Psalm 89:15-16

“Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they rejoice all day long, and in Your righteousness they are exalted!”

Every man by nature desires happiness; but few know where it is to be found. The generality imagine that happiness will be a sure attendant on earthly prosperity. But the Psalmist points out to us its only true source, “There are many who say, who will show us any good? Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us! Psalm 4:6.” In like manner he instructs us in the text, “Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound.”

In these words the character and blessedness of the Lord’s people are fully declared. Let us consider,

I. The character of the Lord’s people.

“The joyful sound” must here import the Gospel.

In the Gospel a Savior is revealed, even such a Savior as our necessities require: a Savior who has made a full atonement for our sins, and who promises “salvation to all who come unto God by him.” When this Savior was proclaimed to the shepherds, it was in these memorable terms, “Behold, we bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!”

But “the joyful sound” refers to the sound of the trumpets under the law, when the people were convoked to come up to God in the solemn assembly, Numbers 10:1-3; Numbers 10:10; or when the year of Jubilee was proclaimed, Leviticus 25:8-13. On this latter occasion, in particular, it was indeed a joyful sound; for then all people who had sold their houses and lands, yes, and their wives and children, and their own selves too for bond-slaves, were restored to perfect liberty, and to the full possession of their former inheritance. Suppose a person so circumstanced, what a joyful sound would that of the trumpet be to him!

Such then is the Gospel to the weary and heavy-laden sinner, when he hears of a free and full salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ!

This “sound” the true believer “knows”.

A speculative knowledge of the Gospel is possessed by many who have no personal and saving interest in it, and no desire after its blessings. But the true believer knows it practically; he has felt its power; he has tasted its sweetness; and he has been brought to a reliance on it for the salvation of his soul. This distinction must be carefully made by us. It is not of a head-knowledge that my text speaks; but of such a knowledge as enters into the heart, and engages all the powers of the soul. It is such a knowledge as God alone can impart; and all who possess that are truly “blessed,”

In our text we have a rich description of,

II. The blessedness of the Lord’s people.

They may not have much of this world; but they have much of God.

1. They enjoy a sweet sense of God’s love.

“They walk in the light of his countenance.” This is a privilege of which a worldly man can form no conception; but it is understood, and experienced, by all who enter into the spirit of the Gospel. They can go to God as a Father; they know that he is reconciled towards them in the Son of his love; and with a spirit of adoption they can draw near to him, and pour out their hearts before him, and hear him speaking peace unto their souls. In answer to their daily prayers he draws near to them, and “lifts up the light of his countenance upon them,” and “fills them with joy and peace in believing.” Such is their daily “walk” with God—a foretaste of their happiness in the realms of bliss.”

2. They enjoy a habitual confidence in God’s care.

They are subjected to a variety of circumstances like other men; but they have a Friend to whom they can go on every occasion, and from whom they can receive all such communications as they stand in need of. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, to which they run and are safe!” His perfections and attributes are all exercised in their behalf; and, being their God, he is “a God unto them,” doing for them whatever their diversified necessities require. In Him “therefore, even in his name, they rejoice all the day,” spreading before him their every need, and committing to him their every desire. “They know in whom they have believed,” and cast all their care on him who cares for them.”

3. They enjoy an assured prospect of God’s glory.

In the Gospel the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself to his people as a complete Savior, who not only obtains a pardon for them, but has provided also a righteousness, wherein they may stand before God without spot or blemish. To him therefore they look in this view; and on him they rely, as “The Lord their righteousness.” “In this righteousness they are exalted;” they are exalted in their own eyes, being no longer condemned sinners, but saints accepted and justified from all their sins! They are exalted in the eyes of God also; for he now “beholds no iniquity in them;” he views them as one with his dear Son, partakers of his nature, and joint-heirs of his glory. They are exalted also in the eyes of all the angelic hosts, who now delight to minister unto them, and will before long give them the precedence in Heaven, and take their station behind them before the throne of God! Revelation 7:11.”

Say now, are not these happy? Yes; and David not only asserts it, but appeals to God himself for the truth of his assertion, “They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance.”

ADDRESS.

1. Those who have no knowledge of this joyful sound.

How many among us are altogether ignorant of the Gospel itself! And of those who hear it and profess to receive it, how many have no taste for that joy which it is intended to impart! Will you then call yourselves the people of God; or imagine that salvation belongs to you? Know, that “all are not Israel, who are of Israel;” nor are all Christians who bear that name. While you are ignorant of the joyful sound, you can have no part or lot in those blessings which the Gospel is intended to convey.

2. Those who know the Gospel, but find no blessedness in it.

There are, I must acknowledge, many of this description. But whence does this arise? Is it owing to any insufficiency in the Gospel to make them happy? No; it proceeds in some cases from a disordered constitution; in others, from imperfect views of the Gospel; and in others, from not walking steadfastly and consistently before God. But from whatever source it arises, I would say, Remember what an injury you do to the Gospel itself, and to the souls of men; the world around you will impute your gloom to religion, and take occasion from it to condemn the Gospel itself as a source of melancholy to all who embrace it.

O! brethren, do not so dishonor the Lord Jesus Christ; but view the Gospel in all its freeness and all its fullness, and all its excellency; and rest not until you have attained those rich blessings, which every true believer is privileged to enjoy!

3. Those who both know and enjoy the Gospel.

Happy indeed are you, even though you are in all other respects the most destitute and distressed. Let then your gratitude to God evince itself in a suitable life and conduct. As for your joys, the world knows nothing about them; and will therefore impute them to wild enthusiasm and delusion. But they can understand a holy life; that will approve itself to them as a good and genuine fruit of the Gospel. Let them then see, that this Gospel which makes you happy, makes you holy also. Let them see that it brings into subjection every unhallowed temper, every evil desire. Let them see that in every station and relation of life, it elevates you above others, rendering you more amiable, more consistent. In a word, “let your whole conduct be such as befits the Gospel of Christ;” and, while you are made partakers of a felicity which the world knows not of, endeavor to make your light shine before men, that they may be constrained to acknowledge the excellence of your principles, and be led to seek a participation of your bliss!

Charles Simeon

Psalm 88:14-16

“Why, O LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me? From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death; I have suffered your terrors and am in despair. Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me!”

Heman the Ezrahite, the author of this Psalm, is thought by most to have been the grandson of Judah, 1 Chronicles 2:6; and to have been so eminent for wisdom, as almost to have equaled Solomon himself, 1 Kings 4:31. But he seems rather to have been the grandson of Shemuel, or Samuel, 1 Chronicles 6:33; 1 Chronicles 15:19. compared with the title to Psalm 89. The grandson of Judah could not have written so about David. Whoever he was, he was a man greatly afflicted, and, at the time that he wrote this Psalm, altogether destitute of any other consolation, than what he felt in spreading his sorrows before God. In other Psalms we find many and grievous complaints; but the gloom that overspreads the mind of the author at the commencement of them, is usually dispelled before they are brought to a close; and what began with sorrow is terminated with joy.

But in the composition before us there is no such pleasing change; it is nothing but one continued complaint from beginning to end. In discoursing on it, we shall point out:

I. The state to which a righteous soul may be reduced.

Truly the state of Heman was most afflictive.

There can be no doubt but that he was a righteous man. Had he not been so, he would not have addressed Jehovah in such expressions of holy confidence, as “The Lord God of his salvation;” nor could he have affirmed, that “night and day he had poured out his prayers and cries before him, verses 1, 2, 9, 13.”

Yet behold, how heavy, how exceeding heavy, was his affliction! “His soul was so full of troubles, that they brought him near to the grave, verse 3.” Hear how he himself represents them, referring them all at the same time to God himself as the author of them, “You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Your wrath lies hard upon me; and you have afflicted me with all your waves, verses 6, 7.” To the same effect he speaks also in the words of our text, complaining of the dereliction he experienced in this hour of his calamity, and of the terrors which he endured, which, while they were rapidly bringing down his body to the grave, had well near bereaved him of his senses, and reduced him to a state of utter distraction.

And such, alas! is the state of many in every age of the Church.

Some there are of a low, nervous, hypochondriac temperament both of mind and body, and who, whether they were religious or not, would of necessity be of a melancholy disposition; that being their constitutional tendency, just as cheerfulness or confidence are the tendencies of others. People of this class view everything in a dark unfavorable light; they forebode nothing but evil; and, if religion occupies their minds, they write bitter things against themselves, and conclude that they never can be saved. They love gloomy thoughts, and brood over them day and night; and greatly injure both their minds and bodies by ruminating on subjects that are too deep for them. They perplex themselves about the divine decrees, and thus give occasion to many to represent religion as distracting their minds.

But the truth is, that they seek for nothing but poison; they have no appetite for wholesome food; and religion is no more answerable for their distraction, than a fertilizing stream is for the death of a maniac who drowns himself in it!

Some there are who are brought into this state by long and complicated troubles. The mind of man, unless supported in a miraculous way, cannot endure a pressure beyond certain limits. Even Job himself, notwithstanding his extraordinary patience, seemed at times to sink under the accumulated load of his afflictions, and to be transported beyond the bounds of sense or reason. In the same way, the dejection of many, however it appears to originate in matters connected with religion, must in reality be traced to this source; their mind is enfeebled by a complication of bodily diseases, and of worldly sorrows, and then becomes an easy prey to any discouragements which may engross its attention.

Some are broken down by means of some great transgression, which, either before, or after, their religious course, they have committed, and which has destroyed all hope of respect from man, or comfort in their own minds).

To such, life is become a burden; they cannot bear even the sight of those whose esteem they have forfeited; they desire solitude, which yet is irksome to them; and they long for death, as a relief from the torments of a self-condemning conscience. It is no wonder if such, though truly penitent before God, yield to desponding fears, and anticipate nothing but misery in the eternal world.

