Psalm 70:4-5

“But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, “let God be exalted!” Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay.”

This Psalm is entitled “a Psalm to bring to remembrance.” What were the things to which David more especially referred, we do not certainly know. The whole Psalm, with only a few alterations, is taken from the 40th Psalm, of which it forms a part; and it seems to have been separated for the purpose of being used by David on some particular occasion, to which the former part of that Psalm was not applicable.

It served to bring to his remembrance some special deliverances; and for a similar end it may well be used by us. We have many who would exult in our destruction, even as he had; and we may well desire that all their efforts may be frustrated, and their expectations disappointed.

On the other hand, we should desire the prosperity and happiness of the Lord’s people; and be earnest with God in prayer, that we ourselves may “participate in the felicity of his chosen, and give thanks with his inheritance.” Our past trials and deliverances should all be brought to remembrance for this end; and be made subservient to our own advancement in the divine life, and to the glory of our God.

From the words before us, I shall,

I. Point out to your notice that frame of mind which the Lord’s people are privileged to enjoy.

Short is the description given of the Lord’s people; but it is amply sufficient to distinguish them from all other people upon earth. “They seek after God, and love his salvation.” The great mass of mankind live without God in the world. And of those who seek him, there are few who “love the salvation” set before us in the gospel. As for those who seek him in ways of their own devising, they have no claim to the character of God’s people. Those alone are truly his, who come to him through Christ, and embrace the salvation offered them in the gospel, and love that savior who has bought them with his sin-atoning blood. To them “Christ is precious!”

1. Their privilege is to live in the daily experience of

Sacred joy.

Truly they have cause to rejoice. If it were only that they hear of a savior, that would be ground enough for joy; but to have a view of him in his mediatorial office, and to hope that they have obtained a saving interest in him, is a reason for “rejoicing in him with joy unspeakable and full of glory!” Hence the apostle enjoins it upon us as a duty, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice!” “Rejoice evermore!” It surely does not befit a redeemed soul to be cast down with despondency; and still less to be in a state of stupid insensibility. He should be sensible of the mercies given unto him, and should “serve his God with gladness and joyfulness of heart.”

2. Their privilege is to live in the daily experience of

Grateful adoration.

The Christian’s joy should not terminate on the benefits he has received, or on his own personal interest in them—so much as on his God and Savior, from whom he has received them. This distinction I conceive to be of considerable importance; for joy may be excited by novelty, and may be little more than an ebullition of the physical spirits arising from a new hope kindled in the soul. Whereas, when it arises rather from a contemplation of the Savior’s love, it is of a more refined quality, more humble, more tender, more modest, more reserved. “The children of Zion should be joyful in their king;” and, instead of arrogating anything to themselves, should say continually, “let God be magnified!”

Such was Mary’s joy, when she was honored to be the means of bringing forth the Savior, “my soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”

The two kinds of joy, as considered apart, may be compared with fruit in its earlier or its more matured state. The unripe peach, for instance, is brilliant in its hues; but, while it is beauteous to the eye, it is sour to the taste; whereas that which is of a more mellowed tint, obscured perhaps by the foliage under which it hangs, will approve itself by its susceptibility of impression from the slightest touch, and the richness of its flavor when submitted to the taste. Such as this latter peach will be likened to the joys of Heaven.

The glorified saints, yes, and the angels too, all fall upon their faces before the throne of God, while yet with all their powers they sing forth the praises “of God and of the lamb.” They are filled, indeed, with a sense of the benefits which they enjoy; but they are lost in wonder while beholding with unveiled face the glories of their God.

Such is the frame which the saints are privileged to enjoy on earth; they should “rejoice and be glad in the Lord;” but at the same time they should be saying continually, “Let God be magnified!”

But, as all do not live in the enjoyment of this frame, I will,

II. Give some directions to those who have not yet been able to attain this frame of mind.

We see, from David’s own experience, that this joy is not universal among the saints of God. There are times and seasons when, from a variety of causes, the mind of a pious person may be depressed; and when this occurs, I would say to the drooping soul: follow the example of David in our text.

1. Lie low before God in the deepest humiliation.

“I am poor and needy,” was the confession of that holy man, the man after God’s own heart. And well does the same language befit us all. Those who know most of themselves, will be the most ready to acknowledge that they are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” And never are we in a frame more pleasing and acceptable to God, than when we abase ourselves before him in dust and ashes. We are told, that “God will not despise the broken and contrite heart;” nay more, that he will select, for his more immediate and delightful habitation, the humble and contrite soul! Isaiah 57:15. Then shall we be prepared to exalt our God, when we feel disposed to humble and abase ourselves.

2. Importune God, with all earnestness, to grant you this holy frame of mind.

There is a holy impatience, which God approves; not indeed an impatience connected with murmuring, but that which arises from intensity of desire. This feeling you may carry to its utmost possible extent, “panting after God, even as the deer after the water-brooks.” And under this feeling, you may cry with a boldness almost bordering on presumption, “return to me, O Lord; make haste unto me; O Lord, make no tarrying.” We may go farther still; and say, with David, “awake! Why do you sleep? Pluck your hand out of your bosom. Arise, and plead your own cause, Psalm 44:23; Psalm 74:11; Psalm 74:22.”

Such is the importunity recommended to us in the parable of the unjust judge. The widow, purely by the urgency of her petitions, prevailed over one who cared not either for God or man. “And shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto him, though he bears long with them? I tell you, that he will avenge them speedily.” All who wrestle like Jacob, in supplication with God—shall assuredly be partakers of his success.

3. Plead your entire dependence on God’s power and grace with him.

“Make haste unto me, O God; you are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying.” This is a plea which God, if I may so express myself, cannot withstand. If he withholds the light of his countenance from us—it is in order to make us more simple in our dependence on him; and when we renounce every other help or hope, and trust in him with our whole hearts, then are we as sure of support as if it had already arrived, “for his goings forth are prepared as the morning; and he shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and the former rain upon the earth, Hosea 6:3,” “those who trust in the Lord are even as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides forever! Psalm 125:1.”

Application.

1. See that the Christian’s character is your character.

Here is an easy test whereby to try yourselves: are you indeed seeking after God? Are you truly lovers of his salvation? Nothing is easier to ascertain than this. The lovers of pleasure, of riches, and of honor—plainly manifest their character; you may see it in the disposition of their minds, and in the daily habit of their lives. They use the means which are suited to their respective ends. I do not blame them for this; for it is not the pursuit of earthly things, but the inordinate pursuit of them, that is displeasing to God. But where the world is sought only in a legitimate way, the means are used in order to the end; no man expects to reap where he has not sowed. Are you then using the means of salvation, in daily prayer to God, in submission to the Savior, and in a diligent performance of every known duty? You may easily ascertain your true character, if you will try yourselves by this test; and therefore to every one of you I say, “examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith; test your own selves!”

2. See that you walk worthy of that character.

Do not be content to live without a real enjoyment of the divine presence. The lukewarm are in some respects more odious to God than those who are altogether destitute of any religion; because, in professing themselves to be the Lord’s people, they bring nothing but disgrace upon him by their lack of zeal and love.

I say to you, brethren, and I say it from God himself, “be either cold or hot.” If God is not worthy to be loved and served—then cast off his service altogether; but if he is worthy—then love and serve him with your whole hearts! It is in this way alone that you can attain any joy in the Lord. It is in this way only that you can gain such discoveries of his love, as shall constrain you to abound in grateful adoration and thanksgiving.

In the lack of joy, you may indeed be thankful, if you can mourn and weep; but God forbid that you should be satisfied with such low attainments as will leave you destitute of all comfort in religion. You are here on earth to prepare for glory; you are here to anticipate the glory that awaits you; you are here, both in word and deed, to be magnifying the Lord, in some measure as he is magnified in Heaven.

Aspire, then, to this state, which is recommended in my text, “but may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say: let God be exalted!”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 69:32-33

“The humble shall see this and be glad; and you who seek God, your hearts shall live. For the Lord hears the poor, and does not despise his prisoners.”

Sweetly encouraging are the records of God’s people as contained in the sacred oracles. We see their complaints exactly agreeing with those which we ourselves are constrained to utter. We see:
with what confidence they betook themselves to prayer,
and how wonderfully their efforts were crowned with success,
and how pleased God himself was with magnifying his grace and mercy towards them
—and from all this we derive encouragement, at once suited to our necessities, and sufficient for our needs.

Behold the experience of David in the preceding context, “I am poor and sorrowful.” (In the same way, his experience accords with what is felt by every contrite soul.) and to what has David recourse? To prayer; and with an enlargement of heart which we should scarcely have expected to see, “let your salvation, O God, set me up on high!” in the same way, it is thus that we also should pray; not being straitened in our petitions; but “opening our mouths wide, in order that they may be filled.”

And now mark the success of David’s prayer; behold, without the delay of a moment, he is enabled to add, “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.” (Such is the success which we also may hope for, if we pray in humility and faith.) and was God displeased with this holy boldness? No! David adds, “this also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs,” yes, better than the cattle upon a thousand hills.

Now mark the improvement we are to make of this, “the humble shall see this, and be glad; and (whoever you are) your heart shall live who seek God; for the Lord hears the needy (wherever they may be found), and despises not his prisoners,” however low or abject their condition.

Now, to encourage you, my brethren, from this example, I will proceed (in the simplest way imaginable, and not with any artificial arrangement), to address you on the subject before us:

I trust that many of you are “seeking after God”.

It can scarcely be, that after having so long had the gospel faithfully ministered unto you, there should be the same indifference among you as in the ignorant ungodly world. I hope and trust there is among you:

Some desire after God.
Some hope in the savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And some endeavor to flee from the wrath to come.

And, if you are seeking him aright, God promises that “your heart shall live”.

