Restless! Peaceless!
(No. 2886)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1904.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MAY
21, 1876.
"But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose
waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, to the
wicked." Isaiah 57:20,21.
AMONG the greatest privileges of the Believer in Christ are those
choice blessings, rest and peace. Believing in Christ Jesus unto
eternal life, he knows that his sin is pardoned, that he is a child of
God, that Omnipotence will preserve him even to the end and that he
will, by-and-by, be with Christ where he is not only to behold, but
also to share His Glory forever and ever. Consequently his heart is at
rest, for he leaves all that concerns him–whether in the present or
the future–in the hands of his Heavenly Father, casting all his care
upon Him who cares for him. And, therefore, he has peace, perfect
peace, in his soul. This peace and rest which the Believer enjoys even
here and now will deepen and increase until, in eternity, they will
reach their perfection and the child of God will, forever and
forevermore, in the blessed state above, be without even the slightest
disturbance of heart and will rest in the Presence of God with his
glorified spirit as full of joy as it can possibly be. The Apostle Paul
truly writes, "We which have believed do enter into rest." But he also
adds, just as truly, "There remains therefore a rest to the people of
God."
These choice privileges of rest and peace belong, however, exclusively
to Believers. "The wicked" have no portion in them. They are, according
to the testimony of Holy Writ, like the restless sea which is never
quite quiet, even in its greatest calm–and is never to be trusted for
a resting place, but, ever and anon, is lashed into fury, seething like
the contents of a huge cauldron and hurling up from its depths the mire
and dirt which have lain there unseen–such is the condition of the
unregenerate heart of unrenewed man.
There are two things in our text of which I am going to try to speak.
The first is, a fact observed–"the wicked are like the troubled sea
when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." The second
is, a sentence pronounced, and it is pronounced by God, Himself–"There
is no peace, says my God, to the wicked."
I. First, then, here is A FACT OBSERVED–that the wicked are like the
troubled sea. Who are these wicked people who are like the restless
waves of the turbulent ocean? I take the term to describe two classes
of sinners.
First, by the expression, "the wicked," as used in the Scriptures, we
must often understand overt transgressors– persons who are living in
the indulgence of open and known sin. Then, secondly, there is another
class of sinners–not open transgressors, like the others I have
mentioned–still, they have heard the Gospel and they have rejected
it–and, consequently, since we cannot put them down in any other
category and since their sin has a special aggravation about it because
of the Light of God and privileges which they have enjoyed and yet
despised, or neglected, they also must be put down with "the wicked,"
for they, too, "are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest." Let us
begin with those whose sins, as Paul says, "are open beforehand, going
before to judgment." Why are they unrestful and unpeaceful?
First, because they are themselves swayed by restless passions. There
are some sins which will not let a man be quiet as long as he indulges
in them. Take the sin of lust, for instance–who can ever satisfy its
cravings? Let a man once indulge his evil passions and can those
passions ever be satisfied? No, they keep on getting more and more
hungry as a man would become the more thirsty through drinking brine.
Does lust ever, of its own accord, cease its cravings? No, it is as
insatiate as the grave, itself, and it will suck a man's very life away
unless the Grace of God shall mercifully and miracu-
lously interpose. If you, young man, give yourself up to what is
erroneously called the pursuit of pleasure, it is quite certain that
you will not find rest for your soul in that direction! You have taken
a dose of poison that will make your blood hot and feverish and that
will cause true rest to flee from your pillow. This is a subject upon
which I cannot say more, in this public assembly, except to add, with
the preacher of old, "Know you, O young man, that for all these things
God will bring you into judgment!" Let the solemn admonition of good
Dr. Doddridge come home to your heart and say you with him–
"How will my heart endure
The terrors of that day
When earth and Heaven before His face,
Astonished, shrink away?"
Then listen to his earnest exhortation–not only listen to it, but at
once obey it–
"You sinners, seek His Grace, Whose wrath you cannot bear! Fly to the
shelter of His Cross, And find salvation there."
Take, next, the sin of anger. There are some persons who very soon get
angry, but they do not, as quickly cool down. Or, if they do, they
nurse their hatred and watch for any opportunity of paying back their
adversary in the base coin of revenge. Let me say to such a man–You
cannot enjoy real rest and peace unless you fully and freely forgive
all who have wronged you. You may try to lay a salve upon your
conscience and to preach peace to your heart, but if resentment still
lingers in your bosom–and especially the resentment which seeks an
opportunity to display itself in an act of ill-will– you cannot rest.
