Latest / Reformed Thinking / Holy Fear and Steadfast Love for God’s Word (Psalm 119:113–120) | Charles Spurgeon

Transcript

Holy Fear and Steadfast Love for God’s Word (Psalm 119:113–120) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Usually when you think about a fortress, there is a pretty
0:04
clear expectation of physical security.
0:07
You know, you picture those thick stone walls, a massive
0:11
iron gate, maybe a Moat. Right, the classic medieval
0:15
setup. Yeah, precisely.
0:16
The enemy is on the outside, you were on the inside.
0:19
And well, as long as those walls hold up against the battering
0:22
Rams, you are completely safe. Because the threat is external,
0:26
it is visible. The battle lines are, you know,
0:29
the clearly drawn on a map and it is entirely binary.
0:32
You are either inside the fortress, secure from the
0:34
arrows, or you are outside of it, just totally exposed to the
0:38
enemy. But then you step into the world
0:40
of the human mind, you step into the reality of spiritual
0:42
warfare, and suddenly that thick Stonewall is completely useless.
0:47
You are looking at a battleground where the enemy is.
0:49
Well, they're already inside the gates.
0:51
Yeah, the thread is sitting right there in the throne room
0:53
of your own thoughts dictating terms.
0:56
It is the absolute definition of an inside job.
0:59
It's a betrayal from within our very own nature.
1:01
The siege is not happening on the perimeter walls, you know.
1:04
It is happening in the intellect, the imagination and
1:07
the affections. Welcome to Reformed Thinking.
1:10
Today we are taking a deep dive into the source material found
1:13
in Charles Spurgeon's massive multi volume work, The Treasury
1:17
of David. Specifically, we're going to
1:19
look at his exposition of Psalm 119, verses 113 to 120, which is
1:24
historically known as the Samic Octave.
1:26
And the text we've compiled for this includes Spurgeon's own
1:29
insights. But they also bring in brilliant
1:32
historical commentary from 17th century Puritan thinkers and
1:35
theologians, men like Thomas Manton, William Cowper and
1:39
Thomas Chalmers. The mission for this deep dive
1:41
is to thoroughly examine the believers internal battle
1:44
against sin. We're going to look at the
1:46
absolute reliance on God's sustaining grace to survive that
1:49
battle. And finally, the holy awe
1:51
produced by God's righteous judgments.
1:54
But before we jump into the first verse, we really need to
1:56
establish the theological framework we're operating from
1:59
here. Right, the baseline.
2:00
Yeah, as the name of the show suggests, our discussion today
2:03
relies on Reformed theology. The writers we are studying and
2:07
our own perspectives as hosts align with the Westminster
2:10
Confession of Faith. So for you listening, that means
2:13
we are operating from a baseline that acknowledges total
2:16
depravity, the perseverance of the Saints, and the absolute
2:19
sovereignty of God in both His justice and His mercy.
2:22
We believe that mankind is fallen, that our minds are
2:25
tainted by sin, and that salvation is entirely a work of
2:29
divine grace from beginning to end.
2:31
And that framework is just, well, it's absolutely essential
2:34
to making sense of these verses. Oh, absolutely.
2:36
When you understand total depravity, you realize that sin
2:40
is not just a series of bad habits.
2:42
It is not just making external mistakes because you you last
2:46
information. Like math error.
2:48
Right, I mean spot on. It's not a math error.
2:51
Total depravity means that corruption is an infection
2:53
running through every single faculty of the human being.
2:57
Your invalid has fallen. Your imagination has fallen.
3:00
So when you read the specific section of Psalm 119, you are
3:03
reading the words of a man who understands his own inherent
3:07
corruption and his desperate minute by minute need for divine
3:11
intervention. Yes.
3:12
Now the previous section of Psalm 119 was highly practical.
3:15
It focused heavily on the feet, you know, walking in the right
3:18
path, avoiding the wrong steps, taking physical action.
3:22
But right here, at verse 113, the writer pivots directly away
3:25
from the feet and focuses on the heart and the mind.
3:28
It becomes intensely internal. It really does.
3:31
So why is inward emotion and thought treated as being just as
3:34
crucial as outward physical acts in the Reformed tradition?
3:38
Well, because outward acts are simply the fruit of what is
3:41
growing in the soil of the heart.
3:43
The Puritans, they were brilliant psychologists of the
3:45
human condition. They understood that if you only
3:48
police your external behavior, you were just painting over
3:52
rotten wood. The structural integrity of the
3:53
house is still completely compromised.
3:55
Precisely in our theological tradition, the law of God does
3:59
not just govern where your feet walk, it governs what your mind
4:02
entertains. Jesus made this incredibly clear
4:06
in the Sermon on the Mount when he equated unjust anger with
4:09
murder and lustful thoughts with adultery.
4:12
The internal life is The Fountainhead, yeah.
4:14
If the spring is polluted, every stream flowing from it will be
4:17
toxic. The psalmist recognizes that his
4:20
greatest danger is not the army camped outside his door.
4:24
It is the thought taking root inside his head.
4:26
That sets us up perfectly for verse 113.
4:29
It begins with a jarring statement.
4:31
I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.
4:34
Spurgeon points out that the writer is contrasting the fixed
4:37
Verity, the absolute truth of God's law, with the constantly
4:41
changing vanity of man's opinions.
4:43
And Spurgeon offers a really sharp of what he calls modern
4:45
thought. He argues that taking pride in
4:47
our own intellectual musings is just the old pride of the human
4:51
heart showing its face in a new century.
4:53
Which is pretty convicting honestly.
4:55
It is, Spurgeon identifies the sheer arrogance and human
4:58
reasoning. We we like to think that our
5:01
modern intellectual progress elevates us.
