Read-Post Through the Bible

[daniel1212av]

V.18: “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”   cf. 2Ki_22:19; Isa_57:15, Isa_66:2; Eze_36:26, Eze_36:31; Mt. 5:3; Lk. 18:10-14; Acts 2:37; 16:27-31; Ja. 4:1-10.
 
The condition of the heart is the key is finding salvation, not simply reciting words of a “sinners prayer.” As  “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Mt. 12:34), so those who are convicted of their desperate need for salvation, and who want Christ over sin, will effectually call upon the LORD for salvation in faith, but the mere recitation of a prayer that does not come from such a heart is in vain. The later is often called the gospel of easy believism, which is a bit of a misnomer, as believing is easy, in contrast to salvation by works, or supposing one must first overcome sin or feel that he/she can in order to be saved, but bringing a soul to effectually, Biblically believe is usually not. The evangelist is to be an instrument of the Holy Spirit, not to coax sinner's prayers out of souls, but to convict them of "sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (Jn. 16:8 ), as did the men like Peter, Steven, Paul, etc. (Acts 2:14-36), 7:2-43; 10 :34-43; 13:16-41), so that they might be compelled to cry, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37).  (Note: every major gospel message in Act includes the warning of judgment). Of course, such conviction may also mean they express something quite the opposite, like as men metaphorically (unless you believe John 6:53 means literal eating) "gnashed on him [Steven] with their teeth" (7:54).

In order to avoid rejection/persecution, and or to make ourselves feel we are accomplishing something, we can easily settle for something quite less than Biblical gospel preaching, that of a presentation of the gospel that promises superficial souls easy assurance of eternal life by an assent of faith in God's promise of such to those who believe. But while God does promise this (Jn. 5:24; 6:47), and convicted believing souls can become born again even when they sincerely sign a gospel tract, the  application of salvific promises in Biblical preaching requires that sinners be first convicted of their real need for salvation, in the light of the infinite holiness and perfect justice of almighty God, with whom evil cannot dwell and who will judge sinners, and thus the need for full hearted repentance and faith for salvation. In contrast are those who seek a mere assent from the lost that they are sinners, and a casual profession of faith in God to give them eternal life, supposing that one finds salvation while neither nor turning (in their heart) to Christ from sin (Jn. 3:19-21) nor believing on the LORD Jesus with all their heart (Acts 8:37). This not Biblical, as will be shortly demonstrated. We cannot separate the salvific promises from the character and power of the One who gave them, who will not grant salvation to those who want salvation and their sins, nor who are superficial in faith.

The first aspect of what constitutes saving faith has to do with repentance. John 3:19-21 makes it clear that the condemnation of the world is due to their love of darkness and rejection of the Light, that being Christ. Jesus said that the world hated Him “because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil” (Jn. 7:7). Those who will come to Christ for salvation thus must want the Light over darkness — Christ over sin. And so it is that Paul's summation of the essence of His preaching to the lost was “that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:20; cf. 20:21).

It is important here to understand that the mother of all sins is idolatry, and thus the primary command forbids it (Ex. 20:2-6; Dt. 6:5). And whatever we find our ultimate security in, or ultimately commands our obedience, or holds our primary affection, is our god (at least at that time). And the Holy Spirit witnesses that true belief in Christ denotes an essential turning to Christ as the object of faith for these things, in turning away from finite, false gods (trust in which created things is only to our ultimate hurt). For those who already looked, albeit  veiled (such as devout Jews), to the the living and true God, their main repentance was that of turning from  faith in their own works to that of Christ, and obedience to Him as LORD according to the New Covenant. "And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:39). To the still lost Gentiles it was preached that they “should turn from these vanities [false gods, whom they trusted in and obeyed] unto the living God” (Acts 14:15). Whose ignorance God tolerated, but “now  but now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). And thus we see that  true believers were attested to be such because they "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God"  (1 Th 1:9).  It is impossible to truly believe on the LORD Jesus for salvation without an basic  corresponding change in allegiance of heart to Him as LORD (according to the light and realization one has). For this cause Paul “reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come” (Acts 24:25) to the lost ruler Felix. To foster anything other idea of conversion is to promote a false Christ who is not Lord.

The use of “LORD” in salvific promises is no mere title, but conveys both character, power and authority. For both Jews and Gentiles, this Lordship of Christ was essential. "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom 10:13). For the Romans to whom this letter was principally addressed, believing on the LORD Jesus meant denying Caesar as LORD — which drastically reduced their physical life expectancy.

This relates to the second aspect of the quality of saving faith, which is it's depth. The Bible commands us to “turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul” (Dt. 30:10), and that we can be baptized if we  believe with all our heart (Acts 8:37). Though i believe that for some rare souls (more likely some children) this essential depth of faith may be one of supreme attraction to Christ that is more due to His love and holiness, for most this is wrought by the Holy Spirit through the conviction of sin, righteous and judgment.  Prior to the earnest inquiry of Acts 2:37, Peter had charged them with the death of Christ, and the rejection of their own Messiah (sin), whom God had raised up and made LORD (He was righteousness, not them), and which made them God's enemies whom the Lord Christ would put under His feet (judgment)! They realized the import of this, and thus their desperate cry! And that their repentance was more that simply trust in Christ for salvation, but to obedience to Him as LORD is manifest in their immediate and on going response (2:41-47). For rather than uttering the right words being the sole criteria for salvation, it is those who are of a “broken heart” and “contrite spirit” and that trust in Him that the LORD promises to look to and save. Other conversion accounts testify to similar dept of heart conversions, and while some do take Christ by an act of sincere faith that might not evidence strong emotions, what we do not see is “believers” who are called Christians who simply believe Jesus' promise to give them eternal life but show little or no corresponding response to Him as LORD. Even the “carnal Corinthians” were evidently regularly in church, and overall manifested evidence that they were born again, though some were impenitent. And those that were the later testified that they were not “in the faith” (2Cor. 13:5), nor those who fell back in Judaism (Gal. 5:-4).  

Yet certain of those who preach the gospel of easy believism not only hold that one need not repent from anything except unbelief in Christ to give them eternal life, without any real conviction of their need to, but also that once they profess faith in Christ they can live a Christ denying life and still have assurance of salvation. Yet, consistent with the manner of preaching and conversions in Scripture, in which it is manifest that it is impossible to have faith in Christ as savior without at least a  basic corresponding change in heart to Him as LORD, the Bible excludes those from the kingdom of God who practice sin, versus overall following Christ. No fornicators shall inherit the kingdom of God, including “Christian fornicators”, but “shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (1 Cor. 6:9; Rv. 21:8 ). While all Christians sin, the true Christian's attitude toward it is not only different, but the overriding characteristic of his life is not that of willful sin, but of righteousness, manifest in word and deed. This is most evident in 1 John, in which we find the assurance verse of 5:13, yet the “these things” which preface it refer to what has previous been written, that of 4+ chapters in which saving faith is delineated. Consistent with this, the Scriptures offer assurance of salvation not simply on the basis of having uttered a profession of faith, as faith without works cannot save one (Ja. 2), but because they manifest “things that accompany salvation” (Heb. 6:9). Principal among which (as far as the horizontal is concerned) is a special love for the brethren in the household of faith.
 

