Psalm 9:18 Good Cheer for the Needy

NO. 2878
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 7TH, 1904,
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON
ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 16TH, 1876.

“For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.” — Psalm 9:18.

These words will fall upon different ears with quite different effects. If any of you are, in the Scriptural sense, “poor and needy,” God the Holy Spirit will enable you to see much in these gracious sentences; but if you fancy that you are “rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” you will care nothing whatever for such words as these. You know right well that the value of a text to any soul depends upon the condition of that soul. I know not how many stars may be visible at the present moment; I do not think that I even looked up at them before I came here, and perhaps you have not; but to the mariner, who wants to know his position when far out upon the sea, even one lone star gleaming amid the cloud-rack may to very precious. So, if you are among the poor and needy ones, the light in this text will be most joyful to your heart, but if you are not among them, perhaps you will scarcely condescend to look up to see its light. When Richard I was shut up within the gloomy walls of a foreign prison, you remember that he heard a song sung by his faithful friend, who was traversing all Europe, as a troubadour, to try to find him. There were many ears that heard that strain; and, possibly, some of the listeners had noticed the sweetness of the music; yet there was nothing very special in it to them; but the imprisoned king, when he heard that song, could sing the refrain to it, and, therefore, it had a peculiar value to him, for it re-opened his intercourse with the world outside, and ultimately led to his release. So, it may be that my text has a refrain that you do not know; and if it is so, you will not care for it; but if your heart is very poor,- — if you are consciously very needy, — if you are reduced to spiritual destitution, then these simple words, “The needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever, will awake echoes in your soul which will be the means of bringing you great joy.

Here let me remark what a blessed thing it is to be poor in spirit and down among the lowly in heart. The best things come to those who are in such a condition. Up there, on the mountain tops, you are in a conspicuous but very cold position. If there are any storms about, they will be sure to gather around the mountain’s brow; but if there be waterproofs, they will be sure to flow down there in the quiet seclusion of the valley, where the nourishing grass grows for the feeding of the sheep. He who dwells in the Valley of Humiliation, lives in a place, where he may delight himself with safety; because he is certain, while he abides there, to give all the glory for his delight to his God. It is not a land that every man chooseth; it lies too low for some men’s tastes. There are those who love the high places of the, earth, where they can exalt themselves; but he who is wise will choose to be numbered amongst the hungry whom the Lord filleth with good things, and not among the rich whom he sendeth away empty. He will delight to be reckoned among those that are of low degree, whom God exalteth, even the humble and the meek; and he will not wish to be gathered with the proud, against whom the Lord has registered his solemn declaration that he will stain the pride of their glory.

If you look at our text as it stands, it bears, first of all, the literal and natural meaning that God will take care of the poor and needy. As a general rule, they are forgotten. In the regulations of many kingdoms, no provision whatever has been made for the, poor. Christianity has done much to cause modern governments to make some recognition of the rights of the poor and needy, and also to provide to some extent for them; yet this provision is often handed out to them with great coldness and sternness. Our poor laws are not, even with the best intentions, always administered justly; while shore are lands where everything seems to be done to increase, the riches of the rich, and to make the poor still poorer. Well, it will not always be so; there are better days coming for you that are despised, and poor, and needy. You need not fight, and strive, and be envious, and make discord; there is One in heaven who is your Helper, and he is coming down to earth again; and when he cometh, “he shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.” The reign of Jesus Christ, though it may seem to be long in beginning, will assuredly come at the appointed time; and when it cometh, then all tyranny and oppression and wrong-doing shall be speedily ended. “In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.” In his days shall no man be robbed of his rights, — no man be down-trodden, — no man be oppressed. Behold, the Lord hath laid help upon One who is mighty; he hath exalted One chosen out of the people. His coming is the world’s hope; his appearing will be the signal for the world’s deliverance from all that is opposed to him and to his gospel.

But I am going to take our text in a spiritual sense, and refer it to those who are “poor and needy” in the Scriptural meaning of those words. This is a description that is very frequently applied to the people of God. They have been taught, by the, Spirit of God, to realize their poverty; they know it, and they confess it. They also feel that they have many needs; indeed, they seem to themselves now to have more needs than they ever had before; and were it not for the infinite fullness which is treasured up in Christ, the very thought of their needs would crush them, and drive them to despair. “Poor and needy” is a fair and full description of all those who have been taught of the Lord to see themselves as they really are in his sight.

I want to give some good cheer to the poor and the needy, and my text seems to me to refer to three pairs of things which concern them. First, it speaks of two bitter experiences which will come to an end; then, two sad fears which are removed by the text; and, thirdly, two precious promises which are given to us in the text.

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I. First, there are Two Bitter Experiences, which many of God’s people — nay, all God’s people have more or less had, especially if they happen to be poor and needy in temporal things as well as in spiritual.

The first bitter experience is that they have been forgotten. The text says, “The needy shall not alway be forgotten,” plainly implying that they have been forgotten; — forgotten by those who used to know them, forgotten by those who fed at their table, and who landed and flattered them in the days of their high estate. They do not know you now. You are the, same, but your coat is different, your house is different, your purse is different; and, therefore, though they loved you, — oh, so fervently! — their love is gone now because the various adjuncts, which, after all, were the real ground of their love, have departed. The leaves are, withering, so the swallows, which gathered in the summer, are all gone before the winter comes. Many friends are of that sort; their friendship withers like the leaves of autumn; and, like the swallows, they are gone to find other summers somewhere else. If you become prosperous again, and get another summer, they will come back, and seek to ingratiate themselves with you again. Like dogs, they will follow you as long as you have a bone to give them; but, unlike many dogs, they will not stay with you even when you have nothing to bestow upon them. If you are a poor man, who was once better off, you have passed through this bitter experience, I have no doubt, and have been forgotten because your circumstances have changed.

Possibly, you have been forgotten ever since you have been a Christian. While you were self-righteous, like other men, they knew and respected you. You helped to keep each other’s self-righteousness up, just as tradesmen, with their accommodation bills, help to keep each other financially afloat. But you suddenly became poor in spirit; you began to see that you needed a better righteousness than your own. They called you melancholy; and no wonder that they did, for you were indeed melancholy. You were very uncongenial company for them; you used to heave a deep sigh when they would rather have heard a noisy laugh; and now that you have gone right over, as they say, to the Puritanic party, and left their merry-making, they have forgotten you, — they do not know you, — they look down upon you, and despise you. They say, sometimes, “You are a canting hypocrite,” and they have other equally pretty names that they apply to you. If they remember you, it is that they may scoff at you; but they say they have forgotten you, and it is a great mercy if they have; and it will be another great mercy if you also forget them. There is a message, in the 45th Psalm, which may be addressed to you: “Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him. “You are to go without the camp, bearing Christ’s reproach, and to be forgotten by your former friends and acquaintances because of your religion. It will be a painful ordeal to you, but you may go through it without any very serious loss.

