Holy Longings

Holy Longings

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 29, 1890,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for Your commandments.
Look You upon me, and be merciful unto me, as You used to do unto those
that love Your name. Order my steps in Your Word: and let not any
iniquity have dominion over me." Psalm 119:131,132,133.

LAST Lord's-Day we spoke about being in the fear of God all the day
long and I am afraid some thought, "The pastor has set a very high
standard before us–not too high, but still far above what we have been
able to reach." I know that many desires after holiness were excited
and many longings of heart went up to Heaven. It ought to be so as soon
as the Truth of God is received into the mind. Note the context–"The
entrance of Your Word gives light; it gives understanding unto the
simple." And then the next step is intensity of desire–"I opened my
mouth and panted: for I longed for Your commandments."

When we have light enough to see what holiness is and how desirable it
is, then we should hunger and thirst after it. To be holy is to go to
the University–to have a desire for it is to go to a preparatory
school for children–and to labor and agonize for it is to go to the
grammar school. I want to teach the young children and get them ready
for that grammar school, that their course may be clear for the
University of actual holiness of life. I shall not take you to the
grammar school of strong desire with the view of your stopping there,
but that I may coach you up, by God's good Spirit, for the University
of attainment where you will be "in the fear of the Lord all the day
long."

Here we have David desiring, praying, pleading and setting forth very
clearly what he pants after. May you and I have the same burning
desires. May we pant. May we thirst and at the same time may we clearly
know what we are panting for, so that we may the more intelligently
pursue it and thus go the nearest way to obtain it! May the Holy
Spirit, the Author of holiness, help us in our meditations upon these
three verses!

In the first verse you have the Psalmist longing intently after
holiness– "I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for Your
commandments." In the next verse you have David pleading fervently for
the thing that he desired, praying in this fashion, "Look You upon me,
and be merciful unto me, as You used to do unto those that love Your
name." In the third verse you have the same man of God enlarging
intelligently upon what it was that he pleaded for, giving both the
positive and the negative side of it–"Order my steps in Your Word: and
let not any iniquity have dominion over me."

I. First, then, we will think of LONGING ARDENTLY AFTER HOLINESS–"I
opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for Your commandments."
Observe carefully that the man of God longed for the Lord's
commandments. This cannot mean anything else than that he longed to
know them, longed to keep them, longed to teach them, longed to bring
all around him into obedience to them.

Many religious people long after the promises and they do well, but
they must not forget to have an equal longing for the commandments. It
is a sad sign when a man cannot bear to hear of the precepts, but must
always have the preacher touching the string of privileges. To the
renewed man it is a privilege to receive a command from the Lord whom
he serves–and a great Grace to have the will and the power to obey it.
To us Divine Grace means a power which sways us, as well as a favor
which distinguishes us. To me the greatest privilege in all the world
would be perfect holiness. If I had my choice of all the blessings I
can conceive of, I would choose perfect conformity to the Lord Jesus,
or, in one word, holiness.

I do not think I should have made Solomon's choice of "wisdom," unless
it included wisdom of moral and spiritual character–and that is
holiness. I said to a young girl the other day, "Are you perfect?" She
answered that it was her greatest desire to be so, though she had not
yet attained it. Just so. And that hallowed desire shows which way the
heart

is going. No unrenewed heart ever sighed and cried after holiness! A
mere passing wish is of but little worth–I am speaking of the intense
and continual desire of the heart. We must strive after holiness with
an agony of desire. Oh, to be rid of every sin! What is that but
Heaven? Oh, to escape cleanly from every tendency to it and from every
trace of it! This would be bliss. What more of happiness could we
desire than to fulfill that Word of our Lord–"Be you perfect, even as
your Father which is in Heaven is perfect"?

Are you conscious of great longings to escape from sin? Do you feel far
less dread of Hell than of sin? Is sin the worst of hells to you? Is it
horrible, terrible, killing? Would it be the heaviest punishment that
could be laid upon you if the Great Judge should say, "You are filthy,
be filthy still. You are unholy, be unholy still"? It would certainly
be the worst of deaths to some of us! The deepest prayer of our hearts
is to be delivered from that inbred sin which is tinder in which the
sparks of temptation find fuel. We long to be delivered from that law
in our members which brings us into captivity to sin. Oh, that we could
be like He who said, "The prince of this world comes and has nothing in
Me"! How wonderful! "Nothing in Me"!