Some are in a more extraordinary degree than others exposed to the assaults of Satan. That powerful adversary seems, as it were, to take possession of their minds, as formerly he possessed the bodies of men; and by his fiery darts he inflicts the deadliest wounds upon their souls. He is well called, “The accuser of the brethren;” for he accuses them to God, as he did Job of old; and accuses them also at the bar of their own consciences, to prove them hypocrites and self-deceivers. Is it to be wondered at, if that roaring lion prevails over a weak and unprotected sheep? The wonder rather is, that any are enabled to withstand him.

But once more; there are some who by God himself are brought into manifold temptations, and are allowed to experience much darkness in their souls. And though at first sight it should seem as if these people were less beloved of the Lord than others, the truth is that they are often to be found among those who are his chief favorites, “Whom the Lord loves, he chastens;” and usually, those most, who are most beloved.

We cannot doubt but that Job was an object of God’s peculiar favor; yet who was ever more afflicted than he, even in the very way that we are now speaking of? Hear his own words, “The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinks up my spirit; the terrors of God set themselves in array against me! Job 6:4.” And need we say how deeply our blessed Lord himself was afflicted, when “his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,” and his mind was so distracted, that “he knew not what to say, John 12:27.”

That God sends these dispensations to his people in love, will appear even from our text; for Heman, who was eminent for his piety, declares, that he had been so “afflicted from his youth up.” And where did he attain this extraordinary piety, but in the school of affliction? While others were intent on pleasure, he by his troubles was led to study his own heart, and to seek an acquaintance with his God; and thus he gained a knowledge which well repaid him for all that he endured. And it is a well-known fact, that those who are most exercised with spiritual troubles, are usually best instructed in “the deep things of God.”

It is evident, then, that pious souls may be reduced to great distress, and that, in fact, many in every age are really so reduced:
some through constitutional infirmities;
some by means of accumulated afflictions;
some by an irretrievable loss of character consequent on some heinous transgression;
some are brought into it by the assaults of Satan;
and some by the wise and gracious appointment of their God.

Let us now turn our attention to,

II. The reflections which naturally arise from the subject.

1. How great is the evil and bitterness of sin!

If there had been no sin, there would have been no sorrow. Sorrow is the fruit of sin—the fruit which immediately sprang up, as soon as this root of bitterness was planted in the human bosom. Until Adam fell, he enjoyed the sweetest fellowship with his Creator; but after his transgression, instead of going forth as before to meet his God, Adam fled from his face, and strove to hide himself. From that moment has the world become a “Bochim”—a land of weeping and of mourning, Judges 2:4-5.

Sorrow is that inheritance to which every man is born; and, even truly converted and holy people, as long as they continue in this valley of tears—they will, at a greater or smaller distance, be followed by two inseparable attendants, “sorrow and sighing.” It is only when they arrive at the portals of Heaven, that joy and gladness will be their sole companions! Then indeed, but never until then, will that Scripture be fulfilled, “They shall obtain joy and gladness; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away! Isaiah 35:10.”

How fearfully the minds even of godly men may be oppressed, by a sense of God’s displeasure against sin, will appear from the experience of David; who “ate ashes like bread, and mingled his drink with weeping, because of God’s indignation and wrath! See Psalm 38:1-2; Psalm 102:9-10.”

And it yet more forcibly appears from the complaints of Job, “You scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions; so that my soul chooses strangling, and death rather than life! Job 7:14-15.”

If we look to the terrifying effects of sin on the ungodly, the sad history of Judas paints them in their true colors. Let these sorrows then, in whoever they be found, be traced to their proper source; and let this at least be learned from them, that “it is an evil and bitter thing to sin against the Lord!”

2. What obligations to God do they lie under, who are favored with any measure of peace and joy!

This point, we apprehend, is by no means duly considered. It is thought by many to be a hard thing if there be any intermission of their spiritual comfort; but the wonder rather is, that there is any intermission of their sorrow. Who that considers the desert of sin, who that views the imperfection of his best services—has not reason to adore and magnify his God, for the willingness he shows to revive the hearts of the contrite? Were God extreme to mark what is done amiss, the experience in our text would be the lot of all without exception, even of those who should find grace in the eternal world.

But, blessed be God! this is far from being the case; there are many to whom God grants the light of his countenance, and the joys of his salvation. We desire, however, that such people should appreciate aright the blessings conferred upon them; and that, instead of always complaining of darkness or of trouble, they should improve every manifestation of God’s love to the furtherance of their confidence in him, and of their zeal in his service.

3. How astonishing was the compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he undertook to redeem a ruined world!

He well knew, that, as the surety and substitute of sinners, he must bear all that the violated law would have inflicted upon them. And, if to us, who are by nature alienated from God—it is such a dreadful thing to endure the hidings of his face and the terrors of his wrath—then what must it be to that immaculate Lamb of God, who from all eternity “lay in the bosom of his Father,” and “was daily his delight! John 1:18 and Proverbs 8:30.” Yet behold, having undertaken for us, he suffered all that was due to us, “He the just, for us the unjust!” From his youth up he was”a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;” and, especially at the close of his life, he drank to the very dregs the cup of bitterness that must otherwise have been put into our hands. Truly “he was made a curse for us;” and so grievously did he suffer under the united assaults of men and devils, and from a sense also of his Father’s wrath, that he sweat great drops of blood, and, in the midst of his severest agonies, had yet further to bewail the hidings of his Father’s face, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” Let us learn to estimate as we ought this stupendous mystery, of “God manifest in the flesh” to expiate by his own sufferings the sins of his rebellious creatures. O let us contemplate this mystery, until we are altogether lost in wonder, love, and praise!

4. How awful will be the state of all who die without a saving interest in Christ!

This which Heman so bitterly bewails as his portion in this world, will, in an infinitely higher degree, be the portion of all who shall perish in their sins. They will indeed be “cast out from God’s sight,” as objects of his everlasting abhorrence. Never to all eternity will they have one look from him, but will behold “his face turned away” from them, and “his fierce wrath” executed upon them. Truly, “while they suffer his terrors, they will be distracted.” Who can conceive the distraction of their minds at the overwhelming thought of eternity? Oh! what “weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth” will there be among that wretched assembly, whose agonies are so insupportable, and whose prospects are so interminable! But thus it must be, if we will not flee to that Savior, who has laid down his life for us.

Shall we not then awaken from our slumbers?

Shall we not cry unto our God, now that his ear is open to our petitions?

Shall we stay until we come into that place of torment, and have an impassable gulf fixed between him and us?

O let us “seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near;” then, though we should not enjoy all that we may wish for here on earth—we shall hereafter; and even, by our occasional sorrows here, be fitted for an uninterrupted fruition of his glory to all eternity.

Charles Simeon

Psalm 87:3

“Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God!”

The city here spoken of, is Zion; of whose praises the whole Scriptures speak. She is represented as “beautiful for situation, and as being the joy of the whole earth, Psalm 48:2.” Even God himself is represented as delighting in her, and as “loving the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob, verse 2.” Why she, and the Church which is represented by her, are so high in the estimation of God and man, it will be important to consider.

To bring the subject fully before you, I will show:

I. What glorious things are spoken of her.

Among the many things spoken of her in Scripture, she is particularly commended,

1. As the residence of God.

God chose Zion of old for his habitation, and delighted to make that above all other cities in the universe “the place of his rest, Psalm 132:13-14.” There he abode in that bright symbol of his presence, the Shechinah, “dwelling between the cherubim, Psalm 80:1.” There his people assembled by his appointment to worship him; thence he dispensed his blessings; and thence in due time he sent forth his everlasting Gospel, Isaiah 2:3.

Thus under the Christian dispensation he has honored his Church, dwelling in it; as he has said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”

There he reveals his glory, even “all the glory of the godhead, in the face of Jesus Christ.”

There he makes known all the riches of his grace and love.

There he communes with his people who present their supplications before him, “drawing near to them, while they draw near to him;” and giving them answers of peace; not indeed visibly, as by the Urim and Thummim of old, but really, and satisfactorily to their souls.

In a word, though unknown in every other place under Heaven, “He is known in her palaces as a refuge, Psalm 48:3.”

2. As the birth-place of the saints.

This is particularly noticed in the Psalm before us, “Of Zion it shall be said: This and that man is born in her, verse 5, 6.” Under the Jewish dispensation conversions were comparatively few; but under the Christian dispensation they are very numerous; though at present they are only as the drop before the shower. On the day of Pentecost the Spirit was poured out in richer abundance, and thousands were converted in a day; and still, wherever the Gospel is preached in sincerity and truth, there the power of God accompanies the word, and “subdues the souls of men to the obedience of faith.”

Among the heathen, Satan maintains a universal sway; and among those Christians who are not blessed with a faithful ministry, very few are ever rescued from his dominion; but where the cross of Christ is exalted, there will be found “a stir among the dry bones,” and multitudes will be born to God!

May we not ask, Whether this is not confirmed by the experience of many here present! Once you were dead in trespasses and sins, and as destitute of all desire after God, as any people in the world. But, through the preaching of a crucified Savior in this place, your souls have been “turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” Here also, when you have been mourning on account of your indwelling corruptions, God has “given you the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, Isaiah 61:3.” so that you can confidently say, “I was born there.” Blessed testimony, that may well endear to you the gates of Zion, and render her more lovely in your eyes than all the palaces in the universe!

3. As an emblem of Heaven itself.

Such it really is; for all who are born in her “have come unto Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, Hebrews 12:22.” Though she is a spiritual edifice, she has her foundations, her walls, her gates; all of which are found also in that heavenly Zion which John saw, even in “that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God, and having the glory of God, Revelation 21:10-11; Revelation 21:14; Revelation 21:21.” And both the one city and the other “are of pure gold, Revelation 21:18.”

Each of them too, among the many distinctions which they enjoy above all earthly cities, have a light peculiar to themselves. Of our Zion it is said, “The sun is no more her light by day, neither for brightness does the moon give light unto her; but the Lord is unto her an everlasting light, and her God her glory! Isaiah 60:19.” And thus it is also in the heavenly Zion, “The city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God lightens it; and the Lamb is the light thereof, Revelation 21:23.”

It is but one family that is inhabiting both the one city and the other, “even the family of our Lord Jesus Christ, Ephesians 3:14-15;” and their employments are altogether the same; for while the one are “rejoicing in the Lord always” here below, Philippians 4:4, the other are incessantly engaged in singing praises to him above, even “to Him, who loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and made them kings and priests unto their God! To him, I say, do they ascribe all glory and dominion forever and ever, Revelation 1:5-6.”

II. The effect which these testimonies should have upon us.

Surely, when the Church is so high in the estimation of God:

1. We should inquire what place the redeemed church holds in our esteem.

Never has she had, at least in a spiritual view, any visible glory. In the days of the prophets, her limits were contracted, and her members poor, despised, persecuted. In the days of Christ and his Apostles, though her limits were enlarged, she, like her Lord himself, had “no beauty nor loveliness for which she was to be desired, Isaiah 53:2.” She has been in a wilderness state even to this present hour, Revelation 12:6, an object of hatred and derision to all that were round about her.

Yet to the eye of faith, the redeemed church is most beautiful, most glorious. In all that pertains to her, she is “the perfection of beauty, Psalm 50:2.”

Her foundations are of the most precious stones, “her walls are salvation, and her gates praise, Isaiah 60:18.” Her laws are all holy, and just, and good.

Her ordinances are a very Heaven upon earth.

Her chosen, redeemed and regenerate members more highly privileged than all other creatures in the universe.

Say then, brethren, whether such are your views of Zion; and whether to be enrolled among her citizens be the highest object of your ambition?

Our blessed Lord told his disciples, that even to have “the devils made subject unto them” was no ground of joy in comparison with this, Luke 10:20; for, if you really belong to Zion, “your names are written in Heaven,” and all the glory and felicity of Heaven are yours! But if you are “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel—then you are strangers from the covenants of promise, without God, without Christ, without hope! Ephesians 2:12.”

2. We should seek to advance the glory of the redeemed church.

God has promised, that, in due season, “the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and that all nations shall flow unto her, Isaiah 2:2.” “Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations—their kings led in triumphal procession. For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined. “The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the pine, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn the place of my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place of my feet. The sons of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel! Isaiah 60:11-14.”

Now then I ask: Should we not long for this glorious period? Should we not exert ourselves to the uttermost to help it forward? Should we not search out the benighted Gentiles, and labor to bring back to their God the dispersed of Israel? Should we not endeavor to bring men from every quarter, “their sons in our arms, and their daughters upon our shoulders, to glorify the house of his glory?”

Men may pretend to love the Church; but their professions must be brought to this test. If we are at all sensible of the benefit of belonging to Zion, we shall neither rest ourselves, “nor give any rest to our God,” until “the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns, Isaiah 62:1; Isaiah 62:6-7.”

3. We should labor to participate in all the privileges of the redeemed church.

Is God indeed revealed there in all his excellency and glory? Is it the place, the only place, where sinners are born to God? Is it an emblem even of Heaven itself? We should determine then to come to her without delay, and to seek admission into her blissful community. In comparison with being numbered among her children, all that the world can give should be esteemed by us as dung and dross; and we should say with David, “I would rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness! Psalm 84:10.”

As for hatred, contempt, persecution, or even death itself, they should be accounted rather as an honor, and a happiness, and a privilege—than as objects of fear, if they are brought upon us for Zion’s sake. It should be a sufficient recompense to us, that our God is glorified, and that the interests of Zion are advanced, 1 Peter 4:13-14. If we are children of Zion indeed, we shall be joyful under any circumstances; we shall “be joyful, I say, in our King! Psalm 149:2;” as it is written, “They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd; (that is, for all spiritual consolation and support;) and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all! Jeremiah 31:12.” Whether they are priests or people, it shall be thus with them; for, “I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness; and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord, Jeremiah 31:14.”

APPLICATION.

Let us then love Zion, and “prefer her before our chief joy, Psalm 137:5-6.” Let her ordinances be our delight, Psalm 84:4; Psalm 84:7. Let us pray for her advancement, saying, “Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within her palaces.” Then shall our own souls most assuredly flourish; for “they shall prosper who love her, Psalm 122:6-7.”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 86:11

“Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I will walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.”

In mercy, no less than in judgment, does God see fit to chastise his people; he does it “for their profit, that they may in a more abundant measure be partakers of his holiness, Hebrews 12:10.” And when we are brought near to him by means of our afflictions, then have they answered the great end for which they were sent.

David was a man who enjoyed much communion with God; and probably it was to the extraordinary trials with which, for many years, he was visited, that he was indebted, under God, for that sublime piety which shone so conspicuously in him. In the Psalm before us, he pours out his soul before God under some great and heavy affliction, probably under the persecutions of Saul; but it had produced the most beneficial effect upon his mind; seeing that it stirred up within him more ardent desires after God, and determined him, through grace, to walk more diligently in the ways of God, “Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I will walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.”

In these words we see the two great requisites for an acceptable walk with God, which are:

I. An illumination of mind, that we may know His ways.

We know nothing of God or his ways, any farther than he has seen fit to reveal himself to us; (how little our unassisted reason can teach us, has abundantly appeared in all the philosophers of Greece and Rome.) Least of all can we know anything of the way which he has appointed for our reconciliation with him through the blood of his Son; respecting that no finite intelligence could have formed any conception, if it had not been made known to us by a special communication from Heaven.

But we need also—yet further, a special revelation of it to our own souls. The mere report, as contained in the written word, is not of itself sufficient to bring us to a saving knowledge of these sublime truths. Christ must be revealed in us, Galatians 1:16, as well as to us, or we shall never “know him as we ought.”

These great things are, indeed, “freely given to us by God;” yet must we “receive the Spirit of God, in order that we may know them” aright, 1 Corinthians 2:12. He must, as “a Spirit of wisdom and revelation,” open the eyes of our understanding, before we can comprehend these soul-saving truths, Ephesians 1:17-18. This great mystery, so as really to acquiesce in it, and cordially to come to Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life, John 14:6.”

If the Apostles themselves, after above three years attendance on the public and private instructions of our Lord—yet needed to nave “their understandings opened, in order that they might understand the Scriptures, Luke 24:45,” then there can be no doubt but that the same is necessary for us all; and that we all need to cry with David, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law! Psalm 119:18;” or, as he speaks more fully in another Psalm, “Show me your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths; lead me in your truth, and teach me; for you are the God of my salvation; on you do I wait all the day! Psalm 25:4-5.”

To this must be added,

II. A devotion of our hearts, that we may walk in His ways.

Our heart by nature is divided among ten thousand vanities, all of which are sought in preference to God. Whatever can contribute to the satisfaction of the carnal mind becomes an object of desire; and according as our prospects of attaining it are varied—our hopes and fears, our joys and sorrows, are called forth into powerful and successive operation.

But in order to have an acceptable walk with God, the desires of our heart must all center in him. He will not accept a divided heart. God says, “My son, give me your heart! Proverbs 23:26;” and it must be given to him entirely. To him it must be exclusively devoted, in all its faculties; at least, nothing must be an object of hope or fear, joy or sorrow—but in subserviency to his glory, and in obedience to his command. “We cannot serve God and Mammon too! Matthew 6:24.” There is “a singleness of eye,” and “a singleness of heart,” that is indispensable to a right walking with God, Acts 2:46. Colossians 3:22; without that we cannot approve ourselves to “Him who searches the heart and tries the thoughts!”

ADDRESS.

1. Those who think it an easy thing to serve God.

Many have an idea that this is so easy a matter, that they may execute it at any time, whenever satiety shall have rendered them less anxious about carnal enjoyments, or the approach of death shall render a preparation for eternity more an object of desire.

But supposing it to be so easy, how great must be their guilt in neglecting it! Is it so easy a matter to please, and serve, and honor God—and will they not do it? Then “out of their own mouth shall they be judged;” and the heaviest condemnation shall be given to them, because they would rather rebel against their God and “provoke the eyes of his glory” by their impieties, than they would take on them, what they themselves acknowledged to be, his “light and easy yoke.”

But if it is, indeed, so easy—then try it; and see if it is so easy to come to God in his appointed “way.” See, if you can come with brokenness of heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the Father through him, imploring mercy solely through the blood and righteousness of your adorable Savior. You will soon find that the proud heart of man does not easily stoop to so humiliating a way of approaching God. If you might come in your own name, and in your own righteousness, you would perhaps consent to do it; but to come with penitential sorrow in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in a simple dependence on his sin-atoning sacrifice, is a work to which you are utterly averse, and which none but God can enable you to perform.

Again, if it is so easy to gather in all the affections of the soul, and to fix them exclusively on God—then do it. But you will find that this is far beyond the power of man to effect. In order to this, you must have “a new heart given you, and a right spirit renewed within you;” nor can any power short of that which created the world at first form such a new creation within you.

Lay aside, then, your vain conceits respecting this matter; and begin, without delay, that work, which a whole life is short enough to accomplish, and which, if not wrought speedily, may soon become a subject of remediless and endless woe.

2. Those who desire, but find it difficult to serve God.

You, probably, have depended too much on the resolutions you have formed. I am far from disapproving of resolutions, if formed in dependence upon God. Joshua’s resolution has been the just subject of applause in all ages, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! Joshua 24:15.”

But Peter has sufficiently shown how weak all human strength is, when unaided from on high. It is by prayer alone that we can hope to prevail, either for the illumination of our minds, or the concentration of our souls, both of which are so necessary in this good work.

