The Broken Fence

The Broken Fence

(No. 3381)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1913.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"I went by the field of the lazy mam, and by the vineyard of the man
void of understanding; and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and
nettles had covered its surface, and the stone wall was broken down.
Then Isaw, and considered it well: I looked on it and received
instruction." Proverbs 24:30-32.

THIS lazy man did no hurt to his fellow men–he was not a thief, nor a
ruffian, nor a meddler in anybody else's business. He did not trouble
himself about other men's concerns, for he did not even attend to his
own–it required too much exertion. He was not grossly vicious. He had
not energy enough to care for that. He was one who liked to take things
easily. He always let well enough alone and, for the that matter, he
let ill alone, too, as the nettles and the thistles in his garden
plainly proved! What was the use of disturbing himself? It would be all
the same a hundred years hence and so he took things just as they came.
He was not a bad man, so some said of him, and yet, perhaps it will be
found at last that there is no worse man in the world than the man who
is not good, for in some respects he is not good enough to be bad! He
has not enough force of character about him to serve either God or
Baal. He simply serves himself, worshipping his own ease and adoring
his own comfort. Yet he always meant to be right. Dear me, he was not
going to sleep much longer, he would only have forty winks more and
then he would be at his work–and show you what he could do! One of
these days he meant to be thoroughly in earnest and make up for lost
time. The time never actually came for him to begin, but it was always
coming. He always meant to repent, but he went on in his sin. He meant
to believe, but he died an unbeliever. He meant to be a Christian, but
he lived without Christ. He halted between two opinions because he
could not trouble himself to make up his mind! And so he perished of
delay.

This picture of the slothful man and his garden and field overgrown
with nettles and weeds represents many a man who has professed to be a
Christian, but who has become slothful in the things of God. Spiritual
life has withered in him. He has backslidden. He has come down from the
condition of healthy spiritual energy into one of listlessness and
indifference to the things of God. And while things have gone wrong
within his heart and all sorts of mischiefs have come into him and
grown up and seeded themselves in him, mischief is also taking place
externally in his daily conduct. The stone wall which guarded his
character is broken down and he lies open to all evil. Upon this point
we will now meditate. "The stone wall was broken down."

Come, then, let us take a walk with Solomon and stand with him and
consider and learn instruction while we look at this broken-down fence.
When we have examined it, let us consider the consequences of
broken-down walls. And then, in the last place, let us try to wake up
this sluggard that his wall may yet be repaired. If this slothful
person should be one of ourselves, may God's Infinite Mercy awaken us
before this ruined wall has let in a herd of prowling vices! First, let
us take–

I. A LOOK AT THIS BROKEN FENCE.

You will see that in the beginning it was a very good fence, for it was
a stone wall. Fields are often surrounded with wooden fences which soon
decay, or with hedges which may very easily have gaps made in them. But
this was a stone wall. Such walls are very usual in the East and are
also common in some of our own counties where stone is plentiful. It
was a substantial protection to begin with and well shut in the pretty
little estate which had fallen into such bad hands. The man had a field
for agricultural purposes and another strip of land for a vineyard or a
garden. It was fertile soil, for it produced thorns and nettles in
abundance–and where these flourish, better things can be produced–yet
the idler took no care of his property, but allowed the wall to get
into bad repair and in many places to be quite broken down.

