2813. Life, And The Path To It

Life, And The Path To It

No. 2813-49:13. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, June 10, 1877, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, January 11, 1903.

You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fulness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore. {Ps 16:11}

1. I think you must have noticed, while I was reading the Psalm from which my text is taken, that I expounded it partly concerning David, and partly concerning David’s Lord, Jesus the Messiah. It often happens, in the Psalms, that you can scarcely tell whether it is David, or Jesus, or both of them, to whom the writer is referring. Often, you lose sight of David altogether, and are quite certain that he is not there; while, at other times, the words seem equally suitable either to David the type, or to Jesus the antitype. I think that this fact is very instructive to us. It looks as if the Holy Spirit intended, even in those ancient times, to let God’s saints know that there is a mysterious union between Christ and his people, so that almost all things which may be said concerning him may be said, also, concerning those who are in him. They are so completely one, they are so intimately united in bonds of mystical, vital, conjugal, eternal union, that it would not be possible always to keep the sayings concerning them apart. As two streams divided by a bank flow side by side for a while, and at last meld into one river, and you can scarcely say which river it is when they are joined in one, so Christ and his Church are united in one mighty stream, and, therefore, what is said of the one may, at least in some sense, be said of the other. Oh Christian, treasure up this precious thought! You are one with Jesus; and, consequently, much that is said concerning him may also be said concerning you.

2. In this sixteenth Psalm, we are sure that there is a clear reference to the Saviour, because only to him could these words be absolutely applied, “You will not leave my soul in the abode of the dead; neither will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.” All other bodies see corruption, but his holy body did not. His birth was not according to carnal generation; his human nature was perfect, untainted by evil. Such a body belongs to no one else, so these words are, in the fullest sense, only applicable to our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet we feel no hesitation, as believers, in appropriating them to ourselves, at least to a very large extent, remembering that our Lord Jesus said to his disciples, “Because I live, you shall also live”; and that he prayed, “Father, I will that they also, whom you have given to me, be with me where I am; so that they may behold my glory.” This proves that we also shall tread the path of life which he has trodden; that the presence of his Father, in which he is glorified, is that same presence which will make our heaven; that the right hand of God, at which he sits, is the place to which he will also exalt us; and that the pleasures for evermore, in which he himself rejoices, are the very pleasures with which he will indulge our souls, for it is his purpose that his joy shall be in us so that our joy may be full.

3. This brings us to our text, in which there are two things of which I am going to speak to you; first, an assurance concerning the untrodden path; and, secondly, an assurance concerning the life to which that path leads.

4. I. First, then, we have here AN ASSURANCE CONCERNING THE UNTRODDEN PATH: “You will show me the path of life.”

5. If you take these words as referring to Christ, they must apply to him as a man. As a man, he was to die; his soul was to be, for a little while, separated from his body; yet, even as a man, he spoke with perfect confidence to his Father. You remember that his dying words were, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”; “and having said this, he gave up the ghost.” He spoke with the full assurance that his Father would show him “the path of life.” Where did the spirit of Christ go when it left his body? In what mysterious way it entered at once into paradise, it is not for us even to guess. There have been a great many questions raised in the Christian Church, in all ages, concerning this matter. Some, taking the words literally, have said that Christ descended into hell, and they have even ventured to affirm that he preached to the dead, and delivered the spirits that were in that awful prison-house. All that kind of talk seems to me very like what comes from dreamland. We know, from our Saviour’s own declaration, that he was in paradise the very day that he died, for he said to the penitent thief, “Today you shall be with me in paradise.” But whatever pathway the human soul of Jesus took, it was not unguided; his Father showed to him “the path of life.”

6. His sacred body had to lie three days in the tomb, but it was not corrupted in the least degree. Dr. Watts very sweetly sings, —

    There the dear flesh of Jesus lay,
       And left a long perfume.

