NO. 3055<\/b><\/p>\n
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 29TH, 1907<\/b><\/p>\n
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,<\/i><\/p>\n
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,<\/b><\/p>\n
ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, MARCH 30TH, 1873.<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither be partaker of other men\u2019s sins.\u201d \u2014 1 Timothy 5:22.<\/i><\/p>\n
WE have all abundant reason to look at home, and see about our own sins. Nothing can be more absurd than for a man to take his hoe, and weed everybody else\u2019s garden, and leave all the thorns and thistles to flourish on his own plot. The old parable of the man who carried two bags, one behind and one in front, and who put other people\u2019s faults into the one in front, and his own into the one at his back, is a very correct representation of the folly of those who have their eyes widely open to see the faults of their neighbors, but are totally blind to their own imperfections. If, as our proverb puts it, \u201cCharity begins at home,\u201d so should criticism; and criticism concerning character had better stop there. There is so much dirty linen in our own house needing to be washed that none of us need to take in our neighbor\u2019s washing. \u201cMind your own business,\u201d is a command that might have be spoken by Solomon himself, and the apostle Paul was inspired to write to the Thessalonians, \u201cStudy to be quiet, and to do your own business;\u201d and he and Peter very sternly condemned those who were \u201cbusybodies in other men\u2019s matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
So it is not my intention to bid any of you to cease to look to your own affairs; but, at the same time, I want to remind you that we cannot, in this world, live altogether to ourselves. He who is most bent upon minding his own business cannot help knowing that his next-door neighbor has something to do with his garden. Even if he looks diligently after his own plot, thistle seeds from the left and the right may blow over into his garden, and trouble will come to him from the very fact that he has neighbors. Our dwelling-houses, in this life, are not all detached; many of us have to live in streets; and if our neighbor\u2019s house is on fire, it is not at all unlikely that the flames may spread to our dwelling. Let us never be so concerned about our own interest as to be selfish; for, even if we try to be wholly wrapped up in ourselves, we shall be compelled to notice the actions of others, with whom we are more or less intimately linked, whether we wish to do so, or not. Hence, the message of the text is necessary, not to take us away from our own duty, but to help us to see that we are not \u201cpartakers of other men\u2019s sins.\u201d<\/p>\n
The connection in which this text stands must be noticed. Timothy was exhorted by Paul to \u201clay hands suddenly on no man.\u201d There were certain upstarts who wrongly thought that they could preach, and there were others who thought that they could rule in the churches. These persons probably gained a few or many partisans to support their claims. There were some of their relatives, in the church, who thought a great deal of their sons, or brothers, or uncles, or cousins, or there were friends who heard some man speak, on a certain occasion, with considerable fluency, and being unwise, they judged him to be man of master-mind, and would have put him into the front rank of the army at once if the power to do so had rested with them. Paul tells Timothy, whom he had sent to exercise a general oversight over the officers and members of the church, not to be in a hurry to lay his hands upon these men, so as to endorse their claim, but to lot them wait awhile until they were tried and tested; because, if he allowed them to take office in the church, and they committed faults or follies, he would be responsible for them, and everybody would say, \u201cWe wonder that Timothy should have sent out such men as these.\u201d So he was bidden to be cautious, lest he should become, in any way, \u201ca partaker of other men\u2019s sins.\u201d None of us are exactly in Timothy\u2019s position; so we are not likely to fall into the fault against which Paul warned him, at least, not in precisely the same form; yet the text has a message to us, and we may say to one another, \u201cBe not partakers of other men\u2019s sins.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
I. <\/b>I shall first try to show you How We Can Be Partakers Of Other Men\u2019s Sins; and, in doing that, I am afraid that the various ways in which we can do this will seem to be very many; and that, if I am not very careful, you will think that my sermon is like Ezekiel\u2019s valley of vision, in which the bones were, \u201cvery many\u201d and \u201cvery dry.\u201d I will not be more prolix than I can help; but, at the same time, I must deal with the subject somewhat in detail.<\/p>\n
