PERSONAL HOLINESS. (continued 2)

This text appears to throw great light on the subject, for in the first clause the Psalmist actually pleads before God the recognised fact of a past and present consecration. He does not say, ‘I wish to be Thine,’ or ‘I hope to be Thine,’ or ‘I pray Thee to make me Thine,’ but he says, ‘Lord, I am Thine,’ and no one could say that unless he had already yielded himself to God. But it is not consecration only that is expressed when the believer says, ‘Lord, I am Thine;’ for the consecration of which I was speaking last Sunday is a human act,—it is our own surrender of our own powers to God; and when we look closely at anything we do we may well remember the words of the prophet, ‘How weak is thine heart!’ If we can truly say in faith, ‘Lord, I am Thine,’ we must rely on something a great deal better than our own consecration of ourselves. We belong to the Lord Jesus by virtue of the eternal covenant to which He referred when He said, ‘My Father which gave them Me is greater than all;’ we belong to Him because we have been made His own by redemption, so as to be parts of the ‘Church which He has purchased with His own blood;’ we belong to Him because we have been separated unto Him by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, and so been ‘sanctified unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ;’ we belong to Him, for we have been made His own children by adoption, so that He speaks of us, saying, ‘I and the children whom Thou hast given Me;’ and we belong to Him, for we have been solemnly signed and sealed unto Him in our baptism, and in our own persons have deliberately ratified the covenant. So that when we say, ‘Lord, I am Thine,’ we do not merely refer to some one particular transaction of our own at some one particular time, but we look at the whole counsel and covenant of God,—at the great and perfect work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost,—before which any feeble effort of our own minds is absolutely nothing; and, reviewing it all, we kneel down, with our hearts full of praise, and wonder, and say with the deepest thanksgiving, ‘Lord, I am Thine.’

It is clear, therefore, that these words, while they include personal consecration on our own part, express that which is infinitely greater: namely, the great grace of God Himself in redeeming us by the precious blood of the Lamb, and separating us as a holy people unto Himself. And now follows the question: When in this highest sense we can kneel down and really say with truth, ‘Lord, I am Thine,’ what is to follow? The words of the text supply us with a most important answer; for they teach that one of the great results will be believing prayer, and they show that when we are really His, and when we know that we are His, we are not to rest content with that sacred and unspeakable privilege, but to kneel down afresh and say, ‘Lord, I am Thine: save me.’

It is clear from this passage that there was something which David still wanted, although he was the Lord’s. He was safe, but he still prayed to be saved; he had been made the Lord’s own dear child, but he still prayed, ‘Save me.’ Let us consider, then, what he wanted, and what he did; and may God the Holy Ghost so apply the passage to our souls, that we may know the double blessing of being His and being saved through His grace!

I. What he wanted; or, in other words, what he prayed for when he prayed that he might be saved. There appears to be no reference in the psalm to temporal deliverance, so we need not consider the prayer as referring to it. It was for spiritual gifts that he prayed, and from spiritual difficulties that he desired to be saved. And when we consider these spiritual gifts it is very clear that it was not acceptance, or reconciliation, for which he prayed, for his mind must have been quite at rest upon that point when he said, ‘Lord, I am Thine.’ What he was longing for was personal holiness,—that is, a complete conformity to the perfect will of that holy God to whom he belonged and whom he loved. You see this throughout the psalm. He does not pray, ‘Pardon me,’ ‘Receive me,’ or ‘Blot out my transgressions,’ as he does in some other psalms; but he does pray again and again that God’s statutes might be written on his heart: ‘Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Thy statutes:’ ‘Teach me Thy statutes;’ ‘Deal bountifully with Thy servant, that I may live and keep Thy word;’ ‘Quicken me after Thy loving-kindness; so shall I keep the testimony of Thy mouth.’ The whole psalm is full of such prayers, and they show us perfectly clearly that the salvation for which he prayed was the power for holiness from God. So the psalm also teaches us what was the difficulty in the attainment of his wish. There are some allusions to enemies, from which we may infer that there were persons about him who hindered his progress. But the psalm shows clearly that the real difficulty lay in himself, and in the deadness of his own heart. No less than nine times does he pray, ‘Quicken me.’ And what did that prayer imply? Was it not that he was conscious of a dead, cold state of heart, and was longing for life and warmth? Had there been no element of deadness in his soul, he would not have required to be quickened; but there was that element of deadness, and he himself urged it as a reason for his prayer, when he said (verse 25), ‘My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken Thou me according to Thy word.’ It was the deep corruption of his human nature which continued to cling to him, even when he was the Lord’s, against which he prayed when he said, ‘Lord, I am Thine: save me.’