That body, lying in Joseph’s sepulchre, wrapped in linen and sweet spices through the love and kindness of Christ’s disciples, needed to rise again; and once more the Father showed to his Son “the path of life.” How it happened that the Spirit of God worked on that precious body, and raised Jesus from the dead, we cannot tell, for the work of the Spirit is secret and mysterious; but those blessed eyes of Jesus opened again, and the pulses of his human heart began to beat once more, and he stood on those dear feet that had been pierced by the nails, and he unwound the napkin from his head with those very hands that had been fastened to the cross, but which would never again suffer pain, for he had risen from the dead no more to die. As the firstborn from the dead, his Father had shown to him “the path of life.”

7. Then, after staying here for a little longer, — that his reunited soul and body might dwell, for forty days or so, in the midst of his disciples, that they might be quite sure that it was his own body that had risen from the dead, and his own soul that communed with them, — he led them out to Olivet, and once again his Father showed him “the path of life.”

    Thence he arose ascending high,
       And showed our feet the way.

His disciples beheld him ascend while he was blessing them; and they gazed at him, as he ascended, until a cloud hid him from their astonished gaze; and we are expressly told that, at the appointed time, he shall come again in the same way as they saw him go up into heaven. Truly, in him was fulfilled the psalmist’s confident declaration, “You will show me the path of life.” We can easily imagine that, as he passed through that cloud, the angels came to meet him; squadrons of bright beings from the courts of heaven hurried down to do him homage, and to escort him back to the glory which he had with the Father before he came to sojourn here below. It seems to me to be not merely poetry, but a matter of fact, that they then sang, “Lift up your heads, oh you gates; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in”; and he entered the gates, and went straight to the throne which his Father had appointed as the grand reward for his victory, and there he sits, and will continue to sit until his foes are made his footstool.

8. So, you see that our text is true concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is also true concerning all who are in Christ; and each of us, who is trusting in him, may with the hand of faith grasp this divine assurance, “You will show me the path of life.” I feel quite enamoured with this portion of my text, and would be perfectly content if I had only to preach from it. You, oh my God, — you who know everything, — you will show me the path of life! There is no other guide like you, my God. I trust no priest, — no man like myself, — nor even an angel. You, who led your people through the wilderness by the cloudy-fiery pillar, — you will show me the path of life.

9. And you will show it to me, — unworthy as I am, — just as if I were the only traveller on life’s rough way. You will devote your wisdom and your strength to me, taking me by the hand, and leading me, as a father leads his child. You will be gentle and patient with me; and when I am so blind that I cannot see my way, you will go before me, and say to me, “This is the way; walk in it.”

10. And, my Lord, since there is only one “path of life,” you will show me the path. It is only a narrow track; and it runs completely contrary to the broad way that leads to destruction. You will show me the path, oh Lord, and guide my feet into it! When I do not know which way to turn, to the right or to the left, you will show me the path, I know that you will.

11. And it will be the path of life that you will show me. I shall not live in a kind of living death, as others do, but I shall be really quickened by your Holy Spirit. In that path, I shall find life; and by that path, I shall receive even more of life; and, at last, I shall attain to the perfection of life, and see you in the glory-life above far more fully than I can ever see you in the grace-life below.

12. So you see that every word is precious and full of meaning, but just for a moment think of the complete sentence, “You will show me the path of life.” That is true, my brother or sister, about all of your life while you are here. You will not be misled if you trust in God. Your own supposed wisdom will surely lead you astray if you follow its guidance; but trust in the Lord, and you shall be rightly guided in all times of trouble and difficulty; and when you come to die, — when you are indeed entering on a new and untrodden path, — the Lord will still show you the path of life. He will teach you the way to be confident even when the dewdrops of death lie cold and clammy on your brow. He will show you the way to meet your last great adversary without a fear, and without even a tremor; and he will teach you how to find life in death, and how to triumph in the last dread conflict. Think of what will happen when the parting moment comes, and the spirit is launched on a sea it never traversed before. It leaves the familiar precincts of the house of clay, and finds itself stripped and unclothed, and it cries, “Oh, where shall I go? In that unknown land without a path, where shall I go?” You need not ask that question, brother; or, if you do, you can give the answer, “You will show me the path of life.” Up to the realms where angels dwell, borne up on eagle wings, you shall ascend to heaven. God himself will stoop from heaven to be your Guide, and he will take you to dwell, as a pure spirit, at his right hand. The ages will speed on, and, in due time, there will ring out the mighty blast of the resurrection trumpet. Where will my body be then? These limbs, all mouldered back to dust; these eyes vanished from human sight; the whole mortal fabric dissolved, and returned to mother earth. Ah, my Lord! but I shall not have to raise myself from the grave, — I could not work that miracle of resurrection; my bones do not have to come together to their fellow bones by their own power. God will teach each atom to come to its fellow, and each individual life will be identified the same as before, yet wondrously changed. I do not know how it will be, but God knows, and he will show us “the path of life,” — the way to be conformed to the image of Christ, — the way to attain to the perfection of everlasting life. This is the path that no eagle’s eye has ever seen, and no lion’s whelp has ever trodden; yet, in blissful confidence, I may die, and rise again, for the Lord will show me “the path of life.”

