Sermons on Psalm 119, Sermons · Sermon 188
SERM. CLXXXVIII.
PSALM CXIX. VER. 174.
I have longed for thy Salvation, O Lord, and thy law is my delight.
WE now come to the second Acceptation of the Word [Salvation] as it implyeth Eternal Salvation; and so the Points are two.
Doctrine. I. That we should vehemently Long, and earnestly Wait for Eternal Life.
Doctrine. II. That we should not only Long for Salvation, but delight in the way which leadeth us to it.
For the first Point; That Longing for Salvation is the Duty and Property of Gods Children.
The Reasons are taken from,
I. The Object of these Desires.
II. The Subject of these Desires.
III. The Use of these Desires.
IV. The State and Condition of the present World.
I. The Object.
The Object of Desire is Good, considered as absent and not yet obtained Good; All desire that it should be well with themselves: This Desire is confused and general, not the hundredth part Longeth after the true Good. Psal. 4. 6. Who will shew us any good? Some are carried by Ambition, others by Covetousness, others by Sensuality; 1 Ioh. 2. 16. All that is in the World, is either the lust of the Flesh, the lust of the Eye, or pride of Life. And Isa. 53. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray: we have every one turned to his own way. As the Channel is cut, so Corrupt Nature finds a vent. But now Gods Salvation is the true good, and ought to be desired, and will be desired by all his Children: It Importeth a freedom from all Misery, and an Injoyment of all Good, and a freedom from all Misery; there sin and sorrow shall be no more, and all Tears shall be wiped from our Eyes; Rev. 21. 4. the blessed Spirits above have none of our cares, and fears, and sorrows: here we are sighing, and they are praising; we sinning, and they pleasing God; we full of infirmities, and they are perfect and without blemish; And in the full enjoyment of all good, Psal. 16. 11. At thy right hand is fulness of Ioy, and in thy presence pleasures for evermore. Psal. 17. 15. As for me, I will behold thy face in Righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Alas the preparations to this Estate in the World, are far above the vain delights of the Flesh, much more the pleasures there: these the soul longeth for, though they are thankful for a refreshment by the way, yet they long to be at home.
II. Reason is taken from the Subject of these Desires; and there we have,
1. The Suitableness.
2. The Experience.
3. Our Pressures.
1. The Suitableness; they are suited to this happiness, wrought for this very thing; 2 Cor. 5. 5. Every thing hath a propension to the place for which God framed it: 'tis the Wisdom of God to put all things in their proper places, as every Creature is placed in that element which is suitable, and answerable to its Composition and Frame; as Fishes in Water; Fowles in the Air. Gods Children are framed for this very thing, therefore have an inclination, and a tendency thither. As Heaven is prepared for them, so in some measure they for it: Rom. 9. 24. aforehand prepared unto Glory; And Col. 1. 12. Made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light. They grow more dead every day to the Interests, and Concernments of the Animal Life, and have a greater agreeableness to this happiness.
2. Experience, Rom. 8. 23. We that have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan wit hin our selves, waiting for the Adoption, to wit the redemption of our body. A Christian here is unsatisfied, and longeth for a better and purer state of Bliss and Immortality, Light, Life, Peace, Joy; one dram of Grace is more precious than all the World, but yet it setteth them a longing for more: the first fruits sheweth us what the Harvest will be, and a tast what the Feast will prove; here we get a little knowledge of God, a sight of him in the Ordinances, a Twi-light discovery of Christ, a Look through the Lattice, Cant. 2. 9. a little Glance of his Face, when neither doth he let the Believers in to him, nor doth he come out to them; this Glance maketh them long for more. So that in effect they send up the same Message to Christ, which his Mother and Brethren did because of the press; thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee; Tell him, thou standest here without, but desirest to see him. So for the Communion we have with Christ, 'tis but a tast; 1 Pet. 2. 3. If so be ye have tasted the Lord is gracious: but that tast is very ravishing, and delightful. Here we get a little from him in an Ordinance, but that little is as much as we can hold; but there he is all in all: here our holiness is not perfect, the seed of God remaineth in us, but there it groweth up to perfection: as every spark of Fire tendeth to the Element of Fire.
3. Our Pressures and the Miseries of the present Life; 2 Cor. 5. 4. Being burdened we groan. We are pressed under an heavy weight, burdened both with Sin and Misery, and both set us a groaning, and a longing, as men in a Tempest would fain be set ashoar as soon as they can.
