The Sinner's Refuge
(No. 2621)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 7, 1899.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A LORD'S-DAY EVENING, EARLY IN
THE YEAR 1857.
"Then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that
the slayer may flee there, who kills any person at unawares." Numbers
35:11.
YOU are aware that the principle of blood-revenge is a deep-seated one
in the Eastern mind. From the earliest ages it was always the custom
with the Orientals, when a man was murdered, or slain without malice
aforethought, for the nearest relative, his heir, or any person related
to him, to take revenge for him upon the person who, either
intentionally or unintentionally, was the means of his death. This
revenge was a very special thing to the Oriental mind. The avenger of
blood would hunt his victim for 40 years–yes, until he died, if he was
not able to reach him before–and would be on his trail all his life,
that he might slay him. It was not necessary that the manslayer should
have any trial before a judge– his victim was dead and if the one who
killed him was not put to death, it was reckoned among some tribes to
be legitimate to kill his father, or indeed any member of his
tribe–and until someone in that tribe was put to death, as a revenge
for the man who had been slain, by accident or otherwise, a deadly feud
existed between the two clans which never could be quenched except by
blood.
Now, when the Lord gave to the Jews this Law concerning the cities of
refuge, he took advantage of their deep-rooted love towards the system
of the revenge of blood by the nearest relative. God acted wisely in
this, as He has done in all things. There are two matters mentioned in
Scripture which I do not believe God ever approved, but which, finding
they were deep-seated, He did not forbid to the Jews. One was polygamy,
the practice of marrying many wives had become so established that,
though God abhorred it, yet He permitted it to the Jews because He
foresaw that they would inevitably have broken the commandment if He
had made an ordinance that they should have but one wife. It was the
same with this matter of blood-revenge–it was so firmly fixed in the
mind of the people that God, instead of refusing to the Jews what they
regarded as the privilege of taking vengeance upon their fellows,
enacted a Law which rendered it almost impossible that a man should be
killed unless he were really a murderer, for He appointed six cities,
at convenient distances, so that when one man killed another by
accident, and so committed homicide, he might at once flee to one of
those cities. And though he might have to remain there all his life,
yet the avenger of blood could never touch him, if he were innocent. He
would have a fair trial, but even if he were found innocent, he must
stay within the city into which the avenger of blood could not, by any
possibility, come. If he went out of the city, the avenger might kill
him. He was, therefore, to suffer perpetual banishment, even for
causing death accidentally, in order that it might be seen how much God
regarded the rights of blood and how fearful a thing it is to put a man
to death in any way. You see, dear Friends, that this prevented. the
likelihood of anyone being killed who was not guilty of murder, for, as
soon as one man struck another to the ground by accident, by a stone,
or any other means, he fled to a city of refuge. He had a head start
from the pursuer and if he arrived there first, he was secure and safe.
I wish to use this custom of the Jews as a metaphor and type to set
forth the salvation of men through Jesus Christ our Lord. I shall give
you, first, an explanation and, then, an exhortation.
I. I SHALL ATTEMPT AN EXPLANATION OF THIS TYPE. Note, first, the person
for whom the city of refuge was provided. It was not a place of shelter
for the willful murderer–if he fled there, after a fair trial he must
be dragged out of it and given up to the avenger. And the avenger of
death was to kill him and so have blood for blood, and life for life.
But, in case of an accident, when one man had slain another without
malice aforethought and had, therefore, only committed homicide, the
man fleeing there was perfectly safe.
Here, however, the type does not adequately represent the work of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He is not a refuge provided for men who are
innocent, but for men who are guilty–not for those who have
accidentally transgressed, but for those who have willfully gone
astray! Our Savior has come into the world to save not those who have,
by mistake and error, committed sin, but those who have fearfully
transgressed against well-known Divine Commandments and who have
followed the sinful dictates of their own free will, their own
perversity leading them to rebel against God.
Note, next, the avenger of blood. In explaining this portion of the
type, I must, of course, take every part of the figure. The avenger of
blood, I have said, was usually the next of kin to the one who had been
slain. But I believe any other member of the family was held to be
competent to act as the avenger. If, for instance, my brother had been
killed, it would have been my duty, as the first of the family, to
avenge his blood, if possible, then and there –to go after the
murderer, or the man who had accidentally caused his death–and to put
him to death at once. If I could not do that, it would be my business
and that of my father and, indeed, of every male member of the family,
to hunt and pursue that man until God should deliver him into our hands
so that we might put him to death. I mean not that it is nowour duty,
but it would have been so regarded under the old Jewish dispensation.
