Well, we gather here this morning,
we've had a couple of weeks break, but we gather here to worship
God this morning. And I think you'll acknowledge
that, as usual, there are very few of us. And yet, the world
around seems to go on. Everybody's out there practicing
their rugby and doing everything that people do on a day like
this. And you might wonder, what's
the point? Why bother with the worship of God? Why do we bother
with it? I mean, even the Archbishop of
Canterbury, did you see it this week? Even the Archbishop of
Canterbury said that he doubts whether God exists. The Archbishop
of Canterbury said that this week. He totally misinterpreted
Psalm 88 in saying that it backed him up in his thoughts that most
people have serious doubts. Yes, true believers in the flesh,
True believers in the flesh have times of unbelief, but the true
believer really believes and trusts God. But given that people
seem to get by, don't they? All around us, people seem to
get by. The people that are our neighbors,
that we work with, that we come across every day, that bring
their kids to practice rugby outside here on a Sunday morning,
people seem to get by peaceably without, as they used to say,
bothering God. without bothering with the things
of God. So why do we bother with the
things of God? Why do we bother to take time
to get here, to try and find some parking, to try and do...
Why do we bother to do it? You know, rationalism is the
mindset of the world without God. But you know, in Romans
chapter 1 and 2 that we read a bit of earlier, there's a certain
rational argument about this. Listen to what Paul says in chapter
1 of Romans verses 19 and 20 about the state of everybody
round about who don't bother with God. That which may be known
of God is manifest in them, it's plain to them, for God has showed
it to them. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that, so that they are without excuse. He's saying, look around
you. Look around you. This didn't
come about by chance. There's a force. There's a power. Even those that say they are
atheists say that there's a force or a power that brought the universe
into existence, that it led to life, that it led to consciousness,
that it led to what we call morality, a sense of right and wrong. But
what, or who, is that force or power? What is it? Who is it? Of course, the Bible says, and
Christians testify, that this power is God. It is God, who
is personal, who is personal, who is engaged with this creation,
whose nature is holiness and justice, whose nature is love
and grace, who is revealed in his word. And his holiness and
his law makes plain what sin is. sin that nobody thinks that
they have. Look, round the world, people
don't think they're sinners. Or if they do, they think it's
just in terms of things that get done that are not quite right.
No. His holiness and his law manifest
sin, not as man sees it, not as we see it in our natural state,
but as God sees it. I've told you often, about Job. You know, Job was more righteous
than any others. God said that to Satan. Look
at him, he's head and shoulders above the rest in terms of his
goodness and holiness. And Job was afflicted by God. He was afflicted by Satan with
the permission of God. And in his affliction, Job cried
out, read it chapter after chapter, Job crying out saying, this is
grossly unfair. I've been righteous, I've not
done the things that you're accusing me of. I'm a good man, I've always
tried to do the right thing. And he thinks how unjust it is.
And then you get to the end of the book, and he says, I'd heard
of you with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye has seen
you. And seeing things the way God
sees, this man of whom there was not the like in all the earth
says, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. I am vile."
That's his view of himself, which is God's view, this God who has
caused all things to be. This is his view of things. Sin, sin, the character of God
demands retribution for sin. We read in that Romans chapter
2 verses 5 and 6, but after the hardness and impenitent heart
You treasure up, after your hardness and impenitent heart, treasure
up to yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation
of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every
man according to his deeds. The Bible says that God will
judge sin. The Bible says that there is
sin. It's not what we as people think
of as mere wrong things. It's a very nature that is opposed
to God. And the Bible says God will judge
sin. And all the prophets declare
it. And the scriptures again and again declare it. You know,
I've said again many times, when they go on Desert Island Discs,
they're given a copy of the Bible. And I wonder how many of those
that are given a copy of the Bible really think, well, you
needn't bother giving me that because I'm not going to read
it. Because when you read it, just with the eye of flesh, It's
a very depressing read in a lot of places, isn't it? You know,
there's some glorious things in the scripture that are very
glad that the natural heart of man sees, but you read through
Jeremiah, and it's judgment, and judgment, and judgment, and
it can seem like hard work. declaring the judgment of God
against sin, declaring that there is judgment coming, declaring
that the justice and person of God demands payment for sin. There's some wages to be paid.