(1.) Sin to a waking Conscience and a tender Gracious Heart, is one of the greatest burdens that can be felt; Rom. 7. 24. Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? If any had cause to complain of Afflictions, Paul much more; he was Whipped, Imprisoned, Stoned, in perils by Land and Sea; but Afflictions did not sit so close to him as sins: the body of Death was his greatest burden, and therefore did he long for Deliverance. If others go away silently under their load, the Children of God cannot; as light and love increaseth, so sin groweth a greater burden to us. They cannot get rid of this cursed inmate, and therefore are longing for their final Estate, when sin shall gaspe its last; they long for the parting day, when by putting off the Flesh, they shall put off sin, and dwell with God.
(2.) Miseries; the Children of God have not divested themselves of the feelings of Nature, are not grown sensless as stocks, and stones: The Apostle telleth us, Rom. 8. 20, 21, 22. that the whole Creation groaneth, because 'tis under Misery and Vanity. 'Tis a groaning World, and Gods Children bear a part of the Consort; they groan and desire earnestly their full Deliverance: Few and evil are the days of the years of my Pilgrimage, said holy Iacob, Gen. 47. 9. Our dayes are Evil, therefore 'tis well they are but few; that in this Shipwrack of mans Felicity, we can see Banks and Shores and a landing place where we may be safe; here is our Travail, but there is our repose: we would sleep too much here, and take up our rest, if sometimes we did not meet with Thorns in our bed.
III. Reason. The End and Use of this Longing and Desiring.
1. 'Tis an earnest Desire, it maketh us industrious and stirreth up, and keepeth up our endeavours after another World; Phil. 3. 20, 21. But our Conversation is in heaven, from whence we look for a Saviour, the Lord Iesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. Where there is a lively expectation, there men drive on a Trade for another Country. Desire is the Vigorous bent of the Soul, and so beareth us out under all the difficulties of Obedience. If we do not desire, we will not labour, nor seek it in the first place; and if our desires be weak and feeble, they are controled by every Lust, abated upon every difficulty: whatever gets your heart, that will command your endeavours; for as a mans desire is, so is he.
2. To make us Constant, notwithstanding Troubles, Reproaches, Persecutions; Matth, 11. 12. The violent take it by force. They will have no nay, they must have it whatever it cost them, though sore Troubles and Persecutions, yet if we may get Heaven and Glory at last, 'tis enough; but where a thing is coldly and carelesly desired, every thing puts us out of the humour.
IV. The State and Condition of the present World; 'tis called Gal. 1. 4. The present World. The Pleasures of it, are meer dreams and shadows; and the Evils of it are many and real. Gods Children are Pilgrimes here, and hardly get leave to pass thorough; as Israel could not get leave to pass through Edom: Sometimes they meet with such bitter and grievous Persecutions, which make them weary of their lives: as Elijah requested for himself, that he might die; 1 King. 9. 4. or as the Spirits of the Israelites were filled with Anguish, because of their hard task Masters. God will give his People Rest hereafter, but before the Rest cometh, they are sorely Troubled: 1 Thes. 1. 6, 7. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much Affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia, and Achaia. Nay the Company that we go with to Heaven, are apt to fall out by the way, and to deal perversly one with another; Unministering, Unchurching, Unchristianing one another, Impaling, inclosing the Common Salvation, and justleing one another out of the way to Heaven: so that the Church which should be Terrible like an Army with Banners, Marching to Heaven in order, in one whole Body, is like an Army in Rout; and most are forced to get home in straggling Parties. Now every tender Soul should Long for Gods Salvation, to get up to that Counsel of Souls, who with perfect Harmony, are Lauding and Praising God for evermore. Heb. 12. 23.
Use. I. Is to reprove them that are loth to leave this woful Life, and do not long and prepare for a better: God driveth us out of the World, as he did Lot out of Sodom, yet we are loth to depart: as if it were better to be Miserable apart from God, and Christ, then happy with them. Surely they are far from the Spirit of true Christians, who would live alwayes here are at home in the World, and cannot endure to think of a remove: There are two Causes of this.
1. An Unmortifyed Heart.
2. An Unsettled Conscience.
1. An Unmortified Heart; they are not yet weaned from the World, their Hearts are set upon satisfying the Vile Lusts of the Body; carry it as if their Portion lay in this World: Psal. 17. 14. sucking yet upon the Worlds Dugg, they have no longing nor desire for that Happiness and Glory, which God hath provided for them that love him; they desire no other Portion than what they have in hand.
