“Cases of Conscience”

"Cases of Conscience"

(No. 2911)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1904.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON A LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
EARLY IN THE YEAR 1862.

"For my iniquities are gone over my head: as a heavy burden they are
too heavy for me." Psalm 38:4.

I HAVE a special purpose before me this evening. I shall endeavor to
describe the state of the sinner's heart when it has been awakened,
when conscience is set at work, when sin and the judgment of God upon
it occupy the mind's attention–that period which John Bunyan describes
in his, "Pilgrim's Progress," as being spent between the City of
Destruction and the Wicket Gate–that state of mind in which a man is
found when he flees from his former sin and desires to escape from the
wrath to come, but has not yet found out the way of salvation so as to
realize his own pardon and forgiveness through the great Atonement made
upon the Cross.

In fulfilling this intention, I propose, first, to speak of the terrors
which frequently accompany conviction of sin. Secondly, to describe the
cases of some who, while really convicted of sin, are, nevertheless,
strangers to those terrors. And then to address a few words of advice
both to those who are sorely broken by cruel fears and those, on the
other hand, who are more gently brought to Christ

I. There is A GREAT AND APPALLING TERROR OF MIND WHICH FREQUENTLY
ACCOMPANIES CONVICTION OF SIN. The experience which I shall try to
describe has not been that of all those who are brought to Christ. I
must make, as it were, a broad outline–an open sketch without filling
it up–a picture in which many, though certainly not all, may be able
to read the story of their own passage through the Slough of Despond.

Usually, when Divine Grace comes into the heart, one of the first
things that attends it is a sort of indefinable fear. The man does not
know how or why it is that he has such a fear. He felt safe enough
before, but now the very ground under his feet seems to be rotten. He
played with sin, thinking it was only a trifle, but, suddenly, he is
made to tremble at it. He finds that the serpent has a sting and he is
afraid of it. Sometimes, by night, he will be scared with visions in
his dreams and, by day, something more vivid than visions will appear
before him. He now begins to believe that there is a Hell, that there
is a just God, that sin must be punished, that he has sinned and that,
therefore, he must die! He does not know that he is to do, but he feel
that something must be done, either by himself or by somebody else, for
his soul is truly afraid. To a greater or less extent, he has first the
fear of punishment which afterwards, through the Grace of God, grows
into a fear of sin!

Then, as this fear increases, a kind of disquietude and unrest lays
hold of the man. David tells us his own experience and his prayer when
he was in such a state as I am trying to describe. "O Lord, rebuke me
not in Your wrath: neither chasten me in Your hot displeasure. For Your
arrows stick fast in me, and your hand presses me sorely. There is no
soundness in my flesh because of Your anger. Neither is there any rest
in my bones because of my sin." That is the case with a man under
conviction of sin–he is restless and ill at ease. Those things which
he once counted as pleasures now seem to him to be exceedingly
wearisome. If he still seeks the amusements which once charmed him,
they only sicken him now–he cannot bear to look at them. He has such a
sad heart within him that he does not want to have songs sung to him,
for they seem to be out of place to such a man as he feels himself to
be. The Psalmist's words describe him just now. "Fools because of their
transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted. Their soul
abhors all manner of meat and they draw near unto the gates of death."

The companions of such a man cannot understand what is the matter with
him! They think that he is suffering from a fit of melancholy. So,
indeed, he is, but I pray that it may not be a mere fitful spasm, but
that it may continue and that it may be increased and intensified until
he is "dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ
our Lord." The man's melancholy will then give place to "unspeakable
joy and full of glory." He then begins to be a quiet stay-at-home. He
tries to find rest there but, somehow, even his own family does not
afford him the peace it once did. His wife thinks that something
strange has come over him and if she is not herself converted, it must
be quite incomprehensible to her. But if she should ever be led forth
on the same pilgrimage, she would understand that this is a part of the
footsteps of the flock–one of the first of the footsteps of the
straying sheep when the Shepherd comes to fetch them back.