[daniel1212av]

And it is here that that certain promoters of easy believism also profess a form of antinomianism, interpreting 1 Jn. 3:6 and 5:18 to mean that our spirit man does not sin, while our heart and body may. However, not only does the Greek indicate “sinneth” denotes as a continuing practice, but the example John gives of sins which contrast Christians and a sinner are those done by his body (1 Jn. 3:11-18). Moreover, the Scriptures warn of sins of the flesh which exclude one from being in the faith and from the kingdom of God (1Cor. 6:9, 10; Rv. 21:8 ), as well as those who deny the sufficiency of Christ (Gal. 5:1-4). It is because the nature of saving faith is one that confesses the LORD Jesus in word and deed, that, although we are saved by faith, Jesus is declared to the Savior of those who obey Him (Heb. 5:9), those who hear His voice and follow Him, who are the “them” of John 10:27-29.

It is evident therefore, that repentance is implicit in saving faith, and that this repentance is not only that of repenting from unbelief in Christ for salvation, although that is certainly essential, but faith in the LORD Jesus, faith in whom requires an essential heart repentance from other objects of faith for obedience (again, according to the light and realization one has) as well as for salvation, though this is first and foremost the real desire of the heart, not that one must overcome sin first to be saved, or feel that they can. And that the full revelation of Scripture testifies that justification by faith is not assured simply on the basis of assent to Biblical facts, but that "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit" (Psa 34:18), who call upon Him in repentant faith. Thus no one who came to God looking for and believing Him for salvation with that kind of heart was refused.

And as it is God who looks to those who are of a poor and of a contrite spirit (Is. 66:2), and dwells with the same (Is. 57:15), and hates “pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, way, and the froward mouth” (Prv. 8:13) it is this humble and contrite heart (or spirit) that we should seek to maintain all the days of our life. Yet with “great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus” (1Tim. 3:13), just as we are to “rejoice with trembling” (Ps. 2:11) as recipients of “so great salvation” by the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ” (Tts. 2:13), “walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 9:31). While we may not always have this disposition of heart (and of which i often find myself failing),  yet this is a characteristic that cannot be absent from a believer walking in fellowship with God, and which He will call us back to if we become lifted up and self willed and carnal. "But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." (1 Cor 11:32; cf. Ps. 94:15).  If one cannot/will not be, then he will be.

(Jude 1:24-25)  "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, {25} To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen."

[daniel1212av]

(Psa 35)  "A Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. {2} Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. {3} Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. {4} Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. {5} Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them. {6} Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them. {7} For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul. {8} Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall. {9} And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation. {10} All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?

{11} False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not. {12} They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul. {13} But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. {14} I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother. {15} But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not: {16} With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. {17} Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. {18} I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people. {19} Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. {20} For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land. {21} Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it.

{22} This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O LORD, be not far from me. {23} Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord. {24} Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me. {25} Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up. {26} Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me. {27} Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. {28} And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long."

[daniel1212av]

Psalms 35 - Title - A Psalm of David - Here is all we know concerning this Psalm, but internal evidence seems to fix the date of its composition in those troublous times when Saul hunted David over hill and dale, and when those who fawned upon the cruel king, slandered the innocent object of his wrath, or it may be referred to the unquiet days of frequent insurrections in David's old age. The whole Psalm is the appeal to heaven of a bold heart and a clear conscience, irritated beyond measure by oppression and malice. Beyond a doubt David's Lord may be seen here by the spiritual eye.

Divisions - The most natural mode of dividing this Psalm is to note its triple character. Its complaint, prayer, and promise of praise are repeated with remarkable parallelism three times, even as our Lord in the Garden prayed three times using the same words. The first portion occupies from Psa_35:1, the second from Psa_35:11, and the last from Psa_35:19 to the close: each section ending with a note of grateful song.  — Psalms   

Psalms 35 - David, in this psalm, appeals to the righteous Judge of heaven and earth against his enemies that hated and persecuted him. It is supposed that Saul and his party are the persons he means, for with them he had the greatest struggles. 

I. He complains to God of the injuries they did him; they strove with him, fought against him (Psa_35:1), persecuted him (Psa_35:3), sought his ruin (Psa_35:4, Psa_35:7), accused him falsely (Psa_35:11), abused him basely (Psa_35:15, Psa_35:16), and all his friends (Psa_35:20), and triumphed over him, (Psa_35:21, Psa_35:25, Psa_35:26).

II. He pleads his own innocency, that he never gave them any provocation (Psa_35:7, Psa_35:19), but, on the contrary, had studied to oblige them (Psa_35:12-14). 

III. He prays to God to protect and deliver him, and appear for him (Psa_35:1, Psa_35:2), to comfort him (Psa_35:3), to be nigh to him and rescue him (Psa_35:17, Psa_35:22), to plead his cause (Psa_35:23, Psa_35:24), to defeat all the designs of his enemies against him (Psa_35:3, Psa_35:4), to disappoint their expectations of his fall (Psa_35:19, Psa_35:25, Psa_35:26), and, lastly, to countenance all his friends, and encourage them (Psa_35:27),

IV. He prophesies the destruction of his persecutors (Psa_35:4-6, Psa_35:8 ). 

V. He promises himself that he shall yet see better days (Psa_35:9, Psa_35:10), and promises God that he will then attend him with his praises (Psa_35:18, Psa_35:28). In singing this psalm, and praying over it, we must take heed of applying it to any little peevish quarrels and enmities of our own, and of expressing by it any uncharitable revengeful resentments of injuries done to us; for Christ has taught us to forgive our enemies and not to pray against them, but to pray for them, as he did; but, 

1. We may comfort ourselves with the testimony of our consciences concerning our innocency, with reference to those that are any way injurious to us, and with hopes that God will, in his own way and time, right us, and, in the mean time, support us. 

2. We ought to apply it to the public enemies of Christ and his kingdom, typified by David and his kingdom, to resent the indignities done to Christ's honour, to pray to God to plead the just and injured cause of Christianity and serious godliness, and to believe that God will, in due time, glorify his own name in the ruin of all the irreconcilable enemies of his church, that will not repent to give him glory.

