C. H. SPURGEON,

at the metropolitan tabernacle, newington.

“How is it that ye have no faith?”-Mark 4:40.†

This question may be very properly put to those who have no faith at all, and we intend so to put it in the second part of our discourse. But it was originally put to men who had some faith, men who had faith enough to make them disciples of Christ, faith which brought them to sail in the same vessel with him. Even when they reproached him, and said, “Carest thou not that we perish?” they had faith enough to make them call him “Master.” Yet, in comparison with the faith which they ought to have had, Christ calls their faith no faith at all. They were so wavering, so tossed about with unbelief, that, though they were his hearty, honest, and sincere followers, he yet speaks to them as if they were unbelievers, and says to them, “How is it that ye have no faith?”

I shall address this question, then, first of all to God’s people, and, in the next place, to the unconverted.

Let me say, to begin with, that this is a question which must have been peculiarly painful to him who asked it. The faith in which they were lacking was faith in himself,-their Master, their Lord, who had loved them from before the foundation of the world, and who intended to shed his precious blood for them, and to make them his companions in glory, world without end. Yet they had no faith in him! Let the Lord Jesus come to you, my brothers and sisters, and I think you will detect much sorrow in the tones of his voice when he says, “How is it that ye have no faith, or so little faith in me? I have loved you; I have loved you to the death; remember Gethsemane and Golgotha; remember all that I did, and am still doing for you; how is it that you doubt me?” Beloved, if we doubt our fellow-men, it is not strange, for Judas is one of a large family; but to doubt the Saviour, the faithful and true Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, this is a cut as unkind as any of the lashes which fell upon his shoulders when he was chastised in Pilate’s hall.

You will see that the question must have pained him if you notice to whom he addressed it. “ ‘How is it that ye have no faith?’ Ye chosen twelve, ye who have been with me from the beginning, ye to whom I have expounded the mysteries which have been left dark sayings to the multitude without,-how is it that my choicest friends, the picked ones of my band, have no faith in me?” And the Lord seems sorrowfully to put this question to some of us, “How is it that ye have no faith, ye whose names are written in my book of life, nay, written on my hands, and graven on my heart, ye who have been bought with my precious blood, snatched out of the jaws of the lion by my almighty power, and restored from all your wanderings by my loving care? How is it that ye, my favourites, the King’s own chosen companions, how is it that ye have no faith?”

And the question was painful to him for yet a third reason,-namely, that they had no faith upon a matter in which one would have thought they might have believed. They were in the vessel with him, and if the ship went to the bottom, they would go to the bottom in good company, for their Lord was with them; and yet they had not enough faith in him to believe that he would save their lives. Perhaps they knew his ability; if so, they questioned his willingness. Perhaps they knew his willingness; if so, they questioned his ability; and, in any case, it was very painful that they should think their own dear Friend, their Lord and Master, would let them sink when the glance of his eye could save them, or the will of his heart could deliver them.

And now, this question, as Jesus Christ puts it to us, must be very painful to him. “Do not you, O my children, do not you believe me? Mine is an unchangeable love, a love that is stronger than death, a love which led me down into the grave for you; do not you believe me? If others, who do not know me, doubt me, I can endure their unbelief; but unbelief from you, my close personal acquaintances, my own familiar friends,-oh, this is hard indeed! You have sat under my shadow with great delight, and do you doubt me? You have eaten of my fruit, and it has been sweet unto your taste, and do you doubt me? My left hand has been under your head, and my right hand has embraced you; I have brought you into my banqueting house; I have feasted you with food such as angels never tasted; I have filled your mouths with songs such as seraphs never sang; I have promised you a heritage such as princes upon earth might well envy, and do you doubt me? Do you doubt me, and do you doubt me about such a matter as whether you shall have food to eat and raiment to put on? Do the lilies doubt me? Do the ravens doubt me? And will you doubt me about a matter concerning which lilies have no care, and the ravens have no thought? Do your doubts relate to your eternal salvation? But have I not guaranteed to save you? Have I not sworn that I will surely deliver every soul that trusts in me? What have I done to make you doubt me thus? Wherein have I failed you? Show me which promise I have broken, to which of my oaths I have been a traitor, or in what case I have turned my back upon my friends? Oh, doubt me no longer!”

“ ‘O fearful! O faithless!’ in mercy he cries,

‘My promise, my truth, are they light in thine eyes?

Still, still I am with thee, my promise shall stand,

Through tempest and tossing I’ll bring thee to land.’ ”

I wish I could speak in accents that would give some idea of the tenderness of the way in which my Master would put these questions to you. Methinks, if he were here in bodily presence, and showed you his wounds, he would then say to you, “Can you distrust me with these tokens of love in my hands, my feet, and my side? Can you doubt me now?” And as he put the question, he would make you feel that it stirred intense anguish in his soul if it did not in yours. So you see that this was a painful question to him who asked it.

But, in the second place, it was a needful question for them to hear, and it is a needful question for us to hear, too. I should like to individualize a little, to hold the looking-glass up before some of you that you may see yourselves.

There are some here who are doubting Christ because they are in temporal trial. You never were in such a sad position as you are in just now. Business seems to go all contrary to your designs. Your flood-tide has suddenly ebbed, and your vessel threatens to be high and dry on a shoal. You have a promise from God that it shall not be so, for he has said, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” He has said, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Yet for all that you are still doubting. There is a trouble coming upon you to-morrow, or there is a season of trial coming in a week’s time. You have taken it before God in prayer; and yet, even after you had prayed over it, and asked God’s help, you said to a friend, “I do not know how I shall ever get through it.” Now, was that right? Was that trusting your heavenly Friend? Has he not helped you aforetime? Has he not delivered you in six troubles, and in seven, shall any evil touch you? Come, dear sister, come, dear brother, come at once to the mercy-seat with your burdens, and may God give you faith enough to tell out your case before him, and you shall then hear him say, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”

“In every condition,-in sickness, in health,

In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;

At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,

As thy days may demand shall thy strength ever be.”