5:03
But Spurgeon argues that when a human being thinks his highest,
5:07
most polished thoughts, those thoughts are still as far below
5:10
divine revelation as the earth is beneath the heavens.
5:12
The law of God is a fixed rock. The opinions of men are shifting
5:16
sand, so hating vain thoughts means recognizing that your own
5:20
unguided intellect is a flawed, broken compass.
5:23
Right. And to really grasp what makes a
5:26
thought vain, we have to look at the historical commentary.
5:29
Here Theodore Hawk, a 17th century scholar, describes these
5:33
vain thoughts as double hearted imaginations.
5:35
Double hearted. Yeah, he uses the imagery of
5:38
branches shooting up confusedly in a tree.
5:40
Imagine a tree where the branches are just a chaotic
5:43
tangled mess blocking out the sunlight and choking each other
5:46
out. That is what a divided double
5:48
minded heart looks like. It lacks pruning.
5:50
It is a state of perpetual inner chaos.
5:53
You are trying to pursue God, but your mind is constantly
5:55
shooting off these wild branches of worldly desire, anxiety, or
5:59
pride. Thomas Watson, another prominent
6:02
Puritan, captures this beautifully when he talks about
6:05
our minds wandering during prayer.
6:08
He compares the human heart to Quicksilver or mercury.
6:11
Oh, that's a great analogy. It is.
6:13
If you press your finger on a drop of Mercury, it instantly
6:17
scatters into a dozen smaller drops.
6:19
It will not fix in one place. Watson calls these roaming
6:23
thoughts wandering stars. And Watson also quotes Jerome,
6:27
the early church father who complained bitterly about his
6:30
own wandering mind. Jerome said that sometimes right
6:34
in the middle of worship, his mind would just go walking in
6:36
the galleries or he would start casting up accounts.
6:39
Basically doing his taxes in his head while trying to pray.
6:42
Yeah, which is incredibly relatable for anyone listening
6:44
right now who struggles to focus during a Sunday service.
6:46
I know I do. Oh, absolutely.
6:48
Christopher Wordsworth adds another layer to this connecting
6:51
vain thoughts to skeptical doubts.
6:54
He defines it as halting between two opinions, constantly second
6:56
guessing God's promises. But we cannot treat these
6:59
wandering thought as harmless quirks of our psychology right
7:02
now. No, we really can't.
7:04
Thomas Manton provides a highly specific, granular breakdown of
7:08
the vain thoughts that engrossed the mind.
7:11
He categorizes them into 6 distinct sins of thought.
7:15
Yeah, it's a staggering diagnostic list.
7:17
The first one he identifies is uncleanness.
7:21
He defines this as speculative wickedness that paves the way
7:24
for active sin. Speculative wickedness.
7:27
That is a very polite 17th century way of describing the
7:30
mental rehearsal of sin. It really is.
7:33
The physical act always begins in the theater of the mind.
7:36
You play out the scenario, You imagine the conversation.
7:39
You visualize the action long before your body ever moves to
7:42
commit the deed. You are testing the waters of
7:44
rebellion in an environment where you think no one can see
7:47
you. That's spot on.
7:49
The second category, Manton gives his revenge.
7:51
He compares holding a grudge to keeping liquor until it's ours.
7:55
You dwell on your discontents until they turn to vinegar in
7:57
your soul. And the terrifying thing about
7:59
revenge, as Manon notes, is that purposes of retaliation are
8:03
actually sweet and pleasant to our carnal nature.
8:06
We enjoy nursing our grievances. We build mental courtrooms where
8:10
we sit as the judge, we call the witnesses and the person who
8:13
wronged us is always found guilty.
8:15
We execute them in our minds 100 times over.
8:18
Yes, that's it, perfectly. Manton's third category is envy.
8:23
He calls it an evil disease that feeds on the mind.
8:27
He uses the historical example of King Saul from the Old
8:30
Testament. Oh, right, David and Goliath.
8:33
Yeah, when Saul heard the woman singing the David had slain his
8:36
ten thousands, while Saul had only slain his thousands.
8:39
That single thought lodged in Saul's mind.
8:41
It ate away at him in secret, breeding a hatred that consumed
8:44
his entire reign and eventually, his sanity.
8:47
Envy happens completely in the dark.
8:49
It is a parasite that drains your joy over what God has given
8:51
you because you are fixated on what God gave someone else.
8:54
The 4th sin of thought is pride. This is where we entertain our
8:58
hearts with whispers of vanity and self conceit.
9:00
Like playing the hero in your own Daydream.
9:02
Exactly. I mean, yes, absolutely.
9:05
It's imagining the applause of other people.
9:07
It is crafting hypothetical scenarios where your intellect
9:10
or your generosity is publicly recognized.
9:13
That one hits close to home. It does for all of us.
9:15
Then Fifth, Manton lists covetousness.
9:20
These are vain musings that withdraw the heart even during
9:23
God's worship. Manton references the prophet
9:25
Ezekiel, who criticized the people for sitting before God
9:29
and listening to his words while their hearts went after their
9:31
covetousness. So you are physically in a Pew,
9:34
but your mind is checking your investment portfolio or planning
9:36
a purchase. And the 6th category Manton list
9:40
is distrust. This one might be the most
9:43
damaging of all because it is a direct assault on the character
9:46
of God. How does he define it?
9:48
He says distrust consists of distracting motions against
9:51
God's Providence. It is sitting around calculating
9:54
all the ways God might feel you tomorrow.
9:56
Oh man, Yeah, it is mentally rehearsing worst case scenarios
9:59
and acting as if God is not on his throne.
