The Broad Wall

The Broad Wall

(No. 3281)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1911.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"The broad wall." Nehemiah 3:8.

IT seems that around Jerusalem of old, in the time of her splendor,
there was a broad wall which was her defense and her glory. Jerusalem
is a type of the Church of God. It is always well when we can see
clearly, distinctly and plainly that around the Church to which we
belong there runs a broad wall.

This idea of a broad wall around the Church suggests three things,
separation, security and enjoyment. Let us examine each of these in its
turn.

I. First, the SEPARATION of the people of God from the world is like
that broad wall surrounding the holy city of Jerusalem.

When a man becomes a Christian, he is still in the world, but he is no
longer to be of it. He was an heir of wrath, but he has now become a
child of Grace. Being of a distinct nature, he is required to separate
himself from the rest of mankind, as the Lord Jesus Christ did, who was
"holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." The Lord's
Church was separated in His eternal purpose. It was separated in His
Covenant and decree. It was separated in the Atonement, for even there
we find that our Lord is called "the Savior of all men, specially of
those that believe." An actual separation is made by Divine Grace, is
carried on in the work of sanctification and will be completed in that
day when the heavens shall be on fire and the saints shall be caught up
together with the Lord in the air–and in that last tremendous day He
shall divide the nations as a shepherd divides the sheep from the
goats! And then there shall be a great gulf fixed, across which the
ungodly cannot go to the righteous, neither shall the righteous
approach the wicked.

Practically, my business is to say to those of you who profess to be
the Lord's people, take care that you maintain a broad wall of
separation between yourselves and the world. I do not say that you are
to adopt any peculiarity of dress, or to take up some singular style of
speech. Such affectation genders, sooner or later, hypocrisy. A man may
be as thoroughly worldly in one coat as in another–he may be quite as
vain and conceited with one style of speech as with another. No, he may
be even more of the world when he pretends to be separate than if he
had left the pretense of separation alone. The separation which we
plead for is moral and spiritual. Its foundation is laid deep in the
heart and its substantial reality is very palpable in the life.

Every Christian, it seems to me, should be more scrupulous than other
men in his dealings. He must never swerve from the path of integrity.
He should never say, "It is the custom–it is perfectly understood in
the trade." Let the Christian remember that custom cannot sanction
wrong and that its being "understood" is no apology for
misrepresentation! A lie "understood" is not, therefore, true. While
the Golden Rule is more admired than practiced by ordinary men, the
Christian should always do unto others as he would that they should do
unto him. He should be one whose word is his bond and who, having once
pledged his word, swears to his own hurt, but changes not. There ought
to be an essential difference between the Christian and the best
moralist, by reason of the higher standard which the Gospel inculcates
and the Savior has exemplified. Certainly the highest point to which
the best unconverted man can go might well be looked upon as a level
below which the converted man will never venture to descend!

Moreover, the Christian should especially be distinguished by his
pleasures, for it is here, usually, that the man comes out in his true
colors. We are not quite ourselves, perhaps, in our daily toil, where
our pursuits are rather dictated by necessity than by choice. We are
not alone–the society we are thrown into imposes restraints upon us.
We have to put the bit and the bridle upon ourselves. The true man does
not then show himself–but when the day's work is done, then

the "birds of a feather flock together." It is with the multitude of
traders and commercial men as it was with those saints of old, of whom,
when they were liberated from prison, it was said, "Being let go, they
went unto their own company." So will your pleasures and pastimes give
evidence of what your heart is and where it is. If you can find
pleasure in sin, then in sin you choose to live and, unless Grace
prevents, in sin you will not fail to perish! But if your pleasures are
of a nobler kind and your companions of a more devout character. If you
seek spiritual enjoyments. If you find your happiest moments in
worship, in communion, in silent prayer, or in the public assembling of
yourselves with the people of God, then your higher instincts become
proof of your purer character and you will be distinguished in your
pleasures by a broad wall which effectually separates you from the
world!