Another person is here whose trouble is not about gold and silver, food and raiment; it is much worse, it is a trouble about his soul. He has lately been overwhelmed with a very terrible temptation, and wherever he goes it haunts him. He tries to run away from it, but he thinks he might as well try to run away from his own shadow. It clings to him; it seems to have fastened upon his hand as the viper did upon Paul, and he cannot shake it off; he is afraid, indeed, that he will never be able to overcome this strong temptation. Have you never read this inspired verse, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it”? Then, “how is it that ye have no faith?” Did not the Lord Jesus teach you to pray, “Lead us not into temptation”? You have prayed that, and did he not tell you to add, “but deliver us from evil,” as though, if the first petition were not answered, the second one might come in? You have prayed that, and you believe that God hears prayer; how is it, then, that you have no faith to believe that he will hear you in this particular case? Beloved, Christ is not a Saviour merely for some things, but for all things; and he does not come in to help his people simply on some days under certain assaults; but under all temptations, and under all trials, he comes to their rescue. Weak as you are, he can strengthen you; and fierce though the temptation may be, he can cover you from head to foot with a panoply of proof in which you shall stand right gloriously clad, and be for ever safe.

The question of the text might just as properly be asked of some Christians in view of service which they might render to Christ. You do not preach in the street, though you have the ability to do so; you say you never could stand up to face the crowd. “How is it that ye have no faith?” You do not teach in the Sabbath-school, though you sometimes think you ought to try it; but you can hardly get courage enough. “How is it that ye have no faith?” You would like to say a word or two to an ungodly companion, but you are afraid that it would be of no use, and that you would be laughed at. “How is it that ye have no faith?” Can you not say as Nehemiah did, “Should such a man as I flee?” Who are you that you should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man that is crushed as easily as a moth? Be of good courage, and do your Master’s will. Has he not most certainly said, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel”? You know that these are his words; then, “how is it that ye have no faith?” If we had more faith, dear friends, we should be doing a great deal more for our Lord, and we should succeed in it; but for want of faith we do not try, and for want of trying we do not perform, and we are little nobodies when we might serve the Master, and do much if we had but more faith in him.

There is another man here who is afraid to die. He has been a Christian for many years; but whenever the thought of death crosses his mind, he tries to shake it off. He is a believer in Christ, but he is afraid that he shall not be able to endure the last trying hour. I recollect a sermon which my grandfather once preached, and which was rather a curious one. His text was, “The God of all grace,” and he said that God would give his people all grace, “but,” said he, at the close of each point, “there is one kind of grace you do not want.” The refrain came several times over, “There is one kind of grace you do not want.” I think his hearers were all puzzled, but they learned what he meant when he closed by saying, “and the kind of grace that you do not want is dying grace in living moments, for you only want that when dying time comes.” It may be that, as we are at this moment, we could not play the man in death; yet I am persuaded that the most timorous women here, the most desponding brethren, if they are but resting upon Jesus, will be able to sing in death’s tremendous hour. Do not be afraid, beloved; there will be extraordinary courage given you when you come into extraordinary trial. Like Hopeful in the river, you will be able to say to your brother Christian, “I feel the bottom, and it is good.” There is a good foothold through the river of death, since Jesus Christ has died. Do not trouble yourself about dying if you are already dead with Christ, for his word is sure, “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” Be of good courage, or else, the next time you are in bondage through fear of death, I shall venture to put to you the question of the text, “How is it that ye have no faith?”

So might I run through the whole congregation; but perhaps it will be best to conclude the list by saying that this question might often meet us at our closet doors. I hope all of us, who profess to be believers in Christ, know the power of prayer; for if we do not, we are fearful hypocrites. But, brethren, is it not very possible that, after you have been praying, you come down from your closet doubting whether you have been heard? You have asked for a certain mercy, but you do not really expect to receive it; and the Lord might well say to you, “How is it that ye have no faith?” You often do not get the blessing because you do not believe that God will give you what you ask for, but remember that “all things are possible to him that believeth.” God denies nothing to a fervent heart when it can plead his promise, and lay hold upon him by the hand of faith. I would that we had in all our churches a growing band of men who could really pray. One of the Cæsars had what he called “a thundering legion”; these were men who were Christians, and could pray. It is said truly that the man who is mighty on his knees is mighty everywhere. If you can conquer God in prayer,-and that is to be done, you can certainly conquer your fellow-creatures. If, when wrestling with the angel, as Jacob did, you can come off victor, you need not be afraid to wrestle with the very devil himself, for you will be more than a match for him through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And now, thirdly, dear friends, I think that this is a very humiliating question for us to answer. I do not wish to answer it for you, but I want to propose it to every Christian so that he may answer it himself. But I will help you to answer it.

Can you make a good excuse for your unbelief? I will stand and frankly confess that I cannot find any excuse for mine. This is my history; I will tell it, because I should not wonder if it is very much like yours. I was a stranger to God and to hope, but Jesus sought me. His Spirit taught me my need of him, and I began to cry to him. No sooner did I cry than he heard me, and at length he said to me, “Look, poor trembler, look to me, and I will give you peace.” I did look, and I had peace, and peace which I bless God I have never wholly lost these many years. I looked to him, and was lightened, and my face was not ashamed.

Since then, he has led me in a very singular path in providence. My trials have been, not so many as I deserved, but still enough; but as my days my strength has been. There has been in temporals an abundant supply, and in spirituals the fountain has never dried up. In my darkest nights he has been my star; in my brightest days he has been my sun. When my enemies have been too many for me, I have left them with him, and he has put them to the rout. When my burdens have been too heavy for me to carry, I have cast them upon him, and he never seemed to make much of them, but carried them as some great creature might carry a grain of sand. I have not a word to say against him; but if he acts to me as he has done, if I could live to be as old as Polycarp, and were asked to curse him, I should have to say with him, as I do say now, “How can I curse him? What have I to say against him? He never broke his promise; he never failed in his Word. He has been to me the best Master that ever a man had, though I have been one of the worst of his servants; he has been true and faithful to every jot and tittle, blessed be his name.” If he were to say to me, “How is it that ye have no faith?” I am sure I do not know what I could answer; I could only hide my face, and say, “My Master, I seem to be almost a devil to think that I cannot believe more firmly in such an one as thou art,-so good, so true, so kind.” No, I cannot make any excuse for myself, and I do not suppose that you can make any excuse for yourselves.

