Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps18.23

Text File | 1993-04-19 | 13KB | 233 lines

                           EXPOSITION.

        "_I was also upright before him_." Sincerity is here
claimed; sincerity, such as would be accounted genuine before the
bar of God. Whatever evil men might think of Him, David felt that
he had the good opinion of his God. Moreover, freedom from his
one great besetting sin he ventures also to plead, "_I kept
myself from mine iniquity_." It is a very gracious sign when the
most violent parts of our nature have been well guarded. If the
weakest link in the chain is not broken, the stronger links will
be safe enough. David's impetuous temper might have led him to
slay Saul when he had him in his power, but grace enabled him to
keep his hands clean of the blood of his enemy; but what a wonder
it was, and how well worthy of such a grateful record as these
verses afford! It will be a sweet cordial to us one of these days
to remember our self-denials, and to bless God that we were able
to exhibit them.

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Verse 23.--"_I was also upright before him, and I kept
myself from mine iniquity_." He who says, "Lo, I come: in the
volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will,
O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart;" and who by the
apostle, in the tenth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, is
identified with Jesus Christ, says also (verse #Heb 10:12|),
"innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have
taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are
more than the hairs of mine head; therefore mine heart faileth
me," and in the forty-first Psalm, "He whose familiar friend, to
whom he had committed a trust, who ate of his bread, lifted up
his heel against him," whom our Lord in the thirteenth chapter of
the gospel of John identifies with himself, says (verse #Joh
13:4|), "Lord, be merciful to me: heal my soul for I have
sinned;" I am guilty "before thee." The difficulty is removed by
the undoubtedly true principle--the principle which, above all
others, gives Christianity its peculiar character--"He who knew
no sin, was made sin;" "On his righteous servant, Jehovah made to
fall the iniquities of us all." In this sense, "innumerable
iniquities compassed him," the iniquities made to fall on him made
"his" as to their liabilities--by divine appointment laid hold of
him. In the sense of _culpa_--blame-worthiness--he had no sin. In
the sense of _reatus_--liability to the penal effects of
sin--never had any one so much sin to bear as he--"He bore the
sins of many."--^John Brown.

        Verse 23.--"_I was upright before him_." Hence
observe:--first, that a godly man may have his heart upright and
perfect even in the imperfection of his ways. Secondly, a man
that is sincere is in God's account a perfect man: sincerity is
the truth of all grace, the highest pitch that is to be attained
here. Thirdly, sincerity of heart gives a man boldness even in
the presence of God, notwithstanding many failings. The Lord doth
"charge his angels with folly," how much more man that "dwells in
a house of clay"? #Job 4|. David, whose faith failed, and who had
said, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul," and whose
tongue had faltered also to Abimelech, the priest; three or four
several lies he had told; yet David can say to God, that he was
_perfect_ with him for all that. It is a strange boldness that
the saints have in the presence of God by virtue of the new
covenant. All their sins shall be laid open at the last day as a
canceled bond, that they wonder how they shall look upon them
and not blush; but the same spirit of sonship that shall give
them perfect boldness then, doth give them boldness in a great
measure even now in this life; that they shall be able to say,
"Neither height nor depth," etc., nothing "shall separate us from
the love of Christ."--^William Strong.

        Verse 23.--"_I was upright_," etc. An upright Christian
will not allow himself in any known sin; he dares not touch the
forbidden fruit. #Ge 39:9|. "How then can I do this great
wickedness, and sin against God?" Though it be a complexion-sin,
he disinherits it. There is no man but doth propend and incline
more to one sin than another; as in the body there is one humour
predominant, or as in the hive there is one master-bee; so in the
heart there is one master-sin; there is one sin which is not only
near to a man as the garment, but dear to him as the right eye.
This is Satan's fort-royal, all his strength lies here; and
though we beat down his out-works, gross sin, yet if we let him
hold this fort of complexion-sin, it is as much as he desires.
The devil can hold a man as fast by this one link, as by a whole
chain of vices. The fowler hath the bird fast enough by one wing.
Now, an upright Christian will not indulge himself in this
complexion-sin: "_I was upright before him, and kept myself from
mine iniquity_." An upright Christian takes the sacrificing knife
of mortification, and runs it through his dearest sin. Herod did
many things, but there was one sin so dear to him, that he would
sooner behead the prophet, than behead that sin. Herod would have
a gap for his incest. An upright heart is not only angry with sin
(which may admit of reconciliation), but hates sin; and if he
sees this serpent creeping into his bosom, the nearer it is the
more he hates it.--^Thomas Watson.

        Verse 23.--"_I kept myself_." Kept himself! Who made man
his own keeper? It's the Lord that is his keeper: he is the
keeper of Israel, and the preserver of man. If a man cannot keep
himself from sorrow, how is he able to keep himself from sin? God
indeed in our first conversion works upon us as he did upon the
earth, or Adam's body in paradise, before he breathed a soul into
it, and made it a living creature; such a power as Christ put
forth on Lazarus in his grave, for we are "dead in trespasses and
sins;" but yet being living he must walk and act of himself, the
Lord will have us to co-operate together with him, for we are
built upon Christ, not as dead, but as "living stones." #1Pe
2:5|. The grace whereby we are made alive is his, and the power
is his; he it is that works in us both to will and to do, when we
perform anything; and yet by his grace we do it also; _ille facit
ut nos faciamus, quae praecepit_ (Augustine).--^William Strong.

