A Well-Ordered Life 2
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But take the life of the blessed Jesus, and it shall perplex you to discover what virtue shines with purest radiance. His character is like the lovely countenance of a classic beauty, in which every single feature is so in exact harmony with all the rest, that when you have gazed upon it, you are struck with a sense of general beauty, but you do not remark upon the flashing eye, or chiseled nose, or the coral lips: an undivided impression of harmony remains upon your mind. Such a character should each of us strive after, a mingling of all perfections to make up one perfection; a combining of all the sweet spices to make up a rare perfume, such as only God's Holy Spirit himself can make, but such as God accepts wherever he discovers it. May we have grace then to keep the proportions of the virtues; and remember this can only become ours by waiting upon God with daily prayer, crying evermore, "Order my steps in your word."
Another form of order is that of relation. We stand not in this world alone: we are all the centers of circles, and innumerable lines intersect each other in the region of our hearts. Now, the believer should ask that his steps may be ordered in conformity to the relations which he bears to all things. Towards God what is the order of my life? To walk humbly with my God is my daily duty. O may God teach us this difficult virtue! Pride is inherent in us, and I suppose we shall never lay it aside until we undress for our last bed; but pride before God on the part of a sinful creature, must be a very abhorrent thing, and our souls should daily agonize after true humility towards the Most High. The Lord, moreover, deserves our love, our gratitude, and in consequence of our gratitude, our zeal, our daily service, our reverent homage, our loving consecration of spirit, soul, and body, to his cause. O that we did but live as in his sight, seeing him who is invisible. We are God's creatures, God's children, God's servants, God's elect, members of Christ's body, Christ's spouse: what manner of people ought we then to be? The Lord help us to live according to our relationship to himself.
Then we bear a relationship to the Christian church; and there is a fitness of walk in reference to our fellow pilgrims. We are not to be censorious, and yet not blind to their faults; we are to be zealous, but not passionate; independent of man, but not disobedient to Christian rule and order. Alas! how many are unwilling to take their true place in the church, but desire to be first, and to be highly esteemed. To certain people it is one of the hardest lessons to know how they ought to behave themselves in the house of God. Factious spirits cannot learn the lesson, and must needs set up small establishments of their own, on the principle that they had sooner rule in hell than serve in heaven. They cannot bring themselves to acknowledge discipline or maintain order: from such may the Lord deliver us.
We must not forget our relationships to our families. He is a sorry Christian who would neglect to walk in his own household according to the duties required in the word. Are you a child? Christianity does not loose you from honoring your parents. Are you a servant? The gospel of Jesus does not teach you to be an eye-server, to purloin, or to be pert and disrespectful. Are you a master? Your religion puts you under bonds to be the best of masters, for you yourself have a Master, even Christ. Are you a parent? Religion imposes upon you new duties to train up your children in God's fear.
Are we neighbors? Let us bless all around us: bless and curse not. Whoever our neighbor may be, we owe him, according to our Lord's law, no small consideration. I have no right to annoy my neighbor; I have no right to do anything which causes him loss or injury; on the contrary, I am bound to love him as myself, and if I can serve him in any way, to lay myself out so to do.
Beloved, you have relationships towards unsaved sinners. These are of a very solemn kind. Since Christ loved you, and died to save you, he has taught you to love others, and to be willing even to lay down your lives that they may be saved. Do you see how this subject opens up? It widens before my mind's eye into a boundless expanse. What a strange thing must holiness be, then, if the man who possesses it has to act in conformity to a thousand relationships! What a wonderful piece of artistic adjustment! A painting by a master-hand! A work of art unparalleled! A music of intricate and ravishing harmonies! "An honest man," says the proverb, "is the noblest work of God;" correct the phrase, and say a holy man, and you have the truth. I dare to affirm, that the balancing of the clouds, and the arranging of the firmament, the upheaval of the mountains, and the guidance of the stars; the creation of living bodies, with all their wondrous tissue of muscle, and sinew, and nerve - ay, and all other works of God put together - do not exceed in splendor of wisdom and power the holiness of a life which has been molded by the Spirit's sacred power. In holiness God is more clearly seen than in anything else, except in the person of Christ Jesus the Lord, of whose life such holiness is but a repetition. The relationships which encompass us on all hands cast a clear light upon David's meaning in the words, "Order my steps in your word."