I suppose, however, that the real reason of our want of faith lies in this, that we have low thoughts of God compared with the thoughts of him we ought to have. We do not think him to be so mighty, and so good, and so tender as he is. Then, again, we have very leaky memories; we forget his mighty arm, we forget what he did in days past. Hermon’s Mount and Mizar’s Hill we pass by, and we let his lovingkindness be forgotten. I am afraid, too, that we rely too much upon ourselves. Was it not Dr. Gordon who, when he lay a-dying, said that the secret of strength in faith in Christ was having no faith in ourselves? I am inclined to think that the secret of weak faith in God is our having a good deal of self-reliance; but when you cannot trust to yourselves, then you hang upon Christ, and cling to him as your only hope; then you give the grip of a sinking man, and there is no hold like that. There is no hold like that of one who feels, “If I do not grip this, there is nothing else for me to cling to in all the world.

“ ‘Other refuge have I none,

Hangs my helpless soul on thee.’ ”

I am afraid it is our self-confidence that comes in to mar our trust in God. And, besides that, there is our “evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” I said, the other day, speaking of some sad, sad temptation into which a brother had fallen, that I wished the devil were dead; but, after a while, I corrected myself, and said I wished that I were myself dead, for if my own self were dead and gone, and Christ lived in me, I would not mind the devil; but when the devil and my own self get working together, they make a sorry mess of it. He might harmlessly bring the sparks if I had not any tinder about me, but it is the tinder in me that does the mischief. He might try his hardest to break into my house if my house were not such a poor clay tenement. O Lord Jesus, come and live in my heart! Fill it with thyself, and then there will be no room for Satan. Do thou hold me fast even unto the end.

“May thy rich grace impart

Strength to my fainting heart,

My zeal inspire:

As thou hast died for me,

Oh may my love to thee

Pure, warm, and changeless be,

A living fire!”

So here I leave this point with you Christians, only I shall beg to come round in spirit, and say to all doubting Christians here, “How is it that ye have no faith?” I will set you the question of my text for you to answer between now and next Sunday. Give an account of your unbelief; and if you can give a good account of it, pray let us hear it. I never heard any good excuse made for that wicked sinner, Mr. No-belief. He cannot be put to death, I fear; but I often wish that he could be blown to pieces from the muzzles of the guns of the promises. Oh, that the last rag of him, and the last remnant of him were clean destroyed! John Bunyan, in his Holy War, pictures the citizens of Mansoul going round to pick up the bones of the traitors, and burying them all, “till,” he says, “there was not the least bone, or piece of a bone of a traitor left.” I wish we could get to that state,-that there might not be the least bone, or piece of a bone of a doubter left, so that we might sing confidently concerning our God.

Now, solemnly, and most affectionately, I would speak to those who have never believed in Christ.

To some of you, that head that once was crowned with thorns is no object of reverence. You have never looked up to “the Man of sorrows,” and felt that “surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” It is nothing to you that Jesus should die. Up to this moment, you have been a stranger to him, so I beg to ask you the question, “How is it that ye have no faith?” The question is not an impertinent one, but a very natural one; suffer one who would do you good to press it upon your minds.

Do you not know that faith makes the Christian happy? There are Christians here with very small incomes,-a very few shillings a week; they are living in the depths of poverty, and yet they would not change places with kings, for they are so happy, because faith makes them rich. There are others of us who have an abundance of this world’s goods, and yet we can truly say that we would give them all up if God so willed it, for they are not our gods. Our well-springs of joy come from Christ. Faith makes men happy. “How is it that ye have no faith?” You squander your substance to get a day’s amusement. You spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not; but here is something that is really bread, and that would satisfy, how is it that ye have it not? Ye working-men, ye sons of toil, with little here to make you blessed, “how is it that ye have no faith?” Faith would make your cottage into a palace, and a scanty loaf to be better than a stalled ox.

You, know, too, that it is faith which enables the Christian to die well. You expect to die soon; then “how is it that ye have no faith?” You are like the man who has to cross a river, but has made no provision for it; or like one who is going a long journey, but takes no money with him, no shoes, no staff, no scrip. How is it that you have nothing to help you to die? It is faith which conducts the Christian into heaven. We sing of “the realms of the blest,” and of Canaan’s “happy land”; but faith is the only passport to the skies, so “how is it that ye have no faith?” Do you not desire a blessed future? Have you no wish for joys immortal? Does your heart never leap at the thought of the joys that the saints have before the throne? How is it that you let these things slip by, having no faith? “Without faith it is impossible to please God,” and the faithless will have their portion in the lake that burneth with fire. “How is it that ye have no faith?” Do you mean to venture into that state of misery? Do you intend to dare the day of judgment without an Advocate and a Friend? You will have to rise again from the grave; though the worms destroy your body, yet in your flesh you will have to see God. The trumpet will be sounding, the angels will be gathering, the judgment-seat will be set, and you will be called to account, and without faith you must be driven from God’s presence into black despair. Then, “how is it that ye have no faith?” When I think over these things, it does seem to me to be strange that men should be living in utter indifference to Christ and in neglect of divine things! “How is it”-can any of you tell us, “How is it that ye have no faith?”

Is it that there are a great many difficult things that you cannot understand? Now, what is it that you are asked to believe? Simply this, that sin was so evil and bitter a thing that God must punish it, and that his own dear Son became a man, and suffered for the sins of all those who trust him, so that those sins may readily be pardoned because Christ suffered the punishment of them. Really, that does not strike me as being a very difficult thing to believe. To trust my soul with the Son of God, bleeding and dying upon Calvary, does not strike me as being in itself a very difficult thing; and if it be difficult, it surely must be the hardness of our hearts that makes it so, for there is not beneath the cope of heaven a doctrine more reasonable, which more deserves to be received than this, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” even the chief.

