LivePrayerSermon 1285. Sihon and Og, or Mercies in Detail
(No. 1285)
DELIVERED BY
C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"To Him which smote great kings: for His mercy endures fore ver: and slew famous kings: for His mercy endures forever: Sihonking of the Amorites: for His mercy endures forever: and Og the king of Bashan: for His mercy endures forever: and ga ve theirland for a heritage: for His mercy endures forever: even a heritage unto Israel His servant: for His mercy endures forever."Psalm 136:17-22.
THESE six verses iterate and reiterate the same fact. They rehearse and repeat the same reflection. Is the tautology tedious?Do the chimes weary you with their monotony? No. And this is a veritable charm in poetry. When the poet touches upon someimportant theme which illuminates his soul and kindles his nobler passions to a flame, he is very apt to dwell upon it withenthusiasm, inclined to pursue it with eagerness, to follow it up with feeling and echo it over and over again with strongand yet stronger emotion. Nobody feels that repetition is out of place in poetry, because in weal or woe, with pleasure orwith pathos, we dwell on the theme which awakens our sympathy.
This Psalm, of which the refrain is always the same-"His mercy endures forever," has in it several instances of this repetition."To Him that made great lights," is followed by, "The sun to rule by day," and by the next, "The moon and stars to rule bynight: for His mercy endures forever." The repetition is natural and secures attention. The words are musical as they strikeon our ears and the style is not only allowable, but acceptable as a beautiful license of the poetic school. For my part,I like a repetition in the tune of a Psalm as well as in its language. There has sprung up a fashion in music, now, to quibbleat repeats. I must confess, I do not feel of the same mind as some who, when the Psalm or hymn is given out, seem to say,"Now, let us go through it as quickly as ever we can, from beginning to end."
I prefer to chew some of the words-to have them come over again-to get the flavor of them in my mouth, or rather, in my soul.For instance, an old tune like the one we have sung is none the worse because it gives us the repeat of "His loving kindness."Such a word as that you would like to keep on repeating, if it were necessary, a dozen times-
"His loving kindness, His loving kindness, Oh, how good!"
A repeat ought to be considered a beauty rather than a blemish in music. There is, moreover, a reason for every repetitionin Scripture, for we may say of the ornaments of poetry, when we find them in the sacred Volume, that they are never mereornaments. The repetitions, though elegant, are not merely flowers of rhetoric-they have a design. The Holy Spirit dwellsupon a theme because He has an intention in doing so.
My present purpose is to endeavor to show you why there should be six verses here when one verse might have sufficed. It isclear one might have been quite sufficient. Suppose it had run thus-"Who slew famous kings, Sihon king of the Amorites andOg king of Bashan, and gave their land for a heritage to His people: for His mercy endures forever." That would have comprehendedall the sense, but the Holy Spirit did not judge that to be the best way of speaking, and so He divided it into six parts.He repeated it that there might be heard six times the refrain-"His mercy endures forever." Not, I think, merely for the sakeof repeating that beautiful Truth of God so often, but for other reasons connected with the Truth of which He was writing.It is well to dwell long and to dwell deliberately, upon some of God's dealings with us. This is the theme on which I wantto thread a few ideas.
I. And, first, IT IS WELL TO DELIBERATE LONG OVER THE MERCIFUL SIDE OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS. One does not always see mercy in,He "slew mighty kings: for His mercy endures forever: and smote famous kings: for His mercy endures forever." It would haveread more naturally if He had said, "Who smote mighty kings: for His justice endures forever: and slew famous kings: for Hisvengeance endures forever." The point to be brought out, however, was
that there was mercy in these judgments. The Holy Spirit would have us know that there is mercy abroad in the world even-
"When God's right arm is bared for war, And thunder clothes His mighty bar."
