one or two enormous transgressions, and to confess them to God. We ought to trace sin to the fountain-head, and see how totally we are by nature alienated from God, and “enemies to him in our minds by wicked works.” At the same time we should have such views of particular transgressions, as to be constrained to come to God, saying, “Thus and thus have I done!” Without such a view of our sins we can have no repentance, no forgiveness, nor even so much as any preparation of heart for the Gospel of Christ.

Without calling our ways to remembrance, we can have no repentance. For, what is repentance, but a confession of our sins, and mourning over them before God? We can have no forgiveness; for “he who covers his sins shall not prosper! It is he only who confesses and forsakes them, who shall find mercy Proverbs 28:13.” Nor can a person be prepared to receive the Gospel; for the Gospel is a remedy for which they who are unconscious of any malady can have no desire; as our Lord has said, “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Matthew 9:12-13.” What then shall an unpardoned sinner do? If he does not look back on his transgressions, to mourn over them before God—he rivets them all upon his own soul, and ensures to himself the judgments of an offended God! Luke 13:3.

Nor is it a whit less necessary for a pardoned saint.

In a great variety of views it is desirable for him:

First, right views of sin are necessary for the deepening of his humility.

Superficial views of sin, though they may suffice to bring us to the Savior, will never produce that self-loathing and self-abhorrence which are the foundation of all that is good and great in the Christian character, Ezekiel 16:63; Ezekiel 36:31.

Next, right views of sin are necessary for the inflaming of his gratitude.

Our gratitude will always bear proportion to our sense of sin. “The man that has been forgiven little, will love little, Luke 7:47;” but the man who is sensible, fully sensible, what his deserts have been, will be filled with such wonder and admiration at the goodness of God towards him, as no words can adequately express! 1 Timothy 1:13-15. “Grace exceeding abundant.”

Further, right views of sin are desirable for the confirming of his principles.

Let him feel the extent of his guilt, and he will not need to be told that salvation must be altogether of grace, or through faith, in Christ. He will see that a soul taken out of Hell itself would not be a greater monument of grace than he! He knows himself to be “a brand plucked out of the burning, Zechariah 3:2;” and that if there were not an atonement provided for him, and a free salvation offered to him, Satan himself would have as good a hope of mercy as he!

Further, right views of sin are desirable for the augmenting of his care and watchfulness.

Let a man see how he has fallen; and how, even though he may not actually have fallen, he has been tempted by sinful inclinations; he will then see what must have been his state to all eternity, if God had left him to himself; and what must yet be his state, if God should not continually uphold him!

Lastly, Further, right views of sin are necessary for the fitting of his soul for glory.

Go up to Heaven, and see the state of the saints there; see how they fall on their faces before the throne; hear with what incessant praises they ascribe salvation to God and to the Lamb, Revelation 5:14. If you were to go from one end of Heaven to the other, you would not hear one self-applauding word, or witness one self-admiring thought. There is but one song throughout all the realms of bliss; and the deeper our sense of obligation to God is for the wonders of redeeming love, the better we shall be prepared to make it the one subject of our thanksgivings to all eternity.

Before I conclude, let me add a few words to those who are either looking to God for acceptance through their own righteousness, or imagining that they have already found mercy on such ground as that.

Take a retrospect of your past lives, and call to remembrance the whole of your conduct in this wilderness world. Compare your lives with the requirements of God’s law; and see whether even so much as a day or an hour has ever passed, that has not given you ground for the deepest humiliation. But if you will not remember your sins, know assuredly that God will. He says, by the Prophet Amos, “The Lord has sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works! Amos 8:7.”

In the day of judgment, too, will he remember them; yes, and bring them to your remembrance also; for they are all recorded in his book; and when set before you with all their aggravations, they will then appear to you, not light and venial, as they now do, but worthy of the deepest and heaviest condemnation.

Wait not, then, until that day, but call them to remembrance now, and beg of God to set them all in order before your eyes. As for the pain which a sight of them will occasion, would you not wish to be pained with that which has so grieved God? Is it not better to feel a penitential sorrow now, than to die in impenitence, and lie down under the wrath of God forever?

