Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people. Visit me with Your salvation, Sermons
It is threefold (see ver. 5), and it is preceded by earnest prayer for that grace of God which, in the psalmist's belief, was indispensable for its fulfilment. I. THE ASPIRATION. 1. "That I may see the good of thy chosen. He regards God's people as the subject of a Divine choice; as, indeed, they are. There were many others who, to human eyes, seemed more worthy and more likely to bring glory to God. But God had chosen them. And he had appointed good" for them. Good outwardly, in the possession of the promised land; good inwardly, in the possession of God's Holy Spirit and the Divine Law written on their hearts; good instrumentally, in the blessed influence they should exert on others (cf. Psalm 67.). And all this abiding evermore. And this he craved to see; that is, to share in. It is a good desire. 2. "That I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation. He believed Israel to be God's nation; as, indeed, the true Israel of God are. And he believed that the mark of their life was gladness. In their best days Israel was a glad people (Psalm 144:15). And the Israelite, indeed, is ever a happy man. We are made for gladness - the ways of the Lord lead surely to it; but men do not believe this. Nevertheless, these ways are ways of pleasantness," etc. (Proverbs 3:17). And in this gladness the psalmist would share. 3. "That I may glory with thine inheritance. Note, again, the title given to the people of God. They will glory in God himself, for he is their exceeding joy;" in what he has done for them, in them, through them. What themes for glorying there are in all this! "Worthy is the Lamb," etc. (Revelation 5:12). Now, this holy aspiration is preceded by ver. 4. II. THE PRAYER for what is needed for its fulfilment. He prays: 1. "Remember me, O Lord, with," etc. What a humble prayer it is! as if he feared he might be overlooked and forgotten, and felt that he deserved to be. And what a holy prayer! And it is one that has never yet been refused. 2. "Visit me," etc. He would that God would have compassion on him, and actually bring him his salvation. - S.C.
Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that Thou bearest unto Thy people. I. WHO THE LORD'S PEOPLE ARE. They are a people who, deeply sensible of their own guiltiness and vileness, rest simply upon Jesus as their Saviour from the wrath to come. They are a people led also by the Spirit of the Saviour they believe in; actuated by His love; conformed to His image.II. THE FAVOUR WHICH THE LORD BEARS UNTO HIS PEOPLE. 1. He sends His Spirit into their hearts to dwell with and abide in them — to work in them both to will and to do what is pleasing in His eyes. 2. He gives them His Word, full of precious things — comforts, invitations, promises, directions. 3. He makes all things work together for their good. 4. He gives them free access to Himself in prayer. III. THE PRAYER IN THE TEXT. I. We are here taught what to do, if we fear that we have no part nor lot in the Lord's favour to His people. Pray for it. 2. Imitate the fervency of the psalmist in seeking for a clear, personal interest in these privileges. (A. Roberts, M.A.) II. THIS IS A SUITABLE PETITION FOR A POOR, PENITENT BACKSLIDER. It is clear that this poor, pleading backslider feels that he has forgotten his God. Have you done that? You have been a Church-member, and you have gone sadly astray; have you quite forgotten His commandments? You thought you loved Him. You used to pray at one time: you had some enjoyment in reading and in hearing the Word; but now you find your pleasure somewhere else. You have left your first love and gone after many lovers. But, oh, if the Lord is gracious to you, you are lamenting your forgetfulness; and though you have not remembered Him, the prayer leaps to your lips, "Lord, remember me." Blessed be His name, He does not so easily forget us as we forget Him. It is He that sets thee weeping, and makes thee sorrow for thy sin. And then, I think, your next trouble will be this: you feel that you have lost your fellowship with Christ: and you are right in so feeling, for "How can two walk together except they be agreed?" How could Christ have fellowship with you in the ways of folly?" Come back, my Lord, and visit me with Thy salvation." Is not this a prayer made on purpose for you? And, next, you observe in the text that the poor backslider is longing to get a sight of the good things which for a long time have been hid from him He cries, "That I may see the good of Thy chosen. He has been out amongst the swine, but he could not fill his belly with the husks. He has been hungering and thirsting, and now he remembers that in his Father's house there is bread enough and to