Alas, the evil prince finds very much of his own in most of us. One of
the best men I ever knew said, at 80 years of age, "I find the old man
is not dead yet." Our old man is crucified but he is long a-dying. He
is not dead when we think he is. You may live to be very old, but you
will have need, still, to watch against the carnal nature which remains
even in the regenerate. I heard one speak about feeling angry when
provoked and he said "he felt a bone of the old man moving." Alas,
there is more than a bone of it in us–there is the whole body of this
death still left–and very palpable, very substantial it does seem to
be at times, so that we are forced to cry out, "O wretched man that I
am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

We need deliverance, not from the bones of it, but from the very body
of it which still plagues us. In those longings you see which way the
stream of your heart is flowing. In these longings of your spirit you
may fully observe the Divine commandments–these desires, I say, show
that you have a clean heart and a right spirit–a heart which would do
good, though evil is present within you. The tide is running in the
right way, though the wind may be blowing against it. Being born of
God, you do not commit sin as the tenor of your life, but you strive
after that which is pure and good.

Now, observe that the Psalmist, having told us what he longed for,
shows the strength of those desires, for he had been so eager in his
pursuit of holiness that he had lost his breath. He could not find
among men a good figure to describe himself and so he looked among
animals and he selected the panting stag as his crest. The hart has
been hunted over hill and dale. The dogs have long been close behind
it. It has fled, as with the wings of a swift eagle, from their
murderous teeth. For a moment it has eluded them. It pauses. It longs
to bathe itself in the brook. It is hot, weary and thirsty and
therefore opens its mouth wide.

See how it pants! Mark how its breast heaves and its whole body
palpitates while it tries to regain its breath! The poor hunted thing
is exhausted with its desperate efforts. Have not we, also, at times,
felt spent in the struggle against sin? We have not yet resisted unto
blood, but we have said to ourselves, "What more can we do? This fierce
temptation returns–we may yet be overthrown by it. Oh, that we could
take to ourselves wings and fly away! Woe is unto us, for we have no
strength." You were like a man who is out of breath–you were striving
beyond yourself after "life more abundantly."

Accursed is that man who has exhausted body and mind in the race of
sin–from that curse he can only escape by looking to Jesus who was
made a curse for us! But blessed is that man who has spent all the
energy of his being in following after righteousness, for out of
weakness he shall be made strong. When he cries, "My foot slips," the
mercy of the Lord shall hold him up. When, like David in the battle
with the giant, he waxes faint, the Lord shall cover his head.
Meanwhile he opens his mouth and pants out his weariness–and the Lord
is with him and He will preserve him alive. Are you ready to faint this
morning? Underneath are the everlasting arms! He that faints in such a
pursuit as this shall swoon away upon the bosom of his Lord. Be of good
comfort.

See, next, how resolved he was. He says, "I opened my mouth, and
panted." He is eager to go onward. Worn out by previous effort, he does
not lie down to die but is determined to continue on the move. Give up
the struggle? Never! My Brothers and Sisters, we have drawn the sword
against the Canaanites of sin and we will never sheathe it until the
last of them is slain! It may be a lifelong battle, but we will never
make truce or treaty with sin. Woe unto him who says of holiness, "To
here shall you come, but no further–and here shall your proud waves be
stayed." We must never degrade

ourselves by saying, "This form of sin cannot be conquered, for it is
constitutional–as it was bred in my bones it must be allowed to come
out in my flesh." Brethren, we allow no excuse for ourselves. We will
not plead for the life of a single sin–

"Yes, my Redeemer, they shall die;

My heart has so decreed!

Nor will I spare the guilty things

That made my Savior bleed."

Oh, for the holy fury of a sanctified iconoclast who will spare nothing
which is opposed to God! We are called to break in pieces every idol,
to cast down every grove and to overthrow every altar so that Jehovah
may be God alone in the land. I charge you, never compromise with
sin–abhor the idea of compromise with error and with evil. If you say,
"I will only sin so far," you might as well say, "I will only take so
much poison, or stab myself a few inches deep." Alas, you have given up
the fight when you have come to terms with the foe! A hot temper may be
natural, but it must be conquered! An obstinate spirit may be inborn,
but it must be cast out! A proud mind may be a family heritage, but it
must be laid low! Certain weeds may be indigenous to the soil of your
Nature and therefore it may be doubly difficult to extirpate them, but
the work must be done. Keep the hoe going–never cease from the
determination to uproot the last of them! Even though you open your
mouth and pant with weariness, yet keep your face set like a flint
towards holiness and let your case be that of one who is "faint, yet
pursuing."