Let me mention some of the stone walls that men permit to be broken
down when they backslide. In many cases sound principles were instilled
in youth, but these are forgotten. What a blessing is Christian
education! Our parents, both by persuasion and example, taught many of
us the things that are pure and honest and of good repute. We saw in
their lives how to live. They also opened the Word of God before us and
they taught us the ways of right both toward God and toward men. They
prayed for us and they prayed with us till the things of God were
placed round about us, and shut us in as with a stone wall! We have
never been able to get rid of our early impressions. Even in times of
wandering, before we savingly knew the Lord, these things had a healthy
power over us–we were checked when we would have done evil–we were
assisted when we were struggling towards Christ. It is very sad when
people permit these first principles to be shaken and to be removed
like stones which fall from a boundary wall! Young persons begin at
first to talk lightly of the old-fashioned ways of their parents.
By-and-by it is not merely the old-fashionedness of the ways, but the
ways, themselves, that they despise! They seek other company and from
that other company they learn nothing but evil. They seek pleasure in
places which it horrifies their parents to think of. This leads to
worse–and if they do not bring their fathers' gray hairs with sorrow
to the grave, it is no virtue of theirs. I have known young men who
really were Christians, sadly backslide through being induced to
modify, conceal, or alter those holy principles in which they were
trained from their mother's knee. It is a great calamity when
professedly converted men become unfixed, unstable and carried about
with every wind of Doctrine. It shows great faultiness of mind and
unsoundness of heart when we can trifle with those grave and solemn
Truths of God which have been sanctified by a mother's tears and by a
father's earnest life! "I am Your servant," said David, "and the son of
Your handmaid." He felt it to be a high honor and, at the same time, a
sacred bond which bound him to God, that he was the son of one who
could be called God's handmaid. Take care, you who have had Christian
training, that you do not trifle with it! "My son, keep your father's
commandments and forsake not the law of your mother: bind them
continually upon your heart and tie them about your neck."

Protection to character is also found in the fact that solid Doctrines
have been learned. This is a fine stone wall. Many among us have been
taught the Gospel of the Grace of God and have learned it well, so that
we are able to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the
saints. Happy are they who have a religion that is grounded upon a
clear knowledge of eternal Truths of God! A religion which is all
excitement and has little instruction in it, may serve for transient
use, but for permanent life purposes there must be a knowledge of those
great Doctrines which are fundamental to the Gospel system. I tremble
when I hear of a man's giving up, one by one, the vital principles of
the Gospel and boasting of his liberality! I hear him say, "These are
my views, but others have a right to their views also." That is a very
proper expression in reference to mere, "views," but we may not thus
speak of Truth, itself, as revealed by God that is one and unalterable,
and all are bound to receive it! It is not your view of the Truth, for
that is a dim thing, but the very Truth of God, itself, which will save
you if your faith embraces it. I will readily yield my way of stating a
Doctrine, but not the Doctrine, itself! One man may put it in this way,
and another man, another way, but the Truth, itself, must never be
given up. The spirit of the Broad School robs us of everything like
certainty. I should like to ask some great men of that order whether
they believe that anythingis taught in the Scriptures which it would be
worthwhile for a person to die for– and whether the martyrs were not
great fools for laying down their lives for mere opinions which might
be right or might be wrong? This Broad Churchism is a breaking down of
stone walls and it will let in the devil and all his crew and do
infinite harm to the Church of God if it is not stopped! A loose state
of belief does great damage to any man's mind.

We are not bigots, but we should be none the worse if we so lived that
men called us so. I met a man the other day who was accused of bigotry
and I said, "Give me your hand, old fellow. I like to meet with bigots
now and then, for the fine old creatures are getting scarce! And the
stuff they are made of is so good that if there were more of it, we
might see a few men among us again and fewer mollusks." Lately we have
seen few men with backbones–the most have been of the jelly-fish
order. I have lived in times in which I should have said, "Be liberal
and shake off all narrowness," but now I am obliged to alter my tone
and cry, "Be steadfast in the Truth of God!" The faith once delivered
to the saints is now all the more attractive to me because it is called
narrow, for I am weary of that breadth which comes of broken hedges!
There are fixed points of the Truth of God, and definite certainties of
creed–and woe to you if you allow these stone walls to crumble down! I
fear that the slothful are a numerous band and that ages to come may
have to deplore the laxity which has been applauded by this negligent
generation!

Another fence which is too often neglected is that of godly habits
which had been formed. The sluggard allows this wall to be broken down.
I will mention some valuable guards of life and character. One is the
habit of secret prayer. Private prayer should be regularly offered, at
least in the morning and in the evening. We cannot do without set
seasons for drawing near to God. To look into the face of man without
having first seen the face of God is very dangerous–to go out into the
world without locking up the heart and giving God the key is to leave
it open to all sorts of spiritual vagrants! At night, again, to go to
your rest as the swine roll into their sty, without thanking God for
the mercies of the day, is shameful! The evening sacrifice should be
devoutly offered as surely as we have enjoyed the evening fireside. We
should thus put ourselves under the wings of the Preserver of Men. It
may be said, "We can pray at all times." I know we can, but I fear that
those who do not pray at stated hours seldom pray at all! Those who
pray in season are the most likely persons to pray at all seasons.
Spiritual life does not care for a cast-iron regulation, but since life
casts itself into some mold or other, I would have you careful of its
external habit, as well as its internal power. Never allow great gaps
in the wall of your habitual private prayer!

