The Biblical Illustrator
Psalms 93:5
Thy testimonies are very sure.
Things that are sure
Men love things that are sure. Uncertainty is painful, and often maketh the heart sick. We cannot live upon shadows and clouds. It is no use building a house upon the sand.
I. The protection of God (Psalms 18:2; Psalms 125:2). God is our strength, our shelter, our shield, our sun, and for ever. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Father’s love shall be my portion, my joy, my immortal life. This is enough; I ask no more.
II. The fulfilment of Holy Scripture. The ruins of Tyre, Babylon, and Nineveh attest that there was in ancient years a sure word of prophecy, and, as time passes on, the Word of the Lord continueth to be its own witness. It needs no defence. The Bible, in the march of daily events, is fulfilled to the letter. Sooner shall the Nile cease to flow, to rise and fall, than the word of prophecy fail. So with the promises of the Bible. They are renewed every morning.
III. The confusion of slanderers. Let loose talkers remember (Proverbs 19:5). And if the liar and gossip should have annoyed you, let your soul find hope in this gracious promise (Proverbs 16:7). Go on your way, then, with a light step and a brave heart, and the Lord in whom you trust will deliver and comfort you.
IV. The harvest time. Science teaches you that the earth’s fertility is boundless. Cultivate it wisely, and it will blossom as the rose. And what saith the Scripture of God, and the earth which He made (Genesis 8:22; Psalms 145:15; Psalms 23:1)? Fear not, then, to ask God for your daily bread. He hath promised it; He will give it.
V. The reward of true service. God is a good paymaster. He will not be debtor to any man. His reward will be abundant. Be brave and true, then, in the service of God.
VI. The remission of sins. This salvation is free. You need bring no silver, gold, or precious stones. This salvation is full. It is for every soul and for every sin. This salvation is everlasting. It begins on earth, and is continued in heaven.
VII. The resurrection of the just. (G. W. McCree.)
Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, for ever.--
The house of the Lord
I. The necessity of holiness.
1. The ministers of God’s house must be holy in manner, motive, life, doctrine.
2. They must preach holiness.
3. All in the Lord’s house are called to holiness. It is profitable to meditate beforehand on the glorious majesty and might of the Eternal Sovereign to whose palace we are going. It is dangerous to engage in worldly conversation, or irrelevant thoughts, up to the sacred porch.
II. The method of holiness. They do not show an intelligent appreciation of the holiness of the house of the Lord who are indifferent to the order and symmetry of its services. One step in public and united worship rests on another. If the first be missed it is not easy to reach the second. Be in time! There is a calm preliminary exercise indispensable to those who would be in time for the entire service. Looking round to know what people are coming in and going out is not the business of everybody. Let your thoughts be directed continually to the Lord. (E. J. Robinson.)
The beauty of holiness
Beauty is a strong and deep word, capable of the fullest possible meanings. There is nothing which appeals to the finer side of our emotional nature which may not be included in the word beautiful. Well, we find that God has added to His wisdom and power that great adornment which we call “beauty”; in all our natural relations with Him we are constantly meeting with it and being uplifted by it. It is the allurement which is ever seeking to draw us to better and noble ideals; it seems to give us glimpses into worlds of enjoyment which are in the nature of God Himself; it is the music which accompanies the march of knowledge, the glow and enthusiasm which dignifies the colder toils of mere science. Beauty! it is God’s mark upon the world. Well, but the inquirer asks, in my other relationship to God, the moral relationship, is there any adornment or accompaniment which may be said to be parallel to this? if God has adorned the work of His hands with this wonderful beauty, is there anything in the moral world corresponding, and the answer is, Yes. You have it again and again in the Hebrew phrase, “the beauty of holiness.” “Holiness becometh thine house.” The real beauty of religion gathers about the personal character; the adornment of a house of prayer is in the lives of the people who worship in it. Men and women who during the week have lived beautiful lives--just and honest, merciful and kind, intelligent and refined--if they gathered in the plainest meeting-house ever erected, and their worship was devoid of all ritual, would there not be a beauty in it which nothing sensuous could ever create, a spirit in it which would be an inspiration to all who were present? But for this worship they must come together. Solitary worship is impossible to most men; we must feel the common pulse of sympathy, and so coming together we make the reality of the worship. “Holiness becometh thine house.” They who bring into it the earnest desire to find the inspiration for the best and noblest life will bring with them the secrets of a beautiful worship. We shall utterly fail to accomplish this unless we seek to grow familiar with the beautiful aspects of God’s own will and character. It is an unfailing law that you grow like that with which you are most familiar. We carry about with us the manners of the place which commands most of our time and affection. Let our religion be the mere letter, the lifeless creed, the rigid formalism, and whatever fidelity and strength there may be about us, our life and our worship, there will have no beauty. We shall repel where we ought to attract. We shall wonder why others are so joyous and why to us there is so much constraint in religion. But we have to cultivate the other side, and it is the earnest endeavour of some of us to seek in our teaching always to discover that side--the side which allures, attracts by the noblest means. And we can hardly do that without striving to show the dangers and imperfections of the merely formal side of religion. To preach against a dead creed is not to say a word against a living, a beautiful belief. To denounce the orthodox uncharitable is not to say a word against the loving, vital theology of one whose beliefs are all warm with the love of God and of men. To point out the dangers of mere artistic performance in worship is not to deny to any man the right to express the sense of adoration in the way which seems to be most suitable. But we must stand by the living belief and the sincere worship, and they are inseparable from character, and character is fed by the living truths of God. Let us be quite frank with ourselves. Are we earnestly striving to be better men and women? Do we come to this act of worship with the honest desire to gain strength to conquer all our evil, and to become truthful, right-doing, brave, compassionate men and women? If that is our aim we bring the best adornment--a beauty greater than any of art or music--the holiness which becomes the house of God. (W. H. Harwood.)
Holiness becomes the worship and service of God
In the temple, every “little” ornament even of the mighty structure that crowned the cliffs of Zion was “holy” to the Lord. Not the great courts and inner shrines and pillared halls merely, but all. Not a carved pomegranate, not a bell, silver or golden, but was “holy.” The table and its lamps, with flowers of silver light, tent and staves, fluttering curtain and ascending incense, altar and sacrifice, breastplate and ephod, mitre and gem-clasped girdle, wreathen chains and jewelled hangings--over all was inscribed “Holy,” while within, in the innermost shrine, where God manifested Himself above the mercy-seat, was the Holiest. Thus the utter holiness of that God with whom they had to do was by every detail impressed upon the heart and conscience of ancient Israel. (A. B. Grosart.).