Psalm 51:6

“Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part you shall make me to know wisdom.”

Mankind at large are chiefly concerned of their outward conduct; but the child of God cannot rest in mere externals; he is concerned about the internal habits of his soul; and desires to have them conformed to the mind and will of God.

The words before us strongly express this idea. We think that the words relate, not to his sins, but his repentance for them. The sense of them appears to be to this effect, “You require me to be truly sincere in my present humiliation; and, if I am, as I desire to be, thoroughly sincere, you will make this whole dispensation a source of the most important instruction to my soul.” In this view of the words, they are a humble address to God, declarative of,

I. The heart disposition which God requires.

“Truth,” is a conformity of our feelings and actions to our professions; and this God requires of us in the whole of our spirit and conduct.

1. God requires truth in our acknowledgments.

We acknowledge ourselves to be sinners before God. But such a confession is of no value in his sight, unless it is accompanied with suitable feelings. Think then:

What befits us, as sinners!

What deep sorrow and contrition we should feel for having offended Almighty God!

What self-loathing and self-abhorrence for our extreme vileness and baseness!

What ardent desires after mercy!

What readiness to justify God in all that he may be pleased to inflict upon us in this world, whatever means or instruments he may see fit to use; yes, and in the eternal world also, even if he casts us into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, and make us everlasting monuments of his wrathful indignation!

This should be the state and habit of our minds; we should have “our hands on our mouths, and our mouths in the dust,” “crying, Unclean, unclean!” In a word, we should adopt from our inmost souls the language of Job, “Behold, I am vile! Therefore I repent and abhor myself in dust and ashes!”

In proportion as we feel thus, we are upright, and have “truth in our inward parts;” but so far as we are lacking in these feelings, we are hypocrites in heart,” drawing near to God with our lips in a way belied by our hearts, Matthew 15:7-8.”

2. God requires truth in our purposes.

We profess, as people redeemed by the blood of our incarnate God, to give up ourselves to him, and to live unto Him who died for us; and, if we are sincere in this, then our determination is fixed, that, with God’s help, nothing shall ever keep us from executing this intention. We have deliberately counted the cost. We are aware, that “if we will live godly in Christ Jesus, we must suffer persecution;” but we are prepared to meet it, from whatever quarter it may come, yes, though “our greatest foes should be those of our own household.” We are ready to sacrifice our reputation, our interests, and our very lives also, rather than in any respect deny our God, or allow ourselves to be diverted from the path of duty. We are determined, through grace, to put away everything that may retard our progress heavenward, and to aspire after the highest possible attainments in righteousness and true holiness.

Now God requires, that we should be acting up to this profession, “setting our face as a flint against the whole world,” and standing in the posture of Daniel or the Hebrew youths, willing to have our bodies consigned to a den of lions, or a fiery furnace—rather than violate our duty by any sinful compliance. If we are halting or hesitating, we have not truth in our inward parts.

3. God requires truth in our endeavors.

Purposes must be judged of by the exertions that are put forth in order to carry them into effect. A diligent attendance therefore on all the means of grace must of necessity be required of us. In the public ordinances, and in our private chambers, whether we are hearing, or reading, or meditating, or praying, we must be like men in earnest, even like the man-slayer fleeing from the pursuer of blood, who scarcely stopped to look behind him, until he should reach the appointed sanctuary, the city of refuge.

Remissness in such a cause argues a lack of real integrity; if truth is indeed in our inward parts, we shall run as in a race, which leaves us no time to loiter; and wrestle with all our might, lest we be foiled in the contest. We mus fight as those who know that there is no alternative but to overcome or perish. In all the interior workings of our minds we shall resemble the Corinthians, who were “clear in this matter, 2 Corinthians 7:11.”

That we may not be discouraged by the strictness of God’s requirements, let us consider:

II. The benefits which God will confer.

There is a wisdom that is to be gained only by experience; what has its seat in the head, may be learned by the head; what dwells in the heart, must be learned by the heart; and of the heart there is but one teacher, even God; according as it is said, “Who teaches like God! Job 36:22.”

Among the treasures of wisdom which God will impart to the truly upright, and the hidden things which he will cause them to know, are:

1. The deceits of the heart.

These are very deep, and absolutely unsearchable, Jeremiah 17:9; yet in a measure will God reveal them to those who have truth in their inward parts. The world at large know nothing of them, “they are calling evil good, and good evil; they put darkness for light, and light for darkness; and bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter, Isaiah 5:20;” “they feed also on ashes; a deceived heart has turned them aside, so that they cannot deliver their souls, or say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? Isaiah 44:20.” They contrive to satisfy their minds that all is well with them, or at least to lull their consciences asleep with the hope that all will be well with them before they die. They have a thousand pleas and excuses which they urge in their own defense, and which they vainly hope will be accepted by their Judge. If we attempt to open their eyes, they reply, with indignation, “Are we blind also? John 9:40.” Thus are they both blinded and “hardened” through the deceitfulness of sin.

But those who are really “Israelites indeed, and without deceit,” have their eyes opened to see what delusions they have cherished; and being thus “brought out of darkness into marvelous light.” “Their eye being made single, their whole body is full of light.”

2. The devices of Satan.

The men of this world, though “taken in his snares, and led captive by him at his will,” have no idea of his agency. But he is a subtle adversary; and his “wiles” are innumerable. He can even “transform himself into an angel of light, 2 Corinthians 11:13-14;” and, when aiming a deadly blow at our souls, assume the garb of “a minister of righteousness.”

His first device is to persuade men that they are in no danger of the judgments they fear.

If he fails in that, he will instill into their minds the notion that they have gone too far, and that there is no hope for them.

If that snare does not succeed, he will draw them aside, after some points of less importance, or “matters of doubtful disputation.”

He has multitudes of false teachers at his command, who will gladly aid him in this accursed work, 2 Corinthians 11:13, and concur with him in his endeavors to “corrupt their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ, 2 Corinthians 11:3.” But, if we are following the Lord fully, he will not leave us “ignorant of Satan’s devices, or allow him to get his wished-for advantage over us, 2 Corinthians 2:11.” He will arm us against that adversary, and enable us to withstand him, Ephesians 6:11. He will give us “the shield of faith, whereby we shall ward off and quench all his fiery darts, Ephesians 6:16,” and be able so to “resist him, that he shall flee from us, James 4:7.”

3. The mysteries of grace.

“Great is the mystery of godliness,” and great is the mystery of grace, whether we consider the work wrought for us by Jesus Christ, or the work wrought in us by his Holy Spirit. These constitute that “wisdom, which is foolishness with man,” and which “the natural man cannot receive, because it is spiritually discerned, 1 Corinthians 2:7-9; 1 Corinthians 2:14.” To know this, we must be taught of God, “We must receive, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, before we can know the things that are freely given to us by God, 1 Corinthians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 2:12.” And O! how wonderful a work does this appear, when “God shines into our hearts to reveal it to us, 2 Corinthians 4:6.”

How worthy of God!

How suitable to man!

How surpassing comprehension, whether of men or angels!

Truly, the man whose eyes are thus opened, seems to be brought into a new world! “Old things are passed away, and all things are become new.” The ignorant world are amazed at the new line of conduct he pursues, just as Elisha’s servant was at his master’s confidence in the midst of danger. But, if their eyes were opened to see, as the believer does, the invisible God, 2 Kings 6:15-17. Hebrews 11:27, above him and within him, they would wonder rather, that there were any bounds to his transports, or any limit to his exertions.

4. The beauties of holiness.

All who are warped by their prejudices, or blinded by their lusts, are incapable of estimating aright the beauty and blessedness of true piety; it appears to them little short of madness. And even those who make a profession of godliness, but possess not truth in their inward parts, have very erroneous conceptions of true holiness.

Some place true holiness in a confident espousal of certain principles, or a zealous attachment to a particular party.

Others, inclining more to practical religion, make all duty to center in some one point—such as the mortification of the flesh, or almsgiving, or penances of man’s invention. Even those who are more enlightened, are apt to regard only one particular set of graces that are more congenial with their own feelings, and to neglect those which are of an opposite aspect; one despising everything in comparison with zeal and confidence; another leaning altogether to the side of prudence and timidity.

But the man into whose hidden part God has put true wisdom—views holiness, not with prismatic partiality, separating one grace from another, but all embodied, as light in the sun; every grace tempering its opposite, and all combining to the production of perfect beauty. He discards neither the vivid nor the darker ray; but, having all in united exercise, sorrow with joy, and fear with confidence, “the beauty of the Lord his God is upon him, Psalm 90:17,” and he shines in the Divine image in righteousness and true holiness! 2 Corinthians 3:18.

From this subject we may learn,

1. Why is it that men get so little insight into the Gospel.

Many hear the Gospel during their whole lives, and never attain any just knowledge of it. How shall we account for this? We suppose the Gospel to be preached with all possible fidelity, and yet it seems never to convey any light to their minds. The reason is, that they never take any pains to apply it to their own souls, or to get any one truth realized in their own experience. They assent to everything they hear; but they are content with being hearers, without ever once attempting to become doers of the Word they hear. They “see perhaps their face, as in a looking-glass, for the moment; but they go away, and forget what manner of men they are, James 1:22-25.” But our blessed Lord has told us, that we must aim at doing his will, in order to get any just insight into what he has revealed, John 7:17; and, as this desire is altogether lacking in the people we are speaking of, they never derive any solid benefit from the Gospel.

O brethren! you must “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own souls!” You must apply the Word to your own hearts; when you hear your sins pointed out, you must endeavor to humble yourselves for them in dust and ashes; when you hear of Christ as the one and only Savior of a ruined world, you must endeavor to flee to him for refuge; when the Holy Spirit is set forth as the one great source of all spiritual life and motion, you must cry to God the Father for his dear Son’s sake to send the Holy Spirit into your hearts, that the whole work of grace may be wrought within you. It is your neglect of thus harrowing the gospel seed into your hearts by meditation, and of watering it with tears, that has given Satan an opportunity of taking it out of your hearts as soon as ever it has been sown there! Matthew 13:4; Matthew 13:19.

Get the “honest and the good heart,” which truly desires to make a just improvement of the word, and God will yet cause the seed to spring up in your hearts, and to bring forth fruit to the salvation of your souls.

2. Why is it that so many who profess the Gospel, live so unworthy of it.

It is a melancholy fact, that many who profess godliness walk very unworthy of their high calling. Like Ezekiel’s hearers, they are gratified with the preaching of the Gospel, as people are with “one who plays well upon an instrument; but their heart still goes after their covetousness, Ezekiel 33:31-32,” or some other besetting sin. But this is owing to their not having “truth in their inward parts;” if they had, they would not be satisfied with merely professing the Gospel and talking about it, and looking with pity (or perhaps with contempt) on those who do not understand it. No!

They would look to their heart, that it should be meek and humble;
they would look to their conduct also, that it should be blameless and without deceit;
they would “give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”

Ah, brethren! think what God requires of all, and of those who make a profession of religion more especially; and beg of God to endue your souls with truth and wisdom, “that you may be sincere and without offence until the day of Christ.”

You may imagine that you “know all the depths of Satan, Revelation 2:24;” but if your professed “hope in Christ does not purify your souls as Christ is pure, 1 John 3:3,” then you are yet blinded by him, and utterly deceiving your own souls, James 1:26.

3. How to get the Word of God wrought in our souls.

Come to the Gospel with hearts tender and contrite, that they may be to it as wax to the seal. Then you shall have in your own souls “the witness” of all its most important truths, 1 John 5:10; and shall be able to answer from your own experience that question which God puts so triumphantly to all the world, “Does not my Word do good to him who walks uprightly?” You are not straitened in God; be not straitened in your own souls. Desire much; ask much; expect much—and God will supply your every need “according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus!”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 51:5

“Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me!”

