Revelation and Conversion
(No. 2870)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1904.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
JANUARY 23, 1876.
"The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul." Psalm 19:7.
WHEN he spoke of "the Law of the Lord, David did not merely mean the
Law as it was given in the Ten Commandments, although that also is
perfect and is used, to some extent, in the conversion of souls. The
term includes the entire Doctrine of God–the whole Divine Revelation
and though, in David's day, there was not so full and clear a
Revelation as we have–for the New Testament was not then given, nor
much of the Old Testament, yet the text has lost none of its former
force, but has rather gained more. So I shall use it as applicable to
the entire Scriptures–to the Law and to the Gospel–and to all that
God has revealed. And speaking of it in that sense, I may truly say
that it is perfect and that it converts the soul.
A tree is known by its fruit and a book must be tested by its effects.
There are some books which bear their fruit for the hangman and the
jail–and such books are very widely read nowadays. They are frequently
embellished with engravings and put into the hands of boys and
girls–and a crop of criminals is constantly the result of their
publication and circulation! There have been books written which have
spread moral contagion throughout centuries. I need not mention them,
but if it were possible to gather them all together in one heap and
burn them as the Ephesians burnt their books of magic, it would be one
of the greatest blessings conceivable! Yet, if that were done, I fear
that other wicked brains would be set to work to think out similar
blasphemies and that other hands would be found to scatter their vile
productions.
The Word of God must be tested, like other books, by the effect which
it produces, and I am going to speak upon one of its effects to which
many of us here present can bear personal witness. The old proverb
says, "Speak as you find," and I am going to speak of the Bible as I
have found it–to praise the bridge that has carried me over every
difficulty until now–and that has carried a great many of you over,
also. We know that the Law of the Lord is good because it converts the
soul and, to our mind, the best proof of its purity and power is that
it has converted oursoul.
My first objective will be to show how the Word of God converts the
soul Then to show the excellence of the work of conversion. And,
therefore, thirdly, the excellence of that Book which produces
conversion.
I. First, then, I am to show HOW THE WORD OF GOD CONVERTS THE SOUL.
Man's face is turned away from his Maker. Ever since the fatal day when
our first parents broke the Law of God, we have been, all of us, guilty
of the same great crime. We stand as men who have their backs to the
light and we are going the downward road, the road which leads to
destruction. What we need is to be turned around, for that is the
meaning of the word, "converted"–turned right about. We need to hear
the command, "Right about face," and to march in the opposite direction
from any in which we have ever marched before. Our text truly says that
the Word of God turns us around. It does not mean that the Word alone
does that apart from the Spirit of God, because a man may read the
Bible through 50 times and, for 50 years hear sermons that have all
come out of the Bible, and yet they will never turn him unless the
Spirit of God makes use of the Word of God or the preacher's sermons.
But when the Spirit of God goes with the Word, then the Word becomes
the instrument of the conversion of the souls of men.
This is how the work of conversion is worked. First, it is by the
Scriptures of Truth that men are made to see that they are in error.
There are millions upon millions of men in the world who are going the
wrong way, yet they do not
know it. And there are tens of thousands who believe that they are even
doing God service when they are utterly opposing Him. Some who, as far
as it is in their power, are even slaying Christ, know not what they
are doing. One of the pleas that our Savior used upon the Cross was,
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." To take my own
case, I know that for years I was not conscious of having committed any
great sin. I had been, by God's restraining Grace, kept from outward
immoralities and from gross transgressions and, therefore, I thought I
was all right. Did I not pray? Did I not attend a place of worship? Did
I not do what was right towards my fellow men? Did I not, even as a
child, have a tender conscience? It seemed to me, for a time, that all
was well and, perhaps, I am addressing someone else who says, "Well, if
I am not right, I wonder who is? And if I have gone wrong, where must
my neighbors be going?"
Ah, that is often the way we talk! As long as we are blind, we can see
no faults in ourselves. But when the Spirit of God comes to us and
reveals to us the Law of God, then we perceive that we have broken the
whole of the Ten Commandments in the spirit, if not in the letter of
them. Even the most chaste of men may well tremble when they remember
that searching word of Christ–"Whoever looks on a woman to lust after
her has committed adultery with her already in his heart." When you
understand that the Commandments of God not only forbid wrong actions,
but also the desires, imaginations and thoughts of the heart–and that,
consequently, a man may commit murder while he lies in his bed– may
rob his neighbor without touching a penny of his money or any of his
goods–may blaspheme God though he never uttered an oath–and may break
all the commands of the Law of God, from the first to the last, before
he has put on his garments in the morning–when you come to examine
your life in thatlight, you will see that you are in a very different
condition than you thought you were!
