1767. Faith Among Mockers

No. 1767-30:109. A Sermon Delivered By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, since he delighted in him. {Ps 22:8}

1. David experienced what Paul afterwards so aptly described as “cruel mockings.” Notice the adjective cruel: it is well chosen. Mockings may not cut the flesh, but they tear the heart; they may shed no blood, but they cause the mind to bleed internally. Fetters gall the wrists, but the iron of scorn enters into the soul. Ridicule is a poisoned bullet which goes deeper than the flesh, and strikes the centre of the heart. David in the wilderness hunted by Saul, and on the throne abused by Shimei, knew what it was to be the butt of scorn, the football of contempt. Many a time and often he was the song of the drunkard, and the byword of the scoffer.

2. But what have I to do with the son of Jesse? My heart remembers the Son of man. What if David suffered despising and scorn? He knew it only in a small measure compared with our blessed Lord. It is well said, “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.” It is no wonder that such a one as David should have to cry, “My soul is among lions,” when the Lord of all, the perfectly pure and Holy One, was driven to utter the same cry, saying, “All those who see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, since he delighted in him.’ ” My brothers and sisters in Christ, if you have to pass through a similar painful experience, do not consider it a strange thing, for it is not a strange thing. Reproach is the common inheritance of the godly. Do not think that this fire which you suffer is the first that ever burned a saint. Others have had to bear the enmity of the world long before you. Remember that, of old, from the first moment when sin came into the world, there were two seeds, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent; and between these two seeds there is an enmity of the most deadly kind, which will never cease. It may assume different forms, and it may be held in check by many forces, but it will always continue for ever the same while men are men, and sin is sin, and God and the devil are opposed. It was so, you know, in the house of Abraham: he was a man who walked before God, and was perfect in his generation, and yet in his family there were the two opposing powers: Ishmael, born after the flesh, mocked him who was born after the Spirit. When Rebekah had given birth to twin sons, yet the fact of their being twin sons of holy Isaac did not prevent the enmity that arose between Jacob and Esau. Nothing will prevent the seed of the serpent from exhibiting its spite towards the seed of the woman; even kinship and brotherhood account for little in this strife; in fact very often a man’s foes are those of his own household. Consider it no marvel, then, if you are derided! It seems to be a necessity of the holy nature of God that it should incur the enmity of the evil nature of fallen man, and that this evil nature should show itself by direct and bitter attack. Remember “he who endured such opposition from sinners against himself, lest you are wearied and faint in your minds.” Henceforth, bow your shoulders to the yoke; expect that if you follow the Crucified you will have to bear the cross, for so it will be. I trust that our present meditation may be useful for any of God’s servants who are feeling the sharp lash of envious tongues, so that they may not be driven from their steadfastness by it. If any in their hearts are bowed down because they are conscious that possibly they have given the scoffers some opportunity to mock at them, may they take heart even in this, for David had done so, and yet he was not crushed by the blasphemies of the wicked.

3. I. The first thing to which I shall call your attention at this time is, that a truly gracious man is like David and like the Lord Jesus, in that HIS TRUST IN GOD IS KNOWN.

4. Even the enemies of this holy man who is mentioned in the text, and, as I interpret it, even the enemies of our divine Lord and Master, never denied that he trusted in God. This, indeed, is the beginning of their scoff: “He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him.” From which I gather that every gracious man should have an apparent, obvious, public trust in God. He should not merely trust him in his heart alone, but that trust should so enter into his entire nature that he does not conceal it nor think of concealing it. He should be so open in the affirmation of his confidence that his enemies, before whom he is naturally restrained and on his guard, nevertheless are able to discern this precious thing within him, and are forced to bear their witness, though it is mockingly and jestingly, that “He trusted in the Lord.” Such a testimony is all the more valuable as coming from an enemy. You know our character is not likely to be drawn too prettily by those who hate us; the utmost will be sure to be said against us; but if even our enemies say of us, “He trusted in the Lord,” we may be very thankful that we have so lived as to extort this testimony from their lips.

