Struggling Against Sin
(No. 3482)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1915.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord: I will keep Your
statutes. I cried unto You; save me, and I shall keep Your
testimonies." Psalm 119:145,146.
THE fear of punishment leads many people to think about their sins. And
a dread of Hell in the future fills the retrospect of their past life
with gloom and remorse. This is natural. It may happen to anyone, as it
has happened to tens of thousands, that the peril has haunted them till
at length the penalty has overtaken them. Although they have been
constantly terrified with a sense of the Divine Wrath, they have never
penitently looked to the Divine Mercy. Thus they have continued to
despond and they have gone on to despair–and that utter desperation
has curdled into a bitter remorse which has been the forecast of their
eternal retribution! But it appears to me that there is a work of Grace
in the heart where there is a fear of sin rather than a fear of
Hell–where the desire of the soul is not so much to escape from the
punishment, as to escape from the guilt which is the cause of the
punishment. What thief, what murderer, when he has been arrested,
convicted, sentenced and brought to the gallows, does not wish he had
not committed the crime that sealed his doom? Yet there is a wide
difference between a dread of suffering for the wrong you have done and
a dread of doing wrong! Judge yourselves, if you are under religious
impressions of any sort, whether you have merely a fear of
punishment–for that is an instinct of nature–or whether you have a
fear and abhorrence of sin, for that is a work of Divine Grace!
Now our text exhibits to us the frame of mind of one whose chief prayer
was that he might keep God's statutes–and his chief anxiety lest he
should fail to observe them. Oh, that you might be brought to this
state of heart, those of you who are not saved! And may those of you
who are saved have this state of heart perpetually in exercise! A
tender heart, a scrupulous conscience, a tenacity of offending God in
thought, in word, or in deed should hold us in check every day and
every hour. Let us continually cry unto God to save us from violating
His precepts and compel us to keep His testimonies. I address myself
very indiscriminately to all who hear my voice, desiring that the text
may prove a test whereby everyone should examine himself. Do we, or do
we not, desire to get rid of every evil way? Are we anxious to be
sincere and without offense, holy in our character and obedient to
God's statutes in our lives? The man who really does desire this will
be sure to pray for it. "I cried," says the Psalmist. And then again he
says, "I cried." Moreover, he combines his prayer with strong
resolution, "I cried unto You; hear me, O Lord: I will keep Your
statutes." Still further he seasons his prayer with a deep sense of his
own weakness, for he puts it thus, "I cried unto You; save me, and I
shall keep Your statutes." Well then–
I. EVERY MAN WHO DESIRES PURITY OF HEART AND CHARACTER WILL BETAKE
HIMSELF TO PRAYER.
While struggling after purity, he will soon discover that he is unable
to reach it of himself. Have you ever thought that you had destroyed an
evil tendency in your disposition–and then found in an unguarded
moment that you fell into the temptation from the coils of which you
did suppose you had escaped? You have resolved in the morning, maybe at
the hour of prayer, that throughout the day your temper should be calm
and quiet. Yet very likely before breakfast was over, you were more
ruffled than usual. Where you fancied you had set a double guard, there
it was that you were taken by surprise! You thought yourself weak in
one point, but it did not happen to be that on which you were beset!
Where you said to yourself, "I am safe," there you were betrayed. You
must have found this out, if you are striving against sin. When it has
occurred many times, you will have a habitual mistrust of yourself.
Does it happen but once, you will be dri-
ven by a sense of your own incompetence to call in the sacred might of
God, that with the arms of the Eternal, you may defeat the infernal
adversary, prevail over your evil passions and conquer your besetting
sin. "I cried unto You," says David. Not as though it were a trifling
skirmish, but as one who felt that he was perilously besieged. "I cried
unto You with my whole heart, for I must vanquish this sin, or be
vanquished by it! I could not conquer it by myself, so I cried to You,
O my God," and I said, "Oh, display Your power, and by the Irresistible
might of Your Holy Spirit, crush this dragon within my nature! Beat it
down, that it may rise up no more."
