xxxiii. 15, 16. _He that walketh righteously, &c._
These were terrible times in Jerusalem. The Assyrian power was
exceedingly formidable; it was as ferocious as it was strong. The
Assyrian had come up into the land, yet God had given a promise to
His people that they should be preserved (chap. xxxvii. 33, 34). Some
in the city rested content with the promise of God, and went about
their daily business feeling perfectly safe. But there were a few
such. A great number were afraid they would be destroyed--they were
sure of it. Who was to save them, or what power could stand in the
way of Sennacherib? These were the sinners and hypocrites, and the
time of trial developed them. They could not live, they said; the
land was smoking, for the Assyrian had set everything on fire. Some
who dwell among God's people are sinners and not saints, hypocrites
and not believers. When all goes well with the Church of God you
cannot detect the difference. But when the time of trial comes, the
hypocrites and sinners will be discovered by their own fear. Let us
not be satisfied with being in Zion--in the Church; let us not rest
till we are quite sure we are not sinners or hypocrites in it. If our
religion is worth anything, it is worth most in the hour of trial;
and if it does not stand us in good stead in the time of temptation
and sorrow, what is the use of it?
I. THE CHARACTER OF GOD'S PEOPLE. They are partly described in the
words of our text, but I am obliged to go a little farther afield for
one part of their character. Those who in the time of danger will be
kept and comforted are a people who have a humble, patient, present
faith in God. I am sure there are such, for they are described--they
describe themselves--in the second verse of the chapter before us.
They are a humble people, who dare not trust themselves, but trust in
God. They are a praying people, who make their appeal to God under a
sense of need. Their appeal is to His free grace. They are a waiting
people. If at once they have not comfort and joy, they tarry and are
perfectly content to abide His time, for it is sure to be best. That
have a present faith in God, for "Be Thou their arm every morning" is
their prayer. They did not trust in God years ago and get saved, and
think they can live without faith, but they believe "the just shall
_live_ by faith." They look for everything to their God: "_Thou_ art
our salvation in the time of trouble."
Our text gives a description of these people by their various
features. It describes how they walk: "He that walketh righteously."
Faith has an elevating, ennobling effect upon our entire manhood. The
promise belongs only to the people who come under the description;
see to it that you do not take the comfort, if you do not come under
the character! Study the description of the daily walk and
conversation of this blessed man who is to dwell on high.
The first feature which is described is his _tongue._ "He speaketh
uprightly." If you drew a portrait of a man, you could not paint his
tongue; but if you give a description of a man's character, you
cannot omit his speech. A man that lies, talks obscenely, &c., is no
child of God. The grace of God very speedily sweetens a man's tongue.
A doctor says, "Put out your tongue," and he judges the symptoms of
health or disease thereby; and surely there is no better test of
character than the condition of the tongue.
Next, the _heart._ "He that despiseth the gain of oppression." Not
only does he not oppress any man, nor wish to gain anything by
extortion, or by any act of unrighteousness, but he looks upon it as
contemptible and despises it. He likes gain if it comes cleanly to
him, and it is as welcome to him as to another, but he will not have
a thing he cannot pray over.
Next comes the _ear._ "That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood."
Men of war and those who delight in war will tell to one another what
they did in battle and whom they slew; and in those old times there
were tales of bloodshed that would have made our ears to tingle, but
the good men in Jerusalem would not hear them; they could not endure
it. It is not the hearing of blood alone we must avoid, but the
hearing of anything tainted. The genuine Christian feels he has
mischief enough in his own heart without adding to it.
Again, "He shutteth his _eyes_ from seeing evil." He cannot help
seeing it as he goes his pilgrimage through life, but as far as
possible he tries to avoid it. He does not go and find an evening's
amusement gazing upon it. It were better to be blind, deaf, and dumb
than to see, and hear, and speak in some places. The true believer is
a man who has himself well in hand. He has a bit in the mouths of all
the horses that draw the chariot of life, and he holds them in, and
will not let his eye, ear, tongue, foot, or hand carry him away. He
will have nothing to do with evil: "He shaketh his hand from holding
of bribes."
