Psalm 119:155
Verse 155. — Salvation is far from the wicJced; for they seek not tJiij statutes.
David had begged his own deliverance as one of God’s servants or clients, in the former verse: now he illustrateth his petition, by showing the opposite state of the wicked; they could not with such confidence go to God, or put m such a plea for deliverance: “Salvation is far from the wicked.” Some read it prayer-wise. Let salvation be far from the wicked; for, in the original, the verb is understood, and there it is only. Salvation far from the wicked; but most translations read it better proposition-wise; for, as the man of God comforts himself in his own interest and hopes, so also in this, that God would not take part with the wicked enemies against him, who had no interest at all in his salvation and protecting providence, and therefore would keep hiin fiom their rage.
In the words, —
1. An assertion.
2. The reason of it.
1st, In the assertion, we have the miserable condition of wicked men, Salvation is far from them.
2ndly, In the reason, we have the evil disposition of wicked men, “They seek not thy statutes;”’ which will give us the true notion and description of those who are wicked men: such as seek not God’s statutes, busy not themselves about religion, study not to please God.
In the words two propositions: —
DocTRiXE I. — That salvation is far from the wicked.
Doctrine II. — They are wicked who keep not God’s statutes.
Doctrine I. — That salvation is far from the wicked. Salvation is of two sorts, temporal and eternal; the proposition is true in both senses: they are far from salvation, and salvation is far from them. To be far from salvation is to be in a dangerous case, as to be far from light is to be ill extreme darkness: to be fai’frorn God”s law (verse 150), is to be extremely wicked; to be far from oppression (Psalm liv. 14), is to be in a most safe condition. So that the point is, —
That the wicked are in a very dangerous case, both as to their temporal and eternal estate.
First, Temporal salvation is far from them, and they are in a dangerous condition as to their outward happiness. This seemeth to be the harder part, and to have most of paradox in it; but this will appear to you, if you consider, —
1st, That all these outward things are at God’s disposal, to give and take according to his own pleasure; “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away” (Job i. 21); not the Sabeans and the Chaldeans: “The Lord maketh pooi-, and maketh rich; he bringeth low, and lifteth up”’ (1 Sam. ii. 7). He that cast the world into hills and valleys, disposeth of the several conditions of men, that some shall be high, and some low; some exalted, some dejected: all things that fall out inlhe world, are not left to the dominion of fortune, or blind chance, but governed by the wise providence of God: “Their good is not in their own hand” (Job xxi. 16).
2ndly, That it belongeth to God, as the judge of the world, to see ut malts male sit, et botns bene: “That be far from thee, to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: shall not the Judg’e of all the earth do right?”’ (Gen. xviii. 25.) “But, if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) God forbid; for then how shall God judge the world?” (Rom. iii. 5.) “Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that it is most just?” (Job xxxiv. 17.) “For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways” (Job xxxiv. 11). He is not indifferent to good and evil, and alike afiected to the godly and the wicked, but hateth the one, and loveth the other: he hateth the wicked: “Thou hatest all workers of iniquity” (Psalm v. 5); and, on the other part, he loveth the good and the holy: “Which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servants” (Psalm xxxv. 27); it is his delight to see them happy and iloui-ishing. This different respect is often spoken of in Scripture: “The Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer” (Psalm xxxi. 23); that he will uphold and maintain those that are faithful to him, and avenge himself upon the pride and oppression of the wicked. Though all the world be against the godly, God will preserve them; and ruin the wicked, though all the world should let them alone. So, “Yov the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (1 Peter iii. 12). There is a watchful eye of God over the righteous, to supply their wants, to direct them in their ways, to uphold them against dangers, to comfort them in their griefs, to deliver them out of alf their troubles. God hath an eye to take notice of their condition, and an ear to hear their prayers; but his face is set to pursue the wicked to their ruin: so that this is enough to assure us that holiness is the way to live blessedly, even in this life, where misery most aboundeth, because this is a part of the care that belongeth to the judge of the w’orld.
