The King’s Weighings

The King's Weighings

(No. 1736)

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 26. 1883,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT EXETER HALL.

"Talk no more so exceedingly proud; let not arrogance come out of your
mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge and by Him actions are
weighed." 1 Samuel 2:3.

IT is very beautiful to see how the saints of old were accustomed to
find comfort in their God. When they came into sore straits; when
troubles multiplied; when helpers failed; when earthly comforts were
removed, they were accustomed to go to the Lord and to the Lord alone.
Thus Hannah thinks of the Lord and comforts herself in His name. By
this means they were made strong and glad–they began to sing instead
of sighing and to work wonders instead of fainting under their burdens
even as here the Inspired poetess sings, "My heart rejoices in the
Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord." To them God was a reality, a
present reality, and they looked to Him as their rock of refuge, their
helper and defense, a very present help in time of trouble.

Can we not, at the outset, learn a valuable lesson from their example?
Let us do as they did–let us lean upon our God and stay ourselves upon
Him when heart and flesh are failing. Does not the Apostle say,
"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice"? There is always
cause for thankfulness that the Lord lives and that He is what He is,
for "there is no rock like our God" and He is still ready to lay bare
the arm of His strength on the behalf of them that serve Him. Oh,
Believer, the fountain of your joy is never dried up! If, like Jonah,
your gourds are withered, yet your God is living! If, like Job, your
goods have been plundered, yet the highest good is still your own! Are
the rivers dry? Yet is this ocean full! Are the stars hidden? Yet the
heavenly sun shines on in his eternal brightness! You have a possession
that is unbinding, a promise that is unfailing, a protector who is
unchanging!

Though you dwell in a faithless world, you also dwell in a faithful
God! Your trials are present and so is your Helper, who has said, "I
will never leave you, nor forsake you." As the bird to the woods, and
the cony to the rocks, so let your soul flee away unto the Lord, your
Refuge. "Straightforward makes the best runner"–do not beat the bush
and go about to friends and cry, "Have pity upon me! Have pity upon
me!" but, "turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope." As for the
son of man whose breath is in his nostrils, in which is he to be
accounted? Men are vanity in the hour of distress! Miserable comforters
are they all. "Cursed is the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh
his arm." The heath in the desert which sees neither dew nor rain is
the fit image of this spiritual idolater.

"Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is,
for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out
her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes." Oh, learn
to live upon the Lord alone! Hannah, who was once a woman of a
sorrowful spirit, had so learned to delight herself in God that she
could dwell upon the different points of the Divine Character with
joyful adoration. Like others of God's instructed people, she was very
happy in the thought of God's holiness. Notice the second verse–"There
is none holy as the Lord." I have heard many persons praise the Lord
for His goodness, but it is a far higher and surer mark of Grace when a
man can praise the Lord for His holiness. Is it not noteworthy that in
Heaven, the abode of happiness, which happiness springs mainly out of
the Presence of their God, the adoration of the blessed chiefly tends
to this point–the reverent celebration of His holiness?

We read of the seraphim, "And one cried unto another, and said, Holy,
holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of His
glory." We read, again, in Revelation, concerning the living creatures,
"They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." Are you conscious that
you are unholy? Then, O Believer, rejoice that God is holy! Are those
around you unholy? Is your soul among lions? Do you dwell among those
that are set on the fires of Hell? Yet say, as the Lord Jesus did, "You
are holy, O You that inhabits the praises of Israel." Does it seem as
if unholiness covered all things, breaking forth like a flood and
deluging the earth with

its black and filthy waters? Yet the Lord sits upon the Throne of His
holiness and cuts asunder the cords of the wicked! Let this be our song
in the night–"There is none as holy as the Lord."