As Romans 6 says at the end of it, the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. The wages
of sin is death, and we're in peril as we are. we're in peril. Again, another well-quoted verse,
Hebrews 9.27, it's appointed to man to die once and then the
judgment. And this, if this is spoken to
you, will cause you personally to cry out. What must I do as
the Philippian jailer did? What must I do to be saved because
I realize the peril I'm in? To cry out as Job did. How can
I be just with God? How can I be right with God? I don't Not that I don't care,
but you know, the most important thing is how can I be right with
God? Because I know I've got an appointment
with eternity, and a God who is just, and I know what I am
in his sight. I know I'm a sinner. I know that
this thing about heaven and hell and the day of judgment is not
fairy stories, it's true. And we must all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. And this is coming, how can I
be just with God? What must I do, as the Philippian
jailer cried, to be saved? And the Scriptures declare. In
the midst of judgment, the Scriptures declare. In the midst of the
gloom of Jeremiah, you keep seeing these gems, these sparkling gems
of salvation declared. Salvation from judgment. The
declaration of how a man can be just with God. Look in chapter
46 at the end of it, in Jeremiah. chapter 46 and verse 27, where
God says this, in the midst of his judgments, he's talking about
Egypt and he's talking about all these other nations one by
one, pronouncing judgment on them for what they are, as sinners.
But verse 27 of chapter 46, But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob,
and be not dismayed, O Israel. This is the people of God. For
behold, I, says God, I will save thee from afar off, and I will
save thy seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall
return and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him
afraid. Fear thou not, O Jacob, my servant,
saith the Lord. For I am with thee, for I will
make a full end of all the nations wither I have driven thee. But
I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure.
Yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished. He's talking about
chastising his people, but the message is salvation is declared. And this is the message of the
book. Look over at Isaiah 53. Let me read you some verses of
Isaiah 53. This is the message in the midst of judgment declared,
Isaiah 53 verse 4, surely he's talking about the substitute,
the one that God would send, the servant of the Lord, the
righteous servant. He says, he hath borne, this
servant, Christ hath borne our griefs, the griefs of his people,
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. Verse 5. He was wounded for our
transgressions. Substitute He, who knew no sin,
was wounded, was punished, bore the punishment, paid the penalty
for our transgressions, the transgressions of his people. He was bruised
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. So that come that day of judgment,
his people did not bear it, but he bore it already. And with
his stripes of punishment, we are healed. Look at verse 8. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. Why? For
the transgression of my people was he stricken. Call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Verse
10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It pleased the Lord. Why did
it please the Lord? Because it satisfied his justice.
That's why. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. Verse 11. He shall see of the travail of
his soul. The anguish of his soul. the
burden of his soul, what he went through on the cross, and shall
be satisfied. Satisfied. The substitute made
satisfaction for the sins of his people. The substitute, look,
what does it say? By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. How shall a man be just with
God? My righteous servant shall justify many. How? For he shall
bear their iniquities. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He bore the iniquities of his
people. You see, in the midst of judgment, salvation is declared. Is this why we bother? Is this
why we bother with the worship of God? Yes, this is the reason
why. Turn over to Romans. Let me turn you there and read
you some verses from chapter 3. I know you know these well,
but that doesn't matter. It's good to be reminded of them.
laid out the indictment of God against man, and it's such an
indictment of modern man as we are now. And he says that the
law condemns everyone, and every mouth is stopped. By the deeds
of the law, no flesh shall be justified in his sight. The law
only gives us the knowledge of sin, verse 21. But now, listen,
salvation declared. Now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifest, is made obvious. being witnessed
by the Law and the Prophets. Not brand new, all the Law, all
the Old Testament said it, the same thing, the righteousness
of God without the Law. Verse 22, even the righteousness
of God, how does it come this righteousness of God? Which is
by faith of Jesus Christ, by what He has faithfully done.
