Great Changes
(No. 2934)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1905.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, IN THE YEAR 1862.
"And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first
which shall be last" Luke 13:30.
IN some of the books printed in the olden times, the authors were known
to put a hand in the margin, as if to point out some passage to which
they would have particular attention directed. Now, wherever we see in
Holy Scripture the word, "behold," it answers the same end. It is
intended to show us that there is either something new, something
impressive, or something which is speedily to transpire and, therefore,
needs immediate attention. Or else there is usually something contrary
to what men expect and, therefore, their consideration is the more
earnestly directed to it. Seeing this, "behold," in the margin, a
signpost as it were–a directory for us to stop and pause and
learn–let us do so tonight and may the Spirit of God be our
Instructor, that we may listen to profit.
"There are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall
be last." Similar passages occur in Matthew and Mark as well as in
Luke. In Matthew, the connection in which it stands shows that there
Christ intended it to relate to temporal circumstances. Peter had told
him that he, together with his fellow Apostles, had left all that he
had to follow Christ. And his Master informed him that he should be no
loser by it, but rather, he should greatly profit through having left
house and lands, and children and wife for Christ's name's sake and the
Gospel's. "For," said Christ, "there are last which shall be first, and
there are first which shall be last." Brothers and Sisters, let us then
hear and understand this, that circumstances shall very soon be
altered. The high and mighty shall not always be so elevated! The base
and mean shall not always occupy such a humiliating position!
Throughout the whole history of the world, sin has been striding in
high places with shoes of iron and brass, while godliness has walked
barefoot through the valley.
Multitudes of most ungodly men have worn the tiara and have thrown the
purple about their shoulders while a far more than equal number of the
virtuous have been slaves to tug the galley oar, or have been condemned
to long imprisonments, or have "wandered about in sheepskins and
goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented." Still, Dives wears
the scarlet and fine linen and fares sumptuously every day, while
Lazarus lies at his gate full of sores and the dogs give him the
charity of their tongues. Still Nero is on the throne and Paul rots in
the Mamertine dungeon. Still a Charles II shall have the crown while
the Puritan shall be found "despised and rejected of men." You can
scarcely turn to any page of history in which you do not see the wicked
in great power, spreading himself like a green bay tree, while the
righteous is plagued all daylong and chastened every morning!
Well, the time is coming when all this shall be changed! One wave of
your hand, O Death, and where is the dignity of sin? One blast of Your
breath, O God, and where are the glories of the mighty? Where are the
pomp and the power of the ungodly man who vexed Your saints? See there,
Dives has gone down to the nethermost pit and Lazarus is lifted to the
Throne of God! See there, Nero rots and is corrupt, while Paul, on
angels wings, is borne to the right hand of the Majesty on high!
Poverty-stricken, having hardly a place where he can lay his head, the
humble tentmaker took rank with the very lowest, but, though last, he
now stands first, nearest the eternal Throne of God–
"Midst the bright ones, doubly bright."
Proud, having all the earth at his beck, Rome's legions at his call,
Nero reigned and thought himself a god, but now the meanest slave is
greater than he and they mock and jeer him, even they, the princes who
lost their thrones by him and the men whom he trampled in the dust! In
Hell they greet him with the cry, "Are you become like one of us?" and
marvel greatly because the mighty are fallen and the proud are stained
in the mire! Patience, then, patience, you who are the sons
of poverty and yet the sons of God! Hush your boasting, you that are
the heirs of wrath and yet the heirs of fortune–the tables shall soon
turn–eternity shall undo the incongruities of life! Time, your
inequalities shall all be forgotten, Justice shall right every wrong,
"the first shall be last, and the last shall be first."