It was allowed, by the Mosaic Law, that those who were the relatives of
the man killed would be the avengers of his blood.
We find the counterpart of this type, for the sinner, in the Law of
God. Sinner, the Law of God is the blood-avenger that is on your trail!
You have willfully transgressed–you have, as it were, killed God's
Commandments, you have trampled them under your feet–and so the Law of
God is the avenger of blood. It is after you and it will have you in
its grasp before long! Condemnation is hanging over your head and it
shall surely overtake you! Though it may not reach you in this life,
yet, in the world to come, the avenger of blood, the Moses, the Law of
the Lord, shall execute vengeance upon you and you shall be utterly
destroyed!
But, further, there was a city of refuge provided under the Law of
God–no, more, there were six cites of refuge, in order that one of
them might be at a convenient distance from any part of the country.
Now, there are not six Christs– there is but one, but there is a
Christ everywhere. "The Word of God is near you, even in your mouth and
in your heart, that is, the Word of faith which we preach, that if you
shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your
heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For
with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation."
The city of refuge was a priestly city–a city of the Levites, and it
afforded protection for life to the manslayer. He might never go out of
it till the death of the then reigning High Priest, after which he
might go free without being touched by the avenger of blood. But,
during the time of his sojourn there, he was housed and fed
gratuitously– everything was provided for him and he was kept entirely
safe! And I would have you mark that he was safe in this city, not
because of its walls, or bolts, or bars, but simply because it was the
place Divinely appointed for shelter. Do you see the man running
towards it? The avenger is after him, fast and furious! The manslayer
has just reached the borders of the city–in a moment the avenger
stops–he knows it is no use going any further after him, not because
the city walls are strong, nor because the gates are barred, nor
because an army stands outside to resist, but because God has said the
man shall be safe as soon as he has crossed the border and has come
into the suburbs of the city! Divine appointment was the only thing
which made the city of refuge secure! Now, Beloved, our Lord Jesus
Christ is the Divinely-appointed way of salvation! Whoever among us
shall make haste from our sins and flee to Christ, being convinced of
our guilt, and helped by God's Spirit to enter that road, shall,
without doubt, find absolute and eternal security! The curse of the Law
of God shall not touch us, Satan shall not harm us, vengeance shall not
reach us, for the Divine appointment, stronger than gates of iron or
brass, shields everyone of us "who have fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before us" in the Gospel!
The city of refuge, I must have you note, too, had around it, suburbs
of a very great extent. Two thousand cubits were allowed for grazing
land for the cattle of the priests and a thousand cubits within these
for fields and vineyards. Now, no sooner did the man reach the suburbs
of the city, than he was safe–it was not necessary for him to get
within the walls, but the outskirts, themselves, were sufficient
protection. Learn, then, that if you do but touch the hem of
Christ's garment, you shall be made whole! If you do but lay hold of
Him with "faith as a grain of mustard seed," with faith which is very
feeble, but is truly a living principle, you are safe–
"A little genuine Grace ensures
The death of all our sins!"
Get anywhere within the borders of the city of refuge and you are, at
once and forever, secure from the avenger!
We have some interesting particulars, also, with regard to the distance
of these cities from the habitations of men in ancient Judea. It is
said that wherever the crime of homicide might be committed by any man,
he might get to a city of refuge within half a day and, verily,
Beloved, it is no great distance from a guilty sinner to the sheltering
breast of Christ! It is but a simple renunciation of our own powers and
a laying hold of Christ, to be our All-in-All, that is required in
order to our being found within the city of refuge! Then, with regard
to the roads to the city, we are told that they were strictly preserved
in good order. Every river was bridged. As far as possible, the road
was made level and every obstruction removed so that the man who fled
might find an easy passage to the city. Once a year the elders of the
city went along the route to see that it was in proper repair and to
assure, as far as they could, that nothing might occur through the
breaking down of bridges, or the blocking of the highway, to impede the
flight of any manslayer and cause him to be overtaken and killed.