Unto all Who is it for? All. And upon all them that believe. Because all his people come to
know him and believe him. For there is no difference. Look
at verse 24. Being justified. How shall a
man be just with God? Being justified freely by His
grace, through the redemption, through the payment of the debt
that is in Christ Jesus. And you know other verses that
declare the salvation of God. God is just, God hates sin, God
must condemn sin, but He declares In the midst of that which must,
by his very nature, be condemned and be punished, he declares
salvation. He declares that he made him. the perfect Lamb of God, who
knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He declares that cursed is everyone
that does not continue in all things written in the book of
the law to do them. But then he says, but Christ has redeemed
us, brought us back from the curse of the law. How? By Himself. being made a curse for us in
bearing our sins. He tells us that at the time,
the right time, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son made of a woman, that he might be fully flesh
like the children, made under the law, subject to his own law,
to redeem, to buy back, to purchase back, to pay the price, of them
that are under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons, so that we don't quake in fear before the throne of
a judge who will condemn us, but we cry, Abba, Daddy, Father,
to the God of the universe. salvation this is why we bother
the world outside looking at us those going to play rugby
now wondering what on earth do this bunch of weirdos do when
they gather here in their small number when nobody's interested
what are they doing this for this is why we're doing it this
is why this is what we declare God is true God is true God will
call us all to account God will have an account of us and we
know that we all stand condemned before Him unless we're in the
Lord Jesus Christ when we stand righteous before Him, when we
stand clothed in His perfect righteousness that He has wrought
for us. This is a message of substitution.
making satisfaction for God's people, about Him, God, being
just and never ever excusing sin, yet at the same time in
Christ being the justifier of His people. And it's graciously
revealed. It's graciously revealed. The
heart that knows this is happy above all. The heart that knows
this is happy for eternity. Blessed, Psalm 89 verses 15 and
16. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. Do you know that joyful sound?
Does that sound echo in your heart? Blessed is the people
that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice
all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. These
are the true people of God who worship him in spirit and in
truth, who rejoice in Christ Jesus. They rejoice all the day. In thy righteousness shall they
be exalted. This is why we bother with the
worship of God, because of the blessedness of peace with God,
who is the power of the universe. who is the personal God who has
created all things, who is the giver of life, who is holy, who
by his very nature must condemn and judge sin. Don't ask me to
excuse it or explain it, it's just the way God declares it.
And that's why we bother to gather for the worship of the living
God. I want to be in his presence. I don't want to be his enemy.
I don't want to stand before that judgment seat of Christ
responsible for my own sins. I want to find myself hiding
in him, hiding in thee, hiding in thee. He is like that great
and mighty rock in a dry and weary land, a shadow, a shelter
from the tempest, from the scorching heat of the judgment of God.
He is that one. Oh, that I might be found in
him, says Paul. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, the righteousness I earn, if I ever could, by works
of do this and don't do that. No, I can never be just by that,
but the righteousness which I have by faith of him, for he has wrought
it for his people. This is why we bother. What about
you? What about you? And I'm talking
to not just you gathered here, but anybody that might listen.
What about you? Are you assured, do you have
assurance that you are redeemed from the curse by Christ? Christ
has redeemed his people from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for them. Or are you complacent? Are you
comfortable to tag along with those who are the true people
of God, but presumptuous about your true condition? I want us
to see in the time we have left this morning, and We'll be quick
about it, but I want us to see some lessons from Moab. And you know I referred you to
Jeremiah 46 just before, and then there's chapter 47, which
is a very short chapter of more judgment, and then chapter 48
is about Moab. And I want us to learn some lessons
from Moab about the dangers of complacency in respect of this
great thing of salvation. Chapter 48 is an indictment of
Moab, and then in verse 11 it says this, and this is what I
want to concentrate on. Chapter 48 and verse 11. Moab
hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lease
and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath
he gone into captivity, therefore his taste remained in him, and
his scent is not changed. That's God's pronouncement by
his prophet Jeremiah on this people of Moab. Lessons from
Moab. Moab is symbolical of a people
who are, in our day today, very closely associated with what
we call the Church of God, having lots of characteristics that
look like them, and yet being in a perilous condition. I've
called this message perilously settled. Are you perilously settled? Look at these characteristics.