13. Is this not a blessed truth? Then, drink it in; and if you have any fears of death, let them all fly away as you meditate on this comforting assurance which your Lord himself has so graciously revealed to you.

14. II. Now, secondly, we have, in our text, AN ASSURANCE CONCERNING THE LIFE TO WHICH THAT UNTRODDEN PATH LEADS: “In your presence is fulness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

15. Concerning that life, we are told, first, the place where it is to be spent. Many people ask, “Where is heaven?” Others enquire, “Is there such a place at all?” Assuredly, there is such a place, but where it is, I cannot tell. Some have imagined that, possibly, it is in the central star of our solar system, Alcyone in the constellation of the Pleiades. We may dismiss the conjecture as soon as we have heard it, and not be any the better for having heard it. What we do know, however, about heaven, is that it is in the presence of God. Do you know, beloved, what the presence of God means? Yes, in a feeble sense, you have experienced it when, in his house, and especially at his table, he has unveiled his face. When the King has been with us, when we have consciously felt that we were in the royal presence, we have sung, —

    No beams of cedar, or of fir,
    Can with his earthly courts compare.

But what must it be to be in his presence when relieved from the burden of this flesh for a while, or when it is refined and purified, — when the dimness, that is now on our eyes, shall all be gone, and the unclouded glory of God shall shine on us? A poor prisoner, who has seen a little gleam of light down in his dismal dungeon, knows something about the sun; but what a difference there must be between his knowledge of the great orb of day, and what is possessed by the angel whom Milton represents as living in the sun! A contrast as great as this is going to happen to you, dear friends, in passing from this world, with every now and then a glint of heaven’s sunlight, to dwelling with God for ever in the glory that excels anything that we have ever imagined here. I cannot tell you what it will be, neither will you know it until you get there, and learn what it is by actually dwelling in his presence.

16. We are also told that heaven is to be enjoyed at the right hand of God. The right hand, even on earth, is the place of favour, and the place of honour, and the place of security. The right-hand place is always regarded as the poet of dignity and nobility in all courts. God is not going to give his people any left-handed heaven, but they are to dwell at his right hand for evermore. It is the place that Jesus himself has, and that he has promised to his victorious followers: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and have sat down with my Father on his throne.” The very choicest place in heaven shall be yours, beloved. God will not put you away somewhere behind the doors of his royal palace, but he will guide you to the place of honour at his own right hand where “there are pleasures for evermore.”

17. Those last words that I quoted tell us something about the enjoyments of heaven, — the kind of life which the glorified spend at the right hand of God above. The life of heaven is a life of joy, and the crowning joy is that the pleasures there are “pleasures for evermore.” In this world, a few drops of joy fall here and there, and there are sometimes showers of blessing; but, up there, it is joy, joy, joy for ever, “pleasures for evermore.” Let these blessed joy-bells ring in your ears and in your heart just now; and if you know even a little of what they mean, you may anticipate that they will mean a thousand times as much on the other side of the Jordan of death, in the heavenly land of Canaan.