So, Brothers and Sisters, to pass on, there is no doubt that this is
equally true with regard to the world's esteem. For many a long year
the precious sons of God, comparable to fine gold, have been esteemed
as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter. For the first
three centuries there was no villainy too vile to be laid at the door
of the Christians. They were baser than the greatest miscreants. The
world hooted them from the streets! No terms were thought bad enough
for them. "It is not fit that they should live," was the world's
verdict upon the followers of the Crucified. And even today a godly man
is held in no reputation. There are no racks, 'tis true–no prisons, no
fines–but there are the jeers and the mockery, the shrugging of the
shoulder, the reviling, the shame and the spitting! These have not
ceased even now. Genius, intellect, science, taste, poetry and
literature have their golden shrines. Godliness it just tolerated in
its own conventicle.
I may be addressing some Christians, especially some young converts who
feel it very hard to have the cold shoulder in society, to be neglected
by their friends, to be threatened by their parents, to be forsaken by
all who once counted them to be good. Yes, patience, patience,
patience! You that are the last for Christ shall be the first with
Christ by-and-by! Those that are first today in honor and think
themselves great and famous because they will never yield to
fanaticism, because they will never be enthusiastic after Christ–they
shall be among the last! The day comes when they shall "awake to shame
and everlasting contempt." The organs of public sentiment will change
their tone. The world that honored the ungodly shall see their shame.
The eyes that once looked slightingly on saints shall be made to honor
them as the noblest of the noble and they that hated Christ shall be
lightly esteemed. Let those two thoughts be riveted upon our memories!
But I choose to dwell rather upon two other thoughts. The first part of
my text seems to me to teach wonders of Grace. And the next part of it
seems to me to teach wonders of sin.
I. Here, surely, is A WONDER OF GRACE–"There are last that shall be
first."
Here is Divine Sovereignty–choosing the last to make them first. Here
is Sovereign Grace–forgiving the greatest sin to make the brightest
saint. Here is Almighty Power changing the most degraded, turning the
current of the most strong-minded sinner and making his soul "willing
in the day of God's power."
What does it mean, those that are last? I take it, if I understand the
sense aright, it means this–there are some that are last in pedigree,
born of impious parents in some low hovel, in some dingy room, an attic
or a cellar, in some court where the first sound that reached their ear
was blasphemy, and the first sight that greeted their eye was
drunkenness. How many we have of such in London who are, indeed, last
if we consider their birth! Poor things, they are born not simply to
poverty, but they seem to be the nurslings of vice! One's eyes might
weep tears of blood when we think how unhappily some children are
placed in the very first moment of their advent into society. Glory be
to God, however, there are some of these that shall be first! God will
find His jewels in the dens, alleys and slums of London–and take up to
His Eternal Throne those that were the sons of harlots and the children
of the thief–that they may sing forever of His amazing Grace!
Last, too, they are in education. Turned out into the street to pick up
from every boy the vice he has acquired, to learn from evil men,
villainy of which their young hearts would not have dreamed. If you
should go into our Ragged Schools, especially some in the very lowest
neighborhoods, or if you would hear Mr. Gregory, the missionary in St.
Giles's, tell his tale of all the sin he sees and the education that
our young men of St. Giles's get, O gentlemen of St. James's, it might
well make you blush–blush with shame that you are not doing something
for them–shame for yourselves that you let your neighbors live like
this! They are still your neighbors, though they are hidden behind the
tall houses of your gorgeous streets and crescents, your squares and
terraces! Well, these are last in education, but glory be to God, some
who were trained for the gallows and tutored for the convict
settlement, shall, nevertheless, be taught of the Lord and inducted
into the fellowship of the saints! Irresistible Grace shall come and
pluck them out of the furnace, hating the garment spotted with the
flesh, yet esteeming them that they, also, may be jewels in the
Redeemer's crown!
