( C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. GOD DELIGHTS TO HEAR THE UPRIGHT PRAY. I think the prayer of the upright is here put in contradistinction to the sacrifice of the wicked. The wicked man may go to great pains to provide something more than a prayer. It may have even cost him something considerable. But he has not attended to the main matter; his heart goes not with the sacrifice. On the other hand, here is an upright man, who, perhaps, has no opportunity for offering special gifts. He comes with a sigh, and ere it reaches heaven it is transformed into a song. Now, why does the Lord take such pleasure in the mere prayer of the upright?

1. Because it is a sign of life. It may be a feeble token, but it is an indication that there is life to some extent in that poor, distressed one. The prayer of the upright is God's delight, for He says within Himself, "My child still lives; his spiritual pulse is beating, his lungs are working, for his prayer ascends into My holy temple."

2. Moreover, the prayer of the upright is an indication of health. It does not content us, that we merely live: we want to be lively as well as living; may I say we want to be all alive? Therefore is the prayer of the upright God's delight. He Sees that His little ones are buoyant, hearty, and healthful. This is to Him as the sparkling eye and the rosy cheek of health, and He is glad within Himself when He sees His offspring rejoicing in fulness of vigour.

3. Moreover, prayer is a proof of confidence. We all like to be trusted.

4. Again, prayer is a token of gratitude. I think I hear Him saying, "Yonder needy suppliant is glad of the blessing that I gave him yesterday, for he is at My feet again. He appreciates My delivering power m the past, for he is calling for mercy still. I will multiply to bless him." God is glad thus to treat all believing hearts.

5. I think God delights in our prayer because He sees how beneficial it is to us to pray. Apart from the joy it gives His own heart, He is well aware that it brings joy to our hearts.

6. Moreover, I must not have you suppose that I do not believe that prayer moves the arm of God. I am persuaded that it touches His heart, stirs Him to action, and causes Him to stretch forth His saving hand. If I add to the fact that prayer is a relief to my own mind the equally certain fact that it gives God pleasure to hear me pray, I am by no means positive that that would keep me praying if I had no other assurance. "The prayer of the upright is His delight," and that should be another stimulus to constant intercession.

II. DO YOU NOT THINK THAT GOD DELIGHTS IN THE PRAYER ITSELF? "The prayer of the upright is His delight." There is something about the prayer of the upright that-particularly rejoices His heart.

1. The prayer of the upright is a humble prayer. It is as the snowdrops of the spring-time, or as the violet of the early summer. There is something about it so pleasing that God looks on it with great delight. It does not hold up its head like the glaring poppy of the cornfield, or as the sunflower that seems to invite attention. It is like the prayer of the Publican rather than that of the self-admiring Pharisee.

2. The prayer of the upright is earnest. It is pointed; it does not deal with generalities, but with details. It is marked "Urgent."

3. Especially is it the faith of the prayer that pleases God. Faith brings the promises as so many cheques for God to cash. The prayer of faith seems to say, by its very tone, "Lord, do as Thou hast said; remember Thy word to Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused him to hope."

4. The prayers that God delights in are full of the spirit of resignation. Faith and submission should go hand in hand.

5. And He is particularly glad when He sees the name of Jesus upon the prayer. How gladly does He recognise the aroma of Christ's merit and the fragrance of His death! Prayers presented by you in Jesus' name and then presented by Jesus Christ Himself in your name must give our God great joy.

III. THE LORD DELIGHTS TO ANSWER PRAYER. Even with Him it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. He delights in your prayer even when He keeps you waiting, for He will send the answer just when you most require it. It would not be well to have it earlier.

(Thomas Spurgeon.)

     8158   righteousness, of believers

The Hedge of Thorns and the Plain Way
A sermon (No. 1948) delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain."--Proverbs 15:19. You must have noticed how frequently godly people almost wear out their Bibles in certain places. The Psalms, the Gospel of John, and parts of the Epistles are favourite portions, and are thumbed in many an old believer's Bible till the fact is very noticeable. There are certain sheep-tracks …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

God, the All-Seeing One
We have in our text, first of all, a great fact declared,--"Hell and destruction are before the Lord ;" we have, secondly, a great fact inferred,--"How much more then the hearts of the children of men?" I. We will begin with THE GREAT FACT WHICH IS DECLARED--a fact which furnishes us with premises from which we deduce the practical conclusion of the second sentence--"How much more then the hearts of the children of men?" The best interpretation that you can give of those two words, "hell" and "destruction," …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

How the Humble and the Haughty are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 18.) Differently to be admonished are the humble and the haughty. To the former it is to be insinuated how true is that excellence which they hold in hoping for it; to the latter it is to be intimated how that temporal glory is as nothing which even when embracing it they hold not. Let the humble hear how eternal are the things that they long for, how transitory the things which they despise; let the haughty hear how transitory are the things they court, how eternal the things they …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