David was no novice in the divine life; yet did he cry, “Teach me your ways, O Lord; and unite my heart to fear you!” And, if he had not so cried to the Lord, in vain would he have said, “I will walk in your truth.” If then he, notwithstanding his attainments, still had recourse to God in prayer—then know that there is no other way for us to prevail; and that, if you would succeed according to your desire, you must cry day and night to God in prayer, and bring down from him those supplies of grace and strength which are so needful for you.

3. Those who are really walking with God according to his command.

Do not be discouraged, if you should find that, notwithstanding your good endeavors, you make not all the advance that you could wish. You yet have flesh, as well as spirit; and “if the spirit lusts against the flesh, so will the flesh still strive against the spirit, Galatians 5:17.” You will yet find a law of sin in your members, warring against the law of your minds, and constraining you at times to cry out, “O! wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death! Romans 7:23-24.”

But go forward, in humble dependence on God. “Continue instant in prayer.” Do not let your hands hang down; but let them be stretched forth to God in continual supplications; and he will come to your relief. He will embitter to you the vanities on which you are tempted to set your affections, and will gradually get himself the victory over all the enemies of your souls. It was only “little by little that he drove out the Canaanites” before his people of old; and it is not to be expected that you should have no difficulties to contend with, no conflicts to sustain. But remember where your strength is; and, “as you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as you have been taught, and abounding therein with thanksgiving, Colossians 2:6-7;” so will he “preserve you blameless unto his heavenly kingdom,” and “present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy!”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 86:1-5

“Bow down Your ear, O LORD, hear me; for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am holy; You are my God. Save Your servant who trusts in You! Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I cry to You all day long. Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You!”

True and genuine piety cannot always be certainly known by men’s interactions with their fellow-creatures. Appearances may be so plausible, that they cannot, except by Him who searches the heart, be distinguished from realities. But in their interactions with God, the truth or falsehood of their profession may be clearly discerned.

The most refined hypocrite may, by examining the state of his soul in his private devotions, obtain the certain means of discovering his proper character, provided he has his standard rightly fixed, and his test impartially applied.

To furnish such a standard, is our object in the present discourse. We here behold the man after God’s own heart drawing near to the throne of grace, and pouring out his soul in supplications before God; and we wish to call your attention especially to the spirit which he manifested in this sacred duty, since it will serve as an excellent criterion whereby to try and judge ourselves.

Let us then consider:

I. The subject-matter of David’s prayer.

It would seem that David was now under great affliction, either from the persecutions of Saul, or from the unnatural rebellion of his son Absalom; and his prayers may well be understood, in the first instance, as relating to his temporal trials.

But, as it is of his soul that he chiefly speaks, we shall dwell upon his prayer principally in that view. Let us notice then,

1. David’s petitions.

The apostle Paul, in both of his Epistles to Timothy, prays, that “grace, and mercy, and peace” may be multiplied upon him. These three terms comprehend the substance of the Psalmist’s petitions.

He desired “grace,” to “preserve and save his soul.”

He desired “mercy.” “Be merciful unto me, O Lord!”

And he desired “peace.” “Rejoice the soul of your servant, O Lord!”

Now these are such petitions as every sinner in the universe should offer. There are no other petitions that can be compared with them, in point of importance to the souls of men. As for all the objects of time and sense, they sink into perfect insignificance before the things which appertain to our everlasting salvation. To all therefore I would say: Seek what David sought. Cry mightily to God to have mercy upon you, and to preserve and save your soul; and when you have done that, you may fitly pray also for that consolation and joy, which a sense of his pardoning love will produce in the soul.

2. David’s pleas.

These are taken, partly, from what he experienced in his own soul; and, partly, from the character of God himself.

Observe how he urges what he experienced in his own soul. The things which God himself requires from us in order to the acceptance of our prayers are:
a deep sense of our spiritual necessities,
an entire surrender of our souls to him,
a reliance on him for all needful blessings,
and a continual application to him in a way of fervent and believing prayer.

Behold, these are the very things which David at this time experienced, and which therefore he pleaded before God as evidences of the sincerity of his prayers, “Bow down your ear, O Lord, and hear me; for I am poor and needy!” Who is there that must not adopt the same acknowledgment? Who that considers how destitute his soul is of all that is truly good, will not find these words exactly descriptive of his state?

Again, the Psalmist prays, “Preserve my soul; for I am Holy (devoted to you).” We must not imagine that David here meant to boast of his high attainments in holiness; the term “holy” is applied in Scripture to everything that is dedicated to God, though from its very nature it cannot possess any inherent sanctity; the temple of God, the vessels of the sanctuary, and all the offerings, were holy, because they were set apart for God. So David here speaks of himself as “set apart for God. See Psalm 4:3;” and his expression is exactly equivalent to that which he uses in another place, “I am yours; save me! Psalm 119:94.” This then is another plea which it befits us all to use.

As the Israelites were “a holy nation, Exodus 19:6,” so are we, 1 Peter 2:9; and if we have given up ourselves unreservedly to God, we may well hope, that he will hear and answer our petitions.

Once more David says, “Save me; for I trust in You.” This also was a most acceptable plea. If we ask with a wavering and doubtful mind, we can never succeed, James 1:6-7; but the prayer of faith must of necessity prevail, Matthew 21:22. Mark 11:24. The suppliant who truly and habitually trusts in God, can never be disappointed.

Lastly, David says, “I cry unto you daily;” “Unto you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.” God “will be inquired of, to do for us the things that he has promised.” “If we ask, we shall have; if we seek, we shall find; if we knock, it shall be opened unto us, Matthew 7:7-8;” but, if we ask not, we shall not, we cannot, have, James 4:2.

But David’s chief plea is taken from the character of God himself; and this is, in reality, the most satisfactory to the human mind, and most acceptable to the Divine Majesty, who “will work for his own great Name’s sake,” when all other grounds of hope are subverted and lost. Towards his creatures generally, whether rational or irrational, God is “good;” but towards men he is “ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon him.”

No mother is so tender towards her new-born child, as God is towards his penitent and believing people. He is far more “ready to forgive,” than they are to ask forgiveness; and will multiply his pardons beyond all the multitude of their offences, Isaiah 55:7-9. “Where sin has abounded, his grace shall much more abound! Romans 5:20.”

The freeness and fullness of God’s grace should be clearly seen, and confidently relied upon; but then we must never forget that this glorious perfection shines only in the face of Jesus Christ. It is in Christ only that God can pardon sinners in consistency with his justice; but in Christ, “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness! Romans 3:24-25.” In Christ therefore, and in God as reconciled to us through the blood of his Son—must be all our hope. If we rest solely on Christ’s obedience unto death, all will be well; for “in him all the promises of God are yes, and amen, 2 Corinthians 1:20.” But, if we look at God in any way but as in the person of Christ, we shall surely find him “a consuming fire! Hebrews 12:29.”

The prayer itself not calling for any further elucidation, we proceed to notice,

II. The spirit manifested in David’s prayer.

Here the subject is peculiarly important, because it exhibits in so striking a view the dispositions of mind which we should invariably exercise in our approaches to the Divine Majesty. In this example of David, then observe:

1. David’s meekness and modesty.

He approaches God, as a sinner ought to do, with reverential awe. He exhibits none of that unhallowed boldness, and unfitting familiarity, which are so commonly to be noticed in the prayers of many at this day. It is much to be lamented that many address God almost as if he were an equal. We speak not now of that irreverence with which people, altogether ignorant of religion, conduct themselves in the public services of the church; (though that is deeply to be deplored;) but of the state of mind manifested by many religious people, ministers, as well as others, in their public and social addresses to the throne of Heaven.

How different, alas! is it from that which is inculcated, both in the Scriptures! Psalm 89:7. Ecclesiastes 5:2, and in the Liturgy of our Church! In the Liturgy, the people are exhorted to “accompany their minister with a pure heart and humble voice to the throne of the heavenly grace;” and, in another place, “to make their humble confession to Almighty God, meekly kneeling on their knees.” This is a lovely state of mind, and as opposite to that which many religious people manifest, as light is to darkness. Many whose religious principles differ widely from the self-applauding Pharisee, resemble him very nearly in his spirit and conduct; but let us, on the contrary, imitate the publican, who, “not venturing so much as to lift up his eyes to Heaven, smote upon his bosom, and cried, God be merciful to me a sinner!”

2. David’s humility and contrition.

He felt himself a guilty and undone creature, deserving of God’s everlasting displeasure; and hence he cried so repeatedly for mercy and salvation. Here again we see how the same views and dispositions are inculcated in the services of our Church. Let anyone peruse the confession which is daily offered; or that which we are taught to utter at the table of the Lord; or let him read the responses after every one of the Ten Commandments; or the repeated cries, “Lord, have mercy upon me! Christ, have mercy upon me! Lord, have mercy upon me!” and he will see at once, what a beautiful harmony there is between our Liturgy and the Holy Scriptures; and what distinguished saints all her members would be, if the Spirit of her Liturgy were transfused into their minds and hearts!

This is the state of mind which, above all, we would recommend to those who desire to find acceptance with God; for “to this man will God look, even to him who is of a broken and contrite spirit, Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 65:2;” this is the sacrifice which, above all, God requires, and which he has assured us “he will never despise, Psalm 51:17.”

3. David’s faith and love.

David did not so view his own sinfulness as to distrust the mercy of his heavenly Father; but rather took occasion from his own sinfulness to magnify still more the free and super-abounding grace of God.

In this, his example is especially to be followed. Nothing can warrant us to limit the mercy of our God. O how “ready is he to forgive” returning penitents! Of this, the conduct of the father towards the repenting prodigal is a lively and instructive image. In that parable, the compassion of God towards returning sinners is, as it were, exhibited even to the eye of sense.