I go a step farther. I believe that there is a great guardian power
about family prayer and I feel greatly distressed because I know that
very many Christian families neglect it. Romanism, at one time, could
do nothing in England because it could offer nothing but the shadow of
what Christians had already in substance. "Do you hear that bell
tinkling in the morning! What is that for? To go to church to pray!"
"Indeed," said the Puritan, "I have no need to go there to pray. I have
had my children together and we have read a passage of Scripture,
prayed, sang the praises of God–we have a church in our house." Ah,
there goes that bell again in the evening. What is that for? Why, it is
the vesper bell! The good man answered that he had no need to trudge a
mile or two for that, for his holy vespers had been said and sung
around his own table, of which the big Bible was the chief ornament!
They told him that there could be no service without a priest, but he
replied that every godly man should be a priest in his own house. Thus
have the saints defied the overtures of priestcraft and kept the faith
from generation to generation! Household devotion and the pulpit are,
under God, the stone walls of Protestantism! And my prayer is that
these may not be broken down.

Another fence to protect piety is found in weeknightservices. I notice
that when people forsake weeknight meetings the power of their religion
evaporates. I do not speak of those lawfully detained to watch the sick
and attend to farm-work and other business, or as domestic servants and
the like–there are exceptions to all rules–but I mean those who could
attend if they had a mind to do so. When people say, "It is quite
enough for me to be wearied with the sermons of the Sunday. I do not
want to go out to Prayer Meetings, lectures and so forth"–then it is
clear that they have no appetite for the Word of God–and surely this
is a bad sign. If you have a bit of wall built to protect the Sunday,
and then six times the distance left without a fence, I believe that
Satan's cattle will get in and do no end of mischief!

Take care, also, of the stone wall of Bible reading, and of speaking
often, one to another, concerning the things of God. Associate with the
godly and commune with God and you will thus, by the blessing of God's
Spirit, keep up a good fence against temptations, which otherwise will
get into the fields of your soul and devour all goodly fruits!

Many have found much protection for the field of daily life in the
stone wall of a public profession of faith. I am speaking to you who
are real Believers and I know that you have often found it a great
safeguard to be known and recognized as a follower of Jesus! I have
never regretted–and I never shall regret–the day on which I walked to
the little river Lark, in Cambridgeshire, and was there buried with
Christ in Baptism! In this I acted contrary to the opinions of all my
friends whom I respected and esteemed–but as I had read the Greek
Testament for myself, I felt bound to be immersed upon the profession
of my faith, and so I was. By that act I said to the world, "I am dead
to you, and buried to you in Christ, and I hope henceforth to live in
newness of life." That day, by God's Grace, I imitated the tactics of
the general who meant to fight the enemy till he conquered and,
therefore, he burned his boats that there might be no way of retreat! I
believe that a solemn confession of Christ before men is as a thorn
hedge to keep one within bounds and to keep off those who hope to draw
you aside. Of course, it is nothing but a hedge–and it is of no use to
fence in a field of weeds–but when wheat is growing, a hedge is of
great consequence. You who imagine that you can be the Lord's and yet
lie open like a common, are under a great error! You ought to be
distinguished from the world and obey the Voice which says, "Come you
out from among them, be you separate." The promise of salvation is to
the man who with his heart believes and with his mouth confesses. Say
right boldly, "Let others do as they will! As for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord." By this act you come out into the King's highway
and put yourself under the protection of the Lord of Pilgrims–and He
will take care of you. Oftentimes, when otherwise you might have
hesitated, you will say, "The vows of the Lord are upon me–how can I
draw back?" I pray you, then, set up the stone wall and keep it up! And
if it has at any corner been tumbled over, set it up again and let it
be seen by your conduct and conversation that you are a follower of
Jesus Christ–and are not ashamed to have it known!