The importunity of this prayer shows his estimate of the value he set
on the blessing he craved. Read verses 145, 146 and 147, and you will
perceive how he repeats himself–"I cried.""I cried unto You." "I rose
before the dawning of the morning, and cried." Three times does he
reiterate it! He was not to be put off. He felt he must get the mastery
of sin. Hence, in sheer desperation, the good man cries again, and
again, and again, "O God, deliver me, that I may keep Your
testimonies." Pray often, Beloved, for sin will tempt often. Cry
mightily, for Satan will tempt mightily. Innumerable snares will he
place in your path–let your countless entreaties outnumber his
devices!
The expression by which he memorializes his prayer shows us the
intensity of it. "I cried." "I cried." "I cried." I do not know a
better form of prayer than crying. It implies that the whole nature is
full of anguish. Crying is the consequence of pain. His entire soul was
stirred up. A cry is the expression of desire. It is a natural
unpremeditated utterance. There is no affectation about it. A man that
knows no Latin or Greek can cry. He that cannot speak with eloquence
may yet give eloquent vent to his feelings in tears and entreaties. Oh,
there are some with whom prayer is a ceremony. They call the servants
together–they march in, and they march out to the routine of family
worship. They read out of a book some form of words, or else they
compass a little piece, themselves, and say it–and that is their idea
of prayer! Not so. Prayer is crying, laying hold on God and spreading
our needs before Him with an earnest entreaty that He would not reject
us, but would give us what we ask of Him. It is a wrestling with the
Covenant Angel. It is a sacred resolve, "I will not let You go except
You bless me." If you want to conquer sin, know that it cannot be
overcome by cold prayers, muttered in a heartless manner–it will not
yield to empty ceremonies! Sin only flies before the blood of Christ
and the power of the Eternal Spirit. These come to our rescue when,
with cries and tears, we importune the Lord to help us. "I cried." "I
cried." "I cried." Thrice does he repeat the words. His whole heart
cried to God that he might be delivered from sin!
Wherever there is a real and true prayer about this matter, it must be
a prayer of faith God can, in answer to prayer, help me to conquer sin.
Beloved, you pray in vain unless you steadfastly believe that there is
no sin which you cannot overcome. I meet with men who say, "I can never
give up drinking." My dear Friend, God can make you! I meet with a man
who has a violent temper and he thinks he can never curb or subdue it.
Surely you do not think of taking it to Heaven with you! They have no
passionate people in that happy clime. You will have to get that anger
put away, but only God can accomplish it! Do you say, "It would be like
turning a lion into a lamb"? That is just what His Grace is able to do!
He can bring you from darkness to light. He can work such a
transformation in you that you would not know yourself if you could see
yourself after you have passed under the Divine hand. Resolve in your
soul that sin must be conquered–believe that it is possible–and cry
to God with a full conviction that He is able to save you from it! Yet
I think there are some who would not like to have their prayers
answered. They ask for a humble heart. Well, I question whether they
would like it, if it were given to them–whether they would not want to
send it back! They pray that they may have a pure conscience, but how,
then, could they carry on that business of theirs? They ask that they
may he upright in God's statutes, but they know very well that they
prefer following their own crooked devices! There are thousands of
prayers that are insults to Heaven, but where the Spirit of God is
really at work, the man who wants to be pure, prays sincerely, and
cries mightily to God for purity! And nor will he be content to
tolerate anything–either in his disposition or in his daily
life–which would be inconsistent with the perfect holiness of God. Oh,
that God might implant in all of us this desire and then set us
a-praying that we might secure the blessing we crave! Now, secondly–
II. THE MAN WHO DESIRES TO WALK IN GOD'S WAY NOT MERELY PRAYS, BUT HE
RESOLVES.
"I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord. I will keep Your
statutes." He puts his whole heart into it. His prayer is no deceit.
