Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

Psalm 27:1. The Lord is my light and my salvation; First comes light and then salvation. We are not saved in ignorance. The knowledge of our sinfulness is revealed to us—we discover our true condition in the sight of God—and then we perceive the mercy and the love of God. We see first the light and then the fullness of salvation, for this is not a matter of the past only, but of the present. At this very hour, each Believer can say, "The Lord is my light and my salvation." Can you say that, dear Friend? If so, there is more real eloquence in that little sentence than in all the orations of Cicero!

1. Whom shall I fear? "There is nobody that I have any need to fear. I need not fear the powers of darkness, for 'the Lord is my light.' I need not fear damnation, for 'the Lord is my salvation.' Then, 'Whom shall I fear?'"

1. The LORD is the strength of my life. Is not that a wonderful expression? Ordinarily, a man lives by the strength of his constitution, but the spiritual life lives by the strength of God within the soul.

1. Of whom shall I be afraid. "For, if God is my strength, then am I strong as Samson, and I may slay the lion or the Philistines with equal ease."

2. When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell Good men have enemies because they are good men. There are two classes in the world—the righteous and the wicked—the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And you know that even in Eden, the Lord said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed." We must expect, then, if we are among the righteous, that we shall be attacked by the wicked. But, when they come against us, we may believe that they shall be overcome even before we strike a single blow in our own defense!

3. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. You know that, usually, we fear just before the battle begins—when we see the enemy encamped against us. We do not know what they are going to do and we are sure to imagine the very worst. But such was David's confidence in his God that he said, "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." There they lie, their legions marshaled against him in all their dread array! But says the Psalmist, "In this will I be confident." Oh, the joy of the man who has received this confidence from God and who is, therefore—

"Calm 'mid the bewildering cry, Confident of victory."

4. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His Temple. Did David refer to any special spot, or to any one sacred shrine? I think not. He meant that he wished to be always at home with God. And, you know, at the same time we can also be in our own houses or in the fields, on the land or on the sea. This was David's great desire, that he might always dwell with God, like a child at home, wherever he was. And that he might have such communion with God that he might "behold the beauty of the Lord," that he might ask of God guidance in all his difficulties, "and to enquire in His Temple." Those are two things, dear Friends, for which I hope many of us have come here—that we may behold God's graciousness and loveliness in the ordinances of His sanctuary—and that we may ask and receive of Him help in all our difficulties and guidance in all our dilemmas. How often, in this house, has God spoken so personally to His dear children that they have thought that the preacher knew all about them, when he really knew nothing whatever of them, though God did, and sent a message by His servant, straight to their souls!

5. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock. If I dwell with God, He will hide me away in the pavilion of His Sovereignty and, as long as He is King—and that will be forever and ever—He will not let me perish! His sword and shield shall be stretched out for my defense. Then God has also a tabernacle as well as a royal pavilion—as of old He had the Holy of Holies into which no man could enter, on pain of death, save only the High Priest on the appointed day. "In the time of trouble," the Lord Himself shall take us and hide us there by the Mercy Seat, near the Ark of the Covenant, where His Glory shall shine upon us, and where none can intrude to hurt us. We have the protection of the Pavilion of Sovereignty and the Tabernacle of Sacrifice—what two places can be safer? We have also the rock of God's Immutability—His people shall stand on that high mount, beyond the reach of their adversaries, where their feet shall never slide.

6. And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies roundabout me: therefore willIoffer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises unto the LORD. This is a blessed resolution! Oh, that you and I would carry it out more and more! David says twice that He will sing the Lord's praises—"I will sing, yes, I will sing praises unto the Lord." Come, all you who sigh, change that word, and say, "I will sing." Come, all you who make a mourning noise, and ask the Lord to help you to make a joyful noise before His face! Is not praise comely and fitting in the Presence of such a God as He is who has dealt so well with us? Let each individual who knows the goodness of God say, "I will sing, yes, I will sing praises unto the Lord."

7. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. The Psalmist has only just begun praising when he takes to praying—and that should be a Christian's double occupation—praising and praying! I have often said that as our life is made up of breathing in and breathing out, so we should breathe in the atmosphere of Heaven by prayer and then breathe it out, again, in praise—

"Prayer and praise, with sins forgiven, Bring down to earth the bliss of Heaven!"

8. When You said, Seek you My face; my heart said unto You, Your face, LORD, will I seek David springs forward to accept the Divine invitation which invitation was general—"Seek you My face"—but the response was personal, "Your face, Lord, will I seek." Whether others would do so, or not, David resolved and declared that he would seek the face of the Lord! Let everyone of us, dear Friends, do the same.