Hannah also tuned her heart to celebrate the power of Jehovah, saying,
"Neither is there any rock like our God." One of the leading ideas in
the metaphor of a rock is strength, abiding endurance, unmoving
stability, unconquerable power. Let us also rejoice in the Lord God
Almighty and delight in the mighty God of Jacob, the Lord strong and
mighty, the Lord mighty in battle! Even His finger brought plagues upon
the Egyptians. And as for His hand, it utterly overthrew them! The Lord
God Omnipotent is the joy of His people, for the Lord is our strength
and song. He also has become our salvation. He shall surely show
Himself strong on the behalf of all them that put their trust in Him.
Fly, then, O timid Soul, to the cover of Jehovah's wings! Abide under
the shadow of the Almighty and His Divine power shall cause you to lie
down in safety.

Oh, for a well-tuned harp to celebrate these two attributes so terrible
to the ungodly, so full of exultation to those who are saved by Grace!
Hannah touched, in her rapturous hymn, upon the wisdom of the Lord, and
sang thus, "For the Lord is the God of knowledge," or of, "knowledges,"
for every kind of knowledge is with Him. We are not among those who
impiously ask, "How does God know?" Or, "Is there knowledge in the Most
High?" We are assured that nothing past, present, or future is hidden
from the eternal eyes! In His knowledge there is no error and to it
there is no limit. The Lord knows them that are His and He knows the
way that they take. He knows how to deliver His people and when to
bring them out of the furnace. Reverently do we worship the Lord and
say, "O Lord, You have searched me, and known me. You know my sitting
down and my rising up; You understand my thoughts afar off. You compass
my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For
there is not a word on my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, You know it
altogether. You have beset me behind and before, and laid Your hand
upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot
attain unto it!"

Let us rejoice that our God is not unconscious, or ignorant. And when
our own ignorance grieves us, let us rejoice that the Lord will teach
us and what we do not know, now, we shall know hereafter. Hannah also
derived comfort from the fact that God is strictly just, for she says
with delight, "By Him actions are weighed." It is to this that I would
turn your attention. May the Holy Spirit direct our meditations.
Justice is a very terrible attribute to the unforgiven, to those who
are not justified by the righteousness of Christ–and even on God's own
people it turns a heart-searching glance at times.

I. The staple of our discourse will consist of a consideration of THE
PROCESS OF DIVINE JUDGMENT, which is continually going on–"The Lord is
a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed." The figure of
weighing suggests a thorough testing and an accurate estimating of the
matters under consideration. Solomon says, "All the ways of a man are
pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits." God sees men's
actions, notes them, thinks upon them and deliberately forms an
estimate of them. "For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord
and He ponders all his goings."

Our first note here shall stand thus–this is not as man dreams. Many
imagine that God takes no note of what is done among the sons of men.
Indeed, their god does not appear to be a personal, intelligent
existence at all. Or, if intelligent, they boast that he is too great
to mark the trivial actions of men–that is to say–in order to make
their god great, they would make him blind! Their idea of his greatness
would seem to be loftiness, impassiveness and a measure of ignorance.
Our notion of greatness is the reverse–we believe in the great God to
whom all things are known and by whom the least matters are observed!
Our God is neither unobservant nor indifferent. "He humbles Himself to
behold the things that are in Heaven and in the earth!" He is
constantly observant of all that is done in Heaven above, in the earth
beneath and in all deep places.

Each movement of the tiniest worm upon the sea bottom is marked by Him,
together with the migration of fishes, the flight of birds and the
falling of the sear leaves. There are no forces so minute as to be
beneath His notice, no movements so rapid as to escape His observation.
The Psalmist says, "Yes, the darkness hides not from You; but the night
shivers as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to You."
The atheist cries, "No god" and he who would deny universal knowledge
to God is twin brother to him! As good have no god at all as a god who
does not know. "Jehovah is the God of knowledge and by Him actions are
weighed." This text plainly rebukes those who say God is too merciful
to take much account of what we do–poor creatures that we are–shot
out of the back of a tumbrel into the midst of a

society all in chaos which tempts us to indulge the passions of our
nature! They dream that God will surely wink at such inconsiderable
things as the actions of men! But surely it is not so, since it is
written, "The Lord is the God of knowledge and by Him actions are
weighed."