Such separation should be carried, I think, into everything which
affects the Christian. "What have they seen in your house?" was the
question Isaiah asked of Hezekiah. When a stranger comes into our
house, it should be so ordered that he can clearly perceive that the
Lord is there! A man ought scarcely to tarry a night beneath our roof
without gathering that we have a respect unto Him who is invisible and
that we desire to live and move in the light of God's Countenance. I
have already said that I would not have you cultivate singularities for
singularity's sake, yet as the most of men are satisfied if they do as
other people do, you must never be satisfied until you do more and
better than other people, having found out a mode and course of life as
far transcending the ordinary worldling's life as the path of the eagle
in the air is above that of the mole which burrows under the soil!

This broad wall between the godly and the ungodly should be most
conspicuous in the spirit of our mind. The ungodly man has only this
world to live for–do not wonder if he lives very earnestly for it. He
has no other treasure–why should he not get as much as he can of this?
But you, Christian, profess to have immortal life, therefore your
treasure is not to be amassed in this brief span of existence. Your
treasure is laid up in Heaven and available for eternity. Your best
hopes overleap the narrow bounds of time and fly beyond the grave–your
spirit must not, therefore, be earthbound and groveling, but soaring
and heavenly! There should always be about you the air of one who has
his shoes on his feet, his loins girded and his staff in his hand–the
air of a pilgrim ready to be off and away to a better land! You are not
to live here as if this were your home. You are not to talk of this
world as though it were to last forever. You are not to hoard it and
treasure it up as though you had set your heart upon it–but you are to
be on the wing as though you had not a nest here and never could
have–but expected to find your resting place among the cedars of God,
in the hilltops of Glory!

Depend upon it, the more unworldly a Christian is, the better it is for
him. I think I could mention several reasons why this wall should be
very broad. If you are sincere in your profession, there is a very
broad distinction between you and unconverted people. Nobody can tell
how far life is removed from death. Can you measure the difference?
They are as opposite as the poles. Now, according to your profession,
you are a living child of God, you have received a new life, whereas
the children of this world are dead in trespasses and sins. How
palpable the difference between light and darkness! Yet you profess to
have been "sometimes darkness," but now you are made "light in the
Lord." There is, therefore, a great distinction between you and the
world if you are what you profess to be! You say, when you put on the
name of Christ, that you are going to the Celestial City, to the New
Jerusalem–but the world turns its back upon the heavenly country and
goes downward to that other city of which you know that destruction is
its doom–your path is different from theirs. If you are what you say
you are, the road you take must be diametrically opposite to that of
the ungodly man. You know the difference between their ends. The end of
the righteous shall be everlasting Glory, but the end of the wicked is
destruction. Unless, then, you are a hypocrite, there is such a
distinction between you and others as only God, Himself, could make–a
distinction which originates here and is to be perpetuated throughout
eternity! When the social diversities occasioned by rank and
dependency, riches and poverty, ignorance and learning, shall all have
passed away, the distinctions between the children of God and the
children of men, between saints and scoffers, between the chosen and
the castaway, will still exist! I pray you, then, maintain a broad wall
in your conduct, as God has made a broad wall in your state and in your
destiny!

Remember again, that our Lord Jesus Christ had a broad wall between Him
and the ungodly. Look at Him and see how different He is from the men
of His time. All His life long you observe Him to be a stranger and a
foreigner in the land. Truly, He drew near to sinners–as near as He
could draw–and He received them when they were willing to draw near to
Him. But He did not draw near to their sins. He was "holy, harmless,
undefiled and separate from sinners." When He went to His own city of
Nazareth, He only preached a single sermon and they would have cast Him
headlong down

