Confiding Trust and Patient Submission 2
Back to J. C. Philpot Sermons
B. "When I fall I shall arise." But when, from these various causes, they are sunk thus low, and Satan begins to rejoice against them, the Lord will sometimes, as it appears was the case of the prophet, break in upon their minds with a ray of heavenly light, and in that ray of light they feel a sweet persuasion, that though fallen, they are not fallen out of the Lord's hands or heart. In their fears and feelings the Lord's people may fall very low, but they never really sink into despair, for "underneath are the everlasting arms" out of which they never can fall. In their worst extremity there is a "Who can tell?" and their hope, as an anchor of their soul, sure and steadfast, still remains fast and firm within the veil. No– sometimes they most rise when they most fall, for the more sensibly that they are sunk into a sense of their own wretchedness and misery, the more they fall, so to speak, flat before the Lord, with a deep conviction of their helplessness; and the more they fall into an experimental feeling of their weakness the more does the Lord make his strength perfect in that weakness, so that they can say, "When I am weak then am I strong."
This enabled the prophet to dare and defy his enemy, "When I fall I shall arise." You may rejoice against me as falling or fallen; but when I fall– at the very moment when I seem most sunk or sinking I shall arise. "Woe to him!" we read, "that is alone when he falls, for he has not another to help him up." (Eccl. 4:10.) Saul was alone when he fell, for God had forsaken him; so was Ahithophel, so was Judas. They fell therefore, and that without remedy. But Peter was not alone when he fell; neither was Jonah when he fell into the sea, into the whale's belly, and into the very belly of hell. Safe in the heart of Christ, all his saints are safe in the hands of Christ; "Yes he loved the people." There they are safe in the heart of Christ. "All his saints are in your hand." There they are safe in the hands of Christ. (Deut. 33:3.)
The prophet could also add as a further reason why he should arise– "When I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me." We often have to sit in darkness. This expression signifies the condition of the soul in the gloom of unbelief, under the hidings of the Lord's countenance, when it loses all sensible enjoyment and all comforting light, as expressed by the prophet Isaiah– "Who is among you, that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness and has no light"– that is, no bright light, for the word rendered "light" there means "brightness" or shining, not ordinary light. (Isa. 50:10.) Thus though he sat in darkness it was not unmitigated darkness– the darkness of death, or the darkness of despair, but that darkness which is the absence of bright light– an eclipse or dark thunder cloud rather than a winter midnight. In this darkness the Lord's people often sit; and yet in the very midst of it there is light, and light too, the best and most blessed, for it is the Lord himself– "When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me."
Now here the saint of God differs from all others. None but he in fact really knows what darkness is, for none but he has light to see it, or life to feel it. It is the Lord's light in his soul that makes him see the darkness with which he is surrounded, and it is the Lord's life in his heart that makes him feel those cold damps which so chill his feelings and wrap him up, as it were, in a misty cloud. Those who walk in the sparks of their own kindling never complain of sitting in darkness. They know nothing of what it is to lose the light of the Lord's countenance, for they never saw or enjoyed it. A blind man cannot see an eclipse, nor does he know night from day. Those, therefore, in whom the god of this world has blinded their minds, never sat in darkness, because they never sat in light nor do they know the hidings of the Lord's face, because he has never lifted the light of his countenance upon them. As they have had no drawings near of the Lord to their soul, they have no withdrawings of his gracious power and presence.
It is for this reason, that though thousands are in darkness, none sit in darkness, that is feelingly and experimentally, but the saints of God. They "walk" or "sit," both postures implying life, in darkness; but the dead lie in darkness.
But when believers sit in darkness, the Lord is their light. He not only gives them beams and rays of divine light to illuminate their darksome path; but he himself is their light, it all centering in, and being communicated out of his own divine Person. His word indeed is a light, for "it is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path;" but this is more a reflected than a direct light. It is he himself who in a peculiar way is light, for "God is light;" and though "he dwells in the light, which no man can approach unto," yet he shines upon those that fear his name, even when they sit in darkness, to cheer them in it and to give them a sweet persuasion that they shall come out of it.