A psalm of David. — Henry 

Psa 35:1-10  — It is no new thing for the most righteous men, and the most righteous cause, to meet with enemies. This is a fruit of the old enmity in the seed of the serpent against the Seed of the woman. David in his afflictions, Christ in his sufferings, the church under persecution, and the Christian in the hour temptation, all beseech the Almighty to appear in their behalf, and to vindicate their cause. We are apt to justify uneasiness at the injuries men do us, by our never having given them cause to use us so ill; but this should make us easy, for then we may the more expect that God will plead our cause. David prayed to God to manifest himself in his trial. Let me have inward comfort under all outward troubles, to support my soul. If God, by his Spirit, witness to our spirits that he is our salvation, we need desire no more to make us happy. If God is our Friend, no matter who is our enemy. By the Spirit of prophecy, David foretells the just judgments of God that would come upon his enemies for their great wickedness. These are predictions, they look forward, and show the doom of the enemies of Christ and his kingdom. We must not desire or pray for the ruin of any enemies, except our lusts and the evil spirits that would compass our destruction. A traveller benighted in a bad road, is an expressive emblem of a sinner walking in the slippery and dangerous ways of temptation. But David having committed his cause to God, did not doubt of his own deliverance. The bones are the strongest parts of the body. The psalmist here proposes to serve and glorify God with all his strength. If such language may be applied to outward salvation, how much more will it apply to heavenly things in Christ Jesus! — MHCC

Psa 35:1-10 — In these verses we have,

I. David's representation of his case to God, setting forth the restless rage and malice of his persecutors. He was God's servant, expressly appointed by him to be what he was, followed his guidance, and aimed at his glory in the way of duty, had lived (as St. Paul speaks) in all good conscience before God unto this day; and yet there were those that strove with him, that did their utmost to oppose his advancement, and made all the interest they could against him; they fought against him (Psa_35:1), not only undermined him closely and secretly, but openly avowed their opposition to him and set themselves to do him all the mischief they could. They persecuted him with an unwearied enmity, sought after his soul (Psa_35:4), that is, his life, no less would satisfy their bloody minds; they aimed to disquiet his spirit and put that into disorder. Nor was it a sudden passion against him that they harboured, but inveterate malice: They devised his hurt, laid their heads together, and set their wits on work, not only to do him a mischief, but to find out ways and means to ruin him. They treated him, who was the greatest blessing of his country, as if he had been the curse and plague of it; they hunted him as a dangerous beast of prey; they digged a pit for him and laid a net in it, that they might have him at their mercy, Psa_35:7. They took a great deal of pains in persecuting him, for they digged a pit (Psa_7:15); and very close and crafty they were in carrying on their designs; the old serpent taught them subtlety: they hid their net from David and his friends; but in vain, for they could not hide it from God. And, lastly, he found himself an unequal match for them. His enemy, especially Saul, was too strong for him (Psa_35:10), for he had the army at his command, and assumed to himself the sole power of making laws and giving judgment, attainted and condemned whom he pleased, carried not a sceptre, but a javelin, in his hand, to cast at any man that stood in his way; such was the manner of the king, and all about him were compelled to do as he bade them, right or wrong. The king's word is a law, and every thing must be carried with a high hand; he has fields, and vineyards, and preferments, at his disposal, 1Sa_22:7. but David is poor and needy, has nothing to make friends with, and therefore has none to take his part but men (as we say) of broken fortunes (1Sa_22:2); and therefore no marvel that Saul spoiled him of what little he had got and the interest he had made. If the kings of the earth set themselves against the Lord and his anointed, who can contend with them? Note, It is no new thing for the most righteous men, and the most righteous cause, to meet with many mighty and malicious enemies: Christ himself is striven with and fought against, and war is made upon the holy seed; and we are not to marvel at the matter: it is a fruit of the old enmity in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman.

II. His appeal to God concerning his integrity and the justice of his cause. If a fellow-subject had wronged him, he might have appealed to his prince, as St. Paul did to Caesar; but, when his prince wronged him, he appealed to his God, who is prince and Judge of the kings of the earth: Plead my cause, O Lord! Psa_35:1. Note, A righteous cause may, with the greatest satisfaction imaginable, he laid before a righteous God, and referred to him to give judgment upon it; for he perfectly knows the merits of it, holds the balance exactly even, and with him there is no respect of persons. God knew that they were, without cause, his enemies, and that they had, without cause, digged pits for him, Psa_35:7. Note, It will be a comfort to us, when men do us wrong, if our consciences can witness for us that we have never done them any. It was so to St. Paul. Act_25:10, To the Jews have I done no wrong. We are apt to justify our uneasiness at the injuries men do us by this, That we never gave them any cause to use us so; whereas this should, more than any thing, make us easy, for then we may the more confidently expect that God will plead our cause.

III. His prayer to God to manifest himself both for him and to him, in this trial.

[daniel1212av]

1. For him. He prays that God would fight against his enemies, so as to disable them to hurt him, and defeat their designs against him (Psa_35:1), that he would take hold of shield and buckler, for the Lord is a man of war (Exo_15:3), and that he would stand up for his help (Psa_35:2), for he had few that would stand up for him, and, if he had ever so many, they would stand him in no stead without God. he prays that God would stop their way (Psa_35:3), that they might not overtake him when he fled from them. This prayer we may put up against our persecutors, that God would restrain them and stop their way.

2. To him: “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation; let me have inward comfort under all these outward troubles, to support my soul which they strike at. Let God be my salvation, not only my Saviour out of my present troubles, but my everlasting bliss. Let me have that salvation not only which he is the author of, but which consists in his favour; and let me know my interest in it; let me have the comfortable assurance of it in my own breast.” If God, by his Spirit, witness to our spirits that he is our salvation, we have enough, we need desire no more to make us happy; and this is a powerful support when men persecute us. If God be our friend, no matter who is our enemy.

IV. His prospect of the destruction of his enemies, which he prays for, not in malice or revenge. We find how patiently he bore Shimei's curses (so let him curse, for the Lord has bidden him); and we cannot suppose that he who was so meek in his conversation would give vent to any intemperate heat or passion in his devotion; but, by the spirit of prophecy, he foretells the just judgments of God that would come upon them for their great wickedness, their malice, cruelty, and perfidiousness, and especially the enmity to the counsels of God, the interests of religion, and that reformation which they knew David, if ever he had power in his hand, would be an instrument of. They seemed to be hardened in their sins, and to be of the number of those who have sinned unto death and are not to be prayed for, Jer_7:16; Jer_11:14; Jer_14:11; 1Jo_5:16. As for Saul himself, David, it is probable, knew that God had rejected him and had forbidden Samuel to mourn for him, 1Sa_16:1. And these predictions look further, and read the doom of the enemies of Christ and his kingdom, as appears by comparing Rom_11:9, Rom_11:10. David here prays,

1. Against his many enemies (Psa_35:4-6): Let them be confounded, etc. Or, as Dr. Hammond reads it, They shall be confounded, they shall be turned back. This may be taken as a prayer for their repentance, for all penitents are put to shame for their sins and turned back from them. Or, if they were not brought to repentance, David prays that they might be defeated and disappointed in their designs against him and so put to shame. Though they should in some degree prevail, yet he foresees that it would be to their own ruin at last: They shall be as chaff before the wind, so unable will wicked men be to stand before the judgments of God and so certainly will they be driven away by them, Psa_1:4. Their way shall be dark and slippery, darkness and slipperiness (so the margin reads it); the way of sinners is so, for they walk in darkness and in continual danger of falling into sin, into hell; and it will prove so at last, for their foot shall slide in due time, Deu_32:35. But this is not the worst of it. Even chaff before the wind may perhaps be stopped, and find a place of rest, and, though the way be dark and slippery, it is possible that a man may keep his footing; but it is here foretold that the angel of the Lord shall chase them (Psa_35:5) so that they shall find no rest, shall persecute them (Psa_35:6) so that they cannot possibly escape the pit of destruction. As God's angels encamp against those that fight against him. They are the ministers of his justice, as well as of his mercy. Those that make God their enemy make all the holy angels their enemies.