Keep to your religious principles like men and do not turn aside for
the sake of gain or respectability! Do not let wealth break down your
wall, for I have known some make a great gap to let their carriage go
through and to let in wealthy worldlings for the sake of their society.
Those who forsake their principles to please men will in the end be
lightly esteemed, but he who is faithful shall have the honor which
comes from God. Look well to this hedge of steadfast adherence to the
faith and you shall find a great blessing in it.

There is yet another stone wall which I will mention, namely, firmness
of character. Our holy faith teaches a man to be decided in the cause
of Christ and to be resolute in getting rid of evil habits. "If your
eye offends you"–wear a shade? No–"pluck it out." "If your arm
offends you"–hang it in a sling? No–cut it off and cast it from you."
True religion is very thorough in what it recommends. It says to us,
"touch not the unclean thing." But many persons are so idle in the ways
of God that they have no mind of their own–evil companions tempt them,
and they cannot say, "No." They need a stone wall made up of noes! Here
are the stones, "no, no, No." Dare to be different! Resolve to keep
close to Christ! Make a stern determination to permit nothing in your
life, however gainful or pleasurable, if it would dishonor the name of
Jesus! Be dogmatically true, obstinately holy, immovably honest,
desperately kind, fixedly upright! If God's Grace sets up this hedge
around you, even Satan will feel that he cannot get in and will
complain to God, "have You not set a hedge about him?" I have kept you
long enough looking over the wall! Let me invite you in and, for a few
minutes, let us– II. CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES OF A BROKEN-DOWN FENCE.

To make short work of it, first, the boundary is gone. Those lines of
separation which were kept up by the good principles which were
instilled in him by religious habits, by a bold profession and by a
firm resolve, have vanished. And now the question is, "Is he a
Christian, or is he not?" The fence is so far gone that he does not
know which is his Lord's property and which remains an open common. In
fact, he does not know whether he is still included in the Royal
domain, or left to be mere waste of the world's manor! This is for lack
of keeping up the fences. If that man had lived near to God, if he had
walked in his integrity, if the Spirit of God had richly rested on him
in all holy living and waiting upon God, he would have known where the
boundary was and he would have seen whether his land lay in the parish
of All-Saints, or in the region called No-Man's-Land, or in the
district where Satan is the lord of the manor! I heard of a dear old
saint the other day who, when she was near to death, was attacked by
Satan and, waving her finger at the enemy in her gentle way, she routed
him by saying, "Chosen! Chosen! Chosen!" She knew that she was chosen
and she remembered the text, "The Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke
you." When the wall stands in its integrity all around the field, we
can resist the devil by bidding him leave the Lord's property alone!
"Begone! Look somewhere else. I belong to Christ, not to you." To do
this you must mend the hedges well, so that there shall be a clear
boundary line–and then you can say, "Trespassers, beware!" Do not
yield an inch to the enemy, but make the wall all the higher, the more
he seeks to enter. O that this adversary may never find a gap to enter
by!

Next, when the wall has fallen, the protection is gone. When a man's
heart has its wall broken, all his thoughts will go astray and wander
upon the mountains of vanity. Like sheep, thoughts need careful
folding, or they will be off in no time. "I hate vain thoughts," said
David, but slothful men are sure to have plenty of them, for there is
no keeping your thoughts out of vanity unless you stop every gap and
shut every gate. Holy thoughts, comfortable meditations, devout
longings and gracious communing will be off and gone if we sluggishly
allow the stone wall to get out of repair.

Nor is this all, for as good things go out, so bad things come in. When
the wall is gone, every passer-by sees, as it were, an invitation to
enter! You have set before him an open door and in he comes. Are there
fruits? He plucks them, of course. He walks about as if it were a
public place and he pries everywhere. Is there any secret corner of
your heart which you would keep for Jesus? Satan or the world will walk
in–and do you wonder? Every passing goat, or roaming ox, or stray ass
visits the growing crops and spoils more than he eats! And who can
blame the creature when the gaps are so wide? All manner of evil lusts,
desires and imaginations prey upon an unfenced soul. It is of no use
for you to say, "Lead us not into temptation." God will hear your
prayer and He will not lead you there, but you are leading yourself
into it, you are tempting the devil to tempt you! If you leave yourself
open to evil influences, the Spirit of God will be grieved

and He may leave you to reap the result of your folly. What do you
think, Friend? Had you not better attend to your fences at once?