C. But you may perhaps ask, "Why does the Lord permit this darkness to spread itself over the minds of his people?" There are doubtless wise reasons why it is permitted; but take one. It is in this school that we learn our best and safest lessons. We have much pride that needs to be humbled, much self-righteousness to be brought down, much self-exaltation and self-dependence to be laid low, all which are sadly opposed to the life and power of God in the soul. These weeds, then, that overspread the Lord's garden need to be rooted out and plucked up, that the fruits and graces of the Spirit may have room to live and flourish. We, therefore, need to be brought into a place where the Lord alone can do us good, and thus become our all in all. We need to have all other wisdom but the Lord's wisdom, all other strength but the Lord's strength, and all other righteousness but the Lord's righteousness, brought to an end.
Now when we are continually falling into afflictions, temptations, soul exercises, and in them darkness besets the mind, we begin to see and feel how little we can help ourselves, how little we can help one another. In this hard but salutary school of experience, we learn that the Lord himself, and none but the Lord, must be our all in all. When, then, the Lord becomes our light, faith is strengthened to look unto him, and prayer is excited to call upon his holy name. There is a more thorough and decided weaning from self, and a fuller, firmer resting on the promises and invitations of Scripture, clearer views of the Person and work of the Son of God; and all this strengthens our hope to anchor more strongly and actively within the veil.
What a need be, then, there is for these trials and exercises, as Peter speaks– "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials." (1 Pet.1:6.) And does he not give us a sufficient and satisfactory reason? "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (1 Pet. 1:7.) Yes, it is to try our faith, and thus prove it to be more precious than gold that perishes. The Lord would not put his children into the furnace unless the dross had to be taken away; he would not allow them to sink into depths, unless in those depths to cry, and experience deliverance– "Out of the depths have I cried unto you, O Lord." (Psalm 130:1.) Nor would he again and again allow Satan to triumph over them and rejoice in their misery, unless to show them the strength of his almighty arm, the love of his merciful heart, and the freeness and richness of his sovereign, super-abounding grace.
When we are passing through these dark and dreary things, we cannot usually see the wisdom of the Lord in thus exercising our minds, nor what profitable lessons we are learning, or what useful instruction the Lord is thereby communicating. But when he is pleased to bring us out of this furnace, then we begin to see what valuable lessons we have learned in this trying path– how much secret self-righteousness and Pharisaical pride were in our mind; how much vain confidence was mingled with our faith, how much of our own strength, wisdom, and self-dependence really worked in us, and was nurtured by us, but was hidden from our eyes by the pride and self-righteousness of our heart.
But being brought into circumstances which gave our enemies temporary cause of triumph, falling continually into some affliction, some soul desertion, some trial in providence, or some exercise in grace, and having from time to time to sit in great darkness of mind, we learn in that school to depend less upon our own strength and wisdom and to hang more simply, more really, more earnestly, and more perseveringly upon the Lord himself. It is thus we learn what the Lord is able to do by his Spirit and grace; thus we see the difference between spiritual and natural religion; between that faith that stands in the wisdom of men, and that which stands in the power of God; between the hope of the hypocrite that perishes, and the good hope through grace that supports the saint of God in the trying hour. And as our Lord was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;" as reproach broke his heart; and as he knew, for a time at least, what it was to be forsaken of his God, the soul is thus brought more into communion with its tempted Head, and to have some measure of fellowship with him in his sufferings. Thus, though the soul may have faith to say, even when it falls into affliction and temptation, "Rejoice not against me, O my enemy, when I fall I shall arise;" and even when it sits in darkness may feel some sweet persuasion that the Lord will be a light unto it; yet when matters are in some measure cleared up by the shining in of the Lord's countenance, it sees that there were also other needs be for walking in this path besides those which I have just mentioned, and another work to be accomplished within, not less for its good and the Lord's glory; which brings me to my next point:
III. The PATIENT SUBMISSION of the soul to the Lord's righteous dealings, and the reasons why it thus submits– "I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause, and executes judgment for me."