The Lord our God is merciful, but this mercy is consistent with the
severest justice–He pardons sin, but He never suffers it to go
unpunished! Strange as the statement may seem, the Lord never ceases to
be the righteous Judge, even when He is passing by transgression. The
great and glorious God does not forgive sin because He does not know of
it, or does not remember how sinful it is–but this is the wonder of
His mercy–He blots out the sins of His people with the fullest
knowledge of their foulness! After having weighed sin, noted its
motive, marked its meaning and considered its consequences, the Lord
nevertheless forgives it for Jesus' sake. Do not fall into any error on
this point, or imagine that the Lord thinks little of human guilt and,
therefore, readily pardons it. No! "The Lord is the God of knowledge
and by Him actions are weighed."

Consider, next, that this form of procedure is not as man judges. By
men, actions are judged flippantly, but, "by God actions are weighed."
By men, actions are more frequently counted. Such a man has done this,
and that, and that, and that, and that–what a wonderful man he is!
Yes, but by God, human deeds are not so much measured in the bushel as
weighed in the scale. A man's life may be made up of countless bubbles,
each one brilliant as the rainbow–but what a collapse there will be
when the Lord comes with the balances to weigh the deeds done in the
body! By men, actions are frequently measured as to apparent bulk, and
persons placed in certain positions bulk very largely upon the public
mind. Their doings fill the newspapers though they are empty enough in
themselves. You scarcely get a day's issue of a journal but what
something is reported of a man of mark–not that what he has done is by
any means surprisingly good, or wise, or benevolent, but it is done by
him and, therefore, it must be emblazoned. Men and women must have
something to talk about and certain persons are selected for
observation and, therefore, to their lives an exaggerated importance is
attached.

Let no such person delude himself! At the bar of Divine Justice, the
acts of princes and peasants, of lords and laborers, shall have an
equal trial and shall be tested in the same scales! Apparent greatness
shrivels before the Divine balance! Measure a cloud by its volume and
it is vast. But condense it and how small is the weight of the water!
When our lives shall be freed from vapor and judged by their solid
contents, how small will some of us appear! Constantly men measure
actions by their brilliance. Oh, it was a splendid action! It was so
dashing, so unlooked for, so extraordinary! Was it right and pure and
holy? If not, the light of genius cannot save it from condemnation! He
who gave £10,000 to a fund did a brilliant act of charity. And yet the
legacy may not have weighed so much as the two mites that made a
farthing which were all the poor widow's living.

He who silently adores the Lord may have given Him a greater weight of
praise than he whose charming voice led the great congregation. The
godly life of a poor bedridden woman may have been more highly esteemed
by the Lord than the flaming eloquence of the great preacher. Ah me!
How easily we are deceived by appearances! But not so the Lord, for,
"By Him actions are weighed." Men are exceedingly apt to measure
actions by their consequences. How wrong it is to measure actions by
results, rather than by their own intrinsic character A man upon the
railway neglected to turn a switch, but, by the care of another, no
accident occurred. Is he to be excused? Another man was equally
negligent, certainly not more so, but in his case the natural result
followed–there was a collision and many lives were lost. This last man
was blamed most deservedly, but yet the former offender was equally
guilty!

If we do wrong and no harm comes of it, we are not thereby justified.
Yes, if we did evil and good came of it, the evil would be just as
evil! It is not the result of the action but the action itself which
God weighs! He who swindles and prospers is just as vile as he whose
theft lodged him in prison. He who acts uprightly and becomes a loser
thereby, is just as honored before God as if his honesty had led on to
wealth. If we seek to do good and fail in our endeavor, we shall be
accepted for the attempt and not condemned for the failure! You have
all admired Grace Darling because of her gallant act in rescuing
mariners from a wreck–but suppose she had not saved a single
sailor–and had herself been drowned? Would she not have been equally a
heroine? Of course she would! Her success had nothing to do with the
excellence of her actions–the moral weight of her conduct lay in the
self-sacrificing courage which led her on such a howling, murky night
to risk her life upon the cruel waters for her unknown follow men! Had
she been swallowed up by the remorseless

deep, her actions would have weighed as much before the Throne of God
as when she landed the saved ones at the lighthouse.

