xviii. 35) when he sinned the great sin which was the curse of all
his after life. The God whom men fancy will be thus indulgent is not the God of the Bible--the God of Sinai--the God who visited the sin even of His servant Moses. "Let us sin that grace may abound" came from the forger of the oldest lie in human history. Mount Hor, Mount Nebo, and Mount Zion, each of which was the scene of a penalty inflicted on a distinguished saint of God for a particular and specified sin, bear witness to the truth that the "righteous will be recompensed on the earth." And of these instances that of Moses is, perhaps the most striking. Here is the chastisement of the greatest man in the Old Testament dispensation--the specially elected leader and lawgiver of the chosen people. And though he had been and still was--yea, _because_ he was the most honoured of Old Testament saints, he was shut out of the land to which he had been journeying for forty years for assuming a Divine prerogative--"die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother died at Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people: because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Maribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel" (Deut. xxxii. 50, 51). Such a sentence testifies that God is a consuming fire to sin, in the righteous as well as in the wicked.
+II. If God's friends are chastised, His enemies must be.+--For they not only _sin_ but make light of sin, either by denying the fact or blaming their circumstances, their temperament, or their tempters, laying the blame anywhere except upon themselves, and this increases their guilt. If those who acknowledge and confess their sin must yet be chastised for it, how much more those who refuse to do either! The sin of the righteous is the exception of his life, but the entire life of the ungodly man is a course of opposition to the law of God. If, therefore, the isolated instances are visited, how much more such an accumulation of moral debt! The very justice of God demands that if He punish the saint He shall also punish the sinner. This is New Testament teaching as well as Old. "For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God?" (1 Pet. iv. 17).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
But where is the righteous person thus scourged, judged, and recompensed? On the earth, even in this life, and in the world. The earth is not that seat which the Lord hath properly appointed for judgment or vengeance, neither is this life the day of the great assize; yet rather than sin shall be unpunished, yea, even in the elect, the Lord will keep a petty sessions in this life, and make the earth a house of correction.--_Muffet._
The righteous are under the _discipline_ though not under the _curse,_ of the rod.--_Bridges._
The best must look for stripes, if they will take liberty to sin against God. True it is that the Lord taketh not advantage of infirmities, He passeth by them, He smiteth not His children for them: but when they grow too bold, He will nurture and awe them with correction. In this sense He may be said to be no respecter of persons, that as He will not endure the sinfulness of the wicked, though they be never so great, so He will not allow of the sins of the godly, though they be never so good. First, _God herein respecteth His own glory,_ who will have His people to know that He doth look for service at their hands. And the wicked see by this that His is neither remiss towards all nor partial towards any. Second, _He respecteth the good._ How wanton, how froward, how stubborn would children be, into what perils would they cast themselves should they be altogether exempted from the rod. They should never feel comfort of their parents' favour unless they sometimes found the smart of their displeasure. . . . And the tribulation and afflictions of good men do not bring them behind the wicked, but show that the plagues and punishments of the wicked are yet behind.--_Dod._
The righteous Lord shall pay His debts even to the righteous. Sin makes God a debtor.--_Jermin._
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