Let us then, whatever be our state, bear this in mind, that unbelief is a sin which binds all our other sins upon us. Never, under any circumstances, should we harbor it for a moment. It is enough to have resisted God’s authority, without proceeding further to rob him of the brightest jewels of his crown—his grace and mercy. The goodness of God, as described in our text, and in another subsequent part of this Psalm, verse 15; is a sufficient pledge to us, that of those who come to him in his Son’s name, he never did, nor ever will, cast out so much as one!

4. David’s zeal and earnestness.

The diversified petitions and pleas which we have already considered, together with the renewed urgency of his supplications in the verse following my text, verse 6, show, how determined David was not to rest, until he had obtained favor of the Lord. And thus must we also “continue instant in prayer;” we must “watch unto prayer with all perseverance;” we must “pray always, and not faint.” Alas! how are we condemned in our own minds for our manifold neglects, and for our lukewarmness in prayer to God!

But we must not rest satisfied with confessing these neglects; we should remedy them, and break through our supineness, and correct our negligence, and lie at Bethesda’s pool until the angel comes for our relief! This is suggested to us in our text. What we translate, “I cry unto you daily,” is, in the margin, “I cry unto you all the day.”

O that there were in us such a heart! O that our sense of need were so deep, our desire of mercy so ardent, and our faith in God so assured—that we were drawn to God with an irresistible and abiding impulse; and that, like Jacob of old, we “wrestled with him day and night, saying: I will not let you go except you bless me! Genesis 32:24; Genesis 32:26; Genesis 32:28 with Hosea 12:3-5.” Such prayer could not but prevail; and such a suppliant could not but find everlasting acceptance with God, who is so “plenteous in mercy, so ready to forgive!”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 85:9-10

“Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other!”

We are told in Scripture, that “the prayer of the upright is God’s delight;” and in instances without number has he evinced the truth of this saying. If only we wait upon him with humility, and listen to his voice, “he will speak peace unto us, verse 8.” The writer of this Psalm, which was most probably composed after the return of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, records for our instruction, that he sought not the Lord in vain. The people, though restored, found many difficulties to encounter; and the Psalmist earnestly entreated God to perfect for them what he had begun, and to establish the nation in righteousness and peace, verses 1-7. In answer to this prayer, God assured him, not only that the blessings which had been solicited should be conferred, but that the more glorious redemption which was shadowed forth by those events, should in due time be accomplished. In this sense of the passage all the best interpreters concur; and it perfectly accords with the general language of the Prophets, which, in addition to the literal meaning, has also a spiritual or mystical sense; and which, under images apparently relating only to one peculiar people, has respect to Christ and his Church to the end of time. Taking the words then in a prophetic sense, we may notice in them:

I. The obstacles on God’s part to the salvation of man.

When man fell, the “truth and righteousness” of God required that the penalties of his transgression should be executed upon him.

To man in Paradise, God gave liberty to eat of every tree in the garden, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; but in reference to that tree he said, “In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die!” This death comprehended not merely the dissolution of the body, but the destruction also of the soul, even that everlasting destruction from which the second Adam has delivered us; according as it is written, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 5:12-19; Romans 6:23.”

From the moment therefore of his transgression, man became liable to this punishment; and the truth of God was pledged to inflict it. Moreover, God as a righteous Governor could not but maintain the honor of his law. His justice was engaged not to allow the violations of that law to pass unpunished.

This presented an apparently insurmountable obstacle to man’s salvation.

To say that God could not have found some other means of satisfying the demands of truth and righteousness, would be presumptuous, because the resources of his wisdom are infinite; but we are perfectly justified in saying that he could not save man unless some way of satisfying the demands of truth and righteousness were found. However God might desire to exercise mercy, and to be at peace with man—he could not do it at the expense of any other of his perfections. Paul himself frequently assigns this limit to the divine procedure, “God cannot lie,” says he; and again, “It is impossible for God to lie;” and again, “God cannot deny himself.” Again he says, “Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid!” It is plain, therefore, that unless a way could be found for “mercy and truth to meet together, and righteousness and peace to kiss each other,” no hope could be entertained for fallen man; the judgments denounced against him must be executed; and, having partaken with the fallen angels in their guilt, he must partake with them also in their misery.

But, formidable as these obstacles were, we behold in our text,

II. The way in which these obstacles are removed.

All has been done for man, that was required of man.

A substitute has been provided for our guilty race. The Son of God himself has come down from Heaven, and been made under the law, that, in the very nature that had sinned, he might bear the penalty of sin, and fulfill the utmost possible demands of that law which we had broken. True it is, that the law denounced eternal death; and that Christ bore that penalty only for a season; but then it must be remembered, that he was God, as well as man; and from his godhead is derived a virtue on all that he did or suffered, a virtue which is fully adequate to the obedience or sufferings of the whole world. Indeed the law gains more honor by the sufferings of our incarnate God, than it ever could have gained from the sufferings of the whole human race; for, if man had undertaken to pay the penalty, no time could ever have arrived, when it might be said, “Now divine justice is satisfied, and the law has received a full compensation for the dishonor done to it;” but in the sufferings of God’s co-equal Son there is “a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of men.”

In his obedience also to the law there is an honor done to it far beyond all that could have accrued to it from the obedience of man. That God himself should become subject to his own law, and fulfill in his own person all that is required of his creatures, is such an exalted honor to the law, that it may well be regarded as a sufficient substitute for the obedience of man, and as an adequate ground for the justification of all who shall trust in it! Isaiah 42:21.

Thus a way is opened for man’s salvation, in perfect consistency with every perfection of God.

“Truth and righteousness” are now completely satisfied. They demanded a perfect fulfillment of the law; and the law has been perfectly fulfilled; they demanded the penalty of death to be inflicted on account of sin; and it has been inflicted on the sinner’s substitute.

Now as a debt, discharged by a surety, can no longer be demanded of the principal—just so, can our debt no longer be demanded of us, if we plead what Christ has done and suffered for us. And, as a thing purchased for any person, belongs to him for whom it was purchased, so we, who have all the glory of Heaven purchased for us by our adorable Emmanuel, have a right to it, if we plead the purchase he has made. Hence it appears that truth and righteousness are no longer against us, but are rather on our side; and, instead of demanding, as before, the destruction of our souls—they have become advocates for our free and full salvation. Justice now says: Pay them, O God, what their Redeemer has purchased for them! Truth says, Fulfill to them, O Lord, all that you have promised to those who believe in Jesus!

But let us more particularly consider,

III. The blessed consequences of the removal of these obstacles.

Salvation is now accessible to all; it is come both to Jews and Gentiles, “It is near unto us.” To those especially “who fear the Lord,” it is near, even “in their mouth and in their heart! Romans 10:8-9.” No longer does the fiery sword prohibit our access to the tree of life. “Mercy” has now full scope for the freest exercise. God can now be “a just God, and yet a Savior! Isaiah 45:21.” He “declares his righteousness,” no less than his mercy, “in the forgiveness of sins! He is just, and yet the justifier of all who believe in Christ! Romans 3:25-26.”

Hence he proclaims “peace” to all that are afar off, Ephesians 2:17. He establishes his tabernacle in the midst of us; and invites all to come unto him, even to his mercy-seat, in full assurance of faith. “In every corner of the land his glory dwells, Isaiah 4:5;” and all who truly fear him may have daily “fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

The manner in which this assertion is made, deserves particular attention, “Surely his salvation is near them those who fear him.” This blessed truth admits not of the smallest doubt; it may be fully and firmly depended upon. Mercy issues from the bosom of our God, now that the obstacles to its exercise are removed.

Behold then how replete this passage is with,

1. Instruction to the ignorant.

Men differ much about the way of salvation; but this passage clearly determines who is right. That plan of salvation, and that alone, is right—which is carried into effect in perfect consistency with all the attributes of God. But there is no way that provides for the honor of God’s truth and righteousness, but that which is revealed in the Gospel, the way of salvation by faith in Christ.

Nothing but Christ’s obedience unto death ever did, or ever could, answer the demands of divine law and justice. Nothing but Christ’s completion of that work as our Surety could enable the sinner to say to the supreme Governor of the universe, “Avert your wrath from me; for I have already endured it in my Surety! And give me everlasting glory, for I, in the person of my Surety, have fulfilled all righteousness, and perfectly obeyed your law.” But the believer may adopt this language; since God himself has said, that “Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we, who had no righteousness, might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Let the uninstructed bear this in mind, and “determine to know nothing” as a ground of hope towards God, “but Jesus Christ, and him crucified!”

2. Terror to the presumptuous.

It is surprising what a measure of confidence some will express, notwithstanding neither their principles nor their conduct at all accord with the Scriptures of Truth. But we must declare to all, that both in the foundation of our hope, and in the superstructure built upon it, “Mercy and truth must meet together, and righteousness and peace must kiss each other.”

We have before shown, that no one perfection of God will display itself at the expense of another; all must unite and harmonize in every work of his; it is as impossible for God in any one instance to violate his righteousness or truth, as for him to cease from his existence.

In us also must those graces which correspond with his perfections be found in united and harmonious exercise; we must be just and true, and merciful and kind; yes, it is by our conformity to the Divine image in righteousness and true holiness, that we must judge of our state before him; for, however accurate our views of his Gospel may be, it is a certain truth, that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” “Truth must spring out of the earth, if ever righteousness shall look down from Heaven, verse 11 with Isaiah 45:8.”

3. Consolation to the timid.

It is frequently among those who truly “fear God” a matter of doubt and anxiety, whether God can pardon them; they see their manifold imperfections and sins in so strong a light, that God appears to them bound, as it were, in justice, to banish them from his presence; yes, and bound in truth also to execute his threatenings upon them.

But let such people view God, not as he is in himself, but as he is in Christ Jesus. There it is that he must be seen as a God of love and peace. There it is that the drooping penitent may behold him “as a reconciled God, who will never impute to him his sins! 2 Corinthians 5:19-20.” Yes, in Christ Jesus, “God is not only merciful and kind, but faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness! 1 John 1:9.”