I do not think that the most of you, when you are asked why you have no faith, can reply that it is because you do not know what you have to believe. I know that I have tried to make it plain enough as far as my preaching is concerned. If I knew of any words in the English language that would be plainer than any I have used, though they should be so outrageously vulgar that I should be overhauled for using them by all the gentlemen in England, yet I would use them, before I left this platform, if I thought I could win one soul by them. The simple truth is, that whosoever trusts Christ is saved, and we have tried to put this to you in every shape and form and way that we could think of, so that want of knowledge is not the reason why you have no faith.

I am afraid that, in many of you, want of faith is from a want of thought. Oh, how many of you are mere butterflies! You think about your work, or about your pleasures, but not about your souls. It is not always a bad sign when a man begins to be sceptical. I would sooner he were that than that he were thoughtless, for even to think about spiritual things is, so far, good. Men are often like some bats which, when they get on the ground, cannot fly; they must get on a stone, and then, when they are a little elevated, they can move their wings. So, thoughtless men are on the ground, and cannot fly; but when God sets them thinking, they seem as if they were moving their wings. I pray you, do think about these matters, for certainly it must commend itself to every reasonable person that the better part of men ought to be the most thought of. This poor, mortal rag, which is to drop into the grave, ought not to command my highest and most continuous thought; but the immortal principle within me, which will outlive the stars, and be a thing of life and vigour when the sun has shut his burning eye from dim old age,-this immortal part of my nature ought certainly to have my most serious and my best regard. If you have been obliged to say that you have no faith because you have not thought, I pray you do think, and may God help you that this thinking may lead you to faith!

But to close,-for our time is gone,-the question I have put to you is a question which I hope will never need to be asked of you any more. May this be the last time that any man shall have to look you in the face, and say, “How is it that ye have no faith?” In order to make this wish true, however, you must believe now. To believe is to trust Christ Jesus. The Son of the everlasting God takes upon himself the form of man, and suffers; and he tells us that, if we rest on him, just as I now lean here on this rail with all my weight, he will be better to us than our faith. There never yet was a man who trusted in Christ and found him a liar. If you trust Christ, you shall be saved; nay, you are saved, and the proof of your being saved will be this, that you will not be the same man any longer. All things will become new with you. You will be saved from sinning as well as from the guilt of sin. The drunkard shall become sober, the unchaste shall become pure, the mere moralist shall become spiritual, and the enemy of God shall become his friend as soon as he trusts Christ.

“Loved of my God, for him again

With love intense I burn:

Chosen of him ere time began,

I choose him in return.”

I cannot but love him who has saved me from my sins.

May God bless this question to you; but if it has not yet been of use to you, I hope that it will follow you. I should like to pin it to your backs, but it would be better if we could put it in your hearts. I hope that it will wake you up at night; I trust it may be with you at breakfast to-morrow; and between the intervals of business I hope there will come up a voice from under the counter, or from the back of the workshop, “How is it that ye have no faith?” And at night-fall, when you walk alone in the street a while, may it be almost as though someone had touched you on the shoulder, and said, “How is it that ye have no faith?”

But, mark you, if this question does not haunt you now, the day will come when, stretched on that lonely bed, when you must bid the world adieu, there may seem, perhaps, to be the form of the preacher who now stands before you,-or the ghastly form of Death, who, with bony finger uplifted, shall preach such a sermon to you as your very heart and the marrow of your bones shall feel, while he says to you, “How is it that ye have no faith?”

Oh, may you never need to be asked that question again, but may you now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

MARK 4:35-41

Verses 35, 36. And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude,-

Telling them that Christ would give them no more instruction that day, and that they had better go back to their homes. There are some preachers who have great gifts of dispersion, it does not take them long to scatter a congregation; but I expect that Christ’s disciples found it to be no easy task to send away the crowds that had been listening to their Master’s wondrous words. But, “when they had sent away the multitude,”-

36. They took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

Christ was Lord High Admiral of the Galilean lake that night, and he had quite a little fleet of vessels around his flagship.

37. And there arose a great storm of wind,-

Our friend, John Macgregor, “Rob Roy,” tells us that the lake is subject to very sudden and severe storms; it lies in a deep hollow, and down from the surrounding ravines and valleys the air comes with a tremendous rush seldom experienced even upon a real sea; for this was, of course, only a little lake though sometimes called a sea. I have been told that, on some Scotch lochs, the wind will occasionally come from three or four quarters at once, lifting the boat bodily out of the water, and sometimes seeming to lift the water up towards heaven, with the boat and all in it; so was it, that night, when “there arose a great storm of wind,”-

37. And the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

No doubt they baled out the boat with all their might, and did their best to prevent it from sinking; yet “it was now full of water.” But where was their Lord and Master, and what was he doing while the storm was raging?

38. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow:*

He was quite at home upon the wild waves,-

“Rocked in the cradle of the deep,”-

for winds and waves were but his Father’s servants, obeying his commands. “He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow;” doubtless weary and worn with the labours of the day. We do not always think enough of the weariness of Christ’s human body. There was not only the effort of preaching, but his preaching was so full of high thought, and the expressions he used were so pregnant with meaning, that it must have taken much out of him to preach thus from the heart, with intense agony of spirit, and with his brain actively at work all the while. Remember that he was truly man as well as the Son of God, and that what he did was of so high an order, not to be reached by any of us, that it must have exhausted him, and therefore he needed sleep to refresh him; and there he was wisely taking it, and serving God by sleeping soundly, and thus preparing himself for the toil of the following day.

38, 39. And they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind,-

It was boisterous and noisy, and he bade it obey its Master’s will;

39. And said unto the sea, Peace, be still.

Can you not almost fancy that you can hear that commanding voice addressing the raging, roaring, tumultuous winds and waves?

39. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Not only was the wind quieted, and the sea hushed to slumber, but a deep, dead, mysterious calm transformed the lake into a molten looking-glass. When Christ stills winds and waves, it is “a great calm.” Did you ever feel “a great calm”? It is much more than ordinary peace of mind; it is to your heart as if there were no further possibilities of fear. Your troubles have so completely gone that you can scarcely recollect them. There is no one but the Lord himself who can speak so as to produce “a great calm.” Master, we entreat thee to speak such a calm as that for those of us who need it.

