The forgiveness of sin : illustrated in a practical exposition of Psalm 130

Front matter

*r

W ri

LIBRARY

Chap. 4. Discovery of Forgiveness, 71 Exposition of the Doctrine of Forgiveness, . 71

No approach to God without it, ... 74

Greatness of the discovery of Forgiveness, . 76

Testimonies of Conscience and the law against it, 76 False presumptions of Forgiveness, . . .83

CONTENTS.

Page

7. God's institution of religious worship, . . 163

8. His making the New Covenant, . . .174

9. The oath of God, 180

Chap. 10. Evidences of Forgiveness — continued, 184

10. God's name as the God of pardons, . . 184

11. The essential properties of his nature, . 189

12. God's sending his Son, . . . .196

13. His requiring forgiveness in us, . . . 206

CONTENTS. 7

Pago

Rule 1. Let Christ be the Judge of your condition, . 271

2. Abhorrence for sin consistent with justifica-

tion and peace, 278

3. Continuance in waiting on God, . , ; 288

4. Searching out of sin, 290

Chap. 14. Rules for obtaining Forgiveness — continued, 294

Rule 5. Distinction between Unbelief and Jealousy, 294

6. Distinction between faith and spiritual sense, 299

7. Mix not foundation and building work, . 304

8. Heartless complaints a poor substitute for

active duty, ...... 306

9. Beware of complaining of God in distress, . 312 10. Improve the least displays of grace, . .316

Chap. 15. Hinder ances to a sense of Forgiveness — How afflictions lead to distrust of forgiveness, 319

Directions for those in affliction, . ; . 326

8 CONTENTS.

Page

Chap. 16. Hinderances to a sense of Forgiveness — " Am I regenerated ?" 332

What regeneration is, ..... 332

Is their real state known to the regenerate themselves, or to others 1 338

This state may be known so far as duty is involved, ........ 344

Four directions for resolving this perplexing

doubt, 345

Doubts respecting actual holiness, from defects

in duty, and from indwelling sin, . . 355

Chap. 17. Earnest waiting on God, the fruit of Forgiveness — Nature of this duty, 365 With composure of spirit, 372

With diligence, 374

With confident expectation. .... 376

Chap. 18. Waiting on God only, 383 Absence of God from the soul the ground of

distress, 384

God's glorious being and attributes, . . . 386

His sovereignty, wisdom, righteousness, . . 395

Our infinite distance from him and unworthiness, 405

His blessed promises, 413

Chap. 19. Let all trust in the Lord — with him is

plenteous Redemption, 419

The Psalmist's exhortation to hope in God, . 422 Encouragement from the Redemption or Forgiveness with him, 423

Assured deliverance, 425

Closing Observations, 428

THE

ILLUSTRATED IN

PSALM CXXX.

Paraphrase of the Psalni, and Plan of the Work,

1. Old of the depths have I cried unto thee, Lord.

2. Lord , hear my voice, let thine ears be attentive to the

voice of my supplications*

O Lord, through my manifold sins and provocations I have brought myself into great distresses. My iniquities are always before me, and I am ready to be overwhelmed with them, as with a flood of waters ; for they have brought me into depths wherein I am ready to be swallowed up. But although my distress be great and perplexing, I do not, I dare not utterly despond, and cast away all hopes of relief; nor do I seek unto any other remedy or means of relief, but I apply myself to thee, Jehovah, to thee alone. And in this my application unto thee, the greatness and urgency of my troubles make my soul urgent, earnest and pressing in my supplications. Whilst I have no rest, I can give ,thee no rest : 0, therefore, attend and hearken unto the voice of my crying and supplications 1

3. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities^ Lord, tvho

shall stand?

1*

It is true, Lord, thou God, great and terrible, that if thou shouldest deal with me in this condition — with any man living — with the best of thy saints, according to the strict and exact tenor of thy law, which first represents itself to my guilty conscience and troubled soul, there would be neither for me nor them the least expectation of deliverance 5 all flesh must fail before thee, and the spirits which thou hast made, and that to eternity; for who could stand before thee when thou shouldest so execute thy displeasure \

4. But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be

feared*

But, Lord, this is not absolutely and universally the state of things between thy Majesty and poor sinners 1 thou art, in thy nature, infinitely good and gracious, ready and free, in the purposes of thy will, to receive them. And there is such a blessed wav made for the exercise of the holy inclinations and purposes of thy heart tOAvards them, in the mediation and blood of thy dear Son, that they have assured foundations of concluding and believing that there is pardon and forgiveness with thee in the way of thine appointment. This way, therefore, will I, with all that fear thee, persist in : I will not give over, leave thee, or turn from thee, through my fears, discouragements and despondencies ; but will abide constantly in the observance of the worship which thou hast prescribed, and render the obedience which thou dost require, having great encouragement so to do.