the hill if they could. When He passed through the street, He became
the song of the drunkard, the butt of the foolish, the mark at which
the proud shot out the arrows of their scorn! At last, having come to
His own and His own having received Him not, they determined to thrust
Him altogether out of the camp, so they took Him to Golgotha and nailed
Him to the tree as a malefactor, a promoter of sedition. He was the
Great Dissenter, the Great Nonconformist of His age! The National
Church first excommunicated and then executed Him. He did not seek
difference in things trivial, but the purity of His life and the
truthfulness of His testimony roused the spleen of the rulers and the
chief men of their synagogues. He was ready in all things to serve them
and to bless them–but He never would blend with them. They would have
made Him a king. Ah, if He would but have joined the world, the world
would have given Him the chief place–as the world's prince said on the
mountain–"All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and
worship me." But He drives away the fiend and stands immaculate and
separate even to the close of His life! If you are a Christian, be a
Christian! If you follow Christ, go outside the camp! But if there is
no difference between you and your fellow man, what will you say to the
King in the day when He comes and finds that you have on no wedding
garment by which you can be distinguished from the rest of mankind?

Moreover, dear Friends, you will find that a broad wall of separation
is abundantly good for yourselves. I do not think any Christian in the
world will tell you that when he has given way to the world's customs,
he has ever been profited thereby. If you can go and find an evening's
amusement in a suspicious place and feel profited by it, I am sure you
are not a Christian, for, if you were really a Christian, it would pain
your conscience and unfit you for more devout exercises of the heart!
Ask a fish to spend an hour on dry land and I think, did it comply, the
fish would find that it was not much to its benefit, for it would be
out of its element–and it will be so with you in communion with
sinners. When you are compelled to associate with worldly people in the
ordinary course of business, you find much that grates upon the ear,
that troubles the heart and annoys the soul. You will be often like
righteous Lot, vexed with the conversation of the wicked–and you will
say with David–

"Woe's me that I in Mesech am

A sojourner so long!

That I in tabernacles dwell

To Kedar that belong."

Your soul will pine and sigh to come forth and wash your hands of
everything that is impure and unclean. As you find no comfort there,
you will long to get away to the chaste, the holy, the devout, the
edifying fellowship of the saints! Make a broad wall, dear Friends, in
your daily life! If you begin to give way a little to the world, you
will soon give way a great deal. Give sin an inch and it will take a
mile. "Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of
themselves," is an apt motto of economy. So, too, guard against little
sins if you would be clear of "the great transgression." Look after the
little approaches to worldliness, the little giving in towards the
things of ungodliness–and then you will not make provision for the
flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.

Another good reason for keeping up the broad wall of separation is that
you will thereby do most good to the world. I know Satan will tell you
that if you bend a little and come near to the ungodly, then they also
will come a little way to meet you. Yes, but it is not so! You lose
your strength, Christian, the moment you depart from your integrity.
What do you think ungodly people say behind your back if they see you
inconsistent to please them? "Oh," they say, "there is nothing in his
religion but vain pretense! The man is not sincere." Although the world
may openly denounce the rigid Puritan, it secretly admires him. When
the big heart of the world speaks out, it has respect to the man that
is sternly honest and will not yield his principles–no, not a hair's
breadth! In such an age as this, when there is so little sound
conviction, when principle is cast to the winds and when a widespread
tolerant laxness, both of thought and of practice, seems to rule the
day, it is still the fact that a man who is decided in his belief,
speaks his mind boldly and acts according to his profession, is sure to
command the reverence of mankind! Depend upon it, woman, your husband
and your children will respect you none the more because you say, "I
will give up some of my Christian privileges," or, "I will go sometimes
with you into that which is sinful." You cannot help them out of the
mire if you go and plunge yourself into the mud! You cannot help to
make them clean if you go and blacken your own hands. How, then, can
you wash their faces? You young man in the shop, and you young woman in
the workroom, if you keep yourselves to yourselves in Christ's name,
chaste and pure for Jesus, not laughing at jokes which should make you
blush, not mixing up with pastimes that are sus-

picious, but on the other hand, tenderly jealous of your conscience as
one who shrinks from a doubtful thing as a sinful thing, holding sound
faith and being scrupulous of the Truths of God–if you will so keep
yourselves, your company in the midst of others shall be as though an
angel shook his wings and they will say to one another, "Refrain from
this or that just now, for So-and-So is here." They will fear you in a
certain sense. They will admire you in secret. And who can tell but
that, at last, they may come to imitate you?