9. Hide not Your face far from me; put not Your servant away in anger—

"Dismiss me not Your service, Lord." You know how masters sometimes discharge their servants in anger. But what a gracious Master you and I have, Beloved, or else He would have sent us adrift long ago! "Get you gone," He would have said, "you disgrace My house, you mar My work, you do not perform your service well. Be gone!" But He does not speak or act in that fashion.

9, 10. You have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake we, then the LORD will take me up. ' 'They carried me when I was a child and He will carry me now! 'The Lord will take me up.' When they steel their hearts against me, because I become a Christian, He will love me and more than make up my loss of their love."

11. Teach me Your way, OLORD, andleadme in aplainpath, because ofmy enemies. "Lord, do not let me get into difficulties, so that I shall not know what to do, for my foes are so sharp-eyed that if they can find a fault in me, they will! And even if there is no fault, they will make one up. Therefore, Lord, 'lead me in a plain path, because of my enemies.'"

12. Deliver me not over unto the will ofmy enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. Am I addressing anyone who is being slandered? Has somebody borne false witness against you? Well, be very thankful that it is false! I do not quite understand why it is so often said, "You see, it is such a downright lie and that is what grieves me so." But, dear Friend, it is much better that it should be false than true! If anyone brings an accusation against me, I shall be glad to find that it is false. Let not that be the sting of the trouble which really is the sweetness of it—be glad that they cannot say anything against you unless they speak falsely! However, if you expect to go to Heaven without being slandered, you expect what you are not likely to get, for God Himself was slandered in Paradise! Our Lord Jesus, in whom was no fault, was slandered when He was upon the earth—His Apostles and followers in all ages have had the same treatment! And here is David saying, "False witnesses are risen up against me."

13. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That is the point to be noted—there is no getting over fainting except by believing, for believing saves us from swooning and makes us strong—"I had fainted unless I had believed."

14. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart Here is a man of God giving us the benefit of his own experience! He waited upon God and now he bids us do the same, that we may be blessed as he was. At our Prayer Meeting before we came in here, one dear friend thanked the Lord that, for more than 60 years, he had been enabled to rest upon the Divine promises and he had never found one of them to fail in the hour of need. These testimonies are very precious. I remember, in my early Christian days, how my soul was greatly sustained by hearing a blind man say that he had lived on God by faith for more than 60 years, and he had found the Lord faithful to His promises all that time. Those of you, dear Friends, who are younger than others of us, may be comforted by the experience of your seniors! But if we were to live to be ten times as old as Methuselah, we would never find God backward in keeping His promises—He must be true whatever happens.

14. Wait, I say, on the LORD. Now let us read just a few verses to remind us of our union with our suffering Lord. Romans 8:14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. You can judge yourself, dear

Friend, by this test. Do you follow the Spirit's leading? Do you desire continually that He should be your supreme Guide and Leader? If you are led by the Spirit of God, then you have this highest of all privileges—you are one of the sons of God! Nothing can equal that honor! To be a son of God is more than anything of which ungodly kings and emperors can boast, with all their array of pomp and wealth!

15. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. You did receive it once and it was a great blessing to you. This came of the Law and the Law brought you under bondage through a sense of sin—and that made you first cry for liberty and then made you accept the liberating Savior. But you have not received that spirit of bondage again to fear.

15. But you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. We who believe in Jesus are all children of God and we dare to use that name which only children might use, "Abba." And we dare use it even in the Presence of God and to say to Him, "Abba, Father." We cannot help doing it because the spirit of adoption must have its own mode of speech—and its chosen way of speaking is to appeal to the great God by this name, "Abba, Father."

16. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. There are two witnesses, then, and in the mouth of these two witnesses the whole Truth of God about our adoption shall be established. Our own spirit—so changed as to be reconciled to God and led in ways which once it never trod—our own spirit bears witness that we are the sons of God. And then God's own Spirit bears witness, too, and so we become doubly sure!

17. And if children, then heirs. For all God's children are heirs and all equally heirs. The elder-born members of God's family, such as Abraham and the rest of the Patriarchs, are no more heirs of God than are we of these latter days who have but lately come to Christ! "If children, then heirs." Heirs of what?

17. Heirs of God. Not only heirs of what God chooses to give, but heirs of Himself! There need be nothing else said, if this is true! "The Lord is my portion, says my soul." "Heirs of God."

17. And joint-heirs with Christ; if it is so that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. Do you ever have in your heart a longing to behold the Glory of God? Do you feel pressed down when you see abounding sin? Are your eyes ready to be flooded with tears at the thought of the destruction of the ungodly? Then, you are having sympathy with Christ in His sufferings and you shall as certainly be an heir with Him, by-and-by, in His glory!