Doubtless it is necessary that you seek after God in earnest; for “the kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent must take it by force.” You may seek to enter in, and not be able;” you must therefore not only seek, but “strive.” Moreover, you must strive in God’s appointed way. To win a race, you must not only run, but run lawfully;” that is, agreeably to the laws prescribed for you; and the only way by which any of you can succeed, is by renouncing all dependence on yourselves, and founding your hopes altogether on the Lord Jesus Christ, even on his meritorious death and passion, as an expiation for your sins.

Now, if you are indeed fleeing to him for refuge, you shall assuredly find mercy from the Lord, or, as my text expresses it, “your heart shall live.” This expression deserves peculiar notice. The heart of an unregenerate man is as dead and senseless as the nether millstone!

The gospel, with all its alluring promises, may be proclaimed to him—but the unregenerate man does not receive it. The gospel has no allurements for him. Nor do the denunciations of judgment and Hell excite any alarm in him.

But when God gives him a new heart, and puts a new spirit within him, and takes away his heart of stone—then all of his views, desires, and pursuits, become changed! Being alive to God, he will be alive to all holy exercises, and find his happiness in the enjoyment of his God!

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and cause you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws! Ezekiel 36:25-27.”

Nor let anyone be discouraged on account of his poverty.

The poor of this world are not less regarded by Jehovah than the rich. And those who are spiritually poor, are objects of his peculiar care. Not one such person will he ever overlook. Though surrounded by myriads of holy angels, he will not allow them to attract his attention in comparison with a poor and contrite soul. No, “this is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word! Isaiah 66:2.” There is not a sigh which such a one utters, but it is heard by him, and is as music in God’s ears; and every tear he sheds is treasured up by God in his vial. But, not to rest on mere assertions, let us look at an example.

In the prophet Jeremiah, we find a poor mourning penitent, just such a one as we are speaking of; and there we may see in what light he is viewed by God,

“I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘you disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the Lord my God. After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord, Jeremiah 31:18-20.” This shows what favor the poor shall find in his sight; and gives the full explanation of those words, “the Lord hears the poor.”

Even though a person should feel himself like a prisoner under actual sentence of death, let him not despond.

It is only in Hell that men are prisoners of despair; but while they are in this world, the worst among them is only a “prisoner of hope; and to such there is a special promise from God himself, “turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope; even today do I declare that I will render double unto you, Zechariah 9:12.” Whatever your deserts of judgment have been, God will award to you a “double” measure in a way of mercy. God even condescends to assume this as his own character, whereby he may be known, even as clearly as by his works of creation, or the dispensations of his providence. “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—the Lord, who remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous! Psalm 146:5-8.”

To them in a special manner he had respect in the gift of his son; as our Lord himself has said, “the spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Luke 4:18-19.”

Only conceive of a poor wretch that has wasted all his substance, and sold himself for a slave, returning in an instant, at the sound of the trumpet, to the enjoyment of liberty, and of all his possessions; and then you have a just view of God’s dealings with the most abject prisoners of hope, the very instant that they call upon him. Let every one, then, take courage, however desperate his state may appear; for this is the true character of Jehovah; and such he will approve himself to be to all who come to him in his son’s name.

And now let me entreat you all to seek the savior without delay.

“Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation!” O beloved, “seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon! Isaiah 55:6-7.”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 69:1-4

“Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal.”

Sacred are the prayers of a penitent, and hallowed is the sanctuary where he is pouring out his soul before God; nor could the most obdurate sinner overhear:

His confessions and supplications,
His cries and tears,
His importunate pleadings and heart-rending groans—without being filled with awe and reverence.

Let us draw near then with holy awe to the recesses of that chamber, where, not a sinful creature like ourselves, but our incarnate God, the sin-atoning savior, is pouring out his soul under a load of sins imputed to him, and of sorrows for the punishment of our sin, “during the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears, Hebrews 5:7. He it is that in the Psalm before us is saying, “Save me, O God! For the waters are come in unto my soul.”

David, it is true, was the writer of the Psalm; and in parts of it may be considered as speaking chiefly, if not entirely, of himself; but in other parts he speaks so entirely in the person of the messiah whom he typified, that we can scarcely apply the words to any other. Nor while we assert this are we in any danger of erring; because our blessed Lord himself, and the evangelists who wrote his life, and Paul also, all concur in putting this very construction upon the Psalm, and in citing various parts of it as actually accomplished in Christ.

“Zeal for your house has consumed me, John 2:17,” is applied to Christ on one occasion; and on another, “they hated me without a cause, John 15:25.” His general deportment is said to have been predicted in those words, “the reproaches of those who reproached you, fell on me! Romans 15:3.” At his crucifixion was fulfilled that remarkable prophecy, “they put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst! Psalm 69:21; John 19:29.” Even to Judas who betrayed him is one portion of it applied, “let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein, Acts 1:20.” After such authorities as these, we do not hesitate to interpret our text as referring to the sufferings of Christ, and as describing,

I. The overwhelming nature of Christ’s sufferings.

If David, as a type, had many things to suffer, much more had that savior whom he typified. We will not however speak of his sufferings during the whole period of his sojourning on earth; but of those only which he endured in the closing scenes of his life, and which seem more particularly referred to in the Psalm before us. That we may have a more distinct new of them, we will notice,

1. Those sufferings which were previous to Christ’s arrest.

“He had indeed a fearful prospect before him,” a bloody “baptism to be baptized with; and how was he straitened until it should be accomplished, Luke 12:50.” When the time for its accomplishment drew near, his “soul was so troubled, that he knew not what to say.” As a man, he felt disposed to deprecate his sufferings, and to be saved from that hour that was fast approaching; but, as our Mediator, he would not recede, because he had come into the world for the express purpose of suffering all that was due to our sins, John 12:27 with John 12:23; John 12:32-33.

In the garden of Gethsemane his sorrows came yet more heavily upon him, so that he cried, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death! Matthew 26:37-38.” On this occasion he cried repeatedly, “O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me! Matthew 26:39; Matthew 26:44.” And such was the agony of his soul, that “he sweat great drops of blood” from every pore of his body, Luke 22:44. To this period in particular we may suppose the petitions in our text to refer; for then “he offered up his supplications with strong crying and tears, Hebrews 5:7;” and such were the intenseness of his agony, and the ardor of his importunity, that “his throat was dried,” “his eyes failed,” his whole nature was exhausted, verse 3, and he needed “an angel to be sent from heaven to strengthen him, Luke 22:43.”

It must be remembered, that in all this time no man had approached to hurt him; and therefore we are sure that his sorrows proceeded from “the powers of darkness” who were now let loose upon him, Luke 22:53, and from the hand of God himself, who now concurred to inflict upon him, Isaiah 53:10, the curse due to our iniquities, Galatians 3:13, which by a covenant-engagement he had undertaken to sustain, Psalm 40:6-8.

2. Those sufferings which Christ sustained during his trial.

It was no slight aggravation of his troubles that he was betrayed into the hands of his murderers by a kiss from one of his own disciples, and that “one who had eaten bread with him lifted up his heel against him, John 13:18.”

And when he was seized and bound, he was yet further wounded in his soul by the intemperate zeal of another of his disciples, who, instead of submitting with meekness to the will of God, sought to destroy the adversaries of his Lord, Matthew 26:51-52.

From the garden he was hurried to the palace of the high priest, and, subsequently, from one tribunal to another, only to be treated with all manner of indignities, and to be denied that justice which his judges pretended to administer. How inconceivably painful to his mind must it have been, to be arrayed in mock majesty, to be made an object of profane scoffing, to be smitten, and buffeted, and spit upon, and loaded with all manner of accusations, and all this time not to have so much as one of the many myriads whom he had healed to bear testimony in his favor, verse 20; yes, even his own disciples having forsaken him, one indeed excepted, whose presence only aggravated his sorrow, by his impious oaths, and pertinacious denial of his Lord.

Even a measure that was adopted with a view to preserve his life, became a source of still more aggravated woe. Pilate hoped, that, by scourging him, he should pacify those who sought his life; and, the order being given, “the ploughers ploughed upon his back and made long their furrows, Psalm 129:3,” but “the whole multitude with insatiate fury cried out, Crucify him, crucify him! See verse 4,” and demanded that Barabbas, who was a robber and a murderer, should be preferred before him. Thus was the immaculate lamb of God condemned to suffer the most cruel and ignominious of all deaths, even the accursed death of the cross!

3. Those sufferings which were consummated in Christ’s death. From his trial before Pilate, Jesus was dragged away to execution. Laden with the cross to which he was to be affixed, he sank under the load, which therefore another was compelled to bear to the place of execution. To this he was fastened with nails through his hands and feet; and then was he raised as a naked bloody spectacle to all his enemies.

Ah! With what taunts was he then assailed, assailed even by the thieves, who on either side of him were suffering the same punishment! One would have thought that in such a situation at least, he might become an object of pity; but no pity was found in the hearts of his blood-thirsty enemies; and their professed readiness to assuage his anguish, was only an impious mockery, and a cruel insult; they gave him “gall and vinegar to drink!” Psalm 69:21.

But the heaviest load which Jesus had to sustain, was laid upon him by other hands than those of man, even by the hands of his heavenly father. Man could only touch his body; the wounds inflicted on his soul proceeded immediately from God, who then “was pleased to bruise him,” and to punish in him for the iniquities of his people. All his other sufferings he endured with lamb-like silence; but this forced from him that heart-rending cry, “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?”

The darkness which at mid-day, for the space of three hours, veiled the whole land, was a sad emblem of his state, under the agonies of expiring nature, and the wrath of a sin-avenging God! At last, having drunk the very last dregs of that cup of wrath which had been put into his hands, he bows his head, and gives up the spirit. “Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow? Lamentations 1:12.”