In recommending penitence, I am your best friend; and those who would encourage you to forget your sins are, in truth, your greatest enemies. Begin, then, to “sorrow after a godly sort, 2 Corinthians 7:11,” and go to the Lord with all your sins upon you; so shall you have them all “blotted out as a morning cloud,” and “cast by God himself into the depths of the sea.” Here is a great mystery: if you forget your sins, God will remember them; but if you remember them, God will forget them utterly, and “remember them against you no more forever! Hebrews 8:12.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 9:4-6

“After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

Man is a dependent creature;

he has nothing of his own but sin;

he can do nothing but sin;

he can control no event whatever;

he is altogether in the hands of God, who supports him in life, and accomplishes both in him and by him his own sovereign will and pleasure. Yet he boasts in his wisdom, though “he is born like a wild donkey’s colt;” and strength, though he is “crushed before the moth!” Nay, so extraordinary is his blindness, that he arrogates righteousness to himself, though he is so corrupt, that he has “not so much as one imagination of the thoughts of his heart which is not evil continually.”

If there ever were a people that might be expected to be free from self-satisfied thoughts, it must be the Israelites who were brought out of Egypt; for no people ever had such opportunities of discovering the evil of their hearts as they had. No people ever received such signal mercies, as they; nor did any ever manifest such perverseness of mind, as they. Yet Moses judged it necessary to caution even them, not to ascribe to any merits of their own the interpositions of God in their behalf, but to trace them to their proper source. the determination of God to display in and by them his own glorious perfections.

The words which I have read to you, will furnish me with a fit occasion to show,

I. How prone we are to self-satisfied thoughts.

There are many things which men would not utter with their lips, which yet they will “speak in their hearts.” “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God.” But no rational man would be such a fool as to say it with his lips. So, one can scarcely conceive any man absurd enough to impute in express terms to himself, his successes, either in temporal or spiritual matters; yet, “in the spirit of our minds,” we are prone to do it in reference to both.

1. We are prone to be self-satisfied in reference to temporal matters.

In the event of our succeeding in trade, in husbandry, in war, how apt are we to ascribe to ourselves what really has proceeded from God alone. We may have shown wisdom in our use of means; but who has rendered those means effectual? Can the merchant command the seas, or the gardener the clouds, or the warrior the outcome of wars? Yet we take the glory to ourselves, as if we had reaped nothing but the fruits, the necessary fruits, of our own superior skill.

Now what would we have thought of the disciples, if, when they had “toiled all the night in fishing, and had caught nothing,” and afterwards, in obedience to their Lord’s directions, had “launched out into the deep again, and taken at one draught so many fishes that both their ships began to sink”. What, I say, would we have thought of them, if they had ascribed this success to their own wisdom and skill, Luke 5:4-7 and again John 21:3-6. Yet this is the very thing which we do, in reference to our successes in any matter, “we sacrifice to our own net, and burn incense unto our own dragnet, Habakkuk 1:16.”

2. We are prone to be self-satisfied in reference to our spiritual matters.

In relation to things of a spiritual nature, we should suppose that no man would think of indulging this propensity; because in the natural man there is not so much as one holy desire. But, strange as it may seem, we are more tenacious of our supposed self-sufficiency in reference to these things than to any others. There is not one who does not hope to conciliate the divine favor by something that he shall do; and that does not imagine himself capable of doing it by his own inherent strength and goodness, whenever he shall be pleased to undertake the work.

To self-righteousness, in particular, men cleave with an obstinacy that nothing but Omnipotence can overcome! This was the real cause of the rejection of the Jews, that they would persist in laboring to establish a righteousness of their own by the works of the Law, when they should have embraced the righteousness which is from God by faith, Romans 9:31-32. And this is the principle which we have to combat in all our ministrations, and which is the very last that yields to the Gospel of Christ.

Men think to get to Heaven by their own righteousness; and hope, like the Israelites in Canaan, to make the very mercy of God himself a pedestal for their own fame. “Stiff-necked” as Israel were, they would arrogate to themselves this glory; and vile as we are, we fondly cherish this vain conceit. To renounce wholly our own righteousness, and to submit cordially to the righteousness of Christ—is the last sacrifice we can be brought to make. Yet it is the crown and glory of converting grace.