Think, for instance, of that solemn declaration of our Lord, "I say
unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give
account thereof in the Day of Judgment." It is by bringing home to the
heart such Truths of God as these that the Spirit of God, through the
Word, makes a man see that he is in error and in danger! And this is
the beginning of his conversion! You cannot turn a man around as long
as he believes he is going in the right way. While he has that idea in
his head, he goes straight on, marching, as he supposes, safely. So the
very first thing to be done to him is to let him see that there is a
terrible precipice right before him–over which he will fall if he goes
on as he is going. When he realizes that, he stops and considers his
position.
Then the Word of God comes in, in the next place, to take the man off
from all attempts to get around by wrong ways. When a man knows that he
is going wrong, his instinct should lead him to seek to get right, but,
unhappily, many people try to get right by getting wrong in another
direction! A good man sent me a volume of his poems the other day. As
soon as I looked into it, I saw that there was one line of the verse
that was too short. The good Brother evidently felt that it was, so he
tried to set the matter right by making the next line too long, which,
as you see at once, made two faults instead of one! In like manner, you
will find that men who are wrong in one direction with regard to their
fellow men, often become very superstitious and go a great deal further
in another directions than God asks them to go and so, practically,
make a long line towards God in order to make up for the short line
towards men! And thus they commit two errors instead of one.
Here is a sheep that has gone astray. It has wandered so far to the
East that, in order to get right, it tries to go just as far to the
West–and if convinced that it is on the wrong road, all it does is to
stray just as far to the North and, by-and-by, to the South! It is
wandering all the while in a different way with the intent to get back
to the fold and, in this respect, sinners are just as silly as the
sheep! Now, the Word of God tells a man that by the works of the Law he
cannot be justified. It tells him that his heart is defiled, that he,
himself, is already condemned, that he is shut up under condemnation
for having broken God's Law. And it indicates to him that whatever he
may do, or however much he may struggle, if he does not seek salvation
in God's way, he will only make the bad, worse, and be like a drowning
man who sinks the faster the more he struggles! When the Word of God
shows a man that–and makes him feel as though he were hopeless,
helpless, shut up in the condemned cell–it has done a great deal
towards turning him around!
The next thing the Word of God does is to show the man how he might get
right. And, oh, how perfectly it shows him this! It comes to the man
and says to him, "Your sin deserves punishment. God has laid that
punishment upon His only-begotten Son and, therefore, He is ready to
forgive you freely for Christ's sake–not because of anything good in
you, or anything you ever can do–but entirely of His free mercy! He
bids you trust yourself in the hands of Jesus that He may save you."
Come, then, and rely upon what Christ has done and is still doing for
you, and believe in the mercy of
God, in Christ Jesus, to all who trust Him! Oh, how clearly the Word of
God sets Christ before us! It is a sort of mirror in which He is
revealed. Christ Himself is up in Heaven and a poor sinner, down here
on earth, cannot see Him however long he looks. But this Word of the
Lord is like a huge mirror, better, even, than Solomon's molten
sea–and Jesus Christ looks down into this mirror and then, if you and
I come and look into it, we can see the reflection of His face! Blessed
be His holy name, it is true, as Dr. Watts Sings–
"Here I behold my Savior's face Almost in every page."
There is scarcely one chapter in which Christ is not, more or less
clearly, set forth as the Savior of sinners. So the Word of God, you
see, shows the man that he is in the wrong, takes him away from wrong
ways of trying to get right, and then puts him in the way to get right,
namely, by believing in Jesus!