The removal from the earth of these great oppressive kings, though it was terrible for them, was a great blessing! When tyrantsdie, nations have time to breathe. When great oppressors are cut off, it is as when a lion falls, or as when wolves are slainand the deer and sheep have time to rest. Who knows how often, in answer to the tear of the slave, God has been pleased tosmite his tyrant master? Mercy, herself, had brushed the tear from her eye, and said, "Smite, O God!" Sometimes when we haveread stories of oppression and tyranny, wrong and violence, the gentlest among us, who would not have hurt a hair of a man'shead, have been the very first to express indignation and to marvel that God kept back the thunderbolt-that He did not pourvengeance on the adversary and deliver the injured and down-trodden.
If you read all through history and see how dynasties have crumbled and empires have melted away-could you but discern thesecret history of the nations and how much there was of robbery and oppression, injustice and cruelty-you would understandthat when emperor after emperor was slain in battle, or overtaken by sudden death, and king after king was swept from thethrone, it was because God's mercy endures forever! It was not mercy to the one man, perhaps- to Nero, Caligula, Tiberius,or the like-but was it not mercy to the millions who had grown weary of their abominable rule? The sufferings of the helplesscried to God for redress. The moans and tears of serfs, vassals, prisoners and captives presented their wretchedness beforeHim-till His mercy linked hands with His wrath and He slew great and famous kings because His mercy endures forever!
Read the pages of history, I say, with this sentiment in your mind, and you will often judge that what seemed to be a verysevere retribution upon some man of eminence may turn out, after all, only to have been an act of mercy towards those whowere under his power. Apply the thought another way. There are huge systems of power in the world and such there always havebeen-systems like Sihon, king of the Amorites, whose force and fame have held vast hordes and populations in terror. And thedefenses of these systems have been strong as the walled cities of Og, king of Bashan. But since the day when Christ cameinto the world and gathered His 12 Apostles around Him, how many of these systems have been utterly destroyed?
Ask, at this moment, where are the gods that were worshipped when Paul entered Athens and preached Jesus and the Resurrection?Where are all the gods that held sway over Greece and Rome when Peter and the rest of the fishermen were telling of our LordJesus Christ and the propitiation that He made for sin? They have passed away and they are not! And, since then, there haverisen up great systems and schools of thought-in which human wisdom has opposed the Divine wisdom. Strong and mighty systemsthey have been, but the student of history knows how they have all passed away, one after the other.
And in our own land there has passed away-I pray God never to return-the system of Popery more terrible than Sihon, king ofthe Amorites, or Og, king of Bashan! And now their ruined abbeys are scattered all over the land-ruins which make our soulsrejoice as we look upon them, for we say, "Come, behold the works of the Lord! What desolation He has made in the earth."And here is another instance of how He can put His foes to flight. At this day there are other systems still standing, crushingdown the people, darkening the night of Nature with a denser darkness of superstition- turning a midnight of human depravityinto a darkness that might be felt as in the plague of Egypt of old.
But, as the Lord lives, as He has scattered falsehoods one after the other, so will He scatter all these systems! And theday shall come when we shall say, "Mohammed's crescent is forgotten now, for His mercy endures forever; and the pomp of anti-Christhas passed away and all his 'infallibility'; for the mercy of the Lord endures forever." One great error after another isbrought down by the strong hand of the God of Jacob, for His mercy endures forever! And though, in each case, these thingsseem like judgments upon the people, yet are they judgments full of mercy, for it is a blessing when God smites any systemwhich is contrary to Himself and to His Truth, contrary to His Son, contrary to the liberties and the rights of man and, aboveall, contrary to the Gospel life and the holy purity of the Church.
Now, Brothers and Sisters, there are other judgments yet to come-judgments which we, surely, are to look forward to with greathope as instances of the mercy of God. The day is coming when he who is more terrible than Sihon, king of the Amorites, shallbe cast out. Christ, by His death, has broken the power of Satan, but Satan still holds sway, to a great
extent, over the sons of men. As the Gospel spreads, his power shall lessen and, by-and-by, there shall come the time whenhe shall be cast into the Lake of Fire and his power shall cease. It will be a judgment upon him. But what an illustrationit will be of how God's mercy endures forever! Then shall Satan lift "his brazen front with thunder scarred," receive hissentence and begin anew his Hell-and in that day the saints shall sing ,"His mercy endures forever!"