And now arises the most deeply important practical question: Are we, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, at the very time that we can truly say ‘Lord, I am Thine,’ to be prepared to meet the same difficulty? In answer to that question, I have not one moment’s hesitation in replying that we are. I have read and heard that original sin in certain persons is ‘destroyed,’ is ‘dead, though capable of revival;’ is ‘rendered inert,’ and is ‘in suspense;’ but I do not believe one word of it. It is far too large a subject for me to attempt to discuss fully in one short sermon: I have not time to give you more than two passages, but I hope they will be sufficient. In Romans viii.,—that grand chapter, so full of the grand tidings of safety, beginning with no condemnation and ending with no separation,—the chapter which some claim as descriptive of what they term ‘the higher life,’—in the middle of that chapter we find a description of the sons of God who are led by the Spirit. Now observe carefully the effect of that leading of God’s children by the Holy Ghost. We find it in verse 13: ‘If ye do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live: for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.’ The word rendered ‘do mortify’ means ‘are habitually putting to death’ (θανατοῦτε). But if original sin were dead already, or inert, why should the children of God, by the power of the Holy Ghost, be habitually putting to death its deeds? The fact that its deeds are to be habitually put to death is a perfectly clear proof that the root of the evil is not dead already.

One passage more, and I have chosen it because I think it of peculiar importance in its bearing on what is called the ‘higher life.’ You remember that wonderful insight into heaven which St. Paul describes in 2 Cor. xii., and you remember how it was followed up by the thorn in the flesh,—‘the messenger of Satan,’ given ‘to buffet him.’ Now why was it thus followed? Why was this messenger of Satan let loose upon God’s chosen servant immediately after this wonderful blessing? He himself tells us the reason: ‘Lest I should be exalted beyond measure.’ In other words, he was in danger of pride of heart. He was caught up into the third heaven, but he carried with him even there so much of the old evil of his fallen nature that when he came down he was in such danger of being puffed up with pride that it was an act of mercy in God even to permit him to be buffeted by Satan’s messenger, in order to keep him in a humble spirit, depending upon grace. Surely we learn the lesson that, whatever be our spiritual attainments, and whatever God has taught us of His mercy, we have still to strive as David did against the active working of indwelling sin, and to pray as he did, ‘Lord, I am Thine: save me.’

II. We see then what the Psalmist wanted; let us consider next what he did.

(1.) When he was conscious that his soul was cleaving to the dust, he was not content to leave it there. He did not say that it could not be helped, and so make it an excuse for sin. He did not do as some people do with reference to their temper,—say they have the misfortune of a bad temper, and therefore consider themselves not to be blamed when they break out in a passion, or settle down in a sulky fit. He resolutely, determinately, and prayerfully grappled with the difficulty. He was conscious of sin, but he could not endure the thought of it. He could say from the bottom of his heart, ‘I hate and abhor lying; but Thy law do I love and it was because he loved the law, and hated the sin, that he came before God with the cry, ‘Lord, I am Thine: save me!’ So we may be perfectly sure that if a person be really born of God, the knowledge of indwelling sin will never lead him to settle down in the apathy of hopelessness; but will arouse him, by the sense of danger, to watch, to pray, to trust, to strive, to conquer, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the power of the Holy Ghost.