And then there is another evil, for the land itself will go away. "No,"
you say, "how can that be?" If a stone wall is broken down around a
farm in England, a man does not thereby lose his land, but in many
parts of Palestine the land is all ups and downs on the sides of the
hills–and every bit of ground is terraced and kept up by walls. When
the walls fall, the soil slips over, terrace upon terrace, and the
vines and trees go down with it! Then the rain comes and washes the
soil away and nothing is left but barren crags which would starve a
lark! In the same manner, a man may so neglect himself, so neglect the
things of God and become so careless and indifferent about Doctrine,
and about holy living, that his power to do good ceases and his mind,
his heart, and his energy seem to be gone. The Prophet said, "Ephraim
is a silly dove, without heart." There are flocks of such silly doves.
The man who trifles with religion, sports with his own soul and will
soon degenerate into so much of a trifler that he will be averse to
solemn thought and incapable of real usefulness! I charge you, dear
Friends, to be sternly true to yourselves and to your God! Stand to
your principles in this evil and wicked day! Now, when everything seems
to be turned into marsh, mire and mud–and religious thought appears to
be silently sliding and slipping along, descending like a stream of
slime into the Dead Sea of Unbelief–get solid walls built around your
life, around your faith and around your character! Stand fast and
having done all, still stand! May God the Holy Spirit cause you to be
rooted and grounded, built up and established, fixed and confirmed,
never "casting away your confidence, which has great recompense of
reward." Lastly, I want, if I can, to– ' III. WAKE UP THE SLUGGARD.

I would like to throw a handful of gravel up to his window. It is time
to get up, for the sun has drunk up all the dew. He craves "a little
more sleep." My dear Fellow, if you take a little more sleep, you will
never wake at all till you lift up your eyes in another world! Wake at
once! Leap from your bed before you are smothered in it. Wake up! Do
you not see where you are? You have let things alone till your heart is
covered with sins like weeds. You have neglected God and Christ till
you have grown worldly, sinful, careless, indifferent, ungodly! I mean
some of you who were once named with the sacred name! You have become
like worldlings and are almost as far from being what you ought to be,
as others who make no profession at all! Look at yourselves and see
what has come of your neglected walls. Then 1ook at some of your fellow
Christians and mark how diligent they are. Look at many among them who
are poor and illiterate–and yet they are doing far more than you for
the Lord Jesus! In spite of your talents and opportunities, you are an
unprofitable servant, letting all things run to waste! Is it not time
that you bestirred yourself? Look again at others who, like yourself,
went to sleep, meaning to wake in a little while. What has become of
them? Alas, for there are those who have fallen into gross sin,
dishonored their character and who have been put away from the Church
of God–yet they only went a little further than you have done! Your
state of heart is much the same as theirs and if you should be tempted,
as they have been, you will probably make shipwreck as they have done!
Oh, see to it, you that slumber, for an idle professor is ready for
anything. A slothful professor's heart is tinder for the devil's
tinderbox! Does your heart thus invite the sparks of temptation?

Remember, lastly, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Shall He come
and find you sleeping? Remember the judgment. What will you say to
excuse yourself for opportunities lost, time wasted and talents wrapped
up in a napkin when the Lord shall come?

As for you, my unconverted Friend, if you go dreaming through this
world without any sort of trouble, and never look to the state of your
heart at all, you will be a lost man beyond all question! The slothful
can have no hope, for "if the righteous scarcely are saved," who strive
to serve their Lord–where will those appear who sleep on in defiance
of the calls of God? Salvation is wholly and alone of Grace, as you
well know–but Grace never works in men's minds towards slumbering and
indifference–it tends towards energy, activity, fervor, importunity,
self-sacrifice! God grant us the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, that
all things may be set in order, sins cut up by the roots within the
heart and the whole man protected by sanctifying Grace from the wasters
which lurk around, hoping to enter where the wall is low. O Lord,
remember us in mercy, fence us about by Your power, and keep us from
the sloth which would expose us to evil, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 119:1-20.