This disquietude and unrest of spirit will grow, by-and-by, into a
burdensomeness of heart, just as Bunyan describes Christian with a
burden on his back which made him sigh and groan. You remember how he
pictures the pilgrim–"I saw a man clothed with rags standing in a
certain place, a book in his hand and a great burden upon his back. I
looked and saw him open the book, and read therein. And as he read, he
wept and trembled and, not being able to contain it any longer, he
broke out with a lamentable cry, saying, 'What shall I do?'" The man of
whom I am speaking comes to just such state as this. He has no visible
burden upon his shoulders, yet he has upon his heart a load so heavy
that it threatens to crush him to the very dust and to drive him to
utter despair! It may be that through the persuasion of his former
companions, he is led to indulge in sin as he was known to do, but if
so, in the sin he is wretched and after the sin he is far more
miserable than he was before! He may sing, but even while he is
singing, he will be like the man who could amuse others with his funny
sayings while his own heart was heavy within him. And this becomes the
man's constant state of mind–not only can he find no rest, night nor
day, but all the while he has to carry his heavy burden wherever he may
be! And he cries to the Lord with David, "Day and night Your hand was
heavy upon me; my moisture is turned into the drought of summer."

With some men this state of mind will continue until they come, at
last, to utterly loathe themselves. They might even adopt the language
of David in the Psalm from which I have taken my text. "I am troubled;
I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins
are filled with a loathsome disease and there is no soundness in my
flesh." There was one who said that he wished he had been a frog or a
toad–anything rather than a man–when he realized how sinful he had
been! So detestable did he appear in his own sight for having sinned
and wantonly sinned against such light, against such love, against such
long-suffering–for having rejected Christ, grieved the Holy Spirit and
despised the precious blood which alone can cleanse from sin! All these
things come up before the man's mind and he thinks that no doom is too
bad for him. "No," he says, "I once thought that it was an unjust thing
for a man to be cast away to all eternity, but now I feel that whatever
You do with me, O God, it will be impossible for You to be too severe!
I deserve all that Your Infinite Justice can bring upon me. I will be
quite willing to sign my own death warrant and to set my seal to my own
condemnation and say that it is just."

Loathing thus himself and his life, his sin and his pleasures–and
loathing even his very existence–the man, if left to himself, will
often undergo such terror of conscience that even his body will begin
to feel it. His mortal frame, sympathizing with his immortal spirit,
will grow sick. There have been some with whom I have myself had to
deal, who have had sore sickness through conviction of sin and, for a
little season, it did seem as if the only hope for them to be able to
live at all was for them to find immediate pardon through the blood of
Jesus Christ. There have been some, I doubt not, who have almost been
bereft of their senses when they have seen sin in its true colors.
Thank God, dear Friends, if you have never come to this! But if you
have, thank God for it. There are thousands who have passed through
that experience and yet, through the thickest darkness, have come into
the brightest Light of God!

The man who is the subject of this conviction will also have a
perpetual consciousness of feebleness as David says in the eighth verse
of this Psalm, "I am feeble and sorely broken." The strong man suddenly
becomes weak as a little child. The very wise man, the keen critic, the
severe judge of others suddenly becomes gentle, tender-hearted, soft in
spirit. He does not now sit in judgment upon any other man, for he has
enough to do in standing before the bar of his own con-science–and he
dreads lest he should soon be judged and condemned by his God! He used
to talk, in days gone by, a great deal about the dignity and might of
man but now he knows more about human depravity and weakness. At one
time he used to say, "I can believe in Christ whenever I like. I can be
saved whenever I please!" Salvation seemed to him a

very easy matter in those days but now it seems to him to be the
hardest thing in the world to believe in Christ! His cry now is–

"But oh, for this no strength have I, My strength is at Your feet to
lie."

He does not find fault with sermons as he used to do. If they do but
reach his heart and bring to him even a little comfort, he is pleased
and thankful. He is glad enough, now, to eat his food off the poorest
platter if he can but get food for his soul. He feels that if the Lord
would but send him His pardon, even if it came by a limping messenger,
he would not trouble about the messenger, but he would prize the pardon
that he brought! He is brought very low–the high-soaring spirit lies
in the dust and out of the dust cries–"Lord, save me, or I perish!"

Beside and beyond all this, his soul gets to be in a terrible agony of
desire. It has come to this with him–that he must have mercy, that he
must be saved! He feels as if he could not take a denial–that it were
better for him to die than to continue to live in such a state as that
in which he finds himself. He can use the words of our hymn–

"Wealth and honor I disdain,

Earthly comforts all are vain–

These can never satisfy–

Give me Christ, or else I die!"