But the Word of the Lord does more than that. In the power of the Holy
Spirit, it helps the man to believe, for, at the first, he is quite
staggered at the idea of free salvation–instantaneous pardon–the
blotting out of sin–all for nothing–pardon for the worst and vilest
freely given and given now! The man says, "Surely, it is too good to be
true." He is filled with amazement, for God's thoughts are as high
above him and as far out of his reach as the heavens are above the
earth! Then the Word comes to him and says, "Come now, and let us
reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall
be as wool." The Word also says to him, "All manner of sin and of
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men." The Word says, "The mercy of the
Lord endures forever." "He delights in mercy." "I have blotted out, as
a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins." I need
not go on repeating the texts with which I hope many of you have long
been familiar. There is a great number of them–precious promises,
gracious invitations and comforting Doctrines–and, as the sinner reads
them, with trembling gaze, the Spirit of God applies them to his soul
and he says, "I can and I do believe in Jesus! Lord, I do gladly accept
Your pardoning mercy. I look unto Him who was nailed to the Cross and I
find in Him the cure for the serpent bites of sin. I do and I will
believe in Jesus and venture my soul upon Him." It is thus that the
Word of God converts the soul–by helping the man to believe in Jesus.
And when it has done that, the man is converted, for when a man looks
to Christ, alone, he has turned his face towards God. Now he has
confidence in God and out of this grows love to God. And now he desires
to please God because God has been so very gracious in providing such a
Savior for him. The man is turned right around–from rebelling against
God he has come to feel intense gratitude to his Redeemer–and he seeks
to live to God's Glory as he would never have thought of doing before!
I ask you who are the people of God, whether you have not felt, since
your conversion, the power of the Word of God in sustaining you in your
converted condition. Do you not often feel, as you hear the Gospel
preached, your heart grow warm within you? Some time ago, when I went
away for a week's holiday, I was more than a little troubled about many
things. I had been, for a long while, preaching to others and I thought
I should like to feel the power of the Word in hearing it myself. I
went to a little chapel in the country and there I heard a lay
brother–I think he must have been an engineer–preach a sermon. There
was nothing very grand in it except that it was full of Christ. And as
I listened to it, my tears began to flow. I wish that, sometimes, some
of you, my Brothers, would preach and let me take my turn at listening.
Well, on that occasion, my soul was melted as I heard the Gospel
proclaimed very simply, and I thought, "After all, I do feel its power!
I do enjoy its sweetness!" And while I listened to it, my heart
overflowed with joy and delight– and I could only sit still and weep
as I heard the simple story of the Cross.
And have not you, Beloved, often found it so, in your experience, as
you have been reading the Word of the Lord? If you ever get dull in the
things of God, it is not the Bible that has made you so! If ever your
heart grows cold, it is not the promises of God that have made you
cold! If ever you cannot sing, and cannot pray, it is not the searching
of the Scriptures that has brought you into that condition. And if you
ever have the misery of hearing a sermon that deadens your spiritual
life, I am quite certain that that sermon is not in harmony with the
mind of God and not according to the teaching of the Word of God. But
when you hear the Gospel fully and faithfully preached, if your heart
is at all capable of feeling its power, it stirs your spirit, it wakes
you up, it produces holy emotions–love to God, love to your fellow
men, heart-searching, deep humiliation, ardent zeal and all the
Christian Graces in full exercise! The Word of the Lord is perfect and
its effect is continually to restore and revive the soul of the
Christian.
This has been to me one of the great evidences of the Truth of
Inspiration. Standing alone at night and looking up to the starry vault
of Heaven, I have asked myself, "Is this Gospel which I have believed,
which I have preached to others for so many years, really true?" Being
absolutely certain that there is a God–for none but a fool can doubt
that–I have said, "Well, this Gospel has made me love God. I know I
love Him with all my heart and soul. And whenever it exerts its
rightful power over me, it makes me try to please Him. Whenever I am
under its influence, it makes me hate all wrong, all meanness and all
falseness. Now, it would be a very strange thing if a lie could lead a
man to act like that, so it must be true." The moral effect of the Word
of God upon one's own nature, from day to day, becomes, in the absence
of all other proof–even if we had no other–the surest and best
evidence to a man that "the Law of the Lord is perfect," for it
converts his soul!