As to how we can become accomplices in other people\u2019s sins, \u2014 the preacher must first say to himself that he will be such a man if he is not true to his trust. <\/i>If he shall teach false doctrine, or if, teaching the true doctrines, he shall teach them erroneously; \u2014 if he shall keep back unpalatable truths; \u2014 if he shall allow sin to pass without reproof; \u2014 if he shall see a great deficiency of spiritual life and service, and not point it out; \u2014 if, in brief, he shall be an unfaithful servant of Christ, and his hearers shall thereby be kept in a low state of grace, inconsistent with their profession, and the unconverted shall be hindered from coming to Christ, he will become a partaker in other men\u2019s sins. Indeed, I know of no man who is more likely to fall into the fault indicated in the text than a minister of the gospel is. Oh, what grace we need, and what help from on high lest, if we fail in faithfulness to God and our hearers, the doom of souls should be laid at our door, and we should be partakers of other men\u2019s sins! Brethren, pray for us that this may not be our unhappy lot.<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2019Tis not a cause of small import
The pastor\u2019s care demands;
But what might fill an angel\u2019s heart,
And fill\u2019d a Saviors hands.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cThey watch for souls for which the Lord
Did heavenly buss forego;
For souls which must for ever live
In raptures or in woe.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cMay they that Jesus, whom they preach,
Their own Redeemer see;
And watch THOU daily o\u2019er their souls,
That they may watch for THEE.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
That piece is specially intended for myself and my brother-ministers; the rest of my discourse will be for you as well as myself. So, next, I must remind you that we can all of us be partakers of other men\u2019s sins by willfully joining with them in any act of sin, and doing as they do, <\/i>like those sinners, mentioned by Solomon in the Book of Proverbs, who said, \u201cCast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse.\u201d We must have nothing to do with such men; God forbid that we should! If we sin alone, it is bad enough; but if we sin in company, we have not only to answer for our own sins, but also for the sins of others, at least in part. If hand joins with hand in sin, there is a multiplication of its guilt; for each man who has helped to lead a fellow-creature into iniquity will have his own transgression increased by the transgression of that other sinner. By their combination, the two will become capable of even greater guilt than they would have committed individually. God save us all from being accomplices in the sins of others by uniting with them in their sinful acts and deeds!<\/p>\n
Further, we may be partakers in other men\u2019s sins by tempting them to sin. <\/i>This is a most hateful thing, and makes the man who practices it to become the devil\u2019s most devoted drudge, servant, and slave. I have known such tempters of others, \u2014 old men who, from their youth up, had sinned in such a shameful way that their very looks were full of lechery. There was a leer about their eyes that was almost enough to destroy all chastity that came beneath their glance; and their speech was full of the double entendre, <\/i>insinuations, and innuendoes, which were almost worse than open profanity. I have known one such walking mass of putrefaction defile a whole parish; and when I have seen a boy walking with such a demon incarnate, or sitting down with him in the public-house, I knew that the boy\u2019s character would be ruined if that vile doctor in devilry could only instruct him in the vices with which he is himself so shamefully familiar. There are such fiends in London, and we could almost wish to have them all buried straight away, for they are Satan\u2019s servants spreading wickedness all around them. I do not suppose I am addressing one such dreadful creature; yet I know that some great sinners of that sort do come within these walls, and they will, of course, be very angry because of my allusion to them; yet I never knew a thief who was fond of a policemen, and I do not expect or wish to secure the approval of scoundrels whose evil character I am exposing. If, sir, I have described thee, and thou wilt not repent of thy sin, I tell thee that the hottest place in hell is reserved for thee, for thou hast led young men to the alehouse, and taught them to drink the devil\u2019s drugs, and to repeat thy foul blasphemies, and to imitate thy scandalous lasciviousness. Yet, ere it is too late, I beseech thee to repent of thy sin, that it may be blotted out by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, God\u2019s Son, which cleanseth from all sin; for, if not, \u201cother men\u2019s sins\u201d will cry out against thee for judgment at the bar of the Almighty. I solemnly charge all of you, who have not committed this iniquity, never to do so; take care that you never say a word which might stain the innocence of a child\u2019s mind, and that you never let fall an expression which might, in any way, be the means of leading another person into sin, for it is an easy thing for us to become partakers of other men\u2019s sins by tempting them to commit iniquity.<\/p>\n