A. The Lord will bring our secret sins to light, and set them in the light of his countenance. And O, what a day and hour is that when the Lord summons up dead and buried sins like so many gaunt spectres, brings them to mind and memory, and lays them with weight and power upon the conscience. Men conceal their sins, not only from others but from themselves– they are not willing to have them brought forth and laid upon their conscience, so as to feel true repentance and godly sorrow for them. They think repentance is so bitter a thing, and that true sorrow for sin is attended with such guilt and distress, that they are glad to escape such bitter feelings and such a fiery furnace.
But the Lord will and does bring forth out of the heart of his people all their secret sins, visibly arrays before their eyes the iniquities they have committed in times gone by– transgressions of their infancy, childhood, youth, and manhood; of heart, and lip, and life. So Job found it– "For you write bitter things against me, and bring up all the sins of my youth." (Job 13:26.) And thus Moses the man of God testified, "You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance." (Psalm. 90:8.) Now though painful, this is necessary to true and sincere repentance. The great Searcher of hearts must lay it bare before sin is felt, or confession made.
There is a covering transgressions, as Adam, by hiding iniquity in the bosom (Job 31:33), as well as rolling it like a sweet morsel under the tongue; but "God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil," (Eccl. 12:14); and then "the morsel which you have eaten shall you vomit up" (Prov. 23:8), and loathe both it and yourself. But though the Lord sets his people's sins in the light of his countenance, and brings them to bear with weight and power upon their conscience, and thus for a time at least lets them sink and fall into distress and grief, he will support them under the heavy load, that they may not altogether be crushed by it.
I do think, and here I must express my opinion, that if there is one single grace more overlooked than another in the church of God at the present day, it is the grace of repentance. Though it lies at the very threshold of vital godliness, though it was one main element in the gospel that Paul preached, for he "testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21), yet how it is passed by. Men speak of faith, hope, and love; but repentance, contrition, godly sorrow for sin, how much this part of God's work upon the soul is passed by. But the Lord will not pass it by. Books may pass it by; men may pass it by; ministers may pass it by; but the Lord will not pass it by. He will bring out these secret sins and set them in the light of his countenance; and when he lays them upon the sinner's conscience, he will make him feel what an evil and bitter thing it is to have sinned against the Lord.
1. Now when one taught by grace feels the weight and burden of his sins laid on his conscience, and has a spiritual sight and view of the nature and enormity of the transgressions which he has committed against the Majesty of heaven, he will begin to say, "I will BEAR the indignation of the Lord." This indignation, thus submissively and patiently borne, is not that fearful displeasure which will one day burst forth and consume a guilty world, for that cannot be borne, as Cain complained and thousands have felt; nor is that "fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries" ever directed against the people of God; for fury (or penal wrath) is not in him, to those who fear his name. Where there is all wrath there is no repentance on of man. The wrath that burns to the lowest hell, like Tophet's dreadful flame, is ever kindled by the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone. (Isaiah. 30:33.)
The indignation, then, or fatherly displeasure, which is bearable, the soul will, as grace enables, patiently and submissively endure. We see much of this in the third chapter of Lamentations, and especially in that touching inquiry and exhortation– "Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens" (Lam. 3:39, 40, 41); "Remembering my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul has them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope." (Lam. 3:19, 20, 21.)
This stilling of complaints under a sense of chastisement for sin; this remembering the wormwood and the gall, being humbled by it, and gathering up hope as a support under it, harmonize with "I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." It is as if the prophet said, "I will submit to it; I will not murmur nor fret nor rebel. I deserve it all, were it ten times more." It is a view of our sins against God that enables us to bear the indignation of the Lord against us and them. As long as we are left to a spirit of pride and self-righteousness, we murmur at the Lord's dealings when his hand lies heavy upon us. But let us only truly feel what we rightly deserve– that will silence at once all murmuring. You may murmur and rebel sometimes at your hard lot in providence; but if you feel what you deserve, it will make you water with tears of repentance the hardest cross.
