CONCUPISCENCE PUNISHED

Hi,

This is true expository preaching.  It is also life-changing, as a sermon should be.  Let me know what you think.

Since this came from the early 1800's, it had the old spelling for words, and no scripture references, so I put all the references in italics with endnotes, and updated the spelling.

~Al

CONCUPISCENCE PUNISHED

 

The Rev. William Jay (6 May 1769 - 27 December 1853) 

 

And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. 

And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. 

And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague. 

And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted. Num 11:31-34 

 

 

It is one design of the sacred Scriptures to make "sin appear exceeding sinful.[i]" Sometimes they place the evil before us in its essential deformity and vileness. At other times they surround it with "the terrors of the Almighty,[ii]" drawn from those dreadful threatenings which justify all our fears. To confirm these declarations, and illustrate these motives, we have also given us numerous examples in which we see the malignity of sin realized. "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man; but everyman is tempted when he is drawn away of his lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.[iii]"

The event which is to engage our present attention is singularly awful. We do not wonder that God who esteems the prayer of the wicked an abomination, should refuse their unreasonable cry; but when we see him working a miracle to gratify their wishes, and making his bounty the means of their destruction, we are compelled to exclaim, "how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways are past finding out![iv]"

The Israelites had been for some time preternaturally fed with manna. At length they despise it, and influenced by the multitude of strangers that was among them, fall a lusting. They wept again and said, "Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely: the cucumbers and the melons, the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: but now our foul is dried away: there is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes." The Lord hearkened and heard. He promised to indulge them; and behold the dreadful accomplishment of his word. "And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people; and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted." But, alas! though the fathers were buried, their children survived; and there are many among Christians now, as well as among the Jews of old, upon whose tombs KIBROTH-HATTAAVAH may be inscribed, with a translation under, THE GRAVES OF LUSTS. Let us approach these sepulchers and receive instruction.

 

I. LET US REMARK THE POWER AND DOMINION OF GOD. Every element, every creature is subject to his authority, and yields to his control. He holds "the wind in his fists;[v]" he determines the quarter from which it blows; the time of its rising and of its falling; the degree of its influence; the quality of its effects. "Every living thing" stands before him, and ministers unto him; he says to one, "Go, and he goeth; to another, come, and he cometh." He speaks; and the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the field repair to Adam for names, to Noah for shelter. Has He enemies? Where can they hide? How can they escape? Every place is a magazine of arms; every being becomes an executioner, from an angel to a fly. Has He friends? He can never want instruments to deliver or relieve them. A fish supplies Peter with the sacred tribute. Lions refuse to touch Daniel. Ravens feed Elijah. He nods, and the sea divides, the rock pours out water, manna drops from the clouds. "And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp; and as it were about two cubits high upon the face of the earth." The Israelites were unbelieving; they questioned his ability to supply them; they said, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold He smote the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can He give bread also, can he provide flesh for his people?" Even Moses staggered through unbelief. "The people among whom I am, are fix hundred thousand footmen; and thou haft said, I will give them flesh that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and herds be slain for them to suffice them? or shall all the fish in the sea be gathered together for them to suffice them? And the Lord said unto Moses, is the Lord's hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not." Christian, why dost thou limit "the Holy One of Israel?" Why does thy confidence tremble when difficulties multiply, and ordinary means of relief fail thee! "Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?[vi]" Behold in Him whose you are and whom you serve, boundless resources at the command of friendly sympathy and fatherly care. "To Him belong the issues from death.[vii]" "The silver and the gold are his." "His are the cattle upon a thousand hills.[viii]" "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.[ix]" "O fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him: the young lions may lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.[x]"

 