One of the most essential marks of real penitence is a disposition to see our sins as God sees them; not mitigating their guilt by vain and frivolous excuses, but marking every circumstance that tends to aggravate their enormity.

During their impenitence, our first parents cast the blame of their transgression upon others; the man cast the blame on his wife; and the woman cast the blame on the serpent that had beguiled her. But when true repentance was given them, they no doubt beheld their conduct in a very different view, and took to themselves all the shame which it so justly merited!

The sin of David in the matter of Uriah was great, beyond all the powers of language to express. Yet there were points of view in which none but a real penitent would notice it, and in which its enormity was aggravated a hundred-fold.

This is the light in which the Royal Penitent speaks of it, in the Psalm before us. Having spoken of it as an offence, not merely against man, but primarily, and almost solely, against Jehovah himself—he proceeds to notice it, not as an insulated act or course of action, but as the proper fruit of his inherent, his natural, corruption. We are not to suppose, that he intended by this to cast any reflection on his mother, of whom he elsewhere speaks in most respectful terms; nor are we to imagine, that he adduces the nature which he had derived from her, as an excuse for the wickedness he had committed. His intention is to humble himself before God and man as a creature altogether corrupt, and to represent his wickedness as no other than a sample of that iniquity or which his heart was full, an evil stream issuing from the overflowing fountain of his corrupt heart. This, we doubt not, is the genuine import of the words which we have now proposed to consider, “Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin has my mother conceived me.”

In prosecuting this important subject, we shall endeavor to establish,

I. The truth asserted.

The doctrine of Original Sin is here distinctly affirmed. It is indeed by many denied under the idea that it would be inconsistent with the goodness and mercy of God, to send immortal beings into the world in any other state than one of perfect purity. But it is in vain for us to teach God what he ought to do; the question for us to consider is, What has God done? and what account has he himself given us of our state? And here, if the Scriptures are true, there is no room for doubt: We are all the corrupt off-spring of degenerate parents; from whom we derive a polluted nature, which alone, since their fall, they could possibly transmit.

1. We see the original sinfulness of every person, from concurring Scriptural testimonies.

Moses, in his account of the first man that was born into the world, expressly notices, that Adam begat him not in the likeness of God, in which he himself had been originally created, but “in his own likeness,” as a fallen and corrupt creature! Genesis 5:3. How different the one from the other, may be conjectured from the conduct of this first-born, who imbrued his hands in his brother’s blood. In his account too, as well of the post-diluvian, as of the ante-diluvian world, he tells us, that “every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually! Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21.”

Job, not only affirms the same awful truth, but shows us that it is impossible in the nature of things to be otherwise; since from a thing that is radically and essentially impure—nothing but what is impure can proceed! Job 14:4; Job 15:14-16; Job 25:4.

The testimony of Isaiah and Jeremiah is altogether to the same effect, Isaiah 6:5. Jeremiah 17:9; as is that also of Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 9:3.

And in the New Testament, our Lord himself teaches us to regard the heart as the proper womb where every species of iniquity is generated, and from whence it proceeds! Mark 7:21.

And Paul declares of himself, as well as all the rest of the human race, that they “are by nature children of wrath! Ephesians 2:3.”

But how can we be in such a state by nature, if we are not corrupt? Can God regard as objects of his wrath creatures that possess his perfect image? No; it is as fallen in Adam that he views us, and as inheriting a depraved nature that he abhors us!

The subject does not lead us to notice Adam as a federal head; and therefore we confine ourselves to what lies immediately before us.

2. We see the original sinfulness of every person from collateral evidence.

Whence was it that God appointed the painful and bloody rite of circumcision to be administered to infants of eight days old, but to show that they brought into the world with them a corrupt nature, which it was the bounden duty of all who were in covenant with him to mortify and subdue? While, on the one hand, it sealed to them the blessings of the covenant; it intimated to them, on the other hand, that they needed to have “their hearts circumcised, to love the Lord their God.”

Why is it that every child, from the first moment that he begins to act at all, manifests corrupt tempers and dispositions? If only some, and those the children of wicked men, evinced such depravity, we might be led to account for it in some other way; but when, with the exception of one or two who were sanctified from the womb, this has been the state of every child that has been born into the world, we are constrained to acknowledge, that our very nature is corrupt, and that, as David tells us, “we are estranged from the womb, and go astray as soon as we are born Psalm 58:3.”

Further, how can we account for the sufferings and death of infants, but on the supposition that they are partakers of Adam’s guilt and corruption? Sufferings and death are the penalty of sin; and we cannot conceive that God would inflict that penalty on millions of infants, if they were not in some way or other liable to his wrath. Paul notices this, as a compelling proof that all of Adam’s posterity fell in him, and through him are partakers of guilt and misery! Romans 5:12.

Once more, Why is it that all need a Savior? If children are not, in the eye of God, transgressors of his law, they cannot need to be redeemed from its curse. But Christ is as much the Savior of infants as of adults. We find no intimation in the Scriptures that any are saved without Christ; on the contrary, it is said, that, “as in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive.” In the temple shown to Ezekiel, there was one door for the prince; it was the door by which the Lord God had entered; and was to be forever closed to all except the prince, Ezekiel 44:2-3.

So Christ alone enters into Heaven by his own merits; to all besides him that door is closed. Just so, Christ alone is the door by which we must all enter in Heaven; he is the only way to the Father; nor, as long as the world shall stand, shall any come unto the Father but by him! John 10:9; John 14:6.

These things then, especially, as taken in connection with the many express declarations before quoted, are decisive proofs, that David’s account of himself was true, and that it is equally true of all the human race.

This truth being established, we proceed to mark,

II. The importance of adverting to original sin in estimating our state before God.

Unless we bear in mind the total corruption of our nature, we can never estimate aright:

1. Our individual actions.

Even in common courts of judicature, the great object of inquiry is, not so much the act that has been done, as the mind of the agent; and, according as that appears to have been depraved or blameless, the sentence of condemnation or acquittal is passed upon him.

Precisely thus must we judge ourselves in our conduct towards God. To elucidate this part of our subject, we will suppose two people to have been guilty of the same act of treason towards an earthly sovereign, but to have differed widely from each other in respect of the mind with which they acted.

One entered upon it unwittingly, and without any consciousness that he was doing wrong; the other knowingly, and aware that he was rebelling against his lawful sovereign.

One did it reluctantly, through the influence of one whom he could not easily withstand; but the did it other willingly, as a volunteer in the service, and as following the impulse of his own mind.

One went without premeditation, being taken hastily and off his guard; the other with a fixed purpose, after much plotting and deliberation.

In one it was a solitary act, altogether contrary to the whole of his former life; in the other it was frequent, as often as the temptation arose, or the occasion offered.

The one proceeded with moderation, not having his heart at all engaged in it; the other with a fiery zeal, abhorring in his soul the authority he opposed.

The one had his mind open to conviction, and might easily be prevailed upon to renounce his error; the other was filled with self-approbation and self-applause, thinking nothing of his risks and dangers, if he might but help forward the utter subversion of the government.

Take these two people, and say whether, notwithstanding their acts were in appearance the same, there would not be an immense difference between the measure of their criminality in the estimation of an upright judge? There can be no doubt on this subject.

Take then any other sin whatever, (for all sin is treason against the King of kings;) and examine how far it has been voluntary, deliberate, habitual; how far it has been against light and knowledge; and how far it has proceeded from a heart radically averse to God and holiness.

Let sins of omission be examined in this way, as well as sins of commission; and then the things which now are accounted light and trivial, will appear hateful in the extreme, not merely as blighted “grapes of a degenerate vine,” but as “grapes of Sodom, and clusters of Gomorrah;” their enormity will be felt, in proportion to the strength and fixedness of the principle from which they spring.

2. Our general character.

If our actions have not been openly sinful, we are ready to bless ourselves as having but little ground for shame and remorse. But if we consider “the enmity of the carnal mind against God,” and view our utter lack of all holy affections, and exceeding proneness to some besetting sins—we shall see but little reason to glory over the vilest of mankind.

We shall see abundant cause indeed for thankfulness to God, who by his preventing grace has restrained us from many evils into which others have run; but we shall take no credit to ourselves as better than others.

If we behold heinous sins in others, we must realize that there is the root of all sin in ourselves.

If we see in others the streams of wickedness, we shall bear in mind, that the fountain-head of it all is in ourselves also.

Thus, however free we may be from any flagrant enormity, we shall be ready to acknowledge with Paul, that “in us, that is, in our flesh, dwells no good thing!” And with Job to say, “Behold, I am vile! I repent, and abhor myself in dust and ashes.”

So far from indulging self-delight and self-esteem, we shall find no names more suited to us than those by which Paul designated his own character, “Less than the least of all saints!” and “The very chief of sinners! Ephesians 3:8. 1 Timothy 1:15.”

From this view of our natural corruption, we may learn,

1. How greatly we need the renewing influence of God’s Spirit.

Outward amendment might suffice for outward sins; but where the heart itself is so corrupt, we must have “a new heart given to us,” and “be renewed in the spirit of our minds.” With such corrupt hearts as ours, it would be impossible for us to enter into the kingdom of Heaven, or to enjoy it even if we were there; we could not bear the sight of so holy a God; nor endure to spend our lives in such holy employments! Know then, that “old things must pass away; and all things must become new.” “That which is born of the flesh, is flesh;” the stream can rise no higher than the fountain-head. If you would enjoy the things of the Spirit, you must be “born of the Spirit,” who alone can impart the faculties necessary for that end. Let your prayer then be like that of David, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me! verse 10.”

2. How carefully we should watch against temptation.

If we carried with us a load of gun-powder which a single spark would cause to explode—then we would be extremely careful to avoid whatever might subject us to danger. Should we not then, with hearts so corrupt, and with temptations so thick around us—look well to our ways, and pray unto our God to keep us from the evils of an ensnaring world? Well did our blessed Lord say, “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation;” “The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Who that reflects on David’s state previous to his fall, does not fear for himself, and cry mightily unto God, “Hold me up, and I shall be safe!” “Uphold me with your free Spirit, and take not your Holy Spirit from me!” To all then we say, “Do not be high-minded, but fear;” “Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall!”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 51:4

“Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight; that you might be justified when you speak, and be clear when you judge!”

The occasion of this Psalm is well known; it refers to one of the most melancholy transactions that ever took place in the world. In point of enormity, the deed is almost without a parallel; because it was performed by a man who until that time had made the highest professions of religion, and had been characterized even by God himself as “the man after God’s own heart.”

But it is not the crime which David committed, but only the repentance which followed it which is the subject of our present consideration. For a long time his heart was hardened; but after that Nathan had come from God to accuse and condemn him, he yielded to the conviction, and humbled himself before God in dust and ashes. In this Psalm is recorded the prayer which David offered unto God on that occasion; and it was given by David to the Church, that it might be a pattern, and an encouragement, to penitents in all future ages.

The particular declaration in our text is introduced as an aggravation of his guilt. We are not however to interpret it so strictly, as if the crime which David had committed were really no offence against man; for in that view it was as heinous as can possibly be conceived; it was a sin against Bathsheba, whom he had defiled; against Uriah, whom he had murdered; against Joab, whom he had made an instrument to effect the murder; against all the soldiers, who were murdered at the same time; against the friends and relatives of all who were slain; against his own army, who were hereby weakened and discouraged; against the whole nation, whose interests were hereby endangered; against the Church of God, who were hereby scandalized; and against the ungodly world, who were hereby hardened in their iniquities. It was “a sin also against his whole body, 1 Corinthians 6:18.”