Possibly, too, dear friends, you have often thought that you have been forgotten in the arrangements of God’s people, since you have come among them. You are so needy, perhaps in pocket, but certainly in spirit, that when arrangements have been made for the help and relief of others, you fancy that you have been overlooked. Do not be quite certain that it is so, for I have known some poor people, who have been a little too sensitive on those points, and have suspected unkindness when everything has been really planned for the best. Do not be ready to misjudge your fellow Christians if they are better off than you are. As it would be a sin, on their part, to be proud, it would be equally a sin, on your part, to be envious. It would be wrong for them to be unkind to you, but it would be just as wrong for you to be unkind to them by thinking that they are unkind when they are not. Still, I should not wonder if it does sometimes happen that you fancy yourself forgotten even in the arrangements that are made in connection with the house of God.

So, too, you may have had the experience of seeming to be forgotten in various regulations which are passed by your fellow-Christians. For instance, someone has been declaring the proportion that every Christian should give to the cause, of God out of his substance. It has been laid down by some, as a hard and fast rule, that nobody should give less than a tenth, — a good rule, mark you, and a rule applicable to nearly everybody; but, sometimes, there is a needy saint, who says, “I could not spare a tenth from my poor pittance; I can scarcely spare a penny from the little that I have, so this rule presses hardly upon me.” Well, then, give what you feel to be right, and do not trouble about the matter. When we speak to various classes, we cannot always mention the exceptions; you know that there are exceptions to all rules, and we do not wish any rule to press hardly upon anyone. The poor widow gave her two mites, and so may you; but do not fret and worry, though I have no doubt it sometimes pains you when, in such utterances, you seem to be forgotten.

It is also very painful to a Christian, who is poor and needy in spirit, when, in the preaching of the Gospel, there seems to be nothing for the poor lame sheep, for the halting, for those that are weak-kneed, for those that are ready to perish. I have heard sermons, which have related to very glorious experiences, in which I have taken some delight; but I have felt, all the while, “I wonder what the poor weaklings of the flock think of this, when they hear about this experience, and are told that they can have it if they like, and that they must have it, or else they have no real saving faith at all.” At such a time, my mind always goes to those who can only touch the hem of the Savior’s garment, or say to him, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” My witness is that some of the best children in the whole family of God never have the enjoyment of full assurance; but they are so careful, so watchful, so sensitive, that their very sadness of heart drives them close to Christ. They seem to be so conscious of their own weakness, and so afraid of sinning against God, that, though in them there is not the perfect love that casteth out fear, — I wish it were; — yet I would be the last to condemn them. There is One, who will not condemn them; even he who carries the lambs in his bosom, and who is tender and pitiful to all the weak ones in his flock. We must mind, when we are preaching experience, that we do not so put the experience of the strong as to make it the standard for the weak. That is almost as wrong as to make the experience of the weak to be the standard of the strong, as some have done. The fact is, there, is no experience, that is a real standard of the Christian life except the experience of a change of heart, and of simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, dear heart! I know what you mean when, after listening to a sermon, you have said, “Alas, I am forgotten! There seems nothing there for me. There are no crumbs for those who have lost their teeth, and have only sore gums; there is no bread and milk for the children. It is all rounds of beef, — strong meat for grown-up men; but, woe is me, there is nothing, that I can cab.” I should not wonder if that is what you have felt; but, if so, do not feel it any longer, “for the needy shall not alway be forgotten.”

And, peradventure, up till now, you have even experienced a forgetfulness on the part of providence as you have understood the term. Others of your family have risen in the world, but you have not. Your friends have set up in business, and have done well; but you have not. You have sought to obtain a competence, but you have not secured it yet. You wished, at any rate, to get out of financial trouble; but you are in it still, and you are apt to fear that, when the Lord distributes his favors, he forgets you; — at least, so far as his providential mercies are concerned. Well, now, let this fear be gone, I pray you; let this bitter experience come to an end. Believe that you are not forgotten, after all, by him who is in heaven, and who beholdeth all his people; and if you have experienced, in some measure, a sort of forgetfulness, real on the part of man, but never real on the part of God, do believe that it will not last for ever.

The second painful experience is that you, have been disappointed, as well as fancied that you have been forgotten. Our text says, “The expectation of the, poor shall not perish for ever,” which implies that it has perished sometimes.

Now, dear friend, I know that, if you are a Christian, you have had some of your expectations that have perished, and a good many of them, too. Why, you expected, at one time, to find your own way to heaven, — you expected that your own righteousness would make you acceptable to God, and that you could do everything that was necessary to gain his favor. That foolish expectation has perished for ever, has it not? Your self-righteousness is such a mass of filthy rags that you never mean to try to patch those old rags together; and make them into a garment to wear in the sight of God.

Then, you thought that you might expect, when you believed in Jesus Christ, that you would have perfect peace directly. Yet, possibly, you did not have it. Believer as you were, you had to live by faith, without much experience of inward joy. And you also expected that you would never be troubled any more with any sort of bitter experiences, certainly not with any sins. You had lost your burden at the foot of the cross, and you meant to go singing all the way to heaven; in fact, you imagined that you were to ride there, in a carriage, in a most luxurious and delightful style, having two heavens, — one here, and another hereafter. That expectation has not been realized, has it? You have found that the way to heaven is a rough road, that there, are, many hardships in the pilgrim’s pathway, and that there are giants to be fought and slain. Alas, also, there are sins within that have to be contended with from day to day.

Perhaps you had even entertained some very high expectations that you were going to be one of the brightest stars that ever shone among the spiritual constellations of God. Oh, what wonders you were going to do! You were going to be the leader amongst the people of God. There would be no diminution of zeal in you; no lack of life in you; no declension from grace in you; no neglected prayer in you. You would be the very paragon of virtue; you would push the world before you, and drag the church behind you. I do not know how high your expectations soared; but I should not wonder if some of them have perished before now, and you have come down to be, even in your own estimation, a very ordinary sort of person; in fact, you have continued to grow smaller and smaller ever since you have known Christ, till now you have come down to be nothing, and you are on the way to being less than nothing; and you will be wonderfully near the mark when you get down to that point.

How many human expectations turn out to be mere wind! As I studied my text, turning it over and over again, it occurred to me that the needy, the poor, are generally the people who have the greatest expectations. I have talked with many poor men, and I have found, over and over again, that they have a great, great uncle, somewhere or other, who may leave them a lot of money some day; or else they think they are entitled to property somewhere, only the lawful owner keeps them out of it! They have proofs that there was someone in their family who left- well, I do not know whether it was not- some millions of money, that now lie in the Bank of England, and they are expecting to get them! Ah, he that butters his bread with such expectations will find it very dry; and he who waits till expectations of that kind are fulfilled will, I am afraid, find that he is waiting in vain. But poor people generally have plenty of expectations; and, as a rule, those expectations come to an end. This is a part of the bitter experiences of life, and always will be; so, let us bear it patiently, for our text assures us that our disappointment shall only be temporary.