Wherever there were by-roads and turns, there were legible sign-posts
with this word plainly visible upon them, "Refuge"–"Refuge"–pointing
out the way in which the man should flee if he wished to reach the
city. There were two people always kept on the road, so that in case
the avenger of blood should overtake a man, they might intercept him
and entreat him to stay his hand until the man had reached the city,
lest innocent blood should be shed without a fair trial–and so the
avenger himself would be proved guilty of murder. The risk, of course,
was upon the head of the avenger if he put one to death who did not
deserve to die.
Now, Beloved, I think this is a picture of the road to Christ Jesus. It
is no roundabout road of the Law–it is no obeying this, that, and the
other command–it is a straight road. "Believe, and live." It is a road
so hard that no self-righteous man will ever tread it, but it is a road
so easy that every man who knows himself to be a sinner may, by it,
find his way to Christ and his way to Heaven! And lest any should be
mistaken, God has set me and my Brothers in the ministry to be like
hand-posts in the way, to point poor sinners to Jesus! And we desire to
always have on our lips the cry, "Refuge! Refge/REFUGE!" Sinner, this
is the way! Walk you therein and you shall be saved!
I think I have thus given the explanation of the type. Christ is the
true City of Refuge and He preserves all those who flee to Him for
mercy. He does that because He is the Divinely-appointed Savior, able
to save unto the uttermost all them that come to God by Him.
II. Now, in the second place, I HAVE TO GIVE AN EXHORTATION.
You must allow me to picture a scene. You see that man in the field? He
has been at work. He has taken an ox-goad in his hand, to use it in
some part of his farm work. Unfortunately, instead of doing what he
desires to do, he strikes a companion of his in the heart and he falls
down dead! You see the poor fellow with horror in his face. He is a
guiltless man, but, oh, what misery he feels when he gazes upon the
corpse lying at his feet! A pang shoots through his heart, such as you
and I have never felt–horror, dread, desolation! Yes, some of us have
felt something akin to it spiritually–we will not allude to the when
and the why–but who can describe the agony of a man who beholds his
companion fall lifeless by his side? Words are incapable of expressing
the anguish of his spirit! He looks upon him, he tries to lift him up–
he makes sure that he is really dead–what does he do next? Do you not
see him? In a moment, he flies out of the field where he was at labor
and runs along the road with all his might! He has many weary miles
before him–six long hours of hard running–and as he passes the gate,
he turns his head and there is the man's brother! He has just come into
the field and seen his brother lying dead!
Oh, can you conceive how the manslayer's heart palpitates with fear? He
has a little head start on the road–he sees the avenger of blood, with
red face, hot and fiery, rushing out of the field with the ox-goad in
his hand, and running after him! The way lies through the village where
the dead man's father lives–how fast the poor fugitive flees through
the streets! He does not even stop to bid good-bye to his wife, nor to
kiss his children–but on, on, he speeds for his very life! The
relative calls to his father and his other friends–and now they all
rush after him. Now there is quite a troop on the road–the man is
still ahead, there is no rest for him. Though one of his pursuers may
pause for a while, or turn back, the others still trail him. There is a
horse in the village. They mount it and pursue him. If they can find
any animal that can assist their swiftness, they will take it. Can you
not conceive of the manslayer crying, "Oh, that I had wings, that I
might fly to the city of refuge"? See how he spurns the earth beneath
his feet! What, to him, are the green fields on either hand? What are
the babbling brooks? He stops not even so much as to wet his lips! The
sun is scorching him, but still on, on, on, he runs! He casts aside one
garment after another! He still rushes on and the pursuers are close
behind him. He feels like the poor stag hunted by the hounds–he knows
they are eager for his blood and that if they do but once overtake him,
it will be a word, a blow–and he will be a dead man. Watch how he
speeds on his way! Do you see him now? A town is rising into sight! He
perceives the towers of the city of refuge–but his weary feet almost
refuse to carry him further! The veins are standing out on his brow
like whipcords! The blood spurts from his nostrils–he is straining all
his powers to the utmost as he rushes on–he would go faster if he had
any more strength. The pursuers are after him–they have almost caught
him, but see, and rejoice! He has just reached the outskirts of the
city–there is the line of demarcation–he leaps over it and falls
senseless to the ground–but there is joy in his heart.
The pursuers come and look at him, but they dare not slay him. The
knife is in their hands and the stones, too, but they dare not touch
him. He is safe, he is secure! His running has been just fast
enough–he has managed to leap into the kingdom of life and to avoid a
cruel and terrible death.