That I may, as God shall enable me, beat down all self-satisfied conceits, I will proceed to show,

II. How erroneous they are.

To the self-righteous Israelites, Moses said, “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

Now here Moses has informed us what it is that God consults in all his dispensations, even the glory of his own attributes and perfections:

1. Of his justice and holiness.

God determined to show his indignation against sin; and therefore, when the iniquity of the Canaanites was full, and they were ripe for vengeance—he drove them forth from their land, and utterly destroyed them. The Israelites he used merely as his instruments, whom he had raised up to fulfill his will; and in them he made known his power to execute what his justice had decreed.

Look now at the redemption which he has given to us, and you shall find it altogether ordained to display the very same perfections of the Deity.

Look at the atonement made for sin; go to Calvary, and behold the Lamb of God expiating, by his own blood, the guilt of a ruined world! There read the holiness of God, in his hatred of sin, and his justice in punishing it.

Or go to the Gospel, which proclaims this deliverance; and declares, that none shall ever be saved who do not plead this atonement as their only hope; and none shall ever perish who truly and sincerely rely upon it.

Go, follow the self-complacent Pharisee to the regions of misery, or the believing penitent to the realms of bliss, and you shall see in both an equal display of these very perfections. In the one, the punishment of sin in his own person; in the other, the reward of righteousness, wrought out for him by our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Of his faithfulness and truth.

To Abraham, God had promised the possession of the land of Canaan; yet not to Abraham personally, but in his descendants. The fulfillment of this promise was delayed four hundred and thirty years; but it was not forgotten. When the time for its accomplishment was fully come, it was fulfilled; and in fulfilling it, God showed himself faithful to his promises.

If any one of us should ever arrive at the heavenly Canaan, it will be in consequence of the covenant made with Christ; wherein the Father stipulated, that “if his Son would make his soul an offering for sin, he should see a seed who should prolong their days, and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hands, Isaiah 53:10.”

Whence is it that any one of us is led to Christ?

Whence is it that we are carried in safety through this dreary wilderness, and brought at last to the possession of the heavenly land?

Was it for our righteousness that we were chosen?

No, “God loved us simply because he would love us, Deuteronomy 7:7-8.”

Was it for our righteousness that we were preserved?

No, we were “a stiff-necked people” from first to last.

Was it for our righteousness that we were crowned with ultimate success?

No, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us! Titus 3:4.” “According to the good pleasure of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his own grace, Ephesians 1:4-6.”

It is worthy of observation, that no less than three times in the short space of our text does God declare that his people were not thus favored on account of their own righteousness; and among all the glorified ones in Heaven, there will not be found so much as one, who does not ascribe his salvation altogether to God and to the Lamb; that is, to the electing love of the Father, and to the redeeming love of Christ, and to the regenerating love of the Spirit.

In order still more forcibly to counteract self-righteous thoughts, I proceed yet further to show,

III. The importance of utterly discarding self-righteous thoughts from our own minds.

Observe the energy with which this hateful propensity is assailed, “Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.” How much more, then, may I say this to you, in reference to the heavenly land! “Understand it,” then, and consider it well; for to dream of any righteousness of your own, is to be:

1. Guilty of the grossest injustice.

Did the self-applauding Israelites rob God of his glory? How much more do you!

What becomes of all his stupendous love, in giving his only Son to die for you?

What becomes of his sovereign grace, in choosing you at first, and in giving his Son to die for you?

What becomes of all of:

his mercy in pardoning you,

his power in sanctifying you,

his faithfulness in preserving you to the end?

By this one act of self-righteousness you rob God of it all!

You take the crown from the Savior’s head, to put it on your own!

What construction would you put on similar conduct shown towards yourselves? If you had taken the most helpless and worthless of the human race from the street, and had with vast cost and trouble educated him for your heir, and had actually made over to him all that you possess; would you think he offered you no indignity, if he denied his obligations to your unmerited love, and ascribed all the glory of his exaltation to his own superior merit, which left you no option, but claimed it all at your hands?

How base, then, must you be, if you so requite the love of Almighty God! Know, that:

“His is the kingdom,” to which you have been called;

“His is the power,” by which you have been saved and kept;

and “His must be the glory” forever and ever.

