NO. 2969<\/b><\/p>\n
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 4TH, 1906,<\/b><\/p>\n
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,<\/i><\/p>\n
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.<\/b><\/p>\n
ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, AUGUST 22ND, 1875.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways Psalm 91:11.<\/i><\/p>\n
OUR subject this morning was the sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb upon the lintel and the two door-posse of the houses of the children of Israel and Egypt. As soon as that was done, and the lamb had been eaten, they had to start upon their journey to Canaan. They knew that they had to go, and they were prepared to go. They had their loins girt, and each man had his staff in his hand, and his sandals on his feet. After being prisoners so long, they were set free in order that they might become pilgrims to the land which the Lord their God had given to their fathers.<\/p>\n
We, who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, are in a similar condition to theirs, for the Lord has redeemed us, and we can sing the new song, \u201cHe hath brought us up out of the house of bondage, and with a high hand and an outstretched arm he hath made us free,\u201d And now we are pilgrims and strangers in this world, for we are on our way to a better land than the earthly Canaan ever was, \u2014 a land that floweth with something richer than milk and honey, and where there is an eternal and abounding portion appointed for each one of the redeemed. We are pressing on, through this great wilderness, towards the land into which the Lord will surely bring us in his own good time. Our text is a promise to pilgrims. It most appropriately follows the text of this morning: \u201cThe blood shall be to you for a taken.\u201d You have set out upon the road to heaven: you have entered the narrow way by Christ, who is the gate at the head of the way, and now you are wondering how you will get on while you are on the road, and whether you will be proved in the right way so as to endure unto the end. This promise comes to you with much of real heart-cheer: \u201cHe shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
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I. <\/b>My first remark is rather by way of implication from the text than in direct exposition of it. It is this, There Are Some Ways Which Are Not Included In This Promise because they are not our ways, and they are not God\u2019s ways; but they are ways into which we may be tempted by Satan, and which we are jealously to avoid.<\/p>\n
You know how, when the devil professed to quote this text to our Lord, he left out the latter part of it, \u201cto keep thee in all thy ways<\/i>,\u201d because it would not have suited his purpose to mention that proviso. We, however, will begin with the words which the devil omitted, since the very fact of his omission of them seems to show how essential they are to a right understanding of the meaning of the text. O Christian, if you keep to the King\u2019s highway, you will be safe; but there are byways, and, alas! crooked lanes, down which you must not go; if you do go there, you will go at your own hazard. He who travels on, the King\u2019s highway is under the Ring\u2019s protection; but he who takes to byroads must protect himself, and the probability is that he will meet with robbers who will make him rue the day that ever he turned to the right hand or to the left.<\/p>\n
So, first, we must take care that we never go in the ways of presumption.<\/i> This is what Satan would have had Christ do. \u201cCast thyself down,\u201d said he, \u201cfor it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep them.\u201d This temptation to presumption is by no means an uncommon one. I have heard of it from the lips of men who were evidently not the children of God, or they would have resisted the temptation, and not have yielded to it as they did. They have said, \u201cWell, we are God\u2019s children, so we may do as we like. We are saved, therefore we may live as we please;\u201d \u2014 a dreadful inference from what, to other men, might be a precious truth. O dear friends, beware of tempting the devil to tempt you! Beware, too, of tempting the Lord your God, as some do, who venture a long way into evil company, or into doubtful paths, under the mistaken notion that they are so prudent that they will not be overtaken as others might be, \u2014 that they are so sage, and withal so experienced, that they may go where young people must not venture, and may do a great many things which less-instructed Christians had better not touch. Where you think you are perfectly safe, there you are often most in danger. Horses frequently fall just at the bottom of the hill, when the driver thinks that it is unnecessary to rein them up any longer. When you are so foolish as to say, \u201cNow I am out of the reach of temptation,\u201d you are in the very midst of temptation; and when you think you are not being tempted at all, you are being tempted the meet by the very fancy that you are not being tempted.<\/p>\n