        Verse 23.--"_I kept myself from mine iniquity_." It is
possible to keep ourselves from such sins as David did, who
professes here of himself great sincerity, that he had kept
himself from that iniquity to which he was strongly tempted, and
which he was prone to fall into. The method which holy David made
use of gives us the first and best direction; and that is, by
constant and fervent prayer to implore the divine aid and the
continual assistance of his Holy Spirit, that God would not only
keep us from falling into them, but even turn our hearts from
inclining to them, and help us to see our folly and our danger.
For alas! we are not able of ourselves to help ourselves, not so
much as to think a good thought, much less to resist an evil
inclination, or a strong temptation; but "our sufficiency is of
God:" "It is God (says the Psalmist here), that girdeth me with
strength, and maketh my way perfect:" verse #32|. ... Next, that
we take care to avoid such things and decline such occasions as
are most likely to snare us and gain upon us, lest one thing hook
in another, and we be caught in the gin before we suspect the
danger.--^Henry Dove, 1690.

        Verse 23.--"_Mine iniquity_." A man's darling sin may
change with the change of a man's condition, and some occasion
that may present itself. What was Saul's and Jehu's sin before
they came unto the crown we know not; but surely it was that
wherein their lust did afterwards run out--the establishing a
kingdom upon their posterity. Wantonness may be the darling of a
man's youth, and worldliness the darling of his age; and a man's
being raised unto honour, and having the opportunities that he
had not in times past, the lust may run in another channel, he
having now such an opportunity as before he never
expected.--^William Strong.

        Verse 23.--"_Mine iniquity_." There is some particular
sin to which one is more prone than to another, of which he may
say by way of emphasis, 'tis "_mine iniquity_," at which he may
point with his finger, and say, "That's it." ... There are more
temptations to some sins than others, from the different
professions or courses of life men take upon themselves. If they
follow the court I need not tell you what temptations and snares
there are to divers sins, and what danger there is of falling
into them, unless your vows for virtue, and a tender regard to
the honour which cometh of God only, keep you upright. If they be
listed in the camp, that tempts them to rapine and violence,
neglect of God's worship, and profaneness. If they exercise
trading and merchandise, they meet with greater enticements to
lying and cozening, over-reaching and unjust dealing; and the
mystery of some trades, as bad men manage them, is a downright
"mystery of iniquity." If husbandry, to anxiety about the things
of the world, a distrust of God's providence, or murmuring
against it. Nay, I could wish in the most sacred profession of
all there might be an exception made in this particular; but Paul
tells us that even in his days "some preached Christ even of envy
and strife," some for filthy lucre only, as well as "some of good
will." #Php 1:15|.--Henry Dove.

        Verse 23.--"_Mine iniquity_." The actual reign of sin is
commonly of some particular master-lust, which is as the victory
over all the rest of the sins in the soul, and commands them all
as lord paramount, and makes them all subservient and subordinate
unto it; and this is according to custom, calling, constitution,
abilities, relations, and according to the different
administrations of the Spirit of God; for though God be not the
author of sin, yet he is the orderer of sin. So that it is that
way of sin and death that a man chooseth to himself, he having
looked abroad upon all the contentments of the world, his own
corrupt inclination doth choose unto himself to follow with
greatest sweetness and contentment and delight as that wherein
the happiness of his life consists; that as in the body there is
in every one some predominant humour, so there is in the body of
sin also; that as in the natural man, though there be all the
faculties, yet some faculties are in some more lively and
vigorous than in others, some are more witty, some are more
strong, some quick of sight, some have a ready ear, and others a
nimble tongue, etc. So it is in the old man also; there is all
the power of sin in an unregenerate man, but in some more
dexterous one way than another; as men in the choice of calling,
some have a greater inclination to one thing than to another, so
it is in the choice of contentments also: as in the appetite for
food, so it is in lust, being nothing else but the appetite of
the creature corrupted to some sinful object.--^William Strong.

        Verse 23.--_Growth in mortification_ ... Men may deceive
themselves when they estimate their progress herein by having
overcome such lusts as their natures are not so prone unto. The
surest way is to take a judgment of it from the decay of a man's
bosom-sin, even as David did estimate his uprightness by his
"_keeping himself from his iniquity_;" so a man of his growth in
uprightness. When physicians would judge of a consumption of the
whole, they do it not by the falling away of any part whatever,
as of the flesh in the face alone, or any the like; such a
particular abatement of flesh in some one part may come from some
other cause; but they use to judge by the falling away of the
brawn of the hands, or arms and thighs, etc., for these are the
more solid parts. The like judgments do physicians make upon
other diseases, and of the abatement of them from the decrease in
such symptoms as are pathognomical, and proper, and peculiar to
them. In like manner also the estimate of the progress of the
victories of a conqueror in an enemy's kingdom is not taken from
the taking or burning of a few villages or dorps, but by taking
the forts and strongest holds, and by what ground he hath won
upon the chief strength, and by what forces he hath cut off the
main army. Do the like in the decrease of, and victory over, your
lusts.--^Thomas Goodwin.

        Verse 23.--We must always remember that though the grace
of God prevents us, that we may have a good will, and works in us
when we have it, that so we may find success; yet in vain do we
expect the continuance of his help without diligent endeavours.
Whilst he assists our weakness, he does not intend to encourage
our laziness, and therefore we are also "to labour, and strive
according to his working, which worketh in us mightily," as the
apostle expresses it, #Col 1:29|.--^Henry Dove.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 23.--The upright heart and its darling sin.--^W.
Strong's Sermons.

        Verse 23.--_Peccata in deliciis_; a discourse of bosom
sins.--^P. Newcome.

        Verse 23.--The sure trial of uprightness.--^Dr. Bates.