5. What, then, ought a child of God to do in order to show that he really does trust in the Lord? How did Jesus do this? Well, I think that in our Lord’s case it was his wonderful calmness which compelled everyone to see that “he trusted in the Lord.” You never find him flustered; he is never worried nor confused. He is beset behind and before with men who try to catch him, but he is as self-possessed as if he spoke among friends. He does not appear to be in the least on his guard, and yet instead of their catching him, before long he either catches them, or else they retire saying, “Never a man spoke like this man.” He was always cool, peaceful, ready, self-composed. You notice his inward tranquillity not only when enemies are all around him, but when he is surrounded by a great mob of people all hungry, starving, and famishing: he breaks the bread and multiplies it; but not before he has made them all sit down on the green grass by hundreds and by fifties. He will have them in companies, arranged in ranks, for convenient distribution; and when they are all placed in order, as if it had been a well-marshalled royal festival, it is then that he takes the bread, and, looking up to heaven, with all deliberation asks a blessing, and breaks and gives the food to the disciples. The disciples make no scramble of it: it is an orderly festival, and the thousands are all fed in due order in majestic decorum; for Christ was calm, and therefore master of the situation. He never looks as if he had fallen into difficulties, and then adopted expedients to get out of them; but his whole life is prearranged and ordered in the most prudent and peaceful manner. Nothing upon this earth, although he was so reduced that he had nowhere to lay his head, although he was sometimes so weary that he sat down upon a well to rest, could put him out of the way, or disarrange his perfect collectedness. He was always ready for every emergency; in fact, nothing was an emergency to him. What a beautiful picture that is of Christ on board ship in a storm! While those who are with him are afraid that they will go down, that the wind will blow them into the water, or blow the water over them, so that they will certainly be drowned, what is he doing? Why, he is asleep: not because he forgot them — no; but because he knew that the vessel was in the great Father’s hands. It was his time for sleep; he was weary and needed it, and so he carried out what was the nearest duty, and in all peacefulness laid his head on a pillow, and slumbered. His sleep ought to have made them feel at ease. Whenever the captain can afford to go to sleep, the passengers may go to sleep too. Depend on it, he who manages everything would not have gone to bed if he had not felt that it was all right in the hands of the Highest, who at any moment could stop the raging storm. I wish we could be similarly restful; for even then our enemies would say of us, “He trusted in the Lord.” I wish we could have that steadfast, imperturbable frame of mind, in which our Lord untied the knots by which his foes would have bound him; for then our assailants would marvel about our quiet confidence. Jesus knew no hurry, but calmly and deliberately he met each matter as it came, and grandly kept himself free from all entanglement. Oh, for the holy quiet which would prevent our going about our business in haste! “He who believes shall not make haste,” but do everything as in the infinite leisure of the Eternal, who never is before his time, and never is behind. If we could do that, and did not get so flustered and worried, and tossed about and driven to our wit’s end, then our enemies would say with astonishment, “He trusted in the Lord.”

6. Brethren, this ought also to come out not merely in our calm and quiet manner, but also by our distinct affirmation. I do not think that any man has a right to be a secret believer in the Lord Jesus Christ at this time. You will tell me that Nicodemus was so, that Joseph of Arimathaea was so, and I answer “Yes”; but in it they are not our examples. These weak brethren were forgiven and strengthened; but we may not therefore presume. Times, however, are different now: by the death of Christ the thoughts of many hearts were revealed, and from that day those secret disciples were among the foremost to affirm their faith. Nicodemus brought the spices, and Joseph of Arimathaea went in boldly and begged for the body of Jesus. Since that day when Christ was publicly revealed upon the cross, the thoughts of other men’s hearts are revealed too; and it is not permissible now for us to play hide-and-seek with Christ. No; “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved”; “He who with his heart believes and with his mouth makes confession of him, shall be saved.” The public confession is constantly, in Scripture, joined with the secret faith. The Lord Jesus Christ puts it, “He who denies me before men, I will deny him”; and if you read it, the text sets denying in opposition to confession, so that it really means, “He who does not confess me before men, I will not confess him when I come in the glory of the Father.” Our Lord does not count on leading a body of followers who will always keep behind the hedge, hiding themselves in holes and corners whenever there is anything to be done for his glory, and only running out at meal-times when there is something to be had for themselves. I know some professors of that kind, but I have very little to say to their credit: they are a cowardly crew. No, no. We ought distinctly to declare that we believe in God, and we should take opportunities, as prudence dictates, of telling to our friends and neighbours what our experience has been about trusting in God, telling them of deliverances we have received, of prayers which have been answered, and of many other signs for good which have come to us as the result of our faith in God. To trust in man is a thing of which we may be ashamed, for we find man to be as a broken reed; or as a spear that pierces us to our heart when we lean on it; but blessed are those who trust in the Lord, for they shall be as trees planted by the rivers of water, they shall produce their fruit in their season, and even their leaf shall not wither. God, in whom they trust, will honour their faith, and bless them even more and more; let them therefore honour their God, and never hesitate to speak well of his name. So, then, I say first a calm belief, and, secondly, a public affirmation should cause even our adversaries to know that we have trusted in the Lord.