If a man gives his life to convert the heathen and he does not succeed,
he shall have as much reward from God as he who turns a nation to the
faith. Two ministers have labored in the same field–the first preached
the Gospel faithfully, but saw scant results. The second, following
him, found the rough work done and reaped full sheaves from the field.
The thoughtless are apt to think the second man greatly superior to the
first, but it is not so–one sows and another reaps. When God comes to
weigh the actions of men, He may give greater praise to the sower than
to the reaper. We have odd ways of measuring up our fellow men–odd, I
mean, as compared with our self-measurement. Usually we have two sets
of weights–one for ourselves and a second for our friends. When we
place ourselves in the scale, we weigh pretty heavily– we are full
weight, and a little bit over! It is very different with our fellow
men–they may really weigh more than we do, but we adjust the machine
in such a way that it is greatly to their disadvantage. I am not an
admirer of the machine called a "steel yard," for it is singularly easy
to fix it according to your wishes and certainly our estimates of
others are as easily affected by prejudice. But by God, "actions are
weighed" truly, honestly, righteously–and the result is very different
from the judgment of men.

I would now have you note that this weighing is a very searching
business. "By Him actions are weighed." A man eaters a goldsmith's shop
and says, "Here is old gold to sell. See, I have quite a lot of it."
"Yes," says the goldsmith, "let me weigh it." "Weigh it? Why, look at
the quantity! It fills this basket!" What is the goldsmith doing?
Looking for his weights and certain acids by which he means to test the
metal. When he has used his acids, he puts the trinkets into the scale.
"You are not going to buy by weight?" "I never buy in any other way,"
says the goldsmith. "But there is such a quantity." "That may be, but I
buy by weight." It is always so with God in all our actions–He
estimates their real weight. We may hammer out our little gold and make
a great show of it, but the Lord is not mocked or deceived. Every
dealing between us and God will have to be by a just balance and
standard weight.

And in what way will He weigh it? The weights are somewhat of this
sort. The standard is His just and holy Law and all which falls short
of that is sin. Any lack of conformity to the Law of God is sin and by
so much our acts are found wanting. Remember this, you who would
justify yourselves! The Lord also enquires how much of sincerity is
found in the action. You acted in such a manner and therein you were
right–but did you do this in pretense, or from force, or in sincerity
and in truth? In worship did you heartily adore? In charity did you
give cheerfully? Did your heart go with your voice and hand? You prayed
so long but did your heart truly pray? You attended so many religious
services, but did you personally attend them, or did you send your
chrysalis and leave the living thing at home? Yes, you preached the
Truth of God–but did you believe it in your own soul? You gave your
gold–was it with the motive of doing good, or that your name might be
on a list, or because it would not look well for your name to be left
out? That which is not done sincerely has no weight in it! It is
weighed in the balances and found wanting.

The Lord also weighs actions according to their motives. He asks not
only what you did, but why you did it? Was self the motive force? The
preacher weighs his sermon, this morning, and asks his conscience
whether he seeks only the glory of God. Will not you, my Brothers and
Sisters, weigh what you are doing in this world? To what end are you
living? What wind is filling your sails? You have been kept from
outward transgressions. Your life has been moral and pure in the sight
of men–but have you lived for God's glory? Have you sought to obey God
and please Him? Have you been moved by love to God and man? Have you
been in heart, God's servant? If not, if another motive has ruled you,
you are his servant whom you have obeyed.