2. Guilty of the extreme folly.

What can provoke God, if this arrogance does not? Or, what can you expect, but that, as the recompense of your conceit and arrogance, he should say to you,

‘Go on without my help.

You have done thus much for yourselves—carry on now the good work within you.

You have overcome Satan—overcome him still.

You have merited my favor—continue still to merit it.

You have paid a price for Heaven—complete your purchase.

Bring with you your works to my judgment-seat—and I will deal with you according to them.’

Ah, Beloved! what would become of us, if God were thus to give us up to our proud delusions, and our vain conceits? It would soon appear what we are, and what measure of sufficiency we possess for anything that is good. If, then, you would not provoke God to give you up altogether to yourselves, discard from your minds these “lofty imaginations, and let every thought of your hearts be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ!”

Having thus directed my attention, throughout the whole subject, to the self-sufficient, I will conclude with an address to:

1. The desponding sinner.

You are ready to say, God will not have mercy upon me, because I have no righteousness whereby to recommend myself to him. But you need none for this end. It was not the righteous, but sinners, whom he came to save.

You are to go to Christ:

guilty, that you may be forgiven;

vile, that you may be made holy; and

weak, that his strength may be perfected in your weakness.

“Understand” this; and your conscious unworthiness, so far from appearing any longer a bar to your acceptance with him, will be a motive for coming to him, and an encouragement to trust in him; for “where sin has abounded, there you have reason to hope that his grace shall much more abound.”

2. The joyful saint.

Let not the freedom of God’s grace ever prove a snare to you. Though God will never save you for your righteousness, he will never save you if you continue to live in an unrighteous state. Though he requires no righteousness of yours as the ground of your acceptance with him, he requires the utmost attainments in righteousness as your fitness for Heaven; yes, and as the means whereby he may be glorified. Take heed, therefore, that you “understand” this; for “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.”

At the same time, you must cultivate a spirit directly opposite to that of the self-applauding Pharisee—a spirit of humiliation and self-abasement before God. This was the state of mind which he required of those whom he conducted into Canaan; and this is the spirit which he expects to find in us. Hear his own words to them, and to us in them, “You shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers. And there shall you remember your ways, and all your doings wherein you have been defiled. And you shall loath yourselves in your own heart for all the evils that you have committed. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt dealings, O house of Israel, says the Lord God! Ezekiel 20:42-44; Ezekiel 36:22; Ezekiel 36:32.”

Here, I say, you see the spirit that befits you. To your last hour, and in your highest attainments, be abased, and let God be glorified as “all in all!”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 8:2-3

“Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”

Among the various things which distinguish man from the brute creation, is that faculty which he possesses of grasping within his mind things past and future; and of deriving both from the one and the other the most powerful incentives to action. The consideration of things future is that which operates most upon the bulk of mankind; but men of thoughtful and comprehensive minds derive the most important lessons of wisdom from reflecting on the past; and it is this retrospective view of things which distinguishes one man from another, almost as much as a prospective view of them does an adult person from a child.

Hence Moses was peculiarly solicitous to draw the attention of the Israelites to all those wonderful events which had taken place, from the period when he was first commissioned to effect their deliverance from Egypt, to that hour when they were about to enter into the promised land; and truly there never was such an eventful period from the foundation of the world, nor one so replete with instruction as that.

Two things in particular we notice in the words before us:

I. The diversified dealings of God with his people.

In the dealings of God with the Jews, we see a mixture of mercy and of judgment. His mercies to them were such as never were given to any other people. His interpositions by ten successive plagues in order to effect their deliverance from Egypt, their passage through the sea, their preservation from “serpents and scorpions in that great and terrible wilderness, verse 15;” their miraculous supplies of manna from the clouds, and of “water from the rock of flint;” the preservation of “their garments and of their shoes, verse 4 with Deuteronomy 29:5, from waxing old during the space of forty years,” and of “their feet also from swelling,” notwithstanding the long journeys which at different times they were obliged to travel, Numbers 9:21 with 10:33; these, with innumerable other mercies not specified in the text, distinguished that people above every nation under Heaven.

But at the same time God saw fit occasionally to let them feel the difficulties with which they were encompassed. He allowed them on some occasions to be tried both with hunger and thirst; and inflicted heavy chastisements upon them for their multiplied transgressions.

