Psalm 119:68

“You are good, and do good; teach me your statutes.”

The attributes of God, if considered only in a speculative view, must excite our admiration; but, if contemplated in reference to our state and conduct, they will be to us a source of unspeakable comfort, and a spring of incessant activity. What emotions a knowledge of the Divine goodness will produce in the soul, we see in the words before us; in discoursing upon which we shall notice,

I. The goodness of God.

In conformity with the text, we shall call your attention to,

1. God’s essential goodness.

This is not an indiscriminate regard to all, whether they be good or evil; for such a regard would not consist with justice, or holiness, or truth; but it is a general benevolence towards the whole creation, operating incessantly for the good of the whole. The manner in which it reveals itself is as various as the states of men; but, however diversified its operations may be, it is the same principle in God.

God’s goodness is the sum of all his perfections.

Towards the undeserving, it is grace;
to the ill-deserving, it is mercy;
to the indigent, it is bounty;
to the distressed, it is pity and compassion;
towards the impenitent, it is forbearance;
to the obstinate and incorrigible, it is justice.

This is the view which God himself gives us of his goodness. Moses prays for a sight of God’s glory; God promises to show him his goodness; and then represents it as consisting in an united exercise of all his perfections, Exodus 33:18-19; Exodus 34:6-7. In this view, goodness resides in him necessarily, in him only, and in him continually.

2. God’s communicative goodness.

This he manifests to the world at large. When first he created the world, he formed everything “very good.” And if we look around us, we shall be constrained to say, “The earth is full of his goodness.”

Towards man in particular, his goodness is more abundantly displayed.

Towards the ungodly he has shown it, by giving his only dear Son to die for them, and his Spirit to instruct them; yes, he has set apart an order of men also to entreat them in his name to accept the offered salvation.

Towards the godly he has abounded yet still more in the exceeding riches of his grace; for, in addition to all that he has done for the ungodly, he has made his Word effectual for their conversion; and he watches over them with paternal care, supplying all their needs, and protecting them in all their dangers; and, to complete the whole, he will crown them finally with eternal glory! Psalm 103:1-5.

Such a view of God as this cannot but lead us to adopt,

II. The petition grounded upon God’s goodness.

The petition itself is such as all ought to offer for themselves.

By “the statutes” of God we understand both the truths he has revealed, and the precepts he has enjoined. Of these we are by nature ignorant; nor can we by mere human exertions ever acquire a right understanding of them, 1 Corinthians 2:14. We must be taught of God; our eyes must be opened by his Spirit; only then shall we keep his statutes, when God himself shall “write them on the fleshy tablets of our hearts.”

But the petition has peculiar force as grounded on a discovery of God’s goodness; for, in that, as in a looking-glass, we see,

1. Our duties.

The law of God primarily declares our duty towards him; but none ever attain a just knowledge of that duty from the law alone; they cannot see the necessity of loving God with all their hearts, until they have some idea of the obligations they lie under to him for the stupendous work of redemption. But let the love of God in Christ Jesus be once clearly revealed to the soul, and the excellency of the law will instantly appear; and obedience to it will be considered as perfect freedom.

2. Our defects.

We are naturally averse to acknowledge our vileness and wickedness. But a sight of the Divine goodness softens the mind and heart, and renders them sincere. Hence the more we are acquainted with God, the more we know of ourselves; and the more we have experienced of his love—the more we “abhor ourselves for our ingratitude to him, and our lack of conformity to his image! Job 42:5-6. Ezekiel 16:63.”

3. Our encouragements.

Wherever we look, we have no encouragement but in God. Indeed, if only we are acquainted with his goodness, we need no other encouragement; for, what will not He do, who is so good in himself? And what will He refuse us, who has done so much for us already! Romans 8:32. Such considerations as these are sufficient to counterbalance every difficulty that the world, or the flesh, or the devil can place in our way. Having this God for our God, we can lack nothing for time or for eternity.

Charles Simeon

Psalm 119:59-60

“I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto your testimonies. I made haste, and did not delay to keep your commandments.”

At what period of David’s life these words were written, we are not informed; if in his early youth, they relate to his first conversion to God; but if in his middle or more advanced life, they declare the daily habit of his soul. Under any circumstances they are very instructive.

To young people they show that it is never too early to begin a life of entire devotedness to God. To those engaged in business of any kind, they manifest that, while in the world, they should not be of the world, but in the midst of all their cares they should preserve their minds in a spiritual and heavenly state. To the great and noble, yes, to princes and kings, they hold forth a solemn admonition to imitate the Jewish monarch, and to be as eminent in piety, as they are elevated above others in state and dignity. This all may learn from them: that if ever we would find acceptance with God in the great day, we must turn to him,

I. With care and diligence.

Thoughtlessness is the source of almost all the evil that exists.

Men will not give themselves the trouble to look back upon their past conduct. They take for granted that all has been right, or at least not materially wrong; and that they have done nothing that calls for any particular humiliation before God. Of this the prophet Jeremiah warns, Jeremiah 8:6; as does our Lord also of the Jews in his day, John 3:19-20.

Nor will men take much pains to ascertain the path of duty in reference to what is future; they desire rather to act from the impulse of the moment; nor have they any apprehensions that they shall offend God by anything that they may do. “They do what is right in their own eyes,” without inquiring whether it is right in God’s sight, or not; or whether he remembers it, or not, Hosea 7:2.

But we should compare our actions carefully with the Word of God.

The sacred volume is the only perfect standard of truth and virtue. If we satisfy ourselves with the opinions of men and the customs of the world, we shall be sure to err.

We should take God’s Word, and try our thoughts and ways by it. In particular, we should notice what God has testified to us in his gospel; and see whether in our spirit and conduct we are such as he requires us to be.

In this lies the vast difference between the standard of the world and that of God. The world regards nothing but our outward conduct, and that chiefly in reference to the welfare of society. Whereas God has respect to all our dispositions towards Him, and to all our motives and principles of action towards men.

We should take the Scripture then as our touchstone; and see how far the whole habit of our minds accords with what is required of us there, and what we see exemplified in the New Testament saints. Yes, we should set Christ himself before us, and try ourselves by the standard of his perfection.

And, having ascertained what God’s Word requires, we should rectify our lives according to it.

We must “turn,” not our thoughts only, but “our feet” also, unto his testimonies. Having found out our past errors, we should humble ourselves for them, and determine, through grace, to run into them no more; and having discovered “the good old way,” we should strive, through grace, to “walk in it.”

As for obstacles of any kind, we should not regard them. We should have it settled in our minds, that “the high-way of holiness” is the only road that will lead to Heaven; and we should resolve, that, however narrow and unfrequented it may be, we will walk in it, even though earth and Hell should conspire to obstruct our progress Matthew 7:13-14. This is the advice given us by the voice of inspiration, Lamentations 3:40; and to follow it is the duty, the interest, the happiness, of every human being! Ecclesiastes 12:13. Luke 10:42.

In this however there should be no delay.

II. We should all address ourselves to this work with promptitude and decision.

Next to utter thoughtlessness, is the evil of procrastination.

There are none so blind as not to know that they have some occasion for repentance, or so hardened as to have formed a determined resolution that they will never repent. All have a faint purpose in their minds, that at some future period they will repent; but then they put it off at present, in expectation of some “more convenient season.”

The young think that they have time enough before them, and that any great attention to religion is unsuited to their age.

The busy are so engaged in their several concerns, that they think they may well be excused attending to religion, until a time of greater leisure.

Everyone finds some excuse for himself, and puts off the evil day, in hopes that some period will arrive when he shall be better disposed to the great work of turning unto God.

But it is folly and madness to defer this important work!

It must be done; or else we inevitably and eternally perish; No man can call an hour his own. “We know not what a day, an hour, a moment, may bring forth!” While we are looking for days and years to come, God may say, “You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you.” The difficulty of the work increases daily. The force of habit is exceeding great; and the longer we fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind—the more difficult it will be to mortify and subdue them!

We are in danger also of provoking God to withdraw from us all the assistances of his Spirit. We may “grieve the Holy Spirit,” yes, may “quench” also his sacred motions. God has said, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man;” and if once he says respecting us, “Let them alone,” our doom is sealed as surely as if we were already gone beyond redemption.

How awful is the state of those who are taken unprepared! What “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth” will they experience, cursing their own folly, and vainly wishing it were possible for them to have another opportunity afforded them for working out their salvation! Ecclesiastes 9:10.