40. And he said unto them,-

When he had calmed the winds and the waves, he had to speak to another fickle set, more fickle than either winds or waves: “and he said unto them,”-

40, 41. Why are ye so fearful?* how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly,-

They went from one fear to another, but this time it was the fear of awe,-a hallowed dread of what might happen to a ship which had such a mysterious Person on board. Though there was probably in their minds no fear of death, it seemed to them a fearsome thing to live in the presence of One who had such power over the raging elements. “They feared exceedingly,-

41. And said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?†

Blessed God-man, we worship and adore thee!

UNPARALLELED LOVINGKINDNESSES

A Sermon

Published oh Thursday, March 23rd, 1911,

delivered by

C. H. SPURGEON,

at new park street chapel, southwark,

On Tuesday Evening, November 17th, 1863.

“Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?”-Psalm 89:49.

The Lord had made an everlasting covenant with David, ordered in all things and sure, yet that covenant was not intended to preserve him from trouble. When this Psalm was written, he had been brought very low. His crown had been cast down to the ground, his enemies had rejoiced over him, and he had become a reproach to his neighbours. Then his thoughts flew back to the happier days of the past, and the covenant which the Lord had made with him, and either David himself, or Ethan writing on his behalf enquired, in the words of our text, “Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?”

Applying this passage to the people of God, I remark, first, that we have received many mercies in the past.

Is that too common a matter for you to think and talk about? If you know it so well, why do you forget it so often? The mercies of God wake us every morning, so that we are as used to them as we are to the sunlight, yet some of us think but little of them. They follow us till the night, and we get as accustomed to them as we do to our beds, yet perhaps some of us think less of them than we do of our beds. We have providential mercies every moment of the day, and every day of our lives; we can never tell the number of them, for they are more than the sands upon the seashore. I am going, however, to speak of the spiritual mercies with which God has enriched us,-the blessings of the upper springs; and it will help you to recall them if I take the list of them that is given at the beginning of the 103rd Psalm.

Turn to it, and read, first, “who forgiveth all thine iniquities.” All of us to whom these words belong should constantly remember that we are pardoned souls. We were not so once; oh, what would we not have given then to know what we do know now? At that time, our iniquities pressed upon us as a burden that we could not bear, the stings of conscience gave us no rest, and the terrors of hell gat hold upon us. When I was under conviction of sin, I felt that I would willingly have given my eyes, my hands, my all, if I might but be able to say, “I am a forgiven soul.” So, now that we are pardoned, let us not forget the Lord’s lovingkindness in forgiving all our iniquities. If thou, my hearer, canst forget it, I may well question whether thine iniquities have ever been forgiven, for the pardon of sin is so great a mercy that the song which it evokes from the heart must last for ever.

The next mercy in the psalmist’s list is, “who healeth all thy diseases.” Bethink thee again, my brother or my sister, what the Lord hath done for thee in this respect. Once, pride possessed thee, like a burning fever, and long prevented thee from submitting to God’s simple plan of salvation; but thou hast been cured of that terrible malady, and now thou art sitting humbly at the feet of Jesus rejoicing in being saved by grace. Perhaps thou wast once like the demoniac of odd; the chains of morality could not bind thee, and the fetters of human law could not restrain thee; thou didst cut and wound thyself, and thou wast a terror unto others; but, now, thanks be unto God, thou art so completely healed that there is not even a scar left to show where thou wast wounded. Wilt thou not praise the Lord for this unspeakable mercy? What wouldst thou not have given for it once when thy many diseases held thee in their cruel grip? Then cease not to praise Jehovah-Rophi, “the Lord that healeth thee.”

The next mercy also demands a song of grateful praise: “who redeemeth thy life from destruction.” Thou hast been saved from going down into the pit, the ransom price has been paid for thee, and thou hast been redeemed, not with silver and gold, “but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Remember that, now, there is no wrath against thee in the heart of God, for his righteous anger on account of thy sin was all poured out upon the head of his dear Son, thy Surety and Substitute. The devil has no claim, upon thee now, for thou hast been redeemed by Christ unto the last farthing. Then canst thou forget to praise him who has done such great things for thee? What wouldst thou not have given, at one time, to have had half a hope that thou wert a redeemed soul, when thy poor knees were sore through thy long praying, and thy voice was hoarse with crying unto God? Thou wouldst gladly have bartered the light of day, and the comforts of life, and the joys of friendship for the assurance of thy redemption. Well, then, since thou hast now obtained that priceless boon, forget not to praise the Lord for all his lovingkindness towards thee.

For the next clause in the Psalm is this, “who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” Think, brother or sister in Christ, what the Lord hath done for thee. Not content with saving thee from hell, he hath adopted thee into his own family, made thee a son or a daughter of the King of kings, and set a royal crown upon thy head, a crown of “lovingkindness and tender mercies.” Thou art made an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ, is not this unparalleled lovingkindness? Is not this indeed the tender mercy of our God towards thee? Then canst thou ever forget such lovingkindness and tender mercy? There have been times, in the past history of some of us, when that ancient prophecy has been most graciously fulfilled in our experience, “Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” So, as we remember the former lovingkindnesses of the Lord, we rejoice that he still crowneth us with lovingkindness and tender mercies.

We must not forget the next verse: “who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” If we are in Christ Jesus, we have all that we want, we are perfectly satisfied. We do not want a better Saviour, we do not want a better hope, we do not want a better Bible, we do not want better promises. We do want more faith, but we do not want a better ground of faith. We do desire to have more love to our Lord, but we do not desire a better object for our love. We desire ever to dive deeper and deeper, but only in the fathomless sea of Jesu’s love. Others are roaming hither and thither, vainly seeking satisfaction, but our mouth is so filled with good things that we are satisfied. We asked, and the Lord gave unto us. We prayed for pardon, and the Lord fully forgave us for Jesus’ sake. We have received so much mercy from him that our soul is satisfied, and soars aloft as on eagle’s wings, leaving all terrestrial cares, and sorrows, and doubts far below us amid the earth-born clouds above which we have mounted by God’s grace.