If there is any evil worse that that, I think it is that of employing others to sin. <\/i>It was one of the basest parts of David\u2019s great sin that, when he wanted to have Uriah killed, he did not slay him himself, but got Joab to expose him in a position where he was certain to be killed. It is horrible when a man is determined to be dishonest, yet gets someone else to commit the sin for him. It is a shameful thing that there are professedly \u201creligious\u201d employers, who try to get their young men to say across the counter what they know is not according to truth. Are there not some of these so-called \u201cChristian\u201d employers who want young men who are not \u201ctoo particular\u201d? Do I not hear, every now and then, of young men who have been found to be too scrupulous, and who have been told that they had better get situations somewhere else. They objected to describe the goods as their employer wanted them to do, because they knew it would be a lie. They were told, \u201cIt is the custom in the trade, and therefore must be so here;\u201d that is to say, because other persons were liars and cheats, these young men must be knaves, and their master must make money by their lying to his customers. Now, if I meant to thieve or deceive, I would do it myself, I would not employ young men and women, or old ones either, to lie and cheat for me. If any of you have done so, I pray God that he may lead you to repent of such abominable wickedness, for the sin is not one half theirs and the other half yours; it is partly theirs, but it is far more yours, if they are doing wrong at your bidding. God save us all from being \u201cpartakers of other men\u2019s sins\u201d in that way!<\/p>\n
Some commit this great crime by driving other men into sin,<\/i> by the fears which they have inspired, or by oppressing them in their wages, or by setting them to do what must involve them in sin. I remember the case of a man who was employed where it was well known that some of the parcels which he collected on his way, and carried to their destination, would never be booked by him, but the price paid for the carriage would be secretly dropped into his own pocket. The man\u2019s wages were so small that nobody, unless an idiot, ever believed that he lived on them; so, tacitly, the understanding was that the man would be sure to pilfer on his own account, so his wages were cut down below the point at which he could earn an honest living. I fear that there are many men who are dishonest for this reason; I will not excuse them, but I hope that, if they are ever sent to prison for stealing, their masters will be sent with them, for they are equally guilty.<\/p>\n
Yet again, we may become partakers of the sins of others by a misuse of our position over them. <\/i>This is especially the case with parents. When a father is a man of loose habits, if his son follows his evil example, who is to blame? If a drunken farther sees his child become a drunkard, whose fault is it? If he is a swearer, and his son uses profane language, who taught the boy those oaths? Is not the guilt of that swearing largely the father\u2019s? \u201cOh!\u201d say some of you, \u201cwe would not teach our children either drunkenness or profanity.\u201d Yet you are not yourselves Christians; you may be moral and truthful, and so on, but you are not Christians; and if your children are not converted, will they not say, \u201cOur father never was converted, so why should we be?\u201d \u201cBut we always take them to a place of worship.\u201d I know you do, and your children say, \u201cFather goes to a place of worship, but he does not believe in Christ, and he never prays;\u201d so, if they grow up in the same way, who is to blame? You say that you trust they will not do so; then ask the Lord to make you a Christian, for then it will be more likely that your children also will be Christians. When you blame your children for wrongdoing, you ought to blame yourselves even more; for, after all, what are they doing but what you yourself are doing? Plato, the philosopher, one day saw a boy in the street behaving in a very shameful manner, so he walked straight into the house where the boy\u2019s father lived, and began to beat him. When he said to Plato, \u201cWhy do you beat me?\u201d the philosopher replied, \u201cI found your boy doing wrong; I did not beat him, but I beat you, for he must have learnt it from you, or else it was your fault because you did not exercise proper discipline upon him at home.\u201d Have you never felt, when you have seen the faults of your own children, that you ought to lay the rod on your own back because, in some way or other, you were an accomplice in your children\u2019s sins? How much of the ruin of many children\u2019s souls lies at their parents\u2019 door! How sad it is that, in many cases, the influence of the mother and father is damning to their children! Men and women, who have boys and girls at home who are very dear to you, can you bear the thought that you may, one day, have to say, \u201cOur unchristian example has ruined our own children\u201d?<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, but we are members of the church,\u201d say some. Yes, I know you are; yet I speak to you as well as to others, for there are some of you who are bringing up your children in an improper manner. I do not see how they can be expected to love religion when they see your own household ordered so badly, or not ordered at all. The professor of religion, who does not live consistently with his profession, does more injury to the cause of Christ than a non-professor does. There are some who hang out the sign of \u201cThe Angel\u201d, but the, devil keeps the inn. Someone has truly said that many a man\u2019s house is like Noah\u2019s ark in that it is pitched within and without with pitch. There is pitch in the dining-room, \u2014 gluttony and drunkenness; and pitch in the bed-chamber, \u2014 lasciviousness and wantonness; pitch in the drawing-room, \u2014 talk which is not even fit for the stables; and pitch in the shop, for much that is \u201cdirty\u201d goes on there; how can anyone expect good children to come out of such a house as that? May none of us, like Eli, be accomplices in our children\u2019s sins through neglecting to rebuke them, or like David, through our evil example leading them into sin! On the contrary, let us pray for them, as Abraham cried to the Lord, \u201cO that Ishmael might live before thee!