Say then whether any man should defer one hour this necessary work! Surely we should “make haste, and not delay, to keep God’s commandments. See Hebrews 3:7-14.”

That in this great work you may not miscarry, we would subjoin some useful advice.

Cry mightily to God, and seek from him,

1. Impartiality in judging.

Self-love always prompts us to form a favorable estimate of our own thoughts and conduct. If we search at all, we search rather for excuses than for sins; for grounds of self-approbation, rather than of self-reproach. But what folly is this! God will form his estimate aright, whether we do or not; and by his own estimate he will judge us in the last day.

Professors of religion, no less than others, are warped by self-love; and there are thousands whose spirit and conduct are directly at variance with the Gospel, while yet they boast of themselves as lights in a dark world! O search your hearts, as the Jews searched their houses for leaven; or as you would search a room for jewels which you had lost. You would not hastily shut your eyes, and say: There is no jewel here; but you would be examining every corner, to find as many as possibly you could; not content to leave so much as one undiscovered. If such impartiality were once exercised by us in detecting our sins, we would not be far from the kingdom of God.

2. Fidelity in acting.

Were a traveler, after long and laborious search, to find the true way to the place where he was journeying, he would retrace his steps, and proceed in the path which led to the place of his destination. It might be less pleasant than his former path; but still he would walk in it.

Do not say then that a life of entire devotedness to God is difficult, or that the ways of Christ and his Apostles would make you singular, or require sacrifices on your part. Be it so; but still you must go forward; you must “not confer with flesh and blood;” you must give yourselves up, in body, soul, and spirit, to the Lord. You must strive to “walk altogether as Christ walked,” and to “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

3. Firmness in persevering.

It is comparatively easy to begin well; the difficulty lies in persevering. The fear of death, or some strong impression on our minds, will operate for a time; but, if there is not a root of grace in us, we shall soon turn back to our evil ways. And, if we do that, we make our state really worse than it was before we thought of our ways at all, 2 Peter 2:21.

O “be not weary in well doing.” Make up your mind to encounter difficulties, and to endure hardships; and know that the end will richly repay for all the difficulties of the way!

Charles Simeon

Psalm 119:51-52

“The arrogant mock me without restraint, but I do not turn from your law. I remember your ancient laws, O LORD, and I find comfort in them.”

There is not, throughout the whole Scriptures, any woe so little feared, so little thought of, so little credited, as that which was denounced by our blessed Lord, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! Luke 6:26.” But, in truth, there is no denunciation more certain to be executed than that; for there is nothing that can more infallibly prove us to be the enemies of God, than the approbation and love of the ungodly world! If it is asked, Why is this? I answer, that “the things which are highly esteemed among men are an abomination in the sight of God; and that the things which are pleasing to God are no less an abomination in the sight of men; and consequently, that, whichever of the two we serve, we must of necessity lose the favor of the other. This is what our blessed Lord has told us, “You cannot serve God and mammon;” you cannot adhere to either without despising and renouncing the other! Matthew 6:24. And the truth of this has been exemplified in all the saints, from the time of Abel to the present moment. What David speaks respecting his own experience of it, will lead me to consider,

I. The trials which David endured.

He was held greatly in derision by his ungodly subjects.

If anyone could have escaped contempt, we would have supposed that David would be the happy man. His rank in society, as the king of Israel; his extraordinary prowess in war; the services he had rendered to his country; and the marvelous sublimity of his piety, must, we should have thought, have rendered him an object of universal love and admiration. But among his proud and envious subjects, this last quality neutralized, as it were, all his merits, and reduced him to an object of hatred and contempt. The highest people in his kingdom delighted to speak against him, verse 23; while the lowest readily joined in their opprobrious treatment of him, Psalm 69:12. The fat bulls of Bashan on the one hand, and the dogs on the other, compassed him about, Psalm 22:12; Psalm 22:16, and treated him with every species of indignity. Even his own wife, who should have been ready to stem the torrent of abuse that was cast upon him, herself joined in it with peculiar malignity, 2 Samuel 6:20; and the very best actions of his life were made the chief subjects of their profane raillery, 2 Samuel 6:16 and Psalm 69:10-12.

And let not this be thought a light affliction. Truly it is painful to flesh and blood to bear such contemptuous treatment; so, at least, the Apostle represents it in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 10:32-33; and so David himself found it to be, “Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us!” says he, “for we are exceedingly filled with contempt; our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud! Psalm 123:3-4.”

And can we hope to escape a similar trial? Look at the saints from the beginning, and find one that ever escaped it?

How contemptuously did the scoffers of the antediluvian world ridicule the conduct of Noah, all the time that he was preparing the ark! 2 Peter 3:3-6.

What an object of derision, too, was Isaac, on account of his confidence in God, Genesis 21:6 with Galatians 4:29.

Behold Lot also in Sodom, 2 Peter 2:7-8.

And Elisha, 2 Kings 2:23.

And Jeremiah, Jeremiah 20:7.

Or rather, look at our blessed Lord himself, and all his holy Apostles; what was there too contemptuous for the ungodly to say either of him, Matthew 27:39-44, or them, 1 Corinthians 4:13.

How, then, can anyone hope to escape in the present day? Is “the carnal mind less at enmity with God” now, than in former ages? That the laws of the land protect the godly to a certain degree, is true; but from the shafts of calumny and contempt—no laws, whether divine or human, can protect us; and this species of persecution, at least, shall every one experience, who will come out from the world, and boldly declare himself to be on the side of Christ, John 15:19. “If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub, much more will they those of his household! Matthew 10:25.” “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution! 2 Timothy 3:12.”

For our direction, then, let us contemplate,

II. The graces which David exercised.

While he bore his trials with patience, he allowed none of them to divert him from the path of duty.

David’s mind was too firmly fixed on God to be moved by the scoffs and raillery of a profane world. What he did, he did from principle. He regarded God’s Law as a rule from which no trial whatever should induce him to depart. Not only would he not turn back from the path of duty; he would not turn aside from it, no, not for a moment! The more contemptuously he was treated by men, the more diligently he sought communion with his God, in the study of his blessed Word, verse 23, 24, and in the exercise of fervent prayer, Psalm 69:13.

Hence, when he and his people were treated with the utmost possible scorn and derision, he could appeal to God in the following triumphant language, “All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten you, neither have we dealt falsely in your covenant; our heart is not turned back; neither have our steps declined from your ways! Psalm 44:13-18 with 69:20.”

And such, also, is the firmness which we should manifest.

It should be with us “a small matter to be judged by man’s judgment, 1 Corinthians 4:3.” We should have but one object, and that is, to approve ourselves to God; and, having “the testimony of our consciences that we have pleased him,” we should not lay to heart the displeasure of others, however contemptuously or virulently it may be displayed. Onward we should go in our destined path, not turning either to the right hand or to the left. If the whole world should deride us, we should not be induced either to do anything which will offend our God, or to forbear anything which will honor him. That they “hate our light,” and are offended at it, is no reason at all why we should “put it under a basket;” whoever they may be, whether friends or foes, our reply to them should be, “I will yet be more vile than thus! 2 Samuel 6:22.”

Nor will this be very difficult, when once we have tasted of,

III. The consolations which David enjoyed.

In the recollection of “God’s laws of old, he comforted himself”.

The term “laws” has in the Scriptures a great variety of meanings. In the Psalm before us it seems to import the declarations and decisions of Jehovah. Now God, in his Word, has abundantly declared that such treatment is to be expected, and that it is, to those who suffer it, a token for good, “I have become a laughing-stock to my friends, though I called upon God and he answered—a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless! Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping, Job 12:4-5.”

A lamp burning bright in a dark place is an object of high regard; but when it is so burnt down that the flame is quivering on the wick, and almost extinct, it is regarded rather as an object of disgust. And such is the light in which even the best of worldly men are viewed, when once God is pleased to convert them to himself; they are no longer welcomed as friends to exhilarate and enliven their companions, but are loathed rather, as the bane of social happiness!

In God’s estimation, however, they are proportionably exalted; and are taught to consider “the reproach of Christ as greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt, Hebrews 11:26.”

In the view of these things, the Psalmist “comforted himself;” saying, “Let your tender mercies come unto me, that I may live; for your Law is my delight. Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause; but I will meditate in your precepts, verses 77-78.”