There are some animals that seem born to fight and if they cannot tear
others in pieces, they seem as if they must tear themselves, or, like a
serpent, which, in its rage, will poison itself. Such is anger! Such is
malice! And you, O man, must get rid of these evil things if you
desires to know what real rest means!–
"Sin, like a venomous disease,
Infects our vital blood.
The only balm is Sovereign Grace
And the Physician God.
Madness by nature reigns within–
The passions burn and rage
Till God's own Son, with skill Divine,
The inward fire assuage."
Such, too, is envy–a very common sin which is not spoken of as often
as it should be. This is the sin of the poor man who cannot bear to see
another man better off than he is. This is the sin of the sick man who
is envious of the healthy. Yes, but envy may be found not only among
the poor, but also among princes–not only among the sick, but also
among the strong. And when a man once becomes so envious that another
man's joy is his sorrow and another man's gain is his loss–and he
cannot be content with his own lot because another man has more honor,
or more money, or more friends than he has–he has a poisoned arrow
rankling within him which will breed a thousand woes and make rest of
heart impossible to him. Envy even grows by feeding upon itself!
Therefore I charge you, whatever you do, get rid of it if you desire to
find real rest!
Pride is another enemy of peace and rest. If you see a proud man, you
may feel sure that he is not a restful man. It is in the Valley of
Humiliation that the flowers of peace will be discovered. As for the
pompous people who are so high in their own esteem that they look down
on all others–pity them, my Brothers and Sisters–do not get angry
with them. It is a sad disease from which they are suffering–their
brain is turned, so deal gently with them. Think as kindly of them as
you can and pray to God to heal them. Mind, also, that you do not catch
their complaint, for it is very contagious and there are many who are
proud of their humility–and who condemn the pride of others when, all
the while, they are really still prouder, themselves!
Then there is avarice. And when a man is once possessed by the desire
to amass gain, there is no peace or rest for him. Suppose he acquires
what he reckons to be wealth? It ceases to be wealth as soon as he has
gained it. He thought that if ever he should secure a certain sum which
he had set his heart on, he would retire from business, but, having
saved that amount, he now regards it as quite insufficient and ten
times as much is the mark at which he now aims. If he should ever
succeed in hoarding that amount, he will find that he is further off
the goal of his desire than he was when he started. Some there are, I
do verily believe, who, if they could claim the whole world as their
own, would want the sun and moon and stars as well, for nothing could
ever satisfy them. Once get into the grip of avarice and rest is
impossible.
And it is also much the same with ambition–not the desire to use one's
capacities to the fullest, especially for God's Glory and the good of
our fellow creatures–but that craving for so-called "glory" which
makes a man court the homage of his fellow men and which will not let
him be content unless he is set up on a high pedestal for fools to
stare at! Ah, Sir, if you are ambitious in that sense, you and peace
have parted company and are not likely to meet again! But if you will
do the right thing and leave your reputation in the hands of God–and
especially if you will leave those lofty pathways which, after all,
lead only to the grave–then may you find peace. But you cannot find it
as long as any of these evils that I have mentioned are reigning within
your heart.
The first reason, then, why the wicked man's heart is like the troubled
sea is because there are evil passions within it which will not let it
rest.
The next reason is because the wicked man is agitated by the memory of
his old sins. Suppose him to have been for some years engaged in an
evil course–in dishonesty or unchastity? He cannot, even if he tries,
forget his sins. They have burnt themselves into his very soul and,
what is even worse than the memory of sin–every sin breeds other sins
so that every time you sin, you have a still greater tendency to commit
more sin! This is a fact that is strangely true both as to the body and
as to the soul–we wear tracks for ourselves where there were none
before. If we have, at first, to force our way through the brush of
conscience and to cut down, as it were, the old timber of our early
instruction and the gracious examples set before us in our childhood,
by-and-by we make a trail for ourselves and then a beaten track so that
it becomes always easier and yet easier to sin. No, more than that,
there seems to be a pressure put by habit upon a wicked man so that
what he once did from choice, he comes, at last, to do because he must.
Sin in the soul is like leaven in the dough–it heaves, ferments and
though it was, perhaps, put into you 20 years ago or more–it will go
on fermenting and working until the whole of your manhood shall be
soured by it!
Beside all this, the ungodly man is like the sea for restlessness
because, like the sea, he is governed by a greater power than his own.