O beloved friends, beware of presuming! Some have been so favored in the dispensations of providence, so prosperous in everything they have undertaken, that they have thought they might speculate as far as ever they pleased; and, at last, \u2014 well, they\u2019ve had very shady characters at the end of their lives. They have done once what they never ought to have done; and, because it succeeded, they have been tempted to do it again, and yet again.<\/p>\n
But, I pray you, sirs, never gather from the success of a wrong action that God is willing for you to repeat it; rather say, \u201cGod was very gracious to me in not punishing me that time, but I will never run such a risk as that again.\u201d I do not believe that Jonah, after having been once thrown into the sea, and been cast forth upon the shore by the whale, ever wanted to be flung into the sea again; he might not have felt certain about another whale coming along to carry him to land. If you have been miraculously delivered once from the great deep, do not put yourself into such a position again. If you do, you may find that the next great fish is a shark, not a whale, and, instead of being brought to land, you may be destroyed. In brief, beware of all presumptuous ways, for God has not promised to keep you there.<\/p>\n
And, brethren, you scarcely need to be told that you cannot expect to be preserved if you go into sinful ways.<\/i> I trust that you do watch against the more coarse and vulgar sins to which others are prone, and that you will not be allowed to fall into them; but there is such a thing as falling by little and little. Mind, I pray you, the little evils. A man never falls into the great, unclean sins of lust all at once; it is usually by a long series of little familiarities that he reaches that terrible end. He is indecorous first, indecent next, and then, at last, criminal. Oh, keep back, keep back from the beginnings of evil. If you keep back at the very first, you will go no further; but if you slide just a little, you will find that this world is such a slippery place that you will surely fall, and fall frightfully, too. I trust that no Christian man would practice dishonesty in his business; yet you know that it is very easy for one to do a wrong thing because it is \u201cthe custom of the trade.\u201d \u201cThey label this 100 yards, though it is only 90; but if I label it so, I will not sell it, and in the next shop it will probably be marked 110, so I must label mine a little more than it is,\u201d Well, if you do, recollect that you are a thief. Though it is the custom of the trade, you are a liar if you conform to it, and you cannot expect God\u2019s blessing upon you in doing it. Do you think that, in the day of judgment, God will say to men, \u201cYou are not guilty, for that deception was the custom of the trade?\u201d By no means; what does the Lord care about the customs of your trade? Do right, at all hazards; if you do wrong, you do it at your peril, for you have no promise from God that he will keep you in such a way as that. I need not enlarge upon this point, because you know as much about such things as I do; and, therefore, you can make the application to your own particular case. But, O Christian, do keep altogether clear of every evil way! May God\u2019s grace preserve you from straying into Bypath Meadow!<\/p>\n
The man who professes to be a Christian must not expect God\u2019s angels to keep him if he goes in the way of worldliness.<\/i> There are hundreds, and I fear thousands, of church-members, who say that they are the people of God, yet they appear to live entirely to this world. The great aim is money-making, and personal aggrandizement, just as much as it is the aim of altogether ungodly men. The kingdom of Christ, the needs of his Church, the wants of perishing souls, have a very slender place in their hearts; but they live wholly for themselves, only they try to conceal it under the plea of providing for their families. \u201cSeek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,\u201d is a text from which we need to preach to professing Christians throughout London, and throughout the whole world.<\/p>\n
There is also the way of pride<\/i> which many tread. They must be \u201crespectable\u201d; they must move in \u201cSociety\u201d \u2014 with a big S; and everything is ordered with a view to display. To be great, to be famous, to be esteemed, to keep up a high repute, \u2014 it is for this that they live. And some grow very strong, in a Christian sort of way, in that line; they profess to have attained to a \u201chigher life\u201d than ordinary Christians ever reach. I am not at all anxious to get up there, for I do not believe there is any higher life, in this world, than the life of God which is given to everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. The highest life I aspire to is to live as Jesus Christ lived, and to walk as he walked; and that is the lowest kind of life with which any Christian ought to be contented. When we get such fine feathers as these, they do not make us fine bird.<\/p>\n