2. Against his one mighty enemy (Psa_35:8 ): Let destruction come upon him. It is probable that he means Saul, who laid snares for him and aimed at his destruction. David vowed that his hand should not be upon him; he would not be judge in his own cause. But, at the same time, he foretold that the Lord would smite him (1Sa_26:10), and here that the net he had hidden should catch himself, and into that very destruction he should fall. This was remarkably fulfilled in the ruin of Saul; for he had laid a plot to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines (1Sa_18:25), that was the net which he hid for him under pretence of doing him honour, and in that very net was he himself taken, for he fell by the hand of the Philistines when his day came to fall.

V. His prospect of his own deliverance, which, having committed his cause to God, he did not doubt of, Psa_35:9, Psa_35:10. 1. He hoped that he should have the comfort of it: “My soul shall be joyful, not in my own ease and safety, but in the Lord and in his favour, in his promise and in his salvation according to the promise.” Joy in God and in his salvation is the only true, solid, satisfying joy. Those whose souls are sorrowful in the Lord, who sow in tears and sorrow after a godly sort, need not question but that in due time their souls shall be joyful in the Lord; for gladness is sown for them, and they shall at last enter into the joy of their Lord.

2. He promised that then God should have the glory of it (Psa_35:10): All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee?

(1.) He will praise God with the whole man, with all that is within him, and with all the strength and vigour of his soul, intimated by his bones, which are within the body and are the strength of it.

(2.) He will praise him as one of peerless and unparalleled perfection. We cannot express how great and good God is, and therefore must praise him by acknowledging him to be a non-such. Lord, who is like unto thee? No such patron of oppressed innocency, no such punisher of triumphant tyranny. The formation of our bones so wonderfully, so curiously (Ecc_11:5; Psa_139:16), the serviceableness of our bones, and the preservation of them, and especially the life which, at the resurrection, shall be breathed upon the dry bones and make them flourish as a herb, oblige every bone in our bodies, if it could speak, to say, Lord, who is like unto thee? and willingly to undergo any services or sufferings for him. — Henry 

[daniel1212av]

Psa 35:11-16  — Call a man ungrateful, and you can call him no worse: this was the character of David's enemies. Herein he was a type of Christ. David shows how tenderly he had behaved towards them in afflictions. We ought to mourn for the sins of those who do not mourn for themselves. We shall not lose by the good offices we do to any, how ungrateful soever they may be. Let us learn to possess our souls in patience and meekness like David, or rather after Christ's example. — MHCC

Psa 35:11-16 
Two very wicked things David here lays to the charge of his enemies, to make good his appeal to God against them - perjury and ingratitude.

I. Perjury, Psa_35:11. When Saul would have David attainted of treason, in order to his being outlawed, perhaps he did it with the formalities of a legal prosecution, produced witnesses who swore some treasonable words or overt acts against him, and he being not present to clear himself (or, if he was, it was all the same), Saul adjudged him a traitor. This he complains of here as the highest piece of injustice imaginable: False witnesses did rise up, who would swear anything; they laid to my charge things that I knew not, nor ever thought of. See how much the honours, estates, liberties, and lives, even of the best men, lie at the mercy of the worst, against whose false oaths innocency itself is no fence; and what reason we have to acknowledge with thankfulness the hold God has of the consciences even of bad men, to which it is owing that there is not more mischief done in that way than is. This instance of the wrong done to David was typical, and had its accomplishment in the Son of David, against whom false witnesses did arise, Mat_26:60. If we be at any time charged with what we are innocent of let us not think it strange, as though some new thing happened to us; so persecuted they the prophets, even the great prophet.

II. Ingratitude. Call a man ungrateful and you can call him no worse. This was the character of David's enemies (Psa_35:12): They rewarded me evil for good. A great deal of good service he had done to his king, witness his harp, witness Goliath's sword, witness the foreskins of the Philistines; and yet his king vowed his death, and his country was made too hot for him. This is to the spoiling of his soul; this base unkind usage robs him of his comfort, and cuts him to the heart, more than any thing else. Nay, he had deserved well not only of the public in general, but of those particular persons that were now most bitter against him. Probably it was then well known whom he meant; it may be Saul himself for one, whom he was sent for to attend upon when he was melancholy and ill, and to whom he was serviceable to drive away the evil spirit, not with his harp, but with his prayers; to others of the courtiers, it is likely, he had shown this respect, while he lived at court, who now were, of all others, most abusive to him. Herein he was a type of Christ, to whom this wicked world was very ungrateful. Joh_10:32. Many good works have I shown you from my Father; for which of those do you stone me? David here shows,

1. How tenderly, and with what a cordial affection, he had behaved towards them in their afflictions (Psa_35:13, Psa_35:14): They were sick. Note, Even the palaces and courts of princes are not exempt from the jurisdiction of death and the visitation of sickness. Now when these people were sick,

(1.) David mourned for them and sympathized with them in their grief. They were not related to him; he was under no obligations to them; he would lose nothing by their death, but perhaps be a gainer by it; and yet he behaved himself as though they had been his nearest relations, purely from a principle of compassion and humanity. David was a man of war, and of a bold stout spirit, and yet was thus susceptible of the impressions of sympathy, forgot the bravery of the hero, and seemed wholly made up of love and pity; it was a rare composition of hardiness and tenderness, courage and compassion, in the same breast. Observe, He mourned as for a brother or mother, which intimates that it is our duty, and well becomes us, to lay to heart the sickness, and sorrow, and death of our near relations. Those that do not are justly stigmatized as without natural affection.

(2.) He prayed for them. He discovered not only the tender affection of a man, but the pious affection of a saint. He was concerned for their precious souls, and, since he helped them with his prayers to God for mercy and grace; and the prayers of one who had so great an interest in heaven were of more value than perhaps they knew or considered. With his prayers he joined humiliation and self-affliction, both in his diet (he fasted, at least from pleasant bread) and in his dress; he clothed himself with sackcloth, thus expressing his grief, not only for their affliction, but for their sin; for this was the guise and practice of a penitent. We ought to mourn for the sins of those that do not mourn for them themselves. His fasting also put an edge upon his praying, and was an expression of the fervour of it; he was so intent in his devotions that he had no appetite to meat, nor would allow himself time for eating: “My prayer returned into my own bosom; I had the comfort of having done my duty, and of having approved myself a loving neighbour, though I could not thereby win upon them nor make them my friends.” We shall not lose by the good offices we have done to any, how ungrateful soever they are; for our rejoicing will be this, the testimony of our conscience.

2. How basely and insolently and with what a brutish enmity, and worse than brutish, they had behaved towards him (Psa_35:15, Psa_35:16); In my adversity they rejoiced. When he fell under the frowns of Saul, was banished the court, and persecuted as a criminal, they were pleased, were glad at his calamities, and got together in their drunken clubs to make themselves and one another merry with the disgrace of this great favourite. Well, might he call them abjects, for nothing could be more vile and sordid than to triumph in the fall of a man of such unstained honour and consummate virtue. But this was not all.

(1.) They tore him, rent his good name without mercy, said all the ill they could of him and fastened upon him all the reproach their cursed wit and malice could reach to.

