The Biblical Illustrator
Psalms 139:24
See if there be any wicked way in me.
Secret sins
I. The true Christian may plainly be known from all others by three things:--
1. He does really rejoice in all the attributes of God. He adores His justice, loves His mercy, confides in His power, bows to His wisdom, is glad that He knows all things.
2. tie is anxious to know the worst of his case. He is candid with himself. He greatly desires that his aims, his heart, and his motives should be right. He fears the treachery of his own heart.
3. He hates all sin, wars against it, loathes it, and never will be satisfied till he is rid of it. He would not follow any wicked way. He would do nothing contrary to the law of God.
II. That we may deal aright with our secret sins, let us--
1. Think much of the all-seeing purity of God. His holiness is a flaming fire.
2. Often compare our acts, and words, and hearts with the perfect law of God. The commandments are spiritual. If you have wrong views of the law you cannot have right views of sin, and so you may lose your soul.
3. Hide no sin from your own eyes, and refuse not to confess it before God.
4. Be careful not to subject your principles to needless trial. “We cannot hinder the birds from flying over our heads, but we must not let them light and build nests in our hair.”
5. Set a double guard against those sins to which you are very liable. Are you easily made angry? Then avoid men who are apt to provoke you. Are you inclined to undue sadness? Then study the promises and seek the society of cheerful Christians. Are you fond of high living? Rather shun than seek convivial gatherings.
6. Remember that there is no danger of your hating sin too much, or of your being too watchful against it.
7. Cease to hew out broken cisterns which can hold no water. Cease to rely on human wisdom, power, or goodness. Cast your care on Him who careth for you. Often commit your soul to Christ.
8. When you have done your best, remember that you may be mistaken. Earnestly offer the prayer, “Search me,” etc. (W. S. Plumer, D. D.)
The way of sin is the way of grief
It is worthy of remark that “wicked way” may be translated “way of grief.” The way of sin is the way of pain and grief: it is a grief to God who would save you from it; a way of grief and pain to you if you walk in it; a way of grief and harm to others who suffer by your deeds. Get rid of it, come out from it, for it is the way of death. The way of unbelief, the way of vanity, the way of selfishness, the way of worldliness, the way of sluggishness, the way of self-dependence, the way of disobedience, the way of forgetfulness. Oh, how many, many are the ways, the tastes, the leanings within us that bring us peril, pain and grief. Let us seek a holy riddance of them, one and all, that we may move steadily, only, undistractedly, in the way of purity and peace! The everlasting way! All other ways end in sorrow, finish in gloom, suddenly terminate in night. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is death. The old, true, tried way has no terminus. It leads from grace to grace, from glory to glory.
Discovery of concealed sin
Those people in India, in the last plague, gave no end of trouble to the sanitary authorities because they would hide away the corpses in the back of their hovels, and when the dead-cart came round said that there were no dead in the house; and so the corpse remained to poison the atmosphere and kill some more of them. If we keep our sins huddled up in the back premises of our nature and try to put a screen between them and God by impenitence and locking our lips against confession, then God cannot cast out the sins that we cling to, and will keep. But if we go to Him and say, “See if there be any wicked way in me. Come into the very innermost recesses of my soul, and whatsoever is there smite with Thy searching light,” which, like the old Greek legend of the arrows of Apollo, will slay the pythons, then God will answer the petition, and we shall be delivered. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Lead me in the way everlasting.--
The way everlasting
Since we must have a way, it is of the highest importance that our way should be a right one; important, because if it be not right we shall not long be happy in our course, since the happiness of those who follow the path of evil is fleeting as a meteor, mocking as a will-o’-the-wisp, deceptive as the mirage, frail as a bubble on the wave, and unsubstantial as a phantom of the night.
I. A remarkable attribute of the right way--it is “the way everlasting.”
1. It is most certain that the way of many men cannot be everlasting.
(1) The way of the sinful is not so. I hope with regard to some that their way will last but for a very little time, for it is the way of evil. May they soon turn from it! May their road be so hedged up by God’s providence and grace that they may be compelled to take another road.
(2) The way of the merely moral man is not a way everlasting.
(3) The way of the purposeless and dilettante is not everlasting.
(4) The way even of some religious people is not the way everlasting. The hypocrite, the Pharisee, etc.
2. The right way--the way of faith in God and of a life that flows out of faith in God--the way indeed which Jesus trod, is the way everlasting--
(1) Because it is a way which was mapped out upon everlasting principles. Truth will never die; the stars will grow dim, the sun will pale his glory, but truth will be ever young. Integrity, uprightness, honesty, love, goodness, these are all imperishable.
(2) Because no circumstances can by any possibility necessitate any change in it.
(3) Because such a way even death itself shall not terminate.
II. The confession. This remarkable confession and prayer should suggest two Things--ignorance and impotence. When we say, “Lead me,” if it is a blind man, it means ignorance; he cannot see the way, and therefore he needs to be led, though he may be strong enough to walk if he only knew the way. “Lead me, Lord,” also signifies impotence if it be judged of as the child’s case; he needs to be led in another sense, because he has not strength enough in his little feet to go without the help of his mother’s hand.
1. Our want of knowledge.
(1) Imperfect judgment.
(2) Vitiated affections.
(3) Wrong influences.
2. Our want of strength. We need to ask of God to give us will, which is the real power.
III. The prayer. How comprehensive it is!
1. Because of its object--the whole man, his intellect, emotions, tongue, actions.
2. Its modes. God leads by the law, by the life of Christ, by the Holy Spirit, by ministers, by good books, etc.
3. Its issues. “The way everlasting”--a holy life, a happy death, and a heaven to crown it all.
4. The persons who may fitly use it. Who is there whom it would not suit? (C. H. Spurgeon.).