Now, having thus briefly recalled the Lord’s former loving-kindnesses, I have to remind you, in the second place, that we are not always conscious of the same flow of mercy toward us.

The psalmist asks, “Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses?” Well, where are they? Why, they are where they used to be, though we do not always realize them. The Lord’s mercies have not changed, but our perception of them is not always as vivid as it ought to be. Let us again consider the mercies of which I have already spoken to you.

“Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.” There are times when a Christian fears whether his sins are really forgiven. He is saved, yet he has a doubt whether he is saved or not. All his past sins seem to rise up before him, and the foul suggestion of unbelief is, “Can it be possible that all those sins have been put away? Have all those mountains of iniquity been cast into the Red Sea of the Saviour’s atoning blood?” Many young believers, who judge themselves too much by their feelings, are apt to imagine that they have been deceived, and that they are still under condemnation. If I have any brethren or sisters like that here, let me assure them that there are times when the very best of the saints have to cry out in the bitterness of their soul, “Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses?” The believer in Christ is always justified so far as the law of God is concerned, but he does not always hear the proclamation of pardon in the court of conscience. God’s sun is always shining, but there are clouds that obscure its beams, yet it is only hidden for a while. So is it with the lovingkindness of the Lord with regard to the forgiveness of sin; whether we always realize it or not, the forgiveness that has once been bestowed upon us will never be withdrawn from us world without end.

It is the same with the next mercy: “who healeth all thy diseases.” It may be that there are some of us here who know that the great Physician has healed our soul maladies, yet at times unbelief and other evil diseases cause us sore pain and agony of spirit. It is with us as it was in the days of Noah when the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and happy are we if we can now float in the ark of our faith above the awful sea of our depravity which threatens to drown every spiritual comfort and cover every hope. If I were to look within my own heart for comfort and hope, I should often be in despair; but when I look away to my Lord alone, then I realize what he has done and is still doing for me, for he still “healeth” all my diseases. Marvel not, dear friends, if you cannot see yourselves growing in grace as you would like to do. When a farmer goes to look at his root-crops, he is not so much concerned as to the appearance of the part that is above ground, he wants to know how that part is flourishing that is out of sight. So, very often, a Christian is growing under ground, as it were,-growing in grace, and knowledge, and love, and humility, though he may not have so many virtues and graces that are visible to other people, or even to himself. Sanctification is being wrought in the saints according to the will of God, but it is a secret work; yet, in due time, the fruit of it will be manifest, even as the farmer at the proper season digs up his roots, and rejoices that his labour has not been expended upon them in vain.

Notice too that next mercy: “who redeemeth thy life from destruction.” Now mark this, those who are once redeemed are always redeemed. The price of their redemption was paid upon Calvary, and that great transaction can never be reversed. I dare to put it very strongly, and to say that they were as fully redeemed when they were dead in trespasses and sins as they will be when they stand in the full blaze of Jehovah’s presence before the eternal throne. They were not then conscious of their redemption, but their unconsciousness did not alter the fact of their redemption. So is it with the believer; there are dark days and cloudy days in his experience, but he is just as truly saved in the dark and cloudy day as when the sun is shining brightly, and the clouds have all been blown away. In the old days of slavery, when a slave’s freedom had been purchased, there may have been times when he had not much to eat, or when he had many aches and pains, but such things did not affect the fact that he was a free man. Suppose someone had said to him, “My poor fellow, you have nothing in the cupboard, you are very sick and ill, you are still a slave;” he would have replied, “That is not good reasoning. I know that I was redeemed, for I saw the price paid for my ransom; I have my free papers, and I shall never again be a slave.” So is it with believers, the Son of God hath made them free by giving himself as a ransom for them, so they shall be “free indeed.” Their redemption does not depend upon their realization of it, but upon their Redeemer who has made it effective for them.

The same principle applies to the next mercy: “who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” There may be some Christians here who need to learn a lesson that one good Methodist tried to teach another whom he meet at the class-meeting. It grieved him as he heard over and over again the story of his brother’s trials and troubles, but nothing about the multitudes of mercies with which he was continually being crowned; so one day he said to him, “My brother, I wish you would change your residence; you do not live in the right part of the town.” “How is that?” enquired the other. “Why, you live where I used to live, down in Murmuring Street. It is very dark and narrow, the chimneys always smoke, the lamps never burn brightly there, and all sorts of diseases abound in that unhealthy quarter. I got tired of living in Murmuring Street, so I took a new house in Content Street. It is a fine, wide, open street where the breezes of heaven can freely blow, so the people who dwell there are healthy and happy; and though all the houses in the street are of different sizes, it is a very remarkable thing that they are all of them just the right size for the people who live in them. The apostle Paul used to live in that street, for he said, ‘I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content;’ so I would advise you, my brother, to move into Content Street as soon as you can.” That was very good advice, and we may pass it on to any murmurers or grumblers whom we know. Think, beloved, how the Lord is still crowning you with lovingkindess and tender mercies. I know you are not strong, but then you have not that acute pain you used to have. I know that you are growing old, but that only means that you are getting so much nearer heaven. I know your friends are fewer than they used to be, but then those who are left are true friends. So you see that you are still crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies.

So is it with the last mercy in the list: “who satisfieth thy mouth with good things.” I will venture to say that the Christian has not one real want that is not satisfied with the good things that God has provided for him. If he has any other want, or thinks he has, it is better for him not to have that want supplied. If we want the pleasures of sin, it is a great mercy that God will not give them to us, for the supply of such a want would be our soul’s damnation. If we could gather any comfort through following that which is evil, it is of the Lord’s mercy that such comfort is not our portion.

“This world is ours, and worlds to come;

Earth is our lodge, and heaven our home;”

so what can we want beside?

Sometimes we miss our former comforts as the result of sin. Sin indulged is a certain barrier to happiness. No one can enjoy communion with Christ while turning aside to crooked ways. To the extent to which a believer is inconsistent with his profession, to that extent will he be unhappy; and it will be no cause for surprise if he has to cry, “Lord, where are thy former loving-kindnesses?” We must always distinguish between the punishment of sin which Christ endured on his people’s behalf and the fatherly chastisement with which God’s visits upon them their wrong-doing. Though he will not condemn them as a Judge, he will chastise them as a Father; and they cannot expect to enjoy the lovingkindnesses of the Lord while they are enduring the strokes of his rod because of their transgressions.