We must therefore understand the expression rather as comparative; as if it had been said, “Against you, you chiefly, have I sinned.” Nevertheless, as an offence against God, the enormity of the crime is so great, as almost to swallow up and annihilate every other consideration of it, as the meridian sun reduces to non-existence, as it were, the twinkling of a star. It is from this consideration of it that every sin derives its chief enormity. Dropping therefore any further reference to David’s crime, we shall endeavor to show in general,

I. The malignity of sin as primarily an offence against God.

Men in general think little of sin, except as it affects the welfare of society. But sin as an offence against God, it is scarcely ever deemed worthy of notice! But every sin, of whatever kind, necessarily strikes at God himself.

1. Every sin implies an atheistic forgetfulness of God’s presence.

God is omnipresent; nor is anything hidden from his all-seeing eye. But when we commit sin, we lose all recollection that God’s eye is upon us; we say in our hearts, “The Lord shall not see; neither shall the God of Jacob regard it! Psalm 94:7;” “How shall God know? Is there knowledge with the Most High? Psalm 73:11.” “Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he cannot see, Job 22:13-14.” This is no deduction of ours, but the declaration of God himself; and the truth of it is evident; for, if even the presence of a fellow-creature is sufficient to deter men, so that they cannot perpetrate crimes to which they are most strongly tempted; so much more would the presence of Almighty God restrain us, if we were conscious that he was inspecting and witnessing all the secrets of our hearts.

2. Every sin is a contempt of God’s authority.

God, as the great Lawgiver, requires obedience to his laws, every one of which bears the impress of divine authority upon it. But in violating his commands, we trample on his authority, and say in effect, “I am at my own disposal; who is Lord over me? Psalm 12:4.” “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord; neither will I obey his voice! Exodus 5:2;” “I will not have this man to reign over me, Luke 19:14.”

We have a striking exemplification of this in the conduct of the Jews, who, contrary to God’s command, would go down into Egypt, “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, (said they to Jeremiah,) we will not hearken unto you; but we will certainly do whatever thing goes forth out of our own mouth! Jeremiah 44:16-17.” Thus, as God himself says, “We not only forget him, but cast him behind our back! Ezekiel 23:35.”

3. Every sin implies the disbelief of God’s truth.

God has spoken frequently respecting his determination to punish sin; he has said, that “he will by no means clear the guilty;” and that, “though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not pass unpunished.” Now, if we truly believed his Word, we could not rush into sin; the apprehension of such tremendous consequences would deter us from it. But we are hardened by unbelief. Unbelief was the source of all the Israelites’ rebellions in the wilderness, Psalm 106:24. Hebrews 3:19; and it is the fruitful spring of all our disobedience, “You shall not surely die,” is at the root of every evil we commit, Genesis 3:4. But “God is not a man, that he should lie, or the son of man, that he should repent; has he said, and shall he not do it? Has he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23:19.” Let us bear this in mind, that in the commission of sin, and the expectation of impunity, we “make God himself a liar. 1 John 5:10.”

4. Every sin is a denial of God’s justice.

God has represented himself as “a God of judgment, by whom actions are weighed, 1 Samuel 2:3;” and has declared his purpose to “call every work into judgment,” and to “judge every man according to his works.”

But, in violating his laws, “we say, in fact, God will not require it! Psalm 10:13;” “The Lord is altogether such a one as ourselves! Psalm 50:21;” “The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad! Zephaniah 1:12.”

What an indignity is this to offer to the Governor of the Universe, the Judge of the living and the dead! He has spoken of the last day as “the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God;” but, if the outcome of it were such as we expect, and Heaven were awarded to willful and impenitent transgressors, it would rather be a day wherein God’s lack of justice and of holiness shall be displayed before the whole assembled universe.

5. Sin is a defiance of God’s power.

Men who commit iniquity are represented as “stretching out their hands against God, and strengthening themselves against the Almighty; yes, as running upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his buckler, Job 15:25-26;” and to what a fearful extent this is done, we may see by the testimony of God himself, “Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes, to those who say, “Let God hurry, let him hasten his work so we may see it. Let it approach, let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we may know it. Isaiah 5:18-19.” Does this appear an exaggerated account of men’s impiety? See then how they are described by the Psalmist, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts. His ways are always grievous; your judgments are far above, out of his sight; as for all his enemies, he puffs at them! Psalm 10:4-5.”

What an astonishing height of impiety is this; to puff at God’s threatenings, as if we defied him to his face! Yet do we see that this is the very conduct of men, whenever we warn them to flee from the wrath to come; we seem to threat them with judgments which they have no cause to fear, and to set in array against them an enemy whom they are at liberty to despise.

When once we view sin as an offence against God, we shall be prepared to acknowledge,

II. The equity of his judgments which God has denounced against sin.

That God has denounced the heaviest judgments against sin, is certain.

Against sin in general he has denounced eternal misery, “The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the people that forget God, Psalm 9:17. Romans 1:18.” Against every individual that commits it, he has also denounced his judgments, “The soul that sins, it shall die! Ezekiel 18:20. 1 Peter 1:17.” Against every particular sin, whatever be men’s excuses for retaining it, the same awful sentence is proclaimed, Mark 9:42-48. Death, everlasting death, is the wages due to sin! Romans 6:23, and the wages that shall be paid to every sinner at the last day, Matthew 25:46.

In executing these judgments, God will be completely justified.

We are ready to account such denunciations of wrath severe, and to question the equity of them. But the penal evil of damnation will not appear in the least to exceed the moral evil of sin, if we duly consider against whom sin is committed.

Consider God’s greatness. “Great is the Lord,” says the Psalmist, “yes, his greatness is unsearchable.” If we could conceive the lowest reptile, or the smallest insect, endued with such a measure of intelligence as to be able in some degree to appreciate the dignity of a mighty monarch; and then to exalt itself against him, and to pour all manner of contempt upon him—the atrocity of such presumption would justly excite our keenest indignation.

But the whole universe together is not as the smallest insect in comparison with God; and yet we—we atom insects of an atom world, dare to set ourselves against his divine majesty, yes, to defy him to his face! Will God then be unjust if he executes his judgments on such impious worms? Are we at liberty to insult him—and is he not at liberty to avenge himself on us?

But consider also God’s goodness towards us rebellious worms of the dust!

O how unbounded has this been!

How has he borne with us in all our rebellion!

How has he sent his only-begotten Son, to expiate our sin, and to open a way for our reconciliation with him!

How has he sought to glorify in our salvation, those very perfections which we have so impiously despised, and which he might well glorify in our everlasting condemnation!

How has he sent his Holy Spirit, to instruct, renew, and comfort us!

How has he sent his Word and ministers, to invite, entreat, expostulate; yes, and, as it were, to “compel us” to accept of mercy!

This he has done from our youth up; this he is doing yet daily and hourly; and, as if all his own happiness were bound up in ours, he says, “How shall I give you up?” “Will you not be made clean? Oh! when shall it once be?” This is the God against whom we are sinning. This is the God whom we wish extinct! Psalm 14:1. Omitting the words in Italics; and respecting whom we say, “Make the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” This is he, “whose blessed Son we trample under foot, and to whose eternal Spirit we despise! Hebrews 10:29.” Yes, that very “goodness and patience and forbearance which should lead us to repentance,” are made by us an occasion of multiplying our offences against him!

Say now whether he will “be unrighteous in taking vengeance?” Were a fellow-creature to make such returns to us, and to render nothing but evil to us for all the good we did to him—then would we account ourselves unjust, if we did not acknowledge him as one of our dearest friends, and place him on a footing with our own beloved children, and make him an heir of all that we possessed? Should we not feel ourselves amply justified in rejecting such an absurd and groundless claim as this?

Know then, that we have no claim on God; and, when he shall exclude us from the inheritance of his saints, “he will be justified” in the judgment that he shall denounce against us. Indeed, in assigning us this portion, he will only give effect to our own wishes, and answer us in the desire of our own hearts! We said to him, “Depart from us; we desire not the knowledge of you! Job 21:14;” and he will say to us, “Depart from me; depart accursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels Matthew 25:41.”

The whole creation will unite in vindicating these judgments as just and good.

Doubtless, if it were possible, sinners would urge at the bar of judgment the objections which here they presume to bring against the justice of their God. But sin will then appear in all its deformity! It will then be seen what a God we sinned against, and what mercies we despised. Even in this world, when once people are brought to view themselves aright, they justify God in all that he sees fit to inflict upon them.

It is worthy of observation, that God’s goodness to David is mentioned as the greatest aggravation of his offence, 2 Samuel 12:7-9.

Aaron, in Leviticus 10:3.

Eli, in 1 Samuel 3:18.

Hezekiah, in Isaiah 39:8.

David, in Psalm, in 39:9.

These all confessed, that God had a right to deal with them in the way that he had done. Much more in the day of judgment, when everything will be seen in its true light, will the whole universe approve the sentence which God shall pass on the world of the ungodly; they will make the very punishment of the wicked a subject of their songs, “saying, Hallelujah! salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God; for true and righteous are his judgments! Revelation 15:3; Revelation 19:1-2.”

Indeed the miserable objects themselves, though they cannot join in the song, will be unable to condemn the sentence. The man who was excluded from the marriage-feast for not having on a wedding garment, might have urged, that he was brought in before he had time to procure one; but his plea would have been false and unavailing; and therefore “he was speechless! Matthew 22:12.” This is a striking monument of conscious guilt, and a solemn specimen of a condemned soul, Romans 3:19.

1. In this acknowledgment then of David, we may see the grand constituents of repentance.

Many may be sorry that they have subjected themselves to punishment, just as a criminal may be sorry that he has forfeited his life to the laws of his country; but no man can truly repent, until he sees that his whole life has been one continued state of rebellion against God; and that “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” is his just desert. Until a man has this scriptural view of himself:
he will never be thoroughly broken and contrite;
he will never loath and abhor himself for his iniquities;
he will never have that “repentance which is unto life, that repentance which is not to be repented of.”

We entreat you all then to judge of your repentance by these marks. Do not be satisfied with being humbled on account of sin; but inquire particularly, whether you are more humbled from a view of it as against man, or a view of it as against God. These ought to bear no proportion in your estimate of your own character. Your own nothingness and vileness can only be estimated aright when viewed in contrast with God’s majesty which you have offended, and God’s mercy which you have despised; and until you see that everlasting misery in Hell is your deserved portion, you can never lie so low as you ought to lie!

2. In this acknowledgment then of David, we may see the true preparative for pardon.

We must bring something with us to the Savior; but what is that which we ought to bring? Must we get a certain portion of good works with which to purchase his salvation? No! this is a price which he will utterly despise. That which we are to bring is precisely what a patient brings to a physician, a sense of his extreme need of the physician’s aid.

Christ came to save sinners. We then must feel ourselves sinners.

He came to seek and save those who are lost. We then must feel ourselves lost. A just sense of our guilt and misery is all that he requires. If we come wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked—then he will give us that gold that has been tried in the fire, the clothing that shall cover our nakedness, and the eye-salve that shall restore our eyes to sight.

If we come to him full—then we shall be sent empty away. But if we come hungry and empty—then we shall “be filled out of his inexhaustible fullness,” we shall “be filled with all the fullness of our God.”

