Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1659
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, May 14, 1882
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give Grace and Glory: no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in You!” Psalm 84:11,12.
IN this sweet Sabbatic Psalm the writer rejoices in the House of God. He evidently loves the place of godly assembly, the place where prayer and praise were offered by the united tribes of his people. But, Brothers and Sisters, there was no superstition in this love. He loved the House of God because he loved the God of the house! His heart and flesh cried out, not for the altar and the candlestick, but for his God. True, his soul fainted for the courts of the Lord, but the reason was that he cried out for the living God, saying, “When shall I come and appear before God?” Brethren, it is well to take an interest in the place where you gather for worship. I am always glad when Brothers and Sisters are moved to contribute towards the necessary maintenance of the building and the provision for its cleanliness and propriety. I hate that God should be served in a slovenly way. Even the place where we meet to worship should show some sign of reverence for His name.
But still, our respect for our place of assembly must never degenerate into a superstitious reverence for the mere structure—as though there were some peculiar sanctity about the spot—and prayer offered here would be more acceptable than elsewhere. The great objective of our desire must be to meet with God, Himself. In hearing, the point is to hear the voice of God! In singing, the charm is truly to praise the Most High! In prayer, the main objective is to plead with God and so to speak that our cry comes up before Him, even into His ears. Let us always remember this and never rest content with merely going to a set place. Let us reckon that we have failed if we have not met with God! Let us come up here with strong desire for communion with the Lord in spirit and in truth.
The Psalmist also knew right well that the spiritual Law runs through everything. He perceived that character is an essential, not only to acceptable worship, but to all real blessedness. In our text he speaks not of those who visit the Temple, but of those who walk uprightly and trust in God. There is no necessary blessedness in visiting tabernacles and temples. In all assemblies for worship the question is, Who are they that gather? Are their hearts in God’s ways? Are their souls thirsting after God? The promises are very rich, but to whom are the promises made? What if they are not made to us? Then, the richer they are, the more sorrowful will be our loss of them!
Before I unfold the inexhaustible treasures of this marvelous portion of Scripture, I want to dwell upon this fact, that these things are for a special people. The blessing is to the man that walks uprightly—the true-hearted man whose course is sincere, righteous, honest and just. He stands firmly and he walks erect. He does not bend and lean towards the right or to the left. He has no sinister motives or crooked policies. He is straight as a line, and is not to be swayed by any side winds. It is a very suggestive figure—an upright man is not twisted or doubled up or wrongly inclined—or tortuous in his ways and thoughts. He stands on the square and is distinctly perpendicular. This is the man who will enjoy the blessing from the God of Israel!
Sin is a twist and it is a twist that robs us of the blessing in our text. But, since no man is upright by nature, we are reminded of the way by which we come to be upright— “O Lord of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in You.” We must have faith as the groundwork of all. Then “faith works by love” and purifies the soul. And by this purification the man is made to walk uprightly. Oh, to be resting where God bids us rest, namely, in the atoning Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus! Oh, to be depending where all must depend—upon the faithfulness of the Covenant-making and the Covenant-keeping God! Such a man has a solid rock beneath his feet. He trusts in God and so he stands firmly and is able to walk uprightly because he has a firm foothold.
Judge you, then, yourselves. Are you trusting in the Lord? Are you walking uprightly? If so, here is “a feast of fat things, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well-refined.” I would say to every child of God who can claim the character I have been describing, come to the text and freely enjoy it! What? Does no star of hope shine in your mid-
night sky? Do clouds surround you and thicken into an impenetrable gloom? Come to the text, for “the Lord God is a sun.” Here is an end to all your darkness! When He appears, the night vanishes and your light has come! Are you in great danger? Do perils surround you—temptations from the world, assaults of Satan—the rising up of your own corruption? Do you feel as if you moved in the center of a fierce fight? Is it as much as you can do, even, to hope that you will escape the fiery dart?