Note that the follower after holiness seeks renewed strength. Why does
he open his mouth and pant? Is it not to get more air, to fill his
lungs again, to cool his blood and to be ready to renew his running?
When you have an hour's retirement from the battle against sin, spend
it in refurbishing your shield and sharpening your sword–for another
assault will soon be upon you. We can become strong again. "He gives
more Grace." We are never, for a moment, to suppose that we have
exhausted the strength of God when we have exhausted our own. We ought
to be all the more earnest to draw upon Divine all-sufficiency!

We are to be like that fabled giant whom Hercules could not overcome
for a long while because he was a child of the earth–every time he was
thrown down he touched his mother earth and rose with fresh strength.
Hercules had to hold him aloft in his arms and there strangle him. Now,
whenever you are thrown down and call upon your God in your faintness
and weakness, you will find that He restores your soul–"To them that
have no might He increases strength." When cast down we cry, "Rejoice
not against me, O my enemy: when I fall, I shall arise." "When I am
weak, then am I strong." May we realize the truth of that Christian
paradox! Brethren, we can overcome sin in the power of the Lord!

The Canaanites have chariots of iron, but Christ has a rod of iron with
which He can break them in pieces. Sin is strong, but Divine Grace is
stronger. Satan is wise, but God is All-Wise. The Lord is on our side,
therefore let us open our mouth wide and take in another draught of
Heaven's reviving air! Let us bathe in the Water of Life! Let us drink
from the smitten Rock and in thus waiting upon the Lord we shall renew
our strength. Has He not said, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill
it"? When our desires are after the best things, we may expect the Lord
to meet with us and grant us times of refreshing from His Presence. In
remembrance of these visitations and the time of intense desire which
preceded them, we can say, "I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed
for Your commandments."

The Psalmist was dissatisfied with his attainments. Brethren, may we
never be content with ourselves. We are satisfied with the Word of God.
We are satisfied with the Gospel of God. We are satisfied with the
favor of God. We are satisfied with the Christ of God. But we shall
never be satisfied with our own personal condition till we wake up in
the likeness of the First-Born Son! Satisfaction with self is the death
of progress! He that is not content with his place in the race will
push forward. But he that is proud of his position in the running will
soon flag and fall behind. Like the man on the bicycle, we must keep
going–to stop is to drop. On! On! On! You are only safe as the wheel
spins round and you throw the miles behind you.

My text is not the utterance of one who is sitting in his armchair with
the motto on the wall behind him, "Rest and be thankful." As for the
man who feels as the Psalmist did, his mind is far away in the land
beyond him. His opened mouth and panting heart speak of desires which
are not as yet fulfilled. Yet, let no tinge of discouragement mingle
with your dissatisfaction–this man is hopeful of better things. He
opens his mouth because he looks for something to fill it! He pants
because he believes in brooks which will relieve his thirst. Wise men
will only pant for that which it is possible to

attain. We are not Quixotical–we have set out on no romantic
expedition. We do not shoot at the moon nor aim at an absurd ideal. We
are not even rash like those who seek the North Pole and risk their
lives for a dream.

Brothers and Sisters, God can make us holy! Few of us have any adequate
idea of what we may become, even here, by Divine Grace. The
possibilities of sanctification are seldom explored, but the mass of
professors are content with small things in this direction. When a man
asks me, "Can I be perfect?" and looks as if he would lead me into a
debate upon the subject, I try to find out what manner of man he is
before I answer him. If he is worldly, given to appetite, an angry man,
a hard man, a proud man, or a lover of his own supremacy I smile at the
question as coming from him. I picture to myself a man who slept under
a hedge last night, whose pockets are full of emptiness, whose clothes
would disgrace a rag bag, out at elbows and beggarly–and this
gentleman wishes to discuss with me the question–"Is great wealth
attainable by an ordinary working man?" I cannot see what the question
has to do with him!

He of the rag bag says, "You know, Sir, we cannot all acquire 10,000 a
year." "No, my dear fellow, it would seem that we cannot all save 10
pence, much less 10,000 a year. Had you not better get a pair of shoes
for your feet before you talk about thousands? These are great words
from a very little man." When you are not doing what you might do, why
speculate about what is possible or impossible? When a man has not
enough Divine Grace to make change for a sixpence, he may waive all
question about the millions of spiritual perfection! Do you cry, "Can I
be perfect"? I answer, leave that question until you are much further
on the way to it than you are now. Do not be distressed by the fear
that you may by accident become better than you should be!

