701 To the chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David: to bring to remembrance. Make haste, O God, to deliver me; Jehovah, [hasten] to my help. 2 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion that seek after my soul; let them be turned backward and confounded that take pleasure in mine adversity; 3 Let them turn back because of their shame that say, Aha! Aha! 4 Let all those that seek thee be glad and rejoice in thee, and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified! 5 But I am afflicted and needy: make haste unto me, O God. Thou art my help and my deliverer: O Jehovah, make no delay.
711 In thee, Jehovah, do I trust: let me never be ashamed. 2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and rescue me; incline thine ear unto me, and save me. 3 Be to me a rock of habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress. 4 My God, rescue me out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. 5 For thou art my hope, O Lord Jehovah, my confidence from my youth. 6 On thee have I been stayed from the womb; from the bowels of my mother thou didst draw me forth: my praise shall be continually of thee. 7 I have been as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge. 8 My mouth shall be filled with thy praise, with thy glory, all the day. 9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. 10 For mine enemies speak against me, and they that watch for my soul consult together, 11 Saying, God hath forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver. 12 O God, be not far from me; my God, hasten to my help. 13 Let them be ashamed, let them be consumed, that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
14 But as for me, I will hope continually, and will praise thee yet more and more. 15 My mouth shall declare thy righteousness, [and] thy salvation all the day: for I know not the numbers [thereof]. 16 I will go in the might of the Lord Jehovah; I will recall thy righteousness, thine alone. 17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I proclaimed thy marvellous works: 18 Now also, when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not, until I have proclaimed thine arm unto [this] generation, thy might to every one that is to come. 19 And thy righteousness, O God, reacheth on high, thou who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee? 20 Thou, who hast shewn us many and sore troubles, wilt revive us again, and wilt bring us up again from the depths of the earth; 21 Thou wilt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. 22 I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, my God; unto thee will I sing psalms with the harp, thou holy One of Israel. 23 My lips shall exult when I sing psalms unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. 24 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day; for they shall be ashamed, for they shall be brought to confusion, that seek my hurt.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans together and travails in pain together until now. 23 And not only [that], but even we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, we also ourselves groan in ourselves, awaiting adoption, [that is] the redemption of our body. 24 For we have been saved in hope; but hope seen is not hope; for what any one sees, why does he also hope? 25 But if what we see not we hope, we expect in patience.
26 And in like manner the Spirit joins also its help to our weakness; for we do not know what we should pray for as is fitting, but the Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 But he who searches the hearts knows what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for saints according to God.
28 But we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to purpose.
29 Because whom he has foreknown, he has also predestinated [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be [the] firstborn among many brethren. 30 But whom he has predestinated, these also he has called; and whom he has called, these also he has justified; but whom he has justified, these also he has glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God [be] for us, who against us? 32 He who, yea, has not spared his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him grant us all things? 33 Who shall bring an accusation against God's elect? [It is] God who justifies: 34 who is he that condemns? [It is] Christ who has died, but rather has been [also] raised up; who is also at the right hand of God; who also intercedes for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 According as it is written, For thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter. 37 But in all these things we more than conquer through him that has loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which [is] in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Read Romans 8:18-25)
The sufferings of the saints strike no deeper than the things of time, last no longer than the present time, are light afflictions, and but for a moment. How vastly different are the sentence of the word and the sentiment of the world, concerning the sufferings of this present time! Indeed the whole creation seems to wait with earnest expectation for the period when the children of God shall be manifested in the glory prepared for them. There is an impurity, deformity, and infirmity, which has come upon the creature by the fall of man. There is an enmity of one creature to another. And they are used, or abused rather, by men as instruments of sin. Yet this deplorable state of the creation is in hope. God will deliver it from thus being held in bondage to man's depravity. The miseries of the human race, through their own and each other's wickedness, declare that the world is not always to continue as it is. Our having received the first-fruits of the Spirit, quickens our desires, encourages our hopes, and raises our expectations. Sin has been, and is, the guilty cause of all the suffering that exists in the creation of God. It has brought on the woes of earth; it has kindled the flames of hell. As to man, not a tear has been shed, not a groan has been uttered, not a pang has been felt, in body or mind, that has not come from sin. This is not all; sin is to be looked at as it affects the glory of God. Of this how fearfully regardless are the bulk of mankind! Believers have been brought into a state of safety; but their comfort consists rather in hope than in enjoyment. From this hope they cannot be turned by the vain expectation of finding satisfaction in the things of time and sense. We need patience, our way is rough and long; but He that shall come, will come, though he seems to tarry.