Then he throws that same heart into a strong resolution that he will
find out what God's statutes are and when he has found them, he will
keep them, cost whatever it may! Need I say that nobody becomes holy
against his will? No man keeps God's statutes unless he exercises a
resolve to do so. The very essence of obedience to God lies in the
heart, so the heart must be set upon obedience! It must be a sincere,
willing, cheerful obedience, or else it is not a genuine
submission to the Almighty. Do I address anyone who is living in sin
and yet saying, "I wish I could get rid of it"? I have often heard such
a wish expressed by persons who must themselves have known that they
were uttering a lie! A man says, "I wish I could be set free from sin
tonight," and tomorrow he will mix with evil associates and loose
companions, and go to places of amusement where he is as sure he will
be led into sin as he would be sure that his coat would burn if he put
it into the fire! He goes into the middle of the mischief–he takes the
tinder of his heart where he knows there are sparks, and he says,
"There will come no harm of it." He puts a candle near the gunpowder
and he hopes he will not be blown away! That is what he says–but it
cannot be so. If you do not want to be besmeared, do not go among the
pitch and the tar. If you do not want to be defiled, avoid all ungodly
fellowship. The man who means to conquer sin and resolves to conquer
it, will keep himself out of mischief's way, that he may be clean
before the living God! Such a man will give up everything that tempts
him. If there is anything in which he knows he has weak point, he will
mortify himself rather than offend his conscience. He cuts off his
right arm and plucks out his right eye, according to the Gospel, which
means, I suppose, whatever he is fond of, if it becomes a temptation to
sin, he will forthwith have done with it once and for all. It does not
matter what it is–whether it is drunkenness or gluttony, or
lust–whatever is his besetting sin! He just says, "No. This may be
allowable to some men to go just so far, but I cannot go as far without
going further. Therefore, I will have nothing to do with it." He is
ready to deny himself anything and everything. He completely reforms
his habits, lest he should be led into sin. "I will keep Your
testimonies."
Oh, what a blessed thing it is when a man really resolves to do this!
When he says, "I will keep out of the way of temptation and I will deny
myself that which tempts me, lest by any means I grieve the Holy Spirit
of God," he will be sure, if his resolution is of the true metal, to
follow that which helps it. He knows that to hear the Gospel helps it–
therefore, he will not waste the morning hours of the Lord's-Day in
slothful sleep, but he will welcome the assembly of the saints and
rejoice in the preaching of the Word! He knows that reading good books
will often be helpful to him, so he prefers them to light literature.
He knows that association with Christian people will help him, so he
likes to get among them. He knows that to lift up his heart in prayer
to God, not occasionally, but regularly at set intervals, has often
proved a help to him–and he accordingly endeavors to maintain such
engagements as strictly as he finds it possible. If there is anything
of good repute to help him to get rid of sin, he seeks after it! And
when he prays to God to keep him pure, he takes care to choose all such
means as God may put in his way to resist evil, and to follow after
holiness!
Such a man will achieve his purpose. You may laugh at him for being too
precise. His heart will not be wounded by your ridicule. He will lose
the Sunday trade if, thereby, he loses half his living, rather than
break God's Command. It may be that his association with some worldly
persons contributed much to his prosperity, though it involved him in
serious temptations–he falters not, for he would sooner run the risk
of losing all the world than stake his reputation, or jeopardize his
soul, for he is bent upon getting rid of sin! Sin is the plague he
hates! He would sooner be poor as Lazarus, and even covered with sores,
and licked by dogs, than have the sins of the rich man upon him! He
wants to be clean delivered from every foul being and every false way!
One thing has he asked of the Lord, and that one thing has he set his
heart upon–that he may possess himself in righteousness, that he may
be without offense and that he may maintain his integrity. To obtain
this, through the power of the Holy Spirit, being cleansed by the blood
of Jesus, he will cheerfully suffer any imaginable privation!
