1 Chronicles 29:17
“I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.”
The true way to form a correct estimate of our actions, is to consider the principles from which they flow; for it is very possible that an act which may be highly esteemed among men, may be an utter “abomination in the sight of God! Luke 16:15,” on account of the motives by which we have been actuated in the performance of it.
Jehu obeyed an express command of God in destroying the house of Ahab; and was even rewarded by God for it; while yet he was also punished for it, because, in what he did, he was impelled only by his own pride and vanity, instead of consulting, as he should have done, the glory of his God. Compare 2 Kings 10:30 with Hosea 1:4.
“Man looks only on the outward appearance; but God looks at the heart! 1 Samuel 16:7.”
The efforts which David made in preparing for the erection of the Temple were amazing; yet, if they had proceeded from a desire of man’s applause, they would have been of no value before God. But David sought only to glorify his God; and for his integrity in this respect, he could appeal, yes, and did appeal, to the heart-searching God, “I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity;” and I can affirm, as in your presence, that “in the integrity of my heart I have willingly offered all these things.”
From this striking and confident declaration, I shall take occasion to show,
I. What is here affirmed about God.
Two things are here asserted respecting God:
1. God’s knowledge of the human heart.
“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good! Proverbs 15:3.” Nor is it a mere cursory view which he takes of the things that are passing in the world; he inspects them all; he marks the most hidden actions of mankind; he observes with accuracy the principles from which they flow. Not so much as a thought escapes his notice; no, nor the most fleeting “imagination of a thought! Genesis 6:5. 1 Chronicles 28:9.” “He searches the heart, and tries the thoughts! Psalm 7:9,” in order that not the slightest motion of the soul may escape him. He so “ponders the ways of men, Proverbs 21:2,” that not a turn in them is unobserved; and so “weighs their spirits Proverbs 16:2,” as infallibly to ascertain the precise measure of every principle contained in them.
Producing medicines is done with a great degree of accuracy by chemists; but no chemist can subject the heart of man to this process. Heart-searching is the work of God alone, Revelation 2:23; but it is a work which he is executing every day, and every hour, over the face of the whole earth; and in his book of remembrance he records the result of his observations on every man’s heart, Psalm 56:8. In truth, if he did not thus search the heart, he would not be able to judge the world. But, seeing that “all things are naked and opened before him, and that he is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, Hebrews 4:12,” and that the darkest recesses of it are to him as clear as the light of day, Psalm 139:11-12—we may, without hesitation, say with Job, “I know that no thought can be withheld from you! Job 42:2.”
2. God’s love of integrity.
God requires truth in the inward parts, Psalm 51:6; and whatever is contrary to it, he utterly abhors. “He made man upright” in the first instance, Ecclesiastes 7:29, and pronounced his work to be “very good, Genesis 1:26; Genesis 1:31.” In his works of grace he seeks to restore to man that integrity; and never will he look with delight on any child of man, until that change is wrought. By integrity, however, we are not to understand sinless perfection; for, if none but those who have attained sinless perfection were objects of his love, there would not be found one upon the face of the whole earth; seeing that “there is no man that lives, and sins not, 1 Kings 8:46.” But, in desire and purpose, we must be perfect. There must be in us no allowed sin. “Our heart must be right with God, Psalm 78:37.” He will not endure “a divided heart, Hosea 10:2.” There must be in us a simplicity of aim and intention; no leaning to self; no corrupt bias; no undue mixture of carnal motives or principles; we must be “without deceit in our spirit, Psalm 32:2,” if we would approve ourselves to him. Where a person of this character is, God views him with pleasure, Proverbs 15:8-9, and listens to him with delight, Proverbs 11:20.
The testimony borne to Nathanael is a clear evidence of this. No human eye saw him “under the fig-tree;” nor could any person, who had seen him, have ventured to pronounce upon his character in such decided terms. But God had searched his heart, and “found it perfect before him, 2 Kings 20:3.”
That his delight in such characters might be fully known, he has recorded it in his Word; and, for the encouragement of all future generations, he has borne witness to Nathanael, saying, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit, John 1:47.”
Know, then, that “God has pleasure in integrity.” He has pleasure in it as a conformity to his Law, a correspondence with his own image, the very end and consummation of all his works.
Such being the mind of Almighty God, let us consider,
II. What effect the consideration of God’s omniscience, and of his exclusive approbation of what is holy, should produce upon us.
No subject whatever has a wider scope, or needs more to be seen in all its diversified bearings, than that before us. The consideration of God’s omniscience, and of his exclusive approbation of what is holy, should operate forcibly on every man.
1. The consideration of God’s omniscience, and of his exclusive approbation of what is holy—should operate to make us humble in our review of our past lives.
Who among us could stand, if God were to enter into judgment with us? Who, if God should “lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet,” would be found to have been upright before him?
Let us take even the best day of our whole lives, and test ourselves by the holy Word of God!
Let us take even our own standard of duty to God and man, and say whether we have fulfilled, whether we have even striven to fulfill it, whether we have labored as men in earnest, to get our views of duty rectified and enlarged, in order that we might not, through ignorance, come short of it in anything?
Let us think whether we can appeal to the omniscient and heart-searching God, that we have studied his blessed Word in order to learn his will, and cried to him for grace to enable us for the performance of it?
In short, let us see, whether for one day or hour we have been truly upright before God, so as to have not a wish of our hearts comparable to that of pleasing, serving, glorifying him?