3. In this acknowledgment then of David, we may see the best preservative from sin.

When Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife, he answered her, “How shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God! Genesis 39:9.” Thus we would recommend all, when tempted to commit iniquity, to consider, first, what God will think of it; and next, what they themselves will think of it in the last day? Now sin may appear light and trivial, especially if it is not such a heinous sin as adultery or murder; but when it comes to be seen in its true light, as against an infinitely good and gracious God; and when the judgments which he has denounced against it come to be felt—what shall we think of it then? Oh! ask yourselves, ‘What will be my view of this matter in the last day?’ Then even the sins that now seem of no account, will appear most heinous; and the price paid for a momentary indulgence, will appear most profligate.

Esau’s selling of his birthright for a bowl of stew is but a very faint emblem of the folly of those, who for their sinful lusts, are induced to barter the salvation of their souls! View things now, as you will view them at the last day; and you will rather die a thousand deaths than sin against your God.

Charles Simeon

Psalm 51:1-3

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me!”

Sin is, for the most part, thought to be a light and trivial evil, especially among the higher ranks of society; as though the restraints of religion were designed only for the poor; and the rich had a dispensation granted them to live according to their own will. But sin, by whoever committed, will, sooner or later, be as the gall of asps within us; nor can all the charms of royalty silence the convictions of a guilty conscience.

View the Psalmist—he had been elevated from the low condition of a shepherd’s boy, to a throne; yet, when he had offended God in the matter of Uriah, there was not found in his whole dominions a more miserable wretch than he! Before his repentance became deep and genuine, “his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day long; for day and night God’s hand was heavy upon him; and his moisture was turned into the drought of summer, Psalm 32:3-4; Psalm 38:2-8.” Even in his penitence, we may see how heavy a load was laid upon his mind. This Psalm was written on that occasion; and the words before us, while they declare the workings of his mind, will serve to show us, in a general view:

I. The true penitent in his approaches to the throne of grace.

“Mercy” is the one object of his desire and pursuit. Observe,

1. The true penitent’s petitions.

“Have mercy upon me, O God; blot out my transgressions! Wash me throughly from my iniquities; and so cleanse me from my sin”—that no stain of it may remain upon my soul! Here he views his sins both individually and collectively; and, spreading them before the Lord with conscious guilt—he implores the forgiveness of them; dreading lest so much as one should be retained in the book of God’s remembrance, as a ground of procedure against him in the last day.

Thus will every true penitent come to God; and plunge, as it were, into the fountain of the Redeemer’s blood, “the fountain opened for sin and for impurity”.

2. The true penitent’s pleas.

Though David had, until the time of his grievous fall, served God with a more than ordinary degree of zeal and piety, he makes no mention of any past merits, nor does he found his hope on any future purposes. He relies only on the free and sovereign grace of God, as displayed towards sinners in the gift of his only dear Son; and to that he looks, as the ground and measure of the blessings he implores.

This is the view which every true penitent must have. He should see that God is of his own nature inclined to mercy, Exodus 34:6-7; and that all which Christ has done for us is the fruit of the Father’s love, John 3:16. Ephesians 2:4-5. Titus 3:4-5. Such are the pleas which God approves; and such will surely prevail in the court of Heaven.

II. The true penitent in the daily habit of his mind.

Repentance is not a mere occasional expression of the mind, but a state or habit that is fixed and abiding in the soul.

1. The true penitent carries with him a sense of guilt.

“His sin is ever before him;” indeed, he wishes it to be so; he desires to be humbled under a sense of it; and though he longs to have his transgressions blotted out of God’s book, he would never have them effaced from his memory; or cease, if he could help it, to have as deep an impression of their odiousness and malignity, as if they had been but recently committed. To his last hour he would “walk softly” before God, in the remembrance of them.

2. The true penitent carries with him a sense of shame.

He is ashamed when he reflects on his conduct throughout the whole of his life. Yes, “he blushes and is confounded before God, Ezra 9:6,” and even loathes and abhors himself in dust and ashes, Job 42:6.” Nor does a sense of God’s pardoning love produce any difference; except, indeed, as enhancing the loathsomeness of his character in his own eyes! Ezekiel 36:31; Ezekiel 16:63.” The name which, in sincerity of heart, he acknowledges as most appropriate to him, is that which the Apostle Paul assumed, “The chief of sinners!”

ADDRESS.

1. To those who are not conscious of having committed any flagrant transgression.

Many, doubtless, are of this character. But have they, on that account, any reason to boast?

Who is it that has kept them from heinous sins?

Who is it that has made them to differ from heinous sinners?

Will they deny that the seeds of all evil are in their hearts?

Will they deny that if they had been subjected to the same temptations as others, that they might have grievously sinned as they?

Are they better than David previous to his fall?

Let them, then, confess their obligations to God; and remember, that if in outward act they have less reason for humiliation than others, they have the same depravity in their hearts, and are in reality as destitute of vital piety as others; and, consequently, have the same need of humiliation and contrition as they.

2. Those who are deeply sensible of their guilt before God.

What a consolation must it be to you, to see that there was mercy even for such a transgressor as David. Greater enormity than his can scarcely be conceived; yet not even his prayers were poured forth in vain. Two things, then, I would say to you:

The first is: Do not attempt to mitigate your own guilt, as though you would thereby bring yourselves more within the reach of God’s mercy.

The other is: Do not presume to limit God’s mercy, as though it could not extend to such a sinner as you.

You never need to be afraid of beholding your wickedness in all its extent, if only you will bear in mind that God’s mercy in Christ Jesus is fully commensurate with your utmost necessities or desires. “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin;” and the more you feel your need of it, the more shall you experience its unbounded efficacy! Only humble yourselves as David did; and, like him, you shall experience all the riches of redeeming grace.

3. Those who have obtained saving mercy from the Lord.

Happy, beyond expression, are you! as David says, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sin is covered.” Be joyful, then, in God your Savior. But still remember, that you have need at all times to watch and pray. If David, after all his high attainments, fell—then who is secure? “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” And learn from him to guard against the very first approaches of evil. It was by a look that his corruptions were inflamed; and from the progress of evil in his heart, you may learn to make a covenant with your eyes, yes, and with your hearts too. You see in him “how great a matter a little fire kindles.” Walk humbly, then, before God; and cry to him day and night, “Hold up my goings in your paths, that my footsteps do not slip!” “Hold me up, and I shall be safe!” Psalm 119:117.

Charles Simeon

Psalm 50:7-15

“Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God. I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

In the Psalm before us we have one of those sublime addresses which Jehovah occasionally makes to the whole creation, to hear and judge between him and his offending people, Isaiah 1:2-3. Micah 6:2. The images are taken from his appearance on Mount Sinai, which was with solemn majesty, insomuch that “Moses himself said, I exceedingly fear and quake! Exodus 19:16-18 with Hebrews 12:18-21.”

The scene is “Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty,” even that Zion from whence the Gospel has proceeded, and from whence Jehovah speaks to us as our Covenant-God; and this circumstance adds ten-fold weight to his accusations against us. The people whom he arraigns before his tribunal are of two descriptions:

1. Those who rested in mere ceremonial observances for the obtaining of God’s favor—formalists.

2. Those who, pretending to higher principles, dishonored by their conduct their high and holy profession—hypocrites.

It is the formalists whom God reproves in our text; and the testimony which he bears against them sets forth in very striking terms:

I. The worthlessness of mere formal religion.

Men are apt to imagine that by their observance of external religious duties, they lay God under obligation to them.

God had appointed many rites and ceremonies; and he required the observance of them on the pain of death, Numbers 15:30; but he enjoined them for the people’s good, and not for any benefit that could accrue to himself. What pleasure could he take in the blood of bulls and goats? Or, if he did, what need had he to be indebted to his people for such offerings, when the whole world was his, and all the cattle on a thousand hills were at his command! It was absurd therefore, and impious, in his people to think that they conferred any obligation upon God by their offerings and oblations.

But the very same error prevails among us at this day. If we comply with the external commands of God in an observance of the Sabbath, an attendance on ordinances, and a performance of certain duties in the family and the closet—we think that we have a just claim on God, and that he must of necessity feel as much delight in us, as we do in ourselves. We adduce these services as a clear evidence of the goodness of our hearts, and as an indisputable title to the divine favor.

But external religious services are of no value in the sight of God, any farther than they are accompanied by vital piety.

On many occasions God declared his contempt for outward observances, in comparison with spiritual obedience, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice; and to hearken, than the fat of rams.” By the Prophet Isaiah, God replies to those who boasted of “the multitude of their sacrifices;” and tells them, that the whole course of their services, unaccompanied as they were by real piety, were an utter abomination in his sight! Isaiah 1:11-15. Even while bringing his people through the wilderness, he had explicitly declared to them, by Balaam, that it was “not by offering thousands of rams, or rivers of oil, or by giving their first-born for their transgression, the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul, that they were to please him—but by doing justly, and loving mercy, and walking humbly with their God. Micah 6:6-8.” In like manner we are told by our blessed Lord, that it is “to no purpose that we pay tithes of mint and anise and cummin, if we neglect the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and truth, Matthew 23:23;” and that to draw near to God with our lips, while our heart is far from him, is nothing but vile hypocrisy! Matthew 15:8.

Indeed a moment’s consideration may convince us, that outward religious services, of whatever kind, cannot be of any value in the sight of God, except as expressions or vehicles of inward piety; for they may be performed without any good principle in the soul. Yes, they may proceed from extremely vile and corrupt principles, such as pride, and ostentation, and self-righteousness; and they may most abound, not only where all manner of iniquity is harbored, but as a cloak and cover to that iniquity! Matthew 23:14. In a word, “a form of godliness, where the power of it is denied,” is the consummation of all ungodliness! 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

This is an offensive truth indeed, but it is indispensably necessary to be received.

How offensive a truth this is, may be seen, by the way in which the hearers of the first martyr, Stephen, resented it, even before it was actually declared, and when they discovered it only as the ultimate scope of his argument. Stephen had given a summary view of God’s dealings with his people from the very beginning; and the scope of his argument was that as God had a people before the Mosaic dispensation commenced, so he would after its termination; as had been intimated by the Prophet Isaiah, who represents God, as pouring contempt even upon the temple itself, in comparison with a broken and contrite heart!

This passage having been cited by Stephen, the whole audience were filled with indignation, which was visibly manifested in all their countenances, and which gave occasion to that exceedingly abrupt change in Stephen’s address to them, “You stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you! Compare Isaiah 66:1-2 with Acts 7:47-51.”

Similar offence is given at this day, when we declare the worthlessness of all external religious duties as detached from the feelings of the heart! But the very circumstance of God calling Heaven and earth to hear his testimony against his people, sufficiently shows that his accusations, against whoever brought, involve in them the deepest criminality, and subject the accused to the heaviest condemnation.

Contrasted with mere ritual observances, we behold in our text:

II. The religion which alone is pleasing and acceptable to God.

True religion consists not so much in actions, as in the habit of the mind towards God. Holy actions of every kind spring from it; but they are only as the fruit, which originates in, and bears testimony to, the vital energy of the root. Wherever true religion exists in the soul, it will have respect to God in all things, and will induce in us a habit towards him:

1. Of genuine gratitude.

He is our Creator, our Benefactor, our Redeemer; and the very first motions of true religion will lead us to view him under these relations, and with feelings suited to the obligations he has conferred upon us.

Can we reflect on the faculties with which he has endowed us, so far superior to all the brute creation, and not adore and magnify his name?

Can we contemplate the innumerable blessings with which we are loaded by him from day to day, and not feel how greatly we are indebted to him?

Above all, can we survey the wonders of redeeming love, and not have our whole souls penetrated with an overwhelming sense of gratitude? So infinitely does this love surpass all human comprehension or conception, that if our minds were filled with it as they ought to be, we should scarcely be able to think or speak of anything else!