It is not easy to see the special subjects that are spoken of by David
in each of the short portions of eight verses, yet I do not doubt that
if each portion were carefully examined, we would see that there is
some thread running through. We have not here simply a number of pious
sentences about the excellency of God's Word, but we have choice gems,
each of them set in a golden ring of spiritual intent and purpose. I
think the first eight verses, all of which begin with that letter
Aleph, or A, set forth the excellence of abiding in holiness and
walking continually in the way of the Lord. Not so much the restoring
and comforting power of the Word, as the blessedness of that Word in
leading us to conduct ourselves in consistency of character at all
times.

Verse 1. Blessed are the undefled in the way, who walk in the Law of
the LORD. There is another blessing which comes before this. "Blessed
is the man whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered."
And we can never know the blessing of this 119th Psalm unless we have
felt in our own souls that first blessing–the blessedness of forgiven
sin! But when, through the forgiveness of sin, we are put upon Gospel
ground and are saved–then, not according to the Law, but according be
the Gospel–does this blessing come upon us. "Blessed are the undefiled
in the way." The men who have kept their garments unspotted from the
world–who from the time of their conversion even until now have been
under the influence of the Divine Spirit, and so have been enabled to
walk in holiness without once defiling their garments with any great
and public sin–who walk in the Law of the Lord, not occasionally, but
always–whose daily walk is in conformity with the Divine Mind–these
are truly blessed!

2. Blessed are they that keep His testimonies and that seek Him with
the whole heart For he that has most of God, yet needs to seek more. We
keep the testimonies–those we know, for we are taught of the Lord
according to the promise, "All your children shall be taught of the
Lord." Yet we still seek more. With our whole heart we are pressing on
still to something higher and better! Even the undefiled in the way are
so, comparatively–they are not absolutely undefiled, so as to be
absolutely perfect in the sight of God–hence they feel their
imperfection and they press after something better. They seek Him with
the whole heart.

3, 4. They also do no iniquity, they walk in His ways. You have
commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently. So that if we do, we are
unprofitable servants. We have done no more than was our duty to do!
When His Divine Grace has renewed us and has enabled us to walk in all
sobriety, truthfulness and holiness, even then we have nothing to boast
of! "You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently."

5. O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! "Oh, that I may
never defile my garments!" And he who has not defiled his garments
still prays the same prayer that he may be kept still and directed
still. "Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!"

6. Then shallInot be ashamed, when Ihave respect unto all Your
commandments. It gives a man boldness. Integrity of heart before God
breeds sacred courage. He has nothing to be ashamed of and he is not
ashamed when he has respect unto all God's commandments.

7. I will praise You with uprightness of heart when I shall have
learned Your righteous judgments. Not, "I will praise myself." Not, "I
will take credit, myself, for my clean walking," but, "When You have
taught me and I learn Your ways, then all the praise shall be rendered
unto You." This is the fruit of evangelical obedience! Legal obedience,
even could it be rendered, would be sure to claim the servant's wage
and take to itself the praise–but the obedience of a child of God
leads to the laying of honor at Jehovah's feet.

8. I will keep Your statutes: O forsake me not utterly!Strong
resolution, but a deep consciousness of weakness and unworthiness–

"I will, but oh '…how can I do it? Oh, for this, no strength have I–
My strength is at Your feet to lie. Oh, forsake me not utterly."

Now, in the next eight verses it seems to me that the subject is
somewhat different. We have seen the excellence of an undefiled way.
Now we have before us one who wants to prove the power of the Word to
keep him in that undefiled way, and so he begins with this question.

9. How shall a young man cleanse his way?His passions are strong, his
experience little. His tempers are many–his friends cannot always be
at his side. "How shall he cleanse his way?" It is very apt to become
miry. The answer is–

9. By taking heed thereto according to Your Word. The Word of God will
keep him in the clean path–will warn him of all the mire into which he
would have fallen–and if he takes heed to his steps, he shall not
trip.

10. With my whole heart have I sought You: O let me not wander from
Your commandments. There is the young man's fear and it may be the old
man's fear, too. "I have sought You sincerely and earnestly, but do not
permit my weaker passions to get the mastery over me–do not suffer me
in some unguarded hour to be carried captive by my lusts. Oh, let me
not wander from Your commandments. It were better to die than to wander
from Your way." The true convert dreads sin! He loathes the very
thought of the most pleasurable folly. "Oh, let me not wander from Your
commandments."