18. Our text tells us of the quantity, as well as the quality of the joy of heaven; it is to be “fulness of joy.” That is what we never reach here; for, when we are most joyful, there is always room for more joy, or there is something lacking in the completeness of our joy; but, in God’s presence, is “fulness of joy.” It may well be described as the fulness of joy because it is infinite. He who drinks from a cup can soon drain it dry; but he who lies down on the brink of a great river may drink as long as he likes, and he will never empty it, for he has come to its fulness.

19. “Fulness of joy” means that you shall not only have as much joy as you can hold, but that it shall still keep on running, and then your capacity shall be enlarged, but still you shall be filled with joy, and so it shall continue for ever. If you are the least among the saints in heaven, you shall have fulness of joy; and if you are the greatest, you shall still be full of joy, you shall be so full of joy that you could not be more happy, you shall have reached the very summit of eternal felicity; yes, even there, it shall not enter into your heart to conceive anything that shall be greater than the joy which God has revealed to those who love him. What indescribable bliss must this fulness of joy be! You know that, when you are full of anything, you cannot put anything else in; so, where there is fulness of joy at God’s right hand, no sorrow will ever be able to enter. There are —

    No groans to mingle with the songs
    Which warble from immortal tongues.

There will not be room for a single doubt there, or for a fear; — no, not even for one sad memory. There will not be room for a wish, we shall be so full of joy that we shall have all that we could desire. Every faculty of our body glorified, and every power of ip, — first, with the Father. How near we shall be to him when we are in his presence! Here, we cannot see his face and live; but, there, we shall live by seeing his face. It will be the ecstasy of our glorified life to gaze on him who is invisible to mortal eyes. There, too, we shall see Jesus. Do not your sacred passions burn at the very thought of such bliss as this?

    For there the Man, that lived and died,
    Sits glorious at his Father’s side; —

“pleasures for evermore” may teach us that the bliss is varied. I cannot give to you, beloved, a complete list of the joys of heaven, but I will briefly mention a few of them.

21. The glorified before the throne are singing about salvation for ever; praising him who washed them from their sins in his own blood. A sense of perfected salvation is a part of the bliss of heaven. They are washed whiter than snow, and they know it. They are delivered from all sin, and are “without fault before the throne of God”; and they know it. Now they have been brought completely away from all danger of perishing, for they are “saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.”

22. There will be a sense of security, too, for all who are at the right hand of God in glory; they are all perfectly safe there. “No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up there, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there.” “Neither shall the sun shine on them, nor any heat”; and they know that it shall be so; and, therefore, a sense of their security is one of the sweetnesses of the beautiful state.

23. Coupled with that will be their assurance of victory. They will know that they have overcome all their enemies through the blood of the Lamb. Even the last enemy, death himself, will then have been destroyed. When the resurrection shall be complete, what a vast sweep will the mind’s eye of the glorified believer take! All human history will open up before him; and as he gazes on it, he will see that God has triumphed, by his grace, in everything; and the adoring song of victory will go up for ever and ever to him who has conquered sin, and death, and hell, and led captives captive. The palm branches will for ever be waving, and the harps for ever ringing out, “Glory, glory, glory to the mighty grace which has triumphed from the first day even until now!” Victory blending with security will indeed make glad the spirits of the saints at God’s right hand.

24. There, too, their joy will consist in freedom from every form of evil. No temptation can ever enter there, no carking care, no spiritual weakness. They are eternally free of everything that made them sad in the days of their sinfulness and imperfection. One great part of the joy of the glorified will be the perfection of their characters, for he who is holy must be happy. Perfection of holiness must mean perfection of happiness, the two things must go together. Sin and sorrow cannot be divorced, and holiness and happiness cannot be separated. Oh brethren, what must it be to feel that you have no tendency to err, — no understanding out of balance, — that even memory does not bring to you a sinful reflection that would stain your purity, — that, altogether, your whole mind is godlike, made holy through the operation of the blessed Spirit and the cleansing blood of Jesus? Oh, to get rid of sin completely! One would not mind keeping a frail body, with all its weakness and pains, if he could once get rid of sin. One might be willing to be as poor as Lazarus if he could only get rid of sin. To shake off this viper into the fire, to be altogether free of even the taint of sin, would be heaven; and we shall have that bliss at God’s right hand.