I will insure against that calamity at a very low rate. Have faith in
God and say, in His name, "If perfect holiness is possible, I will have
it. If it can be reached on earth, I will reach it." All that the
Spirit of God can make of such a poor sinner as I am, it is my desire
that He should make. I gladly submit myself and all that I have to His
gracious operation. Brothers and Sisters, do you not say the same? I
would like to have a very dissatisfied congregation at this time–I
wish that everybody here would go out of this Tabernacle grumbling at
himself! I would like to hear each one say, "It will not do–I must get
out of this! I must rise to a higher condition–I must be more
Christ-like! I must have less and less of

self."

Brethren, may we be burning with an insatiable desire to be holy and
may we say with the Inspired penman, "I opened my mouth, and panted:
for I longed for Your commandments."

II. Desire, where it is real, will soon embody itself in prayer.
Therefore we find the Psalmist PLEADING

FERVENTLY FOR THE HOLINESS HE DESIRED. Here are his breathings: "Look
You upon me, and be merciful

unto me, as You used to do unto those that love Your name." You see,
dear Friends, he believes in God's power to bless him and therefore he
turns to Him and cries, "Look You upon me." Is that all? Is a look
sufficient? Listen to me and I will show you that there is much in a
look. Is it not written, "Look unto Me, and be you saved"?–that is our
look to God! If our looking to God saves us, what will not God's
looking at us do?

If there is so much power received by the eye of faith, how much will
be given by the glance of love from God? Think not little of a look
from God. A look–only a look! Yes, but it is from Him. Remember what a
look from Christ did for Peter. He did but look on him and swearing
Peter turned to weeping Peter in a moment! Great sinners may be
grateful for a look, for it is more than they deserve. Great saints may
rejoice in a look, for it means much when the eyes which look are the
eyes of Omnipotent Love! "Look You upon me." The favor of God is a
choice means of sanctification.

While affliction is greatly used of God to cleanse the heart, yet a
very noble, soul-filling sense of the love of God is the truest
sanctifier in the hands of the Holy Spirit. If you know that God loves
you with an everlasting love, you will love the Lord and hate every
false way. If you walk in the light of His Countenance, you will walk
in the way of His commandments. If God's love is shed abroad in your
heart by the Holy Spirit, like sweet perfume, your life will be
fragrant with it. It will become natural for you to please Him who
loves you infinitely and immutably! Blessed is that man upon whom God
looks–I mean, looks with an eye of favorable regard. Lord, look on me
and say, by that look, "I have called you by your name, you are Mine,"
and this will cause me to keep in Your way! That is what the Psalmist
is here praying for! The Lord can sanctify us with a look of love. His
choice makes us choice–His love fills us with love.

Observe that the pleader appeals to mercy. Let me draw your attention
to the text, "Look You upon me, and be merciful unto me." To be
delivered from the power of sin is the greatest of mercies. Sin is a
misery from which we can only be saved by mercy. "Be merciful unto me."
We have no claim upon the Lord by way of merit–our appeal is to His

Sovereign Grace. We have no rights–these we forfeited by our treason
against our King. We plead, as the courts say, "in forma pauperis," or
as the poor man seeks help from pity.

Our appeal is ad misericordiam–to mercy and compassion. When you come
before God in prayer, seeking sanctification, base your request upon
His mercy–"Lord, You have done much for me. Do still more and make me
holy. I have not profited by Your discipline as I ought to have done.
Deal with me in patience. I am poor material for the potter's skill,
but exercise Your long-suffering and bear with me and go on with Your
work of Grace until You have made me a vessel fit for Your use." It is
truest, wisest, safest for us to appeal to mercy. The best of saints
are sinners, still, and sinners always need mercy.

Then he pleads as one who loves God. He asks God to deal with him,
saying, "As you used to do unto those that love Your name"–implying
that he is one of them. Come, dear Friends, are you of the number of
the lovers of the Lord? Do you love God's name?–that is to say, His
Character and His revealed will? "Yes, that I do," cries one, "God is
my exceeding joy and I delight in His Law after the inward man. His
holiness was once terrible to me, but now I admire it and delight in
it. Oh, that I were a partaker of it to the full!" You see the man's
character by the way in which his heart takes its pleasure! If any man
truly loves God he will grow like God. The revealed Character of God
is, to some of us, a joy forever–and this is a sure mark of Divine
Grace.