I once heard a charming story about Robert Hall–that mightiest of our
Baptist orators–perhaps one of the greatest and most eloquent
ministers who ever lived. He was subject to fits of terrible depression
of spirits and, one night, he had been snowed up, on his way to a
certain place where he was going to preach. There was such a great
depth of snow that he was obliged to stay for the night at the
farmhouse where he had stopped. But he must preach, he said. He had his
discourse ready and he must deliver it–so they fetched in the servants
and the farm people, and he preached the sermon he had prepared–a very
wonderful one to be delivered in a farmhouse parlor. And after the
others had all gone, he sat down by the fireside with the good man of
the house and he said to him–a plain, country farmer, "Now tell me,
Mr. So-and-So, what do you think is the sure evidence of a man being a
child of God, for I sometimes am afraid I am not one?"
"Oh," said the farmer, "my dear Mr. Hall, how can you talk like that?"
"Well, what do you think is the best evidence that a man is really a
child of God?" "Oh," replied the farmer, "I feel sure that if a man
loves God, it must be all right with him." "Then," said the farmer, as
he told the story, "you should have heard him speak. He said, 'Love
God, Sir? Love God? If I were damned, I would still love Him! He is
such a blessed Being–so holy, so true, so gracious, so kind, so just!'
He went on for an hour praising God, the tears running down his cheeks
as he kept on saying, 'Love Him? I cannot help loving Him! I must love
Him! Whatever He does to me, I must love Him!'"
Well, now, I have felt just like that, sometimes, and then I have said
to myself, "What made me love the Lord thus? Why, this that I have read
about Him in this blessed Book! And this that I believe that He has
done for me, in the Person of His dear Son. And that which brings me
into such a state that I love Him with all my nature must be a right
and a true thing."
The Word of God is perfect, converting the soul. You will find it to be
so the longer you live and the more you test and try it. Whenever you
go astray, it is because you get away from the Word of God. And as long
as you are kept right, it is because you are drinking in the precious
Truths of God concerning Jesus as they are revealed in the Bible. That
is the one perfect Book in the whole world and it will also make
youperfect if you will yield to its gracious influence. Only submit
yourself to it and you will, one day, become perfect and be taken up to
dwell where the perfect God, who wrote the perfect Book, will reveal to
you the perfection of bliss forever and forevermore! God grant to you,
dear Brothers and Sisters, to know the power of this converting Book!
If any of you have backslidden, I pray that this same blessed Book may
bring you back. I had a letter, the other day, from the backwoods of
America that did my heart good. It was from a man who was one of my
first converts at New Park Street Chapel. He had been for years a
member of the Church, but he grew cold and ceased to attend the means
of Grace and, at last, he had to be excommunicated from the Church. He
went out to America and there, far away, he began to examine
himself–and the Spirit of God brought home to his heart the old texts
which he used to hear. He writes that he was brought to his knees and
now he is actively engaged in the service of God, endeavoring to bring
other backsliders and sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ! It is the Word
of God that will restore you, Backslider! I hope it will do so this
very hour and that, soon, you will come to us, and say, "Take me into
the Church again, for the Lord has restored me to fellowship with Him
through His blessed Word."
II. I must be very brief upon the second part of my subject, which is,
THE EXCELLENCE OF THIS WORK OF CONVERSION. That is a boundless theme,
but I must be content just to touch upon a few points of this
excellence.
When the Word of God converts a man, it takes away from him his
despair, but it does not take from him his repentance. He does not now
think that his sin will cast him into Hell, but he does not, therefore,
think that his sin is a trifle. He hates the sin as much as if he
feared that it would destroy him forever. That is a grand kind of
conversion–that the
man, who had been in despair because of his sin, is made to know that
his sin is forgiven and yet he is not led to trifle or tamper with sin.
By faith he sees the wounds of Jesus and he knows how Christ bled to
set him free from the bondage of sin–and that makes him forever hate
sin. Is not that an excellent conversion?
True conversion also gives a man pardon, but does not make him
presumptuous. His past transgression is all forgiven him, but he does
not, therefore, say, "I will go and transgress in the same fashion
again. If pardon is so easily obtained, why should I not sin?" If a
truly converted man ever talked like that, or, if such a thought ever
occurred to him, he must have said at once, "Get you behind me, Satan,
for you savor not the things that are of God." Such talks as that would
be diabolical! "Shall we sin, that Grace may abound? God forbid!"
Though the man is pardoned, he hates sin as the burnt child dreads the
fire. He is afraid lest, by any inadvertent step, he should grieve his
Lord who has blotted out the past.