You see, All of these things are historically true. Everything
in the scriptures. Historically true, but symbolical
and representative. That's why it's there. It's not
just there for the historical storybook factor of it. It's
there because it's symbolical and representative and typical. It's a type. And the word type
Means imprint. You know when you stamp something
with a rubber stamp, the print of that goes onto the paper.
That's the type. Typesetting, yeah? The word typesetting. For printing. Typeset. It's the
imprint. The imprint. So when the coin
press has a type of the queen's face and stamps it into the metal,
there you see the imprint of it. It's a type. These things
are types. They're imprints. And in the
scriptures, the scriptures are full of types, imprints, that
lead us to the anti-type, which is the reality, the truth. So,
for example, start right at the beginning, when Adam and Eve
sinned, and they tried to stitch up fig leaves to cover themselves,
or whatever sorts of leaves they were, and their efforts failed,
and God clothed them with the skins of an animal. God clothed
them. It's a type. It's a print, an
imprint. You know, it's a die, it's a
stamp, because the anti-type is God clothing His people with
the righteousness of Christ. That's the reality. Noah's Ark,
when God judged sin, when God showed that He is a God of judgment
who will judge sin and will have retribution for sin, and those
that were in the Ark were saved. And what a picture that is, what
a type that is of Christ, that I might be found in him having
his righteousness. God put them in the ark, and
God puts his people in Christ. Or the Passover lamb, that lamb
that had to be slain and its blood painted on the doorposts
and the lintels, so that the slaying angel of death would
not come into the houses of the Israelites, but would pass over
them. And it's a type, and it's a picture
of Christ the Lamb of God. Christ the Lamb of God who takes
away the sins of his world of elect sinners. Passover Lamb,
a type of God. The tabernacle and the temple
in the Old Testament with his holy of holies and the presence
of God residing there is a type, the tabernacle is a type of Christ
the reality in human flesh walking this earth in human nature because
as God said he would reside in the tabernacle and in the holy
of holies in the temple, so in Christ dwelt the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. You see, tight, anti-tight, tight,
picturing the reality. The brazen serpent in Numbers
21 that Moses held up on the pole, hold up this, they were
being bitten by serpents, hold up an image of that which looks
exactly the same. The brazen serpent, look, There's
life in a look at the crucified one. That's the reality of which
the brazen serpent is the type. Christ bearing the sins of his
people on the cross of Calvary. This is how my conscience knows
I will not be held to account before the judgment seat of Christ
because he has borne my sins in his own body on the tree.
The scapegoat is a type of Christ, bearing away sin into the wilderness
of God's effectiveness. So we could go on. People were
types of Christ, picturing the way God saves his people. So
Joseph is a type of Christ. He had many flaws, he was a sinner.
But in many, many ways, Joseph pictured and illustrated, and
was a sketch. It was like one of those brass
rubbings, you know, where you just scribble over a paper that's
pressed against sort of a brass artwork, and you take away an
imprint of the picture. In Joseph's life, there's so
many characteristics of Christ. You know, his graciousness to
his brethren, the way his brethren despitefully treated him. In
the life of David, perfection? Never. No, look what he did.