And death, too, that terrible thing, that, also, is to be destroyed. It is the last enemy, but it is the last enemy that shallbe destroyed. And when death, itself, shall cease to be, and the sepulcher shall be rifled of all its treasures, then shallwe magnify and bless the Lord as Israel did when they thought of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, forHis mercy endures forever! And when that last tremendous act of vengeance shall come and death and Hell shall be cast intothe Lake of Fire and all the hosts of evil-even all that have done iniquity and have rejected Christ, shall be cast out foreverfrom all hope and joy-in that dread day, while it shall be, to them, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, it shall beto the righteous, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For God and goodness, the right and the Christ have triumphed forever."
Yes, even in the condemnation of the lost, it shall be a token of mercy to the universe that sin was not permitted to triumph,that evil was not allowed to have its sway, but that God overcame it at a mighty cost and, at last, shut it up within itsproper bound, never to break forth again, for, "His mercy endures forever." We know not, Brethren, what may happen to ourselves,but we know what has happened and, in the light of the Truth of God I am now dwelling upon, we may now sing unto the Lorda new song! We have had our smiting and we have had our slayings. We have had sins within us slain that were mighty kingsand we have had corruptions that were famous kings, but they have been brought down!
We have had our idols broken and judgments have come upon our inventions. Oh, what a smashing of idols there has been withmany a heart here present! How have you stood with tears in your eyes as your Dagon was made to fall before the ark of theLord! You tried to set it in its place again, but you could not, for the Lord broke it to pieces-and He has taken away thegods in which you trusted and the things that your heart doted upon. The delight of your eyes and the joy of your spirit-Hehas taken these away, one by one-mighty kings that swayed you and famous kings that ruled your heart and mind and engagedthe best of your affections. These have been slain because His mercy endures forever and, for my part, I would say, "O swordof the Lord, rest not! Return not to your scabbard if you are slaying my sin, if you are overcoming my corruptions! Go throughme, Lord, and smite again, and if You break up the idols, break on!"-
"The dearest idol I have known,
Whatever that idol be,
Help me to tear it from its throne
And worship only Thee."
Still would I say of every act of idol-breaking and of king-slaying within my soul, "His mercy endures forever, His mercyendures forever." Therefore these blows, therefore these trials, therefore these afflictions-they are sent, not in anger,but in His dear Covenant love-not to harm us, but to bless us. They are sent, not to impoverish us, but to make our inheritancewider and larger both here and in the world to come. This is our first thought. In the midst of judgments we should wait andwatch till we see the mercy side of them, for then we shall sing, "Who smote great kings: for His mercy endures forever: andslew famous kings: for His mercy endures forever."
II. Secondly, EACH MERCY DESERVES TO BE REMEMBERED. With what special point and emphasis each instance is put, "Sihon kingof the Amorites: for His mercy endures forever: and Og the king of Bashan: for His mercy endures forever." Why not give themin the gross-Sihon and Og? Why not, as we commonly and vulgarly say, lump them together and thank God for them in the mass?No, no! They must come in detail-"Sihon king of the Amorites: for His mercy endures forever: and Og the king of Bashan: forHis mercy endures forever."
Why should they thus come in detail? Because every mercy we have received is undeserved. The Israelites did not deserve thatGod should smite Sihon, king of the Amorites, or Og, king of Bashan. It was a mercy so rich and gracious that it deservedto be recorded! In that very chapter, from which I read to you just now, where God smote Sihon, you will find that the childrenof Israel murmured, so that God sent fiery serpents among them. In that same chapter we have the record of His chasteningthem with fiery serpents and yet He is giving them victory over their foes! Oh, it brings tears into our eyes and fills uswith humiliation when we remember that many of our choicest mercies have come to us just after our very blackest sins!