We are not what we ought to be. We are not what we want to be. We are
not what we hope to be. We are not what we shall be–but we do love the
name of the Lord–and this is the root of the matter. We shall be like
He, for we love Him. Thus the very fact that the Lord has filled us
with love to Himself is a plea for further Grace to keep His
commandments. The Psalmist employs the grand plea of use and custom,
for he says, "As You used to do unto those that love Your name." Use
and custom generally have great weight in a court of law. A friend said
to me, "How will such a suit go? The case has never been before a court
until now?" I answered, "Are you sure that what was done is according
to universal and long-continued custom? For, if so, though there is no
law, the custom of the trade will stand."

Custom among men reaching far back holds good in court–how much shall
the custom of the eternally unchanging God decide His future acts! The
Psalmist pleads the Lord's own custom! And this is a grand plea with
Him because He is unchanging. Whatever He has done He will do–and His
having done it is a pledge that He will do it again–unless there is
any declaration to the contrary. The Psalmist seems to say, "You are in
the habit of helping those that love Your name. Lord, help me. It is
the way of You to sanctify Your people. Lord, sanctify me! When saints
desire to be holy, You are accustomed to grant their desires. Lord,
grant mine, for I have the same desires!" Is not this a good plea–"Be
merciful to me, as You used to do unto those that love Your name"? If
you think it a good plea, urge it at the Throne!

This involves another fact–he joyfully accepts God's method. When you
cry to God to help you in your overcoming of sin, you must consent that
He shall do it in His own way. Now, if it is His will that
sanctification should involve chastisement, are you willing to take it?
"Oh, yes!" you say, "Lord, do unto me as You used to do unto those that
love Your name. And if it is written, 'As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten,' Lord, rebuke and chasten me so long as You do but love me."
We kiss the rod because the Father who uses it deigns to kiss us. We
assent to the processes of Divine Grace that we may enjoy the results
of Divine Grace. It may so happen that if God sanctifies you, He may
have to grind you very small–cheerfully yield yourself to the mill!

If this is the way in which He deals with those that love His name, do
not desire any different treatment. As the result, you may become a
butt for the ridicule of ungodly men, but of this do not complain–for
this has frequently happened unto those that love His name. God
sanctifies His people, but not without their own effort in that
direction– be willing to make the effort, too. Say, "Lord, I will
breakfast with Your children, I will dine with Your children, I will
sup with Your children and I will go to bed with Your children hoping
to rise with Your children. Lord, take me into Your house and treat me
not as a stranger or a guest, but as a child! I do not ask for the best
bedroom, nor to have a special feast made for me–I would only share
the daily bread of Your little ones.

"If You treat Tour children so-and-so, treat me the same and I will be
grateful. I do not ask to go to Heaven without enduring tribulation on
the road. I would not pray to be exempted from the general
description–'These are they that came out of great tribulation and
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'"
We would not have less than the family of love and we cannot desire
more! It is enough for a sheep to be fed with the flock, for a child to
fare like the rest of the family. Do you see where we have come? Our
prayer is that God would make us holy–

holy through His favor, holy through His own gracious working. But we
leave methods in God's hands–let Him take His own way, His tried way,
His ordinary way, His fixed way–only let Him deal mercifully with us
as He used to do unto those that love His name.

Let no one of us demand exemption from the customary tests and trials–

"Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease While others
fought to win the prize, And sailed through bloody seas?" Do you expect
to be crowned without warfare? To be rewarded without labor? You expect
what you will never have! Give up such idle dreams and plead the prayer
of my text–"Look You upon me, and be merciful unto me, as You used to
do unto those that love Your name."

III. I thank you for your deep attention–it is greatly helpful to me
in my feeble state. Will you bear with me while I

conduct you to the third head, which is this–we see the Psalmist
ENLARGING INTELLIGENTLY UPON THE

FAVOR HE SEEKS. It is a good thing to come before the Lord with a
prepared prayer. "A prepared prayer!" cries one. "Would you have us
write out our prayers and learn them?" I did not say, or even think of
such a thing! But for a man to drop on his knees and to imagine that he
can at once pray acceptably without a preparatory thought is for him to
deceive himself.