II. SEE HOW MUCH MORE DILIGENT MEN ARE IN COLLECTING THE MEAT THAT PERISHETH, THAN IN LABOURING FOR THAT MEAT WHICH ENDURETH UNTO EVERLASTING LIFE. "And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day and gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp." What eagerness, what assiduity[1], what perseverance, what sacrifices of ease, and even of sleep do we here discover! This is our opportunity; this may not continue; this may never return. "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.[xi]" The wants of nature are pressing, and knock till they are relieved; but spiritual necessities are either unknown, or disregarded. When the body is in danger, we are alarmed, and instantly inquire for means of safety; but inattentive to the exposure of the soul, who asks for the "Balm of Gilead? for the Physician there?" We are quick-sighted in the affairs of time; but, O what stupidity blinds us as to the concerns of eternity; if there be a prospect of improving our secular advantage, we need no arguments; a hint excites us; we are awake; we rise early, sit up late, eat the bread of carefulness; we form our plans; we lay hold of every accidental assistance; we compass sea and land. But when we are to obtain "the honor that cometh from God,[xii]" to gain a seat "in heavenly places,[xiii]" to secure "the true riches,[xiv]" we are all torpor and forgetfulness; we need line upon line, precept upon precept; sabbaths must be instituted to impress us; ministers must be appointed to stir up our minds by way of remembrance; conscience must be deputed to live within us as a constant monitor; and after all, where is our assiduity and application? Who sees us "working out our salvation with fear and trembling?[xv]" "striving to enter in at the strait gate?[xvi]" "pressing into the kingdom of God?" "giving all diligence to make our calling and election sure?[xvii]"

III. PERSONS MAY GATHER AND HOARD UP WHAT THEY WILL NEVER LIVE TO ENJOY. See these men; they are anxious to lay in a stock for days and weeks to come; they accordingly provide it, and prepare it; but would they have been so active, so eager, so grasping, had they foreseen that they were immediately to leave their abundance, and that as soon as they tasted they were to die! But so it was; "And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague." By many confederations, my Brethren, do we labor to quench your undue ardors in the chase of earthly things. We have often laid before you the Divine prohibitions. We have shown you how impossible it is "to serve God and Mammon.[xviii]" We have proved that "a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesses;[xix]" that nature is satisfied with little, and grace with less. And after all this are you torn with anxieties, and wearying yourselves in worldly pursuits? Take another view; contemplate the vanity, the brevity, the uncertainty of life, upon the continuance of which all depends. "Go to now, ye that say, to-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? it is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.[xx]" "And he thought within himself saying, what shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? and he said, this will I do, I will pull down my barns and build greater: and there will I bestow all my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou haft much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou haft provided?[xxi]" "There is one alone, and there is not a second: yea, he hath neither child nor brother; yet is there no end of all his labor; neither is his eye satisfied with riches: neither saith he, for whom do I labor, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity.[xxii]" "Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.[xxiii]" "In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.[xxiv]"

Have you read this in the Bible only? Is it there alone that human life is reduced to a span, a tale, a dream, a nothing? Whom have you followed down to the grave? Who are perpetually falling around you? The aged and the infirm? Who has promised you length of days? Who has engaged to secure you from disasters and disease, till you have reached your aim? And what is the tenure of your possession, when the envied prize is acquired? Does the honor wither as we gather it? Do we come to an estate only to bequeath it? Do we lay out so much for a mansion which hangs on one dying life, and when we know the Lord of the manor will not allow us to renew? Shall we purchase at a great price articles which death has appraised and pronounced to be injured and nearly unserviceable? As strangers and pilgrims, shall we take a world of pains to beautify and enrich an inn which accommodates us only for a night, when in the morning we are to go on our way, a way by which we shall never return? "Lord, teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.[xxv]"

IV. IT IS NOT THE REFUSAL, BUT THE GRATIFICATION OF OUR DESIRES THAT OFTEN PROVES RUINOUS. God was provoked; and how does he shew his anger and punish the offenders? By indulgence. Ah! Well had it been for Israel, if God had turned away his ear from their clamor, and they had never seen a quail. Poor harmless birds! you unknowingly carry along the curse of Heaven. Deluded suppliants! you hail their approach; but you are filling your laps with poison, and plague, and death! Rachel said, "Give me children, or else I die.[xxvi]" She had children and died. The Jews were impatient for a king; and says God, "I gave them a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.[xxvii]" "Who knoweth what is good for man in this life; all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow?[xxviii]" Connections passionately fought may prove scourges in your sides, and "thorns in your eyes.[xxix]" A well-spread table may be "made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompense.[xxx]" Your prosperity may destroy you. "They that will be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.[xxxi]"

When men are intemperate in their desires after worldly things, and succeed in obtaining what Divine Providence from a knowledge of its consequences was willing to withhold, the displeasure of God comes along with their unhallowed successes; and it matters not in what way the curse is inflicted; whether more visibly or secretly; whether by miracle or by the natural influence of events on their depravity.

Sometimes the things so eagerly lusted after, prove injurious to HEALTH. Thus a man is enabled to resign business; but he becomes gloomy and melancholy. He lives more sumptuously and deliciously; but diseases, to which he was once a stranger, spring from repletion and indulgence and becloud his future days.