25. Part of the joy of heaven will lie also in perfect knowledge. Here, we only know in part; but there, we shall know even as we are known. Here, “we see through a mirror, darkly; but there, face-to-face.” Some of you do not understand the doctrines of grace here, but you will understand them there. You have a great many questions that are too difficult for you to answer now, and you are often puzzled with problems which you cannot solve. You must believe now much that you cannot comprehend; but things will look very different, in the clear light of heaven, from what they do now in the dim twilight of earth. Wait for a while, and do not worry. Wait for just a little time, and the eternal day shall break, and the shadows shall flee away for ever, and you shall know all that you will desire to know when you are at God’s right hand in glory.

26. But, perhaps, it is even sweeter to remember that heaven’s bliss will very much consist in fellowship, — first, with the Father. How near we shall be to him when we are in his presence! Here, we cannot see his face and live; but, there, we shall live by seeing his face. It will be the ecstasy of our glorified life to gaze on him who is invisible to mortal eyes. There, too, we shall see Jesus. Do not your sacred passions burn at the very thought of such bliss as this?

    For there the Man, that lived and died,
    Sits glorious at his Father’s side; —

and these eyes shall behold him, — the God who died for me. Oh, that wondrous sight! Do we not feel as though, like John, we must fall at his feet as dead when we see him as he is? Oh blessed Christ, we scarcely want any more of heaven than to be where you are! Then, too, the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, will even more gloriously be revealed his divine power to us there.

    Oh blissful hour! Oh blest abode!
    I shall be near and like my God.

We shall have such fellowship there with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as was not possible before; and, then, — this is coming down a long way from the sublime height of fellowship with God, yet it is a fact that is worth remembering, — we shall have fellowship with the innumerable holy angels, and with all the glorified saints. All who have been redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus, even as we are, will be there as our happy companions for ever and ever. Are you not anxious to see the apostles and prophets who have gone to heaven before you? Well, beloved, you shall see them, and the communion, that you will have with them, will be of the most intimate kind. And your beloved ones, who have been called home before you, — you shall meet them, eventually, when the Master shall say to you also, “Come up here.” Oh, yes! there will be “the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, … the spirits of just men made perfect,” and it will be a part of the delights of heaven to have fellowship with them. I have heard some people say that they will have such sweet and satisfying fellowship with Christ that they will not want to have any with his people, but that is both absurd and impossible, because you cannot have fellowship with the Head without having fellowship with the members at the same time. Christ will never wish you to look at him in heaven as separated from his people; they shall be so completely one with him that, in fellowship with his people, you shall in no degree be diminishing your fellowship with Christ, but rather be enjoying it in the form in which he himself rejoices, for his delights will still be with the sons of men; and if, on earth, they were the excellent, in whom was all your delight, he would have you take the same delight in them when you meet them before his throne in glory.

27. There is one more pleasure of heaven that I must mention, and that is rest; — not that state of idleness of which some lazy people foolishly think, but that kind of rest which will be perfectly compatible with holy service. We are to serve God day and night in his temple; we shall always have something to do for our God throughout eternity, but that service will be rest for us. Just as, here on earth, we take Christ’s yoke on us, and learn from him, and so find rest for our souls, in heaven itself we shall continue in the service of our God, and we shall find in it the very sweetest rest. One part of that service will be everlasting praise. I am longing for the time when I shall have a heart that will never wander from my Lord; what hallelujahs I will sing to his holy name; and will not you, who love him, do the same? Oh, what shoutings we will make together when, as one complete family before the throne, we shall praise the almighty grace which has brought us safely home, and enabled us to join in the heavenly anthem, “Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever”!