Do observe how David sought after a thorough allegiance and a perfect
conformity to the will of God. He says, "I cried with my whole heart; I
will keep Your statutes"–not some of the statutes that were agreeable
to him, but allof the statutes that had the Divine sanction. I do not
intend to be uncharitable when I suspect that some Christians do not
wish to know too much, or to enquire too minutely into the Lord's
demands upon their resources. I have noticed a great many people lately
who have looked upon perfection as a prize within their reach and even
as an attainment to which they have already come! This is getting
rather common. They profess to be perfectly sanctified. But what can I
think of some of them who, to the best of my belief, are possessed of
fortunes to the extent of two or three hundred thousand pounds? Were
they perfectly sanctified, could they look on the outlying world,
living in vice and ignorance, out of which a chosen people are being
saved by the Gospel, without supporting those agents and agencies that
have the Divine blessing manifestly resting upon them to the utmost of
their ability? They should come nearer to the kind of consecration
which was manifested in that poor widow who gave "all her living" to
the Lord's treasury! I do not believe in a perfect sanctifica-tion
which allows a man to lay up so much treasure on earth, while so many
works for the Lord Jesus need his help. Systematic hoarding of wealth,
to my mind, does not indicate a perfect character! I am not judging
ordinary Christians, but only those who talk of full consecration–and
I will never believe in it till I see their gold, and their silver
dedicated to a larger degree, yes, to a perfect degree! Do not let them
boast, but give. As to those who are satisfied that they are perfect in
spirit, soul and body, we wait for their last testament–to see what
their wills look like when they die! A man who is perfect before the
Lord lays out his substance for God's cause, depend on that! He does
not merely attend conferences, and talk of good things, of spirituality
of mind and sanctification by faith, and all those glittering subjects,
but he lives for Jesus in some practical work and gives himself up–and
his substance, too–for the honor of the Redeemer's name and the
diffusion of the glorious Gospel! I have no leading one of these
Brothers in my mind's eye, but certain of their disciples–and I do not
even condemn those–but I do ask them to reconcile their large wealth
with their still larger professions of perfect consecration!
The true seeker for holiness is one who, while he resolves on obedience
to God, will dare to be singular, if no man will accompany him in it.
"I cried with my whole heart: I will keep Your statutes." He meant to
do it, though he should be without companions. He was prepared to stand
alone! I always admire that speech of Athanasius, when he, seeing
others had turned aside to Arianism, said, "I, Athanasius, against the
world." He is a true man who can be a true man by himself! Give me no
semidetached cottage, but a house that stands compact on its own
foundation! And give me such a man as can let the wind blow all round
him and yet stand upright. He will hold his own whether men will bear
or forebear! Let his fellow creatures applause or hiss him, he will
remain true to his own convictions. If they bear him on their shoulders
in triumph, it is the truth he has espoused they honor–or if they
trample him under their feet in contempt, it is for righteousness' sake
he suffers! But, like Luther, he will defy devil, death, and Hell to
hold to his purpose to keep God's statutes! Now the Word of God
animates a man's soul and the work of God is the enterprise of his life
when this is the strong desire of his spirit. He prays to God and
invokes His aid, yet at the same time he records his vow with a mind
that is not given to vacillate. He has put his foot down where he meant
to stand. He has knit his brow and closed his teeth and set all his
features to the aspect of defiance, for he means to hold out till he
achieves the victory! He is not going to compromise himself, nor to
tolerate any wrong thing. He will foil temptation, master evil
propensities and slay the sin that offends, and aggrieves, and harasses
him! In the armor of God he arrays himself and, through the Grace of
God, he will prevail!
The man who is thus seeking purity, while he prays and resolves, if he
is really wise and taught of the Spirit– III. WILL HAVE A DEEP SENSE
OF HIS OWN WEAKNESS AND DEPRAVITY.
Therefore, he supplicates the Lord in the language of the 146th
verse–"I cried unto You; hear me; I shall keep Your testimonies." His
tender misgivings are an incentive to his restless importunities. As
though he should say, "Oh, Lord, I am praying and resolving, but my
prayers need Your answers, and my resolutions need Your might to
fulfill them. My prayers–what are they? My resolves–what can they do?