There is also the way of wilfulness<\/i> which I have known some follow. Very grievous is it to see some, whom we really think to be good men, shift their quarters apparently without any reason. They were doing very well, yet away they rush, for they cannot let well alone. Some brethren seem to be afflicted with a kind of perpetual fidgetiness. They are rolling stones, and gather no moss. They move from one position to another, not because there is any need for them to move, but just because they cannot stay still. They go away from their nest, and away from their home, and very often act in direct opposition to the order of God\u2019s providence. Oh, beware of that spirit of wilfulness! We may get to be so very strong in the head that we may have to suffer there. It is often wise, as the old saying puts it, to take advice of our pillow. He who does not sleep upon a thing may have to weep upon it. Better look before you leap. Always follow the cloud of God\u2019s providence, don\u2019t run before it; for, if you run before it, you may find it hard work to get back again. Many have acted thus to their cost, and of course have had no blessing resting upon them in doing so.<\/p>\n
One other way in which a Christian ought not to go is the way of erroneous doctrine.<\/i> I know some professors who, as soon as a new heresy comes up, want to have taste of it. I confess that I never felt much temptation in that direction. I do not suppose, if you went into a chemist\u2019s shop, you would say to him \u201cI have heard of somebody being killed at Norwood by taking such-and-such a poison; I should like a taste of it.\u201d You would not ask him to take down his big bottles, and to give you a taste of all the deadly poisons he had in stock. \u201cOh, no!\u201d you say, \u201cwe are in our right senses; we should not do such a foolish thing as that.\u201d Yet I know people who, as soon as ever there is any teaching spoken of as being erroneous, say, \u201cWe must have a look at that; we must have a taste of that;\u201d \u2014 never satisfied except when they are tasting poison. There is a period in life when a Christian man should obey Paul\u2019s injunction to the Thessalonians, \u201cProve all things;\u201d but let him get that done as quickly as he can, and then let him get to the second part of the injunction, \u201cHold fast that which is good.\u201d Never hold anything fast bill you have proved it to be good, but do not be everlastingly proving it. Some things do not, need any proving; they bear upon their forefront their character. But others need to be proved; so, having proved the right things to be right, and the true things to be true, hold the fast, and turn not aside from them. About every six weeks there is a new doctrine promulgated; sometimes, there is a new sect started. It is simply because there is somebody away there, up in his study, who is sorely troubled with bile or dyspepsia. He never went out to try to win a soul, he never did any practical work for Christ; but he edits a newspaper, or he writes for a magazine, and out of that wonderful brain of his, which is full of cobwebs, he excogitates a new doctrine; and as there are certain people, who are always waiting for such novelties, straightway they run off with it, and spread it wherever they can. These false-doctrine-makers and their disciples are the curse of the age in which we live. I implore you, my friend, to abide in the good old paths. What you know to be true, that hold fast. Your father\u2019s God and your mother\u2019s God forsake not; as for the truths which God has taught you by his own Spirit, grapple them to you as with hooks of steed; for, if you go in the way of error, you cannot expect divine protection.<\/p>\n
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II. <\/b>Now, secondly, There Are Ways In Which Safety Is Guaranteed. I shall only have time to mention them very briefly.<\/p>\n
There is, first, the way of humble faith in the Lord Jesus Christ<\/i>. You know that way, brother; so walk in it. Oh, to be nothing, and to let Christ be everything; \u2014 to confess our own guilt, and to be clothed in his righteousness! Keep to that safe road; for it is the King\u2019s highway, of which it may be said, \u201cNo lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is, next, the way of obedience to divine precepts<\/i>. Do what God tells you, as God tells you, and because God tells you, and no hurt can come to you. The Lord told Moses to take by the tail the serpent from which he fled; he did so, and he was not bitten, but the serpent stiffened into a wonder-working rod. Obey the Lord in all things. Mind the jots and the tittles, for whosoever will break one of the least of Christ\u2019s commandments \u201cand shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.\u201d Oh, to follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ, step by step, and to keep closely to his footprints! It is in such ways that angelic protection will be afforded to us.<\/p>\n