Then, again, they are last in morals. At eventide, see her as she goes
out to hunt for souls. See him, too, as at eventide he reels from gin
palace to gin palace to drink, to swear, to curse. Ah, we are not
without those who are last in morals in this huge den of vice, this
city of iniquity! Could Sodom find sinners that would match with the
sinners of London? What
do you think? Could Tyre and Sidon outdo the iniquities that are near
our doors and may be seen in our own streets? I think not! You need
not, tonight, go many steps when once the sun is down before you will
see under every gaslight some that are last. Blessed be God–some of
them shall be first! Praise the Lord, you angels, there are some of
them here tonight, some of them saved! Some of them snatched from the
fire and they will sing in Heaven–and they do sing on earth right
sweetly to the praise of the love that has made the last to be the
first!
Some of these appear, beside their moral debasement, to have the last
disposition that could ever be susceptible of Grace. You know the men I
mean. Men that when you look into their faces, you feel you would not
like to meet them on a dark night. There are such men whose very
countenances betray a stolidity and hardness that is not altogether
common to men. Do you remember what the Scotsman said to Rowland Hill
when he looked long into his face? Rowland asked him, "What are you
looking there for?" "I was looking at the lines on your face," he said.
"And what do you think of me?" said Rowland. "Why," said the man, "I
was thinking that if it hadn't been for the Grace of God, you would
have been one of the biggest scoundrels living." And Rowland said 'twas
even so. He felt that himself. And I think we have all felt so. We have
all felt, as one good man said, "There goes John Bradford if it were
not for the Grace of God." To the ale-house, to the prison, to the
gallows–each of us might have come if Sovereign Grace had not
prevented!
There are men who seem naturally more coarse, more rough, more wild,
more outrageous than others. They have furious passions, they have a
fiendish temper. What other word could I use? They have a temper that
seems to make them like very maniacs over a little provocation. They
know not what to do but stamp and rave, and say they know not what!
These are the last men you would think could be saved. Yes, but there
are many of them that havebeen made first. Strange is it that God picks
out the very men whom we would throw away–the most worthless, the most
hopeless, hapless and helpless. Sovereign Grace had fixed its eye upon
them and said of each one of them, "I will have that man." That man's
will stood out stoutly and resisted to the uttermost the pleading voice
of salvation, but Grace would have him! O that strong will of his, how
useful it is now in the cause of Christ! That hard heart of his, now
softened, seems to give a holy courage and a dauntless and a fearless
manner which would be unknown to men of a different mold! "There are
last that shall be first."
What inferences do we draw from all this? We draw these lessons. There
is an encouragement for some of you who think you are last. I bless God
there are always some of the last ones coming into the Tabernacle. God
deliver us from having an exclusively respectable congregation! I like
to see men of all classes. I like to see the poor come in and I like to
see the base and vile come in–and I know they do. I feel like Rowland
Hill, when it was said to him, "It is only the tag, rag, and bobtail
that go to Surrey Chapel." "Ah, then!" he said, "Welcome tag, and
welcome rag, and welcome bobtail–these are just the sort we want to
see come into the Chapel." "Ah," I hear someone say with a sigh, "that
means me, that means me! I am one of those men. I am one of the last."
Then there is encouragement for you! Mercy's gates stand wide open and
Christ invites you in! Trust Him at this very hour, for, "there are
last that shall be first."
And, Brothers and Sisters, what cause for humiliation to us who are
saved! Were not we the last? I am sure, when I look at that headstrong
boy, when I think of that hard, stubborn boy that never did and would
not yield–when I think of that child who could bear any measure of
chastisement but never would make an apology for anything–and then
think of myself saved by Grace, I marvel! How is it that God should
choose such an one as I am? And I think you can all say, "Why me, Lord?
Why me?" And you can put it down to this, "There are last that shall be
first."
And what a reason this is why you and I should serve Christ, too! What?