He has the same sort of look that you may have seen on the faces of
starving people when, at last, a roast is set before them. It is bread
they need–bread! So this spiritually starving man feels that he must
have provision for his soul or he will expire. There is something
terribly startling in the cry of, "Fire!" at the dead of night. But the
cry of, "Bread! Bread!" seems to come from the very vitals of humanity
and to reach the very center of our hearts. So will it be with this
man's prayer at last. It is not a matter of, "maybe," with him–he
cannot bear to look upon salvation in the light of a perhapsor a
maybe–he feels that he musthave it, that he cannot take a denial! He
agonizes, groans and cries to God, "Lord, save me! Lord, save me! God
be merciful to me a sinner!"

We have known some who have gone even further than this until, at last,
their prayer has been mingled with despair rather than with faith. They
have prayed to God for deliverance. They have, in some sense, looked to
Christ upon the Cross. Yet they have not seemed able to believe that
there could be power in Him to save them. Some of us have known what it
was to have the great Judge of All put on the black cap and pronounce
sentence of death upon us. We have gone into the condemned cell and
waited there–really expecting to be led out to execution–and to hear
the Lord say to us, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels." I cannot tell you what is the
intense delight of a heart that has been prostrate in the dust when it
receives full remission, free forgiveness! It mounts as high, then, as
it was known to descend into the depths!

I will mention only one more characteristic of this man under
conviction of sin–he probably feels himself a solitary person. David
says in this Psalm, "My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my
plague and my kinsmen stand afar off." The man under conviction of sin
feels that he is quite alone, that he has no one in the world to help
him. I have frequently noticed that young people in this condition have
been afraid to mention to their own parents, or to their minister, what
they feel. If we try to probe them a little, to find out what is the
matter, they are very reluctant to tell us because it seems to them
that they are the only persons who ever felt as they do. I believe that
almost all those who come to Christ think that they are very singular
people–very odd people. I know I thought that there never could be any
other sinner as bad as I was–and that none could ever have felt the
horror of great darkness that I felt! Little did I think that the path
I was then treading, instead of being trodden by one solitary pilgrim,
was the beaten track of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims!

II. Now, secondly, I shall endeavor to show you that IT SHOULD NOT BE A
CAUSE OF DISQUIET TO ANY OF YOU IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN SPIRITUALLY
EXERCISED TO THE SAME EXTENT AS OTHERS.

Dear Friends, all the distress that is felt by the mind when under
conviction of sin is not the work of the Spirit of God, though some of
it is. I cannot draw the line and say exactly how far it is the
Spirit's work but, certainly, there is a portion of this horror and
distress which does notcome from God. Therefore, learn this
lesson–that it is not necessary for you to traverse the whole ground
of every other sinner's experience in passing from the kingdom of
darkness into the Kingdom of God's dear Son!

No doubt part of the horror I have been describing comes from Satan. He
does not want to lose those who have been his subjects. He sees that
one who was once a very contented slave begins to feel his chain
irksome and longs to escape from the cruel servitude and, therefore,
Satan brings out his great whip to frighten him, tells him that he must
not attempt to escape, or he will flog him for his past sins. So the
poor wretch crouches down at his feet and Satan says, "Now is my only
chance to prevent him from escaping. Servants of the infernal powers
attack him, vex him, torment him, insinuate every doubt and every fear
and every blasphemy that you can! This is our only opportunity! He will
be out of gunshot soon–it is now or never with us. Let us leave no
stone unturned to break his heart and ruin him before he gets peace
through Christ." No doubt that evil spirit who "worries whom he can't
devour," has very often tried to trouble poor sinners because he knew
that they were about to escape from his domain. It is not necessary,
Brothers and Sisters, and it is not desirable that you and I should
know all this horror! That which comes from Satan we should think
ourselves happy to escape.