I have not quite finished this subject. I must call you to observe, that there is an order of time; the order of the celestial almanac. Punctuality is demanded; seasons must be kept, due time must be regarded. Now, the Christian man can only be said to have his life ordered rightly as to time when all his time is sanctified to noblest ends. Perpetuity of uprightness is the very beauty of holiness. No man's life is well ordered, if by fits and starts he is careful, and again is careless as to how he acts. Holiness consists not in the rushing of intense resolve, which like Kishon sweeps everything before it, and then subsides, but in the constant flow of Siloam's still waters, which perpetually make glad the city of our God. Holiness is no blazing comet, amazing nations with a transient glory; it is a fixed star that, with still radiance, shines on through the darkness of a corrupt age.Holiness is persevering obedience; it is not holiness at all if it be but occasional zeal and sensational piety.
Moreover, holiness as to its order in the matter of time is seasonable. It is the fault of many that their virtues are always too late; they are patientwhen the pain is over, generous when the opportunity for liberality has passed away, forgiving after they have vented their anger in unkind words; they are sorrowful after they have done the ill, and therefore evidently right at heart; but if they could but have abstained from the ill, how much better! The tree that God commends brings forth its fruit in its season. Oh that we
had all this ordering of our footsteps that we could bring forth the appropriate virtue in its time. O could I have back those opportunities of pleading with sinners which I have allowed to slip, how would I hope to use them! Could I have back those times for glorifying my precious Master which have now, alas! rolled away with the years beyond the flood, how would I seek to honor his dear name! But the fruit in its season did not come, alas! alas! for me. My God, help me in the future, that when the time arrives, that I may be ready for the time by your Spirit.
Once more on this point, there should be about the Christian's holiness an order of suitability, by which I intend this: what would be right enough, and as much as would be expected in an ordinary man, is not the measure of a Christian's service to his God. "What do you more than others?" is a very pertinent question to every professor of the faith of Christ. To be barely honest, to be barely just, what is this? There are thousands of Atheists who are all this. To be observant of the Sabbath-day, to be careful in the maintenance of regular family devotion, what is this? Many a hypocrite has done this year by year for a lifetime. There is a peculiar tenderness of walk, an elevation of spirit, an unworldliness of mind, which is expected from the Christian, not as a man, but as a man twice born, as a favorite of heaven, as one whose way is Christ, whose end is Christ, and who therefore cannot be allowed and tolerated in conduct such as might be expected from an unconverted man.
O Christian, you are a priest; take care how you serve your God, at whose altar you do stand. Let not merely the bells of your profession sound musically, but let the pomegranates of your holiness be your beauty. O heir of heaven, you are a king: play not with beggars. Grasp your scepter, and rule over your lusts. Be of princely character, as you are of princely blood. You are a citizen of heaven: let your conversation be on high. You shall soon sit to judge angels; a place at the right hand of the great Judge in the last assize is reserved for you; as your honors, as your pedigree, as your estate, as your favors are, so let your life be, and let your steps be ordered according to the dignity of your condition. We have spent too long a time, but the subject tempted us. There are vast battalions of thought in ambush in the text.
II. Very briefly, in the second place, we will note THE RULE of this order. "Order my steps in your word," not "Order my steps according to mywishes." This would be mere self-will. Many men order their steps according to the principle of worldly profit and loss; that is good that pays; that is sure to be avoided which costs too much; this is baseness and greed. The true follower of Jesus does not ask to have his steps ordered according to the rule of pleasure as those do who always choose the grassiest road, whether it lead down to hell or up to heaven; this is childish folly. The good man is anxious to be conformed to God's word, let the road be rough or smooth. He does not, ask to be conformed to precedent, as the multitude do, who will not attempt what has never been done before; they must always tread where they can see the marks of traffic; custom is their law. Not so with David. If he be the first to tread the path, he is well content if it be God's way. It is folly to be singular except when to be singular is to be right; but then singularity, and even eccentricity, become the highest wisdom. Better go to heaven alone than to hell with a herd. The saint does not request to be conformed to tradition; little cares he for that - no, less than nothing. What matters it if one be damned according to old rubrics? Better to be saved according to the way which men call heresy.
No, no; the saint cares not for the dogmas of priests or the traditions of the elders, but "Order my steps in your word" is his prayer.
Some, I know, fall into a very vicious habit, which habit they excuse to themselves - namely, that of ordering their footsteps according toimpressions. Every now and then I meet with people whom I think to be rather weak in the head, who will journey from place to place, and will perform follies by the gross under the belief that they are doing the will of God, because some silly whim of their diseased brains is imagined to be an inspiration from above. There are occasionally impressions of the Holy Spirit which guide men where no other guidance could have answered the end. I do not doubt the old story of the Quaker who was disturbed at night and could not sleep, and was led to go to a person's house miles away, and knock at the door just at the time when the inhabitant was about to commit suicide - just in time to prevent the act. I have been the subject of such impressions myself, and have seen very singular results therefrom; but to live by impressions is oftentimes to live the life of a fool, and even to fall into downright rebellion against the revealed word of God. Not your impressions, but that which is in this book must always guide you.