Sinner, that picture I have given you is a picture of yourself, in all
but the man's guiltlessness, for you area guilty man! Oh, if you did
but know that the avenger of blood is after you! Oh, that God would
give you Grace that you might have a sense of your danger tonight! You
would then not stop a solitary instant without fleeing to Christ. You
would say, even while sitting in your pew, "Let me get away, away,
away, where mercy is to be found," and you would give neither sleep to
your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids till you had found in Christ a
refuge for your guilty spirit! I am come, then, to exhort you to flee
to Jesus now!
Let me pick out one of you, to be a specimen of all the rest. There is
a young man here who is guilty. The proofs of his guilt lie close at
hand. He knows himself to be a great transgressor–he has foully
offended against God's Law. Young man, young man, as you are guilty,
the avenger of blood is after you! Oh, that avenger–God's fiery
Law–did you ever see it? It speaks words of flame! It has eyes like
lamps of fire! If you could once see the Law of God and mark the dread
sharpness of its terrible sword, you might, as you sat in your pew,
quiver almost to death in horror at your impending doom! Sinner, I
think if this avenger shall seize you, it will not be merely temporal
death that will be your portion–it will be death eternally! Sinner,
remember, if the Law of God lays its hands on you, and Christ does not
deliver you, you are damned! Do you know what damnation means? Say, can
you tell what are the billows of eternal wrath and what the worm that
never dies are? What the Lake of Fire, what the Pit that is bottomless
are? No, you cannot know how dreadful these things are! Surely, if you
could, Man, you would be up on your feet and fleeing for life–eternal
life! You would be like that man in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress who put
his fingers in his ears and ran sway! And when his neighbors ran after
him, he cried, "Eternal life! Eternal life!"
O stolid stupidity! O sottish ignorance! O worse than brutal folly that
makes men sit down in their sins and rest content! The drunk still
drinks his bowl–he knows not that in its dregs there lies wrath. The
swearer still indulges in his blasphemy–he knows not that, one day,
his oath shall return upon his own head! You will go your way and eat
the fat, and drink the sweet, and live merrily and happily, but, ah,
poor Souls, if you knew that the avenger of blood was after you, you
would not act so foolishly! Would you suppose that the man, after he
had killed his neighbor, and when he saw the avenger coming, would
coolly take his seat and wait to be slain, when there was a city of
refuge provided? No, that consummate folly is reserved for such as you
are! God has left that to be the top stone of the folly of the human
race, the most glittering jewel in the crown of free will–the dress of
death wherein free will does robe itself. Oh, you will not flee to
Christ, you will stay where you are, you will rest contented and, one
day, the Law of God will seize you–and then wrath, eternal wrath, will
lay hold upon you! How foolish is the man who wastes his time and
carelessly loiters when the city of refuge is before him, and the
avenger of blood is after him!
Suppose, now, I take another case. There is a young man here, who says,
"Why, Sir, it is no use my trying to be saved. I shall not think of
prayer or faith, or anything of that sort, because there is no city of
refuge for me." Suppose that poor man, who had killed his neighbor, had
talked like that? Suppose he had sat still, folded his arms and said,
"There is no city of refuge for me." I cannot imagine such folly! And,
surely, you do not mean what you said just now! If you thought there
was no city of refuge for you, I know what you would do–you would
shriek, and cry, and groan!
There is a kind of despair that some people have which is a sham
despair. I have met with many who say, "We do not believe we could ever
be saved," and they seem not to care whether they are saved or not. How
foolish would the man be who would sit still and so let the avenger
slay him because he fancied there was no entrance for him into the
city! But your folly is just as great and even worse, if you sit still
and say, "The Lord will never have mercy on me." He is as much a
suicide who refuses the medicine because he thinks it will not cure
him, as the man who takes the knife and stabs himself in the heart! You
have no right, Sir, to let your despair triumph over the promise of
God! He has said it and He means it–"Whoever shall call on the name of
the Lord shall be saved." If He has shown you your guilt, depend upon
it, there is a city of refuge for you! Run to it! Run to it! May God
help you to take yourselves to it now! Oh, if men only knew how
dreadful is the wrath to come and how terrible will be the Day of
Judgment, how swiftly would they flee away to Jesus! There is not a
hearer of mine here who would delay an hour to flee to Christ if he did
but know how fearful is his condition out of Christ! When God the Holy
Spirit once convinces us of our sin, there is no stopping, then! The
Spirit says, "Today, if you will hear His voice," and we cry, "Today,
Lord, today, we hear Your voice!" There is no pausing, then! It is on,
on, on, for our very life! I beseech you, my Hearers, you who have
sinned against God, and know it–you who want to be delivered from the
wrath to come–I beseech you, by Him that lives and was dead, flee to
Christ!