\u201d I like to present to God the petitions and pleas which are so well worded in that hymn in \u201cOur Own Hymn Book\u201d which is attributed to Rowland Hill, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cThou, who a tender Parent art,
Regard a parent\u2019s plea:
Our offspring, with an anxious heart,
We now commend to thee.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cOur children are our greatest care,
A charge which thou hast given:
In all thy graces let them share,
And all the joys of heaven.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cIf a centurion could succeed,
Who for his servant cried;
Wilt thou refuse to hear us plead
For those so near allied?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cOn us thou hast bestow\u2019d thy grace,
Be to our children kind;
Among thy saints give them a place,
And leave not one behind.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
The injunction of the text of course applies, in a measure, to the teacher of a class as well as to the parent of a family. If the teacher is inconsistent, and his scholars imitate him, the guilt of their wrong-doing will, at least in part, rest upon the teacher. The same principle applies to all persons who are in positions of influence in the land. If I were preaching to the House of Commons and the House of Lords, I should probably have to say some things which they would not wish to hear again. Certain \u201chonorable gentlemen\u201d and \u201cnoble lords\u201d talk very glibly about the necessity for the nation to be religious, yet their lives are not remarkably religious, so their talk is all hypocritical, and great sin lies at their door. God will certainly punish princes and so-called \u201cnobles\u201d if their example is not such as the common people can safely follow.<\/p>\n
But even though we may not be of royal or exalted rank, all of us will become \u201cpartakers of other men\u2019s sins\u201d if we set them bad examples. <\/i>If they can quote us as having done certain wrong things which they have imitated, we must share in the guilt of their sin; yet it is always a bad thing to follow a bad example. If I see anyone\u2019s example to be bad, it, ought not to be a temptation to me; and I am a partaker of that man\u2019s sins if, knowing that he has done amiss, I also do amiss simply because he has done so first. If I know that his course is wrong, I ought to shun the rock on which his bark has been wrecked.<\/p>\n
We can also be \u201cpartakers of other men\u2019s sins\u201d by countenancing them, <\/i>and there are many ways in which that may be done; \u2014 for instance, by associating with ungodly men, as though we did not think there was much harm in them; and, worst of all, by laughing at and with them when their mirth is not pure fun. I fear that many a wicked man has been hardened in his sin because a professing Christian has laughed at his filthy jests.<\/p>\n
We may also be \u201cpartakers of other men\u2019s sins\u201d by joining a church that holds unscriptural doctrines, or that does not act according to apostolic precedent. <\/i>Some people say, \u201cWe belong to such-and-such a church, but we don\u2019t approve of its teaching or its practice.\u201d What! you belong to it, and yet you do not approve of its principles? Out of your own mouth you are condemned. If I unite with a church, whose creed and catechism I do not believe, and whose ordinances I do not practice, I am guilty of my own share in all the error that is there. It is no use for me to say, \u201cI am trying to undo the mischief;\u201d I have no business to be there. If I join a pirate\u2019s crew, I shall be responsible for all that is done by the whole crew. I have no business to be on that vessel at all, and I must get out of it at the first opportunity, or even fling myself into the sea, rather than have a share in the pirates\u2019 wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
But supposing you have joined a church whose doctrines are scriptural, you may be \u201cpartakers of other men\u2019s sins\u201d if the discipline of the church is not carried out as it should be. If we know that members are living in gross sin, and do not deal with them either by way of censure or excommunication, in accordance with the teaching of Christ and his apostles, we become accomplices in their sin. I often tremble about this matter, for it is no easy task where we count our members by thousands; but may we never wink at sin, either in ourselves or in others! May you all, beloved, exercise a jealous oversight over one another, and so help to keep one another right! And let each one pray Charles Wesley\u2019s prayer which we have often sung, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cQuick as the apple of an eye,
O God, my conscience make!