Another part of this agony, no doubt, arises from ignorance. If some of
those poor weeping souls knew more, they would sorrow less and suffer
less. In John Bunyan's, "Grace Abounding," you can trace very clearly
that very much of the conflict that he had to endure was the result of
his utter ignorance. He knew very little about spiritual things. At
first he had but one book, " The Poor Man's Pathway to Heaven."" He
does not appear to have attended much on the ministry in his early
days, so he had not learned much about the Kingdom of Heaven and he was
in a state of great darkness when he found his way to Christ. But I do
not think that you and I, Beloved, who have been from our youth up
instructed in the things of God–if we know the plan of salvation, if
we know that simple faith in the precious blood will save us– should
desire to pass through these extraordinary agonies and racking of
conscience and heart.

Besides, a part of this experience may also come from constitutional
tendencies. There are some who seem to have been born on the darkest
nights of the whole year and, on every possible occasion, they look
rather at the spots on the sun than at the sun itself. Their
observations are rather directed to the whirlpools and the barren
deserts than to the gently-flowing rivers and green pastures! They have
a very keen apprehension of the snakes and other reptiles, but not of
the flowers and the birds. They were born in gloom and they seem to
carry the gloom of their nativity to their graves– and it seems very
natural and very likely, since the Spirit of God does not change our
physical constitutions, though He does change our moral nature–that
there should be in such people, coupled with that conviction which is
the work of the Spirit, a tendency to certain fears and trembling which
spring only from the flesh and are not the work of the Spirit

of God.

These few remarks may help to put some here who have been praying to
experience these terrors, upon the right track. They will not, I hope,
pray for such a thing anymore! Am I addressing any who think they are
not saved because they have not known such terrors as some others have
experienced? Let me remind you, dear Friends, that there are many of
the true children of God who have never known these horrors! I suppose
there are many in this church, over which I am overseer, who have not
experimentally known these terrors. They know what repentance of sin
is, but the horror of great darkness they have not known. Certainly, in
Scripture, we have not many of such cases recorded. I do not think that
Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened, ever went through such an
experience as David did in this matter. It may be that the Apostle Paul
did, for he had scales upon his eyes–and it may be that the blindness
of his body was but a picture of the darkness of his mind. But I do not
think that Peter, James and John and those other disciples whom Christ
called while they were fishing, or engaged in other occupations, knew
much about this kind of experience. They knew what repentance of sin
was–mark that–and that is the Spirit's work beyond any doubt. But
they do not appear to have known that terror which springs from the
flesh, or rises from the pit of Hell.

Therefore, dear Brothers and Sisters, since many of the children of God
have not felt these horrors, do not look upon those who have felt them
as models for your imitation! And do not condemn yourself because you
have not gone through an experience similar to theirs. While it is
quite certain that some good people have known these terrors, you must
remember that there may have been special demons in their case, why it
was so with them. What a blessing it has been to others that John
Bunyan, who seems to be my chief illustration tonight, passed through
such an experience, for, if he had not done so, he could not have
written his, "GraceAbounding"" and "Pilgrim'sProgress."" But you and I
do not expect to write a "Pilgrim's Progress."" We have not that
special work to do! But Bunyan had and, therefore, we do not need the
peculiar training through which he had to pass.

Certain metals that will have to endure an extraordinary strain have to
pass through an annealing process. But other substances which are not
put to so severe a test need not be prepared in the same stern fashion.
The Apostle Paul traces many of his deep troubles and holy triumphs to
the qualifications with which he was fitted for ministering to the
saints. "Whether we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and
salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings
which we also suffer or whether we are comforted, it is for your
consolation and salvation." Beyond a doubt there are some servants of
God who have a great work to do in deep waters. In the course of their
lifetime they are to contend with Satan in a very special fashion–so
the Lord gives them a special training that they may become good
soldiers of Jesus Christ from the very commencement of their career.
None of you may have to do the work of Luther or Calvin– you will not
all have to go forth to address multitudes, as Whitefield did–and you
do not, therefore, need the peculiar training which was necessary for
them.

But I again remind you that you must have that which is the work of the
Spirit! Repentance and abhorrence of sin you must have! But that which
is beyond this, which God employs as a disciplinary training for some
of His servants, is not necessary for all of you to have. If you had
felt such horrors as others have experienced, you might not have been
in your right senses now. The Lord, who tempers the wind to the shorn
sheep, has tempered the Spirit's convictions to you. Possibly you are
of a feeble constitution and you could not safely pass through what
some strong men have endured. Your spirit may be so tender, your mind
may be so susceptible, that it would have been broken if it had been
subjected to the rough handling that others have had. You know that a
physician, when he seeks to cure a number of patients, treats them in
various ways. He gives a good dose of medicine to a strong soldier and
lets it work its way. But if he has to deal with a feeble girl, he
gives her only a small dose, lest the larger quantity should kill her.
So our Lord, when He is curing us of the evil disease of sin, acts
differently in different cases and, with some of us, He works very
gently.

It is not necessary for me to say any more upon this point except to
remind you that these horrors and terrors are not essential to
salvation, or else they would have been commanded. Faith and
repentance, the essentials to salvation, are commanded–"Repent and be
baptized, every one of you." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
shall be saved." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." The
things that are essential to salvation are put very plainly in the
Scriptures. I do not read anywhere in the Word of God, "Be tempted of
the devil and you shall be saved." I do not read, "Feel a horror of
great darkness and you shall be saved." I do not find the Lord
commanding you to despair in order that you may be saved. So far from
these things being essential to salvation, they are often stumbling
blocks in the way of sinners seeking the Savior–and devices of the
devil from which may God deliver us!

To doubt, for instance, whether Christ can save me is a heinous sin! To
think that my case is so bad that God cannot blot out my sin is to
doubt His Omnipotence and to do Him grievous dishonor. For me to
despair of receiving the mercy of Christ is to do despite to that
generous and self-sacrificing Savior who bled to death on Calvary's
Cross! To think that He is either unable or unwilling to forgive us is
to add to our former offenses–and that which is, in itself, sinful
cannot be a help to salvation! That which is, in itself, the very
climax and culminating point of human guilt–to doubt the love,
kindness and mercy of God–cannot, in any sense, be a desirable thing
in any child of God! To repent is one thing, but to despair is quite
another matter. To dread sin and to loathe it is one thing–but to
doubt the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse from all sin is quite
another.

III. Now, having handled these two points, let me close with WORDS OF
ADVICE TO BOTH THESE CLASSES

OF PERSONS WHOM I HAVE BEEN DESCRIBING.

Dear Friends, you who are frightened and alarmed, vexed and troubled, I
know what you are saying, "Oh, that we could escape from this misery!"
There is another friend, over yonder, who has never had these fears and
he is saying, "I wish I had them, for, if I had them, there would be
some hope for me." If you do not have them, you want them–and if you
do have them, you want to get rid of them! There is no pleasing you
either way. But good physicians do not seek to please their patients,
but to cure them! It is not their aim to make the medicine palatable,
but to make it efficacious. So, the Lord does not study our wishes, but
gives us what is best for us–and we are very foolish to wish to have
it otherwise.

Let me remind you who are in terror because of sin that the only way to
escape from that terror aright is to flee at once to Jesus! As a good
old woman, who had long been accustomed to reading "The Pilgrim's
Progress," wisely said, "No doubt Mr. Bunyan described what he went
through before he found Christ, but he did not picture the way of
salvation as he might have done. Evangelist ought to have said to the
pilgrim, 'Do you see that Cross yonder? And do you see

Jesus, the Son of God made flesh, and bleeding and dying there? Look to
Him and you shall be saved! Trust Him and your sins shall all be put
away at once.' That is the true Gospel which gives peace to troubled
hearts." So I say to you, poor troubled Friend, and to you who are not
troubled, flee to Christ! Trust the Son of God to save you and He will
save you! Trust Him to put away all your past guilt and He will do it.
Trust Him to keep you in the future and He will vouchsafe you His
promised aid. Trust Him with the enormous load of your sin and He will
take it upon His shoulders and roll it into the Red Sea of His atoning
blood! Trust Him with the foul disease of your evil habits–and with
the touch of His healing finger you will be made whole! Say not, "I am
too miserable to rest on Him," but rest on Him, however miserable you
may be. Say not, "I am not in a fit state to come to Christ," for
whatever state you are in, you are fit to come to Christ. He needs no
fitness in you except that, just as you are, you trust in "the Lamb of
God, which takes away the sin of the world." May the Holy Spirit enable
you to do so! I will not argue with you about your doubts and fears,
your, "ifs," and your, "buts." This is God's commandment to you, poor
Sinner–"Trust in Christ." So, do not dare to disobey it, but may the
Holy Spirit compel you to obey it, for then shall you go on your way
rejoicing because your sins, which are many, are all forgiven you!