We may also lose a comfortable sense of God’s mercy through neglecting to use the means of grace. Leave off the regular reading of your Bible, and then you will be like the man who misses his meals, and so grows weak and languid. Neglect private prayer, and then see whether you will not have to cry, with Job, “Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness!” Stop away from the prayer-meeting, and then, if your soul is not sad, it ought to be. If a man will not come where there is a fire, is it surprising that he cries that he cannot get warm? The neglect of the means of grace causes many to enquire, “Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses?”

The same result follows when any idol is set up in our heart. While we worship the Lord alone, the temple of our heart will be filled with his glory; but if we set up an idol upon his throne, we shall soon hear the rushing of wings, and the divine voice saying, “Let us go hence.” God and mammon cannot abide in the same house. Remember that you serve a jealous God, and be very careful not to provoke him to jealousy. Every idol must be cast down, or his comfortable presence cannot be enjoyed.

Coldness of heart towards God is another cause of the loss of enjoyment of his favour. When the heart grows spiritually cold, the whole being soon gets out of order. If the heart be warm and vigorous, the pulsations throughout the entire frame will be kept strong and healthy; but when the heart is cold, the blood will be chilled in the veins, and all the powers will be benumbed and paralyzed. So, beloved, see to it that, in the power of the Holy Spirit, you maintain the love of your espousals, that pristine warmth of holy affection which you delighted to manifest when first you knew the Lord; or else you will soon have to cry, “Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses?” Live near to God, and this shall not often be your cry; but if you backslide from him, this shall soon be your sorrowful enquiry. If you have to mourn an absent God, seek to know the reason why he has withdrawn himself from you, and repent of the sin that has separated you from him.

Now, lastly, let us remember that the divine covenant remains firm and steadfast under all changing circumstances. The covenant made with David was established by the oath of God, and Paul, writing to the Hebrews, says that “God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”

For our consolation, let us remember, first, that the parties to the covenant are always the same. God has not one set of chosen ones to-day, and another set to-morrow. In the Lamb’s book of life, there are no erasures of certain names, and the insertion of others in their place. No, beloved, that is not the way in which the Lord deals with his elect; he does not play fast and loose with them like that. He does not love them one day, and hate them the next. Oh, no!

“Whom once he loves, he never leaves,

But loves them to the end.”

And, next, the seal of the covenant is always the same. It is sealed with the precious blood of Jesus; his one great sacrifice on Calvary made the covenant for ever sure.

“’Tis signed, and sealed, and ratified,

In all things ordered well.”

We do not seal the covenant, Christ himself has done that; it is his blood that makes the covenant sure to all for whom he stood as Surety and Substitute. This is our consolation even when we have no present enjoyment of the blessings that are secured to us by the covenant. Even the sealing of the Spirit is not the seal of the covenant, though it is to us the certain evidence of our interest in the covenant; it is like a seal to our copy of the covenant, the great deed itself, sealed with the blood of Jesus, is safely preserved in the archives of heaven where none can mutilate or steal or destroy it.

Further, the efficacy of the covenant is always the same. It is not like human covenants, which may or may not be fulfilled, or which may become void through lapse of time. This covenant is eternal, covering past, present, and future, and it shall be fulfilled to the last jot and tittle, for he who sware unto David will certainly perform all that he has promised to his own chosen people.

“The voice that rolls the stars along

Speaks all the promises.”

When God said, “Let there be light,” there was light; and when that same God says, “Let there be light in that dark soul,” the light at once enters the heart, and it is divinely illuminated. Thus it has come to pass that we, who were sometimes darkness, now are light in the Lord; and to us comes the apostolic injunction, “Walk as children of light.” The efficacy of the covenant does not depend upon us; if it did, it would be a poor, feeble, fickle thing that would fail us just when we needed it most. There would be no hope of our ever getting to heaven if we had to depend upon our own efforts, or our own merits, or anything of our own; our comfort arises from the fact that the covenant is made on our behalf by our great Representative and Redeemer, who will himself see that all that is guaranteed to us in the covenant is fulfilled in due season. There rolls the glorious chariot of salvation, in which all believers are riding to heaven. Death and hell cannot stop it, all the fears of any who are in it will not affect their eternal safety, and not one of them shall be found to be missing in the day when the roll of the redeemed is called in glory. Be of good courage, believer, for thou art saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Even though thou hast for a while to mourn the loss of the Lord’s former lovingkindnesses, search thine heart to see how far that loss has been caused by thine own sin, and then return unto the Lord with all thine heart, and he will renew to thee his former favours, and give to thee new mercies of which thou hast not as yet even dreamed.

As for those here who have no former lovingkindnesses of the Lord to which they can look back, I pray that this may be the beginning of better days to them. May they think of the mercies which the Lord has bestowed upon others, and may they cry unto him, “Lord, do to us as thou hast done to them; adopt us also into thy family as thy sons and thy daughters, and let us share in all the blessings that thou givest unto thy children!” Remember, dear friends, that it is by simple and sincere faith in the crucified Christ of Calvary that sinners are eternally saved; it is by his blood that we, who once were afar off, are now made nigh. Whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed or confounded; therefore, my hearer, believe thou on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and God shall be glorified. So may it be, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

Exposition by C. H. Spurgeon

PSALM 89

Verses 1, 2. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.*

Here is an eternal song concerning eternal mercy. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, so the saints’ praise for the never-ending mercy must itself be without end.

The psalmist has made known God’s faithfulness to all generations, not only by speaking of it, but especially by writing of it, for that which is written abides when that which is merely spoken is soon forgotten. God’s faithfulness concerns heaven as well as earth, and he will establish it “in the very heavens.”

3, 4. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

The complete fulfilment of this glorious covenant promise concerns, not only David and his seed, but “great David’s greater Son” and his spiritual seed, the chosen people with whom the Lord has made “an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure.”