7. And, then, I will add to that, that our general conduct should reveal our faith. Our entire life should show that we are men who rejoice in the Lord; for trusting the Lord, as I understand it, is not a thing for Sundays and for places of worship alone: we are to trust in the Lord about everything. If I trust the Lord about my soul I must trust him about my body, about my wife, about my children, and all my domestic and business affairs. It would have been a terrible thing if the Lord had drawn a black line around our religious life, and had said, “You may trust me about that, but I will have nothing to do with household matters.” We need our entire life to be within the range of divine care. The perfect bond of divine love must tie up the whole bundle of our affairs, or the whole thing will slip away. Faith is a thing for the closet, and the parlour, and the office, and the farmhouse; it is a light for dark days, and a shade for bright days; you may carry it with you everywhere, and everywhere it shall be your help. Oh, that we so trusted in the Lord that people noticed it as much as they notice our disposition, our dress, or our tone. The pity is that too often we go forward helter-skelter, following our own wisdom, whereas we ought to say, “No, I must wait for a little while, until I ask for counsel from the Lord.” It should be seen and known that we are distinctly waiting upon God for guidance. What a stir this would make in some quarters! I wish that without any desire to be Pharisaical, or to display our piety, we nevertheless unconsciously showed the great principle which governs us. Just as one man will say, “Excuse me, I must consult a friend,” or, “I must submit the case to my solicitor,” so it ought to be habitual with a Christian before he replies to an important matter, to demand a moment when he may wait upon God and obtain direction. In any case I wish that it may be so usual with us to ask for guidance from above that it may be noticed as our habit to trust in the Lord.

8. Once more, I think this ought to come out most distinctly in our behaviour during times of trouble; for it is then that our adversaries are most likely to notice it. You, dear sister, have lost a child. Well now, remember that you are a Christian woman, and do not sorrow like those who are without hope. Let the difference be real and true, and do not be ashamed that others should observe it. When your neighbour lost her child it caused a quarrel between her and God, but it is not so with you, is it? Will you quarrel with God about your baby? Oh, no; you love him too much. And you, brother, you are perplexed in business, and you know what a worldling does: if he has nothing more than outward religion, he complains bitterly that God deals harshly with him, and he quarrels with God; or, perhaps, to make things better, he does what he ought not to do in business, and makes matters a great deal worse. Many a man has plunged into rash speculations until he has destroyed himself commercially; but you, as a Christian man, must take matters calmly and quietly: it is not yours to speculate, but to confide. Your strength lies in saying — “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” You must not be so eager to be rich that you reach out your hand to do iniquity in order to seize the golden apples: that is the opposite of faith. You are now to play the man, and in the power of the Holy Spirit you are now with resignation — with more than that — with a sweet acquiescence to the divine will — to show men how a Christian can behave himself. I have never admired Addison’s words as some have done, who, when he came to die, sent for a lord of his acquaintance, and said, “See how a Christian can die.” There is a little parade about that; but I do desire that every Christian should say in his soul, “I will show men how a Christian can live. I will let them see what it is to live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me. Those who do not believe there is a God shall yet be led to feel there must be a God, because my faith in him prospers so well, and I obtain such innumerable blessings as the result of it.” I say, most earnestly, that especially in the time of sorrow and bereavement, when other people are severely stressed because they have lost their joy, and the light of their house is quenched, it is the believers duty and privilege by his holy calm of heart to show his trust in God. If religion cannot help you in trouble, it is not worth having; if the Spirit of God does not sustain you when you lose your dearest friend, you ought to question whether it is the Spirit of God; you ought to ask, “Can this be the Spirit which bore up the martyrs at the stake?” if now that you are passing through these waters you are carried away by them? If our faith shines out in dark times, even as the stars are seen by night, then is it well with us.