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II. Now, in the second place, there are Two Sad Fears, Which The Text Removes.

The first sad fear is that, perhaps, we may be for ever forgotten of God. Oh, what, a sad day it would be for us if God should ever forget us! You remember what varied experiences David had. Once he wrote, “In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” At another time, he wrote, “Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?” Ah, that is how the greatest saints have to talk sometimes; but what a fall in the barometer that indicates! From being up there at “set fair,” it has gone down to “much rain” and “storms.” “Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. “This fear will come to the child of God at certain times, it may take this shape, “What if God should forget me in my present trouble? None but he can get me out of it. I am so bowed down and distressed that, without divine consolation, I know that I shall surely sink in the deep waters; yet the consolation does not come, the help I need does not arrive. I cannot see any way of escape, and I am as much in perplexity now as I was six months ago. I have made it a matter of prayer, and waiting on the Lord; but I sometimes fear that he has forgotten me. What, shall I do if he never helps me? If it had not been the Lord who was on my side, I should long ago have sunk into despair; but what shall I do if he deserts me now? I can never escape out of this difficulty without him.”

Possibly, the believer is not so much in temporal trouble as burdened under a sense of sin. He used to feel joy and peace through believing in Christ; but he has wandered away from fellowship with his God, and God is walking contrary to him because he is walking contrary to God. He is dwelling under his Father’s frown; he is smarting under his Father’s rod. Now he says within himself, “What will happen to me if he should never again give me the kiss of reconciliation?” He cries, “Deal mercifully with thy servant, O Lord, and restore unto me the joy of thy salvation! “Yet still he walks in darkness, and sees no light. He is under a cloud, and his cry is, “Oh, that I knew where I might find him whom my soul loveth!” There comes to his heart the horrible fear that God has forsaken him. It is a horrible fear, but it is quite unfounded; there is no real reason for it. God cannot forget his chosen ones, whom he has graven upon the palms of his hands; and though a woman may forget her sucking child, God cannot forget any of his people, sorrowful or sinful though they may be.

Then, too, this thought will come: “I am sick; my health is failing; I have less strength every day; and, soon, I shall have to go through the cold river of death; and what if, then, I should be without my God? It will be hard to suffer, and harder still to die, — to leave the warm precincts of this house of clay, and, as a disembodied spirit, to be launched into an unknown world; what if there should be no guardian angels around my dying bed, and no Savior to receive my departing spirit? What if, after all, my hope should turn out to be a delusion, my faith a fiction, and my experience a dream?” I do not wonder, when such thoughts as these cross your minds, that you should feel distressed, as hundreds before you have been, “who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” But our text is a blessed cure for this sad fear: “For the needy shall not alway be forgotten.”

The other dreadful fear is, lest, after all, your expectation should perish. Your expectation, beloved, is that, since you have trusted in God, you shall never be confounded; — and that, because, you have relied upon the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you shall be numbered with his saints in glory everlasting. Yet, sometimes, you sorrowfully say, “Shall I hold on to the end? Shall I be able to persevere? I am so weak, so unstable, so apt to slip and slide, that I fear what will happen to me. Will my hope endure to the end?” Then you look around, and see the strong temptations that beset your path; you live, perhaps, where there are few Christians to help you, and where everything seems to go against your progress in the divine life; and you say, “I shall surely one day fall by the hand of the enemy. How can I hope to outlive these many perils and dangers?”

Possibly, your constitutional temperament is a hindrance to you, and you cry, “Woe is me, because I have such corruptions within, — such a fierce temper, — such a cold heart, — such a penurious disposition. Can I ever, after all, be fashioned into the likeness of my Lord? Can such gritty granite as my soul is made of be ever melted down, and run into the divine mould, or be turned like wax to the divine seal?” It does make you fear and tremble; especially when trials come, the like of which you never saw before; and you say, “My expectation will perish. I thought that, by God’s grace, I should leap over a wall, and break through a troop; I hoped that I should continue to trust in the Lord even though all creature aid should fail; but now I tremble and fear. I have run with the footmen, and they have wearied me; what shall I do when I have to contend with horses; and, above all, what shall I do in the swellings of Jordan?” Well, now, this is the sort of fear that arises in the hearts of God’s children; yet that fear need not be entertained for a single moment. It is your duty and privilege to shut it out of your heart, for thus saith the Lord, “The expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.”

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III. Now I come to our third and last point, — Two Precious Promises Are Here Given To Us.

The first is given to the needy, and it declares that they shall not always be forgotten. Possibly, some of you think that you have been forgotten in the arrangements of providence. Listen, troubled one. If you can only walt with patience, and stand still, and see the salvation of God, you will find that the needy shall not always be forgotten. Have you never noticed how a father carves for a large family.

You do not expect him, at a single stroke, to carve enough to fill every plate, do you? There is a little child who is ill, so there must be a suitable portion sent away for that one; and, likely enough, that will be the first portion sent from the table. Then the father serves his other children according to a certain order which he has in his own mind, and there must be some who come after the others. I have known carvers keep someone waiting till they have reached the most juicy part of the meat; they only made him wait till they could give him something specially choice; so, if you are kept waiting for your portion, you will not lose anything by waiting a while. Patience is rewarded in due season. If ships are longer on their voyage, we expect them to bring home all the richer freight. If the trees are slower than usual, this year, in putting forth their buds, — if the peach blossoms or the apricots are not visible so soon as in other seasons, — let us hope that it will be all the better for the ultimate fruit-bearing of the trees. Be thou content to come last rather than first, for sometimes last is best, and “there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.” Poor as thou art, thou shalt not always be forgotten; there is a portion in reserve for thee, — even for thee.

Thou shalt not be forgotten at the mercy-seat. Thou hast been there many times without receiving an answer to thy petitions. Perhaps, poor heavy heart, thou hast prayed seven times, and no reply has yet come. Possibly, thou hast gone to thy God as often as the poor widow went to the unjust judge, and thou hast gone as importunately as she went; but, so far, there has been no sweet relief such as thy soul longed for. Yet thou shalt not be alway forgotten; so, continue in prayer. If the promise tarry, wait for it; for, in due season, the answer shall surely come.

Thou shalt not always be forgotten in the Word. Thou hast been reading it, yet no promise has seemed to comfort thee. In fact, as thou turnest over the pages of thy Bible, thou findest bitter things recorded there, as if they were written against thyself. But read on; read on; and, one of these days, thou wilt come to a passage that will seem to leap up out of the Scriptures to meet thee. It will woo thee, the very sight of it will fascinate thee, and thou wilt say, “The Lord hath spoken this message to my soul, and I bless and praise his holy name.”