28. The last thing to be mentioned is the duration of all this bliss: “pleasures for evermore.” It would be robbing heaven of all that makes it to be heaven if you could deprive it of its everlasting duration. Our Lord will at the last say, “These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.” Your life in heaven will be everlasting, and your joy will be everlasting, because you have an everlasting Christ, and an everlasting God, and an everlasting covenant has been made with you, ordered in all things and sure. A million millions, — what must that be? The human mind cannot grasp the meaning of such vast numbers; yet, when millions of millions of millions of millions of years have passed over the heads of Christ’s saints in glory, this text will not be exhausted; — indeed, more, not one jot or tittle of it will be exhausted, and throughout eternity it will still be “pleasures for evermore.” Ah, my brethren! this prize is worth winning; eternal life is worth having; and it shall be the portion of everyone who truly trusts in our Lord Jesus Christ.

29. The last thing I am going to say is just this. I greatly fear and tremble for some of you lest you should never enter into this “fulness of joy” and these “pleasures for evermore.” You know that dreadful word “damned” which Jesus used: “He who does not believe shall be damned.” I will not try to explain to you what the sufferings of the lost must be, for they cannot be described; but a great part of the condemnation of the lost will consist in the fact that they will lose the “fulness of joy” in the presence of God and the “pleasures for evermore” at his right hand. How dreadful this punishment of the lost must be, in addition to all the suffering that must be endured in hell for ever! There stand the pearly gates, but what if you should never enter them? Over there are the streets of gold, but what if you should never stand on that radiant pavement? There is the face of Jesus, but what if he should say to you, “I never knew you”? There is the throne of God, but what if it should burn like a devouring fire for you, so that you should be unable to come near to it, and to say, “Father,” to him who sits on it? Shut out of heaven! Shut out for ever! In the outer darkness for ever! Away from the marriage feast for ever! “When once the Master of the house is risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside, and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us’; and he shall answer and say to you, ‘I do not know who you are; … depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’ ” Surely there is not a man, or woman, or child, who could look forward, without alarm, to the prospect of being shut out of heaven for ever. But you will be, — as surely as God lives, you will be, — unless you repent of sin, and trust his Son. I am no prophet of evil, neither do I like to harp on this string; yet I must remind you that God has declared, concerning heaven, that “there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles.” You must, therefore, be washed in the blood of the Lamb if you are ever to be admitted within the pearly gates. Remember the apostolic message, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved”; for it is as true now as when it was first uttered. May the Holy Spirit graciously constrain you to believe in Jesus now, and at once to yield up your whole being to his supreme sway! Ask him to show you “the path of life,” and to lead you in it; for then you shall enter into his presence, where there is “fulness of joy,” and you shall stand at his right hand, where “there are pleasures for evermore!”

30. Someone recommended all people, before they go to sea, to wear a life-jacket. I do not believe that people in general are ever likely to follow that advice; but if someone could invent a life-jacket that made the wearer of it more ready for his work on land, — that made him stronger, healthier, and more handsome, then everyone would be eager enough to have it. Well, now, salvation is a life-jacket for the hour of death, but it is also a strengthening life-jacket, a help, a beauty, a joy and delight for this present life. “Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of what is to come”; it is as good to live with as to die with, and no one is fit to live who is not fit to die, and no one is fit to die until he is fit to live. Fitness for work on earth is fitness for rest in heaven. Depend on it, these two things go together.

31. Do you all know the Lord? With that question I will conclude. Do you all know the Lord? If not, you do not know your best Friend; you do not know him who is the Father of all believers. Do you know the Lord? If not, please seek his face this very hour; and especially I urge you to obey that word of his apostle, which I quoted to you just now, but cannot quote too often, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” When you trust Christ, you shall see God in Christ, and shall come to the Father through the Son, and the Holy Spirit shall reveal him to you. May the Lord grant that this may be the case, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ps 16}

1. Preserve me, oh God: for in you I put my trust.

Notice how the psalmist urges the prevailing plea of faith. A trusted God will be a preserving God. If you, believer, can truly say that you are trusting God in any time of trouble or danger, you will be safe enough in his keeping.

