A FEAST FOR THE UPRIGHT – Charles Spurgeon
A FEAST FOR THE UPRIGHT
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in You.” Psalm 84:11, 12.
In this sweet Sabbatic Psalm, the writer rejoices in the house of God. He evidently loves the place of godly assembly, the place where prayer and praise were offered by the united tribes of his people. But, brethren, there was no superstition in this love. He loved the house of God because he loved the God of the house. His heart and flesh cried out, not for the altar and the candlestick, but for his God. True, his soul fainted for the courts of the Lord, but the reason was that he cried out for the living God, saying, “When shall I come and appear before God?”
Brethren, it is well to take an interest in the place where you gather for worship. I am always glad when brethren are moved to contribute towards the necessary maintenance of the building and the provision for its cleanliness and propriety. I hate that God should be served in a slovenly way. Even the place where we meet to worship should show some sign of reverence for His name. But still, our respect for our place of assembly must never degenerate into a superstitious reverence for the mere structure, as though there were some peculiar sanctity about the spot, and prayer offered there would be more acceptable than elsewhere. The great objective of our desire must be to meet with God Himself. In hearing, the point is to hear the voice of God. In singing, the charm is truly to praise the Most High. In prayer, the main objective is to plead with God, and so to speak that our cry comes up before Him, even into His ears. Let us always remember this, and never rest content with merely going to a set place. Let us reckon that we have failed if we have not met with God. Let us come up here with strong desire for communion with the Lord in spirit and in truth.
The Psalmist also knew right well that the spiritual law runs through everything. He perceived that character is essential, not only to acceptable worship, but to all real blessedness. In our text, he speaks not of those who visit the temple, but of those who walk uprightly and trust in God. There is no necessary blessedness in visiting tabernacles and temples. In all assemblies for worship, the question is, “Who are they that gather?” Are their hearts in God’s ways? Are their souls thirsting after God? The promises are very rich, but to whom are the promises made? What if they are not made to us? Then, the richer they are, the more sorrowful will be our loss of them.
Before I unfold the inexhaustible treasures of this marvelous portion of Scripture, I want to dwell upon this fact—that these things are for a special people. The blessing is to the man that walks uprightly, the true-hearted man, whose course is sincere, righteous, honest, and just. He stands firmly, and he walks erect. He does not bend and lean towards the right or to the left. He has no sinister motives or crooked policies. He is straight as a line, and is not to be swayed by any side winds. It is a very suggestive figure—an upright man is not twisted, or doubled up, or wrongly inclined, or tortuous in his ways and thoughts. He stands on the square, and is distinctly perpendicular. This is the man who will enjoy the blessing from the God of Israel. Sin is a twist, and it is a twist that robs us of the blessing in our text.
But, since no man is upright by nature, we are reminded of the way by which we come to be upright— “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in You.” We must have faith as the groundwork of all. Then “faith works by love,” and purifies the soul, and by this purification the man is made to walk uprightly. Oh, to be resting where God bids us rest, namely, in the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus! Oh, to be depending where all must depend—upon the faithfulness of the covenant-making and the covenant-keeping God. Such a man has a solid rock beneath his feet. He trusts in God, and so he stands firmly, and is able to walk uprightly, because he has a firm foothold.
Judge you, then, yourselves. Do you trust in the Lord? Are you walking uprightly? If so, here is “a feast of fat things, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well-refined.”
I would say to every child of God who can claim the character I have been describing, come to the text and freely enjoy it. What; does no star of hope shine in your midnight sky? Do clouds surround you and thicken into an impenetrable gloom? Come to the text, for “the Lord God is a sun.” Here is an end to all your darkness. When He appears, the night vanishes, and your light has come.
Are you in great danger? Do perils surround you—temptations from the world, assaults of Satan, uprisings of your own corruption? Do you feel as if you moved in the center of a fierce fight? Is it as much as you can do even to hope that you will escape the fiery dart? Come to the text, then, and behold how He that keeps Israel has provided for your safety. Read the blessed words, “The Lord God is a shield.” He is a broad shield that shall cover you from head to foot, and quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Here is perfect safety for all who take Jehovah to be their helper. “The Lord is your shade upon your right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil: He shall preserve your soul.”
But perhaps you tell me that you feel empty of all good, and dry of all joy. Spiritual life is at very low ebb with you. You can scarcely believe, much less reach full assurance. You scarcely feel enough life to exhibit the tenderness you sigh for, and you cannot reach the faith you desire. I hear your groans, but come along with you. Here is the exact word for you.