The sea feels the force of the moon and is agitated and stirred by the
mysterious agency of the winds. And the wicked man is under the
dominion of the prince of the power of the air. If, for a while, he
would be at rest, Satan will not permit him to be in peace. He puts
opportunities of sinning before him and then excites the desire to
indulge in the evil thing. Satan is no myth–they who think that he is
cannot, surely, have opened their eyes–or else they would have
discovered in their very unbelief, his existence and that he had given
them that unbelief! Those who have stood foot to foot with Apollyon and
fought with him and overcome him in the hour of temptation, will never
doubt that there is a great fallen spirit who strives to lead men into
sin! Satan and his myriads of followers still lie in wait for the
ungodly, or openly drive them into fierce lusts and evil passions so
that they sin again and again.
Nor is this all. For wicked men–those who go into open sin–are kept
by the action of others from becoming quiet. If it were not for the
restraints of society, what horrible places would those be where the
utterly dissolute and abandoned assemble! Even as it is, every now and
then we read in the newspapers records of the doings of so-called
"gentlemen" that reveal to us something of what goes on when Bacchus
rules or riots. Then there are the brutalized beings at the other end
of the social ladder, the "fiends" who use their boots so heavily upon
their wives. Put a few dozen of them together and let them have their
own sweet will–do not restrain them at all and see what they will do!
Only God knows what wondrous patience He has with such men when they
get together and egg each other on in sin. I have often marvelled that
He does not speedily put an end to their blasphemy and indecency and
cruelty. Yet they are spared, notwithstanding their sin–but they
cannot rest, for one will not let the others be quiet. And if, at any
time, a good resolution should be formed by one of the company, another
laughs that resolution down and keeps the whole society "like the
troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt."
I do not wonder that a wicked man cannot rest because such a man is out
of gear with the entire universe of God. Lift up your eyes to yonder
starry orbs and remember there is not one of them disobedient to the
law of its Maker. The comet which was thought to be eccentric, obeys in
all respects its great Creator's will. Everything that you can see,
from the tiny atom of dust that is borne along by the wind, up to the
huge Atlantic billow in which the leviathan feels at home, is under the
power of the Divine Law. From the archangel before the Throne of God,
down to the gnat that dances in the
summer sunbeam, everything is obedient to the Lord of All–except the
wicked man–and he says, "I will not obey Him." Well, as he is out of
gear with all the rest of the universe, is it any wonder that he is
restless as the waves of the sea and that there is no peace for him? If
you were to set yourselves to disobey the physical laws of the
universe–for instance paying no regard to the law of gravitation but
leaping from a church spire, or falling down a precipice–you know what
would come of such madness! If you ever set yourself up in opposition
to the law, you may depend upon it that the law will got the mastery
over you. And the man who lives in disobedience to God's moral Law will
find that it will be the same with him and he will have no rest forever
and ever. As God's servant, I must say to you, very plainly, and very
ear-nestly–You cannot possibly find rest and peace in the course you
are now pursuing. May God enable you to escape from your sins and to
trust in Jesus Christ, His Son, that you may have both joy and peace in
believing!
Now I have to speak, very briefly, to those who cannot be put down
among the outwardly and notoriously wicked. I thank God that you
cannot, but still, you have heard the Gospel, perhaps for many years,
and you understand it, yet you have never received it. There is
reconciliation with God to be had, yet you remain His enemy. Now, I
will not say, for a moment, that the moral man who is not a Christian,
is to be put in the same category as the immoral. In many respects, he
does not do as much harm in the world as the other man does. But let me
tell you this, my Friend, if you sin against the Light of God and
knowledge, there may be an intensity of guilt in your sin which may not
be found in the man who is apparently worse than you are! He may never
have had such teaching and advantages, nor such a tender conscience as
you have had and hence his sin, bad as it is, like that of Sodom and
Gomorrah, may be such that it shall be more tolerable for him at the
Day of Judgment than for you who have not sinned one tenth as much
according to the judgment of others, but who have sinned against the
Gospel–sinned against the dying Savior's blood–sinned against the
Holy Spirit! God grant that you may never run this terrible risk!
Let me say to you, who are living without Christ, that however
excellent and amiable you may be, I know that you are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest. I know some special times when you cannot
rest–when you hear of others being converted–your brothers or sisters
coming forward to confess Christ–your friends or relatives rejoicing
in Jesus as their Savior. "Ah," you say to yourself, "they are restful
and peaceful, but I am not." I know how you feel, on Communion nights,
sometimes, when you have to go away, or to look on at others gathered
around the Table of the Lord. You do not feel easy, then, do you? And
you feel very uneasy, too, when any of your companions die–those who
are very much of your own sort. You attend their funeral and the
thought strikes you, "Shall I die as they have done, without Christ and
without hope? Shall I pass away from under the sound of the Gospel
without having given any evidence of conversion?" You do not feel easy
then, I know and, sometimes, you feel very much like the troubled sea
when conscience begins to call you to account.