10:02
You are burning emotional energy trying to solve problems that
10:05
have not even happened yet, operating under the assumption
10:07
that you are completely alone. So all six of these uncleanness,
10:11
revenge, envy, pride, covetousness, and distrust are
10:14
what the psalmist means by vain thoughts.
10:16
Yes, and Thomas Goodwin takes the definition of vanity even
10:20
further. He says vanity is characterized
10:22
by unprofitableness. Our natural thoughts will not
10:26
stand us in any stead during times of temptation, distress,
10:29
or on the day of judgement. They offer zero return on
10:33
investment. Goodwin also calls them light.
10:36
He says they float at the top of the mine like scum on a boiling
10:40
pot of water. They are full of folly,
10:42
inconstancy, popping like bubbles and outright wickedness.
10:46
The imagery of scum and bubbles perfectly illustrates the lack
10:49
of substance in our natural thinking.
10:51
Scum rises to the top, but it has no nutritional value.
10:55
A bubble takes up space. It might even catch the light
10:57
and look colorful for a fraction of a second, but there's
10:59
absolutely nothing solid inside it.
11:01
It's just air. Right when the pressure of
11:03
reality hits, the bubble manishes.
11:05
Our vain thoughts operate the same way.
11:08
They occupy massive amounts of our mental space, but they offer
11:11
zero spiritual nourishment or defense when an actual crisis
11:15
arrives. Thomas Guy That brings up a
11:16
compelling point about what he calls our vacant hours.
11:20
Think about the time you spend driving to work, doing the
11:23
dishes, or standing in line at the grocery store.
11:26
The downtime. Yeah, Scott says these
11:29
unprofitable imaginations naturally rush in to fill the
11:32
void during those hours of solitude.
11:35
It is a matter of mental physics.
11:38
Nature abhors a vacuum. If your mind is empty, the weeds
11:42
will automatically start growing.
11:44
That brings up a massive practical question for you, the
11:47
listener. How do you police your own
11:49
daydreaming? I think of the mind like a
11:51
garden. You cannot just passively sit
11:53
there and hope the weeds go away on their own.
11:56
If you leave a patch of bird alone, weeds will automatically
11:58
take over. You do not have to plant them.
12:00
Stephen Charnock offers a brilliant mechanical solution to
12:03
this. He says you must ballast the
12:04
heart with love to God. You have to deliberately crowd
12:07
out the weeds by planting something heavier and more
12:10
substantial. That concept of ballast is the
12:12
key. If a massive cargo ship is
12:15
sailing across the ocean with an empty hull, it will be tossed
12:18
wildly by every small wave and gust of wind.
12:21
It sits too high in the water. It needs weight.
12:23
Right. The ship needs heavy cargo or
12:25
actual water pumped into its ballast tanks to give it the
12:29
necessary weight to cut through the wave smoothly.
12:32
Charnock argues that a deep theological affection for God
12:35
acts as that heavyweight in the hull of your soul, keeping you
12:38
steady. When you deliberately fill your
12:41
mind with the truth of God's law, you are adding ballast.
12:44
The vain thoughts will still try to intrude, but when your mind
12:47
is heavily weighted with love for God, those frivolous
12:51
thoughts are quickly identified as foreign invaders and turned
12:54
out of doors. But even with that ballast, the
12:56
believer eventually realizes the sheer volume of these vain
12:59
thoughts attacking the mind all day long.
13:02
They recognize a terrifying truth.
13:04
They cannot win this battle by their own strength.
13:06
No, they can't. The mind is a leaky ship, and
13:09
the water is constantly rushing in faster than you can bail it
13:11
out. This realization drives us to
13:14
the absolute need for divine shelter.
13:16
Which brings us to verse 114. The psalmist cries out that
13:20
weren't my hiding place in my shield.
13:21
I hope in my word. Notice the mechanism here.
13:24
David does not run to a theological concept to escape
13:27
his own mind. He flees directly to the person
13:30
of God himself. Yes, when David is overwhelmed
13:33
by the spiritual assault of his own internal corruption, he
13:35
casts himself upon the real presence of a triune God, and
13:39
the protection he finds there has a dual nature, which the
13:42
commentators highlight as both secrecy and act of defense.
13:46
The hiding place provides the secrecy and the Shields provides
13:50
the act of defense. George Horn gives us a vigid
13:53
picture of the hiding place. He compares it to a hen hiding
13:57
her offspring under her wings when she sees a bird of prey
14:01
hovering in the sky. The little chicks do not run out
14:03
and try to fight the hawk. Right.
14:05
They lack the talons and the strength for that battle.
14:08
Their only survival strategy is to completely disappear under
14:11
the shadow of their mother. While the hiding place provides
14:13
concealment, the shield provides impenetrable defense.
14:17
Thomas Manton breaks down the physics of a truly excellent
14:20
shield. He says it must have three
14:21
properties to be effective. First, its largeness.
14:24
It must be broad enough to hide the entire person from the darts
14:27
flung at them makes. Second, it's hardness.
14:30
It must be completely impenetrable, answering to the
14:33
invincible power of God's Providence.
14:36
A wooden shield might stop an arrow, but it will shatter under
14:39
a heavy blow. God's shield never fractures.
14:42
And the third property. 3rd A hard shield actually beats the
14:45
darts back upon the enemy who threw them.
14:47
God does not just absorb the attack, He reflects the kinetic
14:51
energy of the evil back upon the forces of darkness.
14:55
Wow. Ralph Robinson, an expert
14:57
Puritan writer, filters this entire verse through a strictly
15:01
Christological lens. He looks at Jesus Christ and
15:04
provides 5 specific qualifications that make Christ
15:07
the ultimate hiding place. Let's walk through Robinson's
15:10
list, because the way he applies this the believer security is
15:13
staggering. Number one is strength.