2, 3. Oh my soul, you have said to the LORD, “You are my Lord: my goodness does not extend to you”; but to the saints who are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

“I cannot do you any good, my God; you are too great to need anything from me; but I may be the means of blessing to your people, your saints may reap some little benefit from what I do. They are the company I keep, they are the best friends I know, and if you will only help me to do something for you which shall bring blessing to them, I shall indeed rejoice.”

4. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hurry after another god: I will not offer their drink offerings of blood, nor take up their names into my lips.

We must be faithful to God — to the God revealed to us in the Book of God, — the God of the Old Testament — of the New Testament, — the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must stay with him, not make another god according to our own imagination. It is practical idolatry even to conceive of God otherwise than as he is revealed in Holy Scripture. We must not do this, but say, concerning the God of the Bible, “This God is our God for ever and ever.”

5. The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: you maintain my lot.

One of the great houses of nobility has for its motto the words, “I will maintain it.” But David’s is a better one: “You maintain my lot.” God is the best Defender that his people can ever have.

6. The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a goodly inheritance.

Many of us have proved this to be true in our experience. May we continue gratefully contented — and more than contented — delighted with whatever God appoints for us!

7, 8. I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel: also my conscience instructs me in the night times. I have set the LORD always before me:

“In my acts by day, and my thoughts by night,” —

8. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Now across the sacred page there comes the wonderful revelation of a glorious One who speaks in the very words that are recorded here. Though, possibly, we have not recognised him, these words that follow apply especially to Jesus Christ our Lord.

9. Therefore my heart is glad, —

Because, in the night-watches, he had sought his Father, and found help in him, he could say, “Therefore my heart is glad,” —

9, 10. And my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in hell;

Or, rather, Hades, the abode of the dead.

10. Neither will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.

Now David was gathered to his forefathers, and his body saw corruption, as the apostle Peter correctly observed, so it is clear that he is not speaking about himself here, — not in the first place, at any rate, but of “great David’s greater Son,” — our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: “Neither will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.”

11. You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fulness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Resurrection — Death Swallowed Up In Victory” 844}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “God the Father, Acts, Covenant — The Covenant God Extolled” 229}
 {See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Burial Hymns — Burial Of A Saint” 832}

Twelve Sermons On Precious Promises By. C. H. Spurgeon.

“Perhaps Mr. Spurgeon was at his greatest and best when making his boast in the faithfulness and promises of God. No preacher or teacher in any age has been able to excel him in this matter; and we do not have many today who can compare with him. How few preachers we listen to who seem to profoundly realize that a promising God, as Paul presents in Galatians 3, is the very glory of the gospel, and that salvation, on our side, is altogether by faith which receives the promises of grace! As Mr. Spurgeon puts it, ‘Everything that a sinner needs for his salvation is made a matter of promise.’ The appearance of his selection of sermons just now is most opportune. We could wish that every member of the Prayer Circle might possess this volume. It would be hard to find anything better fitted to nourish prayer and faith.” — The Life Of Faith

Twelve Sermons On The Doctrines Of Grace By C. H. Spurgeon

“The popularity of Mr. C. H. Spurgeon is one of the most amazing things, perhaps, of our times. The great preacher has been dead for years, and yet his sermons have been printed with steady regularity, and always there is a large public eager to read them. Twelve of these sermons have been brought together under one cover, and called Sermons of the Doctrines of Grace. They are published at 1s., and they form a library on this subject. Many humble Christians will feed on these sermons with delight. Many a sermon will be made out of them by ministers whose libraries are restricted. Speaking of Spurgeon, naturally leads to a word on the ‘The Sword And The Trowel,’ the magazine that he made so distinctively his own. As far as is possible, the spirit and tone of Mr. Spurgeon have been maintained. Except for the brilliant sally and the humorous expression in the book reviews, which used to characterize it in Spurgeon’s day, one might find it difficult to believe that the same hand did not edit it yet. It still has a strong Spurgeonic smack, of course by reason of the unpublished addresses which appear in it.” — The Christian Endeavour Times

The above volumes have been recently issued in the Twelve Sermons Series, of which 51 sets have now been published, price 1s. each; post free, 1s. 2d. A complete list of them can be obtained on application to Messrs. Passmore and Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings, London, E. C.