John Bunyan, in his "Holy War," gives a graphic description of what
happened to Mr. Conscience when Mansoul was being besieged by
Immanuel–and that is very much what has happened to some of you. They
said that he was out of his wits, but he was never more truly in his
wits than when he was crying out for Mansoul to yield to the great King
Shaddai! And I feel sure that some of you have felt, upon the door of
your conscience, the blows of the great battering-ram that Bunyan
describes–and you have been ready to open it! Still you are not at
rest, for you have not come to Christ who alone can give you rest. It
is still true, as Dr. Watts wrote, long ago–
"In vain the trembling conscience seeks Some solid ground to rest upon!
With long despair the spirit breaks, Till we apply to Christ alone." If
you hear the Gospel faithfully preached, you cannot be at rest. Some of
you try to be satisfied with a false peace, but, by God's Grace, we
will plague you yet to Christ. We will love you to Christ. We will
incessantly worry you till, at last, you yield yourself up to Jesus!
Some of you are getting on in business. God has been very gracious in
preserving you in life, restoring you from sickness, or keeping you in
health. You have a better situation now than you ever had before, yet
you are not restful. You feel grateful to God for all His goodness to
you, yet you say, "There is something more needed." Yes, and that
something is the one thing necessary. I am thankful that God is
prospering you, but I hope you will never be able to rest until you
have that one thing necessary–the Grace of God!
Some of you are very thoughtful and when you get alone for half an
hour, it is very awkward for you, for there are certain problems that
you cannot solve and they sorely perplex you. Worst of all are your
forecasts of the future. Some-
times, you look ahead and you picture yourself upon a sick bed and you
say, "Can I die triumphantly as I am?" You know you cannot! And then,
sometimes, you picture yourself rising from the dead, when the angel's
trumpet blast is sounding and the quick and the dead are standing
before the Judgment Seat of Christ. You cannot bear to think of that
Great White Throne and the separation of the righteous from the wicked,
for you know where you shall go unless a great change is worked in you!
Though not outwardly wicked, you do not belong to the sheep–then you
must go with the goats. And when you think of this and the future
stands, for the moment, present before your mind's eye, your spirit is
"like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire
and dirt." I would that you had rest. God grant it to you this very
hour! May Toplady's prayer be your prayer, also–
"Oh, may I never rest
Till I find rest in You!
Till of my pardon here possessed,
I feel Your love to me!
Turn not Your face away,
Your look can make me clean.
Me in Your wedding robes array
And cover all my sin.
Tell me, my Good, for whom
Your precious blood was shed.
For sinners? Lord, as such I come,
For such the Savior bled."
II. Now, secondly, and only for a minute or two, in our text there is A
SENTENCE PRONOUNCED–"No peace"–you notice that the words, "there is"
are in italics because they are not in the original. So the text runs,
"No peace, says my God, to the wicked."
It is God Himself who says it! There may be a truce, for God is slow to
anger, but there is "no peace." God is at war with you if you are among
"the wicked." You may be under the delusion that there is peace, but
God's voice of Truth shatters that delusion to pieces. There can be no
peace where there is unpardoned sin. Until you have humbled yourself
before God and sought and found mercy, God is at war with you and you
are at war with Him. There can be no peace where there is no purity.
God has no peace with sin and never can have. Like a devouring fire,
His holiness burns against sin and you must be made pure–your nature
must to changed, the love of sin must be killed in you and you must as
vehemently love that which is good and right–or else God's voice still
thunders from Heaven's burning Throne, "No peace! No peace! No peace!"
"But I will go to church and receive the sacrament," says one. You will
get no peace that way, except a false peace that is worse than none!
"But I will attend the means of Grace with the Dissenters," says
another. You will get no peace that way, if that is all that you do. If
your sin is unforgiven by God and if your nature is unchanged by the
Holy Spirit, all the religiousness in the world will bring you no
peace! "But I will weep an ocean of tears and I will offer prayers
continually." No peace will come to you that way as long as you remain
wicked, for God says. "No peace! No peace!" And "wicked" you must
remain until Jesus washes you white in the fountain filled with His
precious blood and until the Spirit of God renews your nature–
"Not all the outward forms on earth, Nor rites that God has given, Nor
will of man, nor blood, nor birth, Can raise a soul to Heaven! The
Sovereign will of God alone Creates us heirs of Grace– Born in the
image of His Son, A new peculiar race. The Spirit, like some heavenly
wind Blows on the sons of flesh– Creates a new–a heavenly mind– And
forms the man afresh."