spare. The poor backslider praying in the words of my text longs to taste once more the joy he used to feel, and therefore he says, "That I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation"; and, again, he wants to be able to speak as he once could — "that I may glory with Thine inheritance." Come back even now, my brother, and get another application of the blood of sprinkling. Look again to Jesus. Ah, and I may here say, if you have not backslidden, look again to Jesus. We have all wandered to some extent. Come, let us look to those dear wounds anew. Looking, my heart begins to love, and then begins to leap. Looking, I come back again to where I stood before; and now, once again, Christ is my all, and I rejoice in Him. Have you gone through that process, backslider? III. THIS IS A VERY SWEET PRAYER FOR A POOR SORROWING SEEKER. To begin with, it is a sinner's prayer. The dying thief rejoiced to use the words. This is the best of prayers, — "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." Trembling sinner, what suited the dying thief may well suit you. Note, again, it is the prayer of a lost one. "Visit me with Thy salvation." Jesus Christ has not come to seek and to save those who do not want saving, but He has come on purpose to seek and to save that which was lost. Look to Him, and thou shalt find that He is the Saviour thou dost require. Further, remark that our text is the prayer of one who has a dim eye — "That I may see the good of Thy chosen." We have told the seeker to look to Jesus, but he complains, "I do try to look, but I cannot see." Beloved seeker, I do not know that you are bidden to see. You are bidden to look; and if you could not see when you looked you would at least have obeyed the Gospel command. The looking, the looking would bring salvation to you. But for dim eyes Christ is the great cure. He can take away the cataract and remove the gutta serena. Then it is a prayer for a heavy heart. "That I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation." The seeking soul moans out, "O that I had a little joy, or even a trembling hope. If it were ever so small a portion of light I should be glad." Pray for joy. The Lord waits to give it, and if you believe in Jesus your joy shall be full. And in the last place our text, is the prayer of a spirit that is humble and laid in the very dust, which cries to God to enable it to glory with His inheritance, because it is stripped of all other glory, emptied of its own boastings. Practically its plea is, "Lord, give me to boast in Thy mercy and Thy goodness, for I have nothing else to boast of." Now, this prayer I would most earnestly press upon you, and I would press it upon you for these reasons. Just think for a moment. Supposing you are living now without seeing the good of God's chosen, without being saved, what a wretched life it is to live! I cannot understand what men do without God: I cannot comprehend how they live. Do you have no cares, men? "Oh," you say, "we have anxieties in shoals." Well, where do you take them? Poor man without a God, how do you keep up your spirits? What comfort is there in your life? No prayer in the morning, no prayer at night: what days, what nights! Oh, men, I could as soon think of living without eating, or living without breathing, as living without prayer. Wretched naked spirits, your souls must be with no God to cover them! But if it be bad to live without Christ — and I am sure it is, — what will it be to die without Him? ( C. H. Spurgeon.) 1. The first solicits a specially loving Divine remembrance. He knew that general providential mercy and visible Church privilege mould profit him but little, if he had nothing more, if he had not over and above a personal interest in a much more special favour, in the Lord's covenant-favour towards His own elect; and hence it was his earnest prayer, his constant prayer, to be remembered with this favour. 2. The second solicits a graciously saving Divine visit. Come, Lord, and by Thine own finger, write upon my heart the assurance of Thy love. Come, Lord, and by Thine own Spirit witness with my spirit that I am Thy adopted child. Come, Lord, and by Thine own counsel, guide me while I live; and afterwards by Thine own hand receive me, when I die, into everlasting habitations. II. THE ULTERIOR REQUESTS. 1. There is the consciousness of gracious well-being. "That I may see the good of Thy chosen." He desired to see it as the "chosen" do, with the eye of a conscious faith, of a spiritually illumined soul; to see it so as to be sustained, stimulated, rejoiced, and beautified by it; to see it as made over to himself, so that it might become his own, just as when the owner of an estate looks over it and says, "This farm, that goodly mansion, those spacious parks, the domain all round, the whole is mine." Such was the sight which he desired, the only sight which is ever satisfying. 