The motive which lies at the fountainhead colors all the streams of
action and God, who judges us, not according to what is done
externally, but according to what is meant internally, will make short
work of a great multitude of human virtues! When you cannot find a
fault with a day's life as to what you have outwardly done, it may yet
be faulty all through because of the reason which actuated you. When
you sum up your actions at night, Pride may lean over your shoulder and
whisper, "You have done well today!" At such a time it may be well for
Conscience to awaken itself and ask, "But was this done purely for the
Lord's glory and in dependence upon His Grace?" An ill motive will
poison all!

Another mode ofjudging is by our spirit and temper. If we live proudly,
our actions lose weight. If we act from envy and will, we fall short.
If we are flippant, inconsiderate, prayerless, we spoil all. The odor
of actions is a great thing–if they are not steeped in Grace they miss
acceptance. An inch of Grace has more weight in it than a mile of
nature! To be in

the fear of the Lord is solid living–all else is froth. Sometimes
actions may be weighed by the circumstances which surround them. Men
are not to be considered good if their surroundings forbid their being
what they would like to be. "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is."
Yonder man has been strictly truthful. Yes, but he could not have made
a sixpence by being false, or it may be he would have lied. Another man
is placed where the whole custom of his trade is trickery, but he takes
a firm stand and, at great risk, refuses to swerve from strict
integrity. Now, this second man will bear weighing, but the first will
not.

Are not some children so carefully brought up from their childhood,
happily for them, that their character is never discovered until they
get out into life and are tempted? And then it is seen that the
truthful boy was a little hypocrite and the thoughtful girl was as
frivolous as any of the giddy throng. So you see that the fruit of
tender culture may not always be what it should be or what it seems to
be. It is wonderful how amiable we all are until we are irritated! What
a deal of patience we have when we have no sickness to bear! I had
enough and to spare till my pains multiplied–and then my stock ran
very low. I am afraid that most of us have a great quantity of
fictitious goodness which arises out of our favorable circumstances and
has no other foundation. Now God judges with this before Him, for He
places some men into peculiar difficulties and others in positions of
special advantage. And this He takes into account in the weighing.

Some men cannot run in the crooked road because they are lame and
inactive–let them not lay a flattering unction to their souls and
dream that they excel in goodness! Many a man thinks himself a Joseph,
but the only reason is that no Potiphar's wife has tried him! Many a
man has never been tempted because no wedge of gold or goodly
Babylonian garment has come in his way. Multitudes of men are honest
because they never had a chance of making a grand haul by setting up a
bubble company–which is the modern mode of thieving. The lion in the
Zoological Gardens is very good because he is behind iron bars–and
many a man's goodness owes more to the iron bars of his position than
to his own heart and motive.

Another weight to put in the scale is this–Was there any godliness
about your life? I may be speaking to men in Exeter Hall whose lives
are such that they think themselves examples, but their lives are
spoiled from end to end by a grievous flaw. This point must be enquired
into. You are to be weighed by God and this will be the main
matter–Has God been recognized in your life? O Sirs, I fear that many
of you are fitly described by David–"God is not in all their
thoughts." You have lived from childhood to manhood, and from manhood
to old age, but God has not been considered in any of your actions! You
have had great respect to society and to the law of the land, but if
there has been no God, you would not have acted otherwise than you have
done–God has not been an active agent in the influences which have
moved you conduct! Your life has wandered from its true end which has
not God for its leading star. If you have not lived for your God, for
whom have you lived? You are His creature–have you never served your
Creator? You say that Christ is your Redeemer but how has He redeemed
you if you live unto yourself–and not as one that is bought with a
price? This is the enquiry to test us all! Is God the main objective of
our living? Do we throw ourselves with intensity into the pursuit of
that which will glorify His blessed name? If not, the scales of the
sanctuary will soon discover that we are sadly wanting!