"Oh," says another, "but I will promise to be better and to do
better–I will amend my ways!" So you may and so you should! But my God
still says unto the wicked, "No peace!" What say you to all this?
Behold your God in arms against you! Omnipotence comes forth to war
against you, the creature of an hour! Will you submit? Be wise, I pray
you! Cast down your weapons, cry for mercy, accept the reconciliation
which Christ has worked. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has suffered,
"the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." If you will
but trust Him, what He did shall be accounted as yours. That is to say,
the punishment that He suffered shall be reckoned as if you had
suffered it and the righteousness He worked shall be counted as if you
had worked it! And God shall accept you in His Son's place and for His
Son's sake. More than that, the Spirit of God will overshadow you and
give you a new heart and a right spirit and take away the heart of
stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Are you willing
now to yield and end this unequal war–and be at peace with God? Then
the Lord who gave His Son once, gives you His Son over again into your
heart and He says, "Peace! Peace! Go in peace, your sins, which are
many, are forgiven you."
He who with his heart forsakes his sin and unfeignedly believes in
Jesus shall have the peace of God which passes all understanding! But
he who will keep his sin and so remain among the wicked, or who will
keep his self-righteousness and so refuse the salvation of Christ, has
nothing to go home with but this, "No peace! No peace!" And, oh, to die
with that terrible knell ringing in one's ears! To look up to God and
to hear Him say, "No peace!" To have the prayers of your friends for
you, but to feel no peace! To lift your eyes to Heaven, but to find
prayer freeze upon your soul as you hear again this sentence from God
the Judge, "No peace!" And then follows the eternity in which there is
no peace! God grant this may not be the sad portion of any one of us,
but may the Lord give to each of us peace, perfect peace, for Jesus'
sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 23; ISAIAH 55.
We will first read that choicest of all the Psalms–the twenty-third.
It is like a precious pearl shining with a mild luster. This Psalm is,
among the other Psalms, what the lark is among the other birds–it
soars and sings till it is lost in the heights to which it ascends!
Psalm 23:1. The LORD is my Shepherd. What a precious title the Psalmist
used in speaking of his God! It is right to call the Lord a Shepherd.
"The Shepherd of Israel" is a very blessed and true title for Him, but,
"myShepherd" is best of all. I wish, Beloved, that each of you would
truthfully say with David, "'The Lord is my Shepherd.' He owns me and
as I am His property, He will preserve me, protect me, provide for me,
guide me and be everything to my weakness, folly and necessity that a
shepherd is to a sheep." "The Lord is my Shepherd."
1. I shall not want "Not only do I not want at the present moment, but
I shall never want. I may sometimes foolishly fancy that I shall come
to want, but I shall never as long as God provides for me. How could
such a Shepherd as He is– Almighty and All-Sufficient–ever allow one
of His sheep to lack any good thing? No, 'I shall not want.' All the
world besides may want, but I shall not while Jehovah is my Provider.
Famine may be in the land–there may be neither dew nor rain and even
the brook Cherith may at last be dried up, but since Jehovah is my
Shepherd, I shall not want.'" As a guarantee of His care of us in the
future, we turn to our experience in the past and the present. What is
our experience of our great Shepherd even now?
2. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. Here is blessed rest and
here is also gracious provision for the needs of the sheep. The pasture
is sweet and tender and there is so much of the green grass that it
cannot all be eaten–and the superabundance makes a soft bed for the
tired sheep! "He makes me to lie down in green pastures." Repose, O
Believer, in the abundant provision of God's Grace! A sheep sometimes
needs to lie down. It is as necessary for its health that it should
have time to digest its food as that it should have proper and
sufficient food to eat. May the Lord graciously give to each of you the
sweet rest of meditation and contemplation–that blessed rest to which
faith attains when it grows into firm confidence and full assurance, so
that you may be able to say with David, "He makes me to lie down in
green pastures." But our spiritual life is not to be all spent in lying
down–there must some a time for going forward, so David adds–
2. He leads me. What a peerless Guide He is, since Infallible Wisdom is
His! And how gracious and condescending it is on His part to go first
in the way which He means us to take! David does not say, "He drives
me," but, "He leads me."