Thou shalt not always be forgotten from the pulpit. Perhaps there is someone here, who has long been listening to the gospel, and who sorrowfully says, “I find that others are comforted, but I am not. God seems to give a portion to all the rest of his people, but none to poor me. Alas! I come and I go, but it seems to be all in vain. I love to go where I see others getting a blessing, yet I find no comfort there for myself.” Well, thou shalt not always be forgotten, God will hid his servant drop a handful on purpose for thee. Perhaps this very text is a message to thy heart just now.

Thou shalt not always be forgotten at the Lord’s table. You have gone there hoping that he, who often reveals himself to his servants in the breaking of bread, will be pleased to manifest himself to you at his own table; yet you have not had a smile from him. You have sat with others at the King’s table, but the King himself did not seem to sit there with you. You ate the bread, but you did not spiritually feed upon his flesh. You drank the wine, but you did not spiritually drink his precious blood. Well, you shall not alway be forgotten. If you are really trusting in Jesus, there are brighter days yet in store for you. The King shall yet bring you into his banqueting house, and his banner over you shall be love and you shall see such changes that you shall sing, —

“My mourning he to dancing turns,

For sackcloth joy he gives,

A moment, Lord, thine anger burns,

But long thy favor lives.”

And you shall not always be forgotten in the service that you are rendering unto God. You have not yet seen a soul converted through your instrumentality, but you shall not always be forgotten in that respect. And in the sufferings that you are called to bear for Christ’s sake, you shall not always be forgotten. Patience will yet have her perfect work, and the suffering will end when it has accomplished its purpose. You are persecuted and despised, perhaps, but you shall not always be forgotten; you shall yet learn the sweetness of being reproached for Christ’s sake. You may seem to be forgotten for a little while, but you shall not really be so. God, the Holy Spirit, will not forget you; he will sustain, instruct, illuminate, and console you. God the Son will not forget you. He paid too high a price for you, ever to forget you. You are his bride; he loves you as he loves himself. You are part and parcel of himself, so he will never forget you. And God the Father will not forget you. You have been his from all eternity, and he has “begotten you again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” You will die soon; but you will not be forgotten, for the holy angels will convoy you home to heaven. The rich man died, and was buried, with many waving plumes over his mourning coach. His will was read, his property was squabbled over, and there was an end of him; everybody soon forgot him. But the angels carried Lazarus into Abraham’s bosom. They had not forgotten Lazarus. The dogs had licked his sores, but the angels had loved him. The dunghill was his couch, but Abraham’s bosom was his throne. If you are a believer in Jesus, you are not forgotten up in glory. Rowland Hill, when he was very old, used to like to go and see aged people when they were dying, and he used to say to them, “When you get to heaven, give my love to the three glorious Johns up there, and be sure to tell them that poor old Rowley hopes they have not forgotten him.” There is no fear that they will forget any of you who are going there. There is a crown in heaven which will fit nobody’s head but yours, and that crown must hang as a useless thing until you get there to wear it.

There is a mansion in glory that nobody but you can inhabit; and you cannot suppose that it will be allowed to stand empty for ever, can you? Oh, no; you must be there to occupy it; and you may rest assured that he who is preparing the place for his people, will bring his people to it, for he has not gone to heaven to prepare a place for his people without resolving that his people shall not perish on the way thither.

“The needy shall not alway be forgotten.” They will be specially remembered when Christ comes, and he says to them, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” They will be remembered as they enter into the joy of their Lord; and then, throughout the eternal ages, they will never be forgotten of him. They may well bear whatever comes upon them now in the anticipation of the glory that is yet to be revealed.

The other promise in our text is that “the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.” What is your expectation, — you who have believed in Jesus, yet who feel very poor and needy, You have been expecting to get peace, have you not? You shall have it in due time. A friend said to me, quite recently, “Supposing a person has believed in Jesus, but does not feel immediate peace, what then? Is that person to believe that he is saved? What is his evidence that he is? I replied, “God says that whosoever believeth in his Son is not condemned, so I need not ask to have peace within my soul in order to corroborate the declaration of God. I am bound to take the truth of God as it stands, and believe myself to be saved, whether I feel any peace or not. If I will do this, then I shall have the peace; but if I say that I will not believe myself saved till I feel peace, then I am not really believing God at all; but I am asking him to give me peace to corroborate his evidence, as if the evidence in the Word were not strong enough to satisfy me.” Dear friend, it may be that you have not yet enjoyed peace because your faith is not as simple and as clear as it should be. But if you are really poor and needy, and cast yourself on the promises of God you may depend upon it that the expectation that you have rightly founded upon the gospel shall not be disappointed. You shall have peace; yes, and you shall have perfect peace one day. “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.”

You are expecting, too, that you shall triumph over sin. God has promised that sin shall not have dominion over you. It may struggle very hard, and, for a while, you may seem to be under its power; nay more, you may come under its power in a measure, but it never shall reign over you. Sin may, for a time, conquer a part of Mansoul; but it can never conquer the citadel of the heart; so rest assured of that. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly,” and you shall yet feel the power of holiness, and the mighty work of the Eternal Spirit in your soul. “The expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.”

You have been expecting, too, to get out of trouble; well, you shall get out of trouble. You have been expecting to see good come out of evil; well, good will come out of evil. I cannot tell you when you shall be delivered, but delivered you shall be, for thus it is written, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” One of these days, you will receive a warrant that will set you free from all trouble for ever and ever. How soon it may come, I cannot tell; but, till it does, you may patiently wait and quietly hope, for the salvation of God.

You have also been expecting to enjoy the full assurance of faith; and your expectation, in that respect, shall not perish for ever. The Lord will make your faith to grow; every day’s experience will help to establish it, and even your difficulties and troubles will tend to strengthen it. If a boy is apprenticed to a blacksmith, I should not wonder if, for months, his arm aches dreadfully through swinging the big hammer; but keep on, boy, keep on! Your muscles will grow hard, your sinews will get braced, and you will become strong just where you need to be strong. So, dear friend, shall it be with your faith, you shall become strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

You expected to have very special spiritual joys, did you not? You expected that your soul would be made like the chariots of Ammi-nadib, did you not? You expected to be in such a condition that, whether in the body or out of the body, you could not tell. Well, you shall realize all that in due season, for God will reveal it unto you when it seems good in his sight. As for myself, — and I may speak also for all who love the Lord, — I am expecting to be with him where he is, to behold his glory. I am expecting to be like him, and to overcome, and sit with him upon his throne, even as he has overcome, and has sat down with his Father upon his throne. And, brothers and sisters, if this is your expectation, it shall not perish for ever, but it shall be blessedly realized. I have told you before some of- the last words of my venerable grandfather, but I may venture to repeat them to you. One of my uncles said to him, “You know, father, that hymn of Dr. Watts, —

 
Firm as the earth Thy gospel stands,

My Lord, my hope, my trust

If I am found in Jesus’ hands,

My soul can ne’er be lost

“Ah, James!” he replied, “I do not like the metaphor that Dr. Watts uses there, ’Firm as the earth.’ Why, the earth is sinking from under my feet; I want something much firmer than that. I like better what the Doctor says when he sings, —

Firm as his throne His promise stands,
And he can well secure
What I’ve committed to His hands,

Till the decisive hour

Psalm 16:1 Christ's Prayer and Plea

NO. 3280
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14TH, 1911,
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
ON THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 18TH, 1866.

“Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.”-Psalm 16:1

I Believe that we have in this verse a prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some portions of this Psalm cannot apply to anyone but the Savior; and we have the examples of Peter and Paul to warrant us in saying that, in this Psalm, David spoke of Jesus Christ. There is no apparent division in the Psalm, so that, as one part of it refers most distinctly the Christ, we are justified in concluding that the whole of it referee to him, and belongs to him! But we knew that whatever belongs to Christ belongs also to all his people because of their vital union with him, so we shall treat the text, first, as our Savior’s own prayer; and then, secondly, we shall regard it also so the prayer of the followers of the Lamb.

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I. So, first, we will take these words as Our Savior’s Own Prayer: “Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust;” and we will divide the text, at once into two parts,-the prayer itself: “ Preserve me, O God: “ and the argument or plea: “ for in thee do I put my trust.”

In considering these words as Christ’s prayer, does it not immediately strike you as a very singular thing that Christ should pray at all? It is most certain that he was “very God of very God,” that “Word” who was in the beginning with God, and who was himself God, the great Creator “without whom was not anything made that was made.” But, without in any degree taking away his glory and dignity as God, we must, never forget that he was just as truly man, one of the great family of mankind, and “as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.” Though he remained sinless, he “was in all points tempted like as we are.” Being, therefore, man, and intending to make himself not only the atoning sacrifice far his people, but also a perfect example that they might imitate, it became needful that he should pray. What would a Christian be without prayer, and how could a Christ who never prayed be an example to a Christian? Yet notwithstanding the fact that it was necessary, it was marvelously condescending on our Savior’s part. The Son of God, with strong crying and tears making known, his requests unto his Father, is one of the greatest marvels in all the ages. What a wondrous stoop it was that Jesus, the unsinning Son of God, the thrice-holy One, the Anointed, the Christ, for whom prayer is to be made continually, should himself have prayed to his Father!

Yet, while there is much condescension in this fact, there is also much comfort in it. When I kneel in prayer, it is a great consolation to me to know that where I bow before the Lord, there is the print of my Savior’s knees. When my cry goes up to heaven, it goes along the road which Chris’s cry once traveled. He cleared away all impediments so that now my prayer may follow in the track of his. Be comforted, Christian, if you have; to pray in dark and stormy nights, with the thought that your Master did the same.

“Cold mountains and the midnight air
Witness’d the fervor of his prayer;
The decent his temptation knew,
His conflict and his victory too.”

If you have to pray in sore agony of spirit fearing that God has forsaken you, remember that Christ has gone further even than that into the depths of anguish in prayer, for he cried in Gethsemane, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

In addition to being condescending and comforting, this fact of our Savior praying shows the intimable communion there is between Christ and all the members of his mystical body. It is not only we who have to pray, but he who is our Head bowed in august majesty before the throne of grace. Throughout the narratives of the four evangelists, one is struck with the many times that mention is made of Christ’s prayers. At his baptism, it was while he was praying that “the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, like a dove upon him, and a voice come from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” On another occasion, we read that, “as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” On the mount of transfiguration, “as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.” Jesus was emphatically “a man of prayer.” After a long day of teaching the people and healing the sick, instead of seeking repose, he would spend the whole night in prayer to God; or, at another time, rising up a great while before day, he would depart into a solitary place, and there pray for the needed strength for the new day’s duties.

Having thus noticed the fact of Christ’s praying, I want now to call your attention to the particular prayer in our text, and I ask you first to observe that it is addressed to God in a peculiar aspect. You do not see this in our translation, but in, the Hebrew it is, “ Preserve me, O El.” That is one of the names of God, and the same name that the Savior used when he cried, “Eloi, Eloi, lame sabachthani?” “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Many Christians seem to have only one name for God, but the Hebrew saints had many titles for the one living and true God. Worldlings generally talk of “The Almighty” as though his only characteristic was the omnipotent might which is displayed in great storms on the sea or terrible calamities on the land. But our Savior, whose knowledge of God was perfect, here selects a name of God peculiarly suitable to the condition in which he was when he offered this prayer; for, according to most commentators, the word “El” means “The strong One.” So it is weakness crying to the Strong for strength: “Preserve me, O thou who art so strong, so mighty, that thou upholdest all things by the word of thy power!” Others say that “El” means “The Ever-present One.” This is a delightful name for God, and one that is most appropriate for a believer to was when he is in peril on land or sea, in the den of lions or in the burning fiery furnace: “ O thou ever-present One preserve me!” Jehovah is indeed “a very present help in trouble.” I wish we could acquire a more intimate knowledge of the divine character so, that, in calling upon him in prayer, we could seek the aid of that special attribute which we need to have exercised on our behalf. What a blessed title is that of Shaddai which Bunyan uses in his Holy War,-El Shaddai, God-all sufficient or, as some render it, “The many-breasted God,” the God with a great abundance of heart, full of mercy and grace, and supplying the needs of all his children out of his own fullness! Then take the other names or titles of God, Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Shammah, Jehovah-Shalom, Jehovah-Tsidkenu, and any others that you can find, and think how much better we could pray if, instead of always saying, “O Lord!” or “O God!” we appealed to Him under some title which indicates the attribute which we desired to be exerted on our behalf.

Next notice that this is a prayer produced by an evident sense of weakness. The suppliant feels that he cannot preserve himself. We believe that the human nature of Christ was altogether free from any tendency to sin, and that it never did sin in any sense whatsoever; yet, still, the Savior here appears not to rely upon the natural purity of his nature but he turns away from that which might seem to us for be a good subject for reliance in order to show that he would have nothing to do with self-righteousness, just as he wishes to have nothing to do with it. The perfect Savior prays, “Preserve me, O God;” so, beloved, let us also pray this prayer for ourselves. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was without any tendency to sin, put himself under the shadow of the almighty wings; then shall I wickedly and presumptuously dare to go into danger trusting to my own integrity, and relying upon my own strength of will? God forbid that you or I should ever act thus. Jesus was only weak because he had assumed our nature, yet in his weakness there was no tendency to sin; but our weakness is linked with a continual liability to evil; so, if Jesus prayed, “Preserve me, O God,” with what earnestness should each one of us cry unto the Lord, “ Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.”