The same sources of comfort are ever open unto us also.

Our blessed Lord speaks of this treatment as the certain portion of all his people, “You shall be hated by all men, for my name’s sake, Matthew 10:22.” And does he represent this as a matter for grief and sorrow? Far from it; he tells us rather to “rejoice and leap for joy, because great will be our reward in Heaven! Matthew 5:10-12.” Besides, in these afflictions we are made “partakers of Christ’s sufferings;” and by means of them “the Spirit of glory and of God is made more visibly and more abundantly to rest upon us;” and though, “on the part of our enemies, God is evil spoken of and dishonored, on our part he is glorified, 1 Peter 4:13-14,” and, to crown the whole, we are assured, that, “if we suffer thus with Christ, we shall also in due time be glorified together, Romans 8:17.”

And are not these declarations abundantly sufficient to comfort us, under all that we can be called to suffer for Christ’s sake? No doubt they are; and, therefore, if we participate with David in his trials and his graces, we shall, both in this life and the next, be partakers also of his consolations.

Learn, then, from this subject,

1. What expectations to form.

You must not dream of receiving honor from man; but be contented with the honor that comes from God, John 5:44; You must expect to go through “honor and dishonor, through evil report as well as good report, 2 Corinthians 6:8.”

2. What conduct to pursue.

Do not be cast down when these trials come upon you; but submit to them, as sent of God for your good; and “rejoice that you are counted worthy to endure them for the Lord’s sake! Acts 5:41.”

3. What recompense to look for.

Do not be anxious for the approbation of men, if only you may but approve yourselves to God. In a little time you will stand at his judgment-seat; and then you shall receive a testimony from him, and “your righteousness shall appear as the noon-day.” If “the Lord Jesus does but confess you before his Father and his holy angels,” it will be no grief to you that you have suffered for confessing him, Matthew 10:32. A crown of righteousness and glory will be an ample recompense for all the hatred and contempt that an ungodly world could pour upon you!

Charles Simeon

Psalm 119:45

“I will walk at liberty; for I seek your precepts.”

Justly as civil liberty is appreciated among us, there are but few who have just conceptions of that liberty which has respect to morality and religion. Everyone knows that unrestrained liberty is licentiousness; but everyone does not know, that a sincere obedience to God’s Holy Word is the most perfect liberty that man can enjoy. This, however, is plainly intimated in the passage before us; from whence I shall take occasion to show,

I. That the ungodly are strangers to true liberty.

They will boast of liberty, and “promise it to all who will conform to their ways; but they are altogether in a state of bondage! 2 Peter 2:19.”

1. The wicked are in bondage to the world.

The tastes of men differ, according to their age and to the sphere in which they move; but all of every age and every rank are subject to the laws of custom, which they dare not to infringe. Even the religion of men must be conformed to this standard; and God’s commandments must be reduced to the scale which men have established for the regulation of their own lives.

If one is told what God requires, he immediately bethinks himself, ‘What will this person say, or that person do, if I comply with requisitions so foreign to the habits of those around me? Will they not deride my singularity, and set themselves to oppose my insufferable preciseness?’

To justify their conduct, men put the Scriptures altogether aside, as an antiquated volume, the dictates of which are superseded by the wiser and more practical maxims of fashion and “philosophy, falsely so called.” Yes, of all unconverted men it is declared, that they “walk according to the course of this world, Ephesians 2:2,” and “they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you, 1 Peter 4:4.”

2. The wicked are in bondage to the flesh.

There are different degrees in which men yield to the impulse of their corrupt appetites; but every man has “a law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin which is in his members, Romans 7:23.” In fact, there is not anyone so ignorant, but that even his unenlightened reason prescribes to him a better path than he pursues. Let us look around, and see what the dispositions and habits are of all around us. Are not all “fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, Ephesians 2:3,” without affecting anything higher than the gratification of their own corrupt appetites? We are told, that “they who are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh, Romans 8:5;” and we know, from infallible authority, that to whoever we yield ourselves servants to obey, his servants we are to whom we obey! Romans 6:16.”

In truth, even to our dying hour will our conflicts with this tyrannical master continue; for even Paul himself complained, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death! Romans 7:24.”

3. The wicked are in bondage to the Devil.

Well is Satan called “the god of this world; for he works in all the children of disobedience, Ephesians 2:2.” Ever since he prevailed over our first parents in Paradise, he has subjected the whole race of man to his dominion, “taking them in his snares, and leading them captive at his will! 2 Timothy 2:26.” That men deny the agency, and even the existence of this great adversary, is only a proof to what an extent they are “blinded by him, 2 Corinthians 4:4,” and how effectually he has lulled them to sleep in his very arms! Luke 11:21.

Doubtless it is very humiliating to think of ourselves as Satan’s slaves; but this is the true state of every unconverted man; and even the saints themselves are not delivered from his influence, but through the mighty power of Jehovah himself, given in answer to fervent and believing prayer, Ephesians 6:12-18. James 4:7. Romans 16:20.

But the Psalmist’s mention of liberty leads us more particularly to show,

II. What sweet enjoyments of liberty those who love and serve their God have.

David accounted the service of his God to be perfect freedom. And so, indeed, it is; for the man whom “the truth of the Gospel has made free, John 8:32,” and who “looks to God’s precepts” as his only rule of conduct.

1. He walks according to the dictates of his own judgment.

He has an insight into the mind and will of God, and clearly discerns that there is not, in all the Holy Scriptures, a command which does not conduce to the happiness of all who obey it. His own mind and conscience go along with the Word of God, and set their seal to the truth and excellency of everything contained in it. “Not one commandment appears to him to be grievous, 1 John 5:3;” the whole law of God is esteemed by him as “holy, and just, and good, Romans 7:12 and Psalm 119:128.” To “love God with all his heart and soul and strength, and his neighbor as himself,” does not appear to him any hardship imposed upon him, but the perfection of his nature and completion of his felicity; so that he would on no account have one atom of this law cancelled, or mitigated in the least degree. His own judgment tells him that it is no less his privilege, than it is his duty, to be as “holy, as God is holy;” and as “perfect, as his Father who is in Heaven is perfect.”

2. He walks according to the inclination of his own will.

He is neither drawn nor driven against his own will. He is, indeed, “made willing in the day of God’s power, Psalm 110:3;” but “he is drawn with the cords of a man, and with the bands of love, Hosea 11:4.” He does not, indeed, all that he would do; yes, in too many respects he does what he would not do, Romans 7:15;” but this very thing shows that it is rather strength than inclination that he lacks, Romans 7:16-20. Could the Christian have but the desire of his heart, he would leave no sin unmortified, no duty unfulfilled! He is in the situation of one who is running a race, or “fighting a fight;” had he but his will accomplished, his every antagonist would be vanquished in a moment, and “death itself, his last enemy, be swallowed up in victory.”

3. He walks in an unbiased exercise of his own affections.

He has a real delight in God. He does not observe the duties of prayer and praise out of the fear of Hell, but from a real pleasure which he feels in drawing near to God, whom it is his privilege to call by the endearing name of Father, and in communion with whom he would gladly walk all the day long.

Conceive of Adam before his fall; and there you have an image of those who, through the tender mercy of God, are restored. True, they still have “the flesh lusting against the Spirit, as well as the Spirit lusting against the flesh; so that they neither do, nor can do, all that they would do, Galatians 5:17;” but their taste is the very same with that of angels; and the felicity of angels is begun in them; for their life, so far as they have really attained, is both a preparation for Heaven, and a foretaste also of Heaven, in their souls.

Let me then, in conclusion, commend this liberty to your acceptance.

Think not, my brethren, that the Gospel is a mere system of restraints; no, it is a “perfect law of liberty! James 1:25;” and “all who are made free by Christ, have become free indeed, John 8:36.” O that religion were but understood in this view! No captive would more delight to shake off his chains, than sinners would to emancipate themselves from the sore bondage in which they are held! Know then, brethren, that I am authorised, in the name of Jesus Christ, to “preach deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bruised, Luke 4:18-19.” The jubilee trumpet now sounds in your ears, and proclaims to you a restoration to all that you have ever lost and forfeited.