I am a frail leaf and I bend before the wind of temptation! My
righteousness is like the sere leaf of autumn–it is soon carried
away–yes, it is like a filthy rag that ought to be set aside and
hidden from view! My God, I need sifting, I need sifting! Oh, save me,
and then I shall keep Your testimonies." There is no holiness in any
man by nature and never will be! Some ingenious author has said that
man is not dead like a stone, but dead like an egg. There was some
disposition to life in him that needed brooding over to develop. Well,
I should not like to be the hen that had to sit on that egg till it has
hatched! That a long eternity of disappointed hopes would spread out
before me, I am quite certain. It is a stone egg, this humanity of
ours! There is no real spiritual life whatever in it. Who shall bring a
clean thing out of an unclean? No one. And they may sit on that unclean
egg as long as they like, but a vile, unclean chick will be the only
result of it. Before ever we can keep God's testimonies, we must be
saved! We must be saved, first, from the guilt of the past. By
Substitution, by Redemption, by the application of the precious blood
of Jesus, by that expiatory Sacrifice in which our blessed Lord bore
for us the vengeance of God that was due to our sin, must our salvation
be procured!
Sinner, you will never go out of the Egypt of your bondage to sin till
the blood of the Paschal Lamb has been sprinkled on the lintel and the
two side posts. You may strive against sin as you will, but you will
never overcome it except through the blood of the Lamb. Enquire of
those in Heaven who have conquered sin and do now wear the snow-white
garments–
"I asked them whence their victory came?
They, with united breath, Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb, Their
triumph to His death."
Never till you see a bleeding Savior will you be able to put your sins
to death! They must be crucified on the Cross. They will die nowhere
else than there! "Save me, and I shall keep Your testimonies."
We need to be saved, however, not only from the guilt of sin, but saved
from our sinful selves We, whose nature is evil, cannot do much with so
bad a nature to baffle all our efforts to cleanse our way. This nature
must be removed and a new nature implanted, or else, while the old
nature is extant, the old evil will assert itself! There are different
ways of treating diseases. A man has a bad malady upon him and it
breaks out in his flesh. He goes to a quack who gives him an ointment
which he applies outwardly to heal the sore till the morbid appearance
vanishes. And he congratulates himself on the cure and commends the
charlatan for his skill. "What a capital doctor he is, and how well my
money was expended," he says, "he has taken away all that eruption."
By-and-by, the man is lying so grievously sick and ill that he does not
know what to do. "Oh," he thinks to himself, "have I made a mistake?"
And when a true physician comes, he says, "What have been your
symptoms?" He tells the tale of an eruption on his skin and the
remedies he resorted to. "Ah," says the physician, "the disease is
driven inwards! You have taken the wrong course–your present symptoms
are fatal. You will die. It was well that it should come out on your
flesh, seeing it lurked in your constitution. When you have a disease,
you had need lay the axe at the root, and not at the branches. It is
not the disfigurement of the skin that is so alarming, as the
blood-poisoning that caused it." Forthwith he begins to deal with the
real evil.
So, my dear Friends, you are only tinkering with the symptoms, the mere
eruption on the skin, while you aim at outward reformation! You must be
born-again! That is the only cure for the leprosy of sin. I am glad to
hear of people insisting on the importance of reforming every kind of
vicious custom and evil habit, but they do not go to the root of the
upas tree unless they resort to the Gospel–which lays the axe right at
the root of all manner of sin and blasphemy with its imperative demand
that you repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out!
This is the vital and vitalizing process that will turn out to be a
radical blessing. Lord, save me, save me! Change my heart! Renew my
spirit! Make the fountain clean! Set the mainspring right! Oh, Holy
Spirit, regenerate me! And if You do this, then, not till then, shall I
keep Your testimonies!