It is not that the Lord gives us His mercy when we are walking consistently-when we are obedient, when we are what we oughtto be. There would be great Grace in that, but the crowning mercy is that when we have gone out of the way-when we have gonedown By-Path Meadow, when, like Peter, we have denied our Master-yet still some great mercy has been given to set us rightagain! Sihon, king of the Amorites, just when we had provoked the Lord, has come down upon us to destroy us. But the Lordhas said, "No, I will smite My children, but I will not let you smite them. I will chasten them and send fiery serpents, but,Sihon, you must not touch them. Get back! If you dare lay a finger upon them, My jealousy shall burn and smoke against you,for they are My children and I will deliver them in the day of their afflictions." Oh, bless the Lord for each mercy becauseit has been so undeserved!
Nor have we received a mercy that we could have dispensed with. Had God smitten Sihon, king of the Amorites, and then whenOg came against them had said, "I have done enough for you and I will do no more," the nation would have been destroyed! No,Sihon, king of the Amorites, is no more. Bless the Lord for that. Yet if the Lord does not smite Og, king of Bashan, whatwill become of Israel? Thus each mercy is needed-why, then, should not each mercy have a separate song? When you are in presenttrouble, you think much of the present mercy.
My dear Brothers and Sisters, when you have got through the trouble, why not think a great deal of the mercy afterwards? Thenas it comes, a brand new mercy in a fresh dilemma, the more you need it, the more store you set by it. Why not set the samestore by these mercies after you have received them and commemorate, in particular, the benefits which flow out of each? Sihon,king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan shall be sung of, each one separately, because neither victory could be dispensedwith. They were both necessary that Israel might enter into the promised land.
Moreover, there was a peculiarity about each mercy. This was sure to be the case. You never had two mercies from God thatwere quite alike. There were some special circumstances which made a marked difference. Pluck the leaves from a tree-commonlyspeaking, they are alike, yet there are no two leaves veined exactly in the same manner. So, too, with mercies. There is somedistinction if you look narrowly into them. Generally, when we are in deep waters, there is some peculiar feature to distinguishthe trial and to identify it afterwards. I know that Monday's mercy will not do for Tuesday and I should be sorry if I hadnothing but Tuesday's mercy to help me through Wednesday. His mercies "are new every morning: great is His faithfulness."
Now, since they are all new, and each one separate, why could not each one be spoken of by itself? As God paints so many freshpictures, why should we not set them in appropriate frames, saying of each one, "His mercy endures forever"? There is a specialtyabout each. Sihon is not Og and Og is not Sihon. Well may my text assign to each one its place in the song of praise! Butif any mercy deserves to be rehearsed more distinctly than another, it is early mercy. The children of Israel had not gottheir hands into fighting yet. They had not crossed the Jordan. They had not entered Canaan where they were to be soldierseveryday.
They were on this side of the Jordan and they had not learned war. They offered to Sihon and to Og to go quietly through theirland and not so much as pluck a fruit from their trees, or drink a drop of water from their wells. But Sihon and Og were inan ill state of mind and they would not allow them to go peaceably through. There was a battle-the first of their battles-thecommencement of their warfare and so they always looked back with happy and grateful memories to their first fights and theirfirst victories. No doubt they remembered all about Adonibezek and about the king of Ai and all those other kings. But thesewere later-their first fights were with Sihon and Og.
Oh, my dear Brothers and Sisters, I should like you to recall your first troubles-your first labors for Christ, your firsttrials and your first successes! You remember the first soul that you brought to Jesus-you cannot forget the little room whereyou began to work. You remember the half-dozen girls that you collected for the first time to form a class- those two or threeboys that you got into that little room down in the back slum. Now, remember your Sihon, king of the Amorites and your Og,king of Bashan and how God helped you over those beginnings! It was a great thing, you know, for you were not so big, then,as you are now.