Did not the poor slave, do you think, when called to resume his liberty and his inheritance, account the trumpet a joyful sound? Let the Gospel, then, be such a sound to you; and, instead of regarding God’s service as a hard bondage, adopt the language of the Psalmist, “I will walk at liberty; for I seek your precepts!” “Take upon you the yoke of Christ, and I pledge myself that you shall find it light and easy; and you shall obtain everlasting rest unto your souls, Matthew 11:28-29.”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 119:37

“Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken me in your way!”

The depths of the human heart are never more plainly disclosed, than when a man comes into the presence of his Maker. Then he opens all his needs, and supplicates relief for all his necessities.

The godly man at a throne of grace knows no deceit, no concealment, no false humility. What he speaks, (if he is in a right state) he feels. Let us then draw near, and listen to the breathings of holy David. He felt the ensnaring influence of worldly things, and the lamentable tendency of fallen man to relax his efforts in the service of his God; hence he poured out his soul in this humble supplication, “Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken me in your way!”

That we may all be stirred up to implore similar blessings at the hands of God, we propose to show,

I. The ensnaring power and danger of earthly vanities.

By the word “vanity,” we understand all those things which are apt to engross the affections of men. The Apostle classes them all under “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life;” and they all justly deserve the name assigned them in the text, because they are sure to disappoint the desires and expectations of all who look to them for any solid or permanent satisfaction.

These things altogether captivate and enslave the minds of the generality of men.

The natural man seeks nothing above them. His mind is not occupied with anything above them. He “is in the flesh;” he “walks according to the flesh,” “fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.” His “affections are altogether set upon things below, and not on things above.” His thoughts, his conversation, his labors from day to day, all arise from, and terminate in, the things of time and sense; and from these things alone spring all his hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows.

These things also have great power over those who profess godliness.

So our Lord has told us in the parable of the Sower. The thorny-ground hearers have made, in appearance at least, a great proficiency in religion. They have far surpassed the stony-ground hearers, who yet have heard the word with joy, and given many cheering and hopeful promises of a future harvest. They have been long established, and brought forth much which both they and others have deemed estimable fruit; but yet, “through the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things, the seed that has grown up in them is choked, and they bring forth no fruit to maturity.”

Even people truly and deeply pious are in great danger from worldly vanities; else why did our blessed Lord caution even his own immediate disciples in those memorable words, “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares! Luke 21:34.” There is yet an earthly and sensual spirit dwelling in the best of us, and working powerfully to counteract the better dictates of our new man, Galatians 5:17; and he knows little of his own heart, who does not see and bewail his own proneness to look back again after the flesh-pots of Egypt.

But while we point out thus the danger of earthly vanities, we would point out also,

II. The way to escape their deadly influence.

We should set a guard upon all our senses.

The senses are inlets to all manner of evil! Alas! alas! how often has the mind been contaminated by what it has either seen or heard! If it were no more than what we have read in books, or heard in conversation, that was calculated to encourage a worldly spirit, we should all feel abundant reason to lament, that we have not been sufficiently on our guard against the admission of bad impressions on the mind. But the vilest lusts have found an entrance into the heart by these avenues. Some have found to their cost, that one sinful idea, which they have either seen in a book or picture, or heard in conversation, has abode with them through life, when they have greatly desired to forget it; while hundreds of sermons which they would have been glad to have remembered, have passed from their minds like the morning cloud.

Behold David, the man after God’s own heart; what reason had he to curse the day that he ever looked upon Bathsheba! What reason too had Solomon’s fool to lament that ever he listened to the voice of the enchanting adulteress! Proverbs 7:6-23. It is not without reason that Solomon advises us not to look upon the wine when sparkling in the glass, Proverbs 23:31-32.

We must resist the very first entrance of sin into the soul; for it will operate like fire on a house of wood. Alas! “how great a matter does a little fire kindle! James 3:5.” Its progress is very rapid; and who shall stop the conflagration, when once it has begun? “When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death! James 1:15.”

We exhort all then, like Solomon, to make a covenant with their eyes, and with their ears also, yes, and with the very imaginations of their heart—that neither their physical nor intellectual eyes become an entrance to sin, or traitors to their souls.

We should cry earnestly to God for his effectual grace.

God does and will preserve his people from evil, if they cry unto him. We should therefore call upon him both for his preventing and his quickening grace; we should pray, as David, “Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken me in your way!”

There are many ways in which God will turn away our eyes “from beholding vanity.” He will, if we are really seeking it at his hands, keep temptation from us. And how much we are all indebted to him for this, we shall never know, until we come to the bar of judgment, and have all his mercies unfolded to our view. Thousands of our fellow-creatures, who were once as respectable in every point of view as ourselves, have in an hour of temptation so fallen, as to destroy all their own honor and happiness through life. And why have not we done the same? Are we sure that we, if subjected to the same temptations as they, would not have done the same? Oh! if we are wise, we shall cry day and night, “Lead us not into temptation!”

But there are many other ways in which God can, and does, impart the same blessing. Perhaps he lays some affliction upon our bodies, and visits us with some personal or domestic calamity. We are apt on such occasions to complain of the affliction; whereas, if we saw from what evils the visitation was sent to deliver us, we should be adoring God for it as the richest of all mercies. Let our distress be either in body or mind, who will not bless God for it, if it is the means of weakening the influence of worldly objects on his soul, and of keeping his eyes from beholding vanity?

But, in addition to this, we should cry to him also for his quickening grace. However active we may be in the pursuit of earthly things, we all are too sluggish in our heavenly course. Nine times in this Psalm does David cry, “Quicken me!” and ninety-nine times do we need to renew the petition every day of our lives. Beg of God then to show you more and more clearly the excellency of “his way” (even of that salvation which Christ has wrought out for us.), and the blessedness of the end to which it leads.

This will quicken us more than anything else. Let us see the excellency of a life of faith; and that will make us despise the things of sense. Let us also get Pisgah views of the land of Canaan; and we shall value nothing that can be offered us in this dreary wilderness. Look at Christ as the way, and Christ as the end; and you will soon “cast away the besetting sins that impede you,” and “run with alacrity the race that is set before you! Hebrews 12:1-2.”

ADDRESS.

1. Young people.

Greatly do you need to offer the petition in our text.

O! bear in mind the true character of earthly things; they are altogether vanity!

Bear in mind your danger from them; they will ensnare you. And, if the snare is not broken, they will destroy your souls!

Bear in mind your need of divine grace to counteract their influence. It is God alone who can preserve you; and, if not preserved by him, you will fall and perish!

2. Those who make a profession of godliness.

Do not think that you are above temptation! Satan tempted even our blessed Lord himself, by “showing him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.” And he will tempt you in like manner.

Nor imagine that you may not fall; for Demas was as eminent as any of you, and yet fell at last, through love of this present world! 2 Timothy 4:10 with Colossians 4:14 and Philippians 24.

In every Church the sad effect of worldly and carnal lusts is seen. You yourselves see it in others. O, beware lest it is seen in you also. It is your duty and your happiness, to “be crucified unto the world, and to have the world crucified unto you! Galatians 6:14.” You may use this world, if God has given it to you; but you must “so use it, as not to abuse it! 1 Corinthians 7:29-31.” Flee from all occasions of evil, that you may be “found of God at last without spot, and blameless! 2 Peter 3:14.”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 119:34

“Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; yes, I shall observe it with my whole heart!”

A spiritual knowledge essentially differs from the mere exercise of our intellectual powers. A man may have the richest stores of human knowledge, and the most discriminating faculty in various branches of science—and yet be under the dominion, the allowed dominion, of his own lusts and passions.

But spiritual knowledge is always accompanied with gracious dispositions; and for the sake of its practical effects alone is it to be desired. This appears from what Paul says respecting the intercessions which he continually offered before God in the behalf of his Colossian converts, “We do not cease,” says he, “to pray for you, and to desire that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, Colossians 1:9-10.”

In a foregoing part of this Psalm it might seem, as if knowledge alone had been the end for which David desired a spiritual illumination, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law!” But we see in our text, that he had far other ends in view; he longed for knowledge, only that he might have his soul the more enlarged by it to run the way of God’s commandments, “Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; yes, I shall observe it with my whole heart.”

From these words we will take occasion to show,

I. How true wisdom will operate.

The provisional engagement which David entered into was no other than what must necessarily result from an answer to his petition. If God gives to any of us a spiritual understanding, we shall immediately begin:

1. To keep his law.

Whatever God has revealed in his Word will be a law unto us.

Has he bidden us to repent? We shall humble ourselves before him in dust and ashes.