11. Your Wordhave Ihidin my heart, that Imight not sin against You.
There is the dread, you see–the dread of sinning–the dread of
defiling his way. So he says that he has adopted this Divine remedy. A
good division of this text, if anyone would preach from it, is the best
thing, "Your Word," in the best place–"have I hid in my heart," for
the best of purposes–" that I might not sin against You."

12. Blessed are You, O LORD: teach me Your statutes. As if he said,
"Teach me your statutes that I may be blessed, too. You are a happy
God. Teach me Your way that I may be happy, too. Blessed are the
undefiled. Teach me to be so, that as You are blessed, so I may be."

13. 14. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of Your mouth.
Ihave rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all
riches. A man's walking will be right when his delight is of this kind,
for where the heart goes, the life will go. To some people religion is
a task. It will never have much power over them. But when it becomes a
delight, then will their walk be affected by it. A well-known and
renowned infidel of the last generation, travelling in Wales, said to a
little girl whom he saw reading her Bible, "Well, my Dear," he said, "I
see you are getting through your task." "Task, Sir?" she said, "What do
you mean? I am reading the Bible." He said, "I thought your mother had
set you a chapter to read." "Oh, no, Sir. If my mother wanted to punish
me, she would not make me read the Bible. It is the most delightful
book in all the world and it is a great joy to me when I can get a
little time alone to read my Bible." It touched his heart. As he
confessed afterwards, he was delighted to find something like genuine
religion. And where you find delight in religion, there it is genuine!
True, genuine religion is like some of the German waters. They come up
all fresh and sparkling. I like to see the sparkling in it–a little
sparking religion–a little flash ofjoy and of delight. But very much
that we get now-a-days is flat, stale, dull, unprofitable. They keep it
corked, but badly corked, usually, and when we see it, there is nothing
in it that we should desire it! It is a poor article. God give us
delight in Himself, for that is true religion!–

"I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies As much as in all
riches."

15. I will meditate in Your precepts, and have respect unto Your ways.
An excellent way of keeping the life clean is to keep the thoughts
clean. Our boys are brought to prison by reading the abominable trash
that is poured forth for juveniles–and many and many a crime has been
the result of the fiction of the present day! It is often not only
light reading, but filthy reading, too. If we would read God's Word
more, and meditate in it better, our hearts would be kept sweet and so
would our lives!

16. I will delight myself in Your statutes: I will not forget Your
Word. God grant that we never may.

17. Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live, and keep Your
Word. Does it need much Grace, then, to keep a child of God alive–even
to keep him alive? Yes, it does! Little Grace will be of no use to us.
We must have great Grace, for our needs are great. Sometimes our
troubles are great. At other times our temptations are great. We are
always in great necessity and You, Lord, must have a large bank, and
you must give it liberally to us, or else we, poor, penniless beggars,
must utterly die of need. Merely to live, then, needs the bounty of
God. "Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your
Word"–for there is no living in truth, except as we keep the Word of
God. Those who live in the neglect of God's Word are not living at all,
but they are dead while they live! God deliver us from such life.

18. Open You my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your
Law. They are there, but I cannot see them unless You open my eyes. It
is not that Your Word is dark, but that my eyes are dim. Yes, by nature
they are blinded altogether. Oh, You who are the great Physician of the
blind, open my eyes!

19. I am a stranger in the earth: hide not Your commandments from me.
Do you see the drift of that? He says, "I am a stranger here. Then,
Lord, if You do not become and continue to be my Acquaintance, I am
altogether alone." It is true of the Christian that he cannot find
anything here that can satisfy his soul. He must, therefore, have the
Lord, or else he is in a very sorry case. Oh, Beloved, the more you
find yourselves strangers in this world, the more are you becoming like
your God! The Psalmist says elsewhere, "For I am a stranger with
You."Not, "to You," but, "with You, like You," for God is a stranger in
this world. Men do not recognize Him or delight themselves in Him. "So,
since, Lord, I have no other friend, and can find no other satisfying
portion, hide not Your commandments from me. On the contrary, let me
see more of You, because I have nothing else."

20. My soul breaks for the longing that it has unto Your judgments at
all times. We cannot always say that, for we sometimes wish that our
hearts would break. Sometimes we sing–

"My heart rejoice or ache– Resolve this doubt for me. And if it is not
broken, break And heal it if it be."