II. THE SECURITY OF SUCH A MAN. Notice it first, as it is pictorially
described: "He shall dwell on high." The Assyrians were attacking the
country, and in times of invasion men always went to the highest
parts of the country to escape from the enemy. Well, this man shall
have a quiet resting-place on the heights, so high up that his
enemies cannot get at him. They may plunder all round, but cannot
plunder him. The sentinel on the crags of inaccessible rock shall,
standing out in the sunlight gleaming calmly and brightly, bid
defiance to every foe. He shall dwell on the heights, out of reach of
the arrows. "His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks;"
not one rock, but rocks; mass upon mass of mountain shall stand
between him and the foe, and there shall he dwell in perfect
security. "Oh," but says one, "they will starve him out. There will
be nothing for the people to eat, and they will open the doors and
say, 'Come in! only give us bread.'" "Bread shall be given him," and
as he could not be driven out, so he shall not be starved out, for
the bread of Heaven shall be given him, if it come from nowhere else.
"But even," says one, "if there may be bread brought into the city,
they will run short of water, and must eventually capitulate through
thirst." No, says the promise, "his water shall be sure." There shall
be springs that never can be dried up within the castle itself, and
they shall drink and drink as much as they will, and yet the supplies
shall never be exhausted. "Now," says one, "this is poetry." Just so:
it is a poetical description, but it is all founded on facts.
Look at the positive facts in the actual experience of the child of
God. First, it is a matter of fact that the man who believes in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and lives as a Christian should live, lives on
high. His mind is elevated above the common cares, trials, and
sorrows of life (H. E. I. 1080-1084, 4162, 4163). Many of you know
how secure and immutable your defence is, for you have God's promise,
"I will never leave nor forsake thee." "No good thing will I withhold
from him that walketh uprightly." What munitions of rocks can be
compared with these things in which it is impossible for God to lie?
You are dwelling where you must be safe; for, first, you were chosen
before the foundation of the world, and God will not lose His chosen,
nor shall His decree be frustrated. Next, you have been bought with
the precious blood of the Son of God Himself, and He will never lose
what He has so dearly bought. You have also been quickened by the
Holy Ghost and made to live unto God, and that life cannot die. You
have been taken into the family of God and made His child, and your
name shall never be taken out of the family register. You are joined
unto Christ in one spirit; you are a member of His body, of His
flesh, and of His bones; and shall Christ be dismembered, the Son of
God be rent in twain? I feel I stand where all the devils of hell
cannot reach me, where the angels of God might envy me, and where I
can say, "Who shall separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus
our Lord?" and challenge earth and hell and heaven alike--if so it
please them--to assail me, for who can harm me, if my confidence be
in the living God?
The poetic utterance, "Thy bread shall be given thee," is also
literally true. You have sometimes had very little, but have always
had _enough._ When God multiplied the meal and the oil of the widow
of Zarephath, I do believe that every day Elijah lived with her she
had to scrape the bottom of the barrel. We are not told it filled up
at once. Just so, you may often have to reach the bottom of the
barrel, and the oil may seem to come a drop at a time: this is about
as much as you want, and if you get as much as you can eat at one
meal, it is all the fresher, and does not breed worms like the manna
in the wilderness. It is the heavenly bread we have sometimes to be
anxious about; but if ministers do not feed you, God will Himself.
As for the living waters, they shall always flow both in summer and
winter. They shall be within thee a well of living water springing up
into eternal life. But words cannot tell the privileges of the man
who dwells with God. He need not wish to change places with the
Archangels.
Friend, if you are not a Christian, do not profess to be one; do not
hope by mere empty profession to win the blessedness of God's people.
Confess your sins, and seek the righteousness of God. Fain would I
drop into your mouths that prayer, "O Lord, be gracious unto us."
As for you that are really striving to do that which is right and
true, at the same time trusting alone in Jesus for your salvation, I
would say to you, What a happy people we ought to be! We ought every
one of us to have a shining face (H. E. I. 756-762, 3037-3039). I do
not know where the Queen is just now, but if I were a dove and could
fly in the air, I would soon find her, for I should see the royal
flag flying on the flag-staff. Wherever the monarch is, there will
the streamer be found flying. Is the King with you to-day? If so,
keep the flag flying. Let the banner fly to the breeze, and let the
world know that there are no people so happy, none so much to be
envied, as believers in Jesus Christ.--_C. H. Spurgeon._