(2.) They gnashed upon him with their teeth; they never spoke of him but with the greatest indignation imaginable, as those that would have eaten him up if they could. David was the fool in the play, and his disappointment all the table-talk of the hypocritical mockers at feasts; it was the song of the drunkards. The comedians, who may fitly be called hypocritical mockers (for which does a hypocrite signify but a stage-player?) and whose comedies, it is likely, were acted at feasts and balls, chose David for their subject, bantered and abused him, while the auditory, in token of their agreement with the plot, hummed, and gnashed upon him with their teeth. Such has often been the hard fate of the best of men. The apostles were made a spectacle to the world. David was looked upon with ill-will for no other reason than because he was caressed by the people. It is a vexation of spirit which attends even a right work that for this a man is envied of his neighbour, Ecc_4:4. And who can stand before envy? Pro_27:4. — Henry

[daniel1212av]

Psa 35:17-28 — Though the people of God are, and study to be, quiet, yet it has been common for their enemies to devise deceitful matters against them. David prays, My soul is in danger, Lord, rescue it; it belongs to thee the Father of spirits, therefore claim thine own; it is thine, save it! Lord, be not far from me, as if I were a stranger. He who exalted the once suffering Redeemer, will appear for all his people: the roaring lion shall not destroy their souls, any more than he could that of Christ, their Surety. They trust their souls in his hands, they are one with him by faith, are precious in his sight, and shall be rescued from destruction, that they may give thanks in heaven. — MHCC

Psa 35:17-28 — In these verses, as before,

I. David describes the great injustice, malice, and insolence, of his persecutors, pleading this with God as a reason why he should protect him from them and appear against them. 1. They were very unrighteous; they were his enemies wrongfully, for he never gave them any provocation: They hated him without a cause; nay, for that for which they ought rather to have loved and honoured him. This is quoted, with application to Christ, and is said to be fulfilled in him. Joh_15:25, They hated me without cause. 2. They were very rude; they could not find in their hearts to show him common civility: They speak not peace; if they met him, they had not the good manners to give him the time of day; like Joseph's brethren, that could not speak peaceably to him, Gen_37:4. 3. They were very proud and scornful (Psa_35:21): They opened their mouth wide against me; they shouted and huzzaed when they saw his fall; they bawled after him when he was forced to quit the court, “Aha! aha! this is the day we longed to see.”

4. They were very barbarous and base, for they trampled upon him when he was down, rejoiced at his hurt, and magnified themselves against him, Psa_35:26. Turba Remi sequitur fortunam, ut semper, et odit damnatos - The Roman crowd, varying their opinions with every turn of fortune, are sure to execrate the fallen. Thus, when the Son of David was run upon by the rulers, the people cried, Crucify him, crucify him.

5. They set themselves against all the sober good people that adhered to David (Psa_35:20): They devised deceitful matters, to trepan and ruin those that were quiet in the land. Note, (1.) It is the character of the godly in the land that they are the quiet in the land, that they live in all dutiful subjection to government and governors, in the Lord, and endeavour, as much as in them lies, to live peaceably with all men, however they may have been misrepresented as enemies to Caesar and hurtful to kings and provinces. I am for peace, Psa_120:7.

(2.) Though the people of God are, and study to be, a quiet people, yet it has been the common practice of their enemies to devise deceitful matters against them. All the hellish arts of malice and falsehood are made use of to render them odious or despicable; their words and actions are misconstrued, even that which they abhor is fathered upon them, laws are made to ensnare them (Dan_6:4, etc.), and all to ruin them and root them out. Those that hated David thought scorn, like Haman, to lay hands on him alone, but contrived to involve all the religious people of the land in the same ruin with him.

II. He appeals to God against them, the God to whom vengeance belongs, appeals to his knowledge (Psa_35:22): This thou hast seen. They had falsely accused him, but God, who knows all things, knew that he did not falsely accuse them, nor make them worse than really they were. They had carried on their plots against him with a great degree of secresy (Psa_35:15): “I knew it not, till long after, when they themselves gloried in it; but thy eye was upon them in their close cabals and thou art a witness of all they have said and done against me and thy people.” He appeals to God's justice: Awake to my judgment, even to my cause, and let it have a hearing at thy bar, Psa_35:23. “Judge me, O Lord my God! pass sentence upon this appeal, according to the righteousness of thy nature and government,” Psa_35:24. See this explained by Solomon, 1Ki_7:31, 1Ki_7:32. When thou art appealed to, hear in heaven, and judge, by condemning the wicked and justifying the righteous.

III. He prays earnestly to God to appear graciously for him and his friends, against his and their enemies, that by his providence the struggle might issue to the honour and comfort of David and to the conviction and confusion of his persecutors.

1. He prays that God would act for him, and not stand by as a spectator (Psa_35:17): “Lord, how long wilt thou look on? How long wilt thou connive at the wickedness of the wicked? Rescue my soul from the destructions they are plotting against it; rescue my darling, my only one, from the lions. My soul is my only one, and therefore the greater is the shame if I neglect it and the greater the loss if I lose it: it is my only one, and therefore ought to be my darling, ought to be carefully protected and provided for. It is my soul that is in danger; Lord, rescue it. It does, in a peculiar manner, belong to the Father of spirits, therefore claim thy own; it is thine, save it. Lord, keep not silence, as if thou didst consent to what is done against me! Lord, be not far from me (Psa_35:22), as if I were a stranger that thou wert not concerned for; let not me beheld afar off, as the proud are.”

2. He prays that his enemies might not have cause to rejoice (Psa_35:19): Let them not rejoice over me (and again, Psa_35:24); not so much because it would be a mortification to him to be trampled upon the abjects, as because it would turn to the dishonour of God and the reproach of his confidence in God. It would harden the hearts of his enemies in their wickedness and confirm them in their enmity to him, and would be a great discouragement to all the pious Jews that were friends to his righteous cause. He prays that he might never be in such imminent danger as that they should say in their hearts, Ah! so would we have it (Psa_35:25), much more that he might not be reduced to such extremity that they should say, We have swallowed him up; for then they will reflect upon God himself. But, on the contrary, that they might be ashamed and brought to confusion together (Psa_35:26, as before, Psa_35:4); he desires that his innocency might be so cleared that they might be ashamed of the calumnies with which they had loaded him, that his interest might be so confirmed that they might be ashamed of their designs against him and their expectations of his ruin, that they might either be brought to that shame which would be a step towards their reformation or that that might be their portion which would be their everlasting misery.

3. He prays that his friends might have cause to rejoice and give glory to God, Psa_35:27. Notwithstanding the arts that were used to blacken David, and make him odious, and to frighten people from owning him, there were some that favoured his righteous cause, that knew he was wronged and bore a good affection to him; and he prays for them,

(1.) That they might rejoice with him in his joys. It is a great pleasure to all that are good to see an honest man, and an honest cause, prevail and prosper; and those that heartily espouse the interests of God's people, and are willing to take their lot with them even when they are run down and trampled upon, shall in due time shout for joy and be glad, for the righteous cause will at length be a victorious cause.

(2.) That they might join with him in his praises: Let them say continually, The Lord be magnified, by us and others, who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. Note,

[1.] The great God has pleasure in this prosperity of good people, not only of his family, the church in general, but of every particular servant in his family. He has pleasure in the prosperity both of their temporal and of their spiritual affairs, and delights not in their griefs; for he does not afflict willingly; and we ought therefore to have pleasure in their prosperity, and not to envy it.