There is, also, the way of childlike trust in providential guidance.<\/i> Happy is that man who always waits upon God to know what he shall do, \u2014 who asks the Lord ever to guide him, and who dares not lean upon his own understanding. Watch the Lord\u2019s providential leadings; wait for divine guidance, It is far better to stand still than to run in the wrong road. Pause a while, and pray for direction, and do not move until you hear the voice behind you saying, \u201cThis is the way; walk ye in it.\u201d In such a road as that, angels will certainly guard you.<\/p>\n
There is, too, the way of strict principle and stern integrity.<\/i> Travelling along that road will often involve a good many losses and crosses, and much reproach, and sometimes it will even appear to destroy your usefulness. But I charge you, \u2014 young men especially, \u2014 never violate any principle which you profess to hold. I believe that it has been a lasting blessing to some, whom I know, that they have scorned to trim their sails, even in the smallest degree, to please any living soul. Do you the same. \u201cBe just, and fear not.\u201d Keep to a cause that is despised if you believe it is a right one, and love it all the more because it is despised. Ask not what will pay; care not for the flatterer\u2019s smile. Pursue truth even though she may go along very rough roads; she will always repay you in the long run. Cling to her, and win her smile; then the frowns of the whole world need not cause you a moment\u2019s thought. The way of principle is the way of safety; God\u2019s angels will keep you if you keep to that road.<\/p>\n
And, dear brethren, I am quite sure that the way of consecrated service for God\u2019s glory<\/i> is another of these safe ways. It is well when a man says, \u201cI choose my path by this rule, \u2014 how can I best serve my God? Having judged whether them is any principle involved, and having a fair choice between this and that, I say to myself, \u2019In which way can I hope to be the more useful? In what course of life can I best glorify God?\u2019\u201d That is your way to heaven, Christian, \u2014 the way in which your Master can get the most glory out of you; and, if you walk in that way, you may depend upon it that you will be protected by his sovereign power.<\/p>\n
And once again, there is the way of separation from the world, and close walking with God.<\/i> No man ever suffered any real injury through keeping himself aloof from the ways of ungodly men; and, on the other hand, no man ever failed to be a gainer by close and intimate fellowship with God. \u201cEnoch walked with God,\u201d and he gained, not only escape from the pangs of death, but also the testimony that \u201che pleased God.\u201d O Christian men, could not more of us choose this blessed path, and walk in it continually? If we did so, we \u201cwould have the fulfillment, in its deepest meaning, of the promise of our text, \u201cHe shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
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III. <\/b>But I must pass on to note briefly, in the third place, that These Right Ways Will Lead Us Into Differing Circumstances.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, the right way will lead us into very stony places,<\/i> positions of great difficulty; yet here is the promise to meet that emergency, \u201cThey shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.\u201d A way is none the less right because it is rough. Indeed, often it is all the more sure to be the right way because it is so displeasing to flesh and blood.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, also, the right way may be very terrible with temptation.<\/i> If your path is so beset, do not, therefore, imagine that it is a wrong way, because the psalmist goes on to say, \u201cThou shalt tread upon the lion and adder.\u201d Lions and adders will come to you, temptations will threaten to devour you even while you are in the right road; but, then, you are promised that, as long as it is the right road that you are in, you shall get the victory over the lion and the adder. The temptation may be of so mysterious a character that you cannot understand it. It may be like a dragon; but, if so, here is your comfort, \u201cthe young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.\u201d<\/p>\n