5. I wait for the Lord; my soul doth wait, and in his

word do I hope.

And herein, on account of the forgiveness that is with thee, O Lord, do I wait with all patience, quietness and perseverance. In this work is my whole soul engaged ; even in an earnest expectation of thy approach unto me in a way of grace and mercy. And for my encouragement therein hast thou given me a blessed word of grace, a faithful word of promise, wherein my hope is fixed.

6. My soul waiteth for the Lord, more than they that

watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.

Yea, in the discharge of this duty my soul is intent upon thee, and in its whole frame turned towards thee \ and that with such diligence and watchfulness in looking out after every way and manner of thy appearance, of thy manifestation of thyself, and coming unto me, that I excel therein those who, with longing desire and earnest expectation, wait and watch for the appearance of the morning ; and that either that they may rest from their night-watches, or have light for the duties of thy worship in the temple, in which they most delight.

7. Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is

mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

8. JInd he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Herein have I found such rest, peace and satisfaction to my own soul, that I cannot but invite and encourage others to take the same course with me. Let, then, all the Israel of God, all that fear him, learn this of me, and from my experience : Be not hasty in your distresses ; despond not, despair not, turn not aside to other remedies ; but hope in the Lord ; for I can now, in an especial manner, give testimony to this, that there is mercy with him suited to your relief. Yea, whatever your distress be, the redemption that is with him is so bounteous, plenteous and unsearchable, that the undoubted issue of your performance of this duty will be, that you shall be delivered from the guilt of all your sins, and the perplexities of all your troubles.

My design in the ensuing treatise is to illustrate the teaching of the Holy Ghost in this Psalm, as expressing, in the experience of the Psalmist and the working of his faith, the state of a soul in itself greatly perplexed — relieved through Divine grace — and acting towards God and his saints suitably to the displays of that grace : a great design and full of great instruction. To be more particular, we have

The state of the distressed soul. Tr Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, Lord."

His application to God alone for relief. " Lord, hear my voice, let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications."

His deprecation of God's justice. "If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand 1"

The relief found in God's mercy. "But there is forgiveness with Thee, that thou mayest be feared."

The acting of his faith towards God. " I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I trust. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning, I say more than they that watch for the morning." And

The acting of his faith towards the saints. " Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities."

The Lord, in mercy, so dispose of these meditations, that both he that writes and they that read may be made partakers of the benefit, relief and consolation intended for his saints, in this psalm, by the Holy Ghost.

Chapter I. The Soul In The Depths Of Sin

The state of the soul here represented, as the basis on which this psalm is built, and which first claims our consideration, is described in the expression, out of

THE DEPTHS.

Some of the ancients, as Chrysostom, suppose this expression to relate to the depths of the heart of the Psalmist; but the obvious sense of the place, and the constant use of the word in the Hebrew, will not admit of this interpretation : it is in the plural number, depths. It is commonly used for valleys, or any deep places whatever, but especially of waters. Valleys and deep places, because of their darkness and solitariness, are accounted places of horror, helplessness, and trouble. Psalm 23 : 4, " When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death ;" that is, in the extremity of danger and trouble.

The moral use of the word, as expressing the state and condition of the souls of men, is metaphorical. These depths, then, are difficulties, or pressures, attended with fear, horror, danger, and trouble. And they are of two sorts :

Providential, in respect to outward distresses, calamities, and afflictions, " Save me, God, for the waters are come in unto my soul." Psalm 69 : 1. In the Hebrew, " I stick in the mire of the deep, and there is no standing; I am come into the depths of waters, and the flood overflows me." It is trouble, and the extremity of it, that the Psalmist thus expresses. He was brought by it into a condition like a man ready to be drowned: being cast into the bottom of deep and miry waters, where he had no firm foundation to stand upon, nor ability to come out ; as he further explains himself, verse 15.

There are also internal depths, depths of conscience on account of sin. " Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps." Psalm 88 : 6. What he intends by this expression the Psalmist declares in the next words, ver. 7, " Thy wrath lieth hard upon me." Sense of God's wrath upon his conscience, on account of sin, was the deep he was cast into ; so, ver. 15, speaking of the same matter, he saith, " I suffer thy terrors ;" and ver. 16, " Thy fierce wrath goeth over me :" which he calls water, waves, and deeps ; according to the metaphor already explained.