[2.] When God in his providence shows his good-will to the prosperity of his servants, and the pleasure he takes in it, we ought to acknowledge it with thankfulness, to his praise, and to say, The Lord be magnified.
IV. The mercy he hoped to win by prayer he promises to wear with praise: “I will give thee thanks, as the author of my deliverance (Psa_35:18), and my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness, the justice of thy judgments and the equity of all thy dispensations;” and this,

1. Publicly, as one that took a pleasure in owning his obligations to his God, so far was he from being ashamed of them. he will do it in the great congregation, and among much people, that God might be honoured and many edified.

2. Constantly. he will speak God's praise every day (so it may be read) and all the day long; for it is a subject that will never be exhausted, no, not by the endless praises of saints and angels. — Henry

[daniel1212av]

(Psa 36)  "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. {2} For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. {3} The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. {4} He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

{5} Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. {6} Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. {7} How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. {8} They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. {9} For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. {10} O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart. {11} Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me. {12} There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise."

[daniel1212av]

Psalms 36 - Title - To the Chief Musician - He who had the leadership of the Temple services was charged with the use of this song in public worship. What is everybody's business is never done. It was well to have one person specially to attend to the service of song in the house of the Lord. Of David the servant of the Lord. This would seem to indicate that the Psalm peculiarly befits one who esteems it an honour to be called Jehovah's servant. It is the song of happy service; such a one as all may join in who bear the easy yoke of Jesus. The wicked are contrasted with the righteous, and the great Lord of devout men is heartily extolled; thus obedience to so good a Master is indirectly insisted on, and rebellion against him is plainly condemned.

Divisions - From Psa_36:1David describes the rebellious: in Psa_36:5 he extols the various attributes of the Lord; in Psa_36:10 and Psa_36:11he addresses the Lord in prayer, and in the last verse his faith sees in vision the overthrow of all the workers of iniquity.  — Psalms  

Psalms 36 - It is uncertain when, and upon what occasion, David penned this psalm, probably when he was struck at either by Saul or by Absalom; for in it he complains of the malice of his enemies against him, but triumphs in the goodness of God to him. We are here led to consider, and it will do us good to consider seriously,  

I. The sinfulness of sin, and how mischievous it is (Psa_36:1-4).  

II. The goodness of God, and how gracious he is,  

1. To all his creatures in general (Psa_36:5, Psa_36:6).  

2. To his own people in a special manner (Psa_36:7-9). By this the psalmist is encouraged to pray for all the saints (Psa_36:10), for himself in particular and his own preservation (Psa_36:11), and to triumph in the certain fall of his enemies (Psa_36:12). If, in singing this psalm, our hearts be duly affected with the hatred of sin and satisfaction in God's lovingkindness, we sing it with grace and understanding. 

To the chief Musician. A psalm of David the servant of the Lord. — Henry

[daniel1212av]

Psa 36:1-4 — From this psalm our hearts should be duly affected with hatred of sin, and seek satisfaction in God's loving-kindness. Here is the root of bitterness, from which all the wickedness of wicked men comes. It takes rise from contempt of God, and the want of due regard to him. Also from the deceit they put upon their own souls. Let us daily beg of God to preserve us from self-flattery. Sin is very hurtful to the sinner himself, and therefore ought to be hateful; but it is not so. It is no marvel, if those that deceive themselves, seek to deceive all mankind; to whom will they be true, who are false to their own souls? It is bad to do mischief, but worse to devise it, to do it with plot and management. If we willingly banish holy meditations in our solitary hours, Satan will soon occupy our minds with sinful imaginations. Hardened sinners stand to what they have done, as though they could justify it before God himself. — MHCC

Psa 36:1-4 — David, in the title of this psalm, is styled the servant of the Lord; why in this, and not in any other, except in Ps. 18 (title), no reason can be given; but so he was, not only as every good man is God's servant, but as a king, as a prophet, as one employed in serving the interests of God's kingdom among men more immediately and more eminently than any other in his day. He glories in it, Psa_116:16. It is no disparagement, but an honour, to the greatest of men, to be the servants of the great God; it is the highest preferment a man is capable of in this world.

David, in these verses, describes the wickedness of the wicked; whether he means his persecutors in particular, or all notorious gross sinners in general, is not certain. But we have here sin in its causes and sin in its colours, in its root and in its branches.

I. Here is the root of bitterness, from which all the wickedness of the wicked comes. It takes rise, 1. From their contempt of God and the want of a due regard to him (Psa_36:1): “The transgression of the wicked (as it is described afterwards, Psa_36:3, Psa_36:4) saith within my heart (makes me to conclude within myself) that there is no fear of God before his eyes; for, if there were, he would not talk and act so extravagantly as he does; he would not, he durst not, break the laws of God, and violate his covenants with him, if he had any awe of his majesty or dread of his wrath.” Fitly therefore is it brought into the form of indictments by our law that the criminal, not having the fear of God before his eyes, did so and so. The wicked did not openly renounce the fear of God, but their transgression whispered it secretly into the minds of all those that knew any thing of the nature of piety and impiety. David concluded concerning those who lived at large that they lived without God in the world.

2. From their conceit of themselves and a cheat they wilfully put upon their own souls (Psa_36:2): He flattereth himself in his own eyes; that is, while he goes on in sin, he thinks he does wisely and well for himself, and either does not see or will not own the evil and danger of his wicked practices; he calls evil good and good evil; his licentiousness he pretends to be but his just liberty, his fraud passes for his prudence and policy, and his persecuting the people of God, he suggests to himself, is a piece of necessary justice. If his own conscience threaten him for what he does, he says, God will not require it; I shall have peace though I go on. Note, Sinners are self-destroyers by being self-flatterers. Satan could not deceive them if they did not deceive themselves. Buy will the cheat last always? No; the day is coming when the sinner will be undeceived, when his iniquity shall be found to be hateful. Iniquity is a hateful thing; it is that abominable thing which the Lord hates, and which his pure and jealous eye cannot endure to look upon. It is hurtful to the sinner himself, and therefore ought to be hateful to him; but it is not so; he rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel, because of the secular profit and sensual pleasure which may attend it; yet the meat in his bowels will be turned, it will be the gall of asps, Job_20:13, Job_20:14. When their consciences are convinced, and sin appears in its true colours and makes them a terror to themselves - when the cup of trembling is put into their hands and they are made to drink the dregs of it - then their iniquity will be found hateful, and their self-flattery their unspeakable folly, and an aggravation of their condemnation.

II. Here are the cursed branches which spring from this root of bitterness. The sinner defies God, and even deifies himself, and then what can be expected but that he should go all to naught? These two were the first inlets of sin. Men do not fear God, and therefore they flatter themselves, and then,

1. They make no conscience of what they say, true of false, right or wrong (Psa_36:3): The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit, contrived to do wrong, and yet to cover it with specious and plausible pretences. It is no marvel if those that deceive themselves contrive how to deceive all mankind; for to whom will those be true who are false to their own souls?