I remark, next, that this prayer in the lips of Christ, appeals for a promised blessing. “What!” says someone, “is there anywhere in God’s Word a promise that Christ shall be preserved?” Oh, yes! Turn to the prophecy of Isaiah, the forty-ninth chapter, and the seventh and following verses, and there read, “Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him, whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. Thus saith the lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages.” When the Savior prayed this prayer, he could remind his Father of the promise given through Isaiah, and say to him, “Thou hast said, ’I will preserve thee’ do as thou hast said, O my Father!”

Beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, let us learn, from our Savior’s example, to plead the promises of God when we go to him in prayer. Praying without a promise is like going to war without a weapon. God is, so gracious that he may yield to our entreaties even when he has not given a definite promise concerning what we are asking at his hands; but going to him with one, of his own promises is like going to a bank with a cheque, he must honor his own promise. We speak reverently, yet very confidently upon this point. To be consistent with, his own character, he must fulfill his own word which he hath spoken; so, when you approach the throne of grace, search out the promise, that applies to your case, and plead it with your heavenly Father, and then expect that he will do as he has said.

Observe, next, that this prayer of Christ obtained an abundant answer. You recollect the many preservations which he experienced, how he was preserved, while yet a child, from the envy and malice of Herod, and how again and again he was delivered from those who sought his life. He was also preserved many times from falling into the snares set for him by scribes and Pharisees and others who sought to entrap him in his talk. How wisely he answered the lawyer who came to him tempting him, and those who sought to catch him over the matter of paying tribute to Caesar! He was never taken as a bird ensnared by the fowler; he was always preserved in every emergency. He was like a physician in a hospital full of lepers, yet he was always preserved from the contagion.

Then, to close this part of the subject, notice that this prayer most deeply concerns the whole company of believers in Christ, for it strikes me that, when our Savior prayed to his Father, “ Preserve me,” he was thinking of the whole of his mystical body, and pleading for all who were vitally united to him. You remember how, in his great intercessory supplication, he pleaded for his disciples, “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.” This is the same prayer as “Preserve me” if we understand the “me” to include all who are one with Christ. We also are included in that supplication, for he further said, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” Yes, dear friend, though you may seem to yours if to be the meanest of the Lord’s people, even though you are in your own apprehension but as his feet that glow in the furnace of affliction, even you are among those whom Christ entreated his Father to keep, and you may rest assured that he will certainly do so. Christ will never lose one of the members of his mystical body; if he could do so, his body would be imperfect and incomplete, but that it never can be. Paul tells us that Christ’s Church “is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all;” so that, if he were left without his fullness, he would have suffered an irreparable loss. That can never be the case, so this prayer will be answered concerning the whole body of believers in Jesus, who shall be presented “faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,” blessed be his holy name!

Let us now turn to the plea which Christ urged in support of his prayer: “Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.” Did Christ put his trust in his Father? We surely need to ask the question, and we know at once what the answer must be. In the matter of faith, as in everything else, he is a perfect example to his people, and we cannot imagine a Christian without faith. Faith is the very life of a true believer in Jesus; indeed, without faith he is not a believer, so Christ was his model in this respect as well as in every other.
The words “in thee do I put not trust” may be translated “in thee do I shelter” There is in them an allusion to running under something for shelter; in fact, the best figure I can use to give you the meaning of this sentence is that, of the chicken running under the wings of the hen for shelter. Just so do we hide ourselves under the overshadowing wings of the Eternal. As a man, Christ used this plea with God, that he was sheltering from all evil under the divine wings of power, and wisdom, and goodness, and truth. This is an accurate interpretation of the passage, and there are many instances recorded in Scripture in which Christ really did this. Take, for instance that remarkable declaration in Psalm 22:9: “Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts,” as though very early in life, probably far earlier than any of us were brought to know the Lord, Jesus Christ was exercising hope in the Most High. Then again, in the fiftieth chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah, we have these words, which must refer to the Lord Jesus Christ, “I gave my back to the smilers, and my cheeks to them, that plucked oh the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” “That verse is immediately followed by this one; “For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.” These words were peculiarly appropriate from the lips of Christ, yet each one, of his followers may also say, “The Lord God will help me.”

Even in his last agonies Christ uttered words which plainly prove that he had put his trust in God, “ Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” There is more faith in that, final commendation of his soul to his Father than some of you might imagine, for it takes great faith to be able to speak thus in the circumstance in which Christ was then placed. Not only was he suffering the terrible pangs that were inseparable from death by crucifixion, but he had to bear the still greater grief that was his portion when his Father’s face was withdrawn from, him because he was in the place of sinners and therefore had to endure the separation from God which was their due. Job said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him;” and this was what Jesus actually did. What wondrous faith it was that trusted in God even when he said, “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts!” Yet even then Jesus turned to his Father, and said, “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit; I commit myself into the hand that wields the sword of infallible justice, into the hand that has crushed me, and broken me in pieces.” Talk of faith, did you ever hear of such sublime confidence as that having been displayed by anyone, else? When, a martyr had to lay down his life for the truth, his faith is sustained by the comforting presence of God; he believes in the God who is smiling upon him even while he is in the midst of the fire. But Christ, on the cross trusted in the God who had forsaken him. O beloved, imitate this faith so far as it is possible in your case! What a glorious height of confidence Jesus reached; oh, that we may have grace to follow where he has so blessedly led the way!

I want you carefully to notice, the argument, that is contained in Christ’s plea: “Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.” Christ, as God, had felt the power of that plea, so he know that his Father would also feel the power of it. You remember that Jesus said be the woman of Canaan, “ O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wills.” Her faith prevailed with him, and he felt that his faith would prevail with his Father; so that, when he said, “ In thee do I put my trust,” he knew that he would obtain the preservation for which he pleaded. Jesus never forgot that the rule of the kingdom is “According to your faith be it done unto you.” He knew that we must “ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave: of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Let, not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” So Jesus came to his Father with this plea, “I do trust in thee, I have, absolute confidence in thee, therefore, I pray thee to preserve me.” My dear bother or sister in Christ, can you say the same? Can you look up to God, and say, “In thee do I put my trust”? If so, you may use it as Christ used it in pleading with his Father. Perhaps you have gazed upon a weapon that has been wielded by some great warrior. If you had that weapon in your hand, and were going forth to fight, you would feel, “I must not be a coward while I am grasping a brave man’s sword, but I must play the man with it as he did.” Well, you have in your grasp the very weapon which Christ used when he gained the victory. You can go before God with the very same argument that Christ used with his Father, and he, will hear your plea even as he heard Christ’s: “Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.”