“The Lord will give grace.” His rich, free favor waits to bless the undeserving, and it is so strong and influential that those who have nothing in themselves may at once receive every precious thing. The God of all grace will give grace.
“Yes,” you say, “I have grace, but I find that the gracious life is a very struggling one. I am contending from day to day with my inward corruptions, and besides, the infirmities of old age have been creeping upon me for years, and I feel them so bitterly that I wish for the wings of a dove that I might fly away and be at rest.” Friend, you need not fly far. The text promises you the best possible rest. The Lord who says that He will give grace now tells you that He will give glory. Wait a little longer. The sun which shines more and more will come to perfect day. “It is better on before.” Glory will soon be in your actual possession—much sooner than you think. Between you and heaven there may be but a step. Perhaps before another sun has risen on the earth you may behold the face “of the King in His beauty in the land that is very far off.” At any rate, here is comfort for you; the same Lord who will give grace will also give glory.
Do I hear another brother sighing because he is in the depths of poverty? And is that poverty not only of bread and of water, but a poverty of soul? Do you feel straitened in spirit, and so weak that you can hardly call a promise your own? Yet, dear brother, if you are trusting in the Lord, and He has helped you to walk uprightly, do not hesitate, but come to the text, and dip your bucket into this deep and overflowing well, and fill it up to the brim, for what does the text say? “No good thing will He withhold from those that walk uprightly.” Here is everything for nothing, everything for you, everything to be had at once according as you shall require it. It is God’s word, not mine, God’s own sure word which gives you all this blessing. Come, then, quit the dust and the darkness. Mount into brightness, and rejoice in the Lord your God, who bids you shout for joy.
Have you fears about the future? I need not stay to tell you how sweetly the text will lull them all to sleep. Yet suffer me these few sentences. Do you fear the darkness of future trial? The Lord God is your sun. Do you fear dangers which lie before you in some new sphere upon which you are just entering? The Lord will be your shield. Are there difficulties in your way? Will you need great wisdom and strength? God’s grace will be sufficient for you, and His strength will be glorified in your weakness. Do you fear failure? Do you dread final apostasy? It shall not be. He who gives you grace will without fail, give you glory. Between here and heaven there is provender for all the flock of God, so that they need not fear famishing on the road. He that leads them shall guide them into pastures that never wither, and to fountains that are never dried up, for “no good thing will He withhold from those that walk uprightly.”
Is not this a glorious text? It overpowers me. It is a gem of priceless value. I feel as if I could not place it in a proper setting, but must hold it up just as it is, and turn it this way and that, and bid you mark how each facet flashes forth the light of heaven. It is a true Kohinoor among the gems of promise. It is so many-sided, so transparent, so brilliant, it belongs to the King of kings, and He bids us wear it this day. What shall I hope to say which will be worthy of this supreme Scripture? How can my words fitly set forth this word of the Lord?
It would not be an ill way of considering my text if I were to preach from it in this fashion.
I. BLESSINGS IN THEIR FULLNESS
First let us observe what God is, “The Lord God is a sun and a shield.” By nature He is both these to His people, and as such He is ours, for is not this a leading article in the covenant of grace, “I will be their God”? “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul. The Lord has given Himself to me as He is, even as Jehovah, the I AM. Is God omnipotent? He is almighty for His people. Is He omniscient? His wisdom cares for them. Is God omnipresent? Is God immutable? Is God eternal? Is God infinite? He is ours in all those respects. The Lord God is a sun and shield, and as sun and shield He belongs to those who are trusting in Him and walking uprightly.
If we preached thus, our second head would be what God will give. The Lord will give grace and glory. He has given them, is giving them, and will give them, for the tense may be taken as you choose. He always will give free favor and kindly aid. He has given you grace up to now, and done great things for you, and He will show you greater things than these— “His grace will to the end Stronger and brighter shine. Nor present things, nor things to come, Shall quench the spark divine.”
He will supply you with grace and glory as the generous grants of His love. They are not a wage, but a gift. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” Glory will come to you on free-grace terms.
II. BLESSINGS IN THEIR COUNTERBALANCE
This glorious word of God gives us blessings in their counterbalance. Let me explain myself. One blessing alone might scarcely be a blessing, for in being too great a blessing it might crush us. We may have too much of a good thing.