Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2346
“Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heaps up riches and knows not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in You. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.” Psalm 39:6-8.
These are solemn words. Sometimes we have a more joyful theme than this, but I believe that, spiritually, as well as naturally, it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. A meditation of a quiet kind, on things not as they are in fiction, but as they prove to be in fact, is always salutary. There is a great mass of sorrow in the world and all of us meet with something, every now and then, to calm our spirit and cool our blood. So, tonight, if we think a little of the fleeting character of this world, and of the real world where certainty, alone, is to be found—and if we school ourselves to learn facts and realities, by the blessing of God’s Spirit—we may go away even more lastingly refreshed than if our hearts were made to leap for joy by meditation upon some transporting theme.
I will have no further preface. There is too much in the text, itself, to allow time for a lengthy introduction. Therefore, notice, first, that David records his view of human life—“Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heaps up riches and knows not who shall gather them.” Then, next, David expresses his own emotions in contemplation of these things—“And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in You.” And, then, in the third place, David offers an appropriate and necessary prayer, for he cries, “Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the
foolish.”
I. First, then, let us notice that in our text DAVID RECORDS HIS VIEW OF HUMAN LIFE.
You will notice that he puts, “surely,” twice over in this verse, and with the, “verily,” of the fifth verse, which has the same meaning, but might have been translated, “surely,” he has uttered the same word three times, “surely, surely, surely,” or, if you please, “verily, verily, verily.” He half reminds us of his greater Son, the Son of David, whose speech was often emphasized with that sacred assuring word, “Verily, verily, I say unto you.” David here seems to tell us that there is nothing sure except that nothing is sure. “Surely,” he says, “nothing on earth is sure. Verily there is not verity, or happiness, anywhere here below.” There is a land of verities. There is a home of “surelies”—some of us are on the way there and already have the earnest of our inheritance. But as for you who have your portion in this life, you have vanity, not verity— change is written on everything earthly.
Having thus given us the keynote of certainty—for the Psalmist did not write haphazardly, but he wrote what he knew. He wrote what he had experienced and he wrote under the Inspiration of the Spirit of God—we should the more carefully look at what he has written. If it is so, surely, let us be sure to know what it is.
And, first, he seems to me to speak of life as a walk. And of that he says, “Surely every man walks in a vain show.” Then he speaks of life as a worry. And of that he says, “Surely they are disquieted in vain.” And then he speaks of life as a success, as men call it. And of that he says, “He heaps up riches and knows not who shall gather them.”
David first speaks of life as a walk. He seems to have had in his mind the idea of a great procession—“Surely every man walks in a vain show.” If you choose to go to the Lord Mayor’s show next Saturday, you may see a vain show, and may know precisely what David meant. Such things were more common in Oriental countries than they are with us, but whether it is the Lord Mayor’s show or any other, it is a picture of what this mortal life is! The procession, if you see it, or if you do not see it, but only read and hear of it, may remind you of what life is—what you see of it is all show. There are
kings in the show, princes in the show and heroes of old time in the show. But there are neither kings, nor princes, nor heroes there in reality! It is all show and such is this mortal life to a large extent.
Among some classes of society, show is everything—they must “keep up appearances.” Just so and, all the world over, that is about all there is—“appearances”—a vain show! If you want reality, you cannot see it—only the unseen is real. If you want shadow, you can see it—“the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
1 wish we could get a hold of that idea as a practical thing—that everything we can see is shadow, but what we cannot see is the real substance. When we talk about faith, men call us “visionary.” Well, well, you may call us that if you like, for we have a vision of a very high order. But we beg to return the word to you in its ordinary meaning, for if you make your treasure of what you can see and handle, you are the visionaries—for this is but a vain show in which you rejoice and that which you see with your eyes is but a vision—a dream that vanishes when one awakens! Earthly life is only a show.