9. Oh, that you and I might in all these ways so live that all who see us should know that we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ! It would be ridiculous if a man went into society with a label on his chest, “This man trusts in God,” and it would be a pretty clear sign that he needed to be identified like this. I would have you shun all distinctive phylacteries in matters of religion as too much flavoured with the leaven of the Pharisees; but when the possession of godliness proclaims its own self, even as a box of precious spikenard tells its own tale, you need not be ashamed of it. Display and ostentation are vicious, but the unrestrained use of influence and example is commendable. In these days when men boast in their unbelief, let us not be bashful with our faith. If, in a free country, men should not persecute an infidel, they certainly ought not to silence a believer. We do not intend to smuggle our religion through the land. It is not contraband, and therefore we shall bear it with us openly in the sight of all men, and let them say if they please, “He trusted in the Lord.”

10. II. Secondly, THIS TRUST ON THE PART OF BELIEVING MEN IS NOT UNDERSTOOD BY THE WORLD. “He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him.” Observe that they restricted the Saviour’s trust to that point — “He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him.”

11. But now, in the first place, our faith is not confined to merely receiving from God. No, brethren, if the Lord does not deliver us we will trust him. See how firmly Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego affirmed that they would not bow before the image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, oh king. But if not, be it known to you, oh king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.” There was great faith in that “if not.” We must not live and wait upon God with a kind of cupboard love, just as a stray dog might follow a man for bones; but we must speak well of our God even if he scourges us, for in it lies both the truth and the strength of faith. Job has put it — “Shall we receive good from the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Whatever happens to us, if our faith is the work of the Holy Spirit we shall hold on to our trust in God.

12. Neither is our faith limited to what men call deliverance. It is a misrepresentation when his enemies say, “He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him”; because although it is the truth, it is not the whole truth. Our blessed Lord continued to trust in the Father though the cup did not pass from him, and though no legions of angels were sent to deliver him from Pilate. Though the enemy was permitted to exercise all his malice upon him until his blessed body was nailed to the accursed tree, yet the faith of our divine Lord and Master was not moved from its steadfastness. He trusted in God for something higher than deliverance from death, for he looked beyond the grave, and said, “You will not leave my soul in the grave, neither will you permit your Holy One to see corruption.” In all his pains his heart said, “It is the Lord, let him do what seems good to him.” The blind world cannot understand this. They say, like their father, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” They insinuate that Christian people trust God for what they get out of him. Now I have often thought that if the devil could have put it the other way he would have been very glad to do so. Suppose he could have said, “Job serves God for nothing,” then the ungodly world would have shouted, “We told you so. God is a bad Paymaster: his servants may serve him as perfectly as Job, but he never gives them any reward.” Happily the accuser’s grumble is of quite the opposite kind. Neither one way nor another is there any pleasing the devil, and it is not a thing we desire to do. Let him put it as he likes. We serve God and we have our reward; but if the Lord does not choose to give us exactly what we look for, we will still trust in him, for it is our delight. It is a misrepresentation to say of a believer that “he trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him,” if he is supposed to trust for no other reason.