The best prayer is when a man waits a little and considers, "What do I
need? If I had an invitation to visit the Queen and was told that I
might ask whatever I pleased of Her Majesty, I should prepare my
request. If I wished to make the most of the interview, I should
reflect and set my petition in order. I might ask amiss–I might ask
for something inconsistent, or something unfit for royalty to bestow–I
should therefore turn my prayer over. When you go before God, it is
well to know what you are in need of. Our older Brethren used to say in
prayer, "We would not rush into Your Presence as the unthinking horse
rushes into battle." I suppose they would not, for, as a rule, they did
not make much of a rush at anything! I do not wish to quote the
old-fashioned remark so as to revive it, for I have often wished that
the old horse had been put into an omnibus and worked to death. Horses
are not expected to think and therefore the term, an unthinking horse,
was needless! Still, there is something in what the expression
meant–we must not go before God without thought and reverent
preparedness of heart and mind.

Now, let us see how the Psalmist puts it. His cry is for holiness and
he describes it as being ruled by the Word of God. "Order my steps in
Your Word." The different sects have differing ideas of holiness, but
the reality of holiness is only one. It is this–"Order my steps in
Your Word." If we believe God's Word, we are orthodox. If we practice
it we are holy. This Book is the great umpire as to conduct–not the
changing moral sentiment of passing generations! Pray God to order your
life according to His Word. To this Word we must be conformed. This is
our copy to write by–this is the image to which we must be molded.

He would have holiness in every step of his life–"Order my steps in
Your Word." It is not, "Lord, order my journey as a whole," but, "Order
my steps." We lose a great deal by lumping things–in the matter of
holiness detail is all-important. Brothers and Sisters, I would not
only preach a holy sermon, but I desire that every word may be a holy
word, every sentence a right sentence. As you believe in the verbal
Inspiration of the Bible, so pray for verbal guidance in your speech
and minute direction in your actions. The whole Book of Life will be
excellent when every line and every letter is ordered according to the
Word of the Lord. When we are careless as to the parts we spoil the
whole.

Notice that he would have every step ordered. "Order my steps." We wish
to put the right foot forward, but the right foot to move may not
always be that which is called the right. The left foot may sometimes
be the right and we must not take things for granted. We wish to put
down our right foot in the right place, at the right time, with the
right degree of force and turned in the right direction. A great deal
of holiness depends upon order, punctuality and proportion. If order is
not Heaven's first law, it is certainly one of its laws and proportion
is another.

Some men's lives are out of perspective. Do you remember Hogarth's
caricature of a picture without perspective wherein a man appears to be
fishing in a river but is really standing far away from it? A sparrow
in a tree looks like a huge eagle and a man on the top of a hill is
borrowing a light from a candle held out of the window of a house down
below on the other side of the river. Without perspective, good drawing
is impossible–and without proportion a complete life is impossible. A
man may be, in many points, a good man. You may say of him, bit by bit,
"Yes, that is good

and that is good," and yet he may have so much of one virtue that it
may become a vice–and he may have so little of another virtue that it
may be a grave defect. We can never attain to the right proportion of
the virtues unless the Lord Himself arranges them in order for us. O
Lord, help us! Order our steps!

We remark that he would have every step full of God– he would have
each one ordered of the Lord. He would receive his strength, his
motives, his guiding influences direct from the Lord–"Order my steps
in Your Word." Lord, when I put my foot down there, may it be at Your
order. And when I move it to another place, may it still be at Your
command. Whether here or there, may I only step where You appoint. Let
me go nowhere apart from Your Divine guidance and command. "Well,"
cries one, "this is difficult." But, my Brother, although obedience may
not be easy, it is free from the far greater difficulties which
accompany self-will! A child who will do nothing but what his father
commands does not find his course difficult–the difficulty comes in
when he wants to follow his own will and to have his own way.

You cannot serve God and self! If you try it, the mixture is nauseous
and injurious. Say, "Lord, I would consult You about everything I
think, or say, or do, for then that which I do will not have to be
undone–that which I say will not be wished unsaid–and that which I
think will not have to be wept over. 'Order my steps in Your Word.' Put
me under orders. Keep me under orders and never let me escape Your
orders."

Observe that the last part of the verses is the negative way of
describing holiness–"Let not any iniquity have dominion over me." He
would be wholly delivered from the tyranny of sin. Many men are violent
against one sin, but the true saint abhors all sin. You are a
teetotaler. I am very glad to hear it–you will not allow the sin of
drunkenness to have dominion over you. But are you selfish and
ungenerous? Have you developed habits of strict economy in regard to
religious donations so that you always give a penny where you ought to
give a pound? What have you done? You have only changed your idols! You
have dethroned one usurper to set up another! If you were once profane
and are now hypocritical you have only changed iniquities!