Sometimes SATISFACTION IS TAKEN OUT OF THESE THINGS, and the man is far less happy than he was before he had gained them. His wishes multiply more than his means; his successes pamper every principle unfavorable to internal repose. "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase.[xxxii]" "There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: a man, to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof.[xxxiii]"

Things so coveted have often proved MORALLY INJURIOUS. They have been oil to feed the flame of those evil passions which ought to be extinguished. They have proved rain and sunshine, to call forth and ripen a thousand seeds of temptation, which were buried under ground. By these the character has not only been developed, but formed. The man has changed with his condition; and has become the monster he once abhorred. "He gave them their hearts' desire, but sent leanness into their souls.[xxxiv]" And is this a matter of congratulation? Can that be a blessing which injures your chief welfare, and destroys the prosperity of the SOUL? Are you strangers to that spirituality of frame which you once discovered? Are you chilled in your holy affections? Are you become only formal worshippers? Are you deprived of the joy of God's salvation? Is your conversation less in heaven? Do you mind earthly things? Are you more unwilling to leave this world, and enter a better? And are you gainers; because with the sacrifice of all these religious advantages you have risen in life, and increased in affluence?

Many professors of religion, not satisfied with the state in which God has placed them, greedily desire more, and upon what principle? Not their necessities; but their lusts. It is not a house they want; this they have already, but a mansion. It is not food and raiment they want; these are provided, but superfluities. It is not an ability to travel they want; they have strength and feet already, but it is a carriage. They wish to be idle, luxurious, splendid, superior to others. He enlarges their resources; he indulges them, indulges their indolence, their pride, their arrogance, their carnality, their forgetfulness of God; and what is such an indulgence? what is it for Providence to feed our sin? to give us permission to go astray? and instead of hedging up our way with thorns, to render it alluring and seducing, by scattering it all along with flowers?

Men and brethren, the reflection is no less edifying than awful.

It shews us, First. How impossible it is to determine the love or anger of God from external circumstances.  Behold the rich man clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day. See Lazarus laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from his table. But the former is the enemy, and the latter the friend of God; long ago the one has been comforted, and the other tormented; and there were the same dispositions in God towards them when they were upon earth. There is nothing concerning which we are more liable to err, than worldly success. It depends so entirely upon God, and it is so flattering to our feelings, that we can scarcely persuade ourselves that it is ever an unfavorable omen. But this is not unfrequently the case. It is sometimes sent in anger; and we should labor to ascertain the principle from which it is given. A natural man regards only the effect, but the Christian looks to the Source. A stranger would prefer the flower of a plant to the root, but the gardener who owns it values the root more than the flower. O! it is well to be able to say "thou hast in love to my soul[xxxv]" delivered me from the pit of corruption, formed for me such a union, prospered the labor of my hands, blessed my bread and my water.

 

"How sweet our daily comforts prove,

When they are season'd with his love.[2]"

 

Secondly. This principle crushes envy. "Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased.[xxxvi]" "Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way;[xxxvii]" you are not certain that his condition is really desirable. Would you envy a man the wine he is going to drink, if you knew that it would poison him? or the robe he is going to wear, if you knew that it would infect him with the plague? On the other hand, you may err in your pity. You say, such a friend, alas! is reduced; but he is only taken down from the hill of danger, and placed in the vale of safety. You say, He groans; yes, a limb is amputating; but it is to save the whole body from mortification and death.

Thirdly. The prosperity of the wicked, and the sufferings of the righteous, are a mystery, which has often perplexed even good men; but here it is explained. He can give in wrath, and refuse in mercy. He can indulge us to destruction; and he can chasten us that we may not be condemned with the world.

Fourthly. Here we can harmonize the character and promise of God with those denials which He sometimes gives to our petitions. He is a God hearing prayer. He has said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find.[xxxviii]" But you have implored many things which you have never obtained. This helps you to understand the Scriptures, and shows you with what conditions and qualifications God has spoken. He did not engage to gratify your desires, whether his indulgence would be beneficial or injurious. This would have been a threatening, not a promise. A heathen could say, "It is kind in the Gods not to hear us, when we pray for things that are evil." If a man give "good things" unto his children in answer to their reasonable and needful desires, he is a good father; and who would think of reflecting upon him as not discharging the duties of his relation, because he does not, while they are incapable of judging for themselves, give them a knife or a loaded pistol, or suffer them to climb a ladder, and becoming giddy expose themselves to instant destruction!