2. There is the experience of spiritual joy. "That I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation." Not see it merely, but share it too in a way answerable to its high and holy character, singing with grace in my heart to the Lord in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. 3. There is the exultation of holy triumph. "That I may glory with Thine inheritance." The heirs of an earthly inheritance are but heirs apparent or heirs presumptive, and either in one way or in another they may be disappointed of the inheritance after all. But not so here. The Lord is their inheritance, and they are His inheritance; and there can he no shortcoming of the mutual inheritance on either His part or theirs. What is it to glory with His inheritance in the Lord? It is to exalt Him highest in our affection and esteem; to claim Him as our own and only Lord; to confess Him before men; to place on Him the crown of our salvation; to give all the glory of it from first to last to Him to whom it all belongs. (E. A. Thomson.) 1. The names given them. (1) (2) (3) (4) 2. What they may be said to possess. (1) (2) (3) II. THE PRAYER DRAWN FROM THE PSALMIST BY THE CONTEMPLATION OF THIS BLESSEDNESS. 1. Here is, first, a belief expressed both in the existence and in the happiness of God's people. This is generally the first step a man takes towards obtaining a part in their blessedness. It is a great point gained when we are brought really to believe that such a people exist on the earth as you have now been hearing of. Here is a proof that light is breaking in upon your minds. And what a call is here, Christian brethren, on you, for a conduct consistent with your high profession! 2. We discover in this prayer a tracing of all the blessedness of God's people to His special "favour" and "His salvation." "Remember me," the psalmist says, "with" — what? "That 'tender mercy' which is 'over all Thy works'? that universal goodness of Thine, which shines in the sun, which falls down in the rain 'on the evil and on the good'?" No; with that "favour," that special favour, "that Thou bearest unto Thy people." "O visit me," he says again, "with Thy salvation." And this special favour and this salvation he asks for, observe, in order that he may obtain and rejoice in "the good of God's chosen": letting us see, that all this "good" and all this "rejoicing" and all this "glory" have their origin and spring out of God's "favour" and God's "salvation." 3. We may trace in this prayer an earnest desire of making the blessedness of God's saints his own. It is, you observe, a personal prayer: "Remember me, O Lord; O visit me with Thy salvation." This is the turning-point. Such a prayer is indeed an indication of favour already gone forth for the soul that offers it. Such a prayer proceeds from grace already at work in the soul. (C. Bradley, M.A.) I. WHAT ARE THE THINGS WHICH THE PERSON, WHO SINCERELY USES THIS PETITION, BELIEVES. 1. That the Lord has a people, a people in this world peculiar to Himself, who in an especial manner belong to Him, and in a way different from others, are His property, the objects of His care, and the sheep of His pasture. 2. That the Lord has a peculiar favour to His people. (1) (2) (3) (4) II. WHAT IS THE DESIRE WHICH THE PERSON WHO SINCERELY USERS THIS PETITION, HEARTILY FEELS AND EXPRESSES. "Remember me, O Lord," etc. Believing that the Lord has a peculiar people, and that He beareth to them a peculiar favour, he longs to be included in their number, and to participate in their privileges. Do you feel a lively interest for your own salvation, and do you anxiously pray for your own soul? Do you look upon true religion as s personal transaction between yourself and God? Be then of good courage. If you heartily desire His favour, you have already obtained it. None but those who are His people, and possess His favour, ever thus heartily desire, and sincerely pray for these things. (E. Cooper, M.A.) II. VISTATION. Mark the condescension which the psalmist feels that the Lord will thus manifest. "O visit me with Thy salvation." Lord, I cannot be saved unless Thou wilt visit me. Visit me not as a saved one, but "visit me with Thy salvation." I am lost until Thou dost come to me. O come, Lord, and visit me as a Saviour. Come and visit me as a Physician, for I am sick. Pay me a visit of mercy, a visit of grace and tenderness. O thou great and glorious Lord, I beseech Thee, come and visit me. By the remembrance of Bethlehem's manger, come and visit me. And, as the angels sang when Thou didst thus descend to the lowliest of lowliness, so shall my heart sing yet more sweetly if Thou wilt visit me, — even me. It will be a great condescension on Thy part, but 'O visit me with Thy salvation.'" And it will be compassion, too, "'O visit me.' I am a prisoner; yet come, Lord, and visit me. I am lame and very weak. Lord, I have not a leg to carry me to Thy house; so come to my house, Lord. 