After this slight sketch of our redeemer’s sufferings, let us proceed to consider,

II. Our redeemer’s sufferings were vicarious.

It might be said of David under many of his persecutions, that “he restored that which he took not away;” for certainly he exercised forbearance, and forgiveness, and a returning of good to a very extraordinary extent. But a greater than David is here. That glorious person whose sufferings we have been contemplating, suffered not for himself, but for us, “he was cut off, but not for himself! Daniel 9:26.”

1. Our redeemer’s sufferings were not for his own sins.

He was pure and perfect. His very examinations proved that in this respect he was fit to be an offering for the sins of others, “a lamb without blemish, and without spot.” As he had before challenged his enemies, “which of you convinces me of sin?” so the more they labored to load him with guilt, the more clear and manifest his innocence appeared. His judge, his fellow-sufferer, his executioner, all proclaimed him innocent. The reason of his death, and his fitness for it, are stated in few words by his beloved disciple, “he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him was no sin.”

2. Our redeemer’s sufferings were for the sins of his people.

In all that he endured, he was our substitute and surety. We had contracted the debt, which he paid; we had sold our inheritance, which he shed his blood to redeem. This is the account given us throughout the whole scriptures. His sacrifice was prefigured by all the sacrifices under the levitical law, which in expiating the sins of those who offered them, and in restoring sinners to the favor of their God, might be said to “restore that which they took not away.” But this use of his sufferings is not left to be gathered from types and shadows; it was declared by the prophets in the most express terms. “He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, Isaiah 53:4,” yes, “he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes we are healed. The Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all, Isaiah 53:5-6.”

To the same effect speak his apostles also. Paul says, that “he who knew no sin was made sin, that is, a sin-offering for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Corinthians 5:21.” And Peter tells us, that “he bore our sins in his own body on the tree,” and “suffered for sins, the just for (in the place of) the unjust, 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18.”

This glorious mystery may be fitly illustrated by Paul’s conduct towards the penitent Onesimus. Onesimus had robbed his master Philemon. After his conversion by the ministry of Paul, the apostle sought to restore him to the love and confidence of his master; and engaged for that end to replace from his own funds the money that Onesimus had stolen, “If he has wronged you, or owes you ought, charge that on my account. I Paul have written it with my own hand, I will repay it, Philemon verse 18, 19.” Thus did the Lord Jesus Christ, while yet he was in the bosom of his father, undertake for us; and thus in due time he “laid down his own life as a ransom for us.”

What an instructive mystery is this! We see in it,

1. The proper ground for faith.

To what, or to whom, shall we look to reconcile us to God? Can we “restore what we have taken way?” or will anyone else undertake to restore it for us? What compensation can we make for our violations of God’s law? What offering can we make, that shall satisfy the claims of divine justice? Or what can we do to compensate for the glory of which we have robbed our God? Alas! To make the attempt, or entertain the thought, were vain in the extreme.

But Jesus has by his own obedience unto death made full satisfaction for all our sins. Have we poured contempt upon the law? He “has magnified the law, and made it honorable! Isaiah 42:21.” Have we brought dishonor on our God? He has glorified every one of the divine perfections more, infinitely more, by his obedience unto death—than they ever could have been glorified either by the perfect obedience, or the eternal condemnation, of the whole human race! John 13:31.

He then is worthy to be confided in as a savior; he is a sure foundation whereon to build all our hopes for time and for eternity! Hence he says, (and may God give to every one of us grace to comply with the invitation!) “Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else! Isaiah 45:22.”

2. The strongest motive for love.

What shall induce us to love the Savior, if the contemplation of his vicarious sufferings will not? Can we think of “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich—yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich! 2 Corinthians 8:9;” can we think of this, I say, and not have our souls inflamed with love and gratitude to him? Surely such love must constrain us to admire him, to adore him, to magnify him, to serve him with all our faculties and all our abilities. The very stones would cry out against us, if we did not break forth, as it were, in continual hosannas to our adorable Benefactor.

3. The safest rule for obedience.

We must expect to be, in a greater or less degree, conformed to our Savior in his sufferings—if ever we would be conformed to him in his glory. From men we must expect persecutions for his sake. From Satan we shall meet with the same violent assaults. From God himself too must we occasionally experience the hidings of his face, and the chastisements of his rod; for, “what son is there whom the father chastens not?”

But in our troubles we must imitate our blessed Lord, and spread them before our heavenly father “with strong crying and tears.” The proper language for us is that which was used by him in verses 13-18; and, as far as our afflictions proceed from men, we must meet them with patience and resignation, or rather, I should say, with returns of kindness and love. We should be ready to “restore that which we took not away,” and to render good for evil, until we have “overcome evil with good, Romans 12:20-21.” Doubtless this is a difficult and arduous task; but it is one which will be richly recompensed in the performance of it, and will be highly approved of our God in the last day, Matthew 6:14. We may indeed, notwithstanding such conduct, be constrained to “pass through deep waters;” but our God will be with us in the midst of them! Isaiah 43:2, and bring us through all our tribulations to a state of eternal blessedness and glory! Revelation 7:14-15.

Charles Simeon

Psalm 68:35

“The God of Israel is he who gives strength and power unto his people; blessed be God!”

The consideration of God’s power is to his enemies awful in the extreme; but to his friends it affords the richest consolation. The immediate subject of the Psalm before us is the carrying up of the ark from the house of Obed-edom to Mount Zion; but the power of God in destroying his enemies, and saving his friends, is celebrated throughout in terms of exultation and triumph. In the words of our text this interesting topic is summed up in few words, and concluded with an expression of adoration, well suited to the subject.

We propose to consider,

I. The description here given of God.

Though at first sight this description of the Divine character does not appear very peculiar—yet, if it is attentively considered, it will be found:

1. Most glorious.

It imports, in the first place, that God does give strength and power to his people; and this is proved by all the sacred annals; yes, by daily experience. He has enabled his people of old to resist the greatest temptations, Genesis 39:10-12, to perform the hardest duties, Genesis 22:2; Genesis 22:9-10, to endure the heaviest afflictions, Hebrews 11:36-37, to triumph over the united assaults of earth and Hell, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. And many can say at this day, “As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord Almighty, Psalm 48:8.”

It intimates yet further, that none but God can give strength to his people. The mode of expression in the text strongly intimates this. What could the gods of the heathen do for their votaries? God tells them that their senseless idols could not so much as move; they must themselves be carried, Isaiah 46:1-2; Isaiah 46:6-7. And as for human confidences, they were also vain; neither the Assyrian, nor Egyptian, nor any other power, could deliver those who trusted in them, Isaiah 30:1-7. It was the prerogative of Jehovah alone to afford his people the supports they stood in need of Psalm 62:11.

But the full meaning of the text seems to be, that God delights in supplying his people’s needs; it is that very character in which he most glories, and by which he most wishes to be known. He is always looking out for opportunities of exercising his power on behalf of his people, 2 Chronicles 16:9; and rejoices in every occasion that their necessities afford him of making known to them his power and grace, Jeremiah 32:41.

2. Most endearing.

If a person be advancing with a full tide of spiritual prosperity, how can he fail of loving the great Author of all his happiness? Surely every exercise of divine power that he has ever experienced, must render this attribute of God precious to his soul, while he beholds the dangers he has escaped, and the difficulties he has overcome.

To a person weak and drooping, this view of God must be still more delightful. How must he check his unbelieving fears; and say, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? Hope you in God, Psalm 42:11.”

Above all, must this description of God be precious to the poor. They are incapable of entering into abstract views of the Divine perfections; but this representation of God they are as capable of comprehending, as the most learned upon earth can be; yes; he knows both the existence, and the omnipotence, of God, as much from his own inward experience, as he can possibly do from the visible creation; because he feels himself to be a living witness of them.

In order to call forth the practical ends of this description, let us consider,

II. The opinions it should excite in us.

If the concluding words of our text be understood as referring to the past, they are an expression of gratitude to God; if as relating to the future, they denote a cheerful trust in him. We may properly take them in both of these senses, and learn from them to exercise,

1. Gratitude.

While a sense of our own weakness humbles us in the dust, a view of God’s power, and a recollection of the experience we have had of his kindness and all-sufficiency, should kindle in our bosoms the liveliest gratitude. Who can “look to the rock whence he has been hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence he has been dug, Isaiah 51:1-2,” and not bless the name of his God? Who can behold the manner in which others are enslaved by sin and Satan, and not adore the God that has made him free? So deeply was David impressed with the mercies he had received, that he not only called on his soul to bless God, but declared that “all his bones should praise him, Psalm 35:9-10.” And the one inquiry of our hearts should be, “What shall I render to the Lord for all the benefits he has done unto me, Psalm 116:12; Psalm 103:1-2.”

2. Trust.

The attributes of God in general may well encourage us to trust in him; but his power, together with his disposition to exercise it on our behalf, should lead us to place in him the most unbounded confidence. Difficulties should all vanish, and appear as nothing, when we reflect on him who is engaged for us. The same power that “made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over, Isaiah 51:10,” can smooth all obstructions in our way, Isaiah 40:4, and make our mountains to become a plain, Zechariah 4:7. We therefore should trust all our concerns in his hands, Proverbs 16:3, with an assured hope that we shall never be confounded, Psalm 125:1-2.

INFERENCES.

1. How little ground is there for the excuses of the presumptuous!

You are ready to vindicate your ungodly ways, by saying, “I cannot live as God requires.” But is not God able, yes, and willing too, to assist you? And if you will not seek his assistance, does not the blame rest wholly with yourselves? Know that, however you may justify yourselves now, there is a day coming when you will stand speechless before him.

2. How little ground is there for the fears of the desponding?

We are but too apt to faint in difficulties, and to think them insurmountable; but if we would habituate ourselves more to look at the power of God, we should proceed with confidence and courage. “Let the weak then say, I am strong.” Let them “know in whom they have believed, that He is able to keep that which they have committed to him! 2 Timothy 1:12.”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 68:19-20

“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, even the God of our salvation! He who is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.”