Now in this we have a looking-glass wherein to see the dealings of God with his people in all ages:

1. His mercies to every one of us have been innumerable.

At our very first formation in the womb, the power and goodness of God towards us were exercised in imparting to us all our faculties both of body and mind. We have been preserved by him from innumerable dangers, both seen and unseen. In our national, domestic, and individual capacity—we have been highly privileged. And though the interference of God on our behalf has not been so visible as that which was given to the Jews, it has not been at all less real. Our supplies of food, of clothing, and of health, have been as much owing to the care of his providence, as if they had been given to us by miraculous interpositions.

The benefits of Scripture revelation too which we have enjoyed, have marked his special favor to our souls. In this respect we have been as much elevated above the heathen world as the Jews themselves were; or rather, still more elevated, in proportion to the clearer light which shines on us in the New Testament; which, in comparison with theirs, is as the meridian light to the early dawn.

But what shall we say of those who have tasted of redeeming love, and experienced the transforming efficacy of the Gospel of Christ? What tongue can declare the mercies given to them? Yet,

2. We have also been partakers of his judgments.

All of us have found this to be a chequered scene:

Some have been tried in one way, and others in another.

Some have been tried for a longer, and others for a shorter period.

Some have been tried in mind; some in body.

Some have been tried in estate; some in relations.

Even those who have been most favored in this respect, have found abundant reason to acknowledge that “this is not our rest.” To the young and inexperienced, the world appears a garden abounding with delights; but on a fuller acquaintance with it we find, that its roses have their thorns; and even its choicest delicacies often prove occasions of the sorest pain. “Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward!”

As, from our general notions of God’s goodness, we might have expected that his dealings with his people would have been different from what we find them to be, let us inquire into,

II. His end and design in them.

The reasons here assigned for his dispensations towards the Jews, will afford us a clue for discovering his intentions towards ourselves. He diversifies his dispensations towards us:

1. To humble us.

Were our mercies altogether unmixed, we would know nothing of the effect of judgments on the rebellious will of man; and if there were no intermission of adversity, we would be strangers to the effect of prosperity upon the carnal heart. But by the variety of states which we pass through, we are led to see the total depravity of our nature; since we can be in no state whatever, wherein the mind does not show itself alienated from God, and averse to bear his yoke.

We are apt to think that a change of circumstances would produce in us a change of conduct. But, as a person in a fever finds no posture easy, nor any food pleasant to his taste—so we, through the corruption of our hearts, find all situations alike unproductive of a permanent change in our dispositions towards God. “We are bent to backslide from him, even as a broken bow;” and every change of situation only serves to establish that melancholy truth, that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked!” To convince us of our depravity, is the first work of God upon the soul, John 16:8, and the first object of all his dispensations.”

2. To test us.

It is easy to obey God at some times and in some respects, in comparison with what it is at other times and in other respects. God therefore puts us into a variety of situations, to test whether we will make him the supreme object of our regard in all.

At some times he gives health, and affluence, and honor, to see whether we will allow these things to draw away our hearts from him, or whether we will improve them all for him.

At other times he lays affliction upon our loins, to see whether we will retain our love to him, and bless him as well when he takes away as when he gives.

At some times he permits us to be sorely tempted by Satan, and by the corrupt propensities of our own hearts, to test whether we will prefer the maintenance of a good conscience to any of the gratifications of sense.

At other times he permits persecution to rage against us, that it may appear whether we will sacrifice our interests, and life itself, for him.

In fact, every change of circumstance is sent by him, precisely as the command respecting the sacrificing of Isaac was sent to Abraham; by that command “God tested him;” and by every circumstance of life he tests us, to “prove whether we will obey his commandments or no.”

3. To instruct us.

We are apt to imagine that the happiness of man is greatly dependent upon earthly prosperity; and that the loss of temporal comforts is an irreparable evil. But God would teach us, that this is altogether a mistake. By loading us with all that this world can give, he shows us how insufficient earthly things are to make us happy; and, by reducing us to a state of poverty, or pain, or trouble of any kind, he leads us to himself, and then shows us how happy he can make us, though under circumstances the most painful to flesh and blood.