13. And, dear friends, our faith is not tied to time. That is the mistake of the statement in the text. They said, “He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him” — as much as to say, “If God does not deliver him now his trust will have been a folly, and God will not have rewarded his confidence.” But it is not so. Brethren, if we are in the fire tonight, and we are trusting in God, our faith does not mean that we expect to come out from the furnace at this very hour. No, we may not come out tonight, nor tomorrow, nor next month, it may not be for years. We do not tie God down to conditions, and expect him to do this and that, and then if he does not in his wisdom see fit to do it, threaten that we will trust him no more. The very worst we could do would be to make the Eternal God a slave to time, as though he must do everything at our bidding, and measure his divine movements by the ticking of a clock. The Lord delivered his Son Jesus Christ, but he allowed him to die first; he was put into the grave before he was raised up from the power of death; and if it had not been that he died and lay in the tomb he could not have had that splendid deliverance which his Father bestowed on him when he raised him again from the dead, had he not yielded to death there could have been no resurrection for him or for us. So, beloved, it may be God has not accomplished his purpose with you yet, nor has he quite prepared you for the height of blessing to which he has ordained for you. Receive what he is going to give you, and take gratefully the painful preliminaries. High palaces must have deep foundations, and it takes a long time to excavate a human soul so deep that God can build a gorgeous palace of grace in it. If it is a mere cottage that the Lord is to build in you, you may escape with small troubles; but if he is going to make you a palace to glorify himself as well, then you may expect to have long trials. Coarse pottery does not need the laborious processes which must be endured by superior vessels. Iron which is to become a sword for a hero must know more of the fire than the metal which lies upon the road as a rail. Your eminence in grace can only come by affliction. Will you not have trust in God if severe trials are ordained for you? Yes, of course you will. The Holy Spirit will be the all-sufficient helper of your infirmities. I say it is misrepresentation if we limit the Holy One of Israel to any form for our deliverance, or to any time for our deliverance. Do not let the Lord of love be treated like a child at school, as if he could be taught anything by us!

14. So, also, our faith must not judge at all by present circumstances. The ungodly world judges that God has not delivered us because we are now in trouble, and are at present distressed by it. Oh, how wrongly the world judged Christ when it judged him by his condition! Covered with a bloody sweat and groaning out his soul to God beneath the olives at midnight — why, those who passed by who did not know him must have judged him to be a man cursed by God. “See,” they would have said, “we never heard of a man who sweat blood before — sweat blood in prayer; and yet listen to his groaning; he is not heard by God, for evidently the cup does not pass from him.” If any man had looked at our Lord Jesus when he was on the cross and had heard him cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” they would have certainly concluded that he was the most ungracious and undeserving of men; for had he been a saint, surely, they say, God would not have forsaken him. Yes, but you see they only saw a little of our blessed Master’s career; they only looked upon a span of his existence; what a grievous error it was to have estimated his life by his brief passion, knowing nothing about its grand intention! See him now while innumerable harps sound his praises and all heaven rejoices to behold his glory, and the Father looks upon him with ineffable delight! This is the same Jesus who was crucified! What do you think of him now? You must not measure a man by a little bit of his life, nor even by his entire earthly career; for it is nothing compared with the hidden future of his life in eternity. These men measured David’s faith, and measure our faith by what they see of us in one day: we are sick, we are sorry, we are poor, we are troubled, and then they say, “We told you so! This faith of theirs is not worth having, or else they would not fare so roughly or be found in so much heaviness.” Faith and feeling are in contrast. Outward circumstances must never be made the tests of the value of pious trust in our God. We must not judge God by his dealings with us nor judge ourselves by it; but let us still hold on to this pure, simple faith that the Lord is good to Israel. Let us love the Lord for a whole eternity of his love, and then for everything, for every turn of his hand, for every frown and stroke and rebuke; for he is good in everything, unalterably good. If with this faith of ours we are praying and pleading and God does not answer us, does not help us, but leaves us in the dark, yet still do not let our trust waver. If any man walks in darkness and sees no light, let him trust and trust in until the light shall come.

15. So, then, we have just touched upon two points — that a true man’s faith is soon made known, but that, though it is known, it is usually misunderstood. We live among blind men; let us not be angry because they cannot see.