THE service of God is beneficial to the soul, not merely as bringing down a divine blessing upon us, but in that it prepares and attunes the soul for further services. David had been carrying up the ark to Jerusalem, to place it in the sanctuary on Mount Zion. And now, having already celebrated the praises of Jehovah for his dealings with his people in former ages, and for the present ceremony, as typical of the Messiah’s exaltation after he should have completed his work on earth; and having deposited the ark in its proper place; he bursts forth into general acknowledgments of God’s mercies to his people, and devout ascriptions of praise to him, for all the wonders of his love.

Now we, brethren, have been engaged in the holy service of worshiping our God. But shall we be satisfied with that? No; I would have that service to be a preparation for a still further honoring of God, while we contemplate with devoutest admiration,

I. The blessings with which he has loaded us.

And here I might expatiate on the temporal benefits which are poured out upon us daily, in the richest abundance; I might enumerate the various comforts that are ministered to us, in all the works both of creation and providence. But the inspired comment which we have on this passage leads our mind to far higher benefits, even to all the blessings of redemption. Paul quotes the words before my text, and declares them to have been fulfilled in the ascension of our blessed Lord and Savior, and in his bestowment of spiritual blessings on his Church, Ephesians 4:7-8; Ephesians 4:11-13.

Let us contemplate, then:

1. The ordinances of God’s grace.

This is the first thing mentioned by Paul in the passage to which I have referred, “He gave gifts unto men; he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” And is this benefit confined to the apostolic age? If we have not Prophets and Apostles, have we not pastors and teachers? And if we see not thousands converted at a time, do we not still see the Church augmented and edified in the midst of us? Yes; we have the same doctrines preached to us as were delivered in the days of old, and the same blessed effects produced by them; and it befits us to be duly sensible of this mercy, and to bless our God for it from our inmost souls.

2. The gift of God’s Spirit.

This, you know, was the immediate consequence of our Lord’s ascension; he poured out his Spirit both on his disciples and on his enemies, on the day of Pentecost; for the instruction of the one, and the conversion of the other. And though we no longer have the Holy Spirit in his miraculous powers, have we not still his enlightening, sanctifying, and comforting energies experienced among us? Many, I trust, who are here present, can attest, that the Spirit still accompanies the Word, and makes it “sharper than any two-edged sword,” and effectual for the ends for which God, in his tender mercy, has sent it, Isaiah 55:10-11. Even where it has not yet wrought for the conversion of the soul, it has, in ten thousand instances, striven with us, to bring us to repentance. Perhaps, among us all, there is not one who has not felt his motions within him, and heard his gracious whispers, saying, “Repent, and turn unto your God.” For this, then, we have also reason to adore our God; for, next to the gift of God’s only dear Son to die for us, is the gift of his Holy Spirit to dwell in us, and to impart unto us all the blessings of salvation.

3. The knowledge of God’s Son.

This has God richly imparted to our souls. Say, brethren, has not “the Lord Jesus Christ been evidently set forth crucified among you?” You yourselves will bear us witness, that from the very beginning of our ministry we “determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” The dignity of his person, the nature of his work, the suitableness of his offices, the freeness and fullness of his salvation, have been ever exhibited to your view, in order that you might believe in him, and, “believing, might have life through his name.” This knowledge, in Paul’s estimation, infinitely exceeded every other; yes, in comparison with it he regarded “all other things as dross and dung.” Yet is this bestowed on you, in all its clearest evidence, and in all its sanctifying and saving operations.

4. The hope of God’s glory.

By the Gospel which you hear, not only are life and immortality brought to fight, but they are brought home to your souls as actually attained in Christ Jesus. He is your Forerunner; he is gone to prepare a place for you; and, if only you truly believe in him, you may survey all the glory of Heaven, and claim it as your own; for his throne is your throne, his kingdom your kingdom, his glory your glory, Revelation 3:21. Luke 22:29. John 17:22. This is “the inheritance to which you are begotten; and for which, by the almighty power of God, you are reserved, 1 Peter 1:3-5.”

These are some of the benefits with which you are loaded from day to day. Say whether you have not reason to bless God for them, and from your inmost souls to say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, Ephesians 1:3.”

But, from the gifts, let us, in our contemplations, rise to,

II. The Author and Giver of them all.

He is here described by,

1. His proper character.

We must not forget that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who ascended to Heaven, and who bestows these gifts upon men. In the Scriptures he is continually called “a Savior;” but here he is repeatedly, and with very peculiar emphasis, called “the God of salvation;” “He who is our God. is the God of salvation.” Now I conceive that, by this appellation, David designed to characterize the Lord Jesus as possessing in himself all the fullness that was necessary for our salvation, and as imparting every distinct blessing with as much zeal and love as if that were the only blessing which he was qualified to bestow. In our unconverted state, we need from God all imaginable patience and forbearance; and, for our comfort, he is declared to be “the God of patience, Romans 15:5.” To turn us completely unto him, we need an abundance of every kind of grace; and he is “the God of all grace, 1 Peter 5:10.” In returning to God, we hope to obtain peace; and he is “the God of peace, Hebrews 13:20.” As the ultimate end of our conversion, we hope to obtain glory; and he is “the God of glory, Acts 7:2.” We cannot conceive of anything which we stand in need of, in order to our complete salvation, but there is all fullness of it treasured up for us in Christ Jesus; and of that fullness we may all receive to the utmost possible extent of our necessities. In truth, the benefits we do receive are only the emanations of love from him, even as the rays of light which every moment proceed from the sun; and if any possess them not, it is not owing to any lack of liberality in God, but because they foolishly and wickedly bar their hearts against the admission of his gifts. Ascend then, brethren, from the gifts to the Giver, and from the streams to the Fountain-head, and see what a fullness there is in him for all the sinners of mankind! and, from blessing your God and Savior on account of what he has imparted to you, learn to adore and magnify him for what he is in himself, even on account of his own proper character, as “the God of salvation.”

2. His peculiar office.

“Unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.” And is this also spoken of the Lord Jesus? Hear what Jesus himself, after his ascension, said to the Apostle John, “Do not fear; I am the first and the last; I am he who lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of Hell and of death, Revelation 1:17-18.” He who is the God of salvation has a perfect control over every enemy; so that none can assault us without his special permission; nor can all the powers of darkness prevail over the least or the lowest of his people. “He opens, and no man shuts; and he shuts, and no man opens.” Satan could not assault Job, or even enter into the herd of swine, before he had obtained permission from the Lord; nor can he now prevail to injure us, either in body or in soul, any farther than our infinitely wise and gracious God sees fit to permit. Our Lord has assured us, not only, “that no weapon which is formed against us shall prosper, but that the smith himself, who forms the weapon, derives his very existence from him, and exists alone by his power. Consequently, we have none to fear; and “every tongue, whether of men or devils, that shall rise against us in judgment, we shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord; and their righteousness is of me, says the Lord, Isaiah 54:16-17.”

Contemplate, I beg you, this glorious and all-sufficient Savior; and there will be no end to your praises, no limit to your adorations and thanksgivings.

See, brethren, from hence,

1. What is the proper employment of a saint on earth.

The ignorant and ungodly world are mostly occupied in ruminating on their troubles, and in casting reflections upon those who are the authors of them. But how much sweeter employment have you, my brethren! You are surveying your blessings, and almost groaning under the load with which your grateful mind is overwhelmed and oppressed; and, at the same time, you are adoring your Benefactor, and giving him the glory due unto his name. This is a sweet employment. This is worthy of a redeemed soul. O let it be your occupation day and night! and let the incessant language of your hearts be, “Bless the Lord, O my soul! and let all that is within me bless his holy name.”

2. What a preparation the Christian’s services in this world are for his enjoyments in the world to come!

What are they doing in Heaven? Truly, they have no other employment than this. to recount all the mercies which they have received at God’s hands; and to adore him for all the perfections of his nature, and for all the wonders of his grace. Conceive of a soul just entering into that world of bliss; hear all its acknowledgments; listen to its songs of praise; follow it through all the courts of Heaven, and watch it day and night; and you will see, beyond a doubt, that grace is glory begun, and glory is grace consummated.

Charles Simeon

Psalm 68:18

“When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious—that you, O LORD God, might dwell there!”

While some give an unbounded scope to their imagination, and view Christ in almost every passage of the Scriptures, others run into a contrary extreme, and scarcely behold him even in the most express prophecies. But there certainly are many parts of the prophetic writings, and particularly of the Psalms, which, to whoever they relate in a literal sense, have a spiritual or mystical reference to Christ; nor can we err in interpreting them of him, while we take the inspired Apostles for our guides.

David, having vanquished all his enemies, determined to provide a fixed residence for the ark of God, that God might dwell in the midst of his people at Jerusalem. And he penned this Psalm to be used on that occasion.

It is thought that verses 1-6 were sung when the ark was taken up by the Levites.

Verses 7-14 were sung when they were on their way to the hill, until they came in sight of it.

Verses 15-17 were sung when they were ascending the hill.

Verse 18-23 were sung when when the ark was deposited.

But Paul informs us that there was a further reference in it to the ascension of Christ; who, being the true ark whereon the glory rested, went, after having triumphed over all his enemies, to his fixed abode in Heaven; and, having received gifts as the fruits of his victories, gave them unto men, and provided that God should have a stated residence in his Church, Ephesians 4:8. The Apostle, in citing the Psalmist’s words, makes a slight alteration in them; instead of “received gifts for,” he puts “gave gifts to.” But the truth contained in them is the same; for Christ received gifts for men in order that he might give them to men.

With this inspired commentary, we may proceed with confidence to consider,

I. The manner of Christ’s ascension.

Christ, having submitted to the deepest humiliation, was now to receive a proportionable advancement, which, having already been begun in his resurrection, was now perfected in his ascension.

