Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc21/v22650

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 14KB | 240 lines

22650
 * The psalmist prays for mercy, humbly confessing and lamenting
 his sins. (1-6) He pleads for pardon, that he may promote the
 glory of God and the conversion of sinners. (7-15) God is
 pleased with a contrite heart, A prayer for the prosperity of
 Zion. (16-19)

 #1-6 David, being convinced of his sin, poured out his soul to
 God in prayer for mercy and grace. Whither should backsliding
 children return, but to the Lord their God, who alone can heal
 them? He drew up, by Divine teaching, an account of the workings
 of his heart toward God. Those that truly repent of their sins,
 will not be ashamed to own their repentance. Also, he instructs
 others what to do, and what to say. David had not only done
 much, but suffered much in the cause of God; yet he flees to
 God's infinite mercy, and depends upon that alone for pardon and
 peace. He begs the pardon of sin. The blood of Christ, sprinkled
 upon the conscience, blots out the transgression, and, having
 reconciled us to God, reconciles us to ourselves. The believer
 longs to have the whole debt of his sins blotted out, and every
 stain cleansed; he would be thoroughly washed from all his sins;
 but the hypocrite always has some secret reserve, and would have
 some favourite lust spared. David had such a deep sense of his
 sin, that he was continually thinking of it, with sorrow and
 shame. His sin was committed against God, whose truth we deny by
 wilful sin; with him we deal deceitfully. And the truly penitent
 will ever trace back the streams of actual sin to the fountain
 of original depravity. He confesses his original corruption.
 This is that foolishness which is bound in the heart of a child,
 that proneness to evil, and that backwardness to good, which is
 the burden of the regenerate, and the ruin of the unregenerate.
 He is encouraged, in his repentance, to hope that God would
 graciously accept him. Thou desirest truth in the inward part;
 to this God looks, in a returning sinner. Where there is truth,
 God will give wisdom. Those who sincerely endeavour to do their
 duty shall be taught their duty; but they will expect good only
 from Divine grace overcoming their corrupt nature.
22656
 #7-15 Purge me with hyssop, with the blood of Christ applied to
 my soul by a lively faith, as the water of purification was
 sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop. The blood of Christ is called
 the blood of sprinkling, #Heb 12:24|. If this blood of Christ,
 which cleanses from all sin, cleanse us from our sin, then we
 shall be clean indeed, #Heb 10:2|. He asks not to be comforted,
 till he is first cleansed; if sin, the bitter root of sorrow, be
 taken away, he can pray in faith, Let me have a well-grounded
 peace, of thy creating, so that the bones broken by convictions
 may rejoice, may be comforted. Hide thy face from my sins; blot
 out all mine iniquities out of thy book; blot them out, as a
 cloud is blotted out and dispelled by the beams of the sun. And
 the believer desires renewal to holiness as much as the joy of
 salvation. David now saw, more than ever, what an unclean heart
 he had, and sadly laments it; but he sees it is not in his own
 power to amend it, and therefore begs God would create in him a
 clean heart. When the sinner feels this change is necessary, and
 reads the promise of God to that purpose, he begins to ask it.
 He knew he had by his sin grieved the Holy Spirit, and provoked
 him to withdraw. This he dreads more than anything. He prays
 that Divine comforts may be restored to him. When we give
 ourselves cause to doubt our interest in salvation, how can we
 expect the joy of it? This had made him weak; he prays, I am
 ready to fall, either into sin or into despair, therefore uphold
 me with thy Spirit. Thy Spirit is a free Spirit, a free Agent
 himself, working freely. And the more cheerful we are in our
 duty, the more constant we shall be to it. What is this but the
 liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free, which is
 contrasted with the yoke of bondage? #Ga 5:1|. It is the Spirit
 of adoption spoken to the heart. Those to whom God is the God of
 salvation, he will deliver from guilt; for the salvation he is
 the God of, is salvation from sin. We may therefore plead with
 him, Lord, thou art the God of my salvation, therefore deliver
 me from the dominion of sin. And when the lips are opened, what
 should they speak but the praises of God for his forgiving
 mercy?