'O visit me.' My heart is heavy, and sorely burdened; my very wishes lag, my prayers limp, my desires halt. O come and visit me. If I cannot come to Thee, yet come Thou to me, my God." But there is more in it even than that, there is also communion: "O visit me with Thy salvation." A visit from a beloved friend, — oh, what a joy it is! Most of you must have some friends who love you so much that, when they see you at their house, they do not want to know when you are going, but, if they could, they would make you always stop there. Dr. Watts went to see Sir Thomas Abney, at Abney Park, to spend a week; but that week lasted through all the rest of his life, for he never went away from there, and he lies buried in Abney Park, and Sir Thomas is buried there also, so that even in death the friends are not divided from one another. They never meant to part after they once came together. That is the kind of visit we want from the Lord, so let us breathe this prayer now, "O Lord, come and visit me; but do not merely pay me a brief visit, but come to stay with me." III. PERSONALITY. "Visit me." This petition of the psalmist shows great necessity, great unworthiness, and great concentration of desire. If anybody says that it is selfish to pray for yourself so much, just ask him what he would do if he were drowning? Does anybody say that it is selfish for him to strike out and try to swim, or selfish to seize the lifebouy that is thrown to him? If you were in a fire, and likely to be burned to death, would anybody call you selfish because you looked out for the fire-escape, and climbed on to it as soon as it touched your window? And when your very soul is in danger, it is a hallowed selfishness to seek first its salvation. If your own soul be lost, what can you do for the salvation of other people? If you perish, what benefit can you be to your fellow-men? Therefore, keep to this personal prayer till it is answered, and when it is, then pray for all others as earnestly as you have prayed for yourself. IV. Notice one thing more in this text, and that is, A SPECIALITY: "O visit me with Thy salvation," — the kind of salvation he has been describing in this psalm, the salvation wrought by omnipotent grace, the salvation of enduring love. The psalmist prayed, "O visit me with Thy salvation," and by that he meant real salvation, a radical change, a thorough work of grace. God's salvation includes a perfect cleansing in the precious blood of Jesus, a supernatural work in renewing the heart, a resurrection work in raising the dead, and giving a new life. This salvation is also complete salvation. It saves the man from the love of sin. It not merely saves him from getting drunk, from lying, and from thieving, and from uncleanness; but it saves him within as well as without. It is a thorough renewal, — a work of grace that takes effect upon every part of his nature, Lastly, and chiefly, God's salvation is eternal salvation. A good old divine was once asked whether he believed in the final perseverance of the saints. "Well," said he, "I do not know much about that matter, but I firmly believe in the final perseverance of God, that where He has begun a good work He will carry it on until it is complete." To my mind, that truth includes the final perseverance of the saints; they persevere in the way of salvation because God keeps them in it. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M.A.) II. THESE CHOSEN ONES HAVE A SPECIAL GOOD OF THEIR OWN. It consists primarily in the possession of God. "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Surely in a world where foes are strong, and we are only too conscious of our weakness, it is no small matter to enjoy the help of Omnipotence. And in a world where trials and troubles are so numerous, it is something to have a refuge open unto us whereunto we may always resort. Why should you condemn yourselves to perpetual restlessness, when you have God's own peace which passeth all understanding within your reach? Why should you prefer the evil of God's enemies, the cruel Nemesis which they bring upon their own heads, to the good which might be yours if you were His? Have you not had enough of weariness and restless toil? Why not listen to the voice to-night which proclaims, "Peace, peace to those that are far off, to those that are near"? Why not offer the prayer, "O visit me with Thy salvation, that I may see the good of Thy chosen"? (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A. .) |
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