16. III. Thirdly, THIS TRUE FAITH WILL, IN ALL PROBABILITY, BE MOCKED AT SOME TIME OR OTHER.

17. It is a great honour for a man to trust in God, and so to have his name written upon the Arch of Triumph which Paul has erected in the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews, where you see name after name of the heroes who served God by faith. It is a glorious thing to mingle our bones with those who are buried in that mausoleum which bears this epitaph, “These all died in faith.” It is an honourable thing to be a believer in God, but there are some who think the very opposite, and these begin to scoff at the believer. Sometimes they scoff at faith itself: they think faith itself to be a folly of weak minds. Or else they mock one particular Christian’s faith. “Oh,” they say, “he professes to trust in God. This man talks in this mad way! Why, he is a working man like other people — works in a shop along with me. What has he to do with trusting God any more than I have? He is conceited and fanatical.” Or in other circles they cry, “This is a man of business, he keeps a shop, and I dare say he knows as much of the tricks of the trade as we do, and yet he talks about trusting in God. No doubt he feigns this faith to win religious customers.” Sometimes the mockery comes from one of your family, for faith’s foes live in the same house with her. The husband has been known to say to his wife, “Ridiculous nonsense, your trusting in God!” Indeed, and parents have said the same to holy children; and, alas! children have grown up to speak in the same way to their parents to the wounding of their hearts. As if faith in God were a thing that could be scoffed at, instead of being the most wise, and proper, and rational thing under heaven. Faith in God is a thing to be reverenced rather than reviled. True religion is sanctified common sense. It is the most common sense thing in the world to put your trust in One who cannot lie. If I trust myself, or trust my fellow man, I am thought to be in the first case self-reliant, and in the second case I am judged to have a charitable disposition; yet in either case I shall, sooner or later, prove my folly; but if I trust God, who can bring a reason against my confidence? What is there to be ridiculed in a man’s trusting his Maker? Can HE fail who created the blue heavens, who settled the foundations of the earth and poured out the waters of the great sea? Can the Almighty retract his promise because he is unable to fulfil it? Can he break his word because circumstances master him and prevent his performance of it? “Trust in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” The day shall come when it will be known by all intelligent beings that unbelief in God is folly, but that faith in the Eternal is essential wisdom. May God give us more faith in himself. No doubt we may expect to have all the more of the laughter of the ungodly, who will make a spectacle of us for our faith: but what of that? We can bear mockery and much more for his sake who died for us.

18. And then men scoff at the very idea of divine intervention. They judge the Lord’s deliverance to be the main point of our faith. “He trusted God that he would deliver him.” “Look,” they say, “he imagines that God will deliver him, as if the Creator did not have something else to do besides looking after him, poor miserable creature that he is! He is nothing to God — a mere speck — the insect of an hour, and yet he trusts in God to intervene on his behalf.” The philosophers laugh whenever you speak of divine intervention, and think that we must be in the last stage of lunacy to expect anything of the kind. They believe in laws, they say — irreversible, immutable laws, that grind on like the great cogs of a machine which, when once they are set in motion, tear everything to pieces that gets in their way. They do not believe that God fulfils promises, or answers prayers, or delivers his people. Their God is a dead force, without mind, or thought, or love, or care. He who in nature acts according to law is still believed to have no power to carry out his own word, which must always be law to a truthful being. Why, some of us are as sure that God has intervened for us as if he had torn the heavens and thrust out his right hand visibly before the eyes of all beholders. The wise ones laugh at us for this, but we are not abashed; rather we reply, “Laugh if you like, and as long as you like; but we daily receive innumerable blessings from God in answer to our cries, and your laughter no more affects us than the noise of the dogs by the Nile disturbs the flow of the river. We shall believe for all your merriment, and if it pleases you to go on with your laughter we also will go on with our faith.” The object of the ungodly man’s scorn is the idea that God should ever intervene to help his people in human affairs, but do you affirm it, oh true believers; for he does still show himself strong on the behalf of those who trust in him. Let them say, and laugh at you as they say it, “He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him”; but let none of these things move you.

19. Further, we have known this mockery to extend to all kinds of faith in the divine love. “Let him deliver him,” they say, “since he delighted in him.” Perhaps you have unwisely mentioned the story of God’s special love for those who are now making merriment of you; you have cast your pearls before swine, and they turn again to rend you. They say, “This man says God loves him above others; that he chose him before the world began; that he redeemed him from among men with the blood of Christ; that he has called him by his Holy Spirit; that he has admitted him into his secrets and made him his child,” and then they laugh again very lustily, as if it were a rare jest. How the world rages against electing love! It cannot endure any speciality in grace. It mocks as horrible the idea that one man should be more beloved by heaven than another. The heathen could not figure out a certain brave saint because he called himself Theophorus, or “God-Bearer”; but he stuck to it that he was so, and this made his foes all the more angry. God dwelt in him, he said, and he would not give up his happy belief, therefore they did not cease to mock. It was a carrying out of our text, “Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” Well, well; we can afford to bear these mockings; for if we are beloved by a king it will not matter much if we are sneered at by his subjects; if we are beloved by God it is a little concern though all men should make us the subject of their jest.