The same is true in respect to every Christian, Beloved. We require God
to keep on sifting us. Unless His spiritual work shall be carried on
every day in us, we shall be unable to keep His testimonies. We are to
be resolved against sin–I have told you that. We are to pray against
it–I have enlarged upon that. Still, we must fall back upon the naked
fact that a real conquest of sin is the work of God, Himself! "I cried
unto You; hear me: I shall keep Your testimonies."
Brothers and Sisters, beloved in Christ, live near to God! Live at the
foot of the Cross! Go every day to Jesus. Never get away from the spot
on which you stood when you first believed. Then and there you looked,
as sinners, to find everything in Him and nothing in yourselves. Do not
expect to overcome sin by any other means but by faith in the atoning
blood. Do not seek anything like perfection apart from Jesus Christ
who, "is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption." Oh, I would charge upon the members of this Church to
labor after holy walking. It cuts me to the quick when I hear it said
of any one of the members of this Church, "Well, they may be professors
of religion, but they are not honest in their dealings, or they are not
choice in their language, or they do not govern their tempers. They may
be saints at the Prayer Meeting, but they are devils at home! They may
look very amiable at the Communion Table, but they are very cross at
their own tables." Do not let it be so! Give no cause for such an evil
report, I pray you! I invite all that attend my ministry, who are truly
converted, to cast in their lot with us and join the Church, for so you
ought to do, but oh, do not bring dishonor–I will not say upon
us–that is of small consequence. Do not bring dishonor upon the Gospel
that we preach and the Christ whom we love!
The world will not say, "There, that is a false professor." They ought
to say it. And if they were honest, that is how they would put it, but,
in general, they will say, "That is your religion!" And the Cross of
Christ will be evilly spoken of and many a poor Believer who has
trouble enough as it is, finds it more difficult to give an answer to
the scoffer through having the inconsistencies of others thrown in his
teeth. Better die than deny the Savior! Better that we lie sick at
home, covered with boils, than that we go about the world grieving the
Holy Spirit and putting an evil word into the mouth of the ungodly!
Follow after holiness, I charge you. You are not saved by works! We
give no uncertain sound about that
teaching! We have told you and we constantly do tell you, that you are
only to be saved by the blood of Jesus! But, remember, Jesus came to
save us from our sins. If we hug our sins, we cannot have Christ for
our Savior! Christ and you must part, unless you and your sins part.
Jesus Christ will take any sinner to Heaven, but He will not take any
sin to Heaven. He will spare the sinner, but He will not spare his sin!
If you want to spare your own sins, depend upon it, you will lose your
souls! Watch, I pray you, against what are called "little" sins!
Remember, when thieves want to get into the house, if they cannot find
a ready entrance, they will often put a child through a little
window–and then he opens the front or the back door. So a little sin
will often open the door to a big sin. Watch, I pray you–watch against
secret sins! We have heard of some who barred the doors at night and
fastened the windows, but there was a thief under the bed! Mind that it
is not so with you–some hidden evil–some secret lust. Watch, pray,
resolve, but still come back to this– "Lord, help me; Lord, save me;
Lord, keep me." The old plowman whom I sometimes used to talk with
before he went to Heaven said to me, "Depend upon it, if you and I get
one inch above the ground, we shall be that inch too high." There is
much truth in his plain remark. If we get any high notions of what we
are, we shall soon sink below what we should be. Lie low! Aspire high!
Be nothing! Take Christ to be your All-in-All! Renounce self-confidence
and have faith in God! In this way you shall conquer sin, your prayers
shall be accepted, your resolutions shall be carried out and the
purpose of your heart shall be verified. "I will keep Your statutes."
May it be so with everyone of us! Amen, and amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM119:145-168.
Verse 145. I cried with my whole heart: hear me, O LORD: I will keep
Your statutes. In the time of trouble there is no resort like that of
prayer, but it must be intense and earnest. "I cried with my whole
heart." And sometimes it should be accompanied with a resolve to profit
by the affliction. "I will keep Your statutes." As the child under the
rod prays to be spared because he hopes in future to be obedient, so
does the Psalmist here say, "Hear me, O Lord: I will keep Your
statutes." This ought to be the effect of every affliction–to make us
more careful in our obedience. It is not always so, but so it ought
always to be.