To you who have not felt such terrors as I have been describing, what
shall I say? Do not displease the Lord by seeking for them. Do not
begin fretting and complaining because you have not been tried as
others have been. If a child cries because he has not been whipped, he
ought to have full satisfaction! If a young man should go to a
physician and complain that he was afraid he would not continue to live
because he had not had the measles, or whooping cough, or scarlet
fever, what would the physician say to him? The most likely reply would
be, "Be thankful, Sir, that you have not had those maladies." If you
cry because you have not had to smart under the Lord's rod, it may be
that you will have your desire granted to your cost! The Lord may say,
"That sinner might have gone straight to the Cross, but he would not.
He wanted to go through the Slough of Despond, so he shall go through
it–and he shall flounder about in it with the frogs croaking in his
ears and the filth rolling into his mouth for many a day–until he
knows better than to dictate to his Heavenly Father." If you have not
gone to Sinai with Mr. Worldly Wiseman to hear its thunder and to see
its lightning, be thankful that you have not! Flee from all these
things to Christ, without asking Him for a preparatory training in the
terrors and horrors which some have had to experience! Trust in Christ
and you shall find salvation at once!

I was reading, the other day, the preface to the hymn of a very
excellent writer. There is a passage in the memoir in which the author
says that "he stuck by a feeling religion, and a feeling religion stuck
by him." Well, dear Friends, I am afraid that many of you find that "a
feeling religion" does stick by you–but I believe that is one of the
worst kinds of religion in the whole world! It is a believingreligion
that saves the soul! And those who are so dependent upon feelings are
in the seventh Heaven of delight one day and in the depths of despair
the next! They go up and down so quickly because they are built upon
the sandy shifting foundation of their own emotions! Be not so foolish,
Beloved! Build on what Christ did, on what Christ was, on what He is
and what He suffered! Building so, you shall find Him "the same
yesterday, and today, and forever"–and your hope, faith and comfort
shall abide with you–since they are founded upon the immovable Rock of
Ages!

I have tried to preach the Gospel simply tonight. Remember, Souls, that
the Word is not preached in vain. We are either, "a savor of life unto
life," or, "of death unto death" to our hearers. Which is it to you,
dear Friends? Is it a savor of death unto death to you, O impenitent
Sinner? And is it to you, O penitent Soul, a savor of life unto life?
By this test shall you tell which it is–if you now, from your heart,
trust Christ, in obedience to the Lord's command, then has the Gospel
saved you and you may go in peace. "Woman, you are loosed from your
infirmity." "Man, your sins are forgiven you." "Arise, take up your bed
and go to your house." Go your way, for the Lord has had mercy on you!
Glorify Him in the family and tell others, wherever you can, what great
things the Lord has done for you!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 38; ISAIAH 53.

I am going to read two portions of Scripture. In the first–the 38th
Psalm–we shall hear a suffering servant of Jehovah crying out to his
God.

Psalm 38:1. O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath: neither chasten me in
Your hot displeasure. "If You do rebuke me, do it gently, O my Lord! If
You do chasten me, let not Your displeasure wax hot against Your
servant."

2. For Your arrows stick fast in me, and Your hand presses me down. God
may aim His arrows even at His own children and He may lay His hand
very heavily upon those whom He deeply loves.

3. There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your anger; neither is
there any rest in my bones because of my sin. David was under the
afflicting hand of God even with regard to his bodily disease. He could
have borne the pain if it had been merely physical–but there was a
sense of sin mixed with it which made it sting him in his very soul.

4. 5. For my iniquities are gone over my head: as an heavy burden they
are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my
foolishness. David had some painful old sores. I mean old sins and they
seem to have broken out again and again. And when he wrote this Psalm,
he was groaning in his spirit at the remembrance of them. His faith was
at a low ebb and his feelings were of the most bitter and sorrowful
kind.