1. This was glorious.

In verse 17 the glory of it is described, and it is compared with the descent of Jehovah on Mount Sinai. While he was in the very act of blessing his disciples, Luke 24:51, he was taken up by a cloud, as Elijah was in his fiery chariot, to Heaven. Instantly myriads of the heavenly host surrounded him with their acclamations and hosannas. They had surveyed him with astonishment from the first moment that he came into the world. When he yet lay in the manger, they sang, “Glory to God in the highest!” But, when they beheld him agonizing in the garden, and expiring on the cross, we may almost conceive their songs of joy to have been turned into weeping and lamentation.

We doubt not, however, but at this time their joy exceeded all that they had ever felt from their first creation. They now saw their Creator and their God, who had so long veiled himself in human flesh, ascending to his bright abodes, to display his glory in a light infinitely surpassing all that they had ever seen before. What must his redeemed people also have felt the very instant that he entered the portals of Heaven! With what rapture and ecstasies must they have been filled! But our imagination cannot grasp the thought. We must be in Heaven ourselves before we can form the smallest idea of their felicity.

Suffice it then to say with the angelic messengers, that, as he ascended up into Heaven, so will he speedily come again from Heaven; and that in the meantime, instead of gazing with unprofitable curiosity, we must look for his blessings, and devote ourselves to his service, Acts 1:10-11.

2. This was triumphant.

In his death he seemed vanquished; but in reality he overcame; and in his ascension he led captive all his enemies and ours.

Sin had diffused its poison through all the descendants of Adam, and had infected all their powers both of body and soul. But Christ, having expiated its guilt, now rescued many vassals from its power.

Satan, the god of this world, who had hitherto usurped dominion and led men captive at his will, now “fell from Heaven like lightning;” and his throne, shaken to its foundations, was demolished!

Death also, that had reigned over all, now was vanquished in its turn; for Jesus “burst its bands.” “By death, he destroyed death, and him who had the power of death, that is, the devil! Hebrews 2:14;” and now, as a mighty conqueror, that had “spoiled principalities and powers, he triumphed over them openly! Colossians 2:15,” and led them captive at his chariot wheels.

From contemplating the manner of his ascension, let us proceed to consider:

II. The ends of Christ’s ascension.

There were some ends that respected Christ himself, namely, that he might receive his reward, and carry on his work within the veil; but we must confine ourselves to those which respect the Church.

1. The immediate end of Christ’s ascension.

As Jesus died, so he rose and ascended in a public capacity, as our mediator with God, He had purchased blessings for us; and he now went to receive them at his Father’s hands, that he might impart them to us. He was henceforth to have all fullness treasured up in himself, that we might receive out of it according to our necessities. He ascended, “that he might fill all things,” and “impart repentance and remission of sins,” together with all the gifts and graces of his Spirit, to his chosen people. That this was the immediate end of his ascension, appears not only from his own predictions respecting it John 16:7, but from the express declaration of the apostles on the descent of the Holy Spirit Acts 2:33. Yet it was not for those only who were waiting for redemption, but even “for the rebellious also,” that he received gifts; as he abundantly testified in the conversion of his murderers; and as he is ready to testify in the conversion of us also.

2. The remote end of Christ’s ascension.

It was the privilege of the Jewish Church to have the symbols of God’s presence in their temple. But it is our privilege to have God himself both with us, and in us, He will make our hearts his habitation; he will dwell in us, and cause his glory to fill our souls. This was a further end of Christ’s ascension, as he himself tells us, “I will pray the Father for you; and he will send you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, etc; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you, John 14:16-17.” Even the most rebellious heart, that has defied the Majesty of Heaven, and despised hitherto all overtures of mercy, may yet be encouraged to look up to him; and the soul that has been filled with all iniquity may yet become the temple of the living God. Other conquerors, in the day of their triumph, have scattered largesses among their admiring followers; but this greatest of all gifts will Jesus bestow on his most inveterate enemies; let them only repent, and call upon his name, and he will give them all the riches both of grace and glory.

Improvement.

1. Let none despair of mercy.

We might have well supposed, that the ascension of Jesus would rather have been for the inflicting of judgments on his enemies; yet, behold, it was for the express purpose of exercising mercy. Let us not proudly deny that we are rebels; but, humbling ourselves before him as the chief of sinners, let us desire him to display the exceeding riches of his grace in his mercy towards us.

2. Let none despair of victory.

Conflicts we must have, as long as we continue in the body; but in the very midst of them we may say, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Does sin harass and defile us? Christ says, “It shall never have dominion over us.” Does Satan seek to deceive or devour us? His head was bruised by Christ, and “he shall soon be bruised under our feet also.” Does death alarm us? Its sting is drawn; it is “swallowed up in victory;” it is among our richest treasures, 1 Corinthians 3:22. Let us view Christ leading them all captive in his ascension; and know that, through Him, we also shall be more than conquerors.

Charles Simeon

Psalm 66:18-20

“If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!”

The communion of saints is an exalted privilege; and “those who fear the Lord will speak often one to another” upon the subjects which are most interesting to their souls. To magnify the grace of God, and to encourage one another in the ways of holiness—will be delightful to them, and will tend exceedingly to their mutual improvement.

Hence David invited his pious brethren to hear the communications which he had to make on this all-important subject, “Come and hear, all you that fear God! and I will declare what he has done for my soul.” Then he tells them of God’s answers to his prayers; but at the same time informs them, that there was one condition only on which either they or he could hope for the acceptance of their prayers, namely, that they put away all sin without hesitation and without exception; for “if they regarded iniquity in their heart, the Lord would not hear them.”

From the whole of this communication we see:

I. God’s abhorrence of sin, when harbored and indulged.

“God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, Habakkuk 1:13;” though he tolerates sin in the world, he will sooner or later manifest his indignation against it. But in none does he abhor it more, than in those who profess themselves to be his people; according to what is written, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities! Amos 3:2.”

God will not lend an ear to those who live in the commission of sin.

There are seasons when the most careless people will call upon God, “In the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us! Jeremiah 2:27;” and “they will pour out a prayer when some heavy chastening is upon them, Isaiah 26:16.” Not that they desire deliverance from sin; it is trouble alone that they are anxious to get rid of; and that removed, they return with pleasure to their former evil ways! Such were the Jews in the wilderness, “Psalm 78:34-37 Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again. They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant, Psalm 78:34-37.”

But it is in vain for such hypocrites to hope that God will hear their prayers; for the very “sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord! Proverbs 21:27;” and of this God has fully warned us. He has declared that “though they cry, he will not hear them, Jeremiah 11:11;” yes, “though they cry in his ears, with a loud voice Ezekiel 8:18.” Yes, “though they make many prayers, Isaiah 1:12-15;” yes, though with their prayers “they fast, and offer burnt-offerings and oblations, Jeremiah 14:12;” so far from listening to them, he will turn a deaf ear to their petitions, and even laugh at the calamities which they either feel or fear, Proverbs 1:24-32.

He will recompense them according to their doings. In the day that he called to them, “they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear; and therefore, as he cried, and they would not hear—so when they cry, he will not hear, Zechariah 7:11; Zechariah 7:13.”

Even where sin is not openly indulged, but only harbored in the heart, God will resent it in this way.

Sin, however secret, is not hidden from him; for He sees it, under whatever form it may exist, and in the inmost recesses of the heart, “He searches the heart,” and “weighs the spirits.” Indeed, hypocrisy is not a whit less hateful to him than open sin.

Let us hear the testimony of holy Job, “What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God takes away his soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him? Job 27:8-9.” Even the most uninstructed of men, who had been born blind, and had had his eyes just recently opened, could say, “We know that God does not hear sinners, John 9:31;” and so self-evident was that truth, that not one of his most subtle and malignant enemies could gainsay or resist it.

There is, in fact, a general conviction of it in the consciences of all, insomuch that God himself appealed to his hypocritical adversaries respecting it, “Shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you! Ezekiel 20:3; Ezekiel 20:31.” Whether “the idol” is in the house or “in the heart,” it is equally hateful in the sight of God, who “requires truth in the inward parts, Psalm 51:6,” and will accept none but “those who worship him in spirit and in truth, John 4:24.”

On the other hand, no language can express,

II. God’s condescension to sinners who are truly upright before him.

David, though a sinner of no common stamp, was yet upright before God, as a penitent; for he bitterly bewailed his sins, and sought deliverance from them with his whole heart. There was no iniquity which he desired to hide from God, or to retain within his own bosom. Hence he found acceptance with God, and could bear testimony that God had heard and answered his petitions. And thus, wherever there is a true penitent, we are warranted to assure him:

1. That God will be merciful to his sins.

It is not sin lamented—but sin retained, or “regarded with delight in the heart,” that will provoke God’s indignation against us. A weeping sinner god will receive to mercy, “even though his sins may have been of a crimson or a scarlet dye.” Never, from the foundation of the world, was one cast out who sought him with real penitence and faith.

Manasseh was, perhaps, of all men, the most criminal; yet was not even he rejected, when he truly humbled himself before the Lord his God, 2 Chronicles 33:12-13; 2 Chronicles 33:19. And we are authorized to assure the whole world, that if they seek the Lord with their whole hearts, “he will not turn away their prayer, nor his mercy from them;” on the contrary, “he will blot out their iniquities as a morning cloud,” and “cast all their sins irrecoverably into the very depths of the sea!”

2. That he will be gracious to their prayers.

There is no need so great, but he will supply it; no concern so small, but he will take the charge of it, and order it for our good. We may go into his presence as to a loving Father, assured, that “we may ask what we will, and it shall be done unto us.” Even the sigh, “the cry, the very breathing” of desire will be understood by him, and come up with acceptance before him, Lamentations 3:55-56; and, as in David’s case, our prayers shall be turned into songs of praise and thanksgiving.

ADDRESS.