So in grace, if you feel the weight of your sins, and mourn and sigh because you have sinned against God, you can lift up your hands sometimes with holy wonder at God's patience mercy that he has borne with you so long; that he has not smitten you to the earth, or sent your guilty soul to hell. You will see, too, that the heaviest strokes were but fatherly chastisings; that the rod was dipped in love; and that it was for your good and his glory that it was laid on. When this sense of merited indignation comes into the soul, then meekness and submission come with it, and it can say with the prophet, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." You would not escape the rod if you might. As Cowper says,
"Bastards may escape the rod,
Sunk in earthly, vain delight;
But a true-born child of God
Must not, would not if he might."
Thus there is a willingness to bear the rod and submission to the stroke. The saint of God would sooner be chastised with the children, than be let off with the bastards, knowing what will be the end with all such. Thus he feels he will bear the indignation of the Lord in this time state.
But even were these strokes ten times heavier, he could bear them with submission, not only because of his deserts, but from a sweet hope, amounting at times to a confidence, that the Lord will plead his cause, that the enemies of his soul shall not always rejoice and triumph over him, but that the Lord himself will interfere in his behalf.
2. This brings us to the second reason why the prophet says, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord" in the confidence that the enemy shall not triumph over him. "He shall plead my cause."
How this leads us at once to the advocacy of Jesus at the right hand of God– "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." This advocacy is here called, as elsewhere, "pleading the cause" of the believer and is connected with deliverance, for such an advocate can never fail– "O Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul; you have redeemed my life." (Lam. 3:58.) The figure is taken from a lawyer pleading the cause of a criminal and using his best endeavors to bring him off uninjured. But such advocacy may fail for two reasons– 1, the incompetency of the advocate, or 2, the badness of the cause.
But there are no such hindrances to the success of the advocacy of Christ. He can plead his own sufferings, blood, and obedience. His very Person, as the Son of God, and yet son of man, gives unspeakable value and validity to every plea of the great Intercessor. What validity, then, has his intercession in the court of heaven! It is true that he cannot deny the truth of the charge brought by the accuser of the brethren against his client; but he can present his own meritorious sufferings, and the sorrows he endured for the culprit. On this ground he can stand up as his surety and representative, and plead with his Father that he has suffered in his place and stead. On the firm, solid ground, then, of justice and equity, he can plead on his behalf, "Let him go, for I endured the penalty due to him."
And not only in the courts above, but here below the same all-prevailing Advocate may and often does, in the face of the world and in the face of Satan, so plead his cause as to bring off his client victorious. You may have fallen, for instance, under false and cruel charges; ungodly men or carnal professors, who are often worse, may have endeavored to calumniate your character; and you may have sunk very much in your soul under these strokes. We feel keenly when we know we are innocent of charges brought against us. But you bear the indignation of the Lord, because you know that though innocent of those charges, in other matters deeply registered on your own conscience you have sinned against him; hoping he will plead your cause in the face of your enemy, and make it plainly appear that your cause is his own.
3. "And execute judgment for me." This third reason follows necessarily upon the Lord's pleading his cause; for the unfailing Advocate is the Almighty Judge.
O what a grievous thing it is to be an enemy of God and godliness, a foe to the Lord and to his people. All men, though they know and feel it not, are fighting against a God who with a look could crush them into eternal ruin, and will one day sentence them to eternal misery, for he will certainly execute judgment, and pass sentence of eternal banishment from his presence upon all his and his people's enemies. A day will come when the Lord will openly plead the cause of his people, when his saints shall come forth in all their glory, shining like the sun in the sky forever and ever.