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II. I had intended, in the second place, to speak of my text as The Prayer Of Christ’s Followers; but, instead of preaching upon it as I would have done had time permitted, I will merely give, you a few notes upon it, and then you can preach the second sermon yourselves by practicing it as you go your several ways to your homes.

First, what does this prayer mean to a believer? It means that you put yourself and all belonging to you under divine protection. Before you close your eyes, pray this prayer: “’Preserve me, O God!’ Preserve my body, my family, my house, from fire, from famine, from hurt or harm of every kind.” Specially present the prayer in a spiritual sense. Preserve me from the world; let me not be carried away with its excitements; suffer me not to be before its blandishments, nor to fear its frowns. Preserve me, from the devil; let him not tempt me above what I am able to bear. Preserve me from myself; keep me from growing envious, selfish, high-minded, proud, slothful. Preserve me from those evils into which I see others run, and preserve me, from those evils into which I am myself most apt to run; keep me, from evils, known and from evils unknown. ’Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me.’“

This is a prayer which is more comprehensive in the original than it is in our version. It may be translated, “ Save me,” and this is a prayer that is suitable for many here. Those of you who have never prayed before can begin with this prayer, “Save me, O strong One! It will indeed need a strong One to save me, for I am so far gone that nothing but omnipotence can save me.” It may also be rendered, “Keep me,” or “Guard me.” It is the word which we should use in speaking of the body-guard of a king or of shepherds protecting their flocks. It is a prayer which you may keep on using from the time you begin to know the Lord until you get to heaven and then you will only need to alter Jude’s Doxology very slightly, and to say, “Unto him who has kept us from falling, and presented us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

Next, when is this prayer suitable? Well, it is suitable at this moment; you do not know what dangers you will meet with before you go to your bed tonight. Take, special care when you come to what you consider the safe parts of the road, for you will probably be most in danger when you think you are in no danger at all. It is often a greater peril not to be tempted than to be tempted. This prayer is suitable to some of you who are going into new situation, where you will have new responsibilities, new duties, and probably new trials and difficulties. In the old days of superstition, people were foolish enough to wear charms of various kinds to guard them from, evil; but such a prayer as this is better than all their charms. If your pathway should lie, through the enchanted fields or even through the valley of death-shade, you need not be afraid, but may march boldly on with this prayer on your lips, “ Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.”

Then, in what spirit ought this prayer to be offered? It should be offered in a spirit of deep humility. Do not pray, “Preserve me, O God,” as though you felt that you were a very precious person; it is true that God regards you as one of his jewels if you are a believer in Jesus, but you are not to regard yourself as a jewel. Think of yourself as a brand plucked from the burning, and then you will pray with due humility. Pray as a poor feeble creature who must be destroyed unless God shall preserve you. Pray as if you were a sheep that had been shorn, and that needed to have the wind tempered to it. Pray as a drowning man might pray, “Preserve me, O God.” Pray as sinking Peter prayed, “Lord, save me,” for so you shall be preserved even as he was.

With what motive ought you to pray this prayer? Pray it specially out of hatred to sin. Whenever you think of sin, the best thing you can do is to pray, “Preserve me, O God.” Whenever you hear or read of others doing wrong, do not begin to plume yourself upon your own excellence, but cry at once, “Preserve me, O God, or it may be that I shall sin even as those others have done” If this night you are a Christian, the praise for this is not to be given to yourself, but to the Lord who has made you to differ from others. You are only what his grace has made you, so straw how highly you value that grace by asking for more and more of it.

This must suffice concerning the prayer off the text, for I must, in closing, remind you of the plea, and ask if each one here is able to use it: “Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.” Can you, my friend, urge this plea with God to-night? Perhaps you say that you could do so years ago, then why not put your trust in the Lord now? It is present faith that you need in your present perils, and you, cannot pray acceptably without faith “for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder off them that diligently seek him.” You know what it is to trust a friend, and perhaps to be deceived, but do you know what it is to trust in God, and not be, deceived? Are you trusting for salvation only to Christ? Do you sing,-

“Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in thee I find,”?

Is this your plea continually; are you always trusting in God, in the dark as well as in the light? Many a man thinks he is strong until he begins to put forth his strength, and then he finds that it is utter weakness. There are many who fancy they are full of faith until they try to exercise it, and then they realize how little they have. They are fine soldiers when there is no fighting, and splendid sailors as long as they are on dry land; but such faith as that is of little service when some great emergency arises. The faith we used is that firm confidence which sings,-

“His love in time past forbids me to think
He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink;
Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review
Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through.”

If that is the kind of faith you have, you need not fear to pray, “Preserve me, O God,” for he will be as a wall of fire round about you to guard you from all evil; and though you are now in the midst of those who would drag you down to their level if they could, or turn you aside from, the paths of righteousness, the Lord, in whom you have put your trust, will never leave you, nor forsake you, but will bring you in his own good time to that blessed place of which he has told you in his Word, and there,-

“Far from a world of grief and sin,
With God eternally shut in,”-

Psalm 19:11 David Warned and Rewarded

NO. 2775
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD’S-DAY, APRIL 20TH, 1902.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,
ON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPT. 29TH, 1881.

“Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.”-Psalm 19:11.

DAVID was constantly singing the praises of God’s Word, although, as I have often reminded you, he had only a small portion of the Scriptures compared with the complete Bible which we possess. If, then, it had pleased God that the Canon of Revelation should have been closed in David’s day, it would, by the aid of his Spirit, have been even then a sufficient light to lead the saints of God into the way of holiness. You would be very sorry if the Pentateuch and the earliest Historical Books, should be all that you had of the Scriptures; yet they are, evidently, so rich, so full, so instructive, that they were all that David needed for the practical purposes of a holy life. Never allow anybody to make you depreciate the Old Testament. No part of the Bible is to be set up above the rest, or to be treated as of secondary importance. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

So I gather, from what David says, that, if we had no more Books of the Bible than he had, we should still possess all inestimable treasure for which we ought daily to bless and praise the name of the Lord. But now that we have the’ complete Revelation of the will of God, as contained in the Old and the New Testaments, we ought to rejoice with exceeding great joy. We have a Bible which is large enough to be a perfect library, and which is also so compact that we can carry it about with us wherever we go. It is exactly the right size, and it is just right in all ether respects. It is just adapted to every individual in the world, and it is also the fittest book for any nation to use as an every-day guide as to its morals, its laws, and its conduct in relation to both God and men.

There are two things, mentioned in the text, which made the Scriptures very dear to David. The first is, that they had warned him against evil: “by them is thy servant warned;” and the second is, that obedience to the Scriptures had brought him a great reward: “and in keeping of them there is great reward.”

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I. First, then, The Scriptures Had Warned David Against Evil.