And He had Also this Favour Granted Him. ...
66. And he had also this favour granted him. For as he was sitting alone on the mountain, if ever he was in perplexity in his meditations, this was revealed to him by Providence in prayer. And the happy man, as it is written, was taught of God [1112] . After this, when he once had a discussion with certain men who had come to him concerning the state of the soul and of what nature its place will be after this life, the following night one from above called him, saying, Antony, rise, go out and look.' …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

Epistle cxxii. To Rechared, King of the visigoths .
To Rechared, King of the Visigoths [82] . Gregory to Rechared, &c. I cannot express in words, most excellent son, how much I am delighted with thy work and thy life. For on hearing of the power of a new miracle in our days, to wit that the whole nation of the Goths has through thy Excellency been brought over from the error of Arian heresy to the firmness of a right faith, one is disposed to exclaim with the prophet, This is the change wrought by the right hand of the Most High (Ps. lxxvi. 11 [83] …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Contention Over the Man Born Blind.
(Jerusalem.) ^D John IX. 1-41. [Some look upon the events in this and the next section as occurring at the Feast of Tabernacles in October, others think they occurred at the Feast of Dedication in December, deriving their point of time from John x. 22.] ^d 1 And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. [The man probably sought to waken compassion by repeatedly stating this fact to passers-by.] 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

"And the Life. " How Christ is the Life.
This, as the former, being spoken indefinitely, may be universally taken, as relating both to such as are yet in the state of nature, and to such as are in the state of grace, and so may be considered in reference to both, and ground three points of truth, both in reference to the one, and in reference to the other; to wit, 1. That our case is such as we stand in need of his help, as being the Life. 2. That no other way but by him, can we get that supply of life, which we stand in need of, for he …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

"Now the End of the Commandment," &C.
1 Tim. i. 5.--"Now the end of the commandment," &c. We come now, as was proposed, to observe, Thirdly,(474) That faith unfeigned is the only thing which gives the answer of a good conscience towards God. Conscience, in general, is nothing else but a practical knowledge of the rule a man should walk by, and of himself in reference to that rule. It is the laying down a man's state, and condition, and actions beside the rule of God's word, or the principles of nature's light. It is the chief piece …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Thou Shall Keep Him in Perfect Peace, Whose Mind is Stayed on Thee, Because He Trusteth in Thee. "
Isaiah xxvi. 3.--"Thou shall keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." All men love to have privileges above others. Every one is upon the design and search after some well-being, since Adam lost that which was true happiness. We all agree upon the general notion of it, but presently men divide in the following of particulars. Here all men are united in seeking after some good; something to satisfy their souls, and satiate their desires. Nay, but they …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Authority and Utility of the Scriptures
2 Tim. iii. 16.--"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." We told you that there was nothing more necessary to know than what our end is, and what the way is that leads to that end. We see the most part of men walking at random,--running an uncertain race,--because they do not propose unto themselves a certain scope to aim at, and whither to direct their whole course. According to men's particular …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

An Exposition on the First Ten Chapters of Genesis, and Part of the Eleventh
An unfinished commentary on the Bible, found among the author's papers after his death, in his own handwriting; and published in 1691, by Charles Doe, in a folio volume of the works of John Bunyan. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR Being in company with an enlightened society of Protestant dissenters of the Baptist denomination, I observed to a doctor of divinity, who was advancing towards his seventieth year, that my time had been delightfully engaged with John Bunyan's commentary on Genesis. "What," …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

I Will Pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding Also-
OR, A DISCOURSE TOUCHING PRAYER; WHEREIN IS BRIEFLY DISCOVERED, 1. WHAT PRAYER IS. 2. WHAT IT IS TO PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT. 3. WHAT IT IS TO PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT AND WITH THE UNDERSTANDING ALSO. WRITTEN IN PRISON, 1662. PUBLISHED, 1663. "For we know not what we should pray for as we ought:--the Spirit--helpeth our infirmities" (Rom 8:26). ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. There is no subject of more solemn importance to human happiness than prayer. It is the only medium of intercourse with heaven. "It is …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

How Christ is the Way in General, "I am the Way. "
We come now to speak more particularly to the words; and, first, Of his being a way. Our design being to point at the way of use-making of Christ in all our necessities, straits, and difficulties which are in our way to heaven; and particularly to point out the way how believers should make use of Christ in all their particular exigencies; and so live by faith in him, walk in him, grow up in him, advance and march forward toward glory in him. It will not be amiss to speak of this fulness of Christ …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament