Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 761
Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, JULY 21, 1867, by, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. ‘Therefore, behold, the days come,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles..”- Jeremiah 48:11,12.
FOR a considerable season the country of Moab had been free from the inroads of war and the terrors of pestilence. The nation had, therefore, become so conceitedly secure, that the Lord said, “We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceedingly proud), his loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.” The people became vain, dominating, boastful, and mocked at their afflicted neighbors the Israelites, manifesting ungenerous joy in their sorrows. “For was not Israel a derision unto you? Was he found among thieves? For since you spoke of him, you skipped for joy.”
From this pride sprang luxury and all those other vices which find a convenient lair in the repose of unbroken prosperity. The warriors of Moab said, “We are mighty and strong men of war.” As vainglorious sinners they defied all law and power. Trusting in Chemosh, they despised Jehovah, and magnified themselves against the Lord. The Prophet compares that country to wine, which has been allowed to stand unstirred and unmoved—it settles on its lees, grows strong, retains its aroma, and gathers daily fresh body and spirit. “But,” he says, “the day shall come when God shall shake this undisturbed liquor, when He shall send wandering bands of Chaldeans that shall waste the country so that the bottles shall be broken and the vessels shall be emptied and the proud prosperity of Moab shall end in utter desolation.”
The unusual repose of Moab had been the envy of the people of Israel, but they might well cease to envy when they understood how suddenly a fire should come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon and devour the corner of Moab—and how soon the howling should be heard, “Woe be unto you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perish: for your sons are taken captive, and your daughters captives.” The fact that continued prosperity breeds carnal security is not only proved by the instance of Moab, but is lamentably confirmed in the history of others.
In the first place, this is the common mischief of ungodly men. In the second place, this is the frequent danger of the most godly.
I. I shall first speak to THE UNCONVERTED, THE GODLESS, THE PRAYERLESS, THE CHRISTLESS. Many of you, though not all, become like Moab. At ease from your youth you are not emptied from vessel to vessel but settled upon your lees, and therefore you grow careless and heedless. This is so common a mischief among the ungodly that the whole world was in this condition immediately before the great deluge which destroyed the ancient race.
We read that “they married and were given in marriage.” They did eat and did drink, and were drunk even until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the floods came and swept them all away. The preacher of righteousness for 120 years warned them that their sins had become intolerable to Heaven, and that vengeance would surely be taken upon their devices, but they laughed the Prophet to scorn. They made “the old Fool,” as they doubtless called him, the butt of their ridicule. The wits quoted him as the chief of fools, and the drunkards in their songs spoke against him.
The disobedient worldlings of those olden times went upon their way as though their jollity would last forever and their sin would go unpunished. How changed their notes when the rains descended with pitiless continuance—not in drops of mercy, fertilizing the thirsty earth, but in cataracts of vengeance, sweeping away every living thing! How deep
their despair when the Lord drew up the sluices of the great “deep which lies under,” and bade the long imprisoned floods leap up from their dens and ravage the earth!
Then, as the despisers saw the Prophet’s ark, alone, secure, and the Prophet’s family, alone, delivered, they beheld and wondered—and perished as their long prosperity and carnal ease gave place to utter desolation. The world, however, is so little changed today that if the Lord Jesus Christ should now come, as come He will “in such an hour as you think not,” He would find the mass of men still in the same condition. Even at this day the enquiry is made, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were.” Whenever our Lord shall come men will be unprepared for His advent, for “as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of