Such, we are sure, is the religion of Heaven; for there “they rest not day nor night” in ascribing all possible praises to their redeeming God, Revelation 4:8-11; Revelation 5:11-13; and such, according to the measure of grace given to us, will be the dispositions and habits of all who are truly alive to God, “We shall offer him the sacrifice of praise continually, Hebrews 13:15,” and “render to him the calves of our lips, Hosea 14:2.”

2. Of willing service.

All true Christians are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, 1 Peter 2:9.” As the holy angels are “doing God’s will, hearkening to the voice of his Word,” so we shall be studying to know his will, and be standing ready to execute it to the utmost of our power.

It is astonishing what an alteration which saving grace makes in the soul in a person! The natural man lives only to himself. The spiritual man lives, or at least endeavors to live, wholly to the Lord—to have no will, no way, no desire, no thought, but what will be pleasing and acceptable in God’s sight. That which was the first expression of piety in Paul, is the first of every converted soul, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” A view of God as our Master and our Father will ensure this, Malachi 1:6; and in proportion as religion increases in the soul, will be our endeavor to “glorify God with our bodies and our spirits, which are his, Romans 12:1. 1 Corinthians 6:20.”

3. Of humble dependence.

True religion leads us to realize in our minds the thought of God’s superintending care and effectual agency in our behalf. It does not bring us only to a sense of our obligations to him—but, if we may so speak, to a sense of his obligations to us. For, if “we are his people, he also is our God;” and he, by virtue of his covenant and oath, is as much bound to employ all his glorious perfections for us, as we are to improve all our faculties and powers for him.

What a blessed thought is this! In what an exalted view does it place true religion, which, if it calls us to duties, invests us also with the most glorious privileges! It teaches us to “call upon him in every time of trouble,” persuaded that “he will hear us,” and give us ever increasing occasion to “glorify his name.” This realizing sense of his presence, this assurance of his effectual interposition in every time of need, is the crown and summit of the gospel; it most of all glorifies God, and ensures beyond a doubt the richest testimonies of his approbation!

Let us learn then from hence,

1. How to rightly estimate our own character.

It is not by negative virtues, no, nor by positive virtues of an external kind, that we are to judge of ourselves, but by the disposition of our minds towards God. We may be able to say with the Pharisee, “I am no extortioner, not unjust, no adulterer;” and may be able to add with him, “I fast twice in the week, and give tithes of all that I possess”—and yet be odious in the sight of God! If we would not deceive ourselves, we must inquire into the sense we have of our obligations to him, the determination we feel to approve ourselves faithful to him in the whole extent of our duty, and the confidence with which we are enabled to cast our care on him for body and for soul, for time and for eternity. Without this, whatever else we may possess, we are only “as sounding brass, and as tinkling cymbals;” and “if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. We must therefore prove our own selves, so that we may have rejoicing in ourselves and not another, Galatians 6:3-4.”

2. How to secure a favorable testimony from God.

Man may easily be deceived; but God will assuredly judge according to truth. He “weighs,” not the actions only, but “the hearts” of men. And when he shall come at the last day, as he certainly will, in majesty and glory infinitely more solemn than that displayed at Sinai, he will testify of us before the assembled universe; and it will be a small matter that he has not to lay to our charge a neglect of outward services—if he has to accuse us of a lack of those holy dispositions which we should have entertained and exercised towards him.

We entreat you then, brethren, to look well to the state and habit of your minds; see to it, that you “delight yourselves in God;” that your whole life be a life of faith in him, of love towards him, and of zeal for the glory of his name; and, while you are presenting to him your own bodies and souls as a living sacrifice, present to him that great Sacrifice which was once offered on Mount Calvary for the sins of men, and which alone can avail for your final acceptance with him.

As much as he despises the blood of bulls and goats, he will not despise the blood of his only dear Son; but will, for the sake of it, pardon all your sins, and accept, yes and reward too, with everlasting happiness and glory, all your imperfect services!

Charles Simeon

Psalm 49:13

“This is the folly of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings.”

It is generally supposed that wisdom pertains chiefly, if not exclusively, to those who are proficient in education. But learning and wisdom are by no means necessarily connected with each other; they may exist separately, each in a high degree; and, in fact, there is nothing more common than to behold unsaved people of the most extensive erudition acting the part of fools in God’s sight, while saved people destitute of human learning are “walking wisely before him in a perfect way.”

Wisdom, properly viewed, is a conformity of the mind and will to the mind and will of God; and it exists precisely in proportion as this conformity exists.

Hence we see why David, at the commencement of this Psalm, calls in so solemn a manner, people of every age and quality to attend to his instructions; and professes to teach them lessons of the profoundest wisdom, when there is not anything recondite, or anything uncommon, in the whole Psalm. The truths contained in this divine ode are level with every capacity, and therefore might seem to be improperly ushered in with so pompous an introduction; but they are at the root of all practical religion; and they draw a broad line of distinction between those who are wise, and those who are unwise, in the estimation of their God.

The whole subject of the Psalm will come properly before us, while we consider,

I. The way of worldly men.

It may naturally be expected, that “those who are of the world, should speak of the world,” and seek it as their most desired portion; and they are described as doing so in the Psalm before us.

They are altogether engrossed with earthly things.

Worldly distinction is the one object of their ambition. For this end chiefly both wealth and honor are pursued, verse 18. Having attained these things in a considerable degree, they bless themselves, as possessing something wherein they may trust, verse 6—something that will make them happy for a long time to come, and something that shall transmit their names to posterity as worthy of admiration, verse 11.

But this way is their folly!

Wealth and honor are far from affording the satisfaction that is expected from them; they will not ward off sickness and death, either from ourselves or others, verse 7-10; nor can they follow us into the eternal world, verse 17. The moment we die, as very speedily we all must, verses 12, 14, nothing of wealth and honor remains to us but the fearful responsibility attached to the possession of them. Instead of “profiting us in the day of wrath,” they will rather augment our final condemnation, if they have not been improved for God as talents committed to us.

In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus we behold the bitter consequences of living only to the flesh; the man who has his good things in this life, will lack in the eternal world a drop of water to cool his tongue! “He will never see light,” but be consigned over to the everlasting regions of darkness and despair! verse 19. We do not wonder therefore, that the man, who, because he had gotten much, thought of nothing but his temporal enjoyments, “Soul, take your ease,” is by God himself derided as a fool, “You fool, this night shall your soul be required of you!”

Yet, such is the influence of example, that, notwithstanding the folly of such conduct is visible to all, the same is pursued by every succeeding generation!

No one who considers for a moment the outcome of such conduct to those who have gone before them, can doubt the folly of it; for, whatever rank or station men have held in this life, or whatever may be said of them now that they are gone—what remains to them of their wealth or honor, or what enjoyment have they of their posthumous fame? If we extol them ever so highly, they feel no satisfaction; and if we condemn them ever so harshly, they are unconscious of either shame or pain. They are interested in nothing but in the quality of their actions as approved or condemned by their Judge.

This we all know; yet no sooner have we a prospect of wealth and honor ourselves, than:
our desires are as ardent,
our expectations are as optimistic,
and our hopes are as unqualified,
as that of any rich fool who has gone before us!

The conviction of their folly only floats in our imagination, but never descends as a principle into our hearts. We see and blame their folly; yet approve in practice what in theory we condemn!

As contrasted with this, let us consider,

II. The way which true wisdom prescribes.

In verse 15, the Psalmist gives us that precise view of the subject which he had before characterized as replete with wisdom, “God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for he shall receive me.” That is, while worldly men have no prospects beyond the grave, I look forward to a blessed eternity, which shall be the portion of all who truly love and serve God. Hence we see what way true wisdom prescribes; it teaches us,

1. True wisdom teaches us to regard this present world in its connection with eternity.

View this present world as the whole state of man’s existence, and they speak well who say, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

But this poor world is a mere passage to a better and eternal world. This world is an inn, at which we sojourn for a night, on our way to a better country. A person tarrying only for a few hours is not greatly elated, if his accommodations are good; nor greatly depressed, if they are bad. He considers, in either case:
that this poor world is not his home;
that his comfort or discomfort here is very transient;
and that it will be time enough to look for unmixed enjoyments, when he shall have reached his Father’s house.

Moreover, this world must be considered as a state of preparation for a better world: everything that is done here being an occasion of increased happiness or augmented misery to all eternity. In this view of the world, every pain and every pleasure acquires a new aspect. The things that are so highly prized by ungodly men lose their value; and everything is esteemed good or bad, according as it quickens or retards us in our Christian course.

Hence true wisdom says, “Do not love the world, John 2:15-16,” “neither be of it, John 17:14; John 17:16;” but “be crucified to it, and let it be as one crucified to you Galatians 6:14.”

2. True wisdom teaches us to follow the footsteps of the saints of old.

There are those who have gone before us, whose ways were not folly, though they might be esteemed foolish by those who were themselves blinded by Satan.

“Abraham went out from his kindred and his country, not knowing where he went, Hebrews 11:8.”

Moses refused all the wealth and honor that Egypt could afford, that he might participate in the lot of God’s persecuted and despised people, Hebrews 11:24-26.

Many New Testament saints “took joyfully the confiscation of their goods, knowing that they had in Heaven a better and an enduring substance! Hebrews 10:34.”

Matthew left his lucrative employment to follow Christ, Matthew 9:9.

Paul suffered the loss of all things for Christ, Philippians 3:8; and after having engaged in the Christian course, attended to nothing but his progress in it, straining every nerve to win and secure the eternal prize! Philippians 3:13-14.

All of these would be thought by the ungodly to carry religion to a very blameworthy excess. But they acted with consummate wisdom, each in the part he took; they all “chose the good part, which could not be taken away from them.”

Let anyone who reflects on the present state of these eminent saints, say whether “their way was folly?” If it was not; if, on the contrary, it accorded with the dictates of true wisdom—then let all not only “approve their sayings,” but imitate their doings also, and “be followers of them, as they were of Christ!”

Advice.

1. Guard against the influence of bad example.

There is nothing urged with greater confidence to deter young people from a religious course, or to draw them back again to the world, than example. They are told from time to time what such and such people do; and can this be wrong? But whoever they are who are proposed to us for examples, we have only to ask: Did they regulate their conduct according to the revealed will of God? Was it the one labor of their lives to walk as Christ walked?

If this was not the case, it signifies not who they were, or what they did, “their way was their folly;” and instead of taking them as examples to follow, we should rather regard them as monuments to warn us against impending ruin!

If the number and respectability of unbelievers are urged, let us remember that to “walk according to the course of this world, is to walk according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.” “Christ died to deliver us from this present evil world!” We must therefore leave the broad road that leads to destruction, and walk in “the narrow way that leads unto life!” It is true that if we focus on advancing our own temporal interests, that ungodly men will speak good of us, verse 18;” but it is of little consequence what ungodly men speak or think; nothing will be of any lasting benefit to us, but the approbation of our God! 1 Corinthians 4:3-4.

2. Cleave to Christ who alone is able to redeem our souls.

If man cannot redeem his brother from temporal death, much less can he redeem the soul from spiritual and eternal death; the price required for that is more than all the creatures in earth or Heaven are able to pay! verses 7-9. But Christ has paid the mighty ransom with his own “precious blood!” He has redeemed us from sin and Satan, from death and Hell!

Seek him, and you are richer than ten thousand worlds could make you.

In him you have “enduring riches and righteousness.”

Go to him, and he will give you “gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich.”

Your desires after Christ cannot be too ardent!

Your expectations from Christ cannot be too enlarged!