Once more–have we lived by faith? Without faith it is impossible to
please God! And if there is no faith in our life, then we are worth
nothing! Hear me, O Man, and answer these questions! Have you believed
in God and done anything because of believing in Him? Have you trusted
in Jesus Christ as your Savior and has this faith cleansed your way and
purged your thoughts? Have you believed the promises of God and His
Covenant? Has your life been ordered according to this belief? If not,
you are weighed and rejected! Without faith in Him whom God has sent,
you cannot be acceptable with God! Thus, you see, in different ways,
God searches deeply into the life of man, and woe to that man who
cannot bear the weighing–the greater his pretensions the more terrible
his dismay when the scales refuse him.

This weighing of our lives must be exceedingly accurate because it is
done personally by God, Himself. Notice my text–"The Lord is the God
of knowledge and by Him actions are weighed." One might not mind the
text if it said actions are weighed by Gabriel, for he is fallible–an
angel might make mistakes and he might wink and be partial. But when it
is written that by God, Himself, actions are weighed, O Man, there is
no possibility of bribing this great Tester of your life–He will judge
righteous judgment! He is the God of knowledge and, therefore, He knows
not only your outward deeds, but your secret designs and desires.

Moreover, He knows the standard of right–with Him are the weights and
the scales. Therefore knowing what our actions are and what they ought
to be, He readily enough discovers our discrepancies and mistakes–and
there will be no possibility of our escaping His Infallible decision. I
am amazed we are so ready to deceive ourselves as we are. I marvel that
so many count it worth their while to deceive their fellow Christians
and their ministers! It is a poor ambition to live a life of deceit. Be
what you seem to be and seem to be what you are! But oh, if we could
cheat ourselves throughout life, and deceive all those who watch us,
yet we could never once have deceived God, "for by Him actions are
weighed" so accurately that a mistake is never made!

Ah me! I fear that many professors live a life of utter lies,
comforting themselves with them. I once heard a story, (I do not know
if it is true), of an old banker who said to his son to whom he
bequeathed the business, "This is the key of our large iron safe–take
great care of it. The bank depends upon that safe. Let the people see
that you have such a safe, but never open it unless the bank should be
in the utmost difficulty." The bank went on all right as long as the
iron safe was fast closed, but, at last, there came a run upon it. In
his greatest extremity the young gentleman opened it–and he found
nothing at all in it! That was the stock of the bank–poverty carefully
concealed; imaginary wealth winning con-fidence–and living on the
results.

Are there not many persons who, all their lives, are doing a spiritual
banking business and deriving a considerable income of reputation from
that which will turn out to be nothing? Beware of driving a trade for
eternity upon fictitious capital, for failure will be the sure result!
Time tries most things, but eternity tries all. Who among us would care
to trade without capital? Who would go to sea in a rotten boat painted
to look seaworthy? How wise it is to invite Divine inspection that we
may not be deceived! What a dreadful thing it is that so many
professing Christian people are never willing to open the iron safe!
They do not want to know whether all is right between God and
themselves–they prefer to go on saying, "Peace, peace." They love the
lullaby of, "It is well; it is well." Preach sweetly-comforting sermons
and they will be well content–and truly they might wisely be content
if it were not written, "By Him actions are weighed." God will not be
charmed by our self-approving songs–He will weigh us and our
actions–and reveal us before the sun.

Again, I want you to notice that this weighing is carried on at this
present–"By Him actions are weighed." Not only shall they be weighed
at the Last Great Day, but every minute they are being weighed. How
stupid is a hypocrite if he believes that he has never once deceived
God! He knelt in prayer, but he did not pray. God knew that he did not
and perceived the insult. At worship he sang with the assembly, but his
heart was never in communion with God, and the Lord knew it. He never
established a good reputation within Heaven. His conduct was understood
at all times and he was always branded as false-hearted. A man has
joined the Christian Church–he has risen in esteem till he has become
an officer among his brethren–yet all the while he was never
converted, Grace was never in his soul. Does he think that God is taken
in by him? Let him not be deceived! The Lord has gone on weighing all
his acts as they have happened–and He has put them all aside as of
short weight.