Further, true conversion gives a man perfect rest, but does not stop
his progress. He knows that the work that has saved him is the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ and that he has not to add even one
thread to the robe of righteousness which has been given to him! Yet he
desires to grow in Grace, to become holier and holier, more like his
Lord and Master. While he perfectly rests in Christ, he spreads the
wings of his soul that he may fly higher and higher towards his Lord
and Master.
Again, true conversion gives a man security, but it does not allow him
to leave off being watchful. He knows that he is safe and that he shall
never perish, neither shall any pluck him out of Christ's hands–but he
is always on the watch against every enemy–against the world, the
flesh, and the devil. One of our hymn-writers puts this double Truth of
God very sweetly–
"We have no fear that You should lose One whom eternal love could
choose But we would ne'er this Grace abuse, Let us not fall. Let us not
fall."
True conversion also gives a man strength and holiness, but it never
lets him boast. He glories, but he glories only in the Lord. He knows
that a great change has been worked in him, but he still sees so much
of his own imperfections that he mourns over them before the Lord. He
has no time for boasting because all his time is taken up with
repenting for his sins, believing in his Savior and seeking to live to
the praise and glory of God!
True conversion, likewise, gives a harmony to all the duties of
Christian life. It makes a man love his God better and love his fellow
men better. I have no opinion of that religion which consists in a
so-called profession of religion which makes a young woman leave her
father and mother and all her family–and go and shut herself up in a
convent, or become a sister of misery of some sort or other! If my
child, when he says that he is converted, leaves off loving his father,
I have very grave doubts about his conversion! I think it must be a
conversion worked by the devil, not by God. But wherever there is true
love to God, there is sure to be love to our fellow men also. The same
God who wrote on one tablet certain commands in reference to Himself,
wrote on the other tablet the commands with regard to our fellow men.
"You shall love the Lord your God," is certainly a Divine Command–and
so is the other, "and your neighbor as yourself." True conversion
balances all duties, emotions, hopes and enjoyments.
True conversion brings a man to live for God. He does everything for
the Glory of God–whether he eats, or drinks, or whatever he does. True
conversion makes a man live before God. He used to try to fancy that
God did not see him. But now he desires to live as in God's sight at
all times and he is glad to be there–glad even that God should see his
sin– that He may blot it out as soon as ever He beholds it. And such a
man now comes to live with God. He has blessed communion with Him, He
talks with Him as a man talks with his friend and, by-and-by, he shall
dwell with God throughout eternity in the palace above! This ought to
convince you what an excellent thing true and real conversion is.
III. I have no need to say much, in the third place, concerning THE
CONSEQUENT EXCELLENCE OF THE WORD OF GOD. The Law of the Lord which
accomplishes such an excellent work, must itself be excellent. I will,
therefore, only make one or two brief remarks and then close.
"The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul," right away from
the beginning of conversion to the end. Whenever we want to have
converts–and I hope that is always–the best thing for us to do is to
"preach the Word." There is nothing better! There can be nothing
more–there must be nothing less! I do not wonder that in some churches
and chapels, there are no conversions–because the sermons that are
preached there are not adapted to that end. They
are like a book I reviewed, the other day, of which I said that there
was, possibly, one person in the world who understood it, and that was
the writer of the book. And that if he did not read it through every
morning, he certainly would not know, the next day, what he meant by
it. In some such fashion as that, there are sermons that are so
involved– perplexing, metaphysical and I know not what besides–that I
do not see how any souls can ever be converted by them! The people need
to have a dictionary in the pew, instead of a Bible! They need never
turn to any Biblical references, but they need someone to explain to
them the meaning of the hard words which the preacher is so fond of
using. Have I not also read sermons which were very highly polished,
and which, I daresay, were preceded by a prayer that God would convert
souls by them? But it was morally impossible that the Lord should do
anything of the sort unless He reversed all His usual methods of
procedure, for there was nothing in the sermon that could have been
made the means of the conversion of a soul.