Your dependence on Christ cannot be too entire and confident!

On that side you need not fear excess. And if the world derides your way as folly, do not regard it—as they will soon alter their opinions! The moment they enter into the eternal world, they will infallibly know who were wise and who were fools! And when they meet you at the last judgment, they will say, “We fools once counted you as mad!” Their reproaches then will be turned upon themselves, and their one subject of lamentation will be, that they “approved the sayings” of a blind ungodly world, instead of the infallible sayings of God! This is the way to “walk not as fools, but as wise;” and, so walking, you shall surely before long have the plaudit of your Judge, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Lord!”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 49:12

“Man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish!”

Man, when first he came out of the hands of his Creator, was perfect; and fit to be God’s viceregent, if I may so speak, in this lower world. God put all the rest of the creation under him, and gave him dominion over all the work of his hands.

But from the time that man fell, he became degraded in all his faculties, and in many respects like unto the beasts that perish. True, possessing reason, he still held a superiority over them in those things which belong exclusively to the province of reason; but, in everything which depends on grace, he was reduced to a level with them.

To man converted by the grace of God, this superiority is restored; but to man in his natural and unregenerate state, even though he is exalted to the highest pinnacle of honor among his fellows, this humiliating declaration is fully applicable, “Man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish!”

I. Man is like the beast that perish, in his understanding.

In things pertaining to the body, man is far inferior to the brute creation, being excelled by one or other of them in every faculty and power. In agility and strength he is not to be compared with myriads of beasts, both tame and savage; and in all the senses he falls exceedingly below them! His sight, his smell, his taste, his hearing, his feeling—are in no respect equal to that which exists among the different orders of beasts and birds and insects; so that, in all that is corporeal, they are superior to him.

In what is intellectual, surely man retains his superiority; though, after all, in ten thousand instances, instincts in them leaves man far behind, and enables them to discern and execute things without number which man with all his attainments can never reach!

But it is in things relating to the soul that I am to speak of man; and in these he will be really found as stupid and brutish as the very beasts!

The beasts discern, for the most part, what is conducive to their welfare, and distinguish it from that which would prove injurious. But, waving this, I will admit that the beasts do not discern the comparative value and excellency of the things around them.

And what, I would ask, are the views which men have:
of sin and holiness,
of Heaven and earth,
of time and eternity?

I ask not what their speculative notions may be, but what their practical views are?

Who, in his unregenerate state, regards all earthly things as comparatively vain, empty, worthless?

Who looks upon sin as hateful and abominable?

Who desires holiness as the perfection of his nature, and as a source of the sublimest bliss?

Who accounts everything as dross in comparison with the favor of God, and the enjoyment of the divine presence?

Theoretically, it is true, men know better than the beasts; but practically man is not a whit more than the beasts! Yes, men sink below the beasts in proportion as they act directly contrary to the plainest dictates of their judgment. Unconverted men, notwithstanding they acknowledge a supreme Being, act as much without a reference to his approbation as the very beasts!

Hence David describes and addresses them in these humiliating, but most appropriate terms, “They say, ‘The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed!’ Take heed, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise? Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see? Psalm 94:7-9.”

Nay, more, the pious Agur, cast down on account of the remains of these infirmities within him, exclaimed, “Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man! Proverbs 30:2.”

I think then, that the assertion in my text is thus far made good; and that not only are the lowest of the people in the state described by him, but the highest and most exalted upon earth! In this respect there is no difference between men; for all, without exception, are practically, and by nature, just as the beasts that perish!

II. Man is like the beast that perish, in his habits.

See what are the habits of the brute creation! All are intent on that only which will gratify their sensual appetites; and all look to present gratifications without any regard to the future.

Just so, what is the state of man, of every man, by nature, whether he be old or young, rich or poor, learned or unlearned? Is not every one living for himself, and seeking the things of time and sense—rather than those enduring riches which are apprehended only by faith, and relate altogether to eternity?

I grant that some are prosecuting chiefly intellectual pursuits; but still it is for themselves, and not for God, that they do it! If I admit that they soar with the eagle, instead of wallowing in the mire as swine, I still recur to my text, and say that, while living for themselves, and not for God, they are only as the beasts that perish!

A man who is taught of God desires higher things than these. He soars far beyond the sun and all created systems, however many or remote they may be; and rises to understand God himself.

Contemplating all of God’s glorious perfections,
searching into all His eternal purposes,
admiring all the wonders of redeeming love,
and anticipating the fruition of God himself
—this is the constant habit of his mind, and the most eager pursuit of his life, from day to day. “Eye has never seen, nor has ear heard, nor has heart conceived,” the things which fill his soul! None can appreciate the engagements of his soul, until they themselves are born from above, and taught by the Holy Spirit; for “he searches the deep things of God,” which none but those who are taught, of God can know, or conceive, or estimate! 1 Corinthians 2:9-10.

But to such habits, I say again: the unenlightened man is as great a stranger as the beasts! “He is of the earth earthy,” even as the beasts themselves are. And this I say of the wise and learned. What, then, are the generality of men? Jude says of them, that, instead of seeking heavenly things, “they speak evil of the things which they know not; but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves! Jude verse 10.” He knows but little of the world, who does not know, that “this witness is true.”

III. Man is like the beast that perish, in his end.

This perhaps is the point more immediately referred to in my text. “Men’s inward thought,” David observes, “is, that their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish! For, when he dies he will take nothing with him, his wealth will not descend with him, verses 11, 12, 17.”

To the same effect Solomon also speaks, “I also thought: As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both. As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return! Ecclesiastes 3:18-20.”

But we must not confine our attention to the mere circumstance of the mortality of each. The Psalmist had in his mind the thoughtlessness of men respecting anything beyond this life; agreeably to what he says in another Psalm, “A brutish man does not know, fools do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed!

Psalm 92:6-7.” Here is their folly, their stupidity, their brutishness:
An eternal world is revealed to them, and they will not consider it!
Heaven and Hell are opened to their view, and they will do nothing to avoid the one or obtain the other!

Could they indeed die like the beasts, without any future state of retribution, they would count this a desirable state. And such is the state of mankind at large, that there are very few, comparatively, who would not welcome annihilation as a priceless blessing. But to the bar of judgment every man will be summoned before long; and “all must receive, at the hands of their Judge, according to what they have done in the body, whether it is good or evil.”

If in other things then, men are reduced to a level with the beasts—but in regard to eternal realities, men fall far below the beasts; inasmuch as, with an intellect capable of appreciating eternity, they act as if they had no more interest in it than the beasts themselves!

APPLICATION

1. See what a difference there is between a well-informed Christian and all others!

I will take the one from the lowest, and the other from the highest, walks in life; and say that the well-informed Christian, however poor, resembles God; while the worldling, however elevated, is like the beasts that perish!

In his understanding, the regenerate man sees things as they really are, and knows that the things which are visible and temporal are not worthy of a thought in comparison with those which are unseen and eternal!

In his habits, too, he seeks not the things which are on earth, but those which are in Heaven, where Christ sits at the right hand of God.

In his end, he goes to a world of blessedness and glory, where he shall abide forever in the bosom of his God.

His unenlightened neighbor accounts all this as folly; but the time is coming, and very shortly too, when it will be made to appear which of the two was really wise!

2. See the immense importance of the Gospel!

It is the Gospel alone that changes the hearts of men. God’s appointed means of salvation is the Gospel, with which, in all ages, he has “turned men from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God.”

My dear brethren, I do hope that some at least of you can bear testimony to the truth of what I say.

Once you were as blind as others; but now you see.

Once you had no more concern about your souls than others; and lived, like others, for this world alone. But now, through the grace of God, you are brought to tread in the steps of Christ and his holy Apostles, and to value nothing in comparison with the favor of your God.

And what is it that has made this difference between your present and your former selves? It is the Spirit of Christ who has quickened you, and the love of Christ that yet daily constrains you! By this change you are assimilated to the glorified saints and angels—yes, and to the image of God himself. Bear testimony, then, to the truth and efficacy of the Gospel; and commend that to others which you have found so effectual for your own souls!

Charles Simeon

Psalm 48:12-14

“Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. For this God is our God for ever and ever! He will be our guide even to the end!”

Men read the Bible in order that they may know what they are to do; and this is well: but they should read the Bible also in order that they may know what they are to expect: for that blessed book is no less a record of their privileges, than of their duties. It is of privileges that our text speaks. The psalm evidently celebrates some triumph over confederate kings, verse 4; and it was probably written on the occasion of Jehoshaphat’s deliverance from the confederate armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir; who, through the special providence of God, turned their arms against each other, and left Jehoshaphat nothing to do but to collect the spoil, 2 Chronicles 20:22-25. That, as might be expected, was a season of very exalted joy to all Judah: and the circumstances altogether correspond very exactly with the intimations given in this psalm. The security of Zion under Divine protection is that which is particularly specified in the text; and we are called to notice it for the benefit of future generations.

Let us consider,

I. The survey proposed—

Whatever strength might be in the fortifications of Jerusalem, the writer of this psalm evidently looked beyond them to God, who alone is the security of his people. Moreover, Zion was a type of the Church of God, which is indeed “the mountain of his holiness, beautiful for situation, and the joy of the whole earth; and in whose palaces he is well known for a refuge, verses 1–3.” Let us then “walk about her, and count her towers, and mark well her bulwarks.”

1. Let us mark the bulwarks of the Jewish Church—

This was founded on the purposes, the perfections, and the promises of God; and from them were derived her strength and her security.

In a season of great alarm and terror, the prophet being asked, “What shall we answer the messengers of the nation,” who come to apprise us of the approach of the Philistine armies? His answer was, “Tell them that the Lord has founded Zion, and that the poor of his people shall trust in it, Isaiah 14:32.” To this Paul adds, “The foundation of the Lord stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows those who are his, 2 Timothy 2:19.” God had determined from all eternity that he would have a Church and people in the world: and hence it was that neither Pharaoh in Egypt could prevent, nor all the nations of Canaan could obstruct, the establishment of Mount Zion; for “God’s counsel must stand; and he will do all his will, Isaiah 46:10.”

For the preservation of his Church, every perfection of the Deity was pledged. While his wisdom was engaged to disconcert, and his power to defeat, all her enemies, his truth and faithfulness formed a barrier that could not be broken through; so that, until by the iniquities of his people he was constrained to depart from them, he was “a wall of fire round about them, and the glory in the midst of them! Zechariah 2:5;” and every attribute of his was “a chamber in which they might lie down in perfect peace, Isaiah 26:20.”

Often it appeared as if his promise in relation to them would fail: but not a jot or tittle of his word ever did fail; for “he was not a man that he could lie, or the son of man that he could repent.” And, after the people had been forty years established in the land of Canaan, Joshua appealed to them, that “not one good thing had failed of all that God had spoken concerning them, but that everything had come to pass according to his promise! Joshua 23:14.”

2. Let us mark the bulwarks of the Christian Church—

Our Zion also has “her towers and her bulwarks,” even the finished work of Christ, and the office of the Holy Spirit, and the economy of Redemption from first to last!

The Lord Jesus undertook to purchase unto himself a peculiar people, even with the inestimable price of his own blood: and never did he cease from his work, until he could say, “It is finished! John 19:30.”

Everything that was necessary to expiate our guilt,

everything that was necessary to work out a righteousness for his redeemed people,

everything that was necessary to satisfy the demands of law and justice, all he completed perfectly!

And having fulfilled his covenant-engagements with the Father, it cannot be but that “he should see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied,” even in the promised seed, who should prolong their days, while “the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hands! Isaiah 53:10-11.”