And these are the deeps that are here principally intended. Augustine says on the place, " He cries out under the weight and waves of his sins." This the ensuing psalm makes evident. Desiring to be delivered from these depths out of which he cried, he deals with God wholly about mercy and forgiveness; and it is sin alone from which forgiveness is a deliverance. The doctrine also that he preaches, upon his delivery, is that of mercy, grace, and redemption, as is manifest from the close of the psalm ; and what we have deliverance by, is most upon our hearts when we are delivered.

It is true, indeed, that these deeps do often concur; as David speaks, " Deep calleth unto deep," Psalm 42 : 7. The deeps of affliction awaken the conscience to a deep sense of sin. But sin is the disease, affliction only a symptom of it; and in effecting a cure, the disease itself is principally to be heeded, the symptom will follow, or depart of itself.

This, in general, is the state of the soul, as described in thispsalm, and is as the key to the ensuing discourse, or the hinge on which it turns. Hence we deduce these two propositions :

Gracious souls, after much communion with God, may be brought into inextricable depths and entangle ments on account of sin.

The inward root of distresses is principally to be attended to in all pressing trials : our sin, as the cause of our afflictions.

It is a sad truth that we have proposed for consideration : he that hears it ought to tremble in himself, that he may rest in the day of trouble ; it speaks out the apostle's advice, " Be not high-minded, but fear ;" Rom. 11 : 20. And "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." 1 Cor. 10 : 12. When Peter had learned this truth by woful experience, after all his boldness and forwardness, he gives this counsel to all sstints, " that they would pass the time of their sojourning here in fear," 1 Pet. 1 : 17 5 knowing how near, in our greatest peace and serenity, evil and danger may lie at the door.

Some few instances of the many that are left on record, wherein this truth is exemplified, may be mentioned. " Noah was a just man, perfect in his generation, and Noah walked with God." Gen. 6:9. He did so a long season, and that in an evil time, amidst all sorts of temptations, " when all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." This gave an eminency to his obedience, and doubtless rendered the communion which he had with God, in " walking before him," most sweet and precious to him. He was a gracious soul, upon the undoubted testimony of God himself. But we know what befell this holy person. He that shall read the story recorded of Noah, (Gen. 9 : 20,) will easily grant that he was brought into inextricable distress on account of sin. His own drunkenness, ver. 21, with the consequences of it, provoked the unnatural conduct of his son, ver. 22$ and this leads him to the de voting of that son and his posterity to destruction, ver. 24, 25 \ all which, joined with the sense of God's just indignation, from whom he had newly received that tremendously miraculous deliverance, must overwhelm him with sorrow and anxiety of spirit.

The matter is more clear in David. Under the Old Testament, none loved God more than he, and none was loved of God more than he. The paths of faith and love wherein he walked are, to the most of us, like the way of an eagle in the air, too high and hard for us; yet to this very day do the cries of this man after God's own heart sound in our ears. Sometimes he complains of broken bones, sometimes of drowning deeps, sometimes of waves and water-spouts, sometimes of wounds and diseases, sometimes of wrath and the sorrows of hell — every where of his sins, the burden and trouble of them. Some of the occasions of his depths, darkness, entanglements and distresses we all know. As no man had more grace than he, so none is a greater instance of the power of sin, and the effects of its guilt upon the conscience. But instances of this kind are obvious, and occur to the thoughts of all, so that they need not be repeated. I shall show, then,

What is intended by the depths into which gracious souls, after much communion with God, may fall.

Whence it comes to pass that they may so fall 3 and

What sins usually bring them into great spiritual distresses, with some aggravations of those sins.

I. What are some of the depths into which believers may fall.

1. Loss of the sc?ise of the love of God, which the soul formerly enjoyed. There is a twofold sense of the love of God, of which believers in this world may be made partakers. There is the transient acting of the heart by the Holy Ghost, with ravishing joys, in apprehension of God's love, and our relation to him in Christ. This, or the immediate effect of it, is called M joy unspeakable, and full of glory." 1 Pet. 1 : 8. The Holy Ghost shining into the heart, with a clear evidence of the soul's interest in all Gospel mercies, causes it to leap for joy, to exult and triumph in the Lord ; as being for a season carried above all sense and thought of sin, self, temptation, or trouble. But as God gives the bread of his house unto all his children, so these dainties and high cordials he reserves only for the seasons and persons, wherein, and to whom, he knows them to be needful and useful. Believers may be without this sense of love, and yet be in no depths.