Let us learn also, with what a reserve we should always pray. Let us not presume to determine beforehand that certain things are indispensably necessary, and because we think we absolutely want them, grow fretful and miserable when we are refused. This is to prescribe to God; to impeach his wisdom and his goodness; and nothing can be more improper in the unworthy who have no claims, and in the ignorant who have been so often deceived in their judgments. Let us always refer ourselves to his counsel; let us be always his followers, not his guides; let us trust, and not teach him, and let us learn to imitate the example of David, who in a case the most trying, said, "Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and shew me both it and its habitation. But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold here I am, let him do to me as seemeth good to him.[xxxix]" And be it remembered, this is the way to succeed. When God gives in kindness, he produces a previous temperance of desire, which will allow him to indulge us with safety. A preparation for our mercies is as necessary as a preparation for our trials and our duties; and who thinks of this?

Finally, The subject says to us in forcible language, be moderate in your desires; "let your conversation be without covetousness; be content with such things as ye have.[xl]" "Seekest thou great things to thyself, seek them not.[xli]" Our Savior teaches you this lesson in your very devotion; "Give us this day our daily bread.[xlii]" All Jacob stipulates for is "bread to eat and raiment to put on.[xliii]" And "having food and raiment," says an apostle, "let us be therewith content.[xliv]" This is the grand improvement we ought to make of the piece of history before us; now "these things were our examples, TO THE INTENT THAT WE SHOULD NOT LUST AFTER EVIL THINGS, AS THEY ALSO LUSTED.[xlv]" How were quails evil things? Is not every creature of God good? The case was this; they were evil in their consequences, and also in the principle from which they were desired. These Jews craved them unnecessarily; they had a sufficiency before from the miraculous and merciful providence of Heaven; they craved them intemperately and unsubmissively; they demanded; "they wept aloud." Christians, beware of such senseless and inordinate longings; beware of a roving fancy; of imaginary wants; of unsanctified wishes. "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.[xlvi]" "They that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.[xlvii]"

Men and Brethren, we have forbidden you to seek after temporal things with too much solicitude; but remember, it is far otherwise with regard to divine concerns. Spiritual blessings suit the soul; afford real satisfaction; secure the friendship of God; endure forever; these are our perfection. Here we cannot be too earnest, too ambitious, too covetous. "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.[xlviii]" Ask and receive, that "your joy may be full.[xlix]" "And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.[l]"

 The Rev. William Jay (6 May 1769 - 27 December 1853) was an English nonconformist divine who preached for sixty years at Argyle Chapel in Bath. He was an eminent English Congregationalist minister of Regency England.

 

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[1] Persistent application or diligence; unflagging effort

[2] Isaac Watts, Psalm 127

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[i] Rom 7:13

[ii] Job 6:4

[iii] James 1:13-15.

[iv] Rom 11:33

[v] Prov 30:4

[vi] Is 40:48

[vii] Ps 68:20

[viii] Ps 50:10

[ix] Ps 24:1

[x] Ps 34:10

[xi] Lk 16:18

[xii] John 5:44

[xiii] Eph 2:6

[xiv] Luke 16:11

[xv] Phil 2:12

[xvi] Lk 13:24

[xvii] 2Pet 1:10

[xviii] Matt 6:24

[xix] Luke 12:15

[xx] James 4:14

[xxi] Luke 12:17-20

[xxii] Ecc 4:8

[xxiii] Ps 39:6

[xxiv] Job 20:22-23

[xxv] Ps 90:12

[xxvi] Gen 30:1

[xxvii] Hos 13:11

[xxviii] Ecc 6:12

[xxix] Josh 23:13

[xxx] Rom 11:9

[xxxi] 1 Tim 6:9

[xxxii] Ecc 5:10

[xxxiii] Ecc 6:2

[xxxiv] Ps 106:15

[xxxv] Is 38:17

[xxxvi] Ps 49:16

[xxxvii] Ps 37:7

[xxxviii] Matt 7:7

[xxxix] 2 Sam 15:25-26

[xl] Heb 13:5

[xli] Jer 45:5

[xlii] Matt 6:11

[xliii] Gen 28:20

[xliv] 1 Tim 6:8

[xlv] 1 Co 10:6

[xlvi] 2 Pet 2:11

[xlvii] Gal 5:24

[xlviii] Ps 81:10

[xlix] John 16:24

[l] Phil 1:9-10