15:15
Christ is the Rock of Ages. Robinson points out that paper
15:18
houses will never make good hiding places.
15:20
If your theology is made of paper, if your view of Jesus is
15:24
just a mild moral teacher, the devil will punch right through
15:27
it. You need a fortress made of
15:29
solid rock to withstand the artillery of hell.
15:32
Absolutely. Number 2 is height.
15:34
A hiding place must be extremely high.
15:37
Low houses are easily scaled by an invading army using siege
15:41
ladders. So Christ is elevated.
15:43
Yeah, Robinson notes that Christ is the Jacob's ladder that
15:46
reaches from earth to heaven. He is elevated far beyond the
15:49
reach of human schemes or demonic assaults.
15:52
No creature can scale those high walls.
15:54
When you are hidden in Christ, you are lifted out of the
15:57
horizontal battlefield entirely. #3 is secret places.
16:01
The more secret of places, the safer it is.
16:04
Robinson notes that Christ has hidden chambers that no creature
16:07
can ever find. He references the Song of
16:09
Solomon, Speaking of the dove in the secret places of the stairs.
16:12
Right. The secular world cannot
16:14
understand the comfort and peace a believer possesses because
16:17
that peace is hidden inside the secret, unmapped chambers of
16:20
Christ's presence. It is classified territory.
16:23
The 4th qualification is faithfulness, which is critical
16:26
for actual security. A false hearted protector is
16:29
actually worse than an open pursuer.
16:31
Oh for sure, if you hide in a massive fortress, but the
16:34
commander of that fortress can be bribed by your enemy to open
16:37
the gates in the middle of the night, you are doomed.
16:40
But Christ is the faithful witness.
16:42
He cannot be bribed to surrender a single creature who comes to
16:46
hide in him. He would die, and indeed he did
16:50
die before he would betray the trust of one of his sheep.
16:53
And the 5th qualification is diligence.
16:55
A sleepy guard can betray a Garrison just as easily as a
16:58
Faithless 1. If the watchman falls asleep at
17:00
his post, the enemy walks right in without firing a shot.
17:03
But Christ never slumbers, Robinson says.
17:06
Christ has intelligencers, his own eyes running to and fro
17:10
throughout the whole earth. He sees every contrivance, every
17:13
trap being set for his people long before the trap is even
17:16
sprung. When you combine that strength,
17:18
height, secrecy, faithfulness, and diligence, you realize that
17:22
hoping in God's Word is not some vague optimistic wishing.
17:26
It is an ironclad guarantee based on the nature of the
17:28
protector. The second-half of verse 114
17:31
says, I hope in thy word. This hope is generated entirely
17:35
by the character of the God who built the hiding place.
17:37
William Grant has a beautiful quote about the mechanics of
17:40
this hope. He calls hope the first born,
17:43
the last buried child of foreseeing man.
17:46
He points out that without hope reflecting, men and women cannot
17:49
be truly happy. You might have passed joys to
17:52
remember or present joys to experience right now, but if the
17:55
future looks dark and threatening, those present joys
17:58
taste bitter. But how does this hope actually
18:01
act as a quietest A silencer for our fret and worry?
18:05
It silences worry because it shifts the burden of your
18:08
security entirely off your own shoulders and onto the shoulders
18:12
of a sovereign God. Think about your own anxieties.
18:15
When you are fretful, you are usually trying to mentally
18:18
manage circumstances over which you have absolutely no physical
18:21
control. Hope in God's Word acts as a
18:23
silencer because it is a definitive declaration that the
18:26
outcome is already secured by a God who cannot lie.
18:29
You not have to figure out how to defeat the enemy.
18:31
You only have to run into the hiding place and let the Rock of
18:33
Ages absorb the impact. Once you are safe inside that
18:37
secret hiding place, you begin to realize that maintaining this
18:40
massive peace requires strictly monitoring who is allowed inside
18:45
the gates with you. You do not invite the enemy into
18:48
the bunker. And that is exactly what David
18:50
does next in verse 115, establishing the outer boundary,
18:54
the psalmist declares, Depart for me evil doers, for I will
18:57
keep the commandments of my God. Spurgeon observes that David is
19:01
actively purging his palace of parasites.
19:03
Parasites. Yeah, David is a king, and kings
19:06
are constantly surrounded by flatterers who will break God's
19:09
laws in secret or pretending to be loyal subjects in public.
19:13
David knows he must sweep them out of his house to maintain his
19:16
own integrity. In doing so, Spurgeon says,
19:18
David is anticipating Christ's final judgement.
19:21
Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
19:24
The necessity of holy separation is a major theme for these
19:26
writers. They understood the raw
19:28
psychology of pure influence. George Swinnick uses brilliant
19:31
agricultural metaphors to explain the mechanism of this
19:34
influence. He compares evil company to
19:37
weeds choking out good corn. If you put the best, most
19:41
expensive seed in the world, but you surround it with noxious
19:44
weeds, the good corn will never thrive.
19:47
The weeds will steal all the nutrients, the water and the
19:50
sunlight from the soil. Swinnick also references a local
19:53
historical legend about the mountain Kadish, claiming that
19:56
any vine planted near it would wither and die because the soil
19:59
itself was fundamentally toxic. Swinnick's point is that you
20:02
cannot marry yourself to God's commands while maintaining a
20:06
romance with wicked companions. The two are mutually exclusive.