Take heed that it is to Christ you flee, for, if the man who had slain
his neighbor had fled to another city, it would have been of no avail.
Had he fled to a place that was not an ordained city of refuge, he
might have sped on with all the impetuosity of desire and yet have been
slain within the city gates. So, you self-righteous ones, you may flee
to your good works, you may flee to your baptism and your
confirmation–and your church or your chapel attendance–you may be all
that is good and excellent, but you are fleeing to the wrong city and
the avenger of blood will find you, after all! Poor Soul! Remember that
Christ Jesus the Lord is the only Refuge for a guilty sinner–His
blood, His wounds, His agonies, His sufferings, His death–these are
the gates and walls of the city of salvation! But if we trust not in
these, without a doubt, trust where we may, our hope shall be as a
broken reed and we shall perish after all!
I may have one here who is newly awakened, just led to see his sin, as
if it were the corpse of a murdered man lying at his feet. It seems to
me that God has sent me to that one individual in particular. Man, God
has shown you your guilt and He has seat me to tell you that there is a
Refuge for you! Though you are guilty, He is gracious! Though you have
revolted and rebelled against Him, He will have mercy on all who repent
and trust in the merits of His Son! He has bid me to say to you, "Flee!
Flee! Flee!" And, in God's name, I say to you, "Flee to Christ." He has
bid me warn you against delays. He has bid me remind you that death
surprises men when they least expect it. He has bid me assure you that
the avenger will not spare, neither will his eyes pity–his sword was
forged for vengeance, and vengeance it will have! God has also bid me
exhort you, by the terror of the Lord, by the Day of Judgment, by the
wrath to come, by the uncertainty of life and by the nearness of death,
to flee to Christ this very moment–
"Hasten, traveler, hasten! The night comes on! And you far off from
rest and home, Hasten, traveler, hasten!"
But, oh, how much more earnest is our cry, when we say, "Hasten,
Sinner, hasten!" Not only does the night come on, but, look, the
avenger of blood is close behind! Already he has slain his
thousands–let the shrieks of souls, already damned, come up in your
ears! Already the avenger has worked wonders of wrath–let the howling
of Gehenna startle you, let the torments of Hell amaze you! What? Will
you pause with such an avenger in swift pursuit? What? Young man, will
you stop this night? God has convinced you of your sin–will you go to
your rest once more without a prayer for pardon? Will you live another
day without seeing to Christ? No, I think I see signs that the Spirit
of God is working in you and I think I hear what He makes you say, "God
helping me, I give myself to Christ even now! And if He will not, at
once, shed abroad his love in my heart, this is my firm resolve–no
rest will I find anywhere till Christ shall look on me and seal, with
His Holy Spirit, my pardon bought with blood."
But if you sit still, young man–and you will do so, if left to your
own free will–I can do no more for you than weep for you in secret.
Alas for you, my Hearer! Alas for you! The ox led to the slaughter is
more wise than you are! The sheep that goes to its death is not so
foolish as you are! Alas for you, my Hearer, that your pulse should
beat a march to Hell! Alas that yonder clock, like the muffled drum,
should be the music of the funeral march of your soul! Alas! Alas that
you should fold your arms in pleasure when the knife is at your heart!
Alas! Alas for you, that you should sing and make merriment when the
rope is around your neck and the fatal drop is about to be given to
you! Alas for you, that you should go your way and live joyfully and
happily, and yet be lost! You remind me of the silly moth that dances
round the flame, singeing itself for a while and then, at last,
plunging to its death–such are you! Young woman, with your butterfly
clothing, you are leaping round the flame that shall destroy you! Young
man, light and frothy in your conversation, joyful in your life, you
are dancing to Hell! You are singing your way to damnation and
promenading the road to destruction! Alas! Alas! Alas that you should
be spinning your own winding-sheets–that you should, every day, by
your sins, be building your own gallows–that by your transgressions
you should be digging your own graves and working hard to pile the
firewood for your own eternal burning! Oh, that you were wise, that you
understood this, that you would consider your latter end! Oh, that you
would flee from the wrath to come!