Has he enjoined us to believe in his dear Son? We shall receive him into our hearts, and embrace him as all our salvation and all our desire.

Has he commanded us to obey his precepts? We shall endeavor to search out his will, and to conform ourselves to it in all things.

Whatever temptations may assault us, we shall not allow them to turn us aside from the path of duty.

Whatever opposition we may have to encounter, we shall hold on our way, determined to keep God’s law; yes, to “keep it to the end! verse 112.” This alone is true wisdom, Job 28:28. Yes, this is the first beginning of wisdom in the soul, Psalm 111:10.

2. To observe his law with our whole hearts.

There are two things which a spiritual understanding will most assuredly teach us, namely:
the beauty and excellency of God’s law,
the folly of rendering to it a merely partial obedience.

To an unenlightened mind many of God’s commands appear absurd; and men are ready to say of them, “This is a hard saying; who can hear it?” But, in the view of one who is taught of God, “there is no commandment grievous;” the scope of everything which God has spoken, is to produce the present and eternal happiness of his creatures. The language of every injunction is, Be holy, be happy. To attempt to lower any command to the standard of man’s opinion, or of our own wishes, is seen to be the most horrible foolishness; for, if we can deceive man, we cannot deceive God, “to him all things are naked and open.” As God knows the extent of his own commands, so he knows the precise measure of obedience which we pay to them, “He weighs,” not our actions only, but “our spirits” also.

Hence a partial obedience is the same kind of folly as if a man should request permission to take a poisoned cup, because it was sweet; or as if he should shut his eyes, and say, that no man can see him. Convinced of this, he begs of God to “put truth in his inward parts,” and desires to be “an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit.”

As from a root which is acknowledged to be good, we may anticipate a corresponding fruit; so from fruit that is excellent, we may infer with certainty the goodness of the root. In proof of this we will proceed to show:

II. Wherein its operation will approve itself to every reflecting mind.

The observing of God’s law with our whole hearts necessarily evinces the existence of true wisdom in the soul; because,

1. Obedience to God’s law is consonant with right reason.

What is disobedience, but a preferring of:
the creature to God,
the body to the soul,
and time to eternity?

And will anyone say that this is reasonable, or that it has even a shadow of reason in it? Reason requires the very reverse of this; and the yielding up of our soul and body to God, as a living sacrifice, is expressly called “a reasonable service, Romans 12:1.” If we consider ourselves only as the work of God’s hands, this kind of service is reasonable. But, if we consider ourselves as redeemed by the blood of God’s only dear Son, it is infinitely more reasonable; for, “having been bought with a price, we are not our own, but are bound to glorify God with our bodies and our spirits, which are God’s.”

2. Obedience to God’s law is conducive to our best interests.

We will concede, for argument sake, all that the slaves of pleasure can say in its behalf; yes, we will concede ten times more than its most infatuated votary ever ventured to assert. Having done this, we will ask, What good will it all do you in a dying hour, and at the bar of judgment? “Godliness,” we are told, “is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” But of ungodliness no such thing can be asserted. Granting, that the ungodliness may be of the least offensive kind; yes, that it shall be so subtle, as to assume the appearance, and to gain from many the applause of piety; still we ask: What will it avail in the day that God shall judge the world?

But it is not true, that the pleasures of sin are so great or so satisfactory. On the contrary, there is no comparison between the peace that flows from piety, and the gratifications that result from any criminal indulgence. “The work of righteousness is peace;” but “the way of transgressors is hard.” And, as to the eternal world, there can be no doubt. Inasmuch then as piety is most consonant with right reason, and most conducive to our best interests, it approves itself, beyond a possibility of doubt, the genuine offspring of true wisdom.

ADDRESS.

1. Those who live in the allowed violation of any one commandment.

The world may count you wise; yes, “if you are doing well unto yourselves, (that is, are advancing your own temporal interests,) all men will speak well of you, Psalm 49:18.” But what does God say of you? “They have forsaken the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them? Jeremiah 8:9.” Ah! what indeed? To the rich man, whose heart was elated with his temporal prospects, God said, “You fool!” and no better character will he assign to you. Think only with what an eye the heart-searching God beholds you; or what the angels think of your conduct; or what you yourselves will think of it in a little time; and you will be at no loss to form a right estimate of it. If you would be truly wise in God’s estimation, your obedience to him must be uniform and unreserved, Matthew 7:24-27. Deuteronomy 4:6.

2. Those who profess to be endued with true wisdom.

If “God has given us understanding,” then we must evidence it by the purity of our hearts and lives. But many there are, who can talk very fluently about religion, who yet are very far from being wise in the sight of God. Hear the judgment of God himself on this subject, “Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conduct his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts (and these are no uncommon inhabitants with the professors of religion), lie not against the truth.” (Let proud, conceited, and contentious professors hear this. They are “liars against the truth.”) This wisdom descends not from above; but is earthly, sensual, devilish. “But the wisdom that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy, James 3:13-17.” Here is the test of true wisdom; here is the evidence of a sound understanding. The man that is destitute of these gracious tempers, is in darkness even until now; but the man who from love to Christ is enabled to live in the habitual exercise of them, has surely an understanding heart, and is made wise unto salvation.

Charles Simeon

Psalm 119:30-32

“I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws.
I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD; do not let me be put to shame.
I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free!”

Everything which has an aspect of egotism is for the most part to be avoided; or, at all events, it should be entered upon with extreme care, and be relinquished as soon as the occasion for it has ceased. Yet, while this rule is proper for private Christians, we have reason to be thankful that the Inspired Writers were under no necessity of submitting to it; but that, on the contrary, they were constrained by the powerful motions of the Holy Spirit, to record the secret workings of their hearts, and to develop the principles by which they were actuated in the divine life.

What a treasure has in this view been committed to us in the Psalms of David! In him we see what is the experience of God’s saints in every age. In the very words which we have just read we may behold a Christian’s mind:

I. The Christian’s retrospective testimony.

We may take the words as declaring,

1. The Christian’s deliberate choice.

Whatever was his state in former life, he has now become a new creature; his former sins and errors he has utterly renounced; and has determinately embraced the truth of God, even that truth which God has revealed in the Gospel of his Son. He knows that, as a sinner, he is justly liable to God’s heavy displeasure; and that there is no hope for him, but in that Savior who died for him upon the cross. Hence, with the fullest conviction of his mind and the most deliberate purpose of his soul, has he “fled for refuge to Christ, and laid hold on him as his only hope!”

2. The means by which the Christian seeks to effect his end.

The written Word of God is regarded by him as the only ground of his beliefs, and the only rule of his practice. The promises contained in it he treasures up in his mind, for the encouragement of his soul; and the precepts, as a sure directory. The Sacred Volume is to him what the chart and compass are to the mariner; nor will he ever pass a day without consulting it, to ascertain the state of his soul, and the course that he shall pursue.

3. The exertions made by the Christian in the prosecution of his purpose.

No sooner did he turn to God in earnest, than he found allurements, on the one hand, to draw him from the Lord; and threats, on the other hand, to drive him from his God. But his conscience bears him witness, that “he has stuck unto God’s testimonies,” and “cleaved unto the Lord with full purpose of heart.” True, the conflict yet continues, yes, and requires the utmost exertions of his soul; but still he is “steadfast and immoveable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord; assured that, at last, his labor shall not be in vain in the Lord.”

Conformable with his past experience is also,

II. The Christian’s prospective determination.

He feels, indeed, that God alone can uphold him.

This is strongly expressed in that prayer, “O Lord, do not let me be put to shame!” In vain would be all his own efforts, if he were not aided from on high. Soon would he fall, and make shipwreck of his faith, and “be put utterly to shame,” if God should withdraw from him for one single moment! He feels himself like an infant in its mother’s arms, and cries to God continually, “Hold me up, and I shall be safe.” He laments that in his own heart he is narrow and contracted, and incapable of either devising or executing such plans as may advance his spiritual welfare in the way that he could wish. He seems to himself like a ship that is becalmed; and which, for lack of winds to carry him forward, is in danger of being diverted from his path by currents which he is unable to withstand. Hence he prays to God for such communications of his Holy Spirit as shall fill his sails, and bear him onward to his destined port.

In dependence on God, he determines to redouble his exertions until he has attained the great object of his desires.