This is a great and valuable lesson—most honorable to him, and most beneficial to us. It elevates us completely above this lower world; and, in proportion as it is learned, enables us to live on God alone.

When Satan tempted our Lord to distrust his heavenly Father’s care, and to “command the stones to be made bread,” our Lord reminded him of the lesson which was here recorded for the good of the Church; namely, that it was the blessing of God upon bread, and not the bread itself, that could do us good; and that His blessing would as easily produce the effect without means, as with them. Thus he teaches us that, in having God, we have all; and that, without him, we have nothing.

4. To do us good at our latter end, verse 16.

If our state were never diversified, we should have but one set of graces called forth into action; but, by experiencing alterations and reverses, we are led to exercise every kind of grace; and by this means we grow in every part, just as the members of the body grow, when all are duly exercised, Colossians 2:19; 1 Peter 2:2.

Moreover, according to the measure which we attain of the stature of Christ, will be the recompense of our reward. Every grace we exercise, whether active or passive, will be noted in the book of God’s remembrance, and “be found to our praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 1:7.” The one as well as the other, though but weak and defective in itself, is “working out for us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

APPLICATION.

1. Let every one of us trace the dealings of God with us.

We could not read a more instructive history, than that of the Lord’s dealings with us from our earliest infancy to the present moment. If it were recorded with the minuteness and fidelity that the history of the Jews has been, we should see, that as face answers to face in a looking-glass, so does our experience to theirs. We are apt to wonder at their wickedness; but we would cease to wonder at them, if we were thoroughly acquainted with ourselves. Our wonder would rather be at the patience and forbearance, the mercy and the kindness—of our God.

Earnestly then would we recommend to every one to apply to himself the injunction in our text, “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness;” and we may rest assured that such habits of reflection will bring their own reward along with them, Psalm 107:43.

2. Let our experience of his past kindness, lead us to confide in him in the future.

The way in which the Israelites were led was circuitous and dreary; yet we are told that God “led them by the right way.” It may be that our way also has been such as has excited many murmurs, and great discouragement; but, if we have considered it to any good purpose, we shall acknowledge it to have been on the whole more profitable for us, than any that we should have chosen for ourselves. Perhaps we shall see cause to bless our God for some of our heaviest trials, more than for any of those things which administered to our pleasure.

Convinced then by our past experience, we should be willing to leave matters to the disposal of our God; and to submit to any trials which he sends for the promotion of our eternal welfare. Our only solicitude should be to make a due improvement of his dispensations; and if only we may be humbled, instructed, sanctified, and holier by them, we should cordially and continually say, “Let God do what seems good to him.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Deuteronomy 7:6-10

“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.”

There is in man a strange reluctance to contemplate the sovereignty of God; but, if duly improved, there is no subject more comforting to the soul, or more calculated to promote practical godliness. It is this on which Moses insists, in order to deter the Israelites from connections with the heathen, and to induce them to maintain inviolable the commandments of their God.

With similar views we would draw your attention to,

I. The privilege of God’s people.

The Jews were “a special people unto the Lord their God”.

They had been:

redeemed from a most oppressive bondage,

instructed by the voice of revelation,

supported by bread from Heaven,

brought into the nearest relation to the Deity,

and honored with access to him in ordinances of divine appointment.

In these, and many other respects, they were distinguished above all other people upon earth, Deuteronomy 4:7-8; Deuteronomy 33:29.

Such is also the privilege of all true believers.

They have been:

rescued from the tyranny of sin and Satan, 2 Timothy 2:25-26,

taught by the word and Spirit of God, John 6:45,

furnished with daily supplies of grace, John 1:16,

made sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, 2 Corinthians 6:18,

and admitted into the most intimate communion with their God, 1 John 1:3.

Nor were the Jews so much exalted above the heathen world, as true believers are above all others, even the professed followers of Christ, Mark 3:34-35; Matthew 19:28.

It will be a profitable subject of meditation, if we inquire into,

II. The source of that privilege.

The Jews owed all their blessings to the distinguishing grace of God.

They were not chosen for their numbers, or for their goodness; for “they were the fewest” and most stiff-necked “of all people.” God’s love to them had its origin within his own bosom, “he loved them, because he would love them;” and in due season he testified that love to them, because he had voluntarily engaged to do so.