(2.) But while David was thus energetic in his struggle, and allowed no compromise with sin, he was evidently brought to the acknowledgment of his own helplessness. With reference to the past he could say, ‘I have sought Thy precepts;’ and with reference to the present, ‘I love Thy commandments above gold: yea, than much fine gold.’ But notwithstanding all his painstaking, he found he could not raise his own heart above the dust, and was still obliged to acknowledge the truth of the words, ‘No man hath quickened his own soul.’ Thus the words, ‘Lord, save me!’ implied that he had given up all hope of saving himself; and when we offer the same prayer, there is the same act of self-renunciation as well as faith. I do not say that we shall give up the most diligent and devout endeavours after holiness, for we shall ‘press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus;’ but that in the midst of it all we shall both know and acknowledge our own utter helplessness; and thank God for that passage in Rom. v. 6, in which we are taught that ‘when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.’ I commend that ‘yet’ to the careful consideration of all those who are painfully conscious of their own inability to rise.

(3.) But while this prayer implied self-renunciation as well as trust, it implied on the other hand trust as well as self-renunciation. When we pray, ‘Lord, save me,’ we clearly recognise His saving power. We know (as we are taught in Heb. vii. 25) that ‘He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him and therefore we come to God by Him that we may be saved. The saving in that sense is exactly the same as the saving in the text. It is not the first acceptance of the repentant sinner seeking salvation, but it is the habitual saving throughout the life; for the point of the text is that it is continued to the uttermost, or to the end. It is a saving carried on after the first great saving act is complete. I am anxious to press this on your attention, because I am inclined to think that it is the secret of the fresh help which many persons appear to have lately received. I cannot say I am sure of it; for the statements on the subject are so confused, that it is almost impossible to disentangle them. It is possible therefore that I may be entirely mistaken. But, whether it is or not, you will see in a moment the vast difference between knowing that there is a Saviour able to save, and resting in a Saviour who is actually and continually engaged in saving you; between being anxious to obtain the help of a certain physician, and being under that physician’s care; between hanging on a wreck and seeing a life-boat near you, and being in the life-boat, and, though still beaten by the storm, safe in the strong arm of the Deliverer. Now this is our position in Christ Jesus. We are not seeking to reach the life-boat, for we are in it, as David was when he said, ‘Lord, I am Thine.’ The storm is not over, the harbour is not yet reached; but the harbour is in sight, and our Father is at the helm. David clearly prayed to Him as to one who had already begun His saving work, as you will clearly see if you compare the 88th and 93rd verses. In the 88th he prays, ‘Quicken me after Thy loving-kindness;’ and in the 93rd he shows that the quickening was already begun, for he says, ‘I will never forget Thy precepts, for with them Thou hast quickened me.’ You will see in a moment what an enormous difference this distinction must make in daily life. If you are looking up to Him as one from whom you are only seeking help, you may be perfectly sure of His sufficiency, but it will not satisfy the anxieties of your soul: but if you are actually enjoying His help, so that you can say, as the Psalmist did, ‘My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped,’ then you may add, as he did, ‘Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth, and with my song will I praise Him.’ Look on Him then as one who is engaged in bearing you home; acknowledge what He has done in the past, trust Him for what He will do in the future, and meanwhile rest in what He is doing now,—just as St. Paul did when, speaking of temporal deliverance, he said (2 Cor. i. 10), ‘Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver.’ That one verse brings before us the past, present, and future,—the ‘yesterday, to-day, and for ever,’—the Lord Jesus a very present help, and a help to the end. He has redeemed you by His own most precious blood, and saved you from all condemnation of the law: that is done and perfected for ever. He has sanctified, or separated, you in Christ Jesus, to be a purchased possession unto God: that is done likewise, and done for ever. He has begun a good work in you, and made you new creatures in Christ Jesus: that, too, is done, thanks to His mercy! He is now holding you in His hand, guiding you by His counsel, helping you by His power, and giving you the victory even over the indwelling sin which still lives, though He will not let it reign, within your heart. This is going on now: so that now, even now, He is quickening you, and when you are deeply and profoundly humbled for all that you have done and left undone, and when, under the painful conviction of indwelling sin, you are compelled to acknowledge that your ‘soul cleaveth unto the dust,’ you may still in happy, peaceful, loving trust, look up to Him who is even now bearing you in His arm, and say, ‘Lord, I am Thine: save me.’