Would you tempt God? Would you challenge the desolating flood? Whenever
the Church comes down to mingle with the world, it behooves the
faithful few to fly to the Ark and seek shelter from the avenging
storm! When the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were
fair to look upon, then it was that God said it repented Him that He
had made men upon the face of the earth–and He sent the deluge to
sweep them away! A separate people God's people must be and they shall
be! It is His own declaration, "The people shall dwell alone; they
shall not be numbered among the nations." The Christian is, in some
respects, like the Jew. The Jew is the type of the Christian. You may
give the Jew political privileges as he ought to have. He may be
adopted into the State as he ought to be. But a Jew he is and a Jew he
must still be. He is not a Gentile, even though he calls himself
English, or Portuguese, or Spanish, or Polish. He remains one of the
people of Israel, a child of Abraham, still a Jew, and you can mark him
as such–his speech betrays him in every land. So should it be with the
Christian! Mixing up with other men, as he must in his daily calling.
Going in and out among them like a man among men. Trading in the
market. Dealing in the shop. Mingling in the joys of the social circle.
Taking his part in politics, like a citizen, as he is. But, at the same
time, always having a higher and a nobler life, a secret into which the
world cannot enter and showing the world, by his superior holiness, his
zeal for God, his sterling integrity and his unselfish
truthfulness–that he is not of the world, even as Christ was not of
the world! You cannot tell how concerned I am for some of you that this
broad wall should be kept up, for I detect in some of you, at times, a
desire to make it very narrow and, perhaps, to pull it down altogether!
Brothers and Sisters, beloved in the Lord, you may depend upon it that
nothing worse can happen to a Church than to be conformed unto this
world! Write "Ichabod" upon her walls, then, for the sentence of
destruction has gone out against her. But if you can keep yourselves
as–

"A garden walled around, Chosen and made peculiar ground"– you shall
have your Master's company, your graces shall grow, you shall be happy
in your own souls and Christ shall be honored in your lives!

II. Secondly, the broad wall round about Jerusalem INDICATED SAFETY.

In the same way, a broad wall round Christ's Church indicates her
safety, too. Consider who they are that belong to the Church of God. A
person does not become a member of Christ's Church by Baptism, nor by
birthright, nor by profession, nor by morality. Christ is the Door into
the sheepfold! Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ is a member of the
true Church. Being a member of Christ, he is a member, consequently, of
the body of Christ which is the Church. Now, around the Church of
God–the election of Grace, the redeemed by blood, the peculiar people,
the adopted, the justified, the sanctified–around the Church there are
bulwarks of stupendous strength, munitions which guard them safely.
When the foe came to attack Jerusalem, he counted the towers and
bulwarks, and marked them well. And after he had seen the strength of
the holy city, he fled! How could he ever hope to scale such ramparts
as those? Brothers and Sisters, Satan often counts the towers and
bulwarks of the New Jerusalem! Anxiously does he desire the destruction
of the saints, but it shall never be. He that rests in Christ is saved!
He who has passed through the gate of faith to rest in Jesus Christ may
sing with joyful confidence–

"The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not
desert to his foes! That soul, though all Hell should endeavor to
shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake!"

The Christian is surrounded by the broad wall of God's power. As God is
Omnipotent, Satan cannot defeat Him. If God's power is on my side, who
shall hurt me? "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

The Christian is surrounded by the broad wall of God's love. Who shall
prevail against those whom God loves? I know that it is vain to curse
those whom God has not cursed, or to defy them whom the Lord has not
defied, for whomever He blesses is blessed, indeed! Balak, the son of
Zippor, sought to curse the beloved people and he went first to one

hilltop and then to another, and looked down upon the chosen camp. But,
aha, Balaam, you could not curse them, though Balak sought it! You
could only say, "They are blessed, yes, and they shall be blessed!"