348 SEUMONS ON rSALJI CXIX.
3rdly, Besides his general justice as the ruler and judge of the world, and the condecency that is in such a dispensation to the rectitude of God“s nature, there is his covenant declared in his word, wherein he promiseth temporal happiness to the godly, and threateneth misery and punishment to the wicked; and God ever stood upon the truth of his word, to make it good in the eyes of the world: therefore it will be with men as their condition is set forth in the word of God. A promise there is as good as accomplishment, and a threatening as sure as performance; and therefore accordingly as the word saith of them, so is salvation far from or near them. Now, search all the word of God, and see if it speak anything of hope and comfort to the wicked, or them who make a trade of provoking God. Nay, they are well enough aware of that, and therefore will not come to the light, care not to busy themselves in the Scriptures; for they say of them, as Ahab of Micaiah, He prophesicth nothing but evil to me; and justly enough, for they can see nothing there but their own doom: if they are evil, it can speak nothing but evil: “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Wo unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given him” (Isa. iii. 10, 11). This is the tenour of the whole word of God; so, “Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged; yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him; but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he feareth not before God” (Eccl. viii. 12, 13). It is a certain truth, it is a certain evident truth; for it ls judicium certi axiomatis. I do know and confidently affirm, that it shall be well with them that fear God; but it shall not be well with the wicked; that is, it shall be very ill with them.
But here cometh in the great objection of sense. How can these things be so? We see the contrary, that all things come alike to all: “The righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all; there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; and lie that sweareth as he that feareth an oath” (Eccl. ix. 1, 2). That those outward things are given indifferently to good and bad, and the wicked are as free from temporal punishment as others, and enjoy all prosperity in this world, even sometimes to the envy and offence of God’s children, and the hardening of their own hearts; and, which is morf,that often it happeneth to the just according to the work of the wicked, and to the wicked according to work of the righteous (Eccl. viii. 14); that is, evil to good men, and good to evil men. As to outward things, the advantage is usually on the side of the worst.
Answek I. — By concession, we must grant what is to be granted, that, temporal things not being absolutely good or evil, the Lord taketh a liberty in the dispensation of them. The eternal promises and thrcatenings, being of things absolutely good and ill, are therefore absolute and peremptory; none that live godly can fail of the eternal promises, none that goeth on still in his trespasses can escape the eternal thrcatenings; but the temporal promises and threatenings, being of things not simply good and evil, are not so absolutely fixed; but God will take a liberty sometimes to cross his hands, out of his general indulgence to give prosperity to the wicked, and his fatherly wisdom to chasten the godly; and so all things come -.0 all Is Abraham rich? So is Nabal. Yea, so the godly may be
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3d, when the wicked triumph; as Lazarus pined with want, when fared deliciously every day; and Jerusalem was in a heap of ashes Babylon flourished. ’
2. By correction. The wicked have no right by promise or covenant, and so salvation is far from them; for this promise or covenant-right in’ erreth two thmgs : — (!.) A sanctified enjoyment. (2.) A more sure
tenure
(1.) A sanctified enjoyment. They that have salvation by promise they have.t as an effect of God-s special love; and so have it a“s a mercy not as a judgment; but, without this, they have it only by God’s general indulgence, and so it may be a snare:” Let their table become I snare before them; and that w-liich should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap (Psalm lxix. 22); and promote their ruin, not only eternal, but temporal. I they be not by these common mercies brought to repentance the greater shall their condemnation be, and their dovnfall the more speedy’ for, while they let loose the reins, and run headlong into all sin, God is the more provoked against them, and his anger, that was a little delayed and put off, IS the more severely executed. It is a blessed thing to have alva tron by covenant: “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom viii 28^ lhen we are sanctified to God (saith Baxter), all things are sanctified to us, to serve us for God, and to help us to him.