2. And the other cause is an Unsettled Conscience, some fear the state of the other World, rather than desire it, and long for it: there are two degrees, notknowing for certain it shall go well with us, and not knowing for certain but that it shall go ill with us, both suppress this desire, especially the latter.
Use. II. Is to Rowse up our languid and cold Affections, that they may more earnestly be carryed out after heavenly things: that we may seek after them with more Fervency, and Constancy, and Self-denial.
The Motives to press us are these.
1. God giveth Heaven to none but to those that Look, and Long for it: Men may go to Hell against their Wills, but none go to Heaven against their Wills: In a Punishment there is a force offered to us, but not in a Reward. We suffer what we would not, as Christ saith to Peter, another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not; Ioh. 21. 18. But happiness must be imbraced, pursued, and sought after. Well then, let the concernments of the other World more take up our Hearts, and Minds; and stand as at heavens Gate, expecting when God will open the door and call you in Christ will appear to them that look for him: Heb. 9. 28.
2. The Children of God Long to see God in his Ordinances, Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of God all the dayes of my Life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his Temple. And Psal. 42. 2. My Soul thirsteth for God, for the living God, when shall I come and appear before God. Psal. 63. 1, 2. O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is: to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary. Now if there be so Great and Longing a desire to see the glory of the Lord in a Glass, wherein so little of his Glory is seen, with any comfort and satisfaction, how much more to see him immediately face to face; if a Glimpse be so comfortable, what will the immediate Vision of God then be? surely if this be Salvation, every one of us should long for this Salvation.
3. If it be not worth our Desire, 'tis little worth: the Estate being so excellent, such a compleat Redemption from all our Troubles, so perfect, and so full an happiness in Body and Soul, will not you send a groan, or an hearty Act of Volition after it? 'tis great ingratitude, that when Christ hath procured a great state of blessedness for us at a very dear rate, we should value it no more; he procured it by a life of Labour and Sorrow, and the Pangs of a bitter Cursed death: and when all is done, we little regard it: surely if we choose it for our happiness, there will be longing and looking for it. No man will fly from his own happiness, a mans heart will be where his Treasure is: Math. 6. 21. if you prize it, you will sigh and groan after it: the Apostle saith, Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, which is far better; foreign. If you count it better to be there than else where, you will be desiring to be there, and longing to be there: for we are always longing for that which is better, chiefly for that which is best of all: there is the best estate, the best work, the best company, all is better, if you count it so, it will be no difficult thing to bring you earnestly to desire it.
4. All the Ordinances serve to stir up this longing after Heaven, and to awaken these desires in us; the Word is our Charter for Heaven, or Gods Testament wherein this rich Legacy is bequeathed to us; that every time we Read it, or Hear it, or Meditate upon it, we may get a step higher, and our Hearts more drawn out after Heavenly things. In Prayer, whether in Company or Alone, 'tis but to raise and act these heavenly Desires; there we groan, and long for Gods Salvation. In the Lords Supper, we come solemnly to put our selves in mind of the new Wine we shall drink in our Fathers Kingdom, Matth. 26. 29. to put a new heavenly Relish upon our Hearts.
5. The Imperfection of our present Estate; We are now imperfect, and streightened like a Fish in a Pail or small vessel of Water, which cannot keep it alive; it would fain be in the Ocean, or swiming in the broad and large Rivers: So we are pent up, cannot do what we would; there is a larger Estate, when filled up with all the fulness of God, that Holiness we have now, maketh us look for it, and long for it; and surely Holiness was never designed for our Torment.
6. We are hastning into the other World apace, and therefore we more desire it; Natural motion is in principio tardior, in sine velecior, the nearer to fruition, the more impatient of the want of it: When a Man is drawing home after a long Journey, every Mile is as tedious as two: We are drawing nigh to the other World, let us leave this willingly, not by force; let not Trouble chase us out of it, but Love and Desire draw us out of it: God doth loosen our Roots by little and little, that we may now be sit for a Remove; the Pins of our Tabernacle are taken down insensibly, and by leisurely Degrees: Now as fast as we are going out of this World, we should be going into another; the inner Man Renewed day by day, that is, as it groweth more Holy and Heavenly. From our first Renovation we should be dying to this World, and settle our Affections on a better: much more when God beginneth to call us home, then draw home as fast as you can.
For Means to this Desire and Longing, there is necessary,
First, A sound Belief of this blessed Estate, or a certain Considence of the Truth of it, 2 Corinth. 5. 1, 2. For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens: for in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven. Not a bare Conjecture, but a certain knowledge. Surely Heaven is Amiable, and the object of our desires, if we be perswaded of the Truth of it, we will long after it.