God's Lawis a broad wall around us and so is His justice. These once
threatened our destruction, but now the justice of God demands the
salvation of every Believer. If Christ has died instead of me, it would
not be justice if I also had to die for my sin. If God has received the
full payment of the debt from the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ, then
how can He demand the debt again? He is satisfied and we are secure!

The immutability of God, also, surrounds His people like a broad wall.
"I am God, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed."
As long as God is the same, the Rock of our salvation will be our
secure hiding place.

Upon this delightful Truth of God we might linger long, for there is
much to cheer us in the strong security which God has given in Covenant
to His people. They are surrounded by the broad wall of electing love.
Does God choose them and will He lose them? Did He ordain them to
eternal life and shall they perish? Did He engrave their names upon His
heart and shall those names be blotted out? Did He give them to His Son
to be His heritage and shall His Son lose His portion? Did He say,
"They shall be Mine, says the Lord, in the day when I make up My
jewels," and shall He part with them? Has He who makes all things obey
Him, no power to keep the people whom He has formed for Himself to be
His own peculiar heritage? God forbid that we should doubt it! Electing
love, like a broad wall, surrounds every heir of Grace!

And oh, how broad is the wall of redeeming love! Will Jesus fail to
claim the people He bought with so great a price? Did He shed His blood
in vain? How can He revive enmity against those whom He has once
reconciled unto God, not imputing their transgression unto them? Having
obtained eternal Redemption for them, will He adjudge them to
everlasting Hell? Has He purged their sins by Sacrifice and will He
then leave them to be the victims of Satanic craft? By the blood of the
Everlasting Covenant, every Christian may be assured that He cannot
perish, neither can any pluck him out of Christ's hands! Unless the
Cross was all a gamble, unless the Atonement was a mere speculation,
those for whom Jesus died are saved through His death! Therefore "He
shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied."

As a broad wall which surrounds the saints of God is the work of the
Holy Spirit. Does the Spirit begin and then not finish the operations
of His Grace? Ah, no! Does He give life which afterwards dies out? That
is impossible! Has He not told us that the Word of God is the
incorruptible Seed which lives and abides forever? And shall the powers
of Hell or the evil of our own flesh destroy what God has pronounced
immortal, or cause dissolution to that which God says is incorruptible?
Is not the Spirit of God given to us to abide with us forever–and
shall He be expelled from that heart in which He has taken up His
everlasting dwelling? Brothers and Sisters, we are not of their mind
whom are led by fear or fallacy to hazard such conjectures! We rejoice
to say with Paul, "Being confident of this very thing, that He which
has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ." We delight to sing–

"Grace will complete what Grace begins, To save from sorrows or from
sins. The work that wisdom undertakes Eternal mercy never forsakes."
Almost every Doctrine of Grace affords us a broad wall, a strong
bastion, a mighty bulwark, a grand munition of defense! Take, for
instance, Christ's suretyship engagements. He is Surety to His Father
for His people. When He brings home the flock, do you think that He
will have to report that some of them are lost? Not so!

"Here am I," will He say, "and the children that You have given Me. Of
all whom You have given Me, I have lost none." He will keep all the
saints even to the end! The honor of Christ is involved in this matter.
If Christ loses one soul that leans upon Him, the integrity of His
crown is gone–for if there should be one believing soul in Hell, the
Prince of Darkness would hold up that soul and say–"Aha! You could not
save them all! Aha! You Captain of Salvation, You were defeated here!
Here is one poor little Benjamin, are Ready-to-Halt that You could not
bring to Glory, and I have him to be my prey forever!" But it shall not
be! Every gem shall be in Jesus' crown! Every sheep shall be in Jesus'
flock! He shall not be defeated in any way, or in any measure, but He
shall divide the spoil with the strong, He shall establish the cause He
undertakes, He shall eternally conquer! Glory be unto His great and
good name!