22665
 #16-19 Those who are thoroughly convinced of their misery and
 danger by sin, would spare no cost to obtain the remission of
 it. But as they cannot make satisfaction for sin, so God cannot
 take any satisfaction in them, otherwise than as expressing love
 and duty to him. The good work wrought in every true penitent,
 is a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, and sorrow
 for sin. It is a heart that is tender, and pliable to God's
 word. Oh that there were such a heart in every one of us! God is
 graciously pleased to accept this; it is instead of all
 burnt-offering and sacrifice. The broken heart is acceptable to
 God only through Jesus Christ; there is no true repentance
 without faith in him. Men despise that which is broken, but God
 will not. He will not overlook it, he will not refuse or reject
 it; though it makes God no satisfaction for the wrong done to
 him by sin. Those who have been in spiritual troubles, know how
 to pity and pray for others afflicted in like manner. David was
 afraid lest his sin should bring judgements upon the city and
 kingdom. No personal fears or troubles of conscience can make
 the soul, which has received grace, careless about the interests
 of the church of God. And let this be the continued joy of all
 the redeemed, that they have redemption through the blood of
 Christ, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his
 grace.
22669
 * The enemies of the truth and the church described, Their
 destruction. (1-5) The righteous rejoice. (6-9)

 #1-5 Those that glory in sin, glory in their shame. The patience
 and forbearance of God are abused by sinners, to the hardening
 of their hearts in their wicked ways. But the enemies in vain
 boast in their mischief, while we have God's mercy to trust in.
 It will not save us from the guilt of lying, to be able to say,
 there was some truth in what we said, if we make it appear
 otherwise than it was. The more there is of craft and
 contrivance in any wickedness, the more there is of Satan in it.
 When good men die, they are transplanted from the land of the
 living on earth, to heaven, the garden of the Lord, where they
 shall take root for ever; but when wicked men die, they are
 rooted out, to perish for ever. The believer sees that God will
 destroy those who make not him their strength.

22674
 #6-9 Those wretchedly deceive themselves, who think to support
 themselves in power and wealth without God. The wicked man
 trusted in the abundance of his riches; he thought his
 wickedness would help him to keep his wealth. Right or wrong, he
 would get what he could, and keep what he had, and ruin any one
 that stood in his way; this he thought would strengthen him; but
 see what it comes to! Those who by faith and love dwell in the
 house of God, shall be like green olive-trees there. And that we
 may be as green olive-trees, we must live a life of faith and
 holy confidence in God and his grace. It adds much to the beauty
 of our profession, and to fruitfulness in every grace, to be
 much in praising God; and we never can want matter for praise.
 His name alone can be our refuge and strong tower. It is very
 good for us to wait on that saving name; there is nothing better
 to calm and quiet our spirits, when disturbed, and to keep us in
 the way of duty, when tempted to use any crooked courses for our
 relief, than to hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of the
 Lord. None ever followed his guidance but it ended well.
22678
 * The corruption of man by nature.

 - This psalm is almost the same as the 14th. The scope of it is
 to convince us of our sins. God, by the psalmist, here shows us
 how bad we are, and proves this by his own certain knowledge. He
 speaks terror to persecutors, the worst of sinners. He speaks
 encouragement to God's persecuted people. How comes it that men
 are so bad? Because there is no fear of God before their eyes.
 Men's bad practices flow from their bad principles; if they
 profess to know God, yet in works, because in thoughts, they
 deny him. See the folly of sin; he is a fool, in the account of
 God, whose judgment we are sure is right, that harbours such
 corrupt thoughts. And see the fruit of sin; to what it brings
 men, when their hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of
 sin. See also the faith of the saints, and their hope and power
 as to the cure of this great evil. There will come a Saviour, a
 great salvation, a salvation from sin. God will save his church
 from its enemies. He will save all believers from their own
 sins, that they may not be led captive by them, which will be
 everlasting joy to them. From this work the Redeemer had his
 name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins, #Mt
 1:21|.
22684
 * David complains of the malice of his enemies. (1-3) Assurance
 of the Divine favour and protection. (4-7)