The Christian, Resurrection
844 — Death Swallowed Up In Victory
1 We sing his love who once was slain,
   Who soon o’er death revived again,
   That all his saints through him might have
   Eternal conquests o’er the grave.
      Soon shall the trumpet sound, and we
      Shall rise to immortality.
2 The saints who now in Jesus sleep,
   His own almighty power shall keep,
   Till dawns the bright illustrious day,
   When death itself shall die away.
      Soon shall the trumpet sound, and we
      Shall rise to immortality.
3 How loud shall our glad voices sing,
   When Christ his risen saints shall bring
   From beds of dust, and silent clay,
   To realms of everlasting day!
      Soon shall the trumpet sound, and we
      Shall rise to immortality.
4 When Jesus we in glory meet,
   Our utmost joys shall be complete:
   When landed on that heavenly shore,
   Death and the curse will be no more!
      Soon shall the trumpet sound, and we
      Shall rise to immortality.
5 Hasten, dear Lord, the glorious day,
   And this delightful scene display:
   When all thy saints from death shall rise,
   Raptured in bliss beyond the skies.
      Soon shall the trumpet sound, and we
      Shall rise to immortality.
                     Rowland Hill, 1796.

God the Father, Acts, Covenant
229 — The Covenant God Extolled <6.8.4.>
1 The God of Abraham praise
      Who reigns enthroned above,
   Ancient of everlasting days,
      And God of love!
      Jehovah, great I AM!
      By earth and heaven confest;
   I bow, and bless the sacred name,
      For ever blest!
2 The God of Abraham praise,
      At whose supreme command,
   From earth I rise, and seek the joys
      At his right hand:
      I all on earth forsake,
      Its wisdom, fame, and power;
   And him my only portion make,
      My shield and tower.
3 The God of Abraham praise,
      Whose all-sufficient grace
   Shall guide me all my happy days
      In all his ways:
      He calls a worm his friend,
      He calls himself my God!
   And he shall save me to the end,
      Through Jesus’ blood.
4 He by himself hath sworn,
      I on his oath depend;
   I shall, on eagles’ wings upborne,
      To heaven ascend:
      I shall behold his face,
      I shall his power adore,
   And sing the wonders of his grace
      For evermore.
            THE SECOND PART.
5 Though nature’s strength decay,
      And earth and hell withstand,
   To Canaan’s bounds I urge my way
      At his command:
      The watery deep I pass
      With Jesus in my view,
   And through the howling wilderness
      My way pursue.
6 The goodly land I see,
      With peace and plenty blest;
   A land of sacred liberty,
      And endless rest:
      There milk and honey flow
      And oil and wine abound,
   And trees of life for ever grow,
      With mercy crown’d.
7 There dwells the Lord our King,
      The Lord our righteousness!
   Triumphant o’er the world and sin,
      The Prince of Peace.
      On Sion’s sacred height,
      His kingdom still maintains;
   And glorious with his saints in light,
      For ever reigns.
8 The whole triumphant host
      Give thanks to God on high,
   “Hail Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!”
      They ever cry:
      Hail, Abraham’s God, and mine!
      I join the heavenly lays;
   All might and majesty are Thine,
         And endless praise.
                     Thomas Olivers, 1772.

The Christian, Burial Hymns
832 — Burial Of A Saint
1 Why do we mourn departing friends,
      Or shake at death’s alarms!
   ‘Tis but the voice that Jesus sends
      To call them to his arms.
2 Why should we tremble to convey
      Their bodies to the tomb?
   There the dear flesh of Jesus lay,
      And left a long perfume.
3 The graves of all his saints he bless’d,
      And soften’d every bed:
   Where should the dying members rest,
      But with the dying Head?
4 Thence he arose, ascending high,
      And show’d our feet the way;
   Up to the Lord our flesh shall fly,
      At the great rising day.
5 Then let the last loud trumpet sound,
      And bid our kindred rise;
   Awake, ye nations, under ground;
      Ye saints, ascend the skies.
                           Isaac Watts, 1709.