20. Ungodly men are extremely apt to find amusement in the trials involved in the life and walk of faith. Their cry of “Let him deliver him” implies that their victim was in serious difficulty from which he could not extricate himself. This is no novelty for the believer, but it makes rare fun for the ungodly. What is the good of faith if the believer suffers like others, and endures the same pains, and losses and diseases as others? So the men of the world argue. They would be believers too if it would bring them in a fortune, or a handsome salary, or at least a loaded table and a full cup. But when they see a saint on the dunghill with Job, or in the pit with Joseph, or in the dungeon with Jeremiah, or among the dogs with Lazarus, they sneer and cry, “Is this the reward of piety? Is this the wages of godliness?” They like to see us in our time of trouble and taunt us with our confidence in God; and, alas, there is so much unbelief in us that we are all too prone in such times to question the justice and faithfulness of the Lord, and to say with David, “Truly I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.” It seems hard for us to be mocked by the base ones of the earth, to become the song and the byword of the ungodly; yet this has happened to the excellent of the earth and will happen yet again. Set your account that this is a part of the covenanted inheritance, and accept it with joy for Christ’s sake.

21. IV. Now, I must close with this point (though there is much more to be said): THE TIME SHALL COME WHEN THE FAITH OF THE MAN WHO HAS TRUSTED IN GOD SHALL BE ABUNDANTLY JUSTIFIED.

22. I think it is no little thing to have the ungodly bearing witness that “He trusted in God that he would deliver him.” I have known what it is to be extremely grateful to ungodly men for helping me to believe that I am truly a child of God. Someone, years ago, uttered an atrocious lie against me — an abominable slander. I was very low and heavy of spirit at the time, but when I read it I clapped my hands for joy, for I felt, “Now I have one of the marks and seals of a child of God, for it is written, ‘Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.’ ” The love of the Lord’s brethren and the hatred of the Lord’s enemies are two things to be desired. We may gather that we are not of the wicked when they will not endure us in their company, when our very presence irritates them, and they begin to rail and jeer. It has happened to us even as Jesus said: “If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” So that there is justification, as it were, of our faith even from the lips of adversaries, and we ought to be thankful for it instead of being downcast about it.

23. Another justification awaits us, and in due season it will come. Brethren, the day will come when God will deliver his people. You will be brought out of your trouble — it may not be immediately, but it will be seasonably. You may most wisely in the meantime learn to glory in your tribulation; your bitters shall turn into sweets, and your losses into gains; your sorrows shall be your joys, your struggles your triumphs — perhaps in this life this transformation may occur, even as the Lord gave to Job twice as much as he had before; but certainly in the life to come you will find the tables turned. Then, what will the ungodly say? They say now, “He trusted in God that he would deliver him”; but they will be compelled to say as they gnash their teeth, “God has delivered him”

24. Whereas the ungodly ridicule the idea that God delights in his people, the day shall come when they shall be made to see that he does delight in them. When the Lord appears on the behalf of his people, and gives them “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,” the wicked shall gnash their teeth, and be filled with confusion. When the Lord shall turn again our captivity, even our most desperate foes shall be made to say, “The Lord has done great things for them.” They shall wonder and be severely vexed to see how the Lord has shown favour towards his chosen. If they do not see it in this life, oh, what an exhibition ungodly men will see of his delight in his people in the world to come! The rich man sees Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom: what a sight for him! Those who scoff at God’s poor people here, shall see them exalted to be kings and priests, to reign with Christ for ever and ever, and what will they say then? What can they say except be compelled to bear witness that their faith was justified.

25. Brethren, at the last great day ungodly men will be witnesses on behalf of the saints. If anyone doubts whether the saints trusted in God, the wicked will be compelled to come forward and say, “They did trust, for we laughed at them for it.” Of this and that man they shall say, “He trusted in God that he would deliver him.” In that day the unbelieving will be swift witnesses against themselves; for since they ridiculed the children of God here, they will have it read out before them as evidence of their enmity against the Lord: and how will they answer it? A man is generally much grieved with anyone who injures his children. I have known a man to behave patiently towards his neighbours, and put up with a great deal from them; but when one of them has struck his child I have seen him incensed to the nth degree. He has said, “I cannot stand that, I will not look on and see my own children badly used.” The Lord says, “He who touches you touches the apple of my eye.” Jesus rises from his throne in glory and stands up indignantly while his servant Stephen is being stoned. If I had no other amusement whatever, I would not for merriment’s sake mock the people of God; for it will go hard with those who make unhallowed mirth out of the saints of the Most High. If any of you have ever done so — if you have done so ignorantly — may the Lord forgive you, and bring you to be numbered among his people, as was Saul of Tarsus; and if any of you have done so knowingly, be humble and penitent, and the Lord will forgive you and receive you among his people.