He is not contented to “walk” in the ways of God. No! he would “run;” he would “run, and not be weary; he would march onward, and not faint.” He considers himself as engaged in a race; and he sees his course clearly marked in the commandments of his God. Hence he determines, that “when God shall enlarge his heart, he will run with all his might, and never stop until the prize shall be accorded to him. Whatever advance he may have made, “he forgets what is behind, and reaches forward to that which is ahead, and presses on for the prize of his high calling” with increased zeal. He determines that nothing shall abate his ardor, or for a moment divert him from his path. Thus he runs the race that is set before him; and determines, through grace, “so to run it, that he may obtain the prize.”

Let me now add a few words,

1. Of commendation, to those who can adopt this language.

I do hope that some among you are like-minded with David in these particulars; and that, if you have not attained his eminence in the divine life, you are yet truly and habitually following his steps. Shall I not, then, say to you, as Moses did to Israel of old, “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like unto you, O people saved by the Lord! Deuteronomy 33:29.”

Truly, in comparison with you, the greatest, wisest, noblest of mankind are in a poor and base condition. In you, the end of your creation has been answered; yes, and the end of your redemption too. In you God delights; yes, he regards you as his peculiar treasure! On you the very angels before the throne account it an honor to wait, as your ministering servants; and for you are prepared crowns and kingdoms that shall never fade away!

Was Mary commended by our Lord for having chosen the best part? And was she assured that it should never be taken away from her? The same commendation is yours, and the same assurance is yours also. I do, then, from my soul commend you, however pitiable in other respects your condition may be; and, in the name of my Divine Master, I say for your encouragement, “Do not be weary in well-doing; for in due season you shall reap, if you fault not.”

2. Of reproof, to those who are yet strangers to this heavenly experience.

What have you been doing all your days, that you have never yet made this choice? Are the ways of the world equal in any respect to the way of truth? Are they as reasonable in themselves? Are they as conducive to the best interests of man? Or will they prove so happy in their outcome?

Compare the things which tempt you from the testimonies of the Lord, with the loss which they will occasion, and the evils which they will entail upon you. You may now, perhaps, justify the preference which you give to sin; but say whether you will not one day be ashamed of it? Say whether, in that hour when you shall be bidden to depart from your Savior’s presence, and to take your portion forever in a lake of fire—you will not be ashamed of the choice which you have now so unwisely made, and of the hopes which you now so presumptuously cherish?

Perhaps you now laugh at the idea of an enlargement of heart, and deride the course to which it leads; but will you do so in that day? Will you not rather lament that you followed the course of this world, instead of prosecuting the ways which lead to Heaven? I would say then to you, “Seek now the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near.” There is no repentance in the grave, nor any reversing of the sentence that shall soon be passed upon you. Begin, then, the course which David ran, and prosecute it with the ardor that filled his soul. So shall you possess with him, the joy that is set before you, and inherit to all eternity the rest that remains for the people of God!

Charles Simeon

Psalm 119:20

“My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times!”

In general, there is no other connection between the different verses of this Psalm, than the accidental one of their beginning with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet; yet possibly the collocation of them may occasionally have been determined by their bearing upon some particular point. The whole Psalm is an eulogy upon the Word of God, and a declaration of the love which David bore towards it.

And, while we apprehend that every distinct sentence was put down as it occurred to the Psalmist’s mind, without any particular dependence on its context, we suppose that, in the arrangement of some parts, there may have been a design in placing some observations so as to confirm or enforce others which had preceded them. In the 18th verse, David had said, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your Law;” and in the two following verses, as they stand, he may be considered as enforcing that petition; first, by the consideration of the shortness of his continuance here; and, then, by the exceeding greatness of his wish to obtain the desired blessing, “I am a stranger in the earth; hide not your commandments from me. My soul breaks for the longing that it has unto your judgments at all times.” Now, this expression being so exceeding strong, I will take occasion from it to point out:

I. David’s intensity of desire after the Word of God.

Often does he say that he has “longed” for God’s Word verse 40, 131, 174; but here he says, “My soul breaks for the longing that it has.” To enter into the force of this expression, let us compare his desire after God’s Word with the desire felt by others in cases of extreme emergency.

1. Let us compare it with the desire of a hunted deer.

Let us conceive of a deer that has for many hours been fleeing from its pursuers, until its strength is altogether exhausted, and it is ready to faint with fatigue. Let us suppose that its fears are raised to the uttermost, by the rapid advance of its enemies, ready to seize and tear it in pieces. How intense must be its thirst! How gladly would it pause a few moments at a water-brook, to revive its parched frame, and to renovate its strength for further flight! Of this we may form some conception; and it may serve in a measure to convey to us an idea of David’s thirst after the judgments of his God.

“O God,” says he, “you are my God; 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! Psalm 63:1.”

“My soul longs, yes, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God! Psalm 84:2.”

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Psalm 42:1-3″?

2. Let us compare it with the desire of an endangered mariner.

Mariners for the most part are men of great courage; but when ready to be overwhelmed in the tempestuous ocean, they sink like other men. “For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits’ end! Psalm 107:25-27.” Such is the description given of them by God himself.

But let us take an instance upon record. When Paul was “sailing by Crete, there arose a tempestuous wind,” and the ship becoming unmanageable, “they let her drive;” and “fearing they should fall into the quicksands, they struck sail, and so were driven.” “Being exceedingly tossed with the tempest, they lightened the ship, casting out with their own hands the very tackling” which they had stowed up for the management of the ship. In this perilous condition they continued a whole two weeks, not having taken during all that time so much as one regular meal. Paul, in the immediate prospect of having the ship dashed to pieces, and no hope remaining to any of them of safety unless on broken pieces of the ship, said to them, “This is the fourteenth day that you have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing; I beg you to take some food; for this is for your health;” he administered to them some bread, and then “cast into the sea the very wheat” with which the ship was provisioned; and soon “the ship ran aground, and was broken in pieces by the violence of the waves! Acts 27:14-41.”

How must all this crew have longed for safety! How must their “soul have broken for the longing which they had” to escape from their peril! Yet not even this exceeded the desire which David had for the Word of God.

3. Let us compare it with the desire of a deserted soul.

This will come nearer to the point. The feelings of a hunted deer or an endangered mariner are merely natural; but those of a deserted soul are spiritual, and therefore more suited to illustrate those which David speaks of in our text.

See the state of a deserted soul in Job, “If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—no wonder my words have been impetuous. The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me! Job 6:2-4.”

Or take the case recorded in the 88th Psalm, “You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, O LORD, every day; I spread out my hands to you! Psalm 88:6-7; Psalm 88:9; Psalm 88:14-16.”

Here we see what is meant by the soul breaking for the longing that it has after God. And there is in this Psalm another verse, which, to one who has ever felt what it is to have an overwhelming desire after God, will convey the true import of my text, “I opened my mouth and panted; for I longed for your commandments! verse 131. The sigh of one overwhelmed with a desire after God, expresses the very thing.”

Nor was this a sudden emotion on some extraordinary occasion; no; it was the constant habit of David’s mind; it was what he felt “at all times!” “My soul breaks for the longing that it has unto your judgments at all times.”

I am aware that this may appear extravagant. But we must remember that this expression was not a poetic fiction, but an argument solemnly addressed to the heart-searching God. And that it was not stronger than the occasion called for, will appear while I show you,

II. The reason of David’s so longing for God’s blessed Word.

The reasons that might be assigned are numberless. But I will confine myself to three:

1. David so longed for God’s Word, because in it he found God himself.

In the works of creation, something of God may be discerned; but it is in his Word alone that all his perfections are displayed, and all his eternal counsels are made known. In this respect, “God has magnified his Word above all his name,” and all the means whereby he has made himself known to men, Psalm 138:2.

There he met Jehovah, as Adam met him, amidst the trees of the garden in Paradise. There “he walked with God, and conversed with him as a friend.” There he had such “fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ,” and such “communion with the Holy Spirit,” as he could never find in any other field, nor ever attain but by meditation on the Word of God.

Can we, then, wonder that he so longed for that word, and that his very soul broke for the longing that he had for it? The wonder rather is, that there should be a person upon earth who could have access to that sacred volume, and not so value it.

2. David so longed for God’s Word, because from it he obtained all that his necessities required.

Did he desire the forgiveness of all his sins? There he found “a fountain opened for sin and for impurity,” a fountain capable of washing him from all the guilt he had contracted in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah! In reference to those very transactions, and to the efficacy of the sin-atoning blood of Christ, he cries, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow! Psalm 51:7.”