You begin to think (I am only saying out loud what your heart whispers to you)-you begin to think that you can do it. Why,you are a man of experience, are you not? And you, young man, why, you are a well developed minister now! You can do a greatdeal. We too often feel as if our experience had matured us into something far more important than we dreamed of in the firststage of our little career. It is a wicked feeling, but the vanity of our hearts will sometimes assert itself. Let us revertto the time when we were little in Israel and all unknown! Some of us were, perhaps, quite boys
and girls, though we truly loved our Lord. We were weak and feeble. Nobody thought there was anything in us, or, if they did,we ourselves did not think so.
We were all trembling and afraid. But, glory be to God, we overcame Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan,and our early victories are fresh in our memories! Let us recall them, partly to humble us and partly to strengthen us. Letus, like David, say, "Your servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them."The Lord who helped those young days will not forsake you now. Only trust Him with the same simplicity. Only distrust yourselfas much as you did, then, and a little more. Only sink into the very dust of self-abasement and rise in all the grandeur ofchildlike confidence in God-and as He smote Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, so will He make all yourfoes as driven stubble before your face.
He will make you as a new, sharp threshing instrument, having teeth and you shall thresh the mountains and make them as chaff.Thus each mercy deserves to be specially remembered, for not one is deserved, not one is needless and every one has its peculiarity-butespecially the early ones-they have a never-to-be-forgotten specialty.
III. Thirdly, EACH MERCY DOES REALLY, IN ITSELF, DESERVE SEPARATE CONTEMPLATION. I will
show you exactly why I think so. I go to visit a sick person. He has been in trouble. Let me suppose it is yourself who makesthe visit, for I dare say you have done the same thing. Very soon after you enter you get an account of the trouble in prettyfull details and then you have all the special circumstances related to you. "You see, my dear Sir, I should not have feltthe loss of this dear child so much, only it is the second or the third I have lost. And then, you see, Sir, she was sucha sweet girl." Or, "It was that dear boy upon whom I had set all my hopes."
These little points are always mentioned as occasions of special grief or aggravations of a heavy sorrow. "My dear husbandis taken away," says the disconsolate widow. And, unwilling to mingle her tears indiscriminately with other weepers in likeafflictions, she adds, "Ah, Sir, but in my widowhood there are pangs peculiarly bitter. Just after he had been toiling andstruggling, with the tide against him, and we were beginning to get on more smoothly, he was taken away with a sudden strokeor a slow consumption before there was a proper provision made for these dear children. When they seemed to need a father'scare and tenderness, it was then, just then, he was smitten, and I am left with a heart withered like grass."
Then you meet another who has lost money and you hear of the failure that is likely to come on. And then there are certaindetails about the loss-about the person that was trusted-certain circumstances about the cruel manner in which he acted andthe shameful way in which he betrayed confidences. You hear all that. Oh, I know all about it! I have heard it and, moreover,when I have got some trouble of my own, I think I generally find myself turning it inside out, like a child does a new dress,saying, "Look here," and showing every bit of it-every point of it-upside down, the right way up, the wrong side up and thewrong side out and all ways! You always do that, do you not, with all your troubles?
Now then, dear Friends, ought you not to do the same with all your mercies? Do you not think so? If the Lord gave you nothingbut troubles, then, I think, there might be some justification in dwelling so much upon them. But since there are so manymercies, would not it be wisdom to tell your friends, sometimes, all about those mercies with a sparkling eye and say, "Theywere manifold mercies. There was fold upon fold. See the goodness of the Lord in this thing. He sent that mercy just whenI needed it-just when I most required it-and it came to me in such a beautiful way, too, and it was delivered to me by thevery person that made it most acceptable. The way in which the gift was bestowed so sweetened it that I do not know how topraise the Lord enough for it."