 #1-3 God is faithful, though men are not to be trusted, and it
 is well for us it is so. David has no other plea to depend upon
 than God's name, no other power to depend upon than God's
 strength, and these he makes his refuge and confidence. This
 would be the effectual answer to his prayers. Looking unto
 David, betrayed by the men of Judah, and to Jesus, betrayed by
 one of his apostles, what can we expect from any who have not
 set God before them, save ingratitude, treachery, malice, and
 cruelty? What bonds of nature, or friendship, or gratitude, or
 covenant, will hold those that have broken through the fear of
 God? Selah; Mark this. Let us set God before us at all times;
 for if we do not, we are in danger of despair.

22687
 #4-7 Behold, God is mine Helper. If we are for him, he is for
 us; and if he is for us, we need not fear. Every creature is
 that to us, and no more, which God makes it to be. The Lord will
 in due time save his people, and in the mean time he sustains
 them, and bears them up, so that the spirit he has made shall
 not fail. There is truth in God's threatenings, as well as in
 his promises; sinners that repent not, will find it so to their
 cost. David's present deliverance was an earnest of further
 deliverance. He speaks of the completion of his deliverance as a
 thing done, though he had as yet many troubles before him;
 because, having God's promise for it, he was as sure of it as if
 it was done already. The Lord would deliver him out of all his
 troubles. May he help us to bear our cross without repining, and
 at length bring us to share his victories and glory. Christians
 never should suffer the voice of praise and thanksgiving to
 cease in the church of the redeemed.
22691
 * Prayer to God to manifest his favour. (1-8) The great
 wickedness and treachery of his enemies. (9-15) He is sure that
 God would in due time appear for him. (16-23)

 #1-8 In these verses we have, 1. David praying. Prayer is a
 salve for every sore, and a relief to the spirit under every
 burden. 2. David weeping. Griefs are thus, in some measure,
 lessened, while those increase that have no vent given them.
 David in great alarm. We may well suppose him to be so, upon the
 breaking out of Absalom's conspiracy, and the falling away of
 the people. Horror overwhelmed him. Probably the remembrance of
 his sin in the matter of Uriah added much to the terror. When
 under a guilty conscience we must mourn in our complaint, and
 even strong believers have for a time been filled with horror.
 But none ever was so overwhelmed as the holy Jesus, when it
 pleased the Lord to put him to grief, and to make his soul an
 offering for our sins. In his agony he prayed more earnestly,
 and was heard and delivered; trusting in him, and following him,
 we shall be supported under, and carried through all trials. See
 how David was weary of the treachery and ingratitude of men, and
 the cares and disappointments of his high station: he longed to
 hide himself in some desert from the fury and fickleness of his
 people. He aimed not at victory, but rest; a barren wilderness,
 so that he might be quiet. The wisest and best of men most
 earnestly covet peace and quietness, and the more when vexed and
 wearied with noise and clamour. This makes death desirable to a
 child of God, that it is a final escape from all the storms and
 tempests of this world, to perfect and everlasting rest.

22699
 #9-15 No wickedness so distresses the believer, as that which he
 witnesses in those who profess to be of the church of God. Let
 us not be surprised at the corruptions and disorders of the
 church on earth, but long to see the New Jerusalem. He complains
 of one that had been very industrious against him. God often
 destroys the enemies of the church by dividing them. And an
 interest divided against itself cannot long stand. The true
 Christian must expect trials from professed friends, from those
 with whom he has been united; this will be very painful; but by
 looking unto Jesus we shall be enabled to bear it. Christ was
 betrayed by a companion, a disciple, an apostle, who resembled
 Ahithophel in his crimes and doom. Both were speedily overtaken
 by Divine vengeance. And this prayer is a prophecy of the utter,
 the everlasting ruin, of all who oppose and rebel against the
 Messiah.