Dismiss then your fears, O trembling saints; and put your trust in Him, who has in so wonderful a way removed all the obstacles to your salvation. The veil of the temple was rent in two on purpose to show you, that henceforth there is free access to God for every sinner upon earth, and that all who approach him in that new and living way, by faith in Christ Jesus, shall surely find acceptance with him. If God will be just in punishing the ungodly—then he will be no less just to his Son in pardoning all who plead the merit of his blood; and if he will be true in executing his threatenings—then he will be no less true in fulfilling his exceeding great and precious promises. Only rely on them, and plead them at a throne of grace, and you shall never, never be disappointed of your hope!

Charles Simeon

Psalm 85:8

“I will hear what God the Lord will speak; for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints; but let them not turn again to folly!”

If we would obtain any blessing from God, we must seek it in the exercise of fervent prayer. Yet shall we not really obtain a blessing, unless we look up to God in expectation of an answer to our prayers. In this respect we must resemble a beggar who supplicates for alms. He is not satisfied with having presented his petition; he waits for an answer; and never considers himself as having succeeded in his requests, until he is in the actual enjoyment of the desired blessing. This waiting spirit was exemplified in David, when he said, “In the morning I will direct my prayer unto you, and will look up! Psalm 5:3.” In like manner it is illustrated in the Psalm before us, which seems to have been written after the Babylonian captivity, but previous to the complete and quiet settlement of the people in their own land. The petitions which are offered are extremely urgent, “Restore us again, O God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation! Psalm 85:4-7.”

The petitioner, then, determines to listen to God’s voice, in the hope that he shall, in due season, receive an answer of peace, “I will hear what God the Lord will speak.”

Let us, for the elucidation of this subject, consider,

I. The attention which we must pay to the Word of God.

The Word, whether as contained in the inspired volume, or as delivered to us by the ministers of Christ, is truly and properly God’s; and, as his, it should be received by us with the deepest reverence. When Paul ministered at Thessalonica, the people “received his Word, not as the word of man, but as the Word of God;” and for that he specially commends them, 1 Thessalonians 2:13. And thus, whether written or preached, God’s Word must be received by us. Whether we open the inspired volume ourselves, or go up to hear it in the house of God, we must, like Cornelius and his family, place ourselves as in the immediate presence of God, “to hear all that is commanded us of God, Acts 10:33;” and with meek submission we must say, like Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening, 1 Samuel 3:10.”

But in our text we are informed,

II. What particular reason there is for that attention to the Word of God.

“The Lord will speak peace unto his people and to his saints;” however much they have deserved his wrath and indignation, he will not retain his anger against them, if only they give ear to his Word, and set themselves diligently to obey it. To the impenitent he never utters a single word of peace; but to the humble and contrite soul, that relies on his promises in Christ Jesus, there is not a syllable throughout all the inspired volume that leads to discouragement; grace, mercy, and peace are held forth to all of this character. These, though but in an infantile state, are God’s “saints and people;” and for them are prepared “a peace that passes all understanding,” and “a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory!” Shall such tidings, then, be announced, and the trembling soul not listen to them? If there were nothing but precepts proclaimed, they should be listened to with the most reverent attention; but, when nothing but the voice of love and mercy sounds in our ears, it would be strange indeed, if we do not hear it with the devoutest gratitude, and treasure it up in our minds as a source of the richest consolation.

With this attention, however, must be blended a regard to,

III. The ultimate scope and object of all God’s gracious declarations.

Sin, under whatever circumstances it is committed, is “folly” in the extreme; and to turn us from that folly is the true end of all that God has done for us! “Our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for us, to deliver us from this present evil world, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous for good works! Titus 2:14.” To him, therefore, we must cleave in a way of holiness, never for a moment turning back to our evil ways, or even so much as “looking back after having once put our hands to the plough! Luke 9:62.” For whatever we may have experienced, it will all cease to be of any value in the sight of God, the very instant we depart from his holy ways Ezekiel 33:18. Yes, it will be “better never to have known the way of righteousness at all, than after having known it, to depart from it! 2 Peter 2:21.” It is “by patient continuance in well-doing that we must seek for eternal life, Romans 2:7;” and only by enduring to the end, can we ever attain the promised salvation, Mark 13:13.

Let me, then, ADDRESS.

1. The inattentive hearer.

God speaks in his Word; but the generality of the world, though within reach of the sound, hear him not, “They have no ears to hear.” But let me ask: Will you be always able to shut your ears against his voice? Will you not hear him when he shall summon both the living and the dead to his tribunal? Will you be deaf to his voice when he shall pronounce upon you that awful doom, “Depart from me, you who are cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels!”

If, then, you must listen to him in that day, would it not be wise to regard him now? Be assured the day will come when you will regret that presumptuous indifference which now you manifest; and when, if you turn not to him in sincerity and truth—then you will “call upon the rocks and mountains in vain to hide you from his wrath!”

2. The backsliding professor.

What have you gained by returning to the world? Nay, have you not lost the peace which you once enjoyed? You may pretend to possess a quiet mind; but you do not. Or, if you do, it is only by drowning the voice of conscience, and silencing its remonstrances. Compare the penitential sorrows which you once felt, with the liveliest joys that you now experience; and then say, whether you were not really happier when weeping for your sins, than you now are when launching into either the cares or pleasures of the world? I well know the answer you must give, if you will speak truly; and therefore you, of all men, are constrained to acknowledge the folly of sin! “Remember, then, whence you have fallen, and repent; and do your first works! Revelation 2:5.” But if you will not repent and turn to God, then prepare to meet him in judgment, and to receive at his hands the just recompense of your deeds!

3. The obedient saint.

It is your privilege to have your “peace flowing down like a river.” And such it will be, if you apply to your souls the many “great and precious promises” which are given you in the Gospel. Search them out, therefore, and treasure them up in your minds. Hear God himself speaking to you in them; and so embrace them, as to live upon them, and to derive from them all the consolation which they are calculated to impart. In this way will you be kept from spiritual declension, and will be enabled to “cleanse yourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God! 2 Corinthians 7:1.”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 84:11-12

“The Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly! O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

The choice which every true Christian makes, affords matter of astonishment to the ungodly world. He prefers a life of godliness with all the odium attached to it, before all the pleasures and honors which he could possibly enjoy in the ways of sin. Those who look no further than to the concerns of time and sense, are amazed that so many sacrifices should be made without any visible recompense. Doubtless the choice of Moses must have been deemed marvelously absurd in the palace of Pharaoh, Hebrews 11:24-26; as that also, which David deliberately made, must have been among his ungodly courtiers. But the reason assigned for it was sufficient to justify him in the eyes of every rational being, verse 10, 11. “I had rather,” etc. “For,” etc.

His words lead us to show,

I. The character of true Christians as here described—those who walk uprightly.

“They walk uprightly” both towards God and man. Integrity in our dealings with man is an essential part of true uprightness—yet it is far from being the whole of what is comprehended in that term. Many act honestly from a mere sense of honor, while they pay no regard at all to their duties towards God. But sincere Christians act in a very different manner, they have respect to God in everything, that they may approve themselves to him.

True Christians search out their duty diligently.

A child of God will not conclude hastily that he knows his duty. He is aware of the deceitfulness of sin, and the wickedness of his own heart. He knows that, if he blindly follows the dictates of an unenlightened conscience, he may commit murder itself under the idea of doing God service! John 16:2. Acts 26:9. He therefore desires to have his judgment informed. For this end he reads the Holy Scriptures; and begs the Spirit of God to guide him into all truth; He is glad of instruction and reproof from his fellow-creatures, that he may be preserved from error. And the one desire of his heart is, to be freed from every undue bias; and to fulfill in all things the will of God.

True Christians perform their duty uniformly.

Every true Christian labors to do unto others as he would have others do unto him. But he does not rest satisfied with this. He strives to maintain the mastery over all his motives and principles of action; He endeavors to have his tempers regulated according to the Word of God, and the example of his Lord and Savior; He moreover watches unto secret prayer. He lives a life of communion with God; and of dependence on God. He would not make any exceptions or reserves; He longs to be free both from partiality and hypocrisy; and desires rather to descend from a throne to the place of a door-keeper in God’s house for the maintenance of his integrity, than to rise from the place of a door-keeper to a throne through the smallest violation of his duty, verse 10. He says with David, I esteem all your precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way! Psalm 119:128. And with him also he prays, “O that my ways may be directed to keep your statutes! Psalm 119:5.”

What delight God has in such characters we may see, if we consider,

II. The blessedness that shall be given to those who walk uprightly.

We are here distinctly told what God will be to those who walk uprightly. There is scarcely anything noble or useful in the sphere of nature or of art, which is not used to illustrate the goodness of God towards his people.

God will be a sun to those who walk uprightly.

How welcome is the sun to one who has been groping his dubious way during a long and dreary night. This metaphor must not be taken in its full extent, but only in reference to a traveler. His path is now made clear, and he is enabled to avoid the stumbling-blocks which before obstructed his progress. Nor are its beams less refreshing to his body, than its light is useful to his feet. He now shakes off the anxieties and cares with which he was before disquieted. He feels his spirit exhilarated; and prosecutes his journey with ease and pleasure.

Thus does God arise on those who have been sincerely occupied in doing his will. He causes light to arise in the darkness, Psalm 112:4. Even when they were in darkness, he was a light unto them, Micah 7:8; but now he dispels all the clouds, and shines upon them with healing in his beams! Malachi 4:2.

How sweet the change when the light of God’s countenance is thus lifted up upon them!
How plain is now the way of duty, which before was dark and intricate!
And how pleasant is it to “run the way of his commandments, now that their feet are set at liberty!”

God will be a shield to those who walk uprightly. The more upright they are, the more will Satan and the world combine against them. Men will strike at them with the sword of persecution; and Satan will cast at them the fiery darts of temptation. But God will “compass them with his favor as with a shield.” If they are wounded, he will heal them again, and overrule their momentary pain for their greater advantage.