Awake, my soul, when sin is nigh,
And keep it still awake.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Further, we may be \u201cpartakers of other men\u2019s sins\u201d by not rebuking them for sinning, <\/i>if it be our duty to do so, or by not doing all we can towards their conversion; <\/i>for instance, by living in a certain neighborhood, and never trying to bring the gospel to the people in that neighborhood, or by not maintaining our consistent Christian walk as the separated people of God. In brief, let each one sing, from the heart, the rest of that hymn from which I began to quote just now, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cI want a principle within
Of jealous godly fear;
A sensibility of sin,
A pain to feel it near.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cI want the first approach to feel
Of pride, or fond desire;
To catch the wandering of my will,
And quench the kindling fire.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cThat I from thee no more may part,
No more thy goodness grieve,
The filial awe, the fleshy heart,
The tender conscience give.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cIf to the right or left I stray,
That moment, Lord, reprove;
And let me weep my life away,
For having grieved thy love.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cOh may the least omission pain
My well-instructed soul;
And drive me to the blood again,
Which makes the wounded whole!\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
II. <\/b>I must not say more upon this part of the subject, lest I should weary you; so I pass on to ask, in the second place, Why Should We Seek To Avoid Being Partakers Of Other Men\u2019s Sins?<\/p>\n
This will be a sufficient answer, \u2014 Because we have more than enough sins of our own, and cannot also carry other people\u2019s; and also because, if we are partakers in their sins, we shall also partake in their plagues; <\/i>and also because we do other men an injury by being accomplices with them; <\/i>we steel and harden them in their sins.<\/p>\n
The weightiest reason, of all is this, \u2014 we should not be \u201cpartakers of other men\u2019s sins\u201d because, by so doing, we should grieve our holy and gracious God, <\/i>and no true lover of Christ ought ever to do that. Remember what Paul wrote to the saints at Ephesus, \u201cGrieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
III. <\/b>My next question is, \u2014 How Can We Avoid Being Partakers In Other Men\u2019s Sins?<\/p>\n
And I reply, \u2014 Only by the help of God\u2019s Spirit. First, be very jealous about other men\u2019s sins. <\/i>I wish all parents acted as wisely as Job did concerning his children; they went to one another\u2019s houses, and feasted, so Job \u201crose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.\u201d O parents, do likewise, for that is the way to keep yourselves from participation in your children\u2019s sins.<\/p>\n
Next to being thus jealous with a holy jealousy, be always on the watch lest you should be \u201cpartakers in other men\u2019s sins.\u201d <\/i>The man who wants to avoid certain diseases will take care not to go to an infected house. So, go not where sinners go, lest you should catch the infection of their sin. Remember how careful Abraham was not to take anything from the king of Sodom, \u201cfrom a thread even to a shoelatchet,\u201d even, though it was his lawful share of the spoils of war. Be ye equally careful concerning even the least sin.<\/p>\n
The next way to keep from being an accomplice in sin is by prayer.<\/i> Augustine used to offer a short prayer which I commend to you all, \u201cO Lord, save me from mine other men\u2019s sins!\u201d Put this down among your other confessions, \u201cO Lord, I confess unto thee mine other men\u2019s sins! I mourn over mine other men\u2019s sins, I repent of mine other men\u2019s sins, I grieve on account of my participation in other men\u2019s sins.\u201d This will be a good way of keeping from committing them.<\/p>\n
I think I had better close by saying that I do not think we have any of us escaped from the meshes of this sermon; if we have done so, it is either my fault or the fault of our own consciences. I have tried to fire red-hot shot in all directions, not omitting myself; and most of us have felt that there was a shot specially meant for us. What had we better do then? I will call to your minds a verse which we often sing, and which we will again sing almost immediately, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel\u2019s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