(2.) Our tenure is more sure, and we can with more confidence wait upon God for it. In this sense, salvation is far from the wicked, because they cannot lay claim to God’s favourable providence, or look for the continuance of it with any confidence; because they have no right, no promise to build upon; the word of God speaketh no good to them, whatever God may do out of his general indulgence: “Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord (James i. 7). Now, the misery of this appeareth by considering wicked men, either as in prosperity or adversity (1.) If they be still at ease for the present, yet they are not upon sure terms, because they know not how soon God may break in upon them and theirs: “I have seen the foolish taking root; but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety (the notion of the text) and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them “‘(Job V. 3, 4; In the eye of the godly, they are far from salvation: I iudo-ed him unhappy for all his wealth, foretold his sudden destruction, which God would speedily bring on him and his; I read his doom. So “Can the rush grow without mire .^ can the flag grow without water .? Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shali perish (Job vni 11 -1 3 ) A wicked man cannot lift up his head above others for want of God s favour to uphold him, as the rush or fla- cannot grow without mire or water: the prosperity of wicked men, when ifis most green and flourishing, yet wants its sustenance, which is God’s blessin-Ihis IS the condition of wicked men in the opinion of the good But what IS it m his own opinion? Take him in his serious and sober moods he always liveth miserably and expecting a chancre, as knowing that God oweth mm an ill turn: “A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him” (Job xv. 21 ). He trembleth secretly as if danger were always near; therefore cruel and mischievous against whom they lear, that shut’the door against their own danger; for everything that is fearful, will be cruel.
(ii.) If he fall into adversity. In their troubles, they have not a God to go unto, nor promises to build upon; therefore it is said, “The Lord is far from’ the wicked; but he heareth the prayer of the righteous “(Prov. XV. 29). God’s children have ready access to a sure friend, and are assured of welcome and audience when they come; but they are at their wits” end, know not which way to turn: “He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness; and he is waited for of the sword” (Job xv. 22); that is, full of terrors of conscience, and distracting, disturbing fears; hath no hope to be delivered, but lives as if he had a sword hanging over his head.
Use I. — To show us the reason wdiy the people of God, when they grow wicked, are often disappointed in that salvation which they expect: “We look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us” (Isa. hx. 11). Why? because they had exceedingly sinned against God, and scandalized their profession. There was a horrible depravation of the people of God in those times; and therefore all their prayers, and fasts, and seekings of God, could not prevail for a deliverance.
Use II. — Comfort in a good cause, wherein the godly are opposed by the wicked. There is a double comfort: —
1. Because the prosperity, power, and pride of the wicked are not to be reo-arded; for, though they flourish for a while, and all things flow in upon them according to heart’s desire, yet salvation is far from them. God is engaged both for the rectitude of his nature, the quality of his office, as judge of the world, and the tenour of his covenant, to employ his power and terror for their ruin; and, though he may for a while spare them, and they take occasion from this indulgence to do more and more wickedly, yet you should not be dismayed, if you see them engaged in ways or courses that are naught and wicked. You may say, I know they cannot prosper in them. When they are lifted up in the prosperity of their aff”airs, you should lift up your hearts by faith, see a worm at the root of their happiness:
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2. Because, by the rule of contraries, if salvation be far from the wicked that seek not God’s statutes, then deliverance is near to the godly that fear God and desire to be faithful with him, how hard soever their condition seemeth to be for the present: “Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him” (Psalm lxxxv. 9). You should be confident of it, they that please God cannot be always miserable; it is neai-er than we think of, or can see for the present. There is a “surely,” or a note of averment, put upon it. It is better to be with the godly in adversity, than with the wicked in prosperity. When they are men appointed as sheep for the slaughter, yet there is a way of ransom and escape; but the wicked at their best are in the appointment of God, as the stalled ox, or as swine fatted for destruction; when fattest, then nearest to destruction and slaughter.
Secondly, As to eternal salvation, so they are in a dangerous case.