As for their head, he will surely protect it in the day of battle. He will perfectly secure them from every fatal blow. Nor shall any weapon that is formed against them be ever allowed finally to prosper! Isaiah 54:17.

While God himself thus becomes their light and protection, he informs us further,

God will give grace to those who walk uprightly!

Certain it is that he must have given them prior grace, or else they never would have been able to attain to real uprightness. But, as their conflicts increase, he will give them more grace, James 4:6. As particular occasions call for it, he will give them seasonable grace, even in the very time of need Hebrews 4:16. And if their temptations should exceed all that ever were experienced by man, he will give them grace sufficient for them, 2 Corinthians 12:9. “My grace is sufficient for you,” is his Word to every soul, however buffeted by Satan, or ready to sink under the violence of his assaults. “They shall receive continually out of Christ’s fullness, even grace upon grace.”

God will give glory to those who walk uprightly!

His favors to them shall not terminate with their present state of existence. He will not only make them more than conquerors here, but will give them an unfading crown of righteousness and glory in the eternal world! Whatever felicity the angels enjoy in Heaven—that shall his saints also participate in. And as our first parents were banished from the tree of life for yielding to the tempter, so shall they, who resist and overcome him, be admitted to the tree of life that grows in the midst of the paradise of God, and shall never leave forever! Revelation 2:7.

God will not withhold anything that is truly good from those who walk uprightly!

Were wealth and honor good for them here below, they would possess it. If God withholds those things from his people now, he does it because he knows that they would not, on the whole, be good for them. He who gave his own Son to die for them, will assuredly give them all other things that will promote their eternal welfare. They shall never lack anything for body or soul, for time or eternity.

INFERENCES.

1. How truly blessed are those who are upright before God!

This is the Psalmist’s own reflection, verse 12. He varies indeed the term by which he describes the people of God; but his meaning is the same; for none can be upright except those who trust in him, because nothing but the grace of God can make them so; nor do any trust in him without receiving that grace which shall make them upright.

The manner in which he expresses his reflection, is worthy of notice; he does not merely assert it as a fact, or appeal to men for the truth of it, but appeals to God himself respecting it. “O Lord God Almighty, how blessed is the man who trusts in you.” How strong must have been the conviction of it in his mind! And can anything be more clear? To have the Lord God himself for their light and defense, and to have all the blessings of grace and glory ensured to them by the unalterable promise of Jehovah—what more could they have? Let every upright soul then rejoice; for he is and shall be blessed. And let all be stirred up to walk worthy of their high calling. So shall God be glorified in them; and they, before long, be glorified with him for evermore.

2. In what a pitiable state are the generality of mankind!

There are many who are honest and just, even among the heathen. But, alas! the generality labor not in earnest to find out their duty; nor do they know anything of that unreserved devotedness to God which characterizes the true Christian.

Is God then a sun to them? Is he not rather a cloud of darkness to them, or rather, I should say, a consuming fire? Exodus 14:20. Hebrews 12:29.

Is he a shield to them? Is he not rather an irresistible adversary? Matthew 5:25.

Will he give them grace and glory? Shall he not rather visit them with wrath and fiery indignation? Romans 2:8.

Will he withhold from them no good? Is there not rather a time shortly coming when they shall not have so much as a drop of water to cool their tongue?

O that men would consider this! Surely their state calls for much compassion. Let every one lay this to heart. Let every one seek to be found “an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit.” And let it be the one ambition of us all to be found of God in peace, without spot and blameless! 2 Peter 3:14.

Charles Simeon

Psalm 84:10

“I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

In matters of doubtful disputation, it is of great advantage to have some established ground to which reference may be made; and some adjudged case, on which arguments may be founded, without any farther appeal.

In my text, the point at issue is: Which is preferable, the service of God—or the service of the world? On this subject there is a great diversity of opinion; some accounting the world the only true source of happiness, while others conceive that there is no happiness but in God. But we have in the very words before the text an adjudged case, which may well determine the point forever. The Psalmist expressly declares, that “a day in God’s courts is better than a thousand” elsewhere. If a doubt arises whether he was competent to decide the matter, I answer, that, as a King, he knew all that attached to royalty and to the splendor of earthly courts; and, as a saint, he knew what was to be found in the exercises of piety and devotion; and, consequently, he was a proper person to hold the scales, and to declare on which side true happiness prevailed.

Besides, his particular situation at this time qualified him in a more than ordinary way to form a just judgment; for he was driven (it is supposed) by Absalom both from his throne and from the house of God; and consequently he could declare, from his own experience, which of the two losses was the heavier, and which was the greater subject of regret. Under these circumstances we read not one word of complaint respecting the loss of his kingdom; his mind was wholly occupied about the ordinances of God, of which he was deprived. “How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord Almighty! My soul longs, yes, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God! verse 1, 2.” He envies the very birds the facility which they enjoyed of approaching the altars of the Lord, and more especially the priests who had constant opportunities of officiating there; as also the people, who could come, though with great difficulty, from the extreme parts of the land to worship there at the appointed feasts, verse 3-7. He then begs of God to restore him to the enjoyment of these lost privileges, verse 8, 9; and declares, that, in his judgment, “one day spent in his courts was better than a thousand” elsewhere; and that he would rather be a door-keeper in the House of God, than to dwell amidst the richest enjoyments that the tents of wickedness could afford him.

The case being so clearly determined by him, I will endeavor to point out

I. The grounds of David’s judgment.

He preferred the lowest office imaginable in the House of the Lord, before the highest that was merely secular; for he deemed it:

1. More honorable.

In earthly palaces, dwell “men of like passions with ourselves;” but in Mount Zion God himself dwells; there he holds his court; there he sits upon his throne; there all his servants come to behold his glory, to worship at his footstool, and to receive the tokens of his gracious favor. There, though invisible, are assembled all the hosts of Heaven; so that the humble worshiper, when coming there, is justly said to have “come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, Hebrews 12:22-24.”

Now, conceive of a poor man admitted only to “the threshold” of this holy place, and compare his state with that of the most distinguished favorite of an earthly monarch; and say, whether the honor conferred on him be not infinitely higher than any which earthly courtiers can possess? In truth, the matter admits not of comparison. Between a king on his throne and a beggar on the dunghill there is no disparity at all—when compared with that between a creature and his Creator; so that in this respect the Psalmist had just ground for his preference; for in proportion as “God humbles himself, when he beholds the things which are on earth,” is that man exalted, who becomes the object of his condescension and grace.

2. More delightful.

We will concede to the delights of sense all that the most optimistic mind can annex to them; but still they are carnal and temporary, and cloying and unsatisfying; and the man who possesses the greatest portion of them all, must acknowledge them to be justly designated, “Vanity and vexation of spirit.”

But very different is the character of those pleasures which the sinner partakes of in the presence of his God. Behold the publican standing, as it were, on the very threshold of God’s house, as unworthy to enter in; behold him smiting his bosom, and, with floods of tears, crying, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” To the eye of sense he appears a miserable object that decides at once the point at issue in favor of the world; but to the eye of faith he is an object whose state may well be envied by the greatest and happiest of carnal men; for He, who is “the true and faithful Witness,” has said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are they that mourn.” On the mind of such a penitent the light of truth beams with increasing splendor; the peace of God flows down into his soul; a hope full of immortality springs up within him; and the joy of the Holy Spirit elevates his mind to Heaven, and gives him a foretaste of angelic bliss. Follow this same person through all the services of the sanctuary; behold him pouring out his soul in prayer to God; hear him singing the praises of redeeming love; mark the emotions of his soul when God’s Word is preached, and the blessings of redemption, as purchased by Christ and secured to him by an everlasting covenant, are unfolded to his view. What are any carnal delights in comparison with those which fill his soul? Truly, they are not worth a thought; they are only as the husks of swine, while he is feasting on “angels’ food.”

3. More profitable.

A man may gain temporal advancement by attending on earthly courts; but how many miss their aim! And, after all, what does the most successful gain? What can he possess, more than food and clothing? Let the most favored courtier in the universe say, whether that which he has so assiduously followed be not a delusive shadow, an unsubstantial vanity?

But the humble worshiper is in no danger of disappointment; and every particle of what he gains is “durable riches.” What can be put in competition with “a new heart,” “a right spirit,” “a divine nature,” a transformation of soul into the very image of God, a fitness for Heaven, and a title to an everlasting inheritance? Yet these are the certain portion of those who wait on God in his appointed ordinances; not one can fail, if only he seeks these things in the way that God has ordained, namely, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by an entire surrender of the soul to him. Take notice, I do not speak here of those who may be supposed to occupy the highest seats in the Lord’s house, as prophets and Apostles; I speak of “the door-keeper, the man upon the threshold,” whose conscious unworthiness allows him “not so much as to lift up his eyes” to his Redeemer’s throne; it is of him I say, that he has a better portion than the whole world can bestow; and that “happy is the man that is in such a case; yes, happy is the man who has the Lord for his God!”

Having given what I conceive to be ample grounds for David’s judgment, I now come to mark,

II. The wisdom of David’s decision.

Certainly the whole world of the ungodly are at dispute with him on this point. They have no taste for spiritual exercises or spiritual enjoyments. They observe, indeed, the outward forms of religion, for the sake of setting an example to others; but they have no idea of felicity to be enjoyed in the worship of God. If they see people much interested about the worship of God, they are ready to account them superstitious, and scrupulous, and “righteous overmuch;” and all the delight which they perceive to be derived from that source they impute to vanity or wild enthusiasm. But, however the multitude may prefer the pleasures of sense, we have no hesitation in saying that David’s decision was wise:

1. On his side are ranged all the inspired men from the foundation of the world.

There is not a shadow of difference among them in relation to this matter. One common testimony pervades the whole Scriptures: the things of time and sense are invariably represented as of no value, in comparison with the things which are invisible and eternal; and the possession of the whole world would be a fool’s choice, in exchange for the soul!