Terrible, dreadful things. Yet, there's a man after God's
own heart. And there's a king who is the
type as a king of Christ, the reality, the king of the Jews,
the king of his people. Aaron, the high priest. What
a failing, flawed man was Aaron. You know, as soon as Moses had
been gone 40 days, he goes and makes a golden calf for the people
to bow down to and worship. Yet Aaron was a type of Christ
in his high priestly robes. He was a picture of Christ interceding
between sinful people and the holy God. Moses is the prophet
bringing the word of God. Jonah was a type of Christ. As
Jonah was three days in the belly of the whale, in the belly of
the great fish, so Christ was three days in the tomb. And characters
were representative, good and bad, of humanity in general,
of the visible church in particular, and so Moab, like all of these
things that occur, is pictorial, it's a type of characters found
amongst God's true people. Now, what is Moab's origin, and
who were they? They were very close neighbours
of Israel. Very close neighbours. And do
you know how they came about? When Lot was brought by the angels
out of Sodom, And his wife looked back and was turned to a pillar
of salt, and it came that there was just Lot and his two daughters
that had come out unscathed from Sodom. And the two daughters
were so concerned that they would not have children that they committed
incest with their father. They got him drunk and committed
incest. And the offspring that arose from those incestuous unions
were the people of Moab and the people of Ammon, very close relatives,
close relations, they had the same genetic makeup as those
descended from Abraham and Lot, and yet, they were close neighbors,
closely associated, but they were not the people of God. And
here they are, they're living in a prosperous land, next door
to the people of God. How many people think that they're
associated with salvation, the salvation of Israel and the church
of God, and yet in actual fact are more in the position of Moab.
closely associated, near neighbours, relatives, living in prosperity,
living close by, but just as mere professors of religion,
whereas they're destitute in reality of divine grace in the
soul. Living in this fertile land,
Compared with the land where Israel lived, I know it was a
land flowing with milk and honey, but in truth, the land that Moab
lived in was much more prosperous and fertile. They were prosperous
in the things of the world. We know that from the way that
David charged them taxes when he subdued them. And out of their
riches they had to give taxes to the people of Israel. How
many professing Christians are actually very comfortable in
this world? You know, comfort in this world,
let me say this clearly, hear me clearly, comfort in this world
is absolutely no sign either way of the blessing or otherwise
of God. You cannot say, oh look how God
has... God is good to his people in providence, but please don't
ever think that material blessings are a sign of God's preservation
of his people. You read the accounts of such
as John Warburton, how that man and Huntingdon and Kershaw, how
these men of the past, true gospel preachers, the poverty that they
knew at times, we know and have known nothing of it. Don't think
for one minute that those men who were so singularly blessed
by God in the gospel of his grace that their poverty was anything
other than the hand of God dealing with them in a way that he doesn't
deal with others. They were a snare to Israel,
snare to Israel. There were all sorts of temptations.
Balaam was of Moab, Balaam was of Moab and he couldn't curse
the people of God but only bless them. But he enticed Israel's
men to commit adultery with Moab's women, and thence to follow Baal,
an idolatry. So there was a loose connection
with God's true people, but their prosperity and their comfort
in the things of this world and their tempting of God's true
people with adultery with the Moabite women, it was a great
snare to the people of God. You know, John says to the people
of God, my little children, love not the world, not the things
that are in the world. Well let's just see Moab's speeches
from verse 11 of chapter 48. Look at it, it says, Moab hath
been at ease from his youth. Moab has been at ease from his
youth. He's been settled for some time
in a mere profession, in a loose association with the people of
God. Near neighbors, not out and out
enemies, near neighbors, but yet comfortable, at ease, never
alarmed. never alarmed in the way the
Philippian jailer was alarmed. Have you been alarmed? Have you
been alarmed? Or are you a product of easy
believism? That which is so easy to do,
you just fall into it because it's a pattern that you just
fit so easily. I fear that there are so many
in so many so-called churches, and those churches are really
little more than nurseries for religious hypocrites. It's not
a formula that makes Christians. It's not a pattern of do this
and go through these stages and get baptized when you're 18 and
so on and so forth. It's not a pattern like that
that makes Christians. No, not at all. It's God working
in the heart. Works of grace in the heart.
That alarmed Philippian Jailer. Why was he alarmed? A work of
grace. There's a hymn that talks about praising the grace whose
fears alarmed me, roused me from my something ease. I can't remember
the words exactly. But you know, the grace of God
alarms before it comforts. It causes pain before it gives
soothing. It shows us what we are in reality
before the law and judgment of God, before it shows us the cure. Now, salvation is free. but it's often apprehended with
difficulty. Read the testimonies. I've mentioned
some of those men, Huntington, Warburton, Kershaw, and many
others. Read their testimonies of how
alarmed they were by the workings of the grace of God as sinners
before they found the grace of the gospel soothing those fears.