20:10
William Cowper points out a beautiful, subtle detail in this
20:13
verse. He notes the unique use of the
20:15
pronoun my in the phrase my God. Out of this entire massive Psalm
20:20
of 176 verses, this is the only time the exact phrase my God
20:25
occurs. It shows the intensely personal,
20:27
covenantal relationship the believer has with the Lord.
20:30
Because God is his God, He cannot tolerate the presence of
20:33
those who openly hate his King. The danger of bad company was
20:36
recognized even by Pagan philosophers, which proves it is
20:40
a universal law of human nature. John Edwards provides some
20:44
fascinating historical anecdotes to illustrate this.
20:47
He notes that the Roman poet Horus believed that sailing on a
20:51
yacht with a profane person would literally cause the boat
20:54
to sink. The pagans believe that
20:56
associating with someone who angered the gods would bring a
21:00
physical curse down on everyone nearby.
21:03
They understood collateral damage.
21:05
Edwards also mentions the Greek myth of Theseus and Parithus, 2
21:09
intimate friends who loved each other so much that they went
21:11
down to hell together. They perished simply for
21:14
company's sake. And then Edwards gives a true
21:16
Christian example from early church history, the story of the
21:19
apostle John fleeing a public bath house because he saw the
21:22
heretic Cerenthus inside. John ran out immediately,
21:25
refusing to be under the same roof as a man who denied the
21:27
divinity of Christ, fearing the structural roof proof might
21:30
collapse on them both in judgement.
21:32
But I am struggling with this strict separation idea.
21:34
Let me push back here. If Swinek says any vine planted
21:38
near Kaddish dies, how does a modern believer actually
21:41
function in the workplace or the neighborhood?
21:44
That's a very fair question. How do you reconcile this severe
21:47
command? Depart from me evildoers with
21:51
the clear Christian call to evangelize the lost Jesus
21:54
famously ate with tax collectors and sinners.
21:57
Are we supposed to form a holy bunker, lock the door, and never
22:01
speak to anyone who doesn't adhere to the Westminster
22:03
Confession? Because that seems to directly
22:06
contradict the Great Commission. That is the crucial tension of
22:08
the Christian life, and the resolution lies in understanding
22:11
the nature of the relationship and the direction of the
22:13
influence. Evangelism is a rescue mission.
22:16
It is running into a burning building to pull someone out.
22:19
OK, what the psalmist is talking about here is your inner circle.
22:22
He's talking about the people who shape your core decisions,
22:25
your affections, and your daily habits.
22:27
As the Puritan writers clarify, you do not eat bread with
22:30
traitors when you were trying to organize the defense of the
22:33
King's castle. Jesus ate with sinners as a
22:36
physician healing the sick, not as a companion participating in
22:39
their sickness. That's right, he maintained
22:41
complete moral authority in those interactions.
22:45
The command to say depart from me is about preserving the
22:49
sanctuary of your own heart. It means you do not allow people
22:52
who are actively hostile to God's law to become your primary
22:56
counselors, your deepest confidants, or your closest
22:58
companions. If you do, their hostility will
23:02
inevitably cool your own love for the law.
23:05
That distinction makes perfect sense.
23:06
It is about who has a seat at the advisory table of your life.
23:10
But here is the terrifying reality.
23:13
Even when you are entirely alone, having successfully
23:15
kicked out all the evil doers and bad influences, your
23:18
greatest threat remains your own frail nature.
23:21
Even in total isolation, you will fall without God's constant
23:24
act of grip. This takes us to the plea for
23:26
sustaining grace found in verses 116 and 117.
23:30
The verse is read. Uphold me according unto thy
23:33
word, that I may live. Hold down me up, and I shall be
23:35
safe. Notice the desperate, pleading
23:37
tone. The safety of the psalmist is
23:39
talking about is not based on a deposit of grace he received 10
23:43
years ago at his conversion. It is entirely dependent on
23:47
present continuous active grace being supplied in the current
23:51
moment. The writers of the Westminster
23:54
Confession hammered this point home when detailing the
23:57
perseverance of the Saints. The believer has 0 inherent
24:01
ability to stand upright on their own.
24:04
William Cowper states that our spiritual life stands only as
24:07
long as the soul is being actively quickened by the Holy
24:09
Spirit. If the Spirit withdraws his
24:12
upholding hand, we collapse immediately.
24:14
Richard Greenham goes further, noting that spiritual life is
24:17
measured exclusively by the death of sin.
24:19
If you only look at your physical ability to eat, drink,
24:22
walk around or reason, Greenham says, you are no different from
24:25
the brute beasts or the heathen. True life is defined by God
24:29
holding you up in holiness. To visualize the mechanics of
24:32
this total dependency, we have to look at the brilliant analogy
24:35
provided by HG Salter. He compares the Christian soul
24:38
to a kite soaring high in the sky.
24:40
I love this analogy. It's so vivid.
24:43
If you look at a tight way up in the air, you have to realize it
24:46
is in a preternatural state. It is existing in an environment
24:49
completely foreign to its own nature.
24:52
Wood, string and paper do not naturally belong in the sky.
24:56
They belong on the ground. Ulter oints out that the kite
24:59
has absolutely no internal engine.
25:01
It has no ability to generate, lift or fly on its own.
25:04
It is completely kept aloft by three external factors working
25:08
in harmony, the wind blowing against it, the string tying it
25:11
to the ground, and a hand firmly holding that string.
25:14
If the hand let's go or the wind stops, the kite does not just
25:17
float gently in the clouds, The relentless, unforgiving law of
25:21
gravity violently pulls it back down to the dirt.