Again, there is an abiding sense of God's love upon the hearts of those of whom we speak, who have long had communion with God, consisting in a prevailing Gospel persuasion that they are accepted with God, in Christ. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God." Rom. 5:1. This is the root from whence spring all that peace and ordinary consolation of which believers in this world are made partakers. This is that which quickens and enlivens them to duty, Psalm 116 : 12, 13, and is the salt that renders their sacrifices and performances savory to God and refreshing to themselves. This supports them under their trials, gives them peace, hope and comfort in life and death. " Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." Psalm 23 : 4. A sense of God's presence in love is sufficient to rebuke all anxiety and fears ; and not only so, but to give, in the midst of them, solid consolation and joy. So the prophet expresses it, " Although the fig-tree shall not blossom ? neither shall fruit be in the vine, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls ; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Habak. 3 : 17, 18. And this rs that sense of love which the choicest believers may lose on account of sin. This is one step into their depths. They do not retain such gospel-apprehension of it, as to give them rest, peace, or consolation ; to influence their souls with delight in duty, or to support in trials.

2. Perplexed thoughtfulness about their great un~ kindness towards God, is another part of the depths of sin-entangled souls. So David complains, " I remembered God, and was troubled." Psalm 77: 3. How came the remembrance of God to be a matter of trouble to him \ In other places he professes that it was all his relief and support : how comes it to be an occasion of his troubled All had not been well between God and him ; and whereas formerly, in his remembrance of God, his thoughts were chiefly exercised about his love and kindness, now they were wholly engrossed with his own sin and unkindness: this causes his trouble. Herein lies a share of the entanglements occasioned by sin. Saith such a soul in itself: " Foolish creature ! hast thou thus requited the Lord ! Is this the return that thou hast made to him for all his love, his kindness, his consolations and mercies % Is this thy love to him] Is this thy kindness to thy friend 1 Is this thy boasting of him, that thou hadst found so much goodness and excellency in him and his love, that though all men should forsake him, thou never wouldst do so \ Are all thy promises, all thy engagements, which thou madest unto God in times of distress, upon prevailing obligations, and mighty impressions of his good Spirit upon thy soul, now come to this, that thou shouldst so foolishly forget, neglect, despise, cast him off? Well! now he is gone, he has withdrawn from thee, and what wilt thou dol Art thou not even ashamed to desire him to return]" Thoughts of this nature cut Peter to the heart, upon his fall. The soul finds them cruel as death, and strong as the grave. It is bound in their chains, and cannot be comforted. Psalm 38 : 3, 4, 5, 6. And herein consists a great part of the depths inquired after. For this consideration excites and puts an edge upon all grieving, straitening, perplexing affections, which are the only means whereby the soul of a man may be inwardly troubled, or trouble itself: such are sorrow and shame, with that self-displeasure and self-revenge wherewith they are attended. And as their reason and object in this case transcend all other occasions of them, so on no other account do they cause such severe and perplexing reflections in the soul as on this.

3. A revived sense of justly-deserved wrath belongs also to these depths. This is as the opening of old wounds. When men have passed through a sense of w 7 rath, and have obtained deliverance and rest through the blood of Christ, to come to their old thoughts again, to be trading afresh with hell, curse, law, and wrath, is a depth indeed! And this often befalls gracious souls on account of sin. Psal. 88 : 7. " Thy wrath lieth hard upon me," says the Psalmist ; it pressed and crushed him sorely. There is a self-judging as to the desert of wrath which is consistent with a comforting persuasion of an interest in Christ. In that the soul finds sweetness, as it lies in a subserviency to the exaltation of grace $ but in this case the soul is left under it withqut that relief. It plunges itself into the curse of the law and flames of hell, without any cheering support from the blood of Christ. This is walking in "the valley of the shadow of death." The soul converses with death, and what seems to lie in a tendency thereunto. The Lord also, to increase his perplexities, puts new life and spirit into the law i gives it a fresh commission, as it were, to take such a one into its custody; and the law will never 5 in this world, be wanting to its duty.