And remember, beloved friends, that even if the road is not stony, and if no lion attacks you, you will be kept from the perils of the smooth and easy roads.<\/i> You will always need divine and angelic keeping, for God would not have charged his angels to keep his people in all their ways if they did not need protection in all their ways. Some of you are just now prospering in business, but your way is not any safer than the way of the man who is losing his all; indeed, yours may not be as safe as his. To you who are in robust health, I venture to say that your path is more perilous than the path of the man who is always ailing; and to all of you I say, do pray for angelic keeping. Ask the Lord still to guard you with his celestial hosts; or else, in any of your ways, be they rough or smooth, you will fall to your serious hurt.<\/p>\n
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IV. <\/b>Now we come to the fourth point, which is this, While Walking In All Right Ways, Believers Are Secure. \u201cHe shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
O Christian man, if you have not violated your conscience, if you have not forsaken the path of communion with your God, think what high privileges are yours! First, God himself concerns himself about you.<\/i> He charges his angels to take care of you. David, when his soldiers went to battle against his rebellious son, Absalom, specially charged their leaders to deal gently with the young man, Absalom, for his sake; but he charged them in vain. In a far higher sense, God charges his angels to guard his saints, and he does not charge them in vain. This is not a mere general command; it is a sort of imperative personal charge that God lays upon his angels: \u201cTake care of my children; they are in my road, \u2014 the king\u2019s high road of rectitude. Watch over them; and do not suffer them to be hurt.\u201d So you have God personally charging his angels to take care of you.<\/p>\n
Next, you have mysterious agencies to protect you:<\/i> \u201cHe shall give his angels<\/i> charge over thee.\u201d We speak of dragons, but we do not know much about them; and we do not know much about angels, but we feel sure that angels can overcome dragons, for they are more than a match for devils; and if mysterious temptations come to you, there shall also be mysterious defenders to thrust them back. You have more friends, poor Christian, than you know of. When you are fighting the battles of God, you may hear a rush of angels\u2019 wings at your side if you only have your ears divinely opened. If all men forsake you, God can send his angels, though you see them not, to strengthen you in some secret manner that I cannot fully explain, \u201cBehold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha,\u201d the prophet who dared to be true to his God, and to serve him faithfully. God would sooner empty heaven of all the angelic host, cherubim and seraphim included, than allow any one of his people, who has walked in his ways, to suffer defeat. He charges all his angels to take care of his saints, and to keep them in all right ways.<\/p>\n
And as angels are on our side, so are all things, visible and invisible.<\/i> Why believers, the very stones of the field are in league with you, and the beasts of the field are at peace with you. Wherever you go, you have friends ready to help you. It is true that you have enemies among the wicked, but their weapons shall not prevail against you; and wherever there is a messenger of God, \u2014 be it wind, or storm, or lightning, or hail, \u2014 it is your friend. The very stars in their courses fight for you. The forces, terrific and tremendous, which at times shake the world, are only your Father\u2019s flaming swords unsheathed to protect you. If we are walking in the ways of God, we can truthfully sing, \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cThe God that rules on high,
And thunders when he please,
That rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cThis awful God is ours,
Our Father and our love;
He shall send down his heavenly powers
To carry us above.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Sing them, ye saints of the Lord, for everything is on your side. \u201cYe shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
What a very sweet thought is suggested by the word \u201cthee\u201d in our text! It teaches us that each one of the saints is personally protected<\/i>: \u201cHe shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.\u201d God takes a personal interest in every traveler along the right road, and charges his angels to keep him. Perhaps you say, \u201cI do not read the text, sir, as referring to me.\u201d Well, I think you should do so. When you read the precept, \u201cThou shalt not steal,\u201d do you suppose that it refers to you? \u201cOh, yes!\u201d you say, \u201cI would not like to suggest that it did not mean me; I would not plead exemption from the precept.\u201d Well, then, my dear brother, do not seek to be exempted from the promise. Just as you feel sure that the precept applies to you, so, as a child of God, feel sure that the promise applies to you: \u201cHe shall give his angels charge over thee<\/i>, to keep thee<\/i> in all thy<\/i> ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