Oh, if only I heard Christians often saying one to another, "Have you heard what the Lord has done for me? Sit down a littlewhile and let me fill your ears with the sweet tale of His loving kindnesses and His tender mercies." Is not this justice?Bare justice? If you will harp on your sorrows, you should, in a better sense, harp on your joys and bring out the best harpwith all its ten strings-and touch all those strings with praise to Him who has done so much for you! Tell the world not onlythat He overcame your foes, but say, "To Him which smote great kings: for His mercy endures forever: and slew famous kings:for His mercy endures forever: Sihon king of the Amorites, for His mercy endures forever: and Og the king of Bashan: for Hismercy endures forever."
"We might tire people," says one. I am glad you are a little sensitive on that point, because you have been rather inconsiderate,sometimes, when you have been talking about your troubles. And I think you might be excused if you were to weary us occasionallyby declaring your mercies! Oh, but the ears of saints are not tired with such themes as this! On the
contrary, they are gladdened and made to rejoice. "Come and hear, all you that fear God, and I will tell you what He has donefor my soul!" I am sure the response of all God's people will be-"Let us hear it! Tell it to us, for we will rejoice withyou and magnify the name of the Most High."
IV. Fourthly, CONTINUED BENEFITS ARE A SPECIAL PROOF OF ENDURING MERCY. For God to slay Sihon, king of the Amorites, may hardlyprove, by itself, that His mercy endures forever, though it does prove that He had mercy then. Therefore the inspired poetwisely strikes that string and before the note has died away upon the listening ear, He touches another. "Og king of Bashan,"says He, "for His mercy endures forever." One, two, three, four, five, six succeeding stanzas-these mercies come quickly,one after the other, and so they show the continuance of the mercy, while the unbroken succession of wave upon wave in ceaselessregularity gives sanction to the chorus, "His mercy endures forever!"
Thus, dear Brethren, were we in the habit of dwelling distinctly upon God's distinct mercies, do you not think we should havein our souls a firmer faith as to the endurance, the continuity, the everlastingness of the mercy of God? Oh, what the Lorddid for us when we were babes in Grace! When we think of what He did then, we say, "His mercy endures forever." Then considerwhat He did for us when we were young men in Christ Jesus! "His mercy endures forever." Think of what He has done for us afterwe have grown to be fathers! "His mercy endures forever." And O you gray heads, tell of what the Lord has done for you, forwhen you put all four ages together you can say with peculiar emphasis, "His mercy endures forever."
I wish I had a memory strong enough to remember all the mercies of God to me in the past year. They have been very many, verygreat, and taken one by one, they have been very sweet. As I look at them, one after the other, the evidence seems to accumulatetill the argument becomes conclusive that "His mercy endures forever." It has endured all through the year! It was connectedwith all the years that went before! It is gathering fresh force in the year that is current! Therefore I may trust for theyears that are yet to come that He who was yesterday so full of mercy and is, today, so full of Grace, will be forever thesame!
Do you not see that the striking of these bells, one by one-the bringing out of each mercy in its distinctness, one afterthe other-goes to illustrate the precious and ever-blessed Truth of God that His mercy endures forever? Let our hearts lookforward with the calm confidence which must come to a soul that lives by faith and sings without fear-
"For His mercies shall endure Ever faithful-ever sure."
V. Fifthly, THE OVERRULING OF TRIALS IS A SUBJECT TO DWELL UPON WITH DELIGHT. Read the
verses-"And gave their land for a heritage: for His mercy endures forever: even a heritage unto Israel His servant, for Hismercy endures forever." The Israelites did not expect to have the territory of Sihon and Og. Their land was on the other sideof the Jordan, but since Sihon and Og assailed them as unexpected foes, they got out of them unexpected territory.
You and I have had, and we do have, unexpected trials. In looking back, we have suffered many trials which we did not anticipate,from unlikely quarters-from persons who ought to have been our friends, our helpers, our comforters. The result has shownthat we have had unexpected advantages-our perils have proved pioneers of our progress. I want you to remember this, thatyou may sing the more sincerely, "His mercy endures forever."