2. What little good there has been in them is gone; the sparks of virtue are extinguished, their convictions baffled, their good beginnings come to nothing: They have left off to be wise and to do good. They seemed to be under the direction of wisdom and the government of religion, but they have broken these bonds asunder; they have shaken off their religion, and therewith their wisdom. Note, Those that leave off to do good leave off to be wise. 3. Having left off to do good, they contrive to do hurt and to be vexatious to those about them that are good and do good (Psa_36:4): He devises mischief upon his bed. Note,

(1.) Omissions make way for commissions. When men leave off doing good, leave off praying, leave off their attendance on God's ordinances and their duty to him, the devil easily makes them his agents, his instruments to draw those that will be drawn into sin, and, with respect to those that will not, to draw them into trouble. Those that leave off to do good begin to do evil; the devil, being an apostate from his innocency, soon became a tempter to Eve and a persecutor of righteous Abel.

(2.) It is bad to do mischief, but it is worse to devise it, to do it deliberately and with resolution, to set the wits on work to contrive to do it most effectually, to do it with plot and management, with the subtlety, as well as the malice, of the old serpent, to devise it upon the bed, where we should be meditating upon God and his word, Mic_2:1. This argues the sinner's heart fully set in him to do evil.

4. Having entered into the way of sin, that way that is not good, that has good neither in it nor at the end of it, they persist and resolve to persevere in that way. He sets himself to execute the mischief he has devised, and nothing shall be withholden from him which he has purposed to do, though it be ever to contrary both to his duty and to his true interest. If sinners did not steel their hearts and brazen their faces with obstinacy and impudence, they could not go on in their evil ways, in such a direct opposition to all that is just and good.

5. Doing evil themselves, they have no dislike at all of it in others: He abhors not evil, but on the contrary, takes pleasure in it, and is glad to see others as bad as himself. Or this may denote his impenitency in sin. Those that have done evil, if God give them repentance, abhor the evil they have done and themselves because of it; it is bitter in the reflection, however sweet it was in the commission. But these hardened sinners have such seared stupefied consciences that they never reflect upon their sings afterwards with any regret or remorse, but stand to what they have done, as if they could justify it before God himself.

Some think that David, in all this, particularly means Saul, who had cast off the fear of God and left off all goodness, who pretended kindness to him when he gave him his daughter to wife, but at the same time was devising mischief against him. But we are under no necessity of limiting ourselves so in the exposition of it; there are too many among us to whom the description agrees, which is to be greatly lamented. — Henry

[daniel1212av]

Psa 36:5-12 — Men may shut up their compassion, yet, with God we shall find mercy. This is great comfort to all believers, plainly to be seen, and not to be taken away. God does all wisely and well; but what he does we know not now, it is time enough to know hereafter. God's loving-kindness is precious to the saints. They put themselves under his protection, and then are safe and easy. Gracious souls, though still desiring more of God, never desire more than God. The gifts of Providence so far satisfy them, that they are content with such things as they have. The benefit of holy ordinances is sweet to a sanctified soul, and strengthening to the spiritual and Divine life. But full satisfaction is reserved for the future state. Their joys shall be constant. God not only works in them a gracious desire for these pleasures, but by his Spirit fills their souls with joy and peace in believing. He quickens whom he will; and whoever will, may come, and take from him of the waters of life freely. May we know, and love, and uprightly serve the Lord; then no proud enemy, on earth or from hell, shall separate us from his love. Faith calleth things that are not, as though they were. It carries us forward to the end of time; it shows us the Lord, on his throne of judgment; the empire of sin fallen to rise no more. — MHCC

[daniel1212av]

Psa 36:5-12 
David, having looked round with grief upon the wickedness of the wicked, here looks up with comfort upon the goodness of God, a subject as delightful as the former was distasteful and very proper to be set in the balance against it. Observe,

I. His meditations upon the grace of God. He sees the world polluted, himself endangered, and God dishonoured, by the transgressions of the wicked; but, of a sudden, he turns his eye, and heart, and speech, to God “However it be, yet thou art good.” He here acknowledges,

1. The transcendent perfections of the divine nature. Among men we have often reason to complain, There is no truth nor mercy, (Hos_4:1), no judgment nor justice, Isa_5:7. But all these may be found in God without the least alloy. Whatever is missing, or amiss, in the world, we are sure there is nothing missing, nothing amiss, in him that governs it.

(1.) He is a God of inexhaustible goodness: Thy mercy, O Lord! is in the heavens. If men shut up the bowels of their compassion, yet with God, at the throne of his grace, we shall find mercy. When men are devising mischief against us God's thoughts concerning us, if we cleave closely to him, are thoughts of good. On earth we meet with little content and a great deal of disquiet and disappointment; but in the heavens, where the mercy of God reigns in perfection and to eternity, there is all satisfaction; there therefore, if we would be easy, let us have our conversation, and there let us long to be. How bad soever the world is, let us never think the worse of God nor of his government; but, from the abundance of wickedness that is among men, let us take occasion, instead of reflecting upon God's purity, as if he countenanced sin, to admire his patience, that he bears so much with those that so impudently provoke him, nay, and causes his sun to shine and his rain to fall upon them. If God's mercy were not in the heavens (that is, infinitely above the mercies of any creature), he would, long ere this, have drowned the world again. See Isa_55:8, Isa_55:9; Hos_11:9.

(2.) He is a God of inviolable truth: Thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds. Though God suffers wicked people to do a great deal of mischief, yet he is and will be faithful to his threatenings against sin, and there will come a day when he will reckon with them; he is faithful also to his covenant with his people, which cannot be broken, nor one jot or tittle of the promises of it defeated by all the malice of earth and hell. This is matter of great comfort to all good people, that, though men are false, God is faithful; men speak vanity, but the words of the Lord are pure words. God's faithfulness reaches so high that it does not change with the weather, as men's does, for it reaches to the skies (so it should be read, as some think), above the clouds, and all the changes of the lower region.

(3.) He is a God of incontestable justice and equity: Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, so immovable and inflexible itself and so conspicuous and evident to all the world; for no truth is more certain nor more plain than this, That the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and that he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures. Even when clouds and darkness are round about him, yet judgment and justice are the habitation of his throne, Psa_97:2. (4.) He is a God of unsearchable wisdom and design: “Thy judgments are a great deep, not to be fathomed with the line and plummet of any finite understanding.” As his power is sovereign, which he owes not any account of to us, so his method is singular and mysterious, which cannot be accounted for by us: His way is in the sea and his path in the great waters. We know that he does all wisely and well; but what he does we know not now; it will be time enough to know hereafter.

2. The extensive care and beneficence of the divine Providence: “Thou preservest man and beast, not only protectest them from mischief, but suppliest them with that which is needful for the support of life.” The beasts, though not capable of knowing and praising God, are yet graciously provided for; their eyes wait on him, and he gives them their meat in due season. Let us not wonder that God gives food to bad men, for he feeds the brute-creatures; and let us not fear but that he will provide well for good men; he that feeds the young lions will not starve his own children.