It is true that in vain would Christ have died for his elect people, if the Holy Spirit had not undertaken to apply to their souls the redemption which he has wrought out for them. But from the day of Pentecost to this very hour, he has not failed “to glorify Christ, by taking of the things that are his, and showing them unto men! John 16:14.”

He finds men dead indeed; but he quickens them to a new and heavenly life!

He gives them eyes to see!

He gives them ears to hear!

He gives them hearts to feel the truths which he has revealed to them!

“In all whom he has begun a work of grace, he never fails to carry it on, and to perfect it until the day of Christ! Philippians 1:6.” And hence it is that all the powers of Hell have never been able to prevail against them!

Were a single Christian to be damned, the whole plan of Redemption:
as devised by the Father,
as accomplished by the Son,
aa applied by the Spirit,
would fail, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself would be robbed of all his recompense and all his glory!

But, whoever surveys “these towers,” will assuredly know, that “Mount Zion cannot be moved, but abides forever! Psalm 125:1.” Yes, “God’s righteousness shall be forever, and his salvation from generation to generation! Isaiah 51:8.”

…

The end of this survey is, “that we may tell it to the generation following:” which shows, that, both for their sakes and our own, we should contemplate:

II. The consolation arising from it—

What was written so many centuries ago, belongs no less to us than it did to those for whose instruction it was originally composed. It calls our attention to the God of Zion, and reminds us of,

1. Our saving interest in him—

“This God is our God forever and ever!” He is the same in himself; and bears the same relation to us; and feels the same concern for us as he did for his Church of old.

“He changes not!” “he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” “With him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” And is he not our Father, our Friend, our Redeemer, our God? When did he cease to sustain these relations to his Church and people? Or when did he cease to be mindful of the offices which these relations imply? If it is said, He has ceased to work miracles—we grant it; but has he therefore withdrawn himself from the Church and from the world, so as to shut up his loving-kindness from us, and to be gracious to us no more?

Were we indeed to believe the infidel and ungodly world, we should say with them, that “God has forsaken the earth,” but we know the contrary: we know, that if God’s presence and agency be less visible than formerly, they are not a whit less real; and that he feels for his people at this hour, as much as ever he did at any period of the world. “He knows their sorrows! Exodus 3:7,” and “in all their afflictions he is afflicted! Isaiah 63:9;” nor can an enemy touch so much as one of them, without touching “the apple of his eye! Zechariah 2:8.”

Take this then into your consideration, in connection with the foregoing survey. The same God as watched so tenderly over his people of old, is your God! He watches over you, with the same care as he did over them. His purposes have as much respect to you as to them: his perfections are all engaged as much for you, as for them: his promises are made no less to you, than to them. For you the work of Christ, the office of the Spirit, and the whole economy of Redemption, have secured blessings, as well as for them. And the same Spirit who was poured forth in such abundant measure upon our Reformers, and endued them with such consummate wisdom and grace, is ready to “work upon your hearts,” and to “fulfill in you also all the good pleasure of God’s goodness, and the work of faith with power; so that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ! 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12.” I say then: Know from the records of the Church of old what a God you have to go to, and that “this God is your God forever and ever!”

2. Our expectations from him—

“He will be our guide even unto death!” See how remarkably he guided Jehoshaphat on the occasion which we suppose to be more particularly referred to: he told Jehoshaphat where his enemies were, at what precise spot he should find them, and when he should go against them. Twice was it repeated, “Tomorrow go out against them, 2 Chronicles 20:16.” So he knows exactly where our enemies are, and what they design against us, and how they are to be met: and though he will not vanquish them without our fighting—yet, if we go forth against them in dependence on him, “he will be with us,” and will subdue them before us. Suppose our most formidable enemies now in array against us; and see in what way he will interpose in our behalf: “Like as a lion,” says he, “and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord almighty come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. As birds flying, so will the Lord almighty defend Jerusalem: defending also, he will deliver it: and passing over, he will preserve it, Isaiah 31:4-5.”

Here are no less than three figures, rising in a climax one above the other, to illustrate the zeal and efficacy with which he will interpose for us.

The first is that of a lion, who, when devouring his prey, will not be intimidated by the noise of shepherds, how numerous soever they may be, (this marks the determination with which Jehovah will prosecute our caused.)

The next is that of a parent bird, who, when she sees a bird of prey hovering over her young, and ready to dart upon them, will fly with the utmost rapidity to intercept the devourer’s assault, even at the peril of her own life, (this shows the tender interest which Jehovah will take in our welfare, and the efforts he will make in our behalf.)

The last is that of the attendant Angel (the Angel of the Covenant), who accompanied the destroying angel through the whole land of Egypt, and stepped forward, wherever he saw a blood-besprinkled door, to prevent him from executing his commission there; and so effectually constrained him to “pass over” the houses of the Israelites, that, while in every house in Egypt the first-born of man and beast was slain, not one of either was slain in any house belonging to the children of Israel, (this shows the efficacy with which Jehovah will espouse our cause.)

Now then what have we to fear with such a Protector? Let men or devils combine against us, we need not give ourselves one moment’s concern. Under all such circumstances, the Psalmist’s language should be ours: “God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble: therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God; the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High: God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early! Psalm 46:1-5.”

In a word, we may “cast all our care on Him who cares for us! 1 Peter 5:7;” assured, that, “if we only make God our refuge and habitation, no evil shall befall us! Psalm 91:9-10.”

APPLICATION—

1. Search then into your privileges, that you may have the true enjoyment of them—

Think of people in a besieged city: with what delight would they view the towers and bulwarks which they had reason to believe no enemy could destroy! And will not you, who have the Lord himself for your defense?

Consider the representation which he gives of himself, as a broad river, so broad that it cannot be passed but in boats; yet so tempestuous, that no small vessel can live upon it; and so full of rocks and shoals, that no large vessel can navigate it, Isaiah 33:20-22; which consequently, being impassable, secures to you, under all circumstances, the most perfect tranquility!

Consider this, I say, and tell me, whether you ought not to be ever rejoicing in your God? I would that all of you should be fully acquainted with your privileges; and that you should be frequently “walking about Zion, and counting her towers, and marking well her bulwarks, and considering attentively her palaces” in which you are lodged and feasted from day to day; so that you may be happy in your own souls, and “God may dwell in you, while you thus dwell in him!” For, if you thus “know in Whom you have believed, and that He is able to keep that which you have committed to him, 2 Timothy 1:12,” then you cannot but be happy: since he has expressly said, “I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me, because he trusts in me! Isaiah 26:3.”

2. Search into them, that you may make them known to the rising generation—

We should not be contented to be happy alone, but should desire as far as possible to diffuse happiness all around us. To the rising generation in particular, we are bound to transmit the benefits which we have received. The knowledge of salvation is a sacred deposit committed to us for that very end, Psalm 78:5-7; It is scarcely to be conceived how much more profitable to young people the preached Gospel would be, if they were well instructed at home. We teach our children what shall conduce to the advancement of their worldly interests; and shall we neglect the welfare of their souls? In particular, let us endeavor to impress their minds with:
the knowledge of God, and his perfections;
the knowledge of Christ, and his offices;
the knowledge of the Holy Spirit, and his operations;
so that they also may have God for their God, and their guide, and their portion, forever and ever!

Charles Simeon

Psalm 47:5-7

“God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth: sing praises with understanding!”

If we read the Psalms of David without any reference to Christ, we shall have a very imperfect view of their import. But if we consider them as containing many prophetic declarations, we shall find in them a rich mine of evangelical knowledge.

The psalm before us is supposed to have been written by David, when he carried up the ark from the house of Obed-edom to Mount Zion, 2 Samuel 6:15; and to represent, by that typical event, the ascension of Christ to Heaven: and, as that event was celebrated with all possible demonstrations of joy, so we are here exhorted to burst forth in joyful acclamations on account of the exaltation of Christ to his throne in glory!

We shall consider,

I. The event predicted—the Ascension of Christ.

Observe:

1. In what exalted terms our blessed Lord is here spoken of—

Thrice is he called “God:” the incommunicable name “Jehovah” is also assigned to him: and he is declared to be the “King” of Zion, and “the King of the whole earth.” Now these are the titles given to him throughout the inspired writings. “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever! Psalm 45:6 with Hebrews 1:8.” The name whereby he is to be called by all his believing people is, “Jehovah, our Righteousness Jeremiah 23:6.” The prophet Isaiah also says, “Your Maker is your Husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name; and your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called! Isaiah 54:5.” In the New Testament he is also designated by the same august titles, as “God manifest in the flesh, 1 Timothy 3:16,” even “God over all blessed for eyer, Romans 9:5.” And it is no little satisfaction to us to see, that the doctrine so essential to our happiness, the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, pervades the whole Scriptures, and bears that prominence in them which might reasonably be expected.

2. How exactly the representation here given of him in a figure, corresponds with the reality—

David had triumphed over all his enemies: and now, in order to honor God who had given him the victory, and that he might have the readier access to God on all occasions, he brought the ark, the symbol of the Divine presence, up to Mount Zion, that there in future it might have a fixed abode. But in this he shadowed forth the true ark, the Lord Jesus Christ, “in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Deity,” as ceasing from his labors, and ascending to his throne in glory, there to complete the victories which he had begun on earth. “On his very cross he spoiled all the principalities and powers of darkness, triumphing over them openly in it! Colossians 2:14-15;” and in his ascension he “led them all captive, Ephesians 4:8,” and left his people to contend only with a vanquished enemy, John 16:11. He being now upon his throne, we can have access to him at all times, and may obtain from him all the support that we stand in need of.

But this leads me to notice, in reference to this event,

II. The interest we have in the Ascension of Christ.

If we considered it in no other view than as a recompense to Christ, we should contemplate it with joy. But it is a source of the richest possible blessings to us. Consider,

This ascended Savior is our King—

This ascension is a proof and evidence to us that he has triumphed over all his enemies. He unites these two together, the one as the effect and consequence of the other; “I overcame, and have set down with my Father upon his throne, Revelation 3:21.” But farther, it is a pledge that he will give us the victory also over all our enemies; He is constituted Head over all things to the Church for this very end and purpose, even “that he might fill all things, Ephesians 4:10,” and perfect for his believing people all which their infinitely diversified circumstances can require, Ephesians 4:11-13. His being “King over all the earth” abundantly shows us, that he is able to protect us from every adversary, and to supply our every want, and to make us “more than conquerors” over all the enemies of our salvation.

Hence it is that the Psalmist so urgently renews his exhortation to us to sing praise unto him—

In another psalm he says, “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King, Psalm 149:2.” The enemies of Christ have rather reason to tremble: for he will surely “break them all in pieces like a potter’s vessel! Psalm 2:9.” But his people have reason to rejoice, as Solomon plainly intimates; “Arise, O Lord God, into your resting place, you and the ark of your strength: let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness, 2 Chronicles 6:41.”

In a word, “God has raised up his Son and given him glory, on purpose that our faith and hope may be in him;” 1 Peter 1:21. and therefore we shall be inexcusable if we do not make this improvement of the subject that is now brought before us.

Mark then with all due attention,

III. Our duty in the contemplation of the Ascension of Christ.

Five times does David in this short passage repeat his exhortation to us to sing praises to our ascended Lord.

1. We should sing praises to our ascended Lord with all possible ardor!

This is not a duty to be performed in a cold and formal manner; but with all the powers and faculties of our souls. David’s frame of mind should be ours: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name! Psalm 103:1.” And again, “I will extol you, O God, my King; and I will bless your name forever and ever! Every day will I bless you; and I will praise your name forever and ever, Psalm 145:1-2.” And again, “Praise the Lord, O my soul: while I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises unto my God, while I have my being! Psalm 146:1-2.”