How many sins and how much unsuspected treachery of heart have we been led to discover through our troubles? Those viperswould have slept in our soul quietly-they would have bred disease there of the deadliest kind. But trouble came and we wereput in such a state of trembling that we began to search. And as we searched we found the deadliest evil and we put it away.How many a vice has been discovered to us in the hour of trial? Whenever I hear of a Brother who thinks his corruptions aredead, I feel inclined to say, "Put him half-an-hour in the furnace and if he does not hear the dogs bark inside his soul,I am mistaken."
There they are, sure enough. Depend upon that. As a general rule, he is possessed of most devils who thinks he has the fewestimperfections. Only let us get into trouble-be thrown into the sieve-and let the devil give us an extra shake or two, andthere is enough of chaff or dust in us all to blind our eyes, or to fill them with tears when our Lord sends us repentance.This trouble must come and we must be thankful for the trouble since it winnows the wheat and makes us clean before the livingGod. Besides helping to cleanse us, how many times has trouble helped to instruct us? You may
read the book all through, young man, and you may think that you know all about it, but your grandfather knows the meaningof texts that you cannot read yet.
"Oh," you say, "I have been studying the commentators. I have been looking into them for the meaning of the passages." Yes,but there is another way of reading the commentators and it comes from experience. Experience is the grand way of gettingtexts written upon your heart. There are many texts that cannot be brought home to your own heart yet. A text of that sortmust be brought home to you when you are in such a position as to need its application-it cannot be understood until then.You may have learned all about anchors, Sir, but you never know the value of a sheet anchor till you have gotten into a storm.
You may read and hear, on shore, all about a tempest and you may have met with beautiful descriptions of it and think youknow how it tosses the ship about. But I will guarantee you that a good heave or two will let you know more about sea-sicknessand the effects of those mighty tempests that rouse the billows and rock the vessels than all the books you have ever readfor sound instruction or seasonable entertainment! And how much has the Character of God been revealed to us in trouble? Wedo not know our friends till we fall into adversity! Neither is that, "Friend who sticks closer than a brother," truly prizedby us till we are brought into trouble. Then we know His power to sympathize and to succor. Trials help to strengthen us.
It is impossible for a Christian to be very strong-in certain ways, at any rate-unless he grapples with difficulties and endurehardships. There is no proving your courage and prowess in war unless you smell gunpowder and are exposed to the dread artillery.There is no learning to be strong in the battle unless you pass through trouble, depend upon it. My arm would soon weary ifI had to lift the blacksmith's hammer for an hour or two and make horseshoes. I am afraid I should soon give up the business.But the blacksmith's arm does not ache, for he has been at it so many years and he rings out a tune on the anvil so joyfullydoes his strong arm do the work. Practice has strengthened him.
And so, when we have become used to trial and trouble, faith is to us a far more simple matter than it was before. Then webecome "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." What shall we say, then? Thanks to Sihon, king of the Amorites,and Og, king of Bashan, for teaching us war? No, but we will thank the Lord who has given "their land to be a heritage, evena heritage for Israel His servant: for His mercy endures forever."
VI. Lastly, THE HAPPENING OF ALL THIS TO THE SAME PERSONS IS A FURTHER ILLUSTRATION
THAT HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER. These six verses tell of great things done for Israel, all for Israel. That last verse isvery sweet to me-"Even a heritage unto Israel His servant." What are the kings slain for? For Israel. What does Sihon diefor? For Israel. Why does Og fall? For Israel. For whom is the heritage? For Israel. And who is Israel and what has Israeldone to have all this?
What have they done? Brothers and Sisters, it is a sad but gracious story. Israel! Israel! Why, that is the nation that madethe golden calf and said, "These are your gods, O Israel." Israel! Why, these are the people who said, "Because there wereno graves in Egypt have You brought us into this wilderness to destroy us?" Israel! Why, these are the people that took thedaughters of Moab and committed lewdness with them. Israel! Why, these are the people who provoked the Lord, so that He saidto His servant, Moses, "Let Me alone! Let Me alone, that I may destroy them," for they provoked the Lord to jealousy. Israel!Why, these are the people of whom God swore in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest. Yet it is the same nation!Their children have followed them! It is Israel, still, and God has done all this for Israel.