1st, The phrase here used by the Psalmist, seemeth to be used to obviate their vain conceit. They think they shall do well enough, and have as much to show for Heaven as the best; it is near in their conceit, but far indeed “Be not deceived; know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?’ (1 Cor. vi. 9.) Thoughts of impunity are natural to us; those that are in the ready way to Hell, are apt to think they shall get Heaven at last; as if God would turn day into night; hut, alas! it is an eternal truth, “Salvation is far from the wicked.”
2ndly, There is somewhat of a meiosis in the expression, less being said than is intended: the man of God saith that salvation is far; hut he implieth that damnation is near: ccrtahily the one doth imply the other. The ground that heareth briars and thorns, is tyyrc KarapaQ, nigh unto cursing (Heb. vi. 8). They are upon the borders of Hell, and ready to drop into those eternal flames which shall consume God’s adversaries.
3rdly, Once again, the longer they continued wicked, the further off is their salvation every day; farther off from Heaven, and nearer to Hell. A godly man, the more progress he maketh in virtue, the nearer he is to his salvation: “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom. xiii. 11 ); not only nearer in point of time, but nearer in the preparation of their hearts; not because older, but because better: and so, by consequence, wicked men go farther and farther off, and therefore they are said to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath (Rom. ii. 5). Every sin they commit, puts them a degree further off from salvation, as every degree of grace is a step nearer Heaven.
Reasons: —
1. The inseparable connection that is between privileges and duties. The Gospel offereth salvation conditionally. If we forsake the condition, we fall short of the pri ilege; and therefore, if we be wicked, salvation is far from us. When God took Abraham into covenant with him, he doth not tell him only what privilege he should enjoy, but also bindeth him to walk suitably: “I am God Alniighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Gen. svii. 1). God will take care of our safetj, if we will take care of our duty. The covenant is called a bond: “I will bring you into the bond of the covenant” (Ezek. xx. 37); because it hath a tie upon us, as well as upon God. We are not at our own liberty, to walk as we hst: there are bonds upon us; not vincula careen’s, the bonds of a prison, gins and fetters; but vincula nuptiarum, the bonds of wedlock. Now, they that cast away these bonds from them, as the wicked do, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm ii. 3); and will be their own men, and walk by their own will, have no title to the privileges that accrue by the marriage: such licentious spirits are at liberty, but to their own wo; they have a liberty to no to Hell, and undo their own souls. It was the wisdom of God to bind us to displeasing duties, by the proposal of comfortable privileges. Every man would desire to be saved, and to be happy for evermore; but corrupt nature is against holiness: now, without holiness, there is no hai)piness. The conditional promise doth more bind and draw the heart to it, when we lay hold of it, by yielding to j)erform the condition required; then may we groundedlv expect the privilege promised. We would have salvation; but we cannot, unless we submit to God”s terms; for Christ came not to gratify our selfish desires, but to subdue us to God. We would have sin pardoned, we would be freed from the curse of the law and the flames of Hell; but this can never be while we walk in our own ways, and are averse to holiness of heart and life; for God would ever sweeten duties by felicities.
2. Because of the perfect contrariety between the temper of wicked men and this salvation; so that they are wholly incapable of it.
(1.) They care not for God, who is the author of this salvation: he is not in all their thoughts, words, and ways: “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts” (Psalm X. 4). They are far from him, though he he not far from every one of them. He is within them, and round about them, in the effects of his power and goodness; but they never think of him, nor take care to serve and please him; that is the reason in the text, “They seek not thy statutes.” If they seem to draw nigh to him at any lime, in some cold and customary duties, they do but draw nigh to him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him: “This people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me; and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men” (Isa. xxix. 13). Or, as it is in another Prophet, “Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins” (Jer. xii. 2). They profess to honour God with a little outward and bodily service, but have no love and affection at all to him.
(2.) They slight Christ, who is the procurer of this salvation; however they could like him as their Saviour, they like him not as their guide and governor. So he complaineth: “My people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me” (Psalm lxxxi. 11); and, BsXojjiiv thtov (iaaiXtvaai t(p’ i)iiaQ, “His citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke xix. 14). Men cannot endure his bonds and yokes: “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm ii. 3); that they should deny themselves their own wisdom and will, and wholly give up themselves to the conduct and will of Christ. It is his spiritual kingdom that is most contrary to our carnal affections; for, if there were no king in Israel, then every man might do what is best in his own eyes. They would not be crossed in their licentiousness of life; and therefore, when Christ bringeth his bonds and cords with him, they set him at nought.
(3.) They despise the word, in which we have the offer of this salvation, and counsel and direction given us how to obtain it. There God calleth upon us to be saved: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. ii. 4); but most slight his voice, and thereby put all hope far away from themselves. See Acts xiii. 26, compared with the 48th verse: in the 26th verse, “To you is the word of this salvation sent.” Mark first, he calleth the Gospel the word of salvation, because there we have the way and means set forth how it was procured for us; there we have counsel given us, what we must do on our parts that we may be interested in it; there also we have the promise and assurance on God’s part, that, so doing, we shall obtain it. Mark again, he saith this word of salvation was sent to them: he doth not say brought, hut sent. The preaching of the Gospel is governed by God’s special providence. When salvation is offered according to his mind and in his name, we must look upon it as a message from Heaven, directed to us for our good; not by the charity or good will of men, but the grace of God. Now, if you despise this, what will be the issue? See verse 46, “Seeing ye put [the word of God] from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life” (that is, bj’ this obstinacy and perverseness), you become incapable of receiving benefit by it. That phrase, “judge yourselves,” is very notable. There is a judging ourselves unworthy, that maketh way for the applying of the Gospel unto us, rather than taking it from us; as the publican judged himself, and went home justified; but a humble self-SERMON CLXXIir. YliESK CLV. 353
judging is not meant here, but an obstinate, contemptuous refusal of etei-nal life. All unconverted men are unworthy of eternal life; but tbty that refuse grace offer«tl, ju-dge themselves unworthy of eternal life; put it out of all question, clear God if he thus judge them by their fact, declare theiicondemnation just,
(4.) They refuse the beginnings of this salvation and foregoing pledges, which God vouchsafeth in this world by way of taste and earnest. Grace is the beginning and pledge of glory; to be turned from sin, is a great part of our salvation: “He shall save his people from their sins” (Mark i. 21). It is not only salvation when freed from misery, but salvation when freed from sin; not only from evil after sin, Hell, and punishment, but from the evil of sin; fix)m a proud, lazy, self-loving heart: he hath saved us by the washing of water (Titus iii. 5). When the power of sin is broken, and the life of grace is begun in the soul, then do we begin to be saved: the Spirit of holiness is the earnest of our inheritance, and an earnest is part of the sum: “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heai-d the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Eph. i, 13, 14). Therefore holiness is a part of eternal salvation. Now, without this, we cannot have the other part: they that slight holiness, shall never see God.
(5.) They despise the salvation itself, rightly understood; partly, be cause they only value it under a fleshly notion, as a state of happiness and ease, not as a state of immaculate and sinless purity; for so it is wholly unsuitable to them. What should a carnal, sensual heart do with Heaven.^ o¥ how should they desire it, that hate the company of God, the communion of saints, the image of God? God maketh meet: “Give thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. i. 12). There is jus hxBreditarmm etjics aptitudinale; though they do not desire to be saved for it, they would love holiness more. Partly, because of those conceits that they have of the adjuncts of salvation, and that happiness and personal contentment which results to them, they do not practically esteem it so as to value it above the delights of the flesh and the vanities of the world; and they do not think it worthy the pursuit, but, for the interests of the bodily life, cast off all care of it: “As Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright” (Heb. xii. 16); “They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise” (Matt. xxii. 5).