How about you? Ask yourself, how about you?
Has it been smooth and easy? Or has it been fraught with conviction
in the heart, with guilt? As the psalmist's experience
so often was. You know the psalmist, the writer
of Psalm 73, looks at men and women who've never been bothered
with the task of seeking to serve God. And he says, look at them,
what an easy life they've had. And I almost, my feet almost
slipped by looking at those that never ever had any soul trouble. They didn't bother themselves
with these things. They just got on with their lives
and they seemed to prosper and they seemed to die well, and
all things went very easily for them. But this is the experience
of true believers. What David writes in Psalm 123
verse 4, he says, Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning
of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
Moab was at ease. There was no fear of God with
them. There was no fear of hell. There was no fear of wrath to
come. There was no sense of the Almighty. There was no dread
of a soul being in torment. But for the true believer, as
Bunyan said, a Christian is never long at ease. When one fight
is gone, another does him seize. That's the Christian experience.
Not smooth, easy, pilgrim's progress. It's difficult, it's a narrow
way, it's a hill difficulty. It's only the precious blood
of Christ that calms fears and brings peace. Is that your experience? It's only the precious blood
of Christ that calms fears and brings peace. Or is your religion
just a Sunday morning religion? Are you happy without it all
the rest of the week? That's being like Moab, being
at ease. Does this not give us a warning?
Moab has been at ease from his youth. Secondly, he settled on
his lees. The Lees, it's a picture from
wine, making wine. I used to make wine kits many
years ago until I discovered that proper winemakers make a
much better job of it. But when we used to, in the 1980s,
make wine from kits that we used to buy from Boots Pharmacy, some
of it was all right, just about tolerable I suppose, but you'd
get this sediment in the bottle of the jar. The Lees, L-E-E-S,
the Lees. And there are one or two wines
for which being matured on their lease imparts a certain characteristic
that's reckoned to be good. But on the whole, the vast majority
do not benefit from settling on their lease. The vast majority
don't. Moab was settled on his lease. He was He was subject to bad
religion. He was settled on it. Look what
God says, he talks a lot about this in his words. Zephaniah
1 verse 12, God says, I will punish the men that are settled,
and that word is curdled or thickened, on their lees, that say in their
heart, the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil. God
says, I'll punish them. What are the lees to you and
me? What are the Lees? This picture,
this thing that falls out of the wine as the yeast does its
work. What is the Lees? It's worldliness. It's the husks
of worldliness, of self, of pride, of covetousness, of carnality,
fleshliness, a false faith which is a refuge of life. This is
the Lees of false religion. Worldliness, covetousness, pride,
self, carnality. And Moab? like so many that think
they're associated with the Church of God, was settled on his lease,
comfortable. Thirdly, he's not been emptied
from vessel to vessel. Do you know how the winemaker,
if he can be bothered, if he thinks it's inherently good wine,
but doesn't want it spoiled by the lease, do you know what they
do? They empty it from bottle to bottle, and they're very careful
at the end that they don't get that sediment going into the
next bottle, and then they leave it to settle, and then they tip
it off that one, and it's hard work. And he works with it, the
winemaker, until he's got rid of every trace of those leaves.
But these had not been emptied from vessel to vessel. The winemaker
who is God, I thought they weren't worth the bother. There are those
who, not so much these days, because winemaking techniques
have advanced so much and got so much better, but it used to
be the case that in many parts of southern France, the wine
was barely fit to drink. You could strip paint with it,
but it was really quite poor quality. And it was because all
of these things hadn't been done right. There was contamination
in the vats and the contaminated wine was sour and it wasn't good.