"To the law and to the testimony;" if it be not according to that word, the impression comes not from God - it may proceed from Satan, or from your own distempered brain. Our prayer must be, "Order my steps in your word.
Now, that rule of life, the written word of God, we ought to study and obey. The text proves that the psalmist desired to know what was in God's word; he would be a reader and a searcher. O Christian, how can you know what God would have you to do, if your Bible be unthumbed and covered over with dust? The prayer implies too, that when David once knew God's word, he wished to obey it all. Some are pickers and choosers. One of God's commands they will obey; another they are conveniently blind unto, or, even directly disobedient to it. O that it were not so with God's people, that they had a balanced mind in their obedience, and would take God's word without making exceptions, following the Lamb whithersoever he goes. "Order my steps," Lord, not in a part of your word, but in all of it. Let me not omit any known duty, nor plunge into any known sin.
There was in David's mind, according to this prayer, a real love for holiness. He was not holy because he felt he ought to be, and yet would gladly be otherwise, but if there were anything good and lovely, he desired to have it; if there were anywhere in God's garden, a rare fruit or flower of purity and excellence, he longed to have it transplanted into his soul, that in all things his life might be the perfect transcript of the word of God. Stick then to God's testimonies. There is a perfect rule in the divine statutes. May the Holy Spirit cast us in the mold of the word.
III. Thirdly, two or three words upon the DIRECTOR whom David had chosen. He applies to God himself to order his steps. Much will depend upon the model that a man takes, and the captain under whom a man serves. We read in the papers last week of a commanding officer at Aldershot, who was obeyed by his soldiers with that prompt discipline which is peculiar to the British soldier, but who through some mistake or mismanagement managed to dash together two parties of dragoons, so that one or two were injured, and one man was killed outright. It is a glorious thing for us that we have a Commander who never makes such mistakes, who will so wisely order our footsteps that our virtues shall not come into collision, and
so direct our lives that it shall be always safe for us to follow his commands. What does David mean by putting himself under the orders of God? He means this. First, "Lord, give me a heart to love you: I beseech you, change me so, that whereas I once tended towards evil by the force of nature, I may now tend towards righteousness by a yet more powerful force, the force of a new nature. Order my footsteps, put a propelling power within my spirit, that shall constrain my steps towards the right, and the true, and the holy."
He means next, "Lord, illuminate me to know your word. Pour a flood of light into my spirit that I may never mistake good for evil, never choose light for darkness. O light up the darkest recesses of my soul, that I may always discern at the very first look that which is contrary to your mind, when it comes in the most flattering guise!"
He means again, "Let your Holy Spirit overshadow me. Let my spirit only follow, but let your Spirit lead the way. Let your Spirit subdue all my faculties, understanding, affections, and will. Let everything be subordinated to a divine government, that so being no longer independent of my God, I may be holy as he is holy."
He seems to mean again, "Charm me with the beauties of holiness. Let me so see the example of your dear Son that I may be fascinated by it, and compelled to do as he did by the divine order and behest of his example." And does not he also mean, "Lord, so arrange providence that I may not be tempted above what I am able to bear; check me when I am likely to sin; send me help just when I shall need it to achieve some difficult task of obedience"? Providence co-works with grace. There is the hand of a man and the wing of an angel going together, and where God sets the soul to work after sanctification, he is quite sure to order both its outward joys and sorrows, so that its holiness shall be promoted. Lord, do this, and thus order my steps in your word.
I have concluded when I have given two or three words of Earnest Practical Advice. My brethren and sisters, especially you who are members of this church, does it need that I commend to you earnestly to seek after conformity to the Lord's word as laid down in his revealed will? Should there be any such necessity, I beseech you hear me patiently but for a minute. You all desire to extend the power of the gospel and the glory of Christ's kingdom; know then that you can by no possibility do anything which shall be more likely to accomplish this than by seeking after holiness.
A holy church is always a powerful church. A band of people without gifts, without wealth, who shall exhibit much of the likeness of Christ, will be a power in the land. Covet not talent, but covet grace. Pant not so much after honor as after holiness. This is the great point with you, if you are to win the battle for Christ, and put the crown upon his head. O let me but know that you are godly parents, that you are obedient children, that yes are pious masters, that you are diligent servants, and my crown of rejoicing will be bright indeed; but ah! if your lips be unhallowed, your testimony goes for nothing, and my crown is gone. I beg you, by the glory of him who wore the thorn-crown for you, by all his love and his compassion, and by the love which you bear him in return, "watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation," and commit your ways unto God that they may be directed in his fear.