3. The peculiar favour of God to the saints. Observe,

(1.) Their character, Psa_36:7. They are such as are allured by the excellency of God's loving-kindness to put their trust under the shadow of his wings. [1.] God's loving-kindness is precious to them. They relish it; they taste a transcendent sweetness in it; they admire God's beauty and benignity above any thing in this world, nothing so amiable, so desirable. Those know not God that do not admire his loving-kindness; and those know not themselves that do not earnestly covet it.

[2.] They therefore repose an entire confidence in him. They have recourse to him, put themselves under his protection, and then think themselves safe and find themselves easy, as the chickens under the wings of the hen, Mat_23:37. It was the character of proselytes that they came to trust under the wings of the God of Israel (Rth_2:12); and what more proper to gather proselytes than the excellency of his loving-kindness? What more powerful to engage our complacency to him and on him? Those that are thus drawn by love will cleave to him.

(2.) Their privilege. Happy, thrice happy, the people whose God is the Lord, for in him they have, or may have, or shall have, a complete happiness.

[1.] Their desires shall be answered, (Psa_36:8 ): They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, their wants supplied; their cravings gratified, and their capacities filled. In God all-sufficient they shall have enough, all that which an enlightened enlarged soul can desire or receive. The gains of the world and the delights of sense will surfeit, but never satisfy, Isa_55:2. But the communications of divine favour and grace will satisfy, but never surfeit. A gracious soul, though still desiring more of God, never desires more than God. The gifts of Providence so far satisfy them that they are content with such things as they have. I have all, and abound, Phi_4:18. The benefit of holy ordinances is the fatness of God's house, sweet to a sanctified soul and strengthening to the spiritual and divine life. With this they are abundantly satisfied; they desire nothing more in this world than to live a life of communion with God and to have the comfort of the promises. But the full, the abundant satisfaction is reserved for the future state, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Every vessel will be full there.

[2.] Their joys shall be constant: Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. First, There are pleasures that are truly divine. “They are thy pleasures, not only which come from thee as the giver of them, but which terminate in thee as the matter and centre of them.” Being purely spiritual, they are of the same nature with those of the glorious inhabitants of the upper world, and bear some analogy even to the delights of the Eternal Mind. Secondly, There is a river of these pleasures, always full, always fresh, always flowing. There is enough for all, enough for each; see Psa_46:4. The pleasures of sense are putrid puddle-water; those of faith are pure and pleasant, clear as crystal, Rev_22:1. Thirdly, God has not only provided this river of pleasures for his people, but he makes them to drink of it, works in them a gracious appetite to these pleasures, and by his Spirit fills their souls with joy and peace in believing. In heaven they shall be for ever drinking of those pleasures that are at God's right hand, satiated with a fulness of joy, Psa_16:11.

 [3.] Life and light shall be their everlasting bliss and portion, Psa_36:9. Having God himself for their felicity,

First, In him they have a fountain of life, from which those rivers of pleasure flow, Psa_36:8. The God of nature is the fountain of natural life. In him we live, and move, and have our being. The God of grace is the fountain of spiritual life. All the strength and comfort of a sanctified soul, all its gracious principles, powers, and performances, are from God. He is the spring and author of all its sensations of divine things, and all its motions towards them: he quickens whom he will; and whosoever will may come, and take from him of the waters of life freely. He is the fountain of eternal life. The happiness of glorified saints consists in the vision and fruition of him, and in the immediate communications of his love, without interruption or fear of cessation.

Secondly, In him they have light in perfection, wisdom, knowledge, and joy, all included in this light: In thy light we shall see light, that is,

[daniel1212av]

1. “In the knowledge of thee in grace, and the vision of thee in glory, we shall have that which will abundantly suit and satisfy our understandings.” That divine light which shines in the scripture, and especially in the face of Christ, the light of the world, has all truth in it. When we come to see God face to face, within the veil, we shall see light in perfection, we shall know enough then, 1Co_13:12; 1Jo_3:2.

2. “In communion with thee now; by the communications of thy grace to us and the return of our devout affections to thee, and in the fruition of thee shortly in heaven, we shall have a complete felicity and satisfaction. In thy favour we have all the good we can desire.” This is a dark world; we see little comfort in it; but in the heavenly light there is true light, and no false light, light that is lasting and never wastes. In this world we see God, and enjoy him by creatures and means; but in heaven God himself shall be with us (Rev_21:3) and we shall see and enjoy him immediately.

II. We have here David's prayers, intercessions, and holy triumphs, grounded upon these meditations.

1. He intercedes for all saints, begging that they may always experience the benefit and comfort of God's favour and grace, Psa_36:10.

(1.) The persons he prays for are those that know God, that are acquainted with him, acknowledge him, and avouch him for theirs - the upright in heart, that are sincere in their profession of religion, and faithful both to God and man. Those that are not upright with God do not know him as they should.

(2.) The blessing he begs for them is God's loving-kindness (that is, the tokens of his favour towards them) and his righteousness (that is, the workings of his grace in them); or his loving-kindness and righteousness are his goodness according to promise; they are mercy and truth.

(3.) The manner in which he desires this blessing may be conveyed: O continue it, draw it out, as the mother draws out her breasts to the child, and then the child draws out the milk from the breasts. Let it be drawn out to a length equal to the line of eternity itself. The happiness of the saints in heaven will be in perfection, and yet in continual progression (as some thing); for the fountain there will be always full and the streams always flowing. In these is continuance, Isa_64:5.

2. He prays for himself, that he might be preserved in his integrity and comfort (Psa_36:11): “Let not the foot of pride come against me, to trip up my heels, or trample upon me; and let not the hand of the wicked, which is stretched out against me, prevail to remove me, either from my purity and integrity, by any temptation, or from my peace and comfort, by any trouble.” Let not those who fight against God triumph over those who desire to cleave to him. Those that have experienced the pleasure of communion with God cannot but desire that nothing may ever remove them from him.

3. He rejoices in hope of the downfall of all his enemies in due time (Psa_36:12): “There, where they thought to gain the point against me, they have themselves fallen, been taken in that snare which they laid for me.” There, in the other world (so some), where the saints stand in the judgment, and have a place in God's house, the workers of iniquity are cast in the judgment, are cast down into hell, into the bottomless pit, out of which they shall assuredly never be able to rise from under the insupportable weight of God's wrath and curse. It is true we are not to rejoice when any particular enemy of ours falls; but the final overthrow of all the workers of iniquity will be the everlasting triumph of glorified saints. — Henry 

[nChrist]

Hello Brother Daniel,

I've been wanting to thank you for faithfully posting this "Read-Post Through the Bible". Many people are reading this every day, so we know that GOD is using it. GOD'S WORD never returns void. THANKS BROTHER!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable GIFT, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour Forever!

[daniel1212av]

(Psa 37)  "A Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. {2} For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. {3} Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. {4} Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. {5} Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. {6} And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. {7} Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. {8} Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. {9} For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. {10} For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. {11} But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

{12} The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. {13} The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming. {14} The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. {15} Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. {16} A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. {17} For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous. {18} The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. {19} They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. {20} But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away. {21} The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth. {22} For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

{23} The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. {24} Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. {25} I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. {26} He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed. {27} Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore. {28} For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. {29} The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever. {30} The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. {31} The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

{32} The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. {33} The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. {34} Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. {35} I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. {36} Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. {37} Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. {38} But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. {39} But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble. {40} And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him."