It is a very curious thing how one sin feeds on another–the death of
profligacy may be the resurrection of greed. The flight of pride may be
the advent of shameless folly. The man who was lewd, riotous, brawling
and irreligious has killed those sins–and on their graves he has sown
a handful of a poisonous weed called pride–and it flourishes
amazingly! It may be London pride, country pride, or English pride, or
American pride–but it is rare stuff to grow– and to grow over the
rotting carcasses of other sins. Unbelief may dethrone superstition,
but its own reign may be no real improvement upon that of credulity. If
you only throw down Baal to set up Ashteroth, what progress have you
made towards God? Little does it matter which of the false gods is set
up in the temple of Jehovah–He hates them all! The right prayer is,
"Let not any iniquity have dominion over me."

Some sins are of respectable repute and other sins are disreputable
among men. But to a child of God every sin is loathsome. Sins are all
what Bunyan calls Diabolonians and not one of them must be suffered to
live in the town of Man-Soul. "Let not any iniquity have dominion over
me." I can see the throne set up within the heart of man. Who shall sit
on it? It cannot be empty–who shall fill it? This sin, that sin, or
the other? No, Lord, help me to keep every intruder out of it! Whether
he come as an angel of light or in his true character as the devil,
help me to treat every one as an enemy that would seek to supplant You
in your dominion over me!

Oh, that God may reign over us from morn to eve, through every day of
every week of every year! "Let not any iniquity have dominion over me,"
is a prayer against the reign of sin. Sin will attack us, but sin shall
not subdue us, for it is written, "Sin shall not have dominion over
you." You may put up "Trespassers, beware!" but the trespassers will
come, do what you may. Still, they shall not be allowed to acquire a
right of way through our Nature. If a bird flies over our head, we
cannot help it–but we will not let it make its nest in our hair. So a
temptation may pass by us, an evil imagination may flit over the mind,
but we will not invite evil, nor patiently endure it, nor allow it to
lodge in our souls! Our bosom's throne is for the King of kings, Jesus,
the Bridegroom of our hearts! This is our prayer–"Let not any iniquity
have dominion over me."

I fear that many professors have never understood this prayer. One man
is a splendid man for a Prayer Meeting, a fine man for a Bible
class–but at home he is a tyrant to his wife and children. Is not this
a great evil under the sun? Another man is stern and honest and he
inveighs with all his might against every form of evil–but he is hard,
even to cruelty, with all who are in his power. One is generous and
fervent, but he likes a sly drop. Another is good-natured and pleasant,
but he puts it on in his bills at times and his customers do not find
the goods quite of the quality they pay for. I

have known a man who would not work on the Sabbath, but then he never
worked on the other six days–and another who never broke the Sabbath,
but he broke many hearts by his unkindness. Beware of pet sins! If you
let a golden god rule you, you will perish as well as if you let a mud
god rule you. Be this your constant cry–"Let not any iniquity have
dominion over me."

I have done when I say just this. I have been describing these
longings, but I have only been taking you to that preparatory school of
which I spoke at the commencement. Already some of you are saying, "I
do not think I shall make a rapid scholar even at this preparatory
school." The first thing you have to do is to see that you have these
longings strong within you. If you have them, thank God for them. To
pant and pine after holiness is infinitely better than to be
self-righteous! Cultivate these desires and cravings. But, in the next
place, never rest content with mere longings. He that really longs is
not content to long–he desires to have his desire fulfilled. The only
way to be holy–you that have not begun–is to go to a holy God through
the holy Mediator!

Trust in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus and so be reconciled to God by
Him who alone can put away sin. Then go again to Jesus and ask Him to
renew you in the spirit of your mind and wash you with water from the
power of sin, as He has washed you with blood from the guilt of it.
When you are washed, take care that you keep your garments unspotted
from the world. When you have once known the transforming power of the
Holy Spirit, do not return again to folly. Follow on watchfully and
resolutely. Seek the daily renewing of the Holy Spirit and so shall you
go from strength to strength till you shall be like your Lord and shall
see Him as He is.

May God bless my feeble words and put power into them for your eternal
good, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON– Psalm 119:119-136. HYMNS
FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–42, 119 (SONG II), 119 (SONG III).