As at the bank all moneys are put through a process by which the light
coins are detected, so our life always passes over the great weighing
machine of the Lord's Justice and He separates that which is short in
weight from that which is precious, doing this at the moment as
Infallibly as at Judgment Day! "By Him actions are weighed." Please
remember, dear Hearers, that this is true of all of us–not only of
open sinners, but of those who are considered saints. You are getting
old I see, my Friend, but not too old to have your actions weighed! Old
age is venerable, it cannot screen you from inspection. "Oh," said an
old man the other day, "you can trust me! I am past temptation." Gray
hairs should not talk such nonsense! You can still be tempted and your
actions are still weighed as well as those of that silly boy whom you
blame for his rashness. And you, good Sir, who have been a professor of
religion for 40 years and who, when you rise up to pray, stand like a
cedar in the garden of God–your actions are still examined! And if you
are rotten at heart, it is no matter how green you seem to be with the
verdure of apparent Grace–you will, in due time, be detected and
destroyed!

The preacher, here, is being daily weighed and he knows it! And so are
all the members of this Church! And however excellent our outward lives
may be, we must still pass through the testing house. Not one of us
shall escape from the upright judgment of the Most High. And one day,
to conclude this point, the King's weighings will be published–set up
where men and angels shall read them! Oh, can you bear it that the
whole of the secrets of your soul should be made public in the
marketplace of the universe? That the actions which seemed so admirable
should have their secret motives searched out and should be seen to be
leprous with selfishness? Can you endure to have your secret sins laid
bare? Your

private designs, deep intentions and evil purposes set out in the open
daylight? Can you bear to have your envying, jealousies, plots, lies,
all held up to public gaze? With what shame will the wicked cover their
faces when all their hidden things shall be read out and published
through the streets of the universe! Then shall they be ashamed and
confounded, while everlasting contempt shall be poured upon them.

Most of all will men be ashamed who came into the Church of God and
wore Christ's livery, but all the while were servants of Satan! And of
these, most of all the ministers who climbed into pulpits, professing
to preach Christ, and all the while declared their own vain thoughts
instead of the Gospel of salvation! How will men gaze on the unmasked!
When the visors are knocked off and all their masquerade shall be over,
how will men despise the hypocrites! They looked like kings, but,
behold, the puppets were nothing but beggars! They seemed pure and
holy, but a ray from the sun of the Truth of God has revealed their
ulcered inner life and all holy intelligences shrink from them! Oh,
what discoveries there will be in that day when the record of the
King's weighings shall be read of men and angels!

II. It is now time for me to observe THE HUMBLING NATURE OF THIS
CONSIDERATION. "Talk no more so exceedingly proud; let not arrogance
come out of your mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge and by Him
actions are weighed." The fact of Divine Judgment on ourselves should
forever prevent our insulting others. When you see anyone found out in
wrong-doing, do not act as if you were his executioner. When you pass
by a person who has lost his or her character, do not straighten your
back and disdainfully regard him as the mire of the streets. Do not act
the part of the very superior person. "By Him actions are weighed."

Your actions are none too good. Perhaps there is not so much difference
between you and the person whom you condemn, if all were known. You and
the sinful one are not the least alike as to your outside wrappings and
labeling, for you are labeled, "saint," and she is labeled, "a fallen
woman." But if all were known, and all is known by God–the man without
fault–who would dare to cast the first stone is not sitting in your
seat! Ah, how the fact that we are, ourselves, to be judged, should
make us speak with bated breath when we are tempted to judge others!
Let us not judge one another any more, for the Judge is at the door
and, "by Him actions are weighed." Let us leave judging to the Judge!
Let everyone look to himself and let no man despise his neighbor.