2. 3. Beside the still waters. He restores my soul: He leads me in the
paths of righteousness. ' 'In each one of them He is my Exemplar in
every virtue, for He, Himself, has endured all temptations that are
incident to my life's pathway and, all the way, 'He leads me in the
paths of righteousness.'"
3. For His name's sake. "Not because of any goodness in me, but because
of the goodness that is in Him and for the glory of His holy name, 'He
leads me in the paths of righteousness.'" "Also, 'He restores my soul.'
When I wander, He restores my soul to the right road. When I become
empty, He restores my soul again with good things. He restores my
soul."
4. Yes, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will
fear no evil' 'Not only shall there be none, but I will fear none." A
sense of the Lord's Presence lifts a Christian above fear! You know how
often it is true that we "feel a thousand deaths in fearing one." But
if we have a sense of our Savior's Presence, when we really do walk
through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, not a trace of fear shall
come across our peaceful souls!
4. For You are with me. The Presence of Christ is all that His people
can ever need. The All-Powerful, Ever-Faithful,
Infinitely-Compassionate One being with us–what cause for fear can
possibly remain?
4. Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. "To see Your scepter and
even to feel Your chastising rod–to know that You are a King and that
You rule over Israel–to know that as a Shepherd You carry "a crook to
guide Your flock, shall be enough to comfort my heart and to sustain my
spirit." How sweet is the next verse!
5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. How
calmly the Psalmist writes! He realizes that he has enemies, yet he
means to sit down to a feast! He is not going to snatch a hurried
mouthful or two, but "a table" is "prepared" for him as though for a
banquet! His enemies may look on while he is feasting, but they cannot
take away his enjoyment of the feast.
5. You anoint my head with oil. He receives a fresh anointing for new
service, even the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
5. My cup runs over.''I have all I want and even more than I need, so
that others, not as favored as I am, may come and catch some of the
droppings from my overflowing cup! It is so full, O Lord, that it
cannot hold all that You gave me! Until You enlarge my capacity, I
shall still have to say, "My cup runs over." The Psalmist's next words
also have much meaning and force in them.
6. Surely. There are no ifs, no doubts, no fears about the matter.
"Surely."
6. Goodness and mercy shall follow me. "These two holy angels shall
watch over my footsteps and follow me wherever I go–'Goodness' to
preserve me and 'Mercy' to pardon me! 'Goodness' to supply my needs and
'Mercy' to blot out my sins." And these angels shall follow me.
6. All the days of my life. "Not merely now and then, but all my
days–my dark days as well as my bright ones– these heavenly
messengers will never forsake me,"
6. And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. This life begins
here, for this earth is but the lower part of God's House. And when the
time shall come for us to leave this earth, we, who are the Lord's own
children, shall only go upstairs to the higher rooms to "dwell in the
house of the Lord forever." This, then, is the portion of the children
of God. But there are some to whom David's language will seem strange.
They cannot sing this sweet Psalm, for their life is as restless as the
waves of the sea. No quiet pastoral poem could set forth their joy, for
the sound of war is heard in the streets of their city of Mansoul. If
any such souls are seeking rest and peace, let them hearken to the
voice of God as it speaks to them from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah,
chapter fifty-five.
Isaiah 55:1, 2. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come you to the waters, and
he that has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yes, come buy wine and
milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfies not?Why
have you sought rest where it can never be found? Why have you craved
delights which can never satisfy you? Cease from such folly!
2. Hearken diligently unto Me. Thus speaks the Lord Jehovah–"Hearken
diligently unto Me."
2, 3. And eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul
shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.' 'With
you" who have any desire for
it–"with you" who hunger and thirst after righteousness and who have
no other recommendation than that, poor as it is. "I will make an
everlasting covenant with you."
3, 4. Even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given Him. The Son
of David–"great David's greater Son"– and God's own well-beloved and
only-begotten Son, even Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. God says "I
have given
Him"–
4-7. For a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not, and nations that
knew you not shall run unto you because of the LORD your God, and for
the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. Seek you the LORD
while He may be found, call you upon Him while He is near: let the
wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let
him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our
God, for He will abundantly pardon. Blessed be His holy name!
8-13. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My
ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain comes down, and the snow from Heaven, and returns not
there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it
may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My word be
that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but
it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I sent it For you shall go out with joy and be led forth
with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you
into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the
briar shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a
name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–661, 614, 658.