Now, while you are thinking about Israel, just begin to think about yourselves. For whom has God done all this- turned judgmentinto mercy, fought great battles on their behalf and given them a great inheritance of mercy and loving kindness and favor?Who is it for? Well, I will not mention anybody's name, but I will mention my own to myself, and as I mention it, I think-
"O Grace, it is Your known love Into unlikeliest hearts to come." How amazing that You should do all this for such an oneas I am.
Brother, Sister, I can better understand God's mercy to you than I can His mercy to me! I know one who has, in distress, sometimesdoubted the loving kindness of the Lord. I know one who has been proud, envious and worldly. I know one whose heart has beencold, dead, callous, careless-when it ought to have been tender and full of pity and full of
love. I know one that is all imperfections, all faults. He seems, to himself, to grow worse, instead of better, everyday-atleast he loathes himself more a hundred times than he used to do. And yet I know that the Lord loves that man. But why, Ido not know, except, "even so, Father, for so it seems good in Your sight."
And if you tell your own story and know your own hearts and your own lives, you will wonder and be astonished to the extremeof wonderment that the Lord should give a heritage to Israel-to you, His servant, truly His servant-but a poor, faulty servantto have such a heritage given him out of the abundance of the Grace of God. And why does He do it but that His mercy enduresforever? Is there one of us who might not justly be in Hell before the clock ticks again if it were not that His mercy enduresforever? The brightest saint here has no brightness but what God lends him, and He only lends it to him because His mercyendures forever!.
Oh, bless His name, you children of His that live near to Him-you that have climbed to the highest stage of communion! Remember,you do not stand there because of anything in yourselves, but because His mercy endures forever! If you have conquered yoursins-Sihon king of the Amorites-it is because His mercy endures forever. And if, today, you put your foot upon the neck ofOg, king of Bashan, it is not because you are strong, but because His mercy endures forever. If you have grown in sanctificationand begun to possess the land which God has given to be a heritage to His people, it is still because His mercy endures forever.
And when death, itself, is dead, and you have passed beyond the gate of pearl and taken possession of the throne reservedfor you with Christ at God's right hand, the only reason why you shall get there will be because His mercy endures forever.This is the song of every saved soul in this Tabernacle, as it shall be in the temple above, from now on and forev-ermore.I think it ought to be a great encouragement to those of you who are not God's people, if there are any such present, andthere may be. Oh, how it ought to ring in your ears, "His mercy endures forever!" You are very old, but His mercy enduresforever! You are very sick and near death, but His mercy endures forever! You have gone to the utmost extreme of sin, butHis mercy endures forever!
You have resisted His Spirit. You have stifled your conscience. You have been disobedient to Christ, but His mercy enduresforever! You have indulged every evil passion. You have broken loose from every bond that ought to have held you to the wayof right, but His mercy endures forever! The last day of your life is almost come, but His mercy still endures and will enduretill you die. If death comes, we have no Gospel for the dead, but as long as you live, that mercy still endures-
"While the lamp holds out to burn, The vilest sinner may return."
The returning Prodigal, trusting in Jesus Christ, shall find mercy. If you say, "Oh, but, Sir, my sins are strong, how canI master them?" The answer I shall give you is in the words of my text, "He slew great kings: for His mercy endures forever:yes, slew famous kings: for His mercy endures forever." Cannot God slay your sins? As for Satan and the world, He slew Sihon,king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, for His mercy endures forever. If you say that you never can be holy and nevercan grow like His children, I know, "He gave their land to be a heritage: for His mercy endures forever: even a heritage untoIsrael His servant: for His mercy endures forever."
And why should He not, even thus, enrich you with sanctifying Grace? May God in His rich mercy abundantly bless you, thatyou may sing His praise forever. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON-Numbers 2121-35; Deuteronomy 2:16-37,3:11. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"-136, 196.