The Spurgeon Series 1859 & 1860. Charles H. Spurgeon

I was then, or, if I am, the same boundless mercy that loved me when I was lost, will love me, lost though I am even now. Do you not see that eternal love is the foundation on which we build and derive this inference, that if the base cannot move, the pyramid will not. “The mercy of God endures for ever; the Lord will perfect what concerns me.”

      20. Note the very words of the text: “Your mercy, oh Lord.” David brings his confidence into the court of Divine inspection, in order that it may be proven there. He says, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” It is very well for you and I to speak thus here this morning, but dare we go up to the very temple of God, and there, feeling his presence, actually present our confidence before him, and ask him to try it? There are many hypocrites in the world that would tremble to play the hypocrite if they felt that they were in the presence of God. But here we have a man who dares to bring his faith to God’s tribunal; he puts it in the scales of infinite justice, and awaits the decision. “Your mercy, oh Lord.” Can you do the same? Who among us can cry out with Toplady —

      The terrors of law and of God,

      With me can have nothing to do,

      My Saviour’s obedience and blood,

      Hide all my transgressions from view.

      Can you come into God’s presence and say this, or, to quote Hart’s words, can you say

      Great God I’m clean,

      Through Jesus’ blood I’m clean.

      He who can say that is blessed indeed; the Lord shall perfect what concerns him.

      21. Ah, what if God’s mercy towards men should change? Blessed be his name it cannot; it endures for ever. But what if he should remove his mercy from one man to another? That also he will never do; it endures for ever. But suppose we should sin so much that God’s mercy should give way? It cannot give way; it endures all the weight of sin; it endures for ever. But what if we should live in sin so long that at last God denied mercy to us even though we believed in him? That cannot be; we cannot sin longer than for ever — his mercy cannot be tried longer, and even if it could be tried for ever it would endure for ever. All the weight of my trouble, all the weight of my backsliding, all the weight of my evil heart of unbelief — all these the everlasting arches of divine mercy can and will sustain. Those arches never shall rock; those stones never shall crumble; it never shall be swept away by even the floods of eternity itself. Because his mercy endures for ever. God will most assuredly perfect the work of his hands.

      22. And now I come to the third and last point, and here may the Holy Spirit help me to stir up your minds to prayer.

      23. III. The third point is — THE RESULT OF THE BELIEVER’S CONFIDENCE — it leads him to prayer. Away with those men who have a confidence that helps them to live without prayer. There are men who live in this world who say we do not need evidences, we do not need prayer, we do not need good works. “The Lord has appeared of old to me, and said to me, You are one of God’s elect, and you may live in sin, and do whatever you please, I will save you at last.” Such characters I hope are getting rare. Alas! there are certain places of worship where such a religion as that is fostered if it is not begotten. There are some ministers — I trust they hardly know what they are doing — who by leaving out the doctrine of man’s responsibility, naturally lead men into that guilty and abominable doctrine of Antinomianism which has done so much to hinder the cause of Christ. Hear then, you seed of the presumptuous, and you who bear the fornicator’s forehead, hear and tremble. The Lord has not chosen you, neither has he cast your name into his lap. He has chosen no man who lives and dies presumptuously, trusting that he is chosen when he has no evidence of it. Do you live without prayer? Ah! soul; election has nothing to do with you. What is intended by the doctrine of reprobation is far more likely to be your lot than the glorious inheritance of election. Do you live in sin, that grace may abound? Every man’s damnation is just, but yours shall be emphatically so. What! do you dare to pawn yourself off as a child of God when you are a brat of hell? Do you claim that you are an heir of light, when the damning mark of Cain is on your very forehead? What! when you are like Balaam, presumptuous and abominable, do you dare still to claim a lot in the inheritance of the saints in light? Away with your confidence; “Hail shall sweep away your refuge of lies.” {Isaiah 28:17} The true born child of God has a spot that is not like your spot; he is of a different mould and make from you. You are a deceiver — not the legitimate child of God.

      24. Note, my friends, in the text, that a genuine confidence in God does not lead us to give up prayer, but leads us to prayer. “The Lord will perfect me.” Am I, therefore to say, “He will do it, and I will not pray?” No, because he will do it, therefore I will pray. Many people have such shallow minds that they cannot perceive how God’s determination and our own free action can go together. I never find these people making the same mistake in common life that they do on religious subjects. A man says to me, “Now, sir, if God intends to save me, I do not need to do anything.” He knows he is a fool when he says it; or if he does not know it, I will soon make him see it. Suppose he says, again, “If the Lord intends to feed me, he will feed me, and I will go without my dinner. If the Lord intends to give me a harvest, he will give me a harvest, and I shall not sow any wheat, and I shall not plough.” Suppose another were to say, “If the Lord intends to keep me warm today, he will do it; so I will not put on my coat.” Suppose a man should say, again, “If the Lord intends me to go to bed tonight, I shall go to bed; and, therefore, I shall not walk towards home, but sit here as long as I like.” You smile at once, because the folly is self evident. But is it not just the same in religion? Because “the Lord will perfect what concerns me,” am I to say I shall not pray? Why, no, my dear friends, the fact is, that a knowledge that a thing is certain prompts a wise man to action. What made Oliver Cromwell fight so bravely, unless he felt convinced that he would conquer? He did not say, “I shall conquer, therefore I will not fight”; no, he said, “I know that I shall conquer; therefore keep your powder dry, trust in God, and do it!” So with you; if you believe the Lord will perfect what concerns us, begin with prayer; trust the promise, and let us go on cheerfully through the world, rejoicing in the Lord our God. Confidence must not lead to idleness, but to diligent activity.

      25. And now, note this prayer, — “Do not forsake the works of your own hands.” The prayer is full of confession; it must be that, or else it is never true prayer. The Psalmist confesses, that if God did forsake him it would be all over for him, and this is a truth, brethren, that you and I always ought to keep in mind. We sometimes pray that God will not forsake us in temptation; do you not know we should be as much lost if he were to forsake us in communion as if he were to forsake us in temptation? When God puts you on the pinnacle of the temple, you need say, “Lord, hold me up and I shall be safe; do not forsake me here.” When you are down on the ground, if the Lord were to forsake you, you would perish there just as easily as on the pinnacle of the temple. I have known the Christian on his knees in the den of leopards, cry, “Lord, save me now,” but do you know that he has as great a need of help when he is on the top of Pisgah? for he still needs to be kept. Every moment of our life we are on the brink of hell, and if the Lord should forsake us, we would certainly perish. Let him only withdraw the salt of his grace, and the proudest believer must be cast into the depths of hell, and fall, like Lucifer, never to rise again. Oh! let this always make us cry aloud, “Do not forsake us, oh God.”

      26. There is yet another confession in the text — the Psalmist’s confession that all he has he has from God. “Do not forsake the works of your own hands.” I will not however dwell upon it, but urge you who are believers, to go home and cry aloud to God in prayer. Let this be a New Year’s day prayer. “Do not forsake the work of your hands. Father, do not forsake your little child, lest he dies by the hand of the enemy. Shepherd, do not forsake your lamb, lest the wolves devour him. Great gardener, do not forsake your little plant, lest the frost should nip it, and it should be destroyed. Do not forsake me, oh Lord now, and when I am old and grey headed, oh Lord, do not forsake me. Do not forsake me in my joys, lest I curse God. Do not forsake me in my sorrows, lest I murmur against him. Do not forsake me in the day of my repentance, lest