1. Beware of harboring any secret lust!

Sin is deceitful, and our treacherous hearts are ever ready to put a favorable construction upon it. But God can discern it, under whatever garb it may be disguised, and by whatever name it may be distinguished. It may be among “the things which are highly esteemed among men; but it will still be an abomination in the sight of God!” It may be something as dear to us as a right eye, or as necessary, in our apprehension, as a right hand; but it must be mortified, however painful the separation may be; for, if it is spared and retained, it will destroy both body and soul in Hell. I must entreat you, therefore, to examine carefully the state of your souls, and with the utmost diligence to “purge out the old leaven” that defiles them.

The Jews were accustomed, at the time of the Passover, to sweep their houses with extreme care, lest one atom of leaven should be left in any corner or recess; and this affords a good example to us in relation to our souls. Yet I would not have you rest satisfied with any endeavors of your own; but beg of God to search and try you, and to see if there be any wicked way in you, and to lead you in the way everlasting; for, as a single leak will sink a ship, so a single lust, unmortified and unsubdued, will sink the soul into everlasting perdition!

Oh, think with yourselves, how awful it will be in the last day to cry unto your God, and not be heard! to stand imploring him, “Lord, Lord, open unto us!” and to receive for answer that terrible sentence, “Depart from me, you who wrought iniquity!” May God divert from all of you this fearful doom! and may you all be approved of him at last, as “Israelites indeed, in whom was no deceit!”

2. Improve, while you may, the manifold grace of God.

A throne of grace is now open to us; and “we may ask what we will, and it shall be done unto us.” God assumes to himself the very title of “a God that hears prayer.” And he bids us to open our mouths wide, that he may fill them. Moreover, “we have an Advocate with the Father, even the Lord Jesus Christ himself,” “whom the Father hears always;” and who has so loved us, as to “give himself as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

O, what might we not receive, if only we were upright before God! for “the prayer of the upright is his delight.” Suppose now at this time we had all been really praying to God, in the very spirit of the prayers which we have offered; what blessings would not be flowing down into our souls, even as “showers of blessings,” as God himself has promised! Truly, if our eyes were opened to see what was passing, we would behold Almighty God taking loads of guilt from multitudes among us, and casting it all into the very depths of the sea. We would see the Holy Spirit resting on the heads of all, as on the day of Pentecost, for the purpose of enlightening, comforting, and sanctifying our souls. We would see angels ascending and descending upon us, in order to receive from God, and execute for us, their several commissions adapted to our necessities.

I do not hesitate to say, that, if we had all been as much in earnest in our prayers as our words have given reason to expect, this very place would resemble the temple of old, when the glory of God so filled it, that the priests could no longer abide there to minister before the Lord. Yes, our souls would be too full for humanity to sustain it.

Dear brethren, why should we not behold at least a measure of this sacred effusion, and taste a measure of this heavenly grace? God is willing to renew the Pentecostal scenes, if only we were in a state to receive them. It is in ourselves that we are straitened; we are not straitened in our God. He is as able as ever, yes, and as willing too, “to do exceeding abundantly for us, above all that we can ask or think.” Truly, if we were even one half as earnest as we have professed to be, he would fill every hungry soul, and replenish every sorrowful soul, with his richest communications of grace and peace.

Let us arise and call upon our God; and let not “our prayer go forth out of feigned lips.” And let us remember, for our comfort, that it is not the existence of sin in the soul that will prevent the acceptance of our prayers, (for who then would ever be heard?) but the indulgence of sin. Seek truly to have the whole body of sin mortified within you; seek to be “pure, as God is pure,” and “holy, as God is holy.” Then God will delight himself in you; and you, according to your measure, shall “be filled with all the fullness of your God!”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 66:16

“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what he has done for my soul!”

Any person of benevolence who should have discovered an antidote, or remedy, to a very fatal disorder—would feel happy in communicating information respecting it, wherever such knowledge was required. If indeed great gain would accrue to him by concealment, we must concede to him the right of procuring to himself the advantages to which his superior knowledge has entitled him; but where the very act of communicating information will enrich, rather than impoverish, the instructor, and he himself will be made a gainer by imparting, he would be highly criminal if he withheld from the world the blessings he was enabled to confer.

This is invariably the case in things pertaining to the soul; and hence we may expect to find all who have been taught BY God, ready and willing to impart to others the benefits they have received. The early Apostles, Andrew and Philip, no sooner found the Messiah, than they sought to bring their brethren, Peter and Nathanael, to an acquaintance with him, John 1:40; John 1:45. Just so, the Samaritan woman was no sooner convinced herself of the Messiahship of Jesus, than she went to invite all the men of her city to come and see the person whom she believed to be the Christ! John 4:28-29.

Thus it was with David; he communed much with God; he learned much from God; he was favored with the richest communications which God himself could bestow. But he would not keep these things to himself; he hoped, by a free communication with pious men, to bring them to a participation of all that he himself enjoyed; and therefore, filled with divine philanthropy, he sent out, as it were, this general invitation, “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what he has done for my soul!”

In discoursing on these words, we will show:

I. What God had done for his soul.

David, as we are told in the foregoing context, had been involved in many troubles, from which nothing but a Divine interposition could have delivered him, verse 10-12. But we must not confine the subject to temporal deliverances; he speaks of something which God had done for “his soul;” and more particularly specifies, that God “had not turned away his mercy from him, verse 20;” and makes that the peculiar ground of his praise and thanksgiving. We observe then that:

1. God had given to him the pardon of his sins.

This would have been an exceedingly rich mercy, even if David had never fallen from his former integrity. But, if we view the great enormities committed by him in the matter of Uriah, we see good reason why he should magnify God’s mercy beyond any other of the sons of men. Whether this Psalm was written prior, or subsequent to his fall, we know not; and therefore we forbear to notice that as an aggravation of his guilt, or as enhancing the mercy given to him.

As a man, he was a sinner from his mother’s womb; and the most perfect of men could no more stand than the vilest—if God should enter into judgment with him, and mark in him all that had been done amiss! David was sensible of this, and acknowledged it in these expressive terms, “I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify your name for evermore; for great is your mercy towards me; and you have delivered my soul from the lowest Hell! Psalm 86:12-13.”

Let us be sensible how much we also stand in need of mercy; and let us seek it as that without which our souls must forever perish. Or, if we have received mercy, let us devoutly glorify our God for it as a benefit which no words can ever adequately express.

2. God had given to him the manifestation of that pardon to his soul.

David had prayed earnestly to God, and had obtained an answer to his prayer. How this answer was conveyed to his mind, we are not informed; but he had no doubt in his own soul respecting it; he could say, “Truly God has heard me; he has attended to the voice of my prayer! verse 19.”

O! who can estimate aright this mercy? See how the prophet Jeremiah speaks of it, “I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear!” Lamentations 3:55-57.” How tender! How sympathetic! How encouraging this acknowledgment! Such was David’s also, on another occasion, “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles! Psalm 34:4; Psalm 34:6.” Truly this is a great and blessed work which “the Lord does for the souls” of men; and it was with good reason that David said, “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what he has done for my soul!”

But it will be proper to state more particularly,

II. Why David was so ready to speak of it.

It was not from ostentation or vanity that he thus called the attention of others to his own concerns, but,

1. From a sense of gratitude to God.

Such mercies call for the liveliest gratitude, and demand a tribute of praise from the whole world. Hence the soul that feels its obligations for them, would be glad to interest the whole creation in the blessed work of praise and thanksgiving. This David attempts in many of his Psalms, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me; and let us exalt his name together! Psalm 34:1-3; Psalm 96:1-4.”

Had any reflection been cast on him for these devout acknowledgments, he would have replied, as on another occasion, “Is there not a cause? 1 Samuel 17:29.” or rather, would have welcomed the disgrace, and said, “I will yet be more vile than thus! 1 Samuel 6:21.”

2. From a sense of love to his fellow-creatures.

Nothing is more gratifying to the saints than to see or hear what God has done for others. To them therefore David addresses himself. He speaks not to the ungodly; for that would be to “cast pearls before swine;” but to the godly he knew that the recital of his experience would be a rich source of comfort and encouragement. In another place he explicitly avows this very intention; and, for the promotion of that end, he gives a summary of the Lord’s dealings with him during his long impenitence, and on the very first symptoms of penitence and contrition, Psalm 32:3-6.

It is with a similar view that Paul also records his own wickedness in persecuting the Church of Christ; and displays the enormous unparalleled exercise of God’s mercy towards him “the chief of sinners;” he declares, that this whole dispensation towards him was designed by God himself as a pattern for the encouragement of all penitents to the end of time! 1 Timothy 1:13-16.

We then, if we “fear God,” are the people invited to come and listen to the voice of David. In all that he has spoken on this subject, he has sought our good; for it was not to him as a prophet that this mercy was given, but as a saint, who feared God and wrought righteousness; and every one who in this respect resembles him, may hope to participate with him in his exalted privileges! Compare Psalm 65:2 and Isaiah 65:24 and John 14:13-14 with 1 John 5:13-15.

As saints indeed we profess to have already enjoyed them in some measure; and therefore we are concerned to inquire,

III. How we may know whether our souls are partakers of the same benefit.

It is the privilege of all to have access to God, and to have their prayers answered by him; yes, and to know also that they have been answered. Of this we are assured on the authority of God himself.

But here the question arises: How shall these answers be clearly known to have come from God? Formerly God was pleased to make known to his people their interest in his favor by means which we are no longer to expect. He may indeed, if he see fit, still reveal his will to men by dreams and visions, by voices and signs—but we have no reason to think he either does, or will do so; and therefore we can place no confidence in any manifestations which are professedly derived from such sources.

We may also say that nothing certain can be known from any direct impressions of the Spirit of God upon the mind. We are far from affirming that no such impressions are ever made; for there can be no doubt but that God “sheds abroad his love in the hearts of his people,” and gives them “a spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father!” and “by his Spirit witnesses with their spirits that they are the children of God,” and even “seals them by the Holy Spirit of promise unto the day of redemption.”