5-7. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.

A holy reverence is becoming in all who draw near to the thrice-holy Jehovah, whether in the upper sanctuary or in the congregation of the saints on earth. In his gracious condescension, he allows his people wondrous familiarity in their approaches to him, yet this must never make them forget the infinite distance that separates the Creator from even the highest and holiest of his creatures.

8-10. O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

The ruling of the raging of the sea, the stilling of the stormy waves, and the breaking and scattering of the might of Egypt are used by the psalmist to illustrate the omnipotence of Jehovah, before which the mightiest monarchy on earth had no more power than if it had been a corpse.

11, 12. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Herman shall rejoice in thy name.

The psalmist rejoices in the Lord as the Creator and Possessor of the heavens above and the earth beneath. “All things were created by him, and for him.”

13. Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.†

Amid all the varying expressions that the psalmist uses, he continues to admire and magnify God’s majestic might. Whether for the defence of his people or the overthrow of his enemies, his arm is mighty; yea, more than that, for it is almighty. No human language can adequately describe that glorious hand which has only to be opened to satisfy the desire of every living thing.

14. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

What blessed heralds does the Lord employ! “Mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” It is these gracious attributes, especially as they are displayed in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that enable us even to welcome those sterner attributes, “justice and judgment,” which are the habitation of God’s throne.

15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound:

There are many that hear it, but perhaps not one out of a thousand of them that really know it. The hearing of the joyful sound is not sufficient to make people blessed, though faith cometh by hearing; it is the understanding of what is meant by the glad tidings, it is the reception of the gospel message which brings immediate and eternal blessedness.

15. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.

The practical effect of a saving knowledge of the gospel is a holy walk, a walk of communion with God. Dear friends, do you walk in that way? Do you know the joyful sound? Can you discern the difference between the true and the false gospel? Can you distinguish the contrast between the harmonies of the one and the discords of the other? Do you know the inner secret of the heavenly music? Has it ever vibrated in your own souls? Happy are ye if this be the case with you.

The psalmist goes on to show how such people are blessed.

16. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day:

They shall not have mere passing fits of joy, but they shall be glad from morning to night.

16. And in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

They shall mount to a higher platform of joy than that on which the men of the world are standing; they shall be lifted up in soul and spirit by the righteousness of God, especially as they see how that great attribute guarantees their eternal salvation.

17-19. For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted. For the Lord is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king. Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.*

This is the very marrow of the gospel; this is indeed “the joyful sound” which makes us truly blessed,-the fact that God did, of old, exalt “One chosen out of the people,” with whom he entered into an eternal covenant, pledging himself to bless us through him.

20. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

David was the means of bringing great blessings to the people over whom he ruled. God blessed the whole nation through him, and the covenant made with David was virtually a covenant made with all the people of Israel. In like manner, the covenant made with “great David’s greater Son” is virtually made with all those for whom he stood as Surety and Representative. The essence of the gospel lies in the covenant which God has made with his Son, Jesus Christ, on behalf of all his chosen people.

Notice that God found David, and anointed him as king, even as he has taken the Lord Jesus, and anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows.

21. With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

The omnipotence of God is manifested in Christ, for he is “the power of God” as well as “the wisdom of God.”

22. The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

“The son of wickedness” did afflict David for a while, but afterwards he came to the throne, and ruled gloriously over God’s ancient people. So is it with our covenant Lord and King. The wicked cannot now exact upon him, nor afflict him; he sits upon the throne in glory far beyond their reach.

23. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

Who can ever stand up in opposition to Christ? He is that stone of which he himself sail, “Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”

24. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

God is ever with his Son, Jesus Christ, in the plenitude of his faithfulness and mercy, to make him a continual blessing to his people.

25. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

Our King is a great King, and he rules over sea and land; there is no bound to his dominions, and there will be no end to his righteous rule.

26. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

All God’s children are a praying family, and his only-begotten and well-beloved Son sets a noble example in this respect as well as in everything else. He is still the great Intercessor before the throne of his Father.

27. Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

Christ is indeed “higher than the kings of the earth,” for he is “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Do not your hearts rejoice as you think of this blessed King with whom God has entered into a covenant to bless all who are trusting in him, even the very poorest and feeblest of them? What a joy it is to us to see Jesus striking hands with the Eternal, and entering into an everlasting covenant on our behalf!

28, 29. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

There can never be an end to the throne of Christ, for his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; and there can never be an end to the family of Christ, for his seed shall endure for ever.

30-32. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then-

“Then”-what? “I will destroy them, and sweep them away for ever”? Oh, no! “Then”-

32. Will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

There is no sword in God’s hand to be used against his own children, but he does hold a rod, and that rod makes us smart, and causes the blueness of the wound which cleanseth away evil. We are grieved when we feel its strokes, yet there is covenant mercy in them. The rod of the covenant is one of the best things that ever comes to us, since it whips our folly out of us. God grant us grace to kiss the rod whenever we transgress against him, and he visits our iniquity with stripes!

33. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

Notice the use of the word “him” here, as if it was intended to teach us that God’s love to his dear Son, and to his people in him, is so great that, though he may chasten us for our transgressions, he will never cast us away.

34-37. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

In the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the dynasty of David shall endure for ever, and the spiritual seed of Christ shall also never come to an end. By the most binding covenant, and the most solemn pledge, and the most sacred oath, Jehovah has guaranteed the everlasting kingdom of his Son, and the eternal endurance of “his seed.”

38-45. But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin. All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours. Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle. Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.

Spiritually, this sad description reveals the sorrowful state of the professing church of Christ in the times in which we live.

46. How long, Lord? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?

That was the wisest thing for the psalmist to do, and it is our best course also; in the darkest days of the most sinful age we can always resort to prayer, let us do so.

47, 48. Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

The brevity of life makes it all the more important that we should waste none of it, and that we should appeal to the Lord to interpose speedily on the behalf of the truth and those who love it.

49-52. Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth? Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Amen and Amen.

The Psalm ends upon its keynote of praise unto Jehovah. There had been much to sadden the writer, as there is much to sadden us in these days; but we can unite with him in saying, “Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Amen and Amen.”