4. There are also oppressing apprehensions of temporal judgments $ for God will judge his people; and judgment often begins at the house of God. Though God, saith such a one, should not cast me off for ever, though he should pardon my iniquities, yet he may so take vengeance of my inventions as to make me feed on gall and wormwood all my days. "My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments. 5 ' Psalm 119 : 120. He knows not what the great God may bring upon him ; and having a full sense of the guilt of sin, which is the ground of this whole condition, every judgment of God is full of terror to him. Sometimes he thinks God may lay open the vileness of his heart, and make him a scandal and a reproach in the world. " Oh !" saith he, rr make me not the reproach of the foolish." Psalm 39 : 8. Sometimes he trembles, lest God should strike him suddenly with some signal judgment, and take him out of the world in darkness and sorrow ; so saith David, " Take me not away in thy wrath." Sometimes he fears lest he should be like Jonah, and raise a storm in his family, in the church whereof he is a member, or in the whole nation : " let them not be ashamed for my sake." These things make his heart soft, as Job speaks, and to melt within him. When any affliction or public judgment of God is joined to a quick living sense of sin in the conscience, it overwhelms the soul, whether it be only justly feared, or be actually inflicted, as was the case of Joseph's brethren in Egypt. The soul is then rolled from one deep to another. Sense of sin casts it on the consideration of its affliction; and affliction turns it back on a sense of sin. So deep callcth unto deep, and all God's billows go over the soul; and they do each of them make the soul tender, and sharpen its sense unto the other. Affliction softens the soul, so that the sense of sin cuts the deeper, and ikes the larger wounds ; and the sense of sin weakens the soul, and makes affliction the heavier, and so increases its burden. In this case, that affliction which a man in his usual state of spiritual peace could have embraced as a sweet pledge of love, is as goads and thorns in his side, depriving him of all rest and quietness. God makes it as thorns and briers, wherewith he will teach stubborn souls their duty, as Gideon did the men of Succoth.

5. There may be added prevailing fears, for a season, of being utterly rejected by God, of being found a reprobate at the last day. Jonah seems to conclude so, chap. 2 : 4. " Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight :" I am lost for ever, God will own me no more. And Psalm 88 : 4, 5, u I am counted with them that go down into the pit : free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more, and they are cut off from thy hand." This may reach the soul, until the sorrows of hell compass it, and lay hold upon it ; until it be deprived of comfort, peace, and rest j until it be a terror to itself, and be ready to choose strangling rather than life. This may befall a gracious soul on account of sin. But yet, because this fights directly against the life of faith, God doth not, unless in extraordinary cases, suffer any of his to lie long in this horrible pit, where there is no water, no refreshment. But it often occurs, that even the saints themselves are left for a season to a fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation, as to the prevailing apprehension of their minds.

6. God secretly sends his arrows into the soul, that wound it, adding pain to its disquietness. " Thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore." Psalm 38 : 2. Ever and anon, in his walking, God shot a sharp piercing arrow, fixing it on his soul, that wounded and perplexed him, filling him w T ith pain and grievous vexation. These arrows are God's rebukes,

"When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity." Psalm 39 : 11. God speaks in his word, and by his Spirit in the conscience, things sharp and bitter to the soul, fastening them so that it cannot shake them off These Job so mournfully complains of, chap. 6 : 4. The Lord speaks words with such efficacy that they pierce the heart quite through; and what the issue then is, David declares, u There is no soundness," saith he, "in my flesh, because of thine anger; nor is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin." Psalm 38 : 8. The whole person is brought under the power of them, and all health and rest is taken away. And,

7. Dullness and disability to duty, in doing or suffer ing, attend such a condition. "Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up." Psalm 40 : 12. His spiritual strength was worn away by sin, so that he was not able to address himself to any communion with God. The soul now cannot pray with life and power ; cannot hear with joy and profit ; cannot do good and communicate with cheerfulness and freedom ; cannot meditate with delight and heavenly-mindedness ; cannot act for God with zeal and liberty; cannot think of suffering with boldness and resolution ; but is sick, weak, feeble and bowed down.

Now, I say, a gracious soul, after much communion with God, may, on account of sin, by a sense of the guilt of it, be brought into a state wherein some or all of these, with other like perplexities, may be its portion. And these make up the depths whereof the Psalmist here complains. I shall now show,

II. Whence is it that believers may be brought into

depths on account of sin.

The nature of the covenant of GRACE, wherein all believers now walk with God, and wherein lies their whole provision for obedience, leaves it possible for them to fall into these depths that have been mentioned. Under the first covenant there was no mercy or forgiveness provided for any sin. He made man upright, and it was necessary that he should be preserved from every sin, or that covenant could in no way benefit him. But it is not so in the covenant of grace : there is in it pardon provided in the blood of Christ. It is not, therefore, of indispensable necessity that there should be administered grace in it, effectually preserving from every sin : yet it is on all accounts to be preferred before the other; for besides the relief by pardon, which the other knew nothing of, there is in it also much provision against sin, which was not in the other.