If, then, we cannot stand this test even for the best day of our whole lives, what must have been our state taken in the aggregate, from the first moment of our existence to the present hour? Tell me whether it is possible for us to abase ourselves too much? Job, with all his perfection, “abhorred himself in dust and ashes! Job 42:6.” Tell me, then, what should be the posture of our souls before God? Truly, there should not be a day or an hour, throughout all our future lives, wherein we should not “put our hands on our mouths, and our mouths in the dust, crying, Unclean! Unclean! Leviticus 13:49. Lamentations 3:29.”
2. The consideration of God’s omniscience, and of his exclusive approbation of what is holy—should operate to make us earnest in our desires to be truly saved.
Where should such guilty creatures flee, but to the Savior? to Him who has expiated our guilt, and wrought out a righteousness wherein we may stand accepted before God? To think of procuring remission of our sins by any obedience of our own, is madness. Satan himself might attempt it as reasonably as we. O! with what joy should we hear:
of the provision made for us in the Gospel;
of an incarnate God;
of a substitutionary sacrifice for sin;
of a sacrifice commensurate with the necessities of a ruined world;
of a free access to the Father through that sacrifice;
of acceptance with Him, simply through faith in it as an atoning sacrifice for our sins;
of everything being treasured up in Christ for us, Colossians 1:19, so that it may be secured against a possibility of being lost, Colossians 3:3, and may “be received at all times, out of his fullness,” through the exercise of faith and prayer, John 1:16.
Let us but see in what light we stand before God, as viewed in ourselves, and we shall most cordially unite with the Apostle Paul, in “desiring to be found in Christ, not having our own righteousness, which is of the Law—but the righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ, Philippians 3:9.”
3. The consideration of God’s omniscience, and of his exclusive approbation of what is holy—should operate to make us watchful against the assaults of our great adversary.
Even in Paradise, while yet our first parents retained their integrity, did Satan prevail to beguile them. What, then, will he not do with us, if we are not constantly on our guard against him? He can assume “the appearance of an angel of light! 2 Corinthians 11:14.” How, then, can we hope to stand against his wiles, if Almighty God does not interpose to preserve us? It is not necessary for Satan’s purpose, that he should draw us into gross sin; he effects our destruction no less certainly, if he only “beguiles us from the simplicity that is in Christ! 2 Corinthians 11:3.” If he succeeds only so far as to keep us from being upright before God, he needs no more to ruin us forever!
Beloved brethren, reflect on this, and cry mightily to God to arm you against him on every side, Ephesians 6:11; that, whether he assumes the violence of a lion, 1 Peter 5:8, or the subtlety of a serpent, Revelation 12:9, he may never be able to prevail against you.
4. The consideration of God’s omniscience, and of his exclusive approbation of what is holy—should operate to make us faithful in examining every motion of our hearts.
If Satan were less active, we would still be in continual danger, from the deceitfulness and depravity of our own hearts. We are ever ready to “put evil for good, and darkness for light, Isaiah 5:20.” Self-love is so predominant in the best of us, that we rarely can discern, and never without the most careful observation, the true motives by which we are actuated. We give ourselves credit for a purity which we but rarely attain; and hence, in ten thousand instances, we deceive our own souls! James 1:26. But we cannot deceive God. When he searches our heart and tries our thoughts, we cannot deceive him. The least obliquity of mind or principle is as obvious to him, as the greatest and most open sin. We should therefore carefully examine ourselves as to the motives and principles from which we act. Yes, and we should beg of God, also, to “search and test us, and to see if there is any wicked way in us, and to lead us in the way everlasting! Psalm 139:23-24.”
5. The consideration of God’s omniscience, and of his exclusive approbation of what is holy, should make us constant in prayer for more abundant grace.
It is by the grace of Christ alone that we can do anything that is good, John 15:5. Without that, we would be “carried captive by the devil at his will.” But it is not by grace once received, that we are to stand; we must have daily supplies of grace; and in seasons of temptation we must have a greater measure of grace imparted to us, according to the augmented measure of our temptations. But this can only be brought in by prayer.
Paul, under the buffetings of Satan, cried earnestly to the Lord Jesus Christ for aid and support. Yet he did not at first succeed. Therefore he renewed his supplications again and again; until at last the Lord Jesus Christ answered him, “My grace is sufficient for you;” and assured him, that “Jehovah’s strength should be made perfect in his weakness! 2 Corinthians 12:9.” This enabled the Apostle to “glory in his infirmities;” and to acquiesce cheerfully in the trial, from a confidence that “the power of Christ should rest upon him.”
So should we also, under a sense of our constant liability to fall, commit ourselves entirely to God; crying with eager and constant importunity, “Hold me up, and I shall be safe! Psalm 199:117.”
6. The consideration of God’s omniscience, and of his exclusive approbation of what is holy, should make us careful in our endeavors to approve ourselves to God.
We should act as under God’s eye, and have little concern for the eye of man. Through a sweet consciousness that he was doing this, David could rejoice in his own uprightness; as Paul also did, when he said, “Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace! 2 Corinthians 1:12.” Our wisdom is, to “set the Lord always before us, Psalm 16:8,” and to walk as in his immediate presence!
We know what an influence the eye of a fellow-creature has over us, in things which are seen by him. But if we could realize the idea of God’s presence, and see inscribed on every place, “You O God, see us! Genesis 16:13″—then we should walk far more holily than we do, particularly in our private fellowship with God. Endeavor, then, to “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, Colossians 4:12,” rest in no attainment short of that. “Let all deceit be put away from you.” Determine, through grace, that God himself shall discern no allowed evil within you; so shall you “walk holily and unblamably before God,” and be pure and blameless until the day of Christ! Philippians 1:10.”
Charles Simeon