Use I. — It informeth us of two things: —
1. That wicked men are the authors of their own ruin. Salvation doth not fly from them, but they fly from it; they are far from the law, and therefore is salvation far from them. They will not take the course to be saved; for they care not for God and his statutes. It is but just, ut qui male vivity male pereat; that they which despise salvation, should never see it.
2. That the wicked buy the pleasures of sin at a dear rate, since they defraud their own souls of salvation thereby. Their loss you have in the text, “Salvation is far from them;” and their gain is nothing but a little temporal satisfaction; and are these things worthy to be compared? ^^’hat is it maketh you wiclted, but the ease and sloth of the flesh, and the lov#
vox. III. 2 A of some carnal delight? And are you contented to perish for this whoredom from God?
Use II. — Let it exhort us to believe and improve this truth; for, if men did surely believe it, there would not be so many wicked men as there are; neither would they dare to lie in sin as long as they do. Oh! consider; if the wicked have no part nor portion in the salvation offered, nor any jot of God’s favour belonging to them, the wicked should not flatter themselves with presun:ptuous hopes, but break off their sins by repentance.
1. God“s mercy will not help you; though he be a God of salvation, yet he will not save the impenitent and such as go on still in their trespasses: “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. He that is our God, is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death. But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses” (Psalm lxviii. 19 — 21). You nmst not fancy a God all honey and sweetness, and that his mercy should be exercised to the wrong of his justice: the Lord will not spare the abusers of grace, whoever he spareth: “And it shall come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse, that, if lie bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst; the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven” (Deut. xxix. 19, 20).
2. No doctrine preached in the church, will bear you out; not law, for that discovereth both sin and the curse; convinceth of sin, “By the law is the knowdedge of sin” (Rom. iii. 20); what is sin, and who is the sinner. That bindeth you over to the curse: “For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse; for it is w-itten. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them “(Gal. iii. 10). The Gospel, that showeth a remedy against sin, but upon God’s terms; that first with broken hearts we sue out our pardon:” If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John i. 9). Sin must be condemned, confessed, before pardoned; and then, that, in the way of holiness, we should seek salvation and eternal life. The way and end must not be separated: we must have our fruit unto holiness, if we would have our end to be eternal life (Rom. vi. 22). The pure and undefiled only have part in this salvation; but it is far from the wicked: Christ disclaims the unholy and unsanctified: “Depart from me, ye that work iniquity “(Matt. vii. 23). You may as well expect the way of the west should bring you eastward, as to walk in the ways of sin, and hoie to come to Heaven at last. To think God will save us, and suffer us to walk in our own ways, or that this undefiled inheritance shall be bestowed on dirty sinners, this had been pleasing to the flesh and blood; but it is the Devil’s covenant, not God”s; that article. You shall be saved, and yet live in your sins, is foisted in by Satan, that false deceiver, to flatter men with vain conceits.
3. Do you hope for repentance hereafter? But, in the mean time, ye run a desperate hazard to leave the soul at pawn in Satan’s hands; it is not easy work to get it out again. Who would poison himself, upon a presumption that, before it cometh to his heart, he shall meet with an antidote? Judicial hardness is laid on them that withstand seasons of grace: “Seek ye the Lord while he may he found, call ye upon him while he is near” (Isa. Iv. 6); “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of mj’ reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh” (Prov. i. 24 — 2G); “None of those men which were bidden, shall taste of my supper” (Luke xiv. 24).
4, The heart is more hardened, the longer you continue in this course: “But exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. iii. 13). Inveterate diseases are seldom cured; a tree that hath long stood, and begun to wither, is unfit to be transplanted: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” ( Jer. xiii. 23).
5. There is a stint and measure as to nations: “The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen. xv. 16). Persons, vessels of mercy, vessels of dishonour: “What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?” (Rom. ix. 22.) Meet for Heaven, ripe for Hell. Saints, like a shock of corn, in season; so when sinned enough, then away to Hell.