Did he need:
direction in difficulty,
support in trouble, and
strength for an unreserved obedience?

There he found it all, and from thence derived it in the very hour of need, to the full extent of his necessities. Such were the refreshments which David found in the Word, that corn and wine and oil, and all the delicacies of the universe, could but faintly shadow forth; and thence he derived such treasures as were absolutely unsearchable.

Can we wonder, then, that the Word of God was, in David’s estimation, sweeter than honey and the honey-comb, and infinitely more precious than the finest gold! Psalm 19:10.

3. David so longed for God’s Word, because by it he gained a foretaste of Heaven itself.

The word was to him as Jacob’s ladder, by which he held fellowship with Heaven itself. By it he ascended to Mount Pisgah, and surveyed the Promised Land in all its length and breadth. In it he beheld his Savior, as it were, transfigured before his eyes, yes, and seated on his throne of glory, surrounded by myriads of saints and angels; yes, and beheld the very throne reserved for himself, and the crown of glory prepared for him, and the golden harp already tuned for him to bear his part among the heavenly choir.

I forbear to speak more on this subject; because, if what I have already spoken does not justify the language of my text, then nothing that I can add can be of any weight. Only let any person read this Psalm, in which no less than one hundred and seventy-six times the excellency of the sacred volume is set forth in every variety of expression that David could invent; and he will see, that the language of my text was no other than what every man should both feel and utter.

But from all this, who does not see:

01. That religion is not a mere form, but a reality!

Religion, if it is genuine, occupies, not the head, but the heart and soul, every faculty of which it controls and regulates. O that we all felt it so! But indeed, brethren, so it is; and so it must be, if ever we would enjoy the benefits it is intended to convey.

2. That we all have very abundant occasion for shame in a review both of our past and present state!

We are not, like the unhappy papists, debarred from God’s blessed Word. The very least and lowest among us has free access to it, and may read it for himself; yes, and derive still greater advantage from it than ever David himself reaped; by reason of the rich additions which have been made to it since his day, and the fuller discovery it gives us of God’s mind and will.

Yet how many of us read it not at all, or only in a formal cursory manner, without any such feeling as that which is expressed in my text! My dear brethren, we suffer loss, exceeding great loss—by our negligence in this respect. Did we but read the Word, and meditate on it day and night, and pray over it, and converse with God by it—what blessings might we not obtain and not enjoy?

Well, I leave it, with “commending you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified! Acts 20:32.” I am certain that “it is profitable for all that your souls can desire;” and that if you improve it aright, it shall render you perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, 2 Timothy 3:17,” and shall “make you wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus, 2 Timothy 3:15.”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 119:18

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law!”

The necessity of Divine teaching, in order to a spiritual acquaintance with the truth of God, is by many denied; and all expectation of the Holy Spirit’s influence for that end is derided as wild enthusiasm. But, however the profane ungodly world may scoff at the idea, it is “by the Spirit of God alone that we can know the things which are freely given to us by God, 1 Corinthians 2:12;” and the wisest of men, as much as the most ignorant, has reason to adopt the petition in our text, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law!”

From these words we shall take occasion to show,

I. What wondrous things are contained in God’s law.

If we understand the law here spoken of, as importing the Law of Moses, it certainly is full of wonders; the moral law, being a perfect transcript of the mind of God; and the ceremonial law, being a shadow of all those good things which are revealed to us in the Gospel.

But we apprehend that David is speaking rather of the Gospel, even of that “law which is come forth from Zion, and that word which has proceeded from Jerusalem.” No one of the prophets, scarcely excepting even Isaiah himself, had clearer or richer views of Christ than David; and as he speaks of Christ in almost all his Psalms, we may justly suppose, that in this place he refers to the wonders that are contained in the Gospel of Christ.

Consider the Gospel generally.

In it is revealed salvation, salvation purchased by the blood and righteousness of God’s only-begotten Son. What a mystery is this! The God of Heaven and earth assuming our nature, that in that nature he may expiate the guilt of a ruined world! We are accustomed to hear of this, and therefore listen to it without emotion; but what would we think of it, if it now reached our ears for the first time? Truly “great is this mystery of godliness!” We, through unbelief and indifference, think little of it; but “the angels,” though infinitely less interested in it than we, “desire day and night to look into it,” and to comprehend, if it were possible, the heights and depths of love that are contained in it! 1 Peter 1:12.

Consider it more particularly.

Mark well the character of this salvation:
its freeness,
its fullness,
its suitableness!

It is as free as the light we see, or the air we breathe! It has come to us unsolicited and unsought; and it is given to us “without money and without price, Isaiah 55:1.” The whole world are invited to come to Christ as to an overflowing fountain, and to “take of the water of life freely, Revelation 22:17.” So full is it, that it neither wants, nor is capable of, any addition. Nothing is left to be supplied by man; he gives nothing, but receives all. “All is treasured up for us in Christ! Colossians 1:19,” “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and complete redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30.” If only we are content to receive out of his fullness, we shall never lack anything that is necessary either for our present or eternal happiness John 1:16. Galatians 2:20. And this is exactly such a salvation as is suitable to fallen man. If we were required to add anything to what Christ has done and suffered for us, in order to render it sufficient for our salvation, what could we add? What have we of our own, but sin? The more anyone knows of himself, the more he would despair, if anything were required of him, as a price whereby to purchase a saving interest in Christ. Doubtless we must repent, and believe, and obey the Gospel, before we can be saved; but repentance, faith, and obedience, though necessary as means to an end, merit nothing at the hands of God; nor have we of ourselves any sufficiency for those things; even those graces are wrought in us by the Spirit of God, who “gives us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure.” Salvation, from first to last, is altogether of grace; and therefore it is equally suitable to all; to the thief when dying on the cross, as to Nicodemus, or Nathanael, whose whole life and conduct had been so exemplary, and who lived to adorn the doctrine they professed.

Contemplate these things, and say whether they contain not “wonders” that surpass the comprehension, both of men and angels?

From the text however we may learn,

II. How we are to attain the knowledge of them.

Doubtless we must “search the Scriptures,” and that with all diligence, John 5:39. But, if we search them in dependence on our own wisdom, we shall never succeed. We must look up to God for the teachings of his Spirit, even as David did, and pray, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

This is the way prescribed by God.

God regards all men as blind, Revelation 3:17, and incapable of comprehending spiritual things—until he himself has opened their eyes, and given them a spiritual discernment, 1 Corinthians 2:14. Ephesians 4:18. Hence he counsels all to come to the Lord Jesus Christ “for eye-salve, that they may see, Revelation 3:18;” and to look to him as the only Author of true wisdom, James 1:5. He represents it as the Holy Spirit’s office to take of the things that are Christ’s, and to show them unto us, John 16:8; John 16:11; John 16:13-14;” and to bring home to the minds of men a clear perception of those various truths which are most of all interesting to their souls. He considers all men as equally under the necessity of submitting to the teachings of his Spirit, John 6:45.

God derides the efforts of those who lean to their own understanding, 1 Corinthians 1:19-20, and will communicate to “babes the things which he conceals from the wise and prudent! Matthew 11:25.” True it is, that God uses both the written and preached word as the means of conveying instruction; but the due reception of that instruction he ascribes to the operation of his own almighty power, 1 Corinthians 3:5-7. Even the disciples whom Jesus himself had instructed for three or four years, were not able rightly to apprehend his Word, until “he opened their understandings to understand the Scriptures, Luke 24:45;” and, when Peter confessed his Lord to be the Christ, he was expressly told, that “flesh and blood had not revealed it” to him, but God himself! Matthew 16:17.

Be it known then to all, that every man, whether learned or unlearned, must “hear and learn of the Father,” who is “the Father of lights, and from whom comes every good and perfect gift, James 1:17.”

This is the way pursued by the saints in all ages.

Who more instructed than David? yet he was not ashamed to seek from God a spiritual illumination. The saints at Ephesus were inferior to no Church whatever, in a comprehension of divine truth; yet did Paul pray for them, that they might yet further “be enlightened by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, through whose gracious influences alone they could grow either in knowledge or in grace, Ephesians 1:17-18.