146. I cried unto You: save me, and I shall keep Your testimonies. As
if he felt that the force of gratitude would compel him to obedience.
He did not merely promise it, but he prophesied it as a matter of
certainty that he would keep the Lord's testimony.
147. I rise before the dawning of the morning, and cry for help. I hope
in Your Word. Early prayers seem seasonable. Before we have gone into
the world, should we not first go to our God? Prayer ought to be the
key of the morning to open it, as well as the key of the night to close
it. And notice what should always be associated with prayer, namely,
hope. "I hope in Your Word." There is no prayer like a hopeful prayer,
in which a man hopes, believes, expects that God will send him a
blessing!
148. My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I might meditate
on Your Word. Before the watchman can cry the hour of night, my eyes
are upon the Word of God, and I am studying it. Oh, it is well when we
prove our love to the Word of God by our meditation upon it, our
constant searching into it.
149. Hear my voice according unto Your loving kindness. Not according
to my earnestness, much less according to my merit, but, "Hear my voice
according to Your loving kindness." Oh, what a large measure is this,
for who can tell how boundless is the loving kindness of God? Such is
the answer to my prayer, O my Lord.
149. O LORD, quicken me according to Your judgment As You try me,
quicken me. Just as You see I have need of it, give me more spiritual
life.
150. They drawnear that follow after mischief they are far from Your
Law. Dogs are at my heels! I have heard them long ago pursuing me, but
now they are getting nearer to me than ever.
151. You are near, OLORD. Is not that a blessed sentence, that when the
adversaries are near, the Friend of friends is near, too? What if he is
like a hunted stag, and the dogs are at his heels, yet the Omnipotent
Lord, the Interposer, can come between and save His darling from the
power of the dogs!
151, 152. Andall Your commandments are truth. Concerning Your
testimonies, Ihave known ofold that You have founded them forever. It
is an old story with me that Your love is without beginning, Your
Covenant from all eternity,
your Grace Immutable, not fickle, nor changeable as if it were founded
yesterday upon the sand, but, "You have founded them forever."
153-155. Consider my affliction and deliver me: for I do not forget
Your Law. Plead my cause and deliver me: quicken me according to Your
Word. Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not Your
statutes. If they sought that salvation, they would cease to be
wicked–they would find salvation–but while they follow out their
wicked ways, they get further and further away from anything like
salvation.
156-158. Great are Your tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to
Your judgments. Many are myperse-cutors and my enemies; yet do I not
decline from Your testimonies. I beheld the transgressors, and was
grieved; because they kept not Your Word. It is enough to make any man
grieve that the Word of God, which is so right, so just, so good,
should be despised! What madness is this which is in the hearts ofmen,
that they despise the best of the best?
159. Consider how I love Your precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according
to Your loving kindness. It is a fair argument. As one friend may say
to another, "Consider how I love you." As a child might say to his
angry father when he is about to chasten him, "My father, I love you,
although I have transgressed. Look at my heart and see how I love you,
notwithstanding all the mistakes of my character and even the faults
that I have committed."
160, 161. Your Word is true from the beginning: and every one of your
righteous judgments endures forever Princes have persecuted me without
a cause: but my heart stands in awe of Your Word."Princes have
persecuted me without a cause; but my heart stands in awe of–them? No,
but, "of Your Word."
162-166. Irejoice at Your Word, as one that finds great spoil Ihate and
abhor lying: but Your Law do Ilove. Seven times a day do I praise You
because of Your righteous judgments. Great peace have they which love
Your Law: and nothing shall offend them. LORD, Ihave hoped for Your
salvation, and done Your commandments. Present duty, future
expectation. It is no use our hoping for great things unless we
cultivate good things. God will make tomorrow bright– let us make
today holy.
167, 168. My soul has kept Your testimonies; and Ilove them
exceedingly. Ihave kept Your precepts and Your testimonies: for all my
ways are before You