Next, I think we must give up all idea of speaking proudly in the
Presence of God. Our good works–what are they when weighed? They look
very pretty, indeed, as we set them out in array–but when God puts
them into the scales, they look very different. We thought we weighed
something, but in the scales they seem turned into feathers! Our good
works are high up in the air and we are disappointed to see that the
Law of God is not lifted up by all that we have done. I remember a good
man who said, when he was dying, that he once began to separate his
good works from his bad works. But he found them so much like one
another, in the light of eternity, that he ceased separating them and
threw them all away, determined to float to Heaven on the Cross of
Christ.

This was wisely done, for our best things are so stained with sin and
the whole of a holy life is worth so little in the way of merit, that
the shortcut of the whole matter is just to cry, "God be merciful to me
a sinner," and rest ourselves on Jesus Christ alone. Dear Friend, if
ever you have had the weighing process carried on in your own heart, I
know you have given up all hope of being saved by your own merit or
strength! If conscience has been awakened and if the Law of God has
fulfilled its office upon you, you have given up all idea of appearing
before God in your own righteousness! The man who boasts that he is
perfect in the flesh either fails to weigh himself at all, or else he
is in great need of a visit from the inspector, for his weights and
scales are sadly out of repair.

It is very easy to appear perfect if you have an imperfect standard to
measure by–but when the Lord Himself weighs us by His Law, we cry out,
"Who can understand his errors?" We have nothing with which to glory
before God! The perfect Character of our Lord Jesus Christ shuts our
mouths as to all self-congratulation and compels us to fall at His feet
in deep humiliation! May the Lord carry on the weighing process in your
consciences till you glory only in the Lord and every false,
pretentious thing is banished forever!

III. In closing, let us briefly consider THE POSITION IN WHICH ALL THIS
LEAVES US. If God weighs our actions and we are, thereby, found
wanting, and can only cry, "Guilty" in His sight, what then? Then we
are in God's hands! That is where I wish every one of my Hearers felt
himself to be. But who is the Lord? First, according to Hannah, He is a
God of salvation! "My spirit has rejoiced in Your salvation." Salvation
for sinners, salvation for the guilty, salvation for those that are
weighed in the balance and found wanting! Free pardon, full remission,
gracious acceptance even

for the worst and vilest–this is the Gospel of the blessed God! How
sweet to be in the hands of a God who is able to save–and delights to
save–and makes it His glory to save!

Next, according to Hannah's song, He is the God who delights in
reversing the order of things. He throws down those who are high and
sets up those that are down. "He has filled the hungry with good
things; and the rich He has sent away empty." Is not that a hint to you
to be empty, to be hungry, to be poor and needy? If God is going to
pick men from the dunghill and set them among princes, even the princes
of His people, then the surest road to princely preferment is
consciously to take your place on the dunghill! If the shields of the
mighty are broken, but the weak are girded with strength, then it is
wise to be weak before the Lord! Down, pride! Down! Down! Humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God and He shall exalt you in due
time!

Once more, this God is one who delights to carry on strange processes
in the hearts of His people. "The Lord kills, and makes alive: He
brings down to the grave, and brings up. The Lord makes poor, and makes
rich; He brings low, and lifts up." This is God's way of making men
live–He kills them! This is God's way of giving them resurrection–He
brings them to the grave! This is God's way of making men rich–He
first makes them poor! This is God's way of lifting men up–they are
first brought down! Are you brought down this morning? Be of good
courage–this is the royal road to comfort in Christ Jesus! Is the Holy
Spirit making you conscious of sin? He does so that you may be
conscious of pardon! Do you feel condemned? The Lord condemns you, now,
that you may not be condemned with the world! Are you evil, foul and
vile in your own sight? It is that you may wash and be whiter than snow
through the Lord Jesus!

Oh how I rejoice to meet with a real sinner! Sham sinners are a
vexation, but those who are really and truly so are precious in our
sight! We hear of the bona fide traveler–give me the bona fide
sinner–

"A sinner is a sacred thing The Holy Spirit has made him so." He who is
made to feel that he is truly lost is well-near saved! Christ died for
such. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." O you who are really
a sinner, catch at that word! God grant you may find salvation now, for
Jesus' sake. Amen.