Did He look on me when I was last, and will I not work for Him? Stand
out of the way, you groups of cold-hearted men! Stand out of the way,
you careless professors that cannot serve your Master! I must and will
do God service, for I owe Him more than you do. Mary, I implore you, by
the gentleness of your spirit, stand back, stand back! I must break my
alabaster box over that blessed head, for I have much forgiven and,
therefore, I love much. I must do much for Him. Give me great sinners
to make great saints! They are glorious raw material for Grace to work
upon and when you do get them saved, they will shake the very gates of
Hell! The ringleaders in Satan's camp make noble sergeants in the camp
of Christ! The bravest of the brave are they. God send us many such and
we will sweep before us yet the hosts of evil and drive iniquity into
the depths of the sea. "There are last that shall be first." O dear
Friends, I wish the net would catch some of the last right now. I know
that young man over there thinks that Christ will never save him.
"There are last that shall be first." I know that young woman has
written it down in her conscience that she is an odd person–she is
sure to be passed over–one of the last, I see. Ah, and you shall be
among the first! Only believe Christ, only trust Him! He is God! He can
save you! He is Man! He is willing to save you! Trust Him, His promise
is given! He will save you, He will wash you from every sin and bring
you with joy before His face at the last!
II. But now I must take the second part of the text, as briefly as
possible, and speak of WONDERS OF SIN. "There are first that shall be
last."
First in ancestry, hushed to your slumber with a holy lullaby, candled
on the knee of piety, hanging at the breast of tenderness and
love–from your mother's arms you shall go to the frightful grasp of
the Destroyer! And from a father's rejected counsel to the sinner's
direst doom!
"There are first that shall be last." First in training, taught in the
Sunday school, prayed over, wept over. "There are first that shall be
last." First in privileges, sitting under a faithful ministry, warned,
exhorted, entreated, pleaded with. "There are first that shall be
last." Having much light and knowledge, having an awakened conscience,
but quenching it, having the warnings of the Spirit, but stifling them.
"There are first that shall be last." Regularly in the house of God,
well-read in Scripture, well-trained in Doctrine, understanding the way
of God, but not running in it, knowing your duty but doing it not.
"There are first that shall be last." O my Hearers, I speak to
thousands of you that are among the first tonight! When I said there
were last ones here, I glanced for the few, but oh, how many of you
belong to the tribes and families of men who are of the first! You are
not Sabbath-breakers, the most of you–you go to a place of worship.
You are not heathens–you have a Bible, sometimes you read it–and you
know what faith in Christ means, if you have it not in your hearts. O
London! London! London! You fair metropolis of merchandize and wealth!
How are you exalted to Heaven by your privileges! Christ is now
preached in the corner of every street, in your parks, in your fields!
Christ is preached in your theatres. He is preached where every man can
hear of Him if he will. First and foremost as you stand, O inhabitants
of London, the envy of many nations and their refuge of the oppressed
of all nations–how many of you shall be worse off than the savages of
Africa or the cannibals of New Zealand? "There are first that shall be
last."
I cannot preach on this text. I have not the strength. I have not the
power of thought to point out this solemn Truth of God as I gladly
would and to thrust it on your consciences. I can only thus make it
ring and sound in your ears by saying again, "There are first that
shall be last."
Remember, if it is so with you–and this is the conclusion of the whole
matter–your being last will involve awful responsibilities because you
were first! You cannot perish as others do. If you do reject Christ,
how shall you escape who neglect so great a salvation? Sirs, I tell
you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you in
the Day of Judgment! Besides this, how shall you escape from the
remorse of your conscience, when conscience, wide awake, shall cry,
"You knew your duty, but you did it not"? The caverns of Hades shall
say, with dull and dreary echoes, "You knew your duty, but you did it
not." Every revolution of eternity, as it brings some fresh crisis of
your pain, shall say to you, "You knew your duty, but you did it not."
Banished from Heaven to Tophet, from the Temple of the Lord to Gehenna,
from the voice of the minister to weeping and wailing, and gnashing of
teeth, from the song of the sanctuary to the howling of the Pit–this,
this shall be the edge of the sword, this the tooth of the devouring
worm–"You knew your duty, but you did it not!"