(Read Romans 8:26-27)
Though the infirmities of Christians are many and great, so that they would be overpowered if left to themselves, yet the Holy Spirit supports them. The Spirit, as an enlightening Spirit, teaches us what to pray for; as a sanctifying Spirit, works and stirs up praying graces; as a comforting Spirit, silences our fears, and helps us over all discouragements. The Holy Spirit is the spring of all desires toward God, which are often more than words can utter. The Spirit who searches the hearts, can perceive the mind and will of the spirit, the renewed mind, and advocates his cause. The Spirit makes intercession to God, and the enemy prevails not.
(Read Romans 8:28-31)
That is good for the saints which does their souls good. Every providence tends to the spiritual good of those that love God; in breaking them off from sin, bringing them nearer to God, weaning them from the world, and fitting them for heaven. When the saints act out of character, corrections will be employed to bring them back again. And here is the order of the causes of our salvation, a golden chain, one which cannot be broken. 1. Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. All that God designed for glory and happiness as the end, he decreed to grace and holiness as the way. The whole human race deserved destruction; but for reasons not perfectly known to us, God determined to recover some by regeneration and the power of his grace. He predestinated, or before decreed, that they should be conformed to the image of his Son. In this life they are in part renewed, and walk in his steps. 2. Whom he did predestinate, them he also called. It is an effectual call, from self and earth to God, and Christ, and heaven, as our end; from sin and vanity to grace and holiness, as our way. This is the gospel call. The love of God, ruling in the hearts of those who once were enemies to him, proves that they have been called according to his purpose. 3. Whom he called, them he also justified. None are thus justified but those that are effectually called. Those who stand out against the gospel call, abide under guilt and wrath. 4. Whom he justified, them he also glorified. The power of corruption being broken in effectual calling, and the guilt of sin removed in justification, nothing can come between that soul and glory. This encourages our faith and hope; for, as for God, his way, his work, is perfect. The apostle speaks as one amazed, and swallowed up in admiration, wondering at the height and depth, and length and breadth, of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. The more we know of other things, the less we wonder; but the further we are led into gospel mysteries, the more we are affected by them. While God is for us, and we keep in his love, we may with holy boldness defy all the powers of darkness.
(Read Romans 8:32-39)
All things whatever, in heaven and earth, are not so great a display of God's free love, as the gift of his coequal Son to be the atonement on the cross for the sin of man; and all the rest follows upon union with him, and interest in him. All things, all which can be the causes or means of any real good to the faithful Christian. He that has prepared a crown and a kingdom for us, will give us what we need in the way to it. Men may justify themselves, though the accusations are in full force against them; but if God justifies, that answers all. By Christ we are thus secured. By the merit of his death he paid our debt. Yea, rather that is risen again. This is convincing evidence that Divine justice was satisfied. We have such a Friend at the right hand of God; all power is given to him. He is there, making intercession. Believer! does your soul say within you, Oh that he were mine! and oh that I were his; that I could please him and live to him! Then do not toss your spirit and perplex your thoughts in fruitless, endless doubtings, but as you are convinced of ungodliness, believe on Him who justifies the ungodly. You are condemned, yet Christ is dead and risen. Flee to Him as such. God having manifested his love in giving his own Son for us, can we think that any thing should turn aside or do away that love? Troubles neither cause nor show any abatement of his love. Whatever believers may be separated from, enough remains. None can take Christ from the believer: none can take the believer from Him; and that is enough. All other hazards signify nothing. Alas, poor sinners! though you abound with the possessions of this world, what vain things are they! Can you say of any of them, Who shall separate us? You may be removed from pleasant dwellings, and friends, and estates. You may even live to see and seek your parting. At last you must part, for you must die. Then farewell, all this world accounts most valuable. And what hast thou left, poor soul, who hast not Christ, but that which thou wouldest gladly part with, and canst not; the condemning guilt of all thy sins! But the soul that is in Christ, when other things are pulled away, cleaves to Christ, and these separations pain him not. Yea, when death comes, that breaks all other unions, even that of the soul and body, it carries the believer's soul into the nearest union with its beloved Lord Jesus, and the full enjoyment of him for ever.