Now, when there are so many witnesses, all unconnected with each other, and living at times and places so distant from each other, and all inspired by an unerring God, must we not conclude that their testimony is true, and that David, in according with them, was true also? The whole Inspired Volume must be set aside as an imposture and a delusion, if David’s preference was not such as wisdom dictated, and God approved.

2. On his side are even the ungodly, in their hours of more serious reflection.

As giddy as the people of the world are, and ready to pour contempt on all serious religion, there is not one who does not sometimes say in his heart, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!” The consciences of men will sometimes speak; and they will acknowledge that they have never found that satisfaction in earthly things which they had once hoped to find; and that true religion alone can bring solid peace into the soul.

And here I will venture to appeal to every individual, whether on some particular occasions, perhaps on the death of a friend or in a time of sickness, or after some faithful discourse: has he not felt the vanity of this present world, and the need of securing a portion beyond the grave? And whether, on such occasions, he have not envied the state of those, whom, in his more thoughtless seasons, he has ridiculed?

Yes, Herod revered John, because he knew him to be a just and holy man; and Felix trembled, because he could not controvert the statements of Paul; and scarcely is there an ungodly man to be found, who has not, on some occasion or other, justified in his mind, if not in his words, the sentiment avowed by David in our text.

3. On his side is every man, the very instant he enters into the eternal world.

Do you think that there is a man in Heaven who is not like-minded with David? Or that there is one in Hell who would not assent to it as a truth which he could no longer doubt? Here on earth, men are blinded by their love of earthly things; but in the eternal world they view things as they really are; nor is there one to be found either in Heaven or in Hell that would not prefer the state of Lazarus with all his privations to that of the Rich Man with all his indulgences. Whence was it that the Rich Man was so anxious to send a messenger to his five surviving brethren? Was it not to undeceive them, and to make known to them the proper mode of estimating the things belonging to their peace? So, if it were permitted, would they who are daily and hourly going into the eternal world; gladly would they send to warn their surviving relatives; but that cannot be; and if we will not believe Moses and the prophets, we shall learn the truth when it is too late to avail ourselves of it. But all this may serve at least to show us that the decision of David was truly wise.

Learn, then, from hence:

1. How to form a right estimate of your state.

You must not judge of yourselves by your actions only, but by the desires and habits of your minds and hearts.

What is your taste? Is it for communion with God in holy exercises—or is it for the vanities of this present world?

God himself teaches us to judge of ourselves by this standard, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires! Romans 8:5.” If your taste accords with that of David, it is well; you have so far an evidence that you are the Lord’s; but if it is the reverse of his, deceive not yourselves, “you are yet in your sins,” children of the wicked one, and heirs of wrath.

2. How to make your profiting to appear.

Cultivate this high and heavenly disposition. Let the things of this world sink in your estimation. Sink, I had almost said, into absolute insignificance; and let communion with God be the delight of your soul. Let it be a small matter to you whether you have more or less of the honor that comes from man; and seek the honor that comes from God alone; and “let your conversation be more and more in Heaven, from whence you look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” with whom you hope before long to participate an eternity of bliss!

Charles Simeon

Psalm 84:1-4

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah”

Truly it is sweet to read of the experience of the former saints, and to be able to appeal to it in vindication of our own experience. I do not wonder that the world should cry out against the people of the Lord as enthusiastic and absurd; for they cannot by any means conceive how a person should lose all relish for carnal delights, and find all his happiness in employments wherein they see nothing but restraint and melancholy. But, indeed, there is a delight in communion with a reconciled God, an ineffable “joy, with which the stranger intermeddles not.” This is well expressed in the passage before us; from whence I shall take occasion to show,

I. The light in which we should view divine ordinances.

Certainly the expressions here used in reference to them are exceedingly strong. To a mind not conversant with the subject, they would appear rather like the flights of a poetical imagination than as the dictates of sober judgment. But they are not a whit too strong, if viewed in reference to the object respecting which they treat. Both body and soul may well unite in the feelings here expressed, feelings of intense desire, such as envies the very birds the privilege they enjoy of building their nests around the sacred edifice where God’s presence is enjoyed. Truly the tabernacles of the Most High will appear amiable, if we consider that in them,

1. God’s presence is given.

Formerly God dwelt in his sanctuary by the Shechinah, a bright cloud, the symbol of his presence, which was in itself visible to the eye of sense, though it was seen only by the High Priest, and that only on one day in the year. Now, his presence is visible only to the eye of faith (for there is an eye that “sees Him who is invisible, Hebrews 11:27.”), and by him who possesses a spiritual discernment, even though he be the least and lowest of God’s children, the divine presence is both seen and felt. What else is the meaning of those words, “If any man loves me, my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him?”

Yes, truly, God will manifest himself to his believing people as he does not unto the world, John 14:21-23;” he will, in an especial manner, “draw near to those who draw near to him. “Wherever two or three are met together in his name, he will be in the midst of them;” and to every weeping suppliant he will say, “Behold me, behold me! Isaiah 65:1.” “Here I am! Isaiah 58:9.”

2. His blessings are dispensed.

In the days of our blessed Lord, we are informed, that multitudes, laboring under every kind of malady, thronged about him; and that “virtue went forth from him to heal them all, Luke 6:19.”

Somewhat similar to this may yet be seen under the ministration of the Gospel. Multitudes, oppressed with every species of mental trouble, approach the Majesty of Heaven, to pour out before him their supplications, and to receive from him a supply for their diversified necessities. The weary and heavy-laden sinner sues for pardon and peace; the soul, harassed with temptations, implores strength whereby to cope with its great Adversary, and to fulfill the will of God; in a word, whatever men’s trials may be, there they bring them all; and there they look for aid; and there, through the ministry of the Word, they actually “find mercy and grace to help them in the time of need.”

To every distinct case God mercifully suits his aid; and the support afforded by him proves sufficient for them all; so that, as thousands can testify, when they have come hungering and thirsting for the blessings of salvation, they have not been sent away empty, but have been filled and satisfied with the plenteousness of God’s house, and had their sorrows turned into joy.

3. His name is glorified.

Every one, entering the house of God in a befitting spirit, feels a consciousness that he is approaching a Father and a Friend; yes, a Friend who is infinitely more willing to give than the most oppressed suppliants can be to ask, and “willing to give exceedingly above all that they can either ask or think.” Conceive of millions assembled at the very same instant of time, in every quarter of the globe, thus honoring their God as omnipresent to hear their prayers, and omnipotent to supply their needs. Who must not love those ordinances where God is so exalted? Again, amidst all the millions that have been relieved, there is but one sentiment of gratitude to God as their Almighty and all-gracious Benefactor.

Truly, in this respect the tabernacles of the Most High on earth resemble his house above, where all the hosts, whether of saints or angels, join in one harmonious song of praise to their creating and redeeming God. Say, are not “God’s tabernacles amiable” in such a view as this? and can anyone long for them with too intense desire, or enter them with too sublime delight?

But that this may be more manifest, let us consider,

II. The blessedness of those who estimate them aright.

As for those who only occasionally visit the house of God, merely for form sake or to perform a duty, it cannot be expected that they should derive much benefit to their souls. But those who, in the habit of their minds, “dwell,” as it were, “in God’s courts,” will find their souls exceedingly elated and comforted. They will acquire, yes, and speedily too attain, a disposition of mind that is little understood by the world at large, a spirit of praise and thanksgiving, not unlike to that which animates the hosts above.

1. Their occasions for praise will incessantly be renewed.

Not a prayer they offer shall ever go forth in vain. Their access to God will become more intimate, their confidence in him more entire, their communion with him more sweet, and their communications from him more abundant. As every day brings with it fresh temporal benefits, so will their stock of spiritual blessings be daily multiplied, so that it shall appear to them as if a new series of mercies were every day begun; a series, for the acknowledgment of which an eternity of ages would scarcely suffice.

2. In the exercise of praise they will abound more and more.

I do not say that they will cease to pray; for their need of prayer will never cease, until they arrive in Heaven itself. But their devotions will more assume the character of praise; their view of the divine perfections will be greatly enlarged; and their sense of God’s mercies be deepened, insomuch that they will see mercy in everything, and be disposed “in everything to give thanks.”

Their very trials and afflictions will be regarded as tokens of God’s love, and as incentives to praise Him “who gives songs in the night.” If their tribulations are great, they will glory in them, as contributing both to their present, Romans 8:28, and eternal welfare, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.

Behold the Apostles just dismissed from scourging and imprisonment! they go forth “rejoicing that they are counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ’s sake.” Behold Paul and Silas also with their feet made fast in the stocks, while their backs are yet bleeding by the stripes just recently inflicted on them! Do they mourn and weep? No, “they sing praises unto God at midnight.”

Now, all this was the fruit of communion with God; and in proportion as we also live near to God in prayer, we shall surely find, whether in life or death, little else than occasions of praise. In whatever state we are, we shall be uttering thanksgivings to God; yes, come what may, we shall “be still praising him.”

SEE, then, I beg you,

1. The happiness of the saints.

I may appeal to you, whether the worldling has any source of joy that can be compared with this? No, truly; the highst monarch upon earth that is ignorant of God, feeds only upon husks; whereas the true saint, though as poor as Lazarus himself, eats of “angels’ food”.

2. The blessedness of Heaven.

If such be God’s courts below, what must Heaven itself be? Well may we long to be there. Well may we “desire to depart and be with Christ,” where we shall “behold him face to face.” I need not say how blessed is that choir who day and night incessantly sing praises to God and to the Lamb. But may we so anticipate that employment, that we may be prepared to join in it to all eternity! Amen, and Amen.

Charles Simeon