26. But whether you revile or flatter, it is all the same to us. We are indifferent: we do trust in God that he will deliver us, and we cannot be moved from this confidence. Oh you mockers, we will not be fooled out of our hope, nor jested out of our peace. We cannot find anyone like our God to trust in, and so we will not depart from him in life or death, but will rest in him, come what may, even until we see him face-to-face.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Ps 22]
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Courage and Confidence — ‘Be Strong, Fear Not’ ” 675}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Spirit of the Psalms — Psalm 22” 22 @@ "(Part 2)"}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Spirit of the Psalms — Psalm 56” 56}

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The Christian, Courage and Confidence
675 — “Be Strong, Fear Not”
1 Now let the feeble all be strong,
   And make Jehovah’s arm their song,
   His shield is spread o’er every saint,
   And thus supported, who shall faint?
2 What though the hosts of hell engage
   With mingled cruelty and rage!
   A faithful God restrains their hands,
   And chains them down in iron bands.
3 Bound by his word, he will display
   A strength proportion’d to our day;
   And, when united trials meet,
   Will show a path of safe retreat.
4 Thus far we prove that promise good,
   Which Jesus ratified with blood:
   Still he is gracious, wise, and just,
   And still in him let Israel trust.
                     Philip Doddridge, 1755.

Spirit of the Psalms
Psalm 22 (Part 1)
1 My God, my God, why leavest thou me
   When I with anguish faint?
   Oh, why so far from me removed,
   And from my sad complaint?
2 All day, but all the day unheard,
   To thee do I complain;
   With cries implore relief all night,
   But cry all night in vain.
3 Withdraw not, Lord, so far from me,
   When trouble is so nigh;
   Oh, send me help! thy help, on which
   I only can rely.
                     Tate and Brady, 1696.

Psalm 22 (Part 2)
1 Now let our mournful songs record
   The dying sorrows of our Lord,
   When he complain’d in tears and blood,
   As one forsaken of his God.
2 They wound his head, his hands, his feet,
   Till streams of blood each other meet;
   By lot his garments they divide,
   And mock the pangs in which he died.
3 But God, his Father, heard his cry;
   Raised from the dead, he reigns on high;
   The nations learn his righteousness,
   And humble sinners taste his grace.
                           Isaac Watts, 1719.

Psalm 22 (Part 3)
1 All ye that fear him, praise the Lord;
   His sacred mane adore;
   And ye his chosen Israel,
   Praise him for evermore.
2 Let all the glad converted world
   To him their homage pay,
   And scatter’d nations of the earth
   One sov’reign Lord obey.
3 With humble worship to his throne
   Let all for aid resort;
   That power which first their being gave,
   Alone can give support.
4 Let them, oh Lord, thy truth declare,
   And show thy righteousness;
   That children, yet unborn, may learn
   Thy glory to confess.
Compiled from Old & New Versions, 1562-1696.

Spirit of the Psalms
Psalm 56
1 God counts the sorrows of his saints,
   Their groans affect his ears;
   Thou hast a book for my complaints,
   A bottle for my tears.
2 When to thy throne I raise my cry,
   The wicked fear and flee:
   So swift is prayer to reach the sky;
   So near is God to me.
3 In thee, most holy, just and true,
   I have reposed my trust;
   Nor will I fear what man can do,
   The offspring of the dust.
4 Thy solemn vows are on me, Lord;
   Thou shalt receive my praise:
   I’ll sing, “How faithful is thy word;
   How righteous all thy ways!”
5 Thou hast secured my soul from death;
   Oh set thy prisoner free!
   That heart and hand, and life and breath,
   May be employ’d for thee.
                        Isaac Watts, 1719.