25:24
Soldier says the soul of the believer is identical to that
25:27
kite. We have the exact same
25:29
gravitational pull toward the earth, towards sin, that we ever
25:32
had. We are raised to a heavenly
25:34
state and kept there solely by the invisible almighty hand of
25:37
God. If he were to let go for one
25:40
fraction of a second, we would plunge back into total ruin.
25:43
That analogy perfectly illustrates the Reformed
25:45
doctrine of preservation. We persevere only because we are
25:49
preserved. The tension on the string is our
25:52
only lifeline. And how does God actively hold
25:55
his people up? How does He maintain his grip on
25:58
that string? James Vaughn provides A
26:00
fascinating list of the methods God uses to maintain our
26:03
spiritual altitude. Let's unpack those.
26:05
The first is through the preacher's Word, a message
26:08
spoken on a Sunday morning that hits your conscience exactly
26:12
sorry, right when you were about to make a disastrous decision.
26:14
The timing is just perfect. Yeah, the second is through the
26:18
sacraments, the tangible ordinances of Baptism and
26:21
communion that physically feed our faith.
26:23
Vaughn also mentions that God upholds us through a specific
26:27
scripture striking the mind when we were sitting alone in a room.
26:29
Have you ever experienced that you are entirely alone,
26:33
spiraling into anxiety and suddenly a promise you memorized
26:36
years ago surfaces in your brain and stabilizes your heart?
26:40
It's incredible when that happens.
26:42
Vaughn even mentions the ministration of angels holding
26:44
us up unseen so we do not dash our foot against a stone.
26:48
But then Vaughn lists methods that are much harder for our
26:51
modern sensibilities to swallow. What does he say?
26:54
He says God sometimes upholds us through severe discipline and
26:57
heavy affliction. Vaughn describes affliction as
27:00
the grasp of God's hand tightening around us.
27:03
It feels painful. It feels like we're being
27:05
crushed, but we're actually being secured against a storm
27:09
that would have blown us away. The most counterintuitive method
27:12
Vaughn mentions is when God appears to let you go.
27:16
He uses the example of the Syrophoenician woman in the
27:18
Gospels whom Jesus initially seemed to ignore and even
27:21
reject. Vaughn says God sometimes acts
27:24
as if he is forsaking you precisely to make you hold on to
27:26
him tighter. By stepping back, he creates a
27:30
hunger and a desperation in your soul that drives you deeper into
27:33
his chest. All of these, the sermons, the
27:35
Scriptures, the suffering and the apparent silence, are God's
27:39
active methods of answering the prayer.
27:41
Hold down me up. The psalmist adds a crucial
27:43
phrase in verse 116. And let me not be ashamed of my
27:47
hope. Think about the implications of
27:49
that. If our hope rested on our own
27:52
strength, our own track record, or our own ability to fight off
27:55
those vain thoughts we discussed earlier, we would be thoroughly
27:58
humiliated in the end. Our failure would be public,
28:01
undeniable and shameful. But because our hope is anchored
28:05
entirely in the God who holds the string of the kite, our hope
28:08
will never be put to shame. Understanding how desperately we
28:11
need this upholding grace changes how we view those who
28:14
actively reject it. When you realize that you only
28:18
stand upright because of sheer unmerited mercy, witnessing the
28:22
fate of those who refuse that mercy becomes a terrifying
28:25
thing. You are watching people cut
28:26
their own string. This brings us to the solemnity
28:29
of divine justice in verse 118, which says, Thou hast trodden
28:32
down all them that air from thy statutes, for their deceit is
28:35
falsehood. Thou hast trodden down.
28:37
That is a violent, highly active image.
28:39
God is not just passively letting the wicked wander off
28:42
into the woods, He is actively setting his foot upon them.
28:46
Spurgeon notes that men love to call their sinful strategies far
28:50
seeing policy or clever diplomacy.
28:53
They think they have outsmarted the moral universe.
28:56
But God calls it falsehood, and he crushes it into the dust.
29:01
He exposes their intellectual mask as a complete sham.
29:04
The modern world has a massive, almost allergic discomfort with
29:08
the wrath of God. We love to talk about His mercy,
29:10
His patience and His love, but we violently recoiled the
29:14
concept of His justice. Thomas Chalmers addresses this
29:17
discomfort brilliantly by framing it around the logical
29:19
concept of moral government. Chalmers argues that a
29:22
government without enforced laws is not a government at all.
29:25
It is just a suggestion box. Every law must have sanctions,
29:28
clear promises of reward, and absolute threats of vengeance
29:31
for violation. Chalmers says if a judge only
29:33
issues proclamations but never punishes violations,
29:36
jurisprudence becomes a total mockery.
29:38
If God only offered parental affection but never exacted
29:41
justice on high handed rebellion, the entire moral
29:44
universe would drift into chaos. The sovereign would lose his
29:47
throne. God's wrath is not a divine
29:49
temper tantrum. It is not an emotional outburst.
29:53
It is the necessary mathematical enforcement of the moral order
29:57
of the cosmos. Without it, right and wrong
30:00
cease to exist. And this enforcement is
30:02
absolute. Thomas Manton unpacks the phrase
30:05
treading down, explaining that it implies A punishment that is
30:09
both fully comprehensive and deeply disgraceful.
30:12
God does not just defeat his enemies in a gentlemanly duel,
30:17
He brings them down to the dirt. Manden shares straighting
30:20
historical examples of this kind of total subjection.
30:23
To illustrate the metaphor, he mentions the Persian king
30:26
Suppors who captured the Roman Emperor Valentinian and
30:29
physically trampled upon his neck to show total dominance.
30:31
He also brings up the brutal conqueror Tamerlane, who
30:34
captured the Sultan possessed with put him in an iron cage and
30:37
literally use the Sultan's back as a footstool to mount his
30:40
horse. God will reduce the proudest
30:42
intellectual rebels to an abject, contemptible condition.