O you first ones, God help you! If you ever should be last, how
terrible will be your doom! Let us then engage in great searching of
our hearts tonight. I search my own soul now–what if I, standing first
in Gospel privileges, the teacher of this people–what if I be among
the last? My Brothers, you the elders and deacons of this Church, the
first in our Israel–what if you are among the last? You young men and
women of our Catechumen classes, of our Bible classes–you young men of
our College, first, most hopeful of all–what if you are found among
the last? You Sunday school teachers and superintendents, you who teach
young children the way to Heaven–what if you learn not the way to
Heaven yourselves? What if you, the first, should be the last? You, the
Beloved of my soul, whom these hands have baptized into the Lord Jesus
Christ! You with whom we have had sweet communion at the blessed feast
of the Lord's Table–what if you, the first, should be among the last?
I can but reiterate the cry. I can but stand here, like Jonah, and cry
aloud with one unvarying note of warning, "Take heed, you first, that
you are not among the last!" And what shall we all say, rolling the two
sentences into one? O Grace, make me among the first! Let me not be
among the last at the last! O God, help me now to escape from Hell and
fly to Heaven! I do accept Christ as my Savior–
"'Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to His Cross I cling."' Say that
in your souls after me, you who feel it–
"Just as I am, and waiting not To rid my soul of one dark blot, To You
whose blood can cleanse each spot O Lamb of God, I come."
Trust the Master now, my Hearers. Say in your spirits, "Yes, we're
guilty and vile! Save us, Lord, or we perish." Let the cry of your
repentance and the utterance of your faith go up to Heaven in one
sound! And then God commissions us to say to you, from His Word, that
He absolves you from the guilt of all your sin when you have believed
in Jesus Christ His Son. He that believes on the Son has everlasting
life and shall never perish! He shall never come into condemnation, but
the love of God shall rest on him in time and eternity. God grant it to
us all, for His name's sake!
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 51; 142.
Psalm 51:–This Psalm is dedicated to the chief musician–it was
intended to be sung. Yet it is not by any means a joyous piece of
music. It seems more fit to be sung–or sighed–as a solo for the
solitary penitence of a broken heart than for the united songs of
Believers. Yet, in God's ears it is clear that the voice of penitence
is full of music, for this penitential Psalm is dedicated to the chief
musician.
Verse 1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness.
No eye can spy out the tender attributes of God like an eye that is
sore with weeping on account of acknowledged sin, so David prays, "Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving-kindness." This word,
"loving-kindness," is a rich double word and it was specially suitable
just then, for he who has a broken heart–bruised and broken on account
of sin, needs double mercy from God.
1. According unto the multitude of Your tender mercies blot out my
transgressions. ' 'They are on record and I cannot erase the terrible
lines, nor can You erase them, O Lord, without displaying a multitude
of Your tender mercies. It will need Omnipotence, itself, to get rid of
this sin engraved in brass. Therefore, according unto the multitude of
Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions."
2. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. "Wash me through and through, O
Lord. Wash me thoroughly!" A hypocrite is satisfied with the washing of
his garments, but the true penitent cries, "Wash me! Wash me thoroughly
from my iniquity. It is almost the only thing that I can really call my
own and it is most sadly mine. O Lord, wash my iniquity right away!"
2. And cleanse me from my sin. "If washing will not suffice, put me in
the fire, but somehow, somehow, O Lord, cleanse me from my sin!" You
notice that David's prayer is not concerning the punishment of his sin,
but concerning the sin itself. That is the one thing which is eating
into his heart–look how many words he uses to describe it–"My sin, my
iniquity, my transgressions." He cries to God to help him to get rid of
that which is the source of all his sorrow. The thief dreads the
gallows, but the penitent fears not the punishment of his sin–it is
the sin, itself, that terrifies him!
3. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is always before me.