But this exhortation is likely to be lost, because nobody will apply it. Let us see, then, the character of wicked men. Secondly, They seek not thy statutes.
Doctrine. — They are wicked men who seek not God’s statutes.
Here I must inquire, —
1. What it is to seek God’s statutes.
2. Show why they are wicked that do not seek them.
1st, What it is to seek God’s statutes? There, —
1. The object, or thing sought, is God’s statutes; those rules and counsels which he hath given us, to guide us in our service of himself and pursuit of true happiness. These are all enforced by his authority, and enacted as laws and statutes, which we cannot ti’ansgress without violation and contempt of his authority. Now, he saith statutes indefinitely, because they must all be regarded without exception; for they all stand upon the same authority. It is said of Ezra, that good scribe, that he “prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it” (Ezra vii. 10); that is, to be thoroughly informed of, and to practise, whatsoever was enjoined in the law of God. So must we prepare our hearts to do all; and, because our Christian law is broader, and compriseth Gospel too, which is the law of faith, we must take care of all which God hath given us in charge, and all that is adopted into our rule of faith and repentance, as well as moral duties; and, because there are mmutula legis, and (Sapirepa j/o/^a, therefore our chief care must be about the weighty things, and those of greater moment must be sought most earnestly: therefore it is said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (JNIatt. vi. 33): these concern the change of our estate.
2. The act of seeking. The word implieth earnest and constant endeavour. I seek for that which I mind and pursue with all my heart, and use all means that I may obtain it, till I do obtain or find it: thus we are bidden to seek that which is tjood:” Seek good, and not evil, that ve may
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live” (Amos v. 14); and, “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgments: seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may he ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zeph. ii. 3). So Christ, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John v. 30). And here the Psalmist speaketh of seeking God’s statutes.
(1.) It implieth earnest endeavour (for a man’s heart is upon what he seeketh); that it be the business of our lives, not a thing done by-the-by; but our toyoi’, our work, is to please God, and to this all other things must give way. Many think it is a foolish thing for them to trouble their heads with matters of religion, and to lay bands of strictness upon themselves; but it must not only have its turn and respect among other affairs, but be indeed as the great affair of our lives. There is no business of such weight and necessity, because the saving of our souls lieth on it; and therefore it must be followed in good earnest, as a man, when he is seeking a thing, quitteth all other cares, and mindeth that only.
(2.) Constant endeavour, seeking till we find; as the woman for her lost groat: “What woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?’’ (Lvike xv. 8.) So we must not content ourselves with our first and cold essay, as many, if they find not success upon some fair attempt, give over all care of religion, as if it were a tedious thing, not to be endured; now, seeking implies a resolute diligence, and persevering endeavours till we find.
3. The end of seeking after God’s statutes, it is to have them, and keep them; as Christ saith, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (John xiv. 21). First hath, then keepeth. To have the commandments, is to know them; to understand our duty and prove what is the revealed, holy, and acceptable will of God concerning us (Rom. xii. 2), that it may have the authority of a principle in our consciences. To keep them, is to endeavour actual obedience thereunto, and to regulate our practice thereby; for both these ends do we seek, and in both these respects do men show their wickedness.
(1.) We must make it our business to know the tenour and compass of our duty; and we are said to seek after this, because it will cost us pains ere we can obtain it. All knowledge will cost us industry, especially Divine and practical knowledge; as he that applieth his heart to the understanding of his duty, will soon find: “If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures” (Prov. ii. 4). Now, this the wicked cannot endure: they indulge the laziness of the flesh, they know they that increase knowledge, increase sorrow. If they did know more of their duty, they would be troubled for not observing it; for knowledge will be urging duty upon the conscience. It bringeth a great obligation along with it; and, as an obligation, so an irritation or provocation; it will call upon them to do that which they have no mind to do; yea, and further, a self-condemnation and accusation, or sting for not doing it, or breaking any of God’s statutes. Therefore, to prevent their own trouble, they are so far from seeking light, that they would shut it out, and quench those convictions that break in upon them: therefore the language of wicked men is, “Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways” (Job xxi. 14); the language of their hearts and lives, if not of their tongues. They do not only err in their minds, but err in their hearts; they have no
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will to know, would not trouble themselves about religion, or acquainting themselves with God, neglect the means of grace.