But still, as great and glorious as these operations of the Spirit are, they are not sufficient of themselves to prove that God has shown mercy to our souls; they must have the concurring evidence of good works resulting from them; the feelings themselves may be so closely imitated by Satan, that it shall be impossible for man certainly to distinguish between them. A person of a warm imagination and a confident mind may easily be wrought upon by that subtle spirit, so that he shall appear both to himself and others to be eminently distinguished by manifestations from God, while yet he is only under the influence of a Satanic delusion! The evidences whereby alone the work of God upon the soul can be satisfactorily ascertained are:

1. The exercise of gracious affections.

Love, joy, peace, with all the train of Christian virtues—are the fruits of God’s Spirit alone. They cannot for any length of time be counterfeited; not even Satan himself can produce them. Hence we are told, by our blessed Lord, to look to them as the only certain marks and evidences whereby his people can be distinguished, “By their fruits you shall know them.”

Would you then know for certain whether God has had mercy on your souls, and whether the supposed manifestations of God’s love to your souls are genuine? Then see how the dispensation operates on your hearts and lives:
if it leads you to a sense of lively gratitude to God,
if it fills you with a determination to serve and glorify him with all your powers,
if it encourages you to commit your every concern to his all-wise disposal, and
if it stimulates you to seek by all possible means the welfare of your fellow-creatures
—then you may confidently say, “He who has wrought us to the selfsame thing is God.”

2. The radical mortification of sin.

David says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me! verse 18.” To imagine therefore that we have received answers to prayer, while there is a sinful temper or disposition harbored in the heart, is a fatal delusion. Even the ungodly Jews, who set themselves in opposition to Christ, were fully convinced of this truth; for, imagining him to he a sinner, and taking occasion from thence to deny the miracle he had wrought, they said, “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if any man be a worshiper of God and does his will—then he hears him, John 9:31.”

This then must be a point of diligent inquiry:

“Is sin in general dispossessed of its power over me?
Is my besetting sin in particular subdued and mortified?
Is my hatred to sin inveterate, uniform, and unreserved?”

Unless this is our state, it is in vain that we pretend to have communion with God, and boast of our assured acceptance with him. If we are under the habitual influence of any one reigning lust of whatever kind—then we may make a great profession of religion, but we are hypocrites! We may make a noise about our piety, but “we are as sounding brass, and as tinkling cymbals.”

In reference to this subject, we beg permission to offer some advice.

1. Be careful to notice the dealings of God with your souls.

Many set themselves against all kinds of Christian experience, and make even the very word, experience, a subject of continual ridicule and invective.

That injudicious people have given but too just ground of offence by their statements of their own feelings, must be confessed! But we must not therefore suppose that genuine religion has nothing to do with the feelings, and that it is a matter purely intellectual. Why should genuine religion alone have no influence on the heart, when it is calculated more than anything else to call into activity all the powers of our souls? Or why should that be called enthusiasm, which is deemed reasonable in all the common affairs of life? Let a man be embarked in anything that greatly involves his honor and interest throughout his life; a merchant in trade; a commander in war; a student in academic contests will he feel no concerns? will he have no fluctuations of mind, no alternations of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow—according as his prospects brighten or are obscured? Will the outcome of his labors be to him such a matter of indifference, that he shall contemplate the probabilities of success or failure without any emotion?

If these diversified feelings are so called forth by things which pertain to this life, shall they have no scope for exercise in the things which relate to eternity? Call them by the name of Christian experience, or by any other name, they must have place in our souls; and if they have not, we are altogether dead in trespasses and sins!

Let every one then take notice how he is affected with his everlasting concerns; for he can never have obtained mercy, who has not sought for mercy; nor can he have received an answer to prayer, who never cried from his inmost soul to God. I must even go farther, and say that he has no hope—who never had a fear; nor shall he ever taste of joy—who has never been bowed down with penitential sorrow. As we deal with God, he will deal with us, “If we seek him—he will be found of us; but if we forsake him, he will forsake us.”

2. Learn to estimate the dealings of God with our souls, by a right standard.

If we judge of our emotions by their intenseness, or by the degree of elevation or depression produced by them, we shall deceive our own souls. The votaries of false religions are sometimes transported beyond the bounds of reason, and are agitated even to madness. A mistaken course of religion too, will often operate very strongly on the mind, and leave us, after all, in a, state of spiritual death.

True religion is sober, discreet, practical. It consists in, or rather is inseparably connected with, “a spirit of love, and of power, and of a sound mind.” It directs to Heaven; but does not lead us to neglect our earthly duties. It must be judged of by its practical effects. The grace that leaves us under the defilement of any “spiritual or fleshly filthiness,” is not true grace. That alone comes from God, which leads to God; and that alone will have any saving efficacy, which assimilates us to “the Divine image in righteousness and true holiness.”

3. Endeavor to improve the dealings of God with our souls for the good of others.

We are not proprietors of our talents, but stewards, to whom they are entrusted for the good of others. We must indeed be much on our guard against pride, and talkativeness, and a readiness to draw attention to ourselves, and to make self the topic of our conversation. A person of this complexion is a very hateful and disgusting character; and too many such, it must be confessed, there are in the religious world! But while we avoid such a spirit as this, we must delight to communicate to others the blessings we have received, and to encourage from our own experience a diligent and patient waiting upon God. It is obvious, that if we can say, “What my eyes have seen, my ears have heard, and my hands have handled of the Word of life—that I declare unto you,” our words will come with tenfold weight.

We repeat however, that a general communicating of our experiences in large companies is in our judgment highly inexpedient; it is a fruitful source of pride, discouragement, and hypocrisy.

But in the confidence of close friendship we may unbosom ourselves one to another, and declare, to the abundant edification both of ourselves and others, what God has done for our souls.

In seasons of temptation and spiritual trouble, we may by such a communication administer unspeakable comfort to an afflicted brother, 2 Corinthians 1:6. Nor is it necessary that we advert particularly to ourselves; if we give the result of our experience, the effect will be the same. The light we have received should not be hidden under a bushel basket; if we have “freely received, we should freely give.”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 65:9-13

“You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing!”

On what occasion this Psalm was written is not certainly known; but it is probable that the inspired penman wrote it on the removal of the famine which God sent to punish the cruelty of Saul and of his bloody house towards the Gibeonites, whom he was bound by covenant to protect. This famine lasted three years; but at last, David having inquired of the Lord on what account this heavy judgment had been sent, and how the removal of it might be obtained—he was informed, that it was sent as a punishment of Saul’s treachery, in which the people, no doubt, had too willingly concurred; and that he must execute on Saul’s posterity such a judgment as the Gibeonites themselves should award to them.

The Gibeonites demanded that seven of Saul’s sons should be put to death. Seven of his sons were accordingly delivered into their hands, and were hanged up by them, as an atonement for their father’s sin, 2 Samuel 21:1-9. The Gibeonites being now satisfied with this act of retributive justice, the favor of God was restored to the land, and the whole nation was gladdened with the return of plenty.

Under this great calamity, David and all the pious of the land had humbled themselves before God; and in this Psalm they acknowledge God as the merciful Answerer of prayer to his penitent people, while he was the just Punisher of sin to those who continued impenitent. “He had lately answered them by terrible things in righteousness” for their transgressions; and now he had mercifully “heard their prayer,” and “purged away their transgressions.”

The words before us give a lively and beautiful description of the change wrought upon the earth through the rich showers with which God, in his mercy, had watered it.

Of course our attention therefore must, in the first place, be fixed on those blessings of providence with which we also are favored. Yet, as throughout all the inspired writings there will be found a reference to spiritual blessings, under those terms which at first sight appear to have only a literal import—it will be proper to notice, also, what we conceive to be spiritually contained in this passage. Agreeably to this view, we shall consider the text:

I. As literally fulfilled in the blessings of God’s Providence.

God is, in reality, “the giver of every good and perfect gift”.

Because God, in the first creation of the world, assigned to everything its proper place and office, we are apt to overlook his agency in the things of daily occurrence, and to ascribe them to what are called the laws of nature. But the hand of God is as necessary to uphold the universe, as ever it was to create it at first.

The heavenly bodies, it is true, have had their motions given them from the beginning; and have, for the most part, continued to obey the laws of their creation. But they have occasionally had those laws suspended; as when the sun stood still upon Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, for the space of a whole day. From hence it appears, that God’s laws move in subserviency to the will of their Creator, and execute his righteous purposes of vengeance or of love, according to his command.

The same may be said respecting the elements of this terrestrial globe. Fire and water have their properties; according to which, for the most part, they act; but at God’s command the waters stood like a wall, to form a passage and a rampart for his chosen people; and the fire lost its power even to singe the clothes of his faithful servants, who were cast into it for their fidelity to him.

In like manner, the earth produces fruits of different kinds; and the rains at certain seasons descend to call forth into activity its vegetative powers. But the agency both of the heavens and the earth depends altogether upon God, who, when he sees fit, “makes the heavens as brass,” and the earth as iron.

In a climate like ours, where the rains are frequent and occasional, God’s agency is but little seen; but in countries where the rains are periodical, the lack of them is so severely felt, that the goodness of God in sending them is more sensibly perceived, and more readily acknowledged. But in one place as well as in another, the influences both of Heaven and earth are alike dependent upon God, and must be referred to Him as their true, and only, and continual source.

God’s bounty and goodness should be gratefully acknowledged by us at this time.

Extremely beautiful is the description here given of the progress of vegetation, in consequence of a seasonable supply of rain. To attempt an illustration of these words would weaken their force, and reduce their sublimity. But, if a poetic taste alone can qualify us to appreciate their beauty, and to enter into them with a befitting zest—a spiritual taste also is necessary, to lead us to a due improvement of them, and to enable us to realize their full import. However, whether gifted with a poetic imagination or not—let me entreat all to survey the face of the earth, and to see the change that has been wrought on everything around him. Methinks, without any poetic imagination, he may see the smiles of universal nature, and hear the songs and shoutings of a grateful world. May our hearts respond to the voice of nature, and ascend up in praises and thanksgivings to our bounteous God.