At present, he may say, "My soul is sitting in darkness; I feel gathering around me the clouds of obscurity; the Lord does not shine upon my soul as I would wish; things in providence are obscured, and in grace are obscurer still. But will it always be so? Will my sun set in gloom?" he says, in sweet confidence– "No! he will bring me forth to the light." This leads us to our fourth and last point:
IV. The FIRM ASSURANCEof the prophet that the Lord will do two things for him– 1, "He shall bring me forth to the light," and as the consequence of that, 2, "I shall see his righteousness."
A. "He shall bring me forth to the light." What is this "light?" The light of his own countenance, of his own grace, in the manifestations of his own pardoning mercy and love.
While we are sitting in darkness; bearing the indignation of the Lord, we are not walking in the light of the Lord's countenance. We may see it at a distance. As by the natural eye we may see a ray of light peeping through a dense bank of clouds on some distant object, or the sun shining upon a mountain a great way off; so in divine things we may see there is such a thing as the shining of the Lord's countenance, and that it shines brightly on others though not on ourselves. We may have enjoyed it ourselves in days past, yet now our path may be darkness and gloom, and still there may be a sweet persuasion in the soul, "He will bring me forth to the light."
But the words will bear another meaning in full harmony with the general bearing of the text. The Lord will clear up the false charges against you. Though clouds may for a time rest upon your Christian character; though enemies may misrepresent, calumniate, and cast a temporary shadow over you, yet if you are right before God, if you are innocent, if the matter is merely one of calumny, and your hands are free from this charge, the Lord will bring you forth to the light. If it be true, you must fall under the charge; if your enemies have any real cause of offence against you, you must acknowledge it and bear the indignation of the Lord for it. But if it be merely a calumny, a groundless accusation, the Lord will bring you to the light and make it plain you are innocent, and that he is on your side. But mind, he must do it. It is of no use your justifying yourself, nor even bringing forth evidence to clear up things that may be misconstrued, though it may be right to do so, as enemies will rarely hear it or acknowledge it. Rather patiently bear the indignation of the Lord for having sinned against him in matters not laid to your charge. In his own time and way he will bring you forth to the light and clear up all that is dark against you.
B. He adds, therefore, "And I shall behold his righteousness."What is that righteousness?
1. First, it may signify God's FAITHFULNESS, for he is a faithful God, and righteousness is used sometimes in that sense. When he afflicts you, it is still in faithfulness; when he chastises, it is in faithfulness. He cannot be unfaithful to his covenant, to his promise, to his oath, to his dear Son, to the work of grace upon the soul. Clouds and darkness may surround his throne, but he is a righteous God still. Bear that in mind. Darkness is ours; he is light. All the unfaithfulness is ours; God is faithful. Let this be engraved on our heart of hearts– whatever takes place, God is righteous and faithful still. All these dealings in providence and in grace that you have been so puzzled by, all spring from a God of righteousness. If he has cast you down in providence, if he has deprived you of earthly good, still hold by that truth– that God did it all. It is all of his hand, and in doing it, he is still a righteous and faithful God. And if in grace you have gone down time after time lower and lower in the view of your misery and wretchedness; if you have had deeper and deeper discoveries of your sinfulness and wickedness, and the Lord has hidden his face more and more from you, may you ever hold it firm that it is done in consummate wisdom, truthfulness, and faithfulness. Now when the Lord brings you out into the light of his countenance, you will bless him for every afflicting stroke, for every temptation, every trial, and every desertion; and you will see in all God's righteousness.
2. But there is another meaning of the expression, that is, Christ's RIGHTEOUSNESS. You will then more clearly see Christ's righteousness, what a glorious righteousness it is, how suitable to all your wants and woes; and you will be able to hide yourself more and more under its covering protection.
Thus, if we know anything experimentally of the meaning of the text, we see how the Lord's people have to walk in these painful and gloomy paths. There may be those here who have been writing bitter things against themselves, because they have long had to walk in this path. You have rather reason to bless your Lord for placing you in it, because you have learned in it important lessons. The Lord will eventually show you the reason of these dealings, and that wisdom and goodness and mercy are stamped upon them all.
Back to J. C. Philpot Sermons