To this effect Paul exhorts us also; “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice! Philippians 4:4.” “Rejoice evermore; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you! 1 Thessalonians 5:16; 1 Thessalonians. 5:18.” To comply fully with the exhortation of the text, praise should be our one employment from day to day, and the very element in which we live. So far as our imperfect state will admit of it, the dispositions and habits of the heavenly hosts should be in such constant exercise with us, that earth should be the very foretaste of Heaven itself.

2. We should sing praises to our ascended Lord with all intelligence!

Every duty should be performed in a wise and intelligent manner. “Whether we pray or sing, it should be with the spirit and with the understanding also, 1 Corinthians 14:15.” Without fervor, our sacrifice would be lame; and without understanding, blind: and God could never be pleased with such offerings as these, Malachi 1:8. The heart and mind must go together, to make our offering a reasonable service. In singing praises therefore to our ascended Savior, we should distinctly view him, not as a private person, but in his public capacity as our Head and Representative.

We should have respect to him also as our Advocate and Intercessor, who is “living on purpose to make intercession for us.” We should moreover consider him as “our forerunner,” who has “gone before, to prepare a place for us, and will shortly come again to take us to himself, that where he is we may be also.”

These are the truths which the occasion suggests, and these the thoughts which should infuse the utmost possible fervor into our devotions. While therefore a fire burns in our bosoms, let us be sure that it is taken from the altar of our God, and that the sacrifice we present to him be that of an intelligent, as well as of a devout, worshiper.

In the review of this subject we cannot but see,

1. The blessedness of real piety—

I put the question to any living man: Can a person be otherwise than happy, who lives in the state inculcated in my text?

2. How little true piety there is upon earth—

Take this frame of mind as the true test of piety, and you will find as much of piety among the very beasts, as among the world at large, yes, and more too: for “the ox knows his owner, and the very donkey his master’s crib; while God’s professing people neither know nor consider their heavenly Benefactor!”

And how lamentably do even good men live below their privileges! Let the very best among us compare his experience with the frame that is here inculcated, and he must confess he has abundant reason to blush and be ashamed. Dear Brethren, let us awake to our duty, and never rest until we have attained such a measure of habitual and intelligent devotion, as shall be a pledge and foretaste of the felicity of Heaven!

Charles Simeon

Psalm 46:4

“There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God!”

Frequently in the Holy Scriptures, God is compared to a fountain; in conformity with which idea, the blessings of salvation which flow from him may well be called “a river.”

To the Israelites in the wilderness, there was given a stream which followed them in all their journeys.

To the Church at this day also, is “a river opened for the refreshment of all who travel Zion-ward.”

Innumerable are the necessities of God’s people in this dreary wilderness world; and the “troubles” with which they have to contend are often so great as to make it appear as if “the earth itself were removed, and the mountains were carried into the midst of the sea.”

But God is with his people; and the river which attends their steps supplies their every need. “The whole city of God is gladdened by it, and especially the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High;” for the nearer anyone’s access to God is, the more abundant are the communications made to him of grace and peace.

The exalted character given of this river will justify a minute inquiry respecting it. Let us notice then,

I. The source of this river.

Whence can this river be, but from God himself? But on this subject we are not left to form conjectures; for David says, “With God is the fountain of life! Psalm 36:9.” And John says, that “there was shown to him a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb, Revelation 22:1.” From God, as the primary cause of all good, and from the Lamb, who has “purchased the Church with his blood,” and who is constituted “Head over all things to his Church,” and has all fullness treasured up in him for his people’s use; from our adorable Emmanuel, I say, all the blessings of salvation flow!

The Father, of his own sovereign will, planned a way for the bestowment of the blessings of salvation.

The Son, by his atoning blood, procured the blessings of salvation for us.

The Holy Spirit imparts the blessings of salvation to the redeemed people of God.

So that from our Triune God does this river altogether proceed.

In truth, it was typified by the waters that flowed from the rock in Horeb, and supplied the camp of Israel forty years, “They all drank the same spiritual drink,” says the Apostle, “for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that rock was Christ! 1 Corinthians 10:4.”

We may next notice,

II. The channel in which this river flows.

It is in the ordinances of the Gospel that all spiritual blessings are dispensed. For thus says the prophet, “It shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters; and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim, Joel 3:18 with Isaiah 2:3 latter part.”

To the house of God, those who are athirst come, that they may drink of its refreshing streams! “O God, you are my God,” says holy David, “early will I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where there is no water; to see your power and your glory, so as I have seen you in the sanctuary! Psalm 63:1-2.” Yes; these are “the golden pipes, by which the golden oil is communicated from the olive-trees” to every lamp in the sanctuary! Zechariah 4:11-12.

See, in the days of old, what blessings attended the ministration of the word, accompanied as it was by an effusion of the Spirit from on high; nothing could withstand its power! So it still “sweeps away from men every refuge of lies, and overflows their hiding places, Isaiah 28:17;” at the same time that it bears them up, as in the ark, and saves them from the deluge that will destroy the world!

We may profitably direct your attention yet further to,

III. The depths of this river.

The Prophet Ezekiel refers so particularly to this, that we must on no account omit the mention of it. He speaks of this river as proceeding “from under the threshold of the sanctuary, and from the side of the altar,” where the sacrifices were offered. Being brought to it by the heavenly messenger who had been sent to instruct him, he was made to pass through its waters, which, in the first instance, rose only “to his ankles.” On being brought to another place, he found the “waters up to his knees;” and, at another place, “up to his loins;” and then, a little further on, it was “out of the depth of any man! Ezekiel 47:1-5.”

Now this gives a most just and beautiful representation of the Gospel; which, in our first approach to it, is so shallow, that a child may walk in it with perfect ease; but, as we advance in it, we find yet deeper truths; until, at last, its mysteries are unfathomable by any created intelligence, “so unsearchable are God’s judgments, and his ways past finding out! Romans 11:33.”

Nothing can be more simple than the great leading truth of salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; a child who can but just “run, may read it,” and “a wayfaring-man, though a fool, may understand it!”

But when we attempt to explore the love of Christ displayed in it, we find “a length and breadth and depth and height that infinitely surpass any finite comprehension!” “May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully! Ephesians 3:18-19.”

But of its chief excellencies we must especially mark,

IV. The healthfulness of this river.

The Prophet Zechariah, especially referring to the Gospel, says, “It shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem! Zechariah 14:8.” And in the passage before quoted from the Prophet Ezekiel, their efficacy is fully declared, “It shall come to pass, that everything that lives, which moves wherever the rivers shall come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come there; for they shall be healed, and everything shall live where the river comes, Ezekiel 47:9.”

Here then we see, that these streams give health to the diseased, and life to the dead. Truly, there is no spiritual disease which shall not be removed by the use of them. Naaman thought that “Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, might be as serviceable as the waters of Israel, 2 Kings 5:12;” and, in like manner, many vainly hope to heal themselves by the application of carnal remedies to their souls.

But it is this river alone that can purify us from our sins; and the man that washes in it, however leprous he may have been, shall instantly experience its healing efficacy. Nor shall its virtue be confined to a single patient; none shall have cause to complain, like the man at Bethesda’s pool, that one less indigent or more highly-favored than himself has been beforehand with him, and exhausted all its virtue, John 5:7. Not a single believer shall fail of obtaining all he needs, if only he applies the remedy in faith, “The fountain is opened for sin and for impurity, Zechariah 13:1; and its powers are yet as effectual as on the day that David washed in it, Psalm 51:7, or the murderers of the Lord of glory sprinkled its waters upon their souls, Acts 2:41.

It will even give life to the dead. When a dead man was cast into the sepulcher of Elisha, the very instant his body touched the bones of the prophet, he revived, and stood upon his feet! 2 Kings 13:21. And shall not these waters, sprinkled on the soul, produce a like effect? Has not our blessed Lord himself affirmed, “I am the Resurrection, and the Life; he who believes in me, though he were dead—yet shall he live; and whoever lives, and believes in me, shall never die, John 11:25-26.”

Let it not be thought that the Gospel has lost one atom of its power; for though men are in a state so desperate, that, as in Ezekiel’s vision, their bones are reduced to dust, and scattered over the face of the earth—yet shall they “rise up as a great army,” as soon as ever the Word and Spirit of God shall be applied with power to their souls! Ezekiel 37:1-10.

That, however, of which our text more particularly speaks, is,

V. The efficacy of the river to “gladden the whole city of God”.

In two respects does it contribute to the happiness of every citizen of Zion, namely:
by the defense which it affords, and
by the refreshment which it administers.

Common rivers, if they afford protection against those who have no means of crossing them, give, in many instances, a greater facility of assault, either by means of large fleets, which transport an enemy with ease to any point he may choose to attack; or by smaller vessels, whereby he may come suddenly and unperceived, and disembark upon its very banks.

But this river admits no access by any such means. Hear the account given of it by the Prophet Isaiah, “Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken. There the LORD will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them, Isaiah 33:20-21.”

We may conceive of a river which, by its shoals and cataracts, bids defiance to vessels of any kind; and such is that which encompasses our Zion, and keeps it from every assault. At the same time it supplies the needs of the besieged in rich abundance. From the moment that anyone tastes its refreshing streams, “he thirsts no more;” he has within himself, as it were, “a well of water springing up unto everlasting life! John 4:13-14; John 7:37-38.”

Such perfect satisfaction both to soul and body will these waters give, that all who drink of them will have a foretaste of Heaven itself, “they draw water out of this fountain with inexpressible joy! Isaiah 12:3;” “and they are abundantly satisfied with the fatness of God’s house; and he makes them drink of the river of his pleasures, Psalm 36:8.” It is surely a strong-expression to say that this is a foretaste of Heaven; but look into Heaven, and you will find the very same river running there, and the blessed inhabitants partaking of it; for “the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne is feeding them, and leads them to living fountains of water; and God wipes away all tears from their eyes! Revelation 7:17.”

Let me found an address on this sublime subject,

1. To those believers who are in circumstances of difficulty or danger.

It was after a deliverance from some impending calamity that this Psalm was written; and from that deliverance the Psalmist inferred those who trust in God have nothing to fear. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and are troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” To every inhabitant of Zion this sweet assurance belongs, “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early! verses 1-5.” Know then your privilege, brethren; and amidst all the storms and dangers to which you are exposed, see your God as an impassable river around you; or, varying the metaphor, as “a wall of fire round about you, and the glory in the midst of you! Zechariah 2:5.” With such a protector, “can any weapon that is formed against you prosper?” You may bid defiance to every enemy; and say, with confidence, “If God is for me—then who can be against me?”

2. To those unbelievers who are seeking their happiness in the things of time and sense.

Infatuated people, who are “forsaking the fountain of living waters, and hewing out cisterns for yourselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water! Jeremiah 2:13.” When will you see your folly?

When will you allow your continued disappointments to instruct you?

If you will not believe the Word of God, methinks you might learn from your own experience. Did you, from such services—ever receive one single draught that satisfied you? Have you not, even in the moments of your highest enjoyment, found that you were “laboring for that which could not profit,” and that “in the midst of laughter your heart was in heaviness?” Listen, then, to the invitation of the prophet, “Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money; come buy and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price! Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good; and let your soul delight itself in fatness! Isaiah 55:1-2.”

Truly, if you will come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and “receive the blessings he has purchased for you out of his fullness!”—then you shall “remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them, that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise! Psalm 106:4-5.”

Charles Simeon