III. The idea of a broad wall–and with this I close–SUGGESTS
ENJOYMENT.

The walls of Nineveh and Babylon were broad–so broad that there was
found room for several chariots to pass each other. Here men walked at
sunset and talked and promoted good fellowship. If you have ever been
in the city of York, you will know how interesting it is to walk around
the broad walls there. But our figure is drawn from the Orientals. They
were accustomed to come out of their houses and walk on the broad
walls. They used them for rest from toil and for the manifold pleasures
of recreation. It was very delightful, when the sun was going down and
all was cool, to walk on those broad walls. And so, when a Believer
comes to know the deep things of God and to see the defenses of God's
people, he walks along them and he rests in confidence. "Now," he says,
"I am at rest and peace. The destroyer cannot molest me. I am delivered
from the noise of archers in the place of the drawing of water and here
I can exercise myself in prayer and meditation. Now that salvation is
appointed for walls and bulwarks, I will sing a song unto Him who has
done these great things for me. I will take my rest and be quiet, for
he that believes has entered into rest. There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Broad walls, then, are
for rest, and so are our broad walls of salvation!

Those broad walls were also for communion. Men came there and talked
with one another. They leaned over the wall and whispered their loving
words, conversed of their business, comforted one another, related
their troubles and their joys. So, when Believers come unto Christ
Jesus, they commune with one another, with the angels, with the spirits
of just men made perfect, and with Jesus Christ their Lord, who is best
of all! Oh, on those broad walls, when the banner of love waves over
them, they sometimes rejoice with an unspeakable joy in fellowship with
Him who loved them and gave Himself for them! It is a blessed thing, in
the Church of Christ, when you get such a knowledge of the Doctrines of
the Gospel that you can have the sweetest communion with the whole
Church of the living God!

And then the broad walls were also intended for prospects and outlooks.
The citizen came up on the broad wall and looked away from the smoke
and dirt of the city within, right across to the green fields, the
gleaming river and the far-off mountains! They delighted to watch the
mowing of hay, or the reaping of corn, or the setting sun beyond the
distant hills. It was one of the common enjoyments of the citizen of
any walled city to come to the top of the wall in order to take views
afar. So, when a man once gets into the altitudes of Gospel Doctrine
and has learned to understand the love of God in Christ Jesus, what
wide views he can take! How he looks down upon the sorrows of life! How
he looks beyond that narrow little stream of death! How, sometimes,
when the weather is bright and his eyes are clear enough to let him use
the telescope, he can see within the Gates of Pearl and behold the joys
which no mortal eye has seen and hear the songs which no mortal ear has
heard, for these are things, not for eyes and ears, but for hearts and
spirits! Blessed is the man who dwells in the Church of God, for he can
find on her broad walls places from which he can see the King in His
beauty and the land which is very far off!

Ah, dear Friends, I wish that these things had to do with you all, but
I am afraid they have not, for many of you are outside the wall! And
when the destroyer comes, none will be safe but those who are inside
the wall of Christ's love and mercy. I would to God that you would
escape to the gate at once, for it is open. It will be shut–it will be
shut one day, but it is now open. When night comes, the night of death,
the gate will be shut and you will then come and say, "Lord, Lord, open
to us!" But the answer will be–

"Too late, too late! You cannot enter now."

But it is not too late yet! Christ still says, "Behold, I have set
before you an open door, and no man can shut it." Oh, that you had the
will to come and put your trust in Jesus, for if you do, you shall be
saved! I cannot speak to some of you about security, for there are no
broad walls to defend you. You have run away from the security. Perhaps
you have been patching up with some untempered mortar a righteousness
of your own which will all be thrown down as a bowing wall and as a
tottering fence. Oh that you would trust in Jesus! Then would you have
a broad wall which all the battering rams of Hell shall never be able
to shake! When the storms of eternity shall beat against that wall, it
shall stand fast forever!

I cannot speak to some of you about rest, and enjoyment, and communion,
for you have sought rest where there is none. You have got a peace
which is not peace. You have found a comfort which will be your
destruction! God make you to be distressed and cause you by sore stress
to flee to the Lord Jesus and so to get true peace, the only peace,
for, "He is our peace." Oh, that you would close in with Christ and
trust Him! Then you would rejoice in the present happiness

which faith would give you! But the sweetest thing of all would be the
prospect which should then unfold to you of the eternal happiness which
Christ has prepared for all those who put their trust in Him!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 71.