(2.) We must make it our business to observe them, or our serious study to keep at a distance both in heart and practice from every known sin; eschewing what the Lord forbiddeth, and endeavouring every good duty which the Lord commandeth. This will cost us pains indeed, and requireth much seeking to get such a frame of heart; and, whoever trieth it, will find it long ere he’can attain to it: “To will, is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not” (Rom. vii. 18). He sought, for his words imply that; but he could not do as he would; there was not a total omission, but a coming short of his aims: we must seriously give up ourselves to the observation of God’s will, and attend upon this work. Thus wicked men do not seek, it is the least of their cares: “Lo, they that are far from thee, shall perish” (Psalm lxxiii. 27). The whole stream and course of their affections, lives, and actions, doth run from God to the creature; they care not whether they please God, yea or no: “He that keepeth the commandments, keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways, shall die” (Prov. xix. 16). He slights his way, that goeth on as his own heart leadeth him: as a traveller that regardeth not to choose his way, but goeth through thick and thin; he despiseth his way; so he that careth not whether his way be pure or filthy. Well then, the sum is, wicked men care not to know and obey God’s word.
2ndly, Reasons why they are wicked that do not seek God’s statutes.
1. Because omissions, where they are of duties absolutely necessary, and total and universal, and do necessarily draw sins of commission along with them, do argue a state of wickedness. But such is the case here; lo live in a known sin, whether of omission or commission, is damnable: “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James iv. 1 7); but especially when total, &c. The wicked are thus described, them that forget God: “The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm ix, 17); “So are the paths of all that forget God” (Job viii. 13); “Now, consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver” (Psalm 1. 22). This layeth a man open to all sin, and maketh way for his destruction. So, “Those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him” (Zeph. i. 6): that is enough to damn them, if they do not break out into excess.
2. Because they are guilty of great wrong to God, and to their own souls. (1.) To God. It is a contempt of his authority, when men will not
study to know and do his declared will; that is, make it the’r business lo do so; for it is a great slighting of him, looking upon his direction as of little importance: “I have written to him the great things of my law; but they were counted as a strange thing” (Hos. viii. 12); and therefore were strangers to it, as if there were no danger in walking contrary to it.
(2.) To themselves. God’s statutes concern our salvation, as well as his own glorj’: “The Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves” (Luke vii. 30). Thus a wicked man is Jelo de se: “Whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord; but he that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me, love death” (Prov. viii. 35, 36).
Use L — You see now who are far from salvation, they that do not study the word of God, to conform themselves thereunto.
ViE 11. — Let us be sure to be far from the disposition of the wicked; let us with all our hearts seek to comply with the precepts of God, and be more diligent and earnest in bringing our hearts to a true scriptural holiness, that we may not be in this danger. Motives: —
1. From the excellency of these statutes. To be employed in the service of God, is the greatest honour, and the most blessed life, upon earth. If it be irksome, it is a sign of a disease, and some great distemper, or inclination to some base, dreggy delights of the flesh. If the soul were rightly constituted, it would be our greatest pleasure, hoipour, and content. Other work spendeth our strength; this increaseth it: “The way of the Lord is strength to the upright.”
2. From salvation. It is great, sure, near. Great, both as to body and soul; sure, God”s word passed is unalterable; near, should we fahit in the sight of our country, and be sluggish and negligent when Heaven is at Land?
3. There is present content in the sight of our qualification and clear distinction from the wicked.