We are so dull and so foolish that, unless we are taught of God the Holy Spirit, we really know nothing as we ought to know it; yet we are so headstrong and so obstinate that, if we are not divinely checked, we run with heedless impetuosity into all manner of evil. We need to be goaded on to everything that is good; but we need to be held in with a tight rein, or we shall plunge into many things that are evil. Even when we do not willfully choose the wrong, we seem to run into it by a sort of natural tendency, and we find ourselves bemired before we know where we are. If, however, the Scripture is made to be our constant companion and guide, we shall be saved from many mistakes into which, otherwise, we are sure to fall. Where we should have rushed on madly to our destruction, we shall find ourselves suddenly stopped, and we shall bear a voice behind us saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it;” and, through giving heed to that warning voice, we shall turn back from the broad road of our own choosing to the narrow way of God’s choice.

God’s Word warned us, first, concerning our soul’s disease and its remedy. To some of us, our first warning concerning the evil of our nature came from the Scriptures. There are some persons, who must, very early in life, have been made aware of the evil of their nature; I mean, persons with a hot, impetuous, passionate temperament, or those with a strong animal tendency, and others who were brought up in the midst of vice, and who themselves eagerly plunged into it. One would think that such people ought to be able to see that they are not what they should be; but there have been others with a gentle nature, who have been trained up in the midst of piety; even without the grace of God, they would not be likely to become vicious, like those to whom I have referred. They have also, through helpful training, become honest, and upright, and amiable; there is everything about them that are pleasing and beautiful. They go to church, or to the meeting-house, and they join with others in making confession of sin; yet, somehow, they do not seem to realize that the confession applies to themselves exactly as it stands, for they are not openly as sinful as others are. There are some people, in such a condition of natural excellence, that, if it had not been for the Word of God, they would not have known what evil was sleeping within their hearts. A leopard may have been kept under restraint from the time when it was a cub, and it may appear to be perfectly harmless; but if it should taste blood, its real fierceness will soon be seen. You may walk over a grassy hill, and think yourself perfectly secure; yet, underneath, there may be a slumbering volcano, liable to break out at any moment. Everywhere about us there is that which flatters us, and make us think that we are better than we are; but, by the Word of God, we are faithfully warned that there is a sink of iniquity within our soul,-a black and fetid spring,-a foul generator of everything that is evil in the very fountain of our nature. What a blessing it is for us to be warned of that evil, lest we should go on dreaming that all was right, and never find out the truth till we were past conversion-past the possibility of being renewed because we should have entered that other world where hope and mercy never can come! What a blessing it is that God’s Word warns us concerning the disease, and tells us of the remedy for it,-warns us that we are lost, and reveals to us the glorious truth concerning the Savior who has come to seek and to save that which was lost!

Then, next, God’s Word warned us concerning our danger, and the way of escape from it. Did you never find yourself, dear friend, forming associations with ungodly persons, and gradually becoming more and more pleased with them; and, then, did the Word of God come to you with power, saying, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers”? Did you also hear this command applied to you, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing”? If so, I am sure that, as you tore yourself away from the fatal embrace of the ungodly, and escaped for your life out of the Sodom of which you had almost become a citizen, you could not help prizing and praising the Book by which you had been warned to flee from the peril which threatened to destroy you.

Did you ever find yourself thinking that all was well within,-that you were really getting to be somebody of importance,-that you might hang out your streamers, and did the Word of the Lord then come home to you, saying, “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”? Did you haul down your flags? Did you hide your face for shame? Did you get away alone, and confess to God the proud mistake that you had made, and not feel safe again until you were lying at the cross-foot, looking up to your Savior for mercy and forgiveness? If so, I feel sure that you took your Bible in your hand, and you said, “By this blessed Book is thy servant warned to escape from self-delusion and from being puffed up with the conceit that he was something when he was nothing.”

How many, many dangers there are in this life against which the Word of God warns us! I recollect being on board a steamboat going up the Thames, early in the morning, when the fog had not cleared away, and when a man, in the bows of the vessel, shouted out as loudly as ever he could for us to go astern, for we were out of our track, and should soon have been ashore. As I heard that shrill cry of warning, I could not but be grateful for it; and you and I, dear friends, would long ago have gone aground if the Word of the Lord had not called out to us, sometimes in sharp, stern tones, “Stop! There is danger just ahead;” and we have been compelled to alter our course, and go where our natural inclination would never have induced us to go. Blessed be God that we were not only warned, at the first, concerning our spiritual disease, and directed to him who could cure it; but, many a time since then, have we been warned of unseen dangers in our holy pilgrimage; so let us prize and bless the Book that has been our Mentor and our Monitor, ever seeking to keep us in the right path, or to draw us off from the wrong.

God’s Word has also been a warning to us, oftentimes, concerning our duty and our obligation. Many a professing Christian man is not living as he should live; but if he would diligently read his Bible, and obey its injunctions, there would soon be a great alteration in him. Hundreds of believers, while searching the Scriptures, have been powerfully affected by some one text, and have been led not only to see their shortcomings, but also to perceive the way to a nobler and better life. “I must do something,” says one, to prove my hove, to him who has done so much for me. I have fallen short even of the standard that I set up for myself, and that standard is far below what I find in the. Word of God;” and, it may be, under the influence of a single verse, the man has become generous, self-sacrificing, earnest, fervent, and has glowed with a zeal for God which he never knew before. Many of us can testify how often the. Word of the Lord has quickened us, so let us be wise enough to go to it whenever we become lethargic and dull; that, under the inspiration of its sacred pages, we may be again aroused and revived. O Spirit of God, we bless thy holy name that, when duties lay neglected, and precepts had been entirely forgotten, thou didst bring them up again before our minds in this precious Book, and then we made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments, because thy Word has warned us concerning our duty and our obligation!

Brothers and sisters, God’s Word warns us concerning the whole of our life, and even concerning some things to come which, otherwise, we could never have known. If any brother is impressed with the thought that Jesus Christ may come at any moment, and call him to account, that is an admirable reason why he should every day watch unto prayer, and get himself ready for his Lord’s coming; but, sometimes, when I read the Word of God, and when I travel through this great city, I am led to contemplation’s of another sort. I think that, whether the Lord comes soon, or not, does not affect my re possibility and yours concerning the people now living, and the generations that may yet come. If this great London is to go on increasing, if the population shall still keep multiplying, what will be said of us if we allow street after street to be built, houses by thousands to be erected, and hardly any new houses for the worship of God, while public-houses may be measured by the mile? It seems to me a dreadful thing to live at this particular time in which, if the gospel seed be not plentifully sown, the waste ground of centuries, if the world lasts so long, will cry out because of our indolence. But if the seed were scattered broadcast, then the harvests that shall be reaped in the centuries that may yet come shall redound to the glory of God, and also to the credit of those who faithfully served their Lord. I believe that, if ever men stood in a place where they could have power over a vast trem