Verses 1-8. In You, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to
confusion. Deliver me in Your righteous, and cause me to escape:
incline Your ear unto me, and save me. Be You my strong habitation,
whereunto I may continually resort: You have given commandment to save
me; for You are myrock and my fortress. Deliver me, Omy God, out ofthe
hand ofthe wicked, out ofthe hand ofthe unrighteous and cruel man. For
You are my hope, O Lord God, You are my trust from my youth. By You
have I been held up from the womb: You are He that took me out of my
mother's womb. My praise shall be continually of You. David had enjoyed
the mercy of God from his very birth. We are apt to forget the tender
care of God over our infancy, but we ought to remember it–and it will
be a great comfort to us if we come to a second childhood, to remember
how kindly God took care of us in the first!

7-11. I am at a wonder unto many, but You are my strong refuge. Let my
mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your honor all the day. Cast
me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength
fails. For my enemies speak against me, and they that lay wait for my
soul They take counsel together, saying, God has forsaken him:
persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him. Surely that
ought to have been the reason for letting him alone! With right-minded
persons it would have been so, but the devil and his children are
arrant cowards and their argument is, "Persecute and take him: for
there is none to deliver him." You might as well expect tenderness in a
wolf as anything like bravery and chivalry in a persecutor!

12-14. O God be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help. Let
them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let
them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt But I will
hope continually, and will yet praise You more andmore. [See Sermons
#2318, Volume 39–GOD'S PUPIL, GOD'S PREACHER–AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY and
#3271, Volume 57–GOD, THE CHILDREN'S TEACHER.] How was he going to do
it?

Already his mouth was filled with God's praise, so, surely he would
fill his whole life with it, and his actions which would speak more
loudly than his words, would bear daily testimony to the goodness of
God.

15, 16. My mouth shall show forth Your righteousness and Your salvation
all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof I will go in the
strength of the Lord God–"This shall be my praise; my very movements,
my goings, my progress shall be in the 'strength of the Lord God.'"

16, 17. I will make mention of Your righteousness, even of Yours only.
O God, You have taught me from my youth. Here is the same kind of
argument again–"O Lord, I went to school to You, so I must teach
others what You have taught me."

17, And until this time have I declared Your wondrous works. "You made
me a preacher, and I have stuck to my word. Until this time have I
declared Your wondrous works.'"

18-20. Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not
until I have showed Your strength unto this generation and Your power
to everyone that is to come. Your righteousness, also, O God, is very
high, who has done great things: O God, who is like unto You? You, who
have showed me great and sore troubles, shall quicken me again. "You
shall not merely deliver me from my great and sore troubles, but You
shall give me more life, You 'Shall quicken me again.'" Divine
quickening is the best remedy for a troubled heart.

20. And shall bring me up again from the depths ofthe earth. "Though I
seem to be like a man buried in the depth of the earth, You will bring
me up again."

21, 22. You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
I will also praise You–God blessing us and we in return blessing
Him–so it ought to be. The more God does for us, the more we ought to
do for Him! Is it not so, Brothers and Sisters? Is not this a good
argument? Are you carrying it out? Let your conscience answer.

22. 23. With the psaltery, even Your Truth, O my God: unto You will I
sing with the harp. O You Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly
rejoice when I sing unto You. Singing unto God ought to be the happiest
of exercises! When it is done in a doleful, dolorous way, it is not
singing, but groaning.

23. And my soul, which You have redeemed. "The sprinkled blood is on my
soul and, therefore, it shall leap for joy. Rescued from captivity,
bought back from slavery, "my soul, which You have redeemed, shall
greatly rejoice when I sing unto You."

24. My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the daylong:
for they are confounded, for they are brought

unto shame, that seek my hurt. [See Sermon #998, Volume 17–MORE AND
MORE.]