Just so, every true Christian owes all their blessings to the distinguishing grace of God.

God, in choosing us to salvation, has not respect to any goodness in us, whether past, present, or future.

Not to past; for all of us, not excepting even the Apostles themselves, have been inconceivably vile, Titus 3:3; Ephesians 2:3.

Not to present; for many of us, like Paul and the three thousand, were in the very midst of our sinful career, when God plucked us as brands from the burning! Acts 2:13; Acts 9:1.

Not future; for we never would have had anything good in us, if it had not been given us by God, 1 Corinthians 4:7.

It is evident that the grace he has given us, can never be the ground and reason of his bestowing that grace upon us. He has “chosen us that we might be holy;” but not because we were so, or because he foresaw we would become holy, Ephesians 1:4; John 15:16.

No reason can be assigned for his choosing us rather than others, except that assigned by our Lord himself, “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight, Matthew 11:26.” Nor has he preserved us in a holy life, on account of our own stability (for we are all bent to backslide from him Hosea 11:7), but on account of the covenant he has made with us in Christ, Psalm 89:29-35, wherein he has engaged to preserve us unto his heavenly kingdom. In the whole of his conduct towards us, he has acted according to “his eternal purpose and grace! Romans 11:5; 2 Timothy 1:9.”

That we may not abuse so great a privilege, let us consider,

III. The improvement to be made of it.

We should attentively consider the character of God:

1. God is sovereign in the exercise of his mercy.

His grace is his own, and he may dispose of it as he will, Matthew 20:15. If he had consigned us all over to perdition as he did the fallen angels—he would have been just. We therefore can have no claim upon him for any share in his mercy. Whether he makes us vessels of honor or of dishonor, we have no more ground of pride or murmuring, than the clay has, which is fashioned according to the potter’s will, Romans 9:18-21.

Whether we will receive it or not, he is a Sovereign, that dispenses mercy according to his own will, Ephesians 1:11. If there is any difference between one and another, that difference results, not from any power or goodness in us, but from God’s free and sovereign grace, Romans 9:16; Romans 9:18.

2. God is faithful in the observance of his promises.

Those who have really a saving interest in the promises, are universally distinguished by this mark, “They love God, and keep his commandments.” To these God will most assuredly approve himself “faithful.” His “covenant” is ordered in all things, and he will inviolably “keep” it. What Joshua said to the whole Jewish nation, may be yet more extensively applied to all true believers, “No promise ever has failed them, or ever shall! Joshua 23:14.”

3. God is dreadful in the execution of his threatenings.

Those who do not love him, and keep his commandments, he considers as “hating him;” and he will surely “repay them to their face!” Their proud rebellious conduct shall be recompensed on their own heads, Deuteronomy 32:35; Deuteronomy 29:20 and Ezekiel 24:14. And though now they seem as if they defied his majesty, they shall find to their cost that his patience has an end, and that, however merciful he is—he will by no means clear the guilty, Exodus 34:7.

Having fully considered this character of God, we should have a deep and an abiding persuasion of it wrought in our hearts.

We should know it,

1. For the quickening of our diligence.

Nothing will ever more strongly operate on our minds than the consideration of our obligations to God as the sovereign author of all our good desires, and the faithful preserver of them in our souls. This is the very improvement which Moses himself makes of the truths contained in the text, verse 11; and an inspired Apostle declares, that the dedication of ourselves to God is the very end, for which God himself has distinguished us by his sovereign grace, 1 Peter 2:9. Let us then be ever saying, “What shall I render unto the Lord?” and let us devote ourselves to him in body, soul, and spirit.

2. For the quieting of our fears.

The two principal sources of disquietude to the soul are:

a sense of our unworthiness to receive God’s mercies;

a sense of our insufficiency to do his will.

Now both of these are entirely removed by a view of God’s character as exhibited in the text. As he is a sovereign, he may bestow his grace, as he often has done, on the most unworthy; he is most glorified by bestowing it on these very people. And, as he is faithful, he may be safely trusted to accomplish his own promises, in his own time and way. Our weakness is no obstacle to him; it shall rather be an occasion of manifesting the perfection of his strength. Let us then commit ourselves into his hands; and every perfection he possesses shall be glorified in our salvation.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)