30:45
What do we make of the phrase at the end of the verse?
30:47
Their deceit is falsehood. Samuel Horsley and William
30:50
Calper suggest that this primarily means the wicked
30:53
deceive themselves. They're not just tricking other
30:55
people or pulling one over on the church.
30:58
They are falling for their own con.
31:00
Calper says they flatter themselves with the vain conceit
31:03
that they will somehow escape judgement.
31:06
They look for a good in sin that sin promises but fundamentally
31:09
lacks the capacity to deliver. They swallow the poison,
31:13
absolutely convinced it is wine, and they die deceiving
31:16
themselves. This self deceit makes the
31:19
ultimate judgement inevitable. The treading down is a necessary
31:23
precursor to a broader permanent cleansing of God's domain.
31:28
And this leads us to the metaphor of the refining fire in
31:30
verse 119, which states, Thou put us away, all the wicked of
31:34
the earth, like dross. Therefore, I love thy
31:36
testimonies. Spurgeon comments that God does
31:39
not handle the wicked with kid gloves.
31:41
He judges them to be the scum of the earth and he treats them
31:44
accordingly. He removes them like draw so
31:46
that they do not deteriorate the structural integrity of his
31:48
church. David Dixon connects this
31:50
directly to Reformed ecclesiology, specifically the
31:53
vital distinction between the visible Church and the invisible
31:56
Church. This is a crucial theological
31:58
distinction that solves a lot of confusion for modern believers.
32:01
It really does. The visible church, the physical
32:04
congregation that gathers in a building on a Sunday morning,
32:08
contains both gold and dross. It contains true believers and
32:12
hidden hypocrites. But the invisible Church, the
32:15
true body of Christ as God sees it from eternity, consists only
32:19
of the elect. Dixon points out that God is the
32:22
ultimate refiner operating the furnace, and He will not fail to
32:26
make a perfect separation. The extreme heat of his
32:29
judgement will burn away the dross, leaving only the pure
32:32
gold. William Greenhill provides a
32:34
brilliant breakdown of 6 specific characteristics of
32:37
dross that show exactly why the refiner must remove it.
32:40
He uses the science of metal, or G to explain spiritual
32:43
realities. Let's go through those six
32:45
traits. First, dross obscures the glory
32:47
of the true metal. It coats the gold so you cannot
32:49
see its shine. Second, it is deceiving.
32:51
It looks like the real metal to the untrained eye, but it isn't.
32:55
Hypocrites in the Church look like believers.
32:57
They learn the vocabulary, they mimic the posture, but they lack
33:00
the internal reality. 3rd dross is not bettered by the fire.
33:04
This is a key chemical distinction.
33:07
If you put gold in the fire, the heat burns away the impurities
33:10
and the gold emerges purer and more valuable.
33:14
If you put dross in the fire, it just burns up or remains a
33:17
worthless lump. It does not possess the capacity
33:19
to improve under pressure. 4th It is inherently worthless bass
33:23
and vile. 5th It is utterly useless.
33:26
It lacks the molecular integrity to hold a sharp edge or bear a
33:30
heavy load. If you make a sword out of
33:32
dross, it shatters on the first swing.
33:34
A hypocrite in the church looks fine when times are peaceful,
33:37
but when persecution hits, they fracture.
33:39
The 6th characteristic is perhaps the most dangerous.
33:42
It is offensive. Greenhill compares it to rust
33:45
that actively eats into the good metal.
33:47
The dross is not just sit there harmlessly taking up space, it
33:50
corrupts the gold around it. That is why the refiner must
33:53
kindle the fire and separate it. If he leaves the dross in the
33:56
Crucible, the whole batch is ruined.
33:58
The hypocrisy spreads. Thomas Manton asks a very
34:01
perceptive question about the text.
34:03
Why are they called The Wicked of the Earth?
34:05
Why is that specific phrasing used?
34:07
Manton says it's because they flourish here.
34:10
Their names, as Jeremiah says, are written in the earth.
34:14
They favor worldly greatness and their hearts are entirely rooted
34:18
in the soil of this present age. All their investments are in a
34:21
Kingdom that is actively burning down.
34:24
They have their portion in this life alone.
34:27
Which is the exact opposite of the believer's posture.
34:30
Duncan McGregor points out that the true believer is a stranger
34:33
on the earth. The believer is just passing
34:35
through a hotel trying to learn the language of a foreign home.
34:38
So here's a massive question for you to consider.
34:41
How do God's severities, His terrifying acts of judgement and
34:45
burning away the dross, actually excite the love of His people?
34:49
The psalmist says they'll put us away the wicked.
34:52
Therefore, I love thy testimonies.
34:53
That seems backward to modern ears.
34:55
We usually associate judgement with fear, not love.
34:58
It seems backward until you truly understand the nature of
35:00
holiness and preservation. Believers love God's justice
35:04
because they realize it is the only mechanism that purges the
35:07
infection from the church and from the universe.
35:09
If you genuinely love a garden, you must hate the weeds that are
35:13
trying to kill the flowers. If a surgeon genuinely loves a
35:17
patient, he must be completely merciless toward the cancer.
35:20
The believer loves God's testimonies because those
35:23
testimonies promise that evil will not have the final word.
35:26
The violent removal of the dross guarantees the safety and the
35:29
purity of the gold. It is a severe, necessary mercy.
35:33
Witnessing that severity, witnessing the terrifying
35:36
separation of the dross from the gold in the furnace, leaves the
35:39
believer in a state of deep physical awe.