This protection is perpetual,<\/i> as well as personal; God\u2019s angels are \u201cto keep thee in all thy ways<\/i>;\u201d \u2014 in thy ups and thy downs, in thy advancement and thy retirings; \u2014 to keep thee when thou art asleep, and when thou art awake; \u2014 to keep thee when thou art alone, and when thou art in company; \u2014 to keep thee if thou hast to preach, and to keep thee if thou hast to hear; \u2014 to keep thee if thou hast to serve, and to keep thee if thou hast to suffer. Thou always needest keeping, and thou shalt always have it, for the angels are charged \u201cto keep thee in all thy ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
And how beautiful it is to remember that all this keeping brings honor with it:<\/i> \u201cHe shall give his<\/i> angels charge over thee.\u201d Notice that: \u201cHe shall give his<\/i> angels\u201d \u2014 the very angels that wait upon God, and see his face; \u2014 the very angels that are the body-guard of the Eternal; \u2014 \u201cHe shall give his<\/i> angels charge over thee<\/i>,\u201d \u201cMark you,\u201d says the Lord to Gabriel, or Michael, or whatever the angel\u2019s name may be, \u201cI charge you to take special care of that poor girl, for she is a daughter of mine. Take care of that poor man whom so many despise, for he is a prince of the blood imperial. He belongs to me; he is an heir of God, and joint-heir with Jesus Christ,\u201d Oh, what amazing dignity this promise puts upon the very least and lowliest of the followers of the Lamb!<\/p>\n
Note just one more point, that all these privileges come to us by Jesus Christ<\/i>, for Christ is that mystic ladder which Jacob saw, up-and-down whose wondrous rungs the angels came and went. The commerce between the saints and heaven is kept up by way of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what joy is this! If Christ is yours, angels are yours, and all the principalities and powers in the heavenly places will delight to take care of you.<\/p>\n
Now, if anyone here is going home to a lonely room, I should like you to feel that you are not going there alone. Father and mother are away in the country, perhaps, and some of you young people feel quite alone in London; but, if you are believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not alone, for the Lord of all the holy angels is with you, and an innumerable company of blessed spirits is round about you. Take comfort from this glorious truth. God\u2019s mysterious angelic agency, which you see not, and hear not, but which is most true and real, will form a cordon round about you to protect you in the midst of the temptations of this great city; and if you be but faithful to him, and keep in his ways, nothing shall hurt you between here and heaven. There may be many darts hurled at you, but the great shield of faith shall turn them all aside or quench them forever. You will have to encounter many temptations and trials, but you will be preserved amid them all. I heard a Primitive Methodist minister, speaking last Friday night, make use of a very strong expression while describing what a man could do by faith. He said, \u201cHe can not only overcome a legion of devils, but he could kick his way through a lane of devil if he did but rest in God.\u201d I have had that idea in my mind ever since I heard him use that expression; and I am sure that it is true, for some of us have had to do it already. Those devils are great cowards; a, when God once takes entire possession of a man, he need not fear even though all hell were let loose upon him. One butcher is not afraid of a thousand sheep; and one man, whom God makes strong, can put to route all the hosts of hell, and he need not fear all the trials of life whatever they may be. \u201cIf God be for us, who can be against us.\u201d<\/p>\n
In closing, there are two or three thoughts which I think are worth remembering. The first is this. Dear brethren, we see, from this text, that the lowest employment is consistent with the highest enjoyment.<\/i> The angels are our nurses: \u201cthey shall bear thee up in their hands,\u201d just as nurses hold up little children who are not able to stand by themselves. Those angels continually behold God\u2019s face, and live in the perfect bliss of heaven, yet they condescend to do such humble deeds as these. Dear brother, be like the angels in this respect; teach an infant class in the Sundayschool, yet keep your face bright with the light of God\u2019s countenance. Give away tracts, go and visit among the poor, look after fallen women, or do any other work for the Lord that needs to be done. Never mind what it is, but remember that the employment is all the more honorable because it appears to be so commonplace. Never was Christ grander, methinks, than when he washed his disciples\u2019 feet; certainly, never are we more like him than when we also are willing to wash their feet, or render any lowly service that they may need.<\/p>\n