And you'd taste it and you'd think, that's not worth trying
to do anything with it. It's gone too far, and so it is. They
hadn't been emptied from vessel to vessel. God hadn't done any
work with them. What's this emptying from vessel
to vessel? It's God's chastisement. Separating
his people from worldly... Isn't that what the chastisement
of God is for? To separate his people from worldly
fleshly comforts by trials and afflictions. A Moab was not worth
the trouble to separate from its leaves. And I fear and I
know that there are churches and pulpits full of such unrefined
wine in spiritual terms. They've not been emptied from
vessel to vessel. God hasn't dealt with them. And
then next thing, neither has he gone into captivity. And I'll
be quick with these things. True believers are often, like
Israel, of old. You know, they went into captivity
in Egypt, and they went into captivity in Babylon, and the
Assyrians overrun the northern kingdoms and took them into captivity.
But Moab had not ever gone into captivity. True believers are
often, like Israel, taken in experience into a form of captivity. But not those who are not true
Israel. God doesn't do that with them.
The work of God is not all health, wealth and happiness and prosperity.
No, it's hard. It's hard. Trials, difficulties,
anguish of soul. But it's all because he's weaning
us off the things of the world. Look at the next thing. His taste
remained in him. the Lee's taste. The taste of
the corrupt Lee's remained in him. And what was that taste?
It was a taste that was full of the things of the world. There
was no taste for heaven there. Taste and see, says the scripture.
Taste and see, true people of God. Taste and see, savour and
see that the Lord is good. But not Moab. His taste was an
earthy taste. There was no relish for divine
things. There was no relish for God's
word, for his people, for his heaven. I ask you again, is your
religion just a Sunday morning only thing? Are you happy without
it for the rest of the week? True believers have their taste
altered. Yeah? Therefore, Moab, his taste
remained in him, unaltered. But true believers have their
taste altered. The sin which was sweet, they
find to be bitter. They despise its taste. The sin
which took them away from the things of God, they despise it.
And their taste is changed so that that word of God, which
was bitter and dull and boring, becomes sweet, like honeycomb. It goes into the mouth and down
into the soul. The prospect of heaven is a sweet
taste. Their taste is altered. And his
scent, finally, is not changed. His scent, you know, the nose
of the wine, the scent of the wine, is the key thing. It's
the key distinguishing thing that separates one wine from
another. His remained in him, it's not
changed. It was the scent of the world,
it was the scent of the lees, it was the scent of the worldly
lees. There was no change, there was no refinement, there was
no improvement. An old wine, a mature wine, a
good wine gets better with age because the scent improves, the
nose improves. That's the aroma of God's grace
in the life, in the conversation, in the loves of his people. That's
the true people of God. God works in them. But Moab,
on the periphery, associated loosely with the people of God,
he's been at ease from his youth. He's settled on his lees, those
worldly lees. He's not been emptied from vessel
to vessel. The chastisement of God hasn't
done that to him. He hasn't gone into captivity.
His taste, his worldly taste, remains in him, and his scent
is not changed. Where are you? Where am I? Let's ask ourselves. Let a man
examine himself, whether he be in the faith. Are we like Moab,
at ease in Zion, when we shouldn't be, when we should be alarmed?
Or are we alarmed? What must I do? Willing to be
right with God, longing to be right with God, well if the latter.
What does the scripture say? Come to Christ, believing the
gospel of his grace. Come to Christ, believing the
word of God, the very last few verses of the scripture. Revelation
22 verse 17. Whosoever will, let him come
and take of the water of life freely. Read that lovely little
article that I put of Paul Mahan's on the back of the bulletin.
Look, who are we going to say goodbye to next? in this world. You know, why do we bother? Who
are we going to say goodbye to next? It could be me. Death is
all around us. It really is. It could be me.
It could be you. One of these days will be our
last day. Maybe today. Truly, today is the day of salvation. Now, this is the point. While
we have breath, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. While the gospel, which is the
power of God unto salvation, is being preached, there is salvation
for everyone that asks for it. While it is called today, while
you have breath, while you have life, there is hope for the chief
of sinners, pardon for the worst, forgiveness for everyone who
asks. Why will you die? Whoever calls,
repents, believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall never die.
You have his word. on it. While it is called today,
it is also a good day to mend fences, pardon offences, right
wrongs, restore fellowships, pay a visit, repay debts and
especially a good day to go see someone and tell them goodbye
and you love them. You may never see them again.