6. Iam troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day
long. Yet he was a true child of God all the while, for this is,
according to its title, "A Psalm of David," concerning whom the Lord
said, "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart,
which shall fulfill all My will." God's flowers do not have sunlight 24
hours in the day. They have their night seasons when it is not only
dark, but it may also be heavy with the cold dew, or trying with a
sharp frost.

7, 8. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no
soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sorely broken: I have roared by
reason of the turmoil of my heart. That is an expressive word that
David uses–"I have roared." He felt as if his prayers were more like
the agonized cries of a wounded beast than the intelligent
supplications of a human being–least of all, of a man of God. And
sometimes, when the spirit is greatly bowed down, it cannot express
itself in words, but has to be content with groans, cries, sobs and
tears.

9. LORD, all my desire is before You; and my groaning is not hid from
You. What a sweet, sweet Truth that is! Happy is that man who, in the
time of deepest darkness, can still grasp that Truth of God and hold it
fast. "Lord, my groaning is not hid from You! I could only roar out my
complaint, or groan it out, but You could hear it just as well as if I
had ordered my words aright before You."

10, 11. My heart pants, my strength fails me: as for the light of my
eyes, it also is gone from me. My loved ones and my friends stand aloof
from my plague; and my kinsmen stand afar off "Relatives and friends
alike all get away from me as far as they can, for they cannot bear to
be in such sorrowful company."

12, 13. They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they
that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the
day long. But I, as a deaf man, heard not: and I was as a dumb man that
opens not his mouth. Although David was a tried man, he was, at least
at that time, a wise man. God did not leave His servant to act or to
speak foolishly and, Beloved, when men are unjustly rebuking and
reproaching you, there is nothing more wise than to act as if you did
not hear them! It is the very acme of wisdom if you can keep quite
quiet and not answer them–refusing to make any apologies or
extenuations–or even showing any sign that you have so much as heard
what they have said!

14, 15. Thus I was as a man that hears not, and in whose mouth are no
reproofs. For in You, O LORD, do I hope. What sublime faith there is
here! It is easy to have faith in sunshiny weather–to have faith when
you have the least need of it. There are plenty of people who fancy
they are believing in God when everything is going well with them. It
is one thing to believe when you are lying at anchor in a peaceful
harbor–it is quite another matter to believe when you are at sea in a
storm. David hoped in God when trouble had come upon him wave upon
wave–"For in You, O Lord, do I hope."

15. You will hear, O LORD my God. ' 'Even if I do not hear You, You
will hear me and if no man shall hear me, You will hear my prayer and
answer my supplication."

16-20. For I said, hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me:
when my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me. For Iam ready
to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare my
iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. But my enemies are vigorous, and
they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. They
also that render evil for good are my adversaries; because I follow
what is good. We need never be afraid of any man's opposition when the
reason for his being our adversary is that we "follow what is good," as
our translators quaintly express it.

21, 22. Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from me. Make
haste to help me, O Lord, my Salvation. Now we shall see, as we read
that wondrous 53rd chapter of Isaiah, not a man of God in trouble, but
the Son of God in trouble! And we shall see Him, also, as a deaf man
that hears not, "and as a dumb man that opens not His mouth."

Isaiah 53:1-9. Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm
ofthe LORD revealed?For He shallgrow up before Him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of a dry ground: He has no form nor comeliness and
when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He
is despised and rejected of men; a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with
grief: and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and
we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His
stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have
turned everyone to His own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He
opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as
a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opens not His mouth. He was
taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His
generation? For He was cut off out ofthe land ofthe living: for the
transgression ofMy people was He stricken. And He made His grave with
the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Those wicked men were
His enemies because He did "follow what is good." They that rewarded
Him evil for good were His adversaries even as they are ours.

10. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him. We might say the same of
that tried child of God whose utterances we read just now–"It pleased
the Lord to bruise Him."

10, 11. He has put Him to grief: when You shall make His soul an
offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and
the pleasure ofthe LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the
travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My
righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.
What gracious Gospel words these are, even though they were recorded
under the old dispensation! Oh, how you who are full of iniquity ought
to catch at these Inspired declarations which so clearly set forth the
substitutionary work of Christ on behalf of the guilty! If you realize
your need of such a Savior as He is, how these words ought to gladden
Your heart!

12. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall
divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul
unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bore the
sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.