O my Hearers, think of the wrath to come, the wrath to come! How
terrible that wrath is! These lips dare not venture to describe it! At
the very thought of it, this heart fills with agony! O my Hearers, are
there not some of you who will soon be proving what the wrath to come
really is? There are some of you who, if you were now to drop dead in
your pews, must be damned. Ah, you know it! You know it! You dare not
deny it! I know you know it! As you hang down your heads, you seem to
say, "It is true. I have no Christ to trust to, no robe of
righteousness to wear, no Heaven to hope for!" My Hearer, give me your
hand! Never did father plead with son with more impassioned earnestness
than I would plead with you. Why do you sit still when Hell is burning
almost in your very face? "Why will you die, O house of Israel?" O God!
Must I yearn over these people in vain? Must I continue to preach to
them and be "a savor of death unto death" to them and not "a savor of
life unto life"? And must I help to make their Hell more intolerable?
Must it be so? Must the people who now listen to us, like the people of
Chorazin and Bethsaida in the days of our Lord, have a more terrible
doom than the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah? O you who are left to
your own free will to choose the way to Hell–as all men do when left
to themselves–let these eyes run down with tears for you because you
will not weep for yourselves!
It is strange that I should feel more concern for your souls than you
do for yourselves. My God knows there is not a stone that I would leave
unturned to save each one of you. There is nothing that human strength
could do, or human study could learn which I would not seek after if I
might but be the instrument of saving you from Hell! And yet you act as
though it concerned you not, whom it should concern the most. It is my
business, but it is far more yours. Sirs, if you are lost, remember
that it is yourselves who will be lost! And if you perish, bear me
witness that I am clear of your blood. If you flee not from the wrath
to come, forget not that I have warned you. I could not bear to have
the blood upon my head which some, even of those who like sound
doctrine, I fear, will have at the last day of account! I tremble for
some I know who preach God's Gospel, in some sense idly, but who never
warn sinners. A member of my Church said to me lately, "I heard
So-and-So preach– he is called a sound-doctrine-man. I listened to him
for nine years and I was attending the theater all the time. I could
curse, I could swear, I could sin and I never had a warning from that
man's lips during the whole nine years."
Ah, me! I would not like one of my Hearers to say that concerning my
preaching. Let this world hiss me! Let me wear the coat that sparkles,
and the cap that garnishes a fool! Let earth condemn me and let the
fools of the universe spurn me, but I will be free from the blood of my
Hearers! The only thing I seek in this world is to be faithful to my
Hearers' souls. If you are damned, it will not be for lack of faithful
preaching, nor of earnest warning. Young men and maidens, old men with
gray heads, merchants and tradesmen, servants, fathers, mothers,
children–I have warned you this night–you are in danger of Hell! And,
as God lives, before whom I stand, you will soon be there unless you
flee from the wrath to come! Remember, none but Jesus can save you! But
if God shall enable you to see your danger and give you Grace to flee
to Christ, He will have mercy upon you and the avenger of blood shall
never find you! No, not even when the red lightning shall be flashing
from the hands of God in the Day of Judgment! His City of Refuge shall
shelter you forever! And in Heaven with Jesus, triumphant, blessed,
secure, you shall sing of the blood and righteousness of Christ who
delivers penitent sinners from the wrath to come. God bless and save
you all! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-14.
Verses 1-4. Moreover, brethren, I would not that you be ignorant how
that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the
sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and
did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same
spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed
them; and that Rock was Christ. The history of Israel in coming out of
Egypt was a very instructive type of the history of the visible Church
of Christ. They were in slavery in Egypt as all men are in bondage to
sin and Satan. They were brought out of Egypt as all the redeemed are
delivered by the almighty Grace of God. With a high hand and an
outstretched arm, the Lord brought Israel out of the house of bondage
and, by a very wonderful Baptism, "in the cloud and in the sea," they
commenced their career as God's separated people. Then they all shared
in the same spiritual ordinances–"They did all eat the same spiritual
meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink." Yet, for all that,
they were not all God's people. They were so nominally and visibly–but
they were not all really so. And, as there was a mixed multitude that
came up out of Egypt, together with the true Seed of promise, so is
there an alien element in every Church at this present day. Among those
who have been baptized into Christ, there are still some who, while
they eat the spiritual meat and drink the spiritual drink, yet for all
that have not been brought into true communion with Christ and do not,
in reality, know the Lord.
5. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were
overthrown in the wilderness. There was no evidence of faith in many of
them and, "without faith it is impossible to please God." Is it not a
sad thing that in a people so highly favored as they were, there should
have been so large a proportion of those who had not the faith which
renders men pleasing to God? So they did literally come out into the
wilderness to die there–and they never entered into the rest of God.
6. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we. We professed
Christians–we, Church members.
6. Should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. They gave
way to their carnal appetites. They craved for meat when God had
already given them angels' food. Now, if we act like this, we cannot be
pleasing to God.
7. Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written,
The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. That is, to
go through those unclean rites and ceremonies before their idols which
are here called, "play." Ah, dear Friends, may God keep us from the
worship of anything which we can see with our eyes, or hear with our
ears! May we never become idolaters! You know we can very easily make
idols of our children. We can make idols of our own persons! We can
make idols of our talents, of our respectability and so forth. But, oh,
it matters not what the idol is–it is no more pleasing to God if it is
of silver and gold than if it were of the mud of the river.
No–"Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them."
8. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and
fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Fornication in God's people
is peculiarly black and filthy. In the ordinary man of the world, it is
evil enough, but when a man professes to be a Christian, he must flee
from even the very thought of it, and keep himself chaste, for his body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Oh, may none of us ever come anywhere
near to this great evil, but in purity of heart may we walk before our
God!
9. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted Him, and
were destroyed by serpents. I cannot stay to mention the many ways in
which we can tempt Christ, but we can still readily do so. What a
dreadful doom it was to be destroyed by serpents! Yet is it not amazing
that in connection with this great sin, and its awful punishment, the
bronze serpent was lifted high, that whoever looked at it might live?
And now, if any have tempted Christ by presumptuous sin, by their
delay, or by their infidelity, let them bless God that they are not yet
destroyed by serpents because Christ has been lifted up even as the
serpent of brass was exalted above the camp of Israel! Remember our
Lord's words to Nicode-mus–"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whoever
believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
10. Neither murmur you, as some of them also murmured, and were
destroyed by the destroyer It is a dreadful habit to get into–that of
complaining against God. Occasional murmuring is doubtless sinful, but
habitual murmuring becomes a very great evil! I am afraid that there
are some who quibble at God's Providence and at His Word till they come
to be quibblers and nothing else! And what good is a man who can do
nothing else but carp, quibble and criticize? O Beloved, "neither
murmur you, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed by the
destroyer."
11. Now all these things happened to them for examples. They were like
a book in which we might read our own history in large characters. We
see ourselves foreshadowed in them and we read our happiness or our
misery in their behavior.
11, 12. And they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of
the world are come. Therefore let him that thinks he stands take heed
lest he fall For if he begins to think that he stands, it may be that
it is nothing but his own imagination–there may be no real standing
about it. And there is no surer sign of the falsity of a man's estimate
of himself than the fact that it is a high one. He that thinks himself
good has not begun to be good, for the door of the palace of wisdom is
humility, and the gate of the temple of virtue is lowliness of mind.
13, 14. There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:
but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what
you are able; but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape,
that you may be able to bear it Therefore, my dearly beloved, flee from
idolatry. I would like to see this verse put over the top of every
"sacramental" table in every "church" in England–"Therefore, my dearly
beloved, flee from idolatry." If this text were properly understood,
every crucifix would be broken to pieces and the altars, themselves,
would be cleared away to make room for what should be there–the Table
of the Lord–and we would have no more worship of visible things, which
is idolatry! O you who are the dearly-beloved of God, flee from it!
Keep as far from it as you can.
I remember reading of a man of God who was the rector of a certain
parish and who had in the church a very ancient and famous painted
window of which he was somewhat proud. In the design there was a
representation of the Godhead–the Father was there, and oh, how
blasphemous! He was represented as an aged man! And, one day, this
clergyman, who had seen no evil in the window, heard a rustic
explaining to a companion that that was the God whom they worshipped.
The rector did not hesitate for a moment, but he threw a stone right
through that part of the painted window. I suppose that was an offense
against the law of man, but certainly it was not against the Law of
God! He would never have that figure replaced on any account, whatever,
and I think that he did well! "Dearly Beloved, flee from idolatry." Put
it out of your sight! Do not tamper with it, but hate it with a perfect
hatred! In God's eyes, it is one of the most fearful of sins. He has
said, "I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God," and He will have
nothing to come between us and the pure and simple worship of His own
invisible Self.