But let us further view the text,

II. As emblematically describing the yet richer blessings of his grace.

Besides the primary sense of Scripture, there is frequently a secondary and subordinate meaning which ought not to be overlooked. In relation to this matter, the New Testament affords us the fullest information, in that it cites many passages in which we would have had no conception of anything beyond the literal meaning, if a further sense had not been unfolded to us by Him whose wisdom cannot err, and whose authority cannot be questioned.

The whole 104th Psalm, in appearance, relates to the works of creation and providence; but towards the close of it we are led, though but cursorily and obscurely, to the contemplation of God’s spiritual government; in which view, the Psalm is appointed by our Church to be read on the day whereon the out-pouring of the Spirit is more especially commemorated.

The Psalm before us may with equal propriety be viewed in the same light; and the rather, because the images used in our text are frequently applied to that very subject, to represent the influence of God’s Spirit on the soul, “His doctrine dropping as the rain, and distilling as the dew; as the light rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass, Deuteronomy 32:2.”

1. Let us notice, then, the influence of the Gospel upon the world at large.

Truly, the whole world is one great wilderness; some few spots only giving any just evidence of cultivation. It is not above one-sixth part of mankind that has even so much as heard of the name of Jesus; and where his Gospel is not preached, sin reigns without control. Even religion itself is nothing but a blind and bloody superstition, involving its votaries in everything that is cruel and detestable.

But see where the Gospel has gained an ascendant; look at Britain, for instance, and compare its state at this time with its state previous to the introduction of Christianity; once it was a dreary desert—but now it blossoms as the rose, and is as the garden of Eden. True it is that the name of Christianity effects but little; it civilizes, indeed, and raises the standard of morals—but it produces nothing corresponding with the description before us.

But when “the Word comes, not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance,” then a great and mighty change is effected, “the Spirit being poured out from on high, the wilderness becomes a fruitful field; and the fruitful field is so abundant, that it is even counted for a forest, Isaiah 32:15.” Could we but inspect the various settlements where zealous ministers have established churches among the savages of different climates, and see the difference between them and their yet uninstructed countrymen—we would have a far juster notion of the power of the Gospel than we can acquire in the midst of civilized society, where little remains to be added to the external deportment, and where the change effected by the Gospel is chiefly of a spiritual and internal nature. But the whole subject will be more fully open to us, if we view the Gospel as operating thus:

2. Let us notice the influence of the Gospel upon the souls of individual believers.

What were any of us in our unconverted state, but, like a barren heath, bringing forth briars and thorns, without any of those fruits of righteousness in which God delights? As for humiliation before God, and a simple life of faith in the Lord Jesus, and a delight in spiritual exercises, and an entire devotedness of the soul to God—we were as much strangers to it all as the heathen themselves! But when the word of the Gospel came with power to our souls, it wrought a change upon our whole man, and made us altogether new creatures, “Old things passed away; and, behold, all things became new!” The obdurate surface of our hearts was softened; and the unproductive soil put forth a vital energy; by means of which all the fruits of the Spirit sprang up in rich abundance, and gave a hopeful prospect of a luxuriant harvest.

Would we see this realized in a way that cannot be misunderstood, let us look at the converts on the day of Pentecost. It is not possible to conceive people more destitute of all good, or more filled with every hateful quality, than were the crucifiers and murderers of the Lord of Glory! Yet in a short time they were so changed, so that they remain to this day the most exalted patterns of piety to the whole world.

Thus it is at this day, also, among ourselves. The work, indeed, is not so sudden, nor so general; but, where the grace of the Gospel is received in truth, it operates precisely in the same way, “instead of the brier, there grows up the fir-tree; and instead of the thorn, there grows up the myrtle-tree; and even the tenderest plants rise in stately magnificence into “trees of righteousness, whereby the Lord is glorified.”

APPLICATION.

1. Let me now call you to adore your God for the blessings you have already received.

I would not that you should overlook the blessings of Providence. Even in this country we have often known the sad effects of scarcity; and we may well, therefore, bless our God for the prospects of abundance. To every one of you I would say, with David, “Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp. He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call! Psalm 147:7-9.”

And will you not much more adore him for the blessings of his grace? Surely, if you do not, the very stones will cry out against you! Yet rest not in mere acknowledgments, however grateful they may be; but seek to abound in fruits of righteousness; which, while they are the necessary evidences of his work upon your souls, are the only effectual means of bringing honor to his name.

2. Let me now call you to look to God continually for fresh and more abundant communications of his grace.

The fertilizing showers which we have received will be of little avail, if they are not renewed from time to time. Just so, all the grace that any of us have received, will be ineffectual for any permanent good, if we are not favored with fresh “supplies of the Holy Spirit” from day to day. The grace which has been imparted to our souls this day, will no more suffice for our spiritual needs tomorrow, than will the light which has been communicated to our bodies. We must receive out of Christ’s fullness from day to day, as the branch of the vine receives from its stem and root. Let your daily prayer, then, be like that of David, “O God, you are my God; early will I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where there is no water! Psalm 63:1.”

In reading the word, and in the public ordinances, look up for the blessing of God upon your soul; and plead with him that gracious promise, “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams! Isaiah 44:3-4.”

Yes, Beloved, look unto God with increasing earnestness and confidence; and he will pour out upon you “showers of blessings.”

“I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. Men will dwell again in his shade. He will flourish like the grain. He will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon, Hosea 14:4-7.”

Charles Simeon

Psalm 65:4

“Blessed are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, even of your holy temple!”

The connection between genuine piety and happiness, though not seen by the generality of men, is certain. It may not presently appear; but it will approve itself, at last, to all who will wait for the outcome of passing events. To the ungodly man it seems a drudgery to wait upon God; but to every humble and believing suppliant it will be found a source of unbounded bliss; so at least the Psalmist affirms in the words before us; from which we shall take occasion to notice,

I. The habit of God’s chosen people.

It is the delight of every true Christian to draw near unto his God.

He feels, like the Psalmist, that “iniquity has prevailed against him” to a very fearful extent; but he sees that an all-sufficient atonement has been offered for him; and that, through the blood of Christ once shed on Calvary, “every transgression that he has ever committed may be purged away! verse 3.” Hence he approaches God with all humility as a sinner, and with all earnestness, as one that desires mercy at his hands.

Nor is it on some particular occasions only that his people draw near to him. They resemble the priests of old, whose rooms were in the temple, round about the sanctuary; and who therefore “dwelt in his courts;” for, in the habit of their minds at least, “they dwell in God” by meditation and prayer; and “God dwells in them” by the abiding influence of his Spirit and grace.

To this every true Christian is brought by the mighty working of the power of God.

It is not by any natural power that the saints draw near unto God. Of themselves, they would flee from God, even as our first parents did in Paradise. It is “God himself who draws them, John 6:44,” and who from all eternity “chose them” to this high honor. They are unto the Lord “a holy priesthood, 1 Peter 2:9;” and what God said to Eli may, in a spiritual sense, be applied to them, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh? I chose your father out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your father’s house all the offerings made with fire by the Israelites, 1 Samuel 2:27-28.” In like manner has God chosen from eternity, and “set apart for himself” in time, all those who by “a spirit of grace and of supplication” approach unto him! Psalm 4:3. Zechariah 12:10. Hence it is, and hence alone, that they are “a people near unto him, Psalm 148:14.”

It is not without reason that David declares,

II. The blessedness resulting from their drawing near to God.

The terms in which he states this, convey the idea most richly to our minds.

The priests, while serving at the altar, “partook of the altar,” and “lived of the altar.” See the particular account, as stated by Moses. “Then the LORD said to Aaron: “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion and regular share. You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons. Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy. This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it. I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest. All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the LORD will be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it. Everything in Israel that is devoted to the LORD is yours! Numbers 18:8-14.” Let this be noticed; and it will be seen that the priests of old were richly provided for, and well sustained by the bounty of God’s house.

And here we see indeed the blessedness of waiting upon God.

God’s people, now, are “priests unto their God! Revelation 1:6.” And this is the sustenance which, in a spiritual sense, is provided for them. Mark the wonderful correspondence between the Prophet Jeremiah, when describing the times of the Gospel, and Moses, in the fore-cited passage, declaring the ordinances of the Law,

“They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD—the grain, the new wine and the oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty,” declares the LORD, Jeremiah 31:12; Jeremiah 31:14.”

Who does not see in this the accomplishment of my text? In communion with God, the souls of men are filled as with marrow and fatness, while their mouth praises him with joyful lips!

“How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights! Psalm 36:7-8.”

In truth, no tongue can declare, no imagination can conceive—the full extent of those benefits which men obtain by waiting upon God:
“the riches that they obtain are unsearchable;”
their “peace surpasses all understanding;” and
their “joy is unspeakable and full of glory.”

See, then, I beg you, brethren,

1. How different is the outcome of men’s various pursuits!

Is the worldling ever thus replenished to satiety? Never! He grasps a shadow; and “in the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him! Job 20:22.”

But the true Christian finds in his God all that his soul can desire; and “drinking of the water that Christ gives him, he never thirsts again” for anything that this vain world can afford! John 4:14.

2. What a preparation for Heaven is the Christian’s employment upon earth!

It is the delight of the Christian to draw near to God, and to offer to him the sacrifices of prayer and praise. And what, I beg you, are they doing in Heaven? The only difference is, that here they pour forth their prayers under the influence of hope; but in Heaven, their one sacrifice is praise, called forth without ceasing, under a sense of complete, uninterrupted fruition.

Let, then, every soul among you adopt the habit of holy David, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to seek him in his temple, Psalm 27:4.”

Charles Simeon