35:41
The reality of God's unshielded holiness is shattering, and that
35:44
brings us to the physical reaction in verse 120, which
35:47
reads My flesh trembleth for fear of Thee, and I am afraid of
35:51
thy judgments. JJ Stewart Peron offers a
35:54
fascinating linguistic note on the Hebrew word translated as
35:57
trembleth. He says it strictly refers to
36:00
the hair standing erect in terror.
36:01
Pylo Erection. This is not a mild, respectful
36:05
reverence. This is a visceral physiological
36:07
shuttering. It is the body's involuntary
36:09
response to coming face to face with the sheer uncontrollable
36:13
power of God. This raises a massive
36:15
theological tension. How can a believer who is
36:18
entirely justified, safely hidden in the secret places of
36:22
Christ, and upheld by sovereign grace, experience this level of
36:26
physical terror? If you know you are safe, why
36:29
are you shaking? Edward Payson addresses how this
36:33
visceral fear of God is fully compatible with an absolute love
36:37
for God. He argues that trying to
36:39
separate fear and hope actually insults the nature of God.
36:42
Payson explains the logic. He says that if you fear God
36:45
without hoping in his mercy, you are accusing God of tyranny.
36:49
You are treating him as a cruel despot who delights in torturing
36:52
his subjects. But on the flip side, if you
36:55
hope in God's mercy without having any fear of his
36:57
judgments, you were calling God a liar.
37:00
You were looking at all his warnings.
37:01
His threatening is in the reality of hell, and you were
37:03
saying he doesn't really mean it.
37:05
He's bluffing. True biblical religion requires
37:08
the heavy, potent mixture of both fear and hope.
37:11
William Calper notes that while familiarity with men breeds
37:13
contempt, familiarity with God breeds reverence.
37:17
The closer you get to a human celebrity, the more you see
37:19
their flaws and the less you respect them.
37:21
But the closer you get to God, the more you realize how vast
37:25
the chasm is between his blinding purity and your own
37:29
frailty. We see this play out in the
37:31
diary of the great missionary Henry Martin.
37:33
He wrote. I flew trembling to Jesus Christ
37:36
as if the flames were taking hold of me.
37:39
He knew he was completely safe in Christ, but he still felt the
37:42
intense radiating heat of the judgement he was escaping.
37:45
Neil and Little Dale provide a brilliant structural insight
37:49
based on the Hebrew alphabet used in Psalm 119.
37:53
This specific octave is based on the Hebrew letter Say Me
37:56
chapter, which literally translates to a prop or a
37:59
pillar. Throughout these verses we have
38:01
seen God acting as a pillar, holding up the frail kite like
38:04
believer, but his judgement on the wicked is like Samson
38:07
putting his hands on the pillars and pulling the entire roof down
38:10
on the Philistine Lords. The exact same pillar that
38:13
supports of the roof for the believer will crush the ungodly
38:16
into dust knowing that dual reality makes the hair on your
38:19
arms stand up. Think of it like standing at the
38:21
absolute edge of the Grand Canyon.
38:22
When you walk right up to the rim and look down into that
38:24
massive gorge. The sheer scale of it is
38:27
breathtakingly beautiful. But that massive, sudden drop
38:31
rightly makes your heart race and your stomach drop.
38:35
You are standing behind a heavy metal railing.
38:38
You trust the railing completely?
38:40
That railing is God's upholding grace.
38:42
It is the finished, unbreakable work of Christ.
38:45
You know the railing will not give way.
38:47
But you still look over the edge and you respect the fall.
38:50
The breathtaking beauty and the stomach dropping terror exist in
38:53
the exact same moment you lean on the prop, but you tremble at
38:57
the Canyon. That is the perfect picture of
39:00
filial fear. It is not the cowering fear of a
39:03
slave waiting to be whipped by a master.
39:05
It is the wide eyed awe of a child realizing the staggering,
39:09
uncontrolled strength of their father.
39:11
When you recognize that the God who gently holds your string
39:14
like a kite is the exact same God who violently treads down
39:18
human empires into the dust, casual religion becomes a
39:21
complete impossibility. Let's trace the massive
39:24
progression we've unpacked through these 8 verses.
39:26
It starts in the mind with a declared war against the
39:28
internal chaos of vain thoughts. Because you, the believer,
39:32
realize you cannot win that internal war alone.
39:35
You are driven to find a hiding place and an impenetrable shield
39:39
in the person of Christ. Safely hidden, you ruthlessly
39:42
expel any toxic influences that might cool your love for the
39:45
law. Realizing you are still prone to
39:48
fall even in isolation, you beg for continuous sustaining grace
39:52
to hold you up. And finally, standing secure
39:55
behind that metal railing of grace, you look out and witness
39:58
God justly handling the deceitful dross of the earth,
40:01
leaving you in a state of wide eyed physical trembling at His
40:05
Holiness. It is a complete theological
40:07
system packed into 8 short verses.
40:09
It moves systematically from total depravity to irresistible
40:12
grace to the perseverance of the Saints, and it culminates in the
40:15
correct posture for worshipping A sovereign God.
40:17
It really is an amazing sequence.
40:19
I want to leave you with a final thought to Mull over as we close
40:22
out this deep dive. If the most righteous
40:25
individuals in history, prophets, apostles and Puritans,
40:28
men who knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were entirely
40:32
secure in God's upholding grace, still experienced physical
40:35
trembling and hair raising terror at the sheer holiness of
40:38
God, what does that say about our modern, highly casual
40:42
approach to worship? When we stroll into the presence
40:45
of God, demanding to be entertained by a rock band at a
40:47
light show, are we truly resting in His grace or have we just
40:51
lost our sense of spiritual gravity altogether?