"I cannot get away from it and I cannot get rid of it. It stares me in
the face. It haunts me in my lying down and my rising up. I am obliged
to acknowledge my sin, for it is always before me."
4. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done this evil in Your
sight ' 'It is true that I have grieved others and that I have done
much injury to others by my sin, but in all this, I have sinned most
against You. The virus–the essence of my sin is that it has been
committed against You, O my God!"
4. That You might be justified when You speak, and be clear when You
judge.''My sin was committed within Your jurisdiction and against Your
Law, O Lord and, therefore, as I am summoned to appear at Your court, I
cannot disobey the summons. I am compelled to give an answer to the
charge brought against me–and my answer is that I am guilty, without
any extenuating circumstances that I can plead before You, O Lord! I am
guilty through and through."
5. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive
me. David does not say that by way of making an excuse for himself, but
rather to aggravate his own guilt. He admits that his guiltiness is
really a part of himself. He does not say, "Lord, I was acting contrary
to my nature when I committed this sin. You know that it was not like
me to do that." Oh, no! He says, "Lord, You know that I was acting
quite in accordance with my nature. It was just like me to fall into
this terrible sin." We have sometimes heard people say that they were
surprised to find that they had been guilty of certain sins–let it not
be so with you, but rather be surprised to find yourself kept from
guilt, amazed when you are preserved from sin–for the whole tendency
of unrenewed human nature is towards iniquity. "In sin did my mother
conceive me."
6. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part
You shall make me to know wisdom. As much as to say, "Lord, that which
You desire" to see in me is not there, and though You have made me also
to desire it, yet I fear that I have not at present gone beyond the
desire, for still within me, in my secret soul, there lies a tendency
to evil, and unless I keep a strict watch over myself, I soon go
astray. Lord, make me inwardly clean! I cannot bear that it should be
otherwise with me."
7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. As the priest purges the
unclean man by dipping the bunch of hyssop into the blood of the
sacrifice, and then sprinkling him with it, so, "purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean."
7. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. "That is to say, I shall
be clean if You do wash me, O Lord! My own washing makes me no cleaner.
My own cleaning make me fouler than I was before, but if You will purge
me and if You will do it with the sacrificial blood, then I shall be
whiter than snow." This is grand faith on David's part! I cannot help
calling your attention to it–that he, with a sense of his sin heavy
upon him and bowed down to the very earth with the consciousness of his
great guilt, yet dares to say, "Wash me"–adulterous, murderous
David–"wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." No faith brings
greater Glory to God than the faith of the audaciously guilty when they
dare to believe that God can forgive them! Not even the unfallen
seraphim can render to God purer homage than when you, a defiled and
condemned sinner, dare to believe in the mercy of God in Christ Jesus
and so believe as to say, with David, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow."
8. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which You have
broken may rejoice. If a good man ever goes astray, he may depend upon
it that his sin will be very costly to him. And the better a man is,
the more expensive will his sin be to him in the long run. God breaks
the very bones of His children when He chastens them for their sin. I
do not doubt that many a time their pilgrim way has been all the more
weary in their later days by reason of their sins in their earlier
days. There is many a pain that shoots through old bones, that is meant
to remind the old bones what they were when they were young. God will
certainly chasten us for our iniquities if we are His own people.
9. Hide Your face from my sins,' 'Lord, do not look at them. Refuse to
see them! Hide Your face, not from me, but from my sins."
9. And blot out all my iniquities. See how he comes back to that note
again and again? He is never far away from it. There are certain tunes
in which one note is constantly repeated, so is it here. David prays,
"O God, put away my sin, blot out my sin, forgive my sin." He cries for
nothing else but that–"Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all
my iniquities." He longs for the time when not one of them shall be in
existence!