But, my dear Brother, if you preach the Word of God. If you lift up the
crucified Christ on the pole of the Gospel you need not be very
particular about the style of your speech! You need not say, "I must be
a first-class speaker. I must be a brained rhetorician." I believe that
a great deal of that first-class speaking is simply the means of
veiling the Cross of Christ–and that fine talk about Jesus Christ is
about the last thing that poor sinners need! I sat at a hotel table, in
Men-tone, one evening at dinner, and I wanted to speak to a friend who
was sitting opposite to me, but someone had put a most magnificent
bouquet of flowers in a very splendid vase between us. I was grateful
that those flowers bloomed in the middle of winter, and I was pleased
to see and to smell them, but, by-and-by, I moved them on one side
because they stood in the way of my view of my friend's face. So I
admire fine language–nobody enjoys it more than I do in its proper
place–I even think that I could manage a little of it myself if I were
to try. But whenever it stands between a poor soul and Christ, I would
like to say, "Break that vase into a thousand pieces! Fling those
flowers into the fire! We do not want them there, for we want the poor
sinner to see Christ!"
It is the Word of God that converts the soul–not our pretty figures
about the Word, not our fine talk about it– but the Word itself. So,
dear teachers, and dear Brother-ministers, let us give them the Word!
Yes, that is a very handsome scabbard, but, if you are going to fight,
you must pull it off! There is nothing like the naked blade, the sword
of the Spirit, the Word of God, to cut and hew, and hack and kill, in a
spiritual sense! That same Word will, by God's almighty Grace, make men
alive again, so we must "preach the Word" if we want to have
conversions!
There is another thing that I feel I must say to you. We must not think
that in order to have conversions, it is necessary to leave out any
part of the Gospel. I am afraid that some people think that if you
stand and shout, "Believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe,
believe, you will convert any number of people–but it is not so. You
must tell your hearers whatthey have to believe. You must give them the
Word of God, the Doctrines of the Gospel, for the people who are said
to be converted without being taught from the Scriptures will very soon
need to be "converted" again. There must be shot and shell in our guns
if any real execution is to be done! Blowing off a lot of powder and
making a great noise may sound very well for a time, but it comes to
nothing in the end. Just the same Gospel adapted as to its tone and
method, but the same Gospel–that I preach in this place, I would
preach in a thieves' kitchen, or to the poorest of the poor–andthe
most illiterate of mankind! It is the Gospel and only the Gospel that
will convert the soul.
Now, dear Friends, you who are not converted, my closing word is to
you. If you really wish for strength, life, salva-tion–you will get it
through hearing the Word of God, or through reading this precious Book.
"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Eye-Gate is
not usually the way by which Immanuel rides into the city of Man-soul.
The lifting up of the host, the pretty decorations on the priest's
robe, the crucifix, the stations of the cross, and all that Roman
Catholic mummery will save nobody! That is not God's way of salvation!
Christ comes into Mansoul through Ear-Gate. "Incline your ear, and came
unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live." Whenever the Gospel is
preached, dear Hearer, do really hear it. Remember how our Lord Jesus
Christ said, "He that has ears to hear, let him hear"? Some people do
not hear. I have often been thankful, when I have heard some people
talk, that I have two ears, because, though their conversation goes in
one ear, I thank God I can let it go out the other, and so it does me
no harm! But if you are hearing the Gospel, mind that you do not act
like that. Then let your two ears be two entrances for the Word. Do not
have one for entrance and the other for exit, but, "let the Word of
Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." Let it go in both ears and
remain in your memory until it reaches your heart. I do not believe
that anybody is an earnest and attentive hearer, longing to hear to his
soul's profit, without his so hearing if the Gospel is
preached to him. As I have already told you, the promise is, "Hear, and
your soul shall live." And if you come with a willing mind–willing to
judge, weigh and then to believe the Word–the moment you do believe
it, you are saved! That Word of God which leads you to believe has
already converted you, so, come out and confess what God has done for
you, and then go on your way rejoicing! May God bless everyone of you
without a single exception, for His name's sake! Amen.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–551, 658, 561.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM19.
This Psalm teaches us the excellence of the two Revelations which God
has made to man. The first is the Revelation which He has made in
Nature, and the second is that which He has made in His Inspired Word.
The Psalmist first sings of God as He displays Himself in His works in
Creation.
Verse 1. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows
His handiwork So much is this the case that it has been well said that
"an undevout astronomer is mad." There are such traces of the Infinite
and the Omnipotent in the stars, that the more thoroughly they are
studied, and the science of mathematics is brought to bear upon them,
in order, in some degree, to guess at the incalculable distances and
mighty weights of the starry orbs, that a man must perceive in them
traces of the Divine handiwork if he is only willing to do so! "The
heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His
handiwork."
2. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge.
Every day speaks to the following one, even as the day that went before
it spoke to it, and each day has its own message. Its history is an
echo of the Voice of God and if man had but ears to hear, he would
perceive that the things which happen from day to day proclaim the
Presence and power of God. And even night, with her impressive silence,
reveals the Most High in the solemn hush and stillness. In the great
primeval forests, the winds seem with songs without words to declare
the Presence of the Most High. There is a something there, in the
stillness of the night, as weird-like and so solemn, which has made
Unbelief retreat and caused Faith to lift up her eyes and see more in
the heavens at night than she had seen by day–"Night unto night shows
knowledge."
3, 4. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the
end of the world. Though Nature does not speak, yet its words go to the
ends of the earth and, silently, they sing the praises of God. To the
inner ears of an enlightened man, there is a measure of spiritual
teaching always going on.
4-6. In them has He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a
bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to
run a race. Its rising from one end of Heaven, and its circuit to the
other end: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. All this is
emblematical of the spread of the Gospel–so Paul tells us in the
Epistle to the Romans, "Their souls went into all the earth, and their
words unto the ends of the world." Our Lord Jesus, springing up from
the couch where He slept awhile, has sent His Light even to the ends of
the earth–
"Nor shall His spreading Gospel rest Till through the world His Truth
has run– Till Christ has all the nations blest, That see the light, or
feel the sun." There are brighter days yet to come to us! The strength
of Christ, as He daily runs the Gospel race, has not diminished.
Indeed, He puts it out yet more and more, and the day shall come when,
as the full sunlight makes the perfect day, so shall the full
Revelation of the Gospel to the eyes of all men fill the whole earth
with the praises of God! Now let us read concerning the Book of God. We
have read about His works, now let us read about His words. 7. The law
of the LORD is perfect. "The Doctrine of the Lord (as it may be read)
is perfect." 7. Converting [or, restoring] the soul the testimony of
the LORD is sure. Oh, what a mercy that is! What could our souls do
with ifs and buts and perhapses? But the teachings of God's Word are
certain, positive, Infallible!
7. Making wise the simple. No matter how foolish, how childlike we may
be to begin with, so long as our minds are free from cunning and
craftiness, and so are simple and sincere, this Book will make us truly
wise.
8. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart. You know
they do. Oftentimes has your heart leaped for joy when the statutes of
the Lord have been made known to you.
8-11. The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The
fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD
are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yes, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. Moreover by them is Your servant warned. Do you not find it
so–that oftentimes a text of Scripture comes to your mind just at the
moment when you were about to suffer spiritual shipwreck? When you
would have done something that would have caused you lifelong grief and
vast damage, the Word of God has stepped before you with the flaming
danger signal and you have been stopped in time!
11. And in keeping of them there is great reward. Not forkeeping of
them, for it is not of debt, but, "in keeping of them." It is always
best to do as God bids you. You never forget a duty, or refuse to do it
without suffering loss, and every mistake you make, with regard to your
Lord's will, is a damage to yourselves. The keeping of His commands is
most soul-enriching. The most profitable business that a child of God
can carry on is the business of obedience to his Lord's commands. "In
keeping of them there is great reward."
12. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. The
man who searches his heart most will yet leave some sin undiscovered
and he who says, "I have no sin. I am living without sin," has surely
never seen into his own heart at all! He must be an utter stranger to
the condition it is in. Let this be the prayer of each one of
us–"Cleanse me from secret faults."
13. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins. "Let me never
dare to do what I know to be wrong. Let me not say, 'I will go just so
far and then stop.' Let me not tempt the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, let me
never tempt the devil to tempt me and put myself into a dangerous
position under the notion that God will keep me if I am His child!
'Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins.'"
13. Let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I
shall be innocent from the great transgression. You will never go into
apostasy if you are watchful against presumption. Those men who, like
Judas, commit the great transgression and utterly perish, are men who
knew nothing about watching their own hearts, but who presumed, and
were sinfully bold and self-confident–and so came to an ill end. You
know where John Bunyan says Heedless and Too-Bold went–and there are
many like them.
14. Let the word of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be
acceptable in Your sight; O LORD, my strength, and my Redeemer.