We are all stained with at least splashes from other men\u2019s sins as well as our own; so let us all go to the fountain, and wash, let us renew our faith in the precious blood of Jesus; for, if we never had any faith in it before, may God graciously grant it to us now! If we had rebelled against the Queen, and had been at last subdued by force, and if there had been an Act of Oblivion passed for all who wished to claim an interest in it, perhaps some would say to themselves, \u201cWe do not know that we took any great part in the rebellion, yet it may be that we did; and the safest thing for us all to do is, to put down our names, and so secure the benefit of the Act of Oblivion.\u201d So I, as one of the guilty ones, confessing that it is so, desire to say to the great King, \u201cMy Lord, I am guilty of sins of my own, and sins of my children, and sins of my servants, and sins of my neighbors, and sins of my church, and sins of my congregation; \u2014 but thou hast said, \u2019I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.\u2019 Thou hast promised to blot out all sin from those who believe in Jesus Christ thy Son. Lord, I believe in him, so I claim the benefit of that Act of Oblivion.\u201d Dear hearer, will not you say the same? Will not you now obey that divine command, \u201cLook unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth\u201d? Though you have gone to the ends of the earth, yet God says to you, \u201cLook unto me, and be ye saved.\u201d Look! Look! <\/i>LOOK! It is little that you have to do; indeed, it is nothing that you <\/i>have to do, for God gives you grace to do all that he requires of you. So trust in him, rest in him; the Lord help you so to do, and then, whatever your sins may have been, though they may have been \u201cas scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;\u201d though they may have been \u201cred like crimson, they shall be as wool.\u201d God bless you, and save you, for his name\u2019s sake! Amen.<\/p>\n
Now let us all sing the verse that I quoted just now, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel\u2019s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains;\u201d \u2014<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
and let all who can sing it from the heart join in the well-known chorus, \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe, I will believe,
That Jesus died for me;
That, on the cross, he shed his blood
From sin to set me free.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON.<\/p>\n
PSALM 73.<\/b><\/p>\n
You may have noticed that the 73rd Psalm and the 37th Psalm are on the same subject; it will help you to recall this fact if you remember that the figures are the same, only reversed.<\/p>\n
Verse 1. Truly God is good to Israel, \u2014<\/i><\/p>\n
Settle that matter in your hearts, whatever doubts may distress or disturb your mind, fix this point as certain: \u201cTruly God is good to Israel,\u201d \u2014<\/p>\n
1, 2. Even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.<\/i><\/p>\n
He was a good man, one of the leaders in Israel, yet he had to make this confession, \u201cMy feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.\u201d<\/p>\n
3, 4. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.<\/i><\/p>\n
Many of them have so stifled conscience that it does not trouble them even in that last dread hour, and they pass into eternity with blinded eyes, self-deluded to the last.<\/p>\n
5. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.<\/i><\/p>\n
They are not the children of God, and that is why they escape the rod of God. The rod is not for strangers, but for the children of the family. Yet the psalmist began to envy these people because, said he, \u201cthey are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.\u201d<\/p>\n
6. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain;<\/i><\/p>\n
They wear it gladly, and think it to be an ornament.<\/p>\n
6-9. Violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, \u2014<\/i><\/p>\n
As though they would blow them down, as the wind blows the clouds that are full of rain.<\/p>\n
9. And their tongue walketh through the earth.<\/i><\/p>\n
Like the ravening lion of the pit, seeking characters that they may destroy or devour. There is no end to the mischief that such people can do. If they are not in trouble themselves, they make much trouble for other people; and while they set themselves on so high a pinnacle, they are mean enough to slander the characters of the good.<\/p>\n
10. Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.<\/i><\/p>\n
They have to drink of the bitter cup again and again; it seems to them to be always full; and the wicked have their full cup, \u2014 filled, as it seems, with the juice from the very finest fruit.<\/p>\n
11. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?<\/i><\/p>\n
They admit that there is a God, but they ask, \u201cWhat does he know, and how does he know?\u201d<\/p>\n
12-14. Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.<\/i><\/p>\n
It was one of his greatest sorrows that, the more holy he was, the more troubled he seemed to be; and the more closely he endeavored to follow his God, the more it seemed as if God only frowned upon him. Yet the psalmist\u2019s was no exceptional case, of which there is only one in all history; there have been many such, and there are many such to this day.<\/p>\n
15. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.<\/i><\/p>\n
You know that some people have made up a kind of proverb like this, \u201cIf you think it, you may as well speak it;\u201d but it is not so. Bad thoughts should never be spoken. If a man has a bottle of whisky in his house, or in his pocket, that is bad enough; but if the cork is never taken out, it will do no very great hurt to anybody. So, if a man has evil thoughts, but does not utter them, the mischief will not be so great as if he were to make them known to others.<\/p>\n
16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;<\/i><\/p>\n
He could not bear the thought of offending God\u2019s children; but, at the same time, the problem itself, concerning the righteous and the wicked, until he could solve it, was too painful for him.<\/p>\n
17. Until I went into the sanctuary of God;<\/i><\/p>\n
When he went into God\u2019s holy place, \u2014 when he began to understand God\u2019s purposes and plans, and looked beyond the present life into the dreadful future of the ungodly, he could say: \u2014<\/p>\n
17. Then understood I their end.<\/i><\/p>\n
And understanding their end, his difficulty ceased, his puzzling problem was solved.<\/p>\n
18. Surety thou didst set them in slippery places:<\/i><\/p>\n
As if they stood upon a ridge of ice, from which they must slip down; \u2014 who wishes to be lifted up upon an Alp of prosperity, from which he may be dashed down at any moment? If you knew that there was a man standing on the top of the cross of St. Paul\u2019s at this moment, I do not suppose that any of you would envy him; certainly I should not. Let him have a patent for standing there, and let nobody else ever attempt it. And an ungodly man, in the elevated places of prosperity, is in such a perilous position that we need not envy him.<\/p>\n
18. Thou castedst them down into destruction.<\/i><\/p>\n
Down they go! If not in this life, yet in the next, and who will envy them then?<\/p>\n
19, 20. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.<\/i><\/p>\n
When a man wakes up, the image that was before his mind, in his dream, is gone; and when God wakes up to judgment, these wicked men, who were but as images in a night dream, shall pass away.<\/p>\n
21. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.<\/i><\/p>\n
In the tenderest and most vital parts of his being, he felt an inward and terrible pain.<\/p>\n
22. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.<\/i><\/p>\n
Judging as the beast judges, that can only see the little grass around itself, and fattens itself, knowing nothing of the shambles, and of the butcher\u2019s knife that is being sharpened to kill it there. \u201cSo,\u201d says the psalmist, \u201cI was like that, I forgot about the future, I did not judge as an immortal being should judge concerning the infinite and the eternal, but I judged things as a beast might judge by the narrow compass of its little grazing ground.<\/p>\n
23. Nevertheless \u2014<\/i><\/p>\n
This phrase is most delightful, coming in connection with his previous confession: \u201cI was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless\u201d \u2014<\/p>\n
23. I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.<\/i><\/p>\n
That is your portion also, Christian. However few your pounds, however short your supplies, you are continually with God, and he holds you by your right hand. Will you envy the ungodly after that?<\/p>\n
24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.<\/i><\/p>\n
There is where your chief possession lies, locked up in that which is marked \u201cAfterward.\u201d Not today, possibly not tomorrow, but \u201cafterward\u201d is your inheritance: \u201cafterward thou wilt receive me to glory.\u201d<\/p>\n
25. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.<\/i><\/p>\n
Here is the Christian\u2019s heavenly and earthly portion and treasure. He has his God, both here and hereafter; and this is better than all that can fall to the lot of the worldling.<\/p>\n
26, 27. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.<\/i><\/p>\n
That is, setting their hearts on unlovely things, and forgetting to love God.<\/p>\n
28. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.<\/i><\/p>\n
The Psalm ends jubilantly, as it began, though part of it had been in a minor key.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NO. 3055 A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 29TH, 1907 DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, MARCH 30TH, 1873. \u201cNeither be partaker of other men\u2019s sins.\u201d \u2014 1 Timothy 5:22. WE have all abundant reason to look at home, and see about our own sins. Nothing can be … Continue reading “ACCOMPLICES IN SIN.”<\/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-4382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4382","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=4382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}