10, 11. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
within me. Cast me not away from Your Presence; and take not Your Holy
Spirit from me. These are the groans of a true child of God. Never has
a man, without the Spirit of God within him, prayed to God in this
fashion. David, therefore, notwithstanding all his sin, still had the
life of God within his soul and when Nathan came to reprove him, the
sacred fire began to burn again. Here are some of the sparks of it–and
some of the smoke of it, too "'Cast me not away from Your Presence'–
"'Dismiss me not from Your service, Lord.' "Say not, I can no longer
use you. You shall no longer stand in My courts, for you have disgraced
Me. Get away from My Presence.' 'Cast me not away from Your Presence;
and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.'"
12. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation; and uphold me with Your
free Spirit David longs for his Lord to come back to him. When God
flogs His children, they still cling to Him and they cry to Him. They
do not wish to run away and hide themselves from Him. No, their only
comfort is to weep upon their Father's bosom and to wait for the kiss
of forgiveness from His lips. So David prays, "Restore unto me the joy
of Your salvation; and uphold me with Your free Spirit."
13. Then will I teach transgressors Your ways; and sinners shall be
converted to You. Do you not see, Brothers and Sisters, that we must be
in a right state of heart if we are to serve God well? We cannot teach
transgressors His way with a confident hope that they will be converted
to Him unless we, ourselves, possess the joy of God's salvation and are
upheld by His Holy Spirit! If we go to God's work out of order, we
shall make a mess of it and accomplish nothing that is really worth
doing. But when God gives us His comforting Grace within and His
upholding on every hand, then shall we teach with power and sinners
shall learn to profit–"Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and
sinners shall be converted to You."
14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, God of my salvation: and
my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. None sing so loudly
the praises of Redeeming Grace as those who have been forgiven great
sins. There is no music, outside Heaven, that has such a volume of
God-glorifying praise in it as the song of the man who loves much
because he has had much forgiven–"My tongue shall sing aloud of Your
righteousness."
15. O Lord, open You my lips. He felt as if he could not be trusted to
open his own lips and, certainly, he was not to be trusted to open his
own eyes, for when he had opened them before, he had looked on that
which led him into sin. So now he would have God to keep his very lips,
that he shall never speak again except as he shall be guided from on
high– "O Lord, open You my lips."
15, 16. And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For You desire not
sacrifice; else would I give it. Very naturally David's mind began to
think of the multitudes of bulls, lambs and rams that were burnt upon
Jehovah's altar. There is nothing that makes a man so spiritual and so
Evangelical as a deep sense of sin. You cannot be a Sacramentarian and
a ceremonialist very long if you have a broken heart. Those pretty toys
do very well for the kind of "miserable sinners" who do not know what
either misery or sin means! But he who really has had his heart broken
on account of the guilt of his sin cannot be content with the mere
outward sacrifice–he must have that which is spiritua–"You desire not
sacrifice; else would I give it:"
16, 17. You delight not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not
despise. David has to feel that it is better to have one genuine sigh
for sin than to make ten thousand bulls shed their blood upon the
sacrificial altar! And if you are truly broken from your sin–if you do
really hate it, and cry to God for the pardon of it–if the Spirit of
God has really given you complete cleansing from your guilt by the
precious blood of Jesus–this is better than all the material
sacrifices offered in all the temples that were ever built and overlaid
with gold! "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a
contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."
18. Do good in Your good pleasure unto Zion: build You the walls of
Jerusalem. As much as though David said, "I have done great hurt to
Zion, I have pulled down the walls of Jerusalem by my sin. Now, Lord,
build them up again. Undo the mischief which Your poor foolish servant
has worked by his backslidings." So may any backsliders among us pray
to the Lord, "Visit Your Church so graciously, Lord, that my sin may
not injure her!"
19. Then shall You be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer
bulls upon Your altar. Oh, yes, we are sure to bring to God the best
that we have when we once get our sins forgiven! After we have looked
to Christ, who is the one great Sacrifice for sin, then we bring to God
all that we can, to show how grateful we are for His pardoning mercy!