Secondly, A serious preparation for it, 2 Corinth. 5. 3. If so be that being cloathed we shall not be found naked. They have made up their Accounts between God and their Souls, sued out their Pardon, stand with their Loins girt, and Lamps burning; then they Long and Wait when God will draw aside the Vail of Flesh, and shew them his Glory. A Seafaring man desireth his Port, especially if Laden with Rich Commodities: where there hath been diligent preparing, there will be serious waiting, and desirous Expectation. While we make provision for our fleshly Appetites and Wills, we dream of dwelling here; we take it for granted they have no thought of removing to another place, who make no provision before their coming thither. When a Tenant hath warning to be turned out of his old house, he will be providing of another, and be preparing and making it ready, before he enter upon it.
We now come to the second Clause, [thy Law is my delight.]
Doctrine. II. That we should not only Long for Salvation, but delight in the way which leadeth to it.
Here I shall speak to two things.
First, That we must take the way that leadeth to it.
Secondly, That we must delight in the way.
First, That we must take the way that leadeth to it.
I. Partly because of the nature of Gods Covenant, which is conditional: there is in it Ratio dati, et accepti; something required, and something promised. Isa. 56. 4. For this saith the Lord, unto the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my Covenant. Heb. 10. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of Faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Exod. 24. 4. And Moses wrote all the Words of the Lord, and rose up early in the Morning and builded an Altar under the hill, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel: And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read it in the audience of the People, and they said, all that the Lord hath said, we will do, and be obedient. Surely in the Covenant of Grace, God requireth conditions, 'tis not made up all of promises: now a condition is this, when one promiseth any good, or threatneth any ill, not simply but upon Covenant; if the thing required be performed, or the thing forbidden be committed, the performance of the thing required, is the condition of the promise; the doing a thing forbidden, the condition of the threatning; 1 Sam. 11. 1, 2. And all the men of Iabesh said unto Nahash, make a Covenant with us, and we will serve thee: And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, on this condition I will make a Covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right Eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. And Luke 14. 32. While the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an Embassage, and desireth conditions of Peace. Now these conditions are twofold; making Covenant, and keeping Covenant.
1. The conditions as to making the Covenant arise from the Law of Grace, or the lex remedians Faith and Repentance, Faith performed or omitted. Iohn 3. 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see Life, but the Wrath of God abideth on him. So Repentance performed, Ezek. 18. 30. Repent yee, and turn from your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin; omitted, Luk. 13. 5. except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
2. Then conditions of keeping Covenant, which is conformity to the Law of God, or new obedience performed. Psal. 84. 11. No good thing will he withold from them that walk uprightly; omitted, Heb. 12. 14. Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord. Wel then, upon the whole we thus judge, that 'tis not enough to desire Gods Salvation, but we must also delight in his Law: that is to say we must repent, and believe; and so begin our acquaintance with God in Christ: and we must also walk in the ways of Gods Precepts, if we mean at length to be saved, and to enjoy the vision of the blessed God, that which is propounded conditionally, we must not presume off absolutely, and so make reckoning to go to Heaven, as in some Whirl-wind; or as Passengers at Sea, are brought into the Harbour sleeping, or to be crowned without striving.
II. From the nature of this longing and desire, which must be Regular and according to the Tenour of the Covenant of Holiness, as well as happiness; and it must be strong, so asto over-master contrary difficulties, Lusts, and Desires. Let us instance in Balaam, he said Numb. 23. 10. Let me die the death of the Righteous, and let my latter end be like his. He saw that the State of a righteous man at the end of it, is a blessed Estate, and this he longed for; but there was a double defect in his desire, it was not Regular; Balaam desired to be saved, but he did not delight in Gods Law; He would be at the journeys end, but was loath to take the way; there was a complacency and welpleasedness in the end, but a refusing of the means. Again, This Desire was but a flash, a suddain motion, occasioned by contemplation of the Blessedness of Gods People, but no operative transforming Desire; a Desire which the love of the wages of unrighteousness, prevailed over; all men will long for Salvation, but all men will not take a right course to obtain it: and so 'tis a wish rather than a desire, if we long for Salvation, but have not an Heart to use the means appointed thereunto; where there is a true longing, there will be an using the means, and an using the means with delight, they that will not submit to these Conditions, or snuff at these Conditions as troublesome, they do not long for his Salvation, nor delight in his Law.
Secondly, That we must delight in the way that leadeth to Glory, but this Argument being handled in other verses of this Psalm 'tis omitted here.