If we look to those of later times, we find this truth acknowledged by all, excepting those infidels who “deny the Lord that bought them.” The Reformers of our Church have most unequivocally sanctioned the use of these means, and encouraged us to look up to God for “the inspiration of his Spirit,” “that we may both perceive and know what things we ought to do, and also have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same.” Let us not be contented with any efforts of our own, or any instructions from man; but let us “cry after knowledge, and lift up our voice for understanding, knowing that it is the Lord alone who gives wisdom, and that out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding, Proverbs 2:1-6.”

ADDRESS.

1. To those who are studying the Holy Scriptures.

It is surprising what pains many take to acquire an academic knowledge of the Bible, while yet they remain contentedly ignorant of those deep things which none but God can teach. But let me entreat you to seek above all things to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, even that glory which He only who commanded light to shine out of darkness can make known unto you 2 Corinthians 4:6.

2. To those who, though incapable of entering academically into the letter of the Scriptures, have yet, through grace, a knowledge of the spiritual truths contained in them.

Blessed be God, there are some among us, of whom, though unskilled in human knowledge, it may be said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven.” “They were once blind; but now they see;” “They were once darkness; but are now light in the Lord.” Be thankful to him who has so highly favored and distinguished you! 1 Corinthians 1:27-28; and endeavor to walk worthy of him who has given unto you this invaluable blessing, 1 Peter 2:9. If you be “light in the Lord, then walk as children of the light” and of the day, Ephesians 5:8.

Charles Simeon

Psalm 119:9

“How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your Word!”

There is much despondency in the human mind, especially in reference to the great work of sanctification.

There are many who wish to become holy, but they know not how.

They would mortify sin, but they cannot.

They would serve God in newness of life, but to attempt it, appears to them a hopeless task.

The people of the world, if exhorted to give themselves up to God, do not hesitate to affirm that, in the existing state of things, it is impossible; and many who have begun to do this in their own strength, and found its insufficiency for so great a work, have given up in despair, and returned to their former state of carelessness and indifference. But, while we acknowledge the impossibility of serving God aright by any strength of our own, we must deny that it is altogether impractical to fulfill his will. On the contrary, if any man ask, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” we are prepared to answer, that it may be done, “By living according to your Word!”

We have here,

I. A difficulty proposed.

“How can a young man keep his way pure?”

If this question were asked in reference only to outward defilements, it would not be without its difficulties.

Consider to what temptations a young man is exposed. Those which arise from within, are exceeding great. And they are continually strengthened by those occurring from without. Everything he sees around him has a tendency to foster and to gratify some bad passion; while the examples on every side countenance and encourage the indulgence of it. To render evil the less formidable, everyone agrees to strip it of its proper names, and to affix to it some gentle appellation that shall conceal its odiousness, and cast a veil over its deformity. Nay, as if it were not sufficient to cloak its malignity, many become its panders and its advocates, and endeavor to laugh out of the world all that squeamishness that betrays a fear of evil, and an aversion to the commission of it.

Is it any wonder if young men, so circumstanced, fall into sin? Or is it easy for them to keep their garments clean in such an ensnaring and polluting world as this?

But if the question be asked in reference to the sanctity which God requires, the difficulty will appear great indeed.

It is not a Pharisaic righteousness—a cleansing of the outside of the cup and platter, that God requires; but real holiness, both of heart and life. We must seek to be “cleansed from secret faults,” as well as from those which are more open; and never account our end fully accomplished, until we are as “pure as the Lord Jesus Christ is pure,” and as “perfect as our Father who is in Heaven is perfect.”

But how shall a young man so keep his way pure? How shall he “mortify the whole body of sin,” keeping in subjection so many unruly appetites, correcting so many unhallowed dispositions, and putting forth into constant exercise so many heavenly graces as are comprehended in real piety? Indeed, we may ask, How shall young people of either gender so walk before God? In respect of outward decorum, females, from the restraints of education, have a great advantage; perhaps, in reference to vital godliness also: they may be considered as more favored than the other gender, because they have more opportunity for serious reflection.

But genuine piety is uncongenial with our fallen nature; and to attain it is no easy task to any, of either gender, or of whatever age or quality or condition. The very names by which the divine life is described in Scripture is sufficiently show that it is neither attained nor exercised without great difficulty. A “race,” a “wrestling for the mastery,” a “warring of a good warfare”—all require much exertion; and not for a moment only, but until the victory is accomplished.

It must be confessed, therefore, that a young man’s course is very difficult; that “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way,” in which he has to walk; and that if ever he gains “the kingdom of Heaven, he must take it by violence.”

Happy is it for us, however, that we have, on divine authority,

II. The difficulty solved.

To the question asked, “How can a young man keep his way pure?”

The answer is given, “By living according to your Word!”

1. The Holy Scriptures afford a sure directory.

There may surely be particular cases, even to our dying hour, in which it may be difficult to discover the precise line of duty. But, for the most part, the way of righteousness is clearly defined; and it is our own blindness alone that makes it appear intricate or doubtful. There is no corruption of the heart which is not there condemned, nor any holy affection which is not there delineated. There everything is described in its proper colors; piety is exalted as the perfection of our nature; and sin is declared to be “an abomination in the sight of God.”

The example of our blessed Lord also is there portrayed with the utmost exactness; so that, whatever doubt might obscure a precept, the true light is reflected on it, and a perfect standard is exhibited before us. It cannot be through ignorance, therefore, that any shall err, if only they will make use of the light afforded them in God’s blessed Word.

2. The Holy Scriptures afford sufficient encouragement.

There is not a precept in the whole inspired volume which is not made also the subject of a promise. God has engaged to “give us a new heart, and to renew within us a right spirit, and to cleanse us from our filthiness and from all our idols;” so that, however inveterate any lust may be, here is provision against it; and however arduous any duty may be, here is sufficient strength promised for the performance of it.

How effectual the Word is, when duly improved, may be seen in the general description given of it by the Psalmist, “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward! Psalm 19:7-11.”

Here, whether in respect of direction or efficacy, its sufficiency for our necessities is fully declared. But yet more satisfactory is the declaration of Peter, when he affirms, that by “the exceeding great and precious promises of Scripture, we may be made partakers of the divine nature, and be enabled to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust! 2 Peter 1:4.” By the word, therefore, we may cleanse our way; not externally only, but really, truly, spiritually, and to the full extent of our necessities; so that the difficulty in our text is completely solved; and to the inquiry there made, we are prepared to answer, “Having these promises, dearly Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God! 2 Corinthians 7:1.”

ADDRESS.

1. Study the Scriptures of Truth.

Do not form your standard by the opinions of men, or labor to cleanse your way by superstitious observances that have been devised by man; but look to the Word of God as the proper rule of your conduct, and seek for holiness in the way that is there prescribed. Be careless in your way, and your ruin will ensue! Ecclesiastes 11:9; But let the word of Christ dwell in you richly “in all wisdom;” and you shall find it the power of God to the salvation of your souls!

2. Devote yourself to piety in early youth.

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,” says Solomon. You must not stay until you are advanced in life before you “cleanse your way,” but engage in that work while yet you are “young.” In the appointment of the sacrifices which were offered under the Law, the lambs were to be but a year old; and in the first-fruits presented unto God for a meat-offering, special care was to be taken that “green ears” should be offered, “beaten out indeed of full ears,” but still green, and needing to be “dried with fire” before they could be ground to flour, Leviticus 2:14-16.

Does not this show what use is to be made of our early youth? Methinks, it speaks powerfully; and I pray God that this day the greenest ears among you may be consecrated to the Lord, and receive from him some blessed tokens of his favorable acceptance. Let the youngest, who are as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word; and they shall grow thereby, 1 Peter 2:2;” and let the “young men have the Word of God abiding in them; and they shall overcome the wicked one, 1 John 2:14.”

3. Live in the daily habit of self-examination.

Inward and unperceived impurity will come upon you, if you are not always on your guard. A mariner may be drawn from his course by currents, as well as driven by winds; and therefore from day to day, he consults his compass and his chart, to see whether there have been any deviation from his destined path. The same precautions must be used by you. You must not only “examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith,” but what progress you are making in the faith. Do this, beloved, daily, and with all diligence; so shall you “be blameless und harmless, the sons of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, shining among them as lights in the world, and holding forth in your walk and conversation the word of life! Philippians 2:15-16;” and be assured, that in so ordering your conversation aright, “you shall at last behold the salvation of God.”

Charles Simeon