Allow me to apply this subject
to your hearts." By Charles Simeon. In spite of all this, they kept
on sinning. In spite of his wonders, they
did not believe. So he ended their days in futility
and their years in terror. Psalm 78 verses 32 to 33 The state of Israel in the wilderness
was one continued contest between God and them, God endeavoring,
by both His mercies and judgments, to reclaim them from their evil
ways, and Israel determinately persisting in one continued series
of murmurings and rebellions against Him. Yet neither God's
mercies nor God's judgments could prevail upon them to yield themselves
sincerely unto Him. The mercies which God had given
to them were innumerable. The judgments which He inflicted
upon them were most dreadful. Yet, in spite of all this, they
kept on sinning. These verses are pre-eminently
instructive. They serve as a mirror to show
us what is actually passing in our own hearts. The mirthful,
the worldly, the sensual, the profane, all follow their respective
courses as much as ever, equally unallured by divine mercies and
unawed by divine judgments. nor have all the wonders of redeeming
love, though so fully and faithfully proclaimed, wrought any proportionate
change in us. A parallel to the Jews will be
found in the state of professing Christians at this day. Our guilt
resembles theirs. Let me ask, are not their sins
of murmuring and unbelief as prevalent among ourselves as
ever they were in the days of Israel? Are not we loaded with
benefits, even as the Jews were? Our temporal mercies, public,
social, and personal, have been equal to any that have been given
to any people under heaven. But what shall I say of our spiritual
mercies? Truly, if a preached gospel is
the greatest of all mercies, then we have indeed abundant
reason to acknowledge the transcendent goodness of God to us. But where
do we find hearts today which are duly sensible of God's tender
mercies to themselves? Where do we find people today
who are rendering to Him the honor due unto His name? Who
among us is in the daily habit of acknowledging God in everything,
and of committing everything to His disposal, and of living
only to His glory? If instead of living with heaven
ever in our view, and proceeding towards that as our desired rest,
we are mainly occupied with the things of time and sense, Then
are we really any better than the Jews of old? In many ways
the aggravations of our guilt are far greater. We have sinned
against greater light than they. What did they know of the mind
of God in comparison with us? The most ignorant person in the
midst of us is better informed than they. And, consequently,
our violations of duty are proportionably more heinous in the sight of
God. We have sinned, too, against richer mercies than they. What
is their redemption from Egypt, in comparison with that redemption
which has been given to us from sin and damnation? Their redemption
was by power only. But who can estimate the price
that has been paid for us? Even the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. They indeed
ate manna and drank water from the rock. But we have Christ
Himself, who is the true bread from heaven, and we have the
Holy Spirit, whom Christ pours out abundantly upon us, for the
refreshing of our thirsty souls. They had the guidance of the
pillar and the cloud. But we have the Word of God,
which is both a light to our feet in general and a lantern
to our paths. For our direction and preservation,
every step we take, we have sinned also against stronger inducements
than they. To them was promised the enjoyment
of the land of Canaan, as a land flowing with milk and honey,
and the loss of it was threatened as the punishment of disobedience.
But heaven and hell are set before us, even heaven with all its
glory, and hell with all its inconceivable terrors, as the
recompense of impenitence and unbelief. Say, then, whether
the guilt of Israel can be compared with ours, and whether, while
we are ready to cast reflections on the Jews of old as a race
of unparalleled impiety, we have not reason to acknowledge ourselves
their equals, or rather their superiors, in iniquity. Allow me to apply this subject
to your hearts. Reader, What is your state before
God at this time? How are you spending your life?
Are you following the Lord fully? Do you really live in dependence
on God, in communion with Him, in devotedness to Him? Your heads
possibly may be instructed in these things, but your hearts
and lives are unchanged. Reader, what will your eternal
state very shortly be? Oh, could we but follow the spirits
of departed men into the eternal world! As we follow their bodies
to the grave, what scenes would we behold? In some happy cases
we would behold them seated on thrones of glory and crowned
with immortal bliss. But in how many cases would we
see them hurled from the tribunal of God into the bottomless abyss
of hell and cast forever into the lake that burns with fire
and brimstone, sad monuments of their folly and objects of
God's everlasting wrath and indignation? This is a dire reality. This
is an event that is taking place every moment and in the space
of another day may be realized by you. There is a world to come,
a world in which we shall reap, in its full extent, the fruit
of our unbelieving and sinful conduct. I beg you, do not despise
your mercies as the Israelites did in the wilderness and as
thousands around us do today.