Psalm 142. Maschil of David. A prayer when he was in the cave. This
"Maschil of David" is instructive to us, for the experience of one
Believer is very edifying to another. We are so much alike that as in
water, face answers to face, so the heart of men answers to man–and
what one Believer has felt awakens sympathy in the rest of God's
people.
Psalm 142:1, 2. I cried unto the LORD with my voice: with my voice unto
the LORD did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before
Him; I showed before Him my trouble. David mentions that he prayed with
his voice. This is an unimportant matter compared with praying with the
heart, but when the heart is full of prayer, it is often very helpful
to be able to use the voice to give expression to the emotions of the
soul. To have a room in which, without disturbing others and without
ostentatiously revealing your private experiences to others, you can
speak aloud unto the Lord, will be found to be a great advantage in
prayer. Some men's thoughts become more concentrated and flow more
freely–and their hearts are better able to pour out their deepest and
fullest expressions when they can pray aloud. So David says that in the
cave, where he would not be likely to disturb anybody, he cried with
his voice unto the Lord– "With my voice unto the Lord did I make my
supplication."
You can see from verse 2 what was the style of his prayer. "I poured
out my complaint." The figure is a very simple one. Just as you pour
out water from a bottle, so David let his heart's complaint flow out
before the Lord. In pouring out water, it sometimes comes slowly and
sometimes fast–at times with a rush, followed by a pause. There is no
prayer better than that which naturally flows from the renewed heart
without any strain or effort, it was so with David–"I poured out my
complaint before Him, I showed before Him my trouble." Just as a
patient shows his wounds to the surgeon, so take away the covering from
your broken heart and wounded spirit and set your trouble before the
Lord, who already sees it! It will be no novelty or cause of surprise
to Him and He desires you to manifest such trustfulness in Him as will
lead you to lay before Him your complaint and your trouble.
3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path. "My
spirit was so overwhelmed within me, that I did not know where I was,
or what I was. I could not make heads or tails of myself. I seemed to
be like a skein of silk or wool in a tangle. My thoughts, as George
Herbert would have said, were all a case of knives, sharp to cut and
wound. I could not make myself out! I was a puzzle even to myself, but
You knew my path even then."
3, 4. In the way wherein I walked have they privately laid a snare for
me. I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that
would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. This is a
terrible condition for anyone to be in–to have every friend forsake
you–to find that those who used to know you best, do not want to know
you any longer, but turn their heads away as if it would be a disgrace
to them to be known to have been your friends. This is a grand
opportunity for testing the reality of your faith! Can you believe God
now? Can you take Him to be your Friend now that you have not another
friend in the world? Fine-weather faith is very cheap and easily
obtained–but the faith that can stand fast in the time of the storm
and tempest–that hardy mountaineering faith which hides in God in the
coldest winter and finds its summertime in Him alone–that is the faith
that is worth having and worth keeping!
6. I cried unto You, O LORD: I said, You are my refuge and my portion
in the land of the living. "I left the broken reeds alone and leaned
upon my God. I said, You are my refuge and my portion in the land of
the living."
6, 7. Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my
persecutors for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may praise Your name: the righteous shall compass me about; for
You shall deal bountifully with me. This is a beautiful metaphor,
suggesting that when the saints heard that God brought him out of
prison, they would gather round him, gaze upon him as a miracle of
mercy and ask him to tell them his wonderful tale. He would be the
center of their delighted observation and their own faith and hope in
the Lord would be greatly increased. As a little imprisoned bird might
long for emancipation, David says, "O Lord, open my cage door and let
me fly and I will sing, as I mount, to the praise of Him who gave me my
liberty! 'Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise Your name: the
righteous shall compass me about, for You shall deal bountifully with
me.'"
–Adapted from The C. H. Spurgeon Collection, Version 1.0, Ages
Software, 1.800.297.4307
PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS SERMON TO BRING MANY TO A SAVING
KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.