The next thought is, as angels watch over us how cheerfully ought we to watch over one another!<\/i> How gladly you, who are older in the divine life, ought to watch over the younger ones of the Lord\u2019s family! If God enables you to have any of the joy of angels over repenting sinners, mind that you take some of the care which angels exercise over those who walk in God\u2019s ways. What can I, the pastor of this huge church, and my brother and all the elders, do by way of watching over five thousand of you? You must pastorize yourselves to a large extent. Watch over one another. \u201cBear ye one another\u2019s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.\u201d Visit each other in your sickness; seek to bring back to Christ and the church all the backsliders whom you can find; labor for the good of one another; for, in this way only, can our task be done, and you shall be like the angels if you bear up the feeble ones in your hands lest they trip up and fall to their grievous hurt.<\/p>\n
Then, next, how safe and happy we ought to feel when we know that God has charged the angels to take care of us!<\/i> Do not be nervous, my dear sister, the next time there is a little storm, or even a great storm. Do not be afraid, my dear friend, when sickness comes into your house. Do not be alarmed, as perhaps you are, when you hear that there is fever next door to you. Remember the promise that precedes our text: \u201cBecause thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.\u201d But suppose it should seem right to the Lord to let the plague come to you, and suppose you shall die of it, well, you will the sooner be in heaven. Wherefore, comfort one another with the reflection that all is well with you as long as you keep in the way of duty.<\/p>\n
And, lastly, how holy we ought to be with such holy beings watching over us!<\/i> If the angels are always hovering round you, mind what you are at. Would you, my dear friend, have spoken as you did when you were coming in at that door yonder, if you had seen an angel standing by your side, listening to what you were saying! Oh, no, you are wonderfully decorous when there is somebody near whom you respect! How often your glib tongue is checked when there is some Christian man or woman, whom you highly esteem, within hearing! How many a thing is done that would not be done under the eye of one whom you love! It is not only true that \u201ca bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter;\u201d but it is also true that there are angels watching over us evermore. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that a woman in the public assembly ought to have her head covered because of the angels, \u2014 a certain decorum was due because of the angels who were there; and I am sure that I may use the same argument concerning all our actions. Whether we are alone or in company, let us not sin, because angels are ever watching us, and the angels, Lord is also watching us. May he graciously keep us in his holy way; and if we are so kept, we shall be preserved from all evil while we are here; and, at last, we shall see his face with joy, and abide with him for ever. I would to God that all, who are now present, were in that holy way. I remind you once more that the entrance to it is by a door that has the blood-mark upon the lintel and the two door-posts: \u201cThe blood shall be to you for a token,\u201d \u201cBelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n
EXPOSITIONS BY C. H. SPURGEON.<\/p>\n
PSALM 119:25-32.<\/b><\/p>\n
Verse 25. My soul cleaveth unto the dust:<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cIt sticks to it as though it were glued to it; my soul cannot be lifted up, at least by myself, out of its sadness, and its earthiness.\u201d The psalmist was not one who could boast of perfection. He had to lament that the earth which was in him by nature, made even his soul cleave to mother earth. He did not like it; he was not content that it should be so, and therefore he breathed this prayer: \u2014 <\/p>\n
25. Quicken thou me according to thy word.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cLord, there is nothing but life that can bring me up out of the dust, for death lurks in the dust, and the duel tends to death. Put life into me, Lord, thy life, the divine life. Thou hast promised to do this, therefore, do it, Lord, \u2019according to thy word.\u2019\u201d That is a prayer which is always sure to succeed, for it is based upon the promise of God. Hath the Lord promised anything? Then he will surely perform it; and you cannot use a better argument in prayer than to say to him, \u201cDo as thou hast said;\u201d or, as the psalmist puts it, \u201cQuicken thou me according to thy Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n
26. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me:<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cI have made a full confession to thee, my God. I have owned my fault wherein I was wrong, and I have thanked thee for thy grace given to me in anything wherein I was right.\u201d<\/p>\n
26. Teach me thy statutes.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cO Lord, let me not have such a sorry tale to tell again. If my copy of thy handwriting has been badly written, set it for me afresh, I pray thee: \u2019Teach me thy statutes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
27. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts:<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cLet me know, O Lord, what the way of thy precept is; get me into that way; and then, oh help me to keep in it all my life!\u201d<\/p>\n
27. So shall I talk of thy wondrous works.<\/i><\/p>\n
A man never talks rightly of God\u2019s works till he knows God\u2019s ways, and it is idle to talk of them if there is no doing at the back of the talking; so the psalmist prays, \u201cMake me to understand the way of thy precepts: so<\/i> shall I talk of thy wondrous works.\u201d To preach, and not practice, is very bad preaching; but first to understand the way of the Lord, then to run in it, and then to speak of it, this is well.<\/p>\n
28. My soul melteth for heaviness:<\/i><\/p>\n
The Hebrew word is \u201cdroppeth.\u201d The psalmist\u2019s soul was like water dripping from the eaves of a house in time of rain. There are two sorts of sorrow, \u2014 the sorrow that rushes like a mighty torrent, and the sorrow, which is perhaps the worse of the two, which goes drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, \u2014 like the constant dripping which wears away stones, \u2014 and which makes even the boldest heart to feel the attrition: \u201cMy soul melteth, dissolveth, droppeth, drippeth for heaviness:\u201d \u2014 <\/p>\n
28. Strengthen thou me \u2014 <\/i><\/p>\n
The psalmist does not ask to have the trouble removed; but he prays, \u201cHelp me to bear it.\u201d Whenever there is a thing that is hard, the right way to out through it is to get something that is still harder. If God will give us an adequate supply of his grace, hard times will not wear us away. So the psalmist prays, \u201cStrengthen thou me\u201d \u2014 <\/p>\n
28. According unto thy word.<\/i><\/p>\n
See how he clings to that expression, \u201caccording unto thy word.\u201d He knows the power of that argument, and therefore he uses it again and again.<\/p>\n
29. Remove from me the way of Iying:<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cDo not let me fall into any untrue habits. Do not let me profess to have had an experience which I have never felt, or talk about holy things of which I know nothing experimentally. Keep me from everything that has any trace of falsehood in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
29. And grant me thy law graciously.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cFor thy law is truth, and when thy grace brings thy law home to my heart, all that is false will be banished from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
30. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cI have laid them before me as a man puts his model in front of him that he may work to it.\u201d It is well for us to have God\u2019s way and God\u2019s judgments always before our eyes, that we may be duly impressed and rightly guided by them.<\/p>\n
31. I have stuck unto thy testimonies:<\/i><\/p>\n
Just now, the psalmist said that his soul stuck to the earth; yet, at the same time, he was sticking to God\u2019s testimonies, for every good man is two men. There is a new-birth-man who sticks to God\u2019s testimonies, and there is that old carnal nature in us which cleaves to the dust.<\/p>\n
31, 32. O Lord, put me not to shame. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.<\/i><\/p>\n
That is, \u201cWhen thou shalt give me liberty of heart, then I will run in the way of thy commandments. When the impediments are removed, \u2014 when the sin, which doth so easily entangle me, is taken away, then will I run with delight in the way of thy commandments.<\/p>\n
HYMNS FROM \u201cOUR OWN PRAYERBOOK\u201d \u2014 91, 720; AND FROM \u201cSACRED SONGS AND SOLOS\u201d \u2014 48.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NO. 2969 A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 4TH, 1906, DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, AUGUST 22ND, 1875. \u201cFor he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways Psalm 91:11. OUR subject this morning was the sprinkling of the blood of … Continue reading “ANGELIC PROTECTION IN APPOINTED WAYS.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}