Brethren, I commend holiness to you, because above all things in this world it is one of the most comforting in the hour of trouble. Let a soul be brought low, and let there be sin connected with its humiliation, and there is a thorn in its pillow; but when a man knows that, in the sight of God, he has been kept from evil, and his integrity cannot be impugned, then quiet reigns in his soul. There may be roaring tempests without, but is soul is at peace when he can say, "You have upheld me in my integrity; and you have set me before your face forever." Remember that the best way to enjoy fellowship with Jesus is by holiness of life. Many saints of God do not see Christ's face for long periods of time, because they are careless in their living.
"How shall two walk together except they be agreed?" The Lord will not cast off his people, but at the same time he will not manifest to them the tenderness of his love unless they walk very carefully with him. Much will be endured by a king from a common subject which could not be borne with from a courtier.
You are of the king's counsel; you are a favorite of the Lord; see that you walk carefully. The place where God is, according to Jacob, is a dreadful place, and so it is, because there is a holiness required in the presence of the Most High which should make us put off our shoes from off our feet in holy dread. We have been for a long time sighing and crying, because we do not see a revival of religion. It is the common talk with earnest souls that the times are flat and stale. They are not so bad as they were, yet still there is no advance in the kingdom such as we looked for; but remember, if we want to see the Master come in the power and fullness of his Spirit, one of the surest ways to get him is to be more holy. His churchhinders the blessing by her inconsistency. A worldly church chases away the Spirit of God. Wherever there is a people conformed to the maxims and ways of the world, indifferent in prayer, and sluggish in effort, there will be the name to live, but there will be death; but where there is a people who, with little strength have, nevertheless, kept God's word, and above all have kept their garments unspotted, there will before long come the making bare of the almighty arm in the eyes of all the people.
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away your secret iniquities, humble yourselves, O professors, before God. May the Lord give you the spirit of repentance, may he pour out his spirit upon each of us, may we put away the old leaven, and so shall we keep the feast. May we shake ourselves from the dust of every sin, so shall we put on our beautiful garments, and the time of the church's glory and our triumph shall come. My lips refuse to speak as I wish they would, upon a theme which weighs upon my spirit right heavily. O God, send us holiness; if by no other means, then let trouble come to work in us hatred of sin; if you can not answer otherwise, then by terrible things in righteousness do you answer, O God, but do make us holy for your honor's sake.
Lastly, I fear that mingled in this throng are some who never prayed the prayer, "Order my steps in your word," for their steps are certainly notordered in God's word. Some of you have halting steps; you are halting between two opinions; you cannot make up your minds. O fools and slow of heart, you cannot make up you mind, which is better, God or the devil, holiness or sin, heaven or hell! It seems to be a point wherein no delays or considerations could be needful. O that you were taught wisdom by the Holy Spirit, and would halt no longer, but decide this day, for as the Lord my God lives, you have but short time to live, and if you continue halting as some of you have done these forty and sixty years, the sermons you have heard, and the prickings of your conscience, shall be swift witnesses against you to condemn you.
There are others whose steps were never ordered in God's word, for their ways are hypocritical. They walk today like Christians, tomorrow as worldlings. They sing the songs of Zion, and they chant the hymns of Baal. They worship the Lord with his people, but they worship Bacchus also with his votaries. Alas! for the many who wear a mask and a facade, and make fair pretenses and a glittering show, but the truth is not in them. I fear there are some of you whose steps are not ordered by God, for your ways are sin.
Pleasure enchants you; alas! this fleeting pleasure, whose cup glitters with beady bubbles, but whose dregs are hell! Would God you would cease from your evil ways, and turn at his rebuke, for then he has promised he will have mercy upon you. Among us this morning are many whose outward conduct is unblameable, and whose morals are excellent, but yet their heart is not right with God. They live without prayer day after day; they have an atheistic heart which shuns the Deity. I put this prayer before you not that you may use it, but that you may judge yourselves by it; and if this one prayer condemns you, how will you bear the majesty of the Judge of all the earth, who shall come in person to judge the world in righteousness according to our gospel? Jesus has died for sinners; he came to save the ungodly. Trust him, trust him, trust him, and from this day you shall begin to live. O may the Spirit of God help you to trust him, and then, but not until then, shall you be in a fit state to breathe this prayer for sanctification to God of perfect holiness, "Order my steps in your word."
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