(1.) When he was conscious that his soul was cleaving to the dust, he was not content to leave it there. He did not say that it could not be helped, and so make it an excuse for sin. He did not do as some people do with reference to their temper,—say they have the misfortune of a bad temper, and therefore consider themselves not to be blamed when they break out in a passion, or settle down in a sulky fit. He resolutely, determinately, and prayerfully grappled with the difficulty. He was conscious of sin, but he could not endure the thought of it. He could say from the bottom of his heart, ‘I hate and abhor lying; but Thy law do I love and it was because he loved the law, and hated the sin, that he came before God with the cry, ‘Lord, I am Thine: save me!’ So we may be perfectly sure that if a person be really born of God, the knowledge of indwelling sin will never lead him to settle down in the apathy of hopelessness; but will arouse him, by the sense of danger, to watch, to pray, to trust, to strive, to conquer, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the power of the Holy Ghost.
(2.) But while David was thus energetic in his struggle, and allowed no compromise with sin, he was evidently brought to the acknowledgment of his own helplessness. With reference to the past he could say, ‘I have sought Thy precepts;’ and with reference to the present, ‘I love Thy commandments above gold: yea, than much fine gold.’ But notwithstanding all his painstaking, he found he could not raise his own heart above the dust, and was still obliged to acknowledge the truth of the words, ‘No man hath quickened his own soul.’ Thus the words, ‘Lord, save me!’ implied that he had given up all hope of saving himself; and when we offer the same prayer, there is the same act of self-renunciation as well as faith. I do not say that we shall give up the most diligent and devout endeavours after holiness, for we shall ‘press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus;’ but that in the midst of it all we shall both know and acknowledge our own utter helplessness; and thank God for that passage in Rom. v. 6, in which we are taught that ‘when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.’ I commend that ‘yet’ to the careful consideration of all those who are painfully conscious of their own inability to rise.
(3.) But while this prayer implied self-renunciation as well as trust, it implied on the other hand trust as well as self-renunciation. When we pray, ‘Lord, save me,’ we clearly recognise His saving power. We know (as we are taught in Heb. vii. 25) that ‘He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him and therefore we come to God by Him that we may be saved. The saving in that sense is exactly the same as the saving in the text. It is not the first acceptance of the repentant sinner seeking salvation, but it is the habitual saving throughout the life; for the point of the text is that it is continued to the uttermost, or to the end. It is a saving carried on after the first great saving act is complete. I am anxious to press this on your attention, because I am inclined to think that it is the secret of the fresh help which many persons appear to have lately received. I cannot say I am sure of it; for the statements on the subject are so confused, that it is almost impossible to disentangle them. It is possible therefore that I may be entirely mistaken. But, whether it is or not, you will see in a moment the vast difference between knowing that there is a Saviour able to save, and resting in a Saviour who is actually and continually engaged in saving you; between being anxious to obtain the help of a certain physician, and being under that physician’s care; between hanging on a wreck and seeing a life-boat near you, and being in the life-boat, and, though still beaten by the storm, safe in the strong arm of the Deliverer. Now this is our position in Christ Jesus. We are not seeking to reach the life-boat, for we are in it, as David was when he said, ‘Lord, I am Thine.’ The storm is not over, the harbour is not yet reached; but the harbour is in sight, and our Father is at the helm. David clearly prayed to Him as to one who had already begun His saving work, as you will clearly see if you compare the 88th and 93rd verses. In the 88th he prays, ‘Quicken me after Thy loving-kindness;’ and in the 93rd he shows that the quickening was already begun, for he says, ‘I will never forget Thy precepts, for with them Thou hast quickened me.’ You will see in a moment what an enormous difference this distinction must make in daily life. If you are looking up to Him as one from whom you are only seeking help, you may be perfectly sure of His sufficiency, but it will not satisfy the anxieties of your soul: but if you are actually enjoying His help, so that you can say, as the Psalmist did, ‘My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped,’ then you may add, as he did, ‘Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth, and with my song will I praise Him.’ Look on Him then as one who is engaged in bearing you home; acknowledge what He has done in the past, trust Him for what He will do in the future, and meanwhile rest in what He is doing now,—just as St. Paul did when, speaking of temporal deliverance, he said (2 Cor. i. 10), ‘Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver.’ That one verse brings before us the past, present, and future,—the ‘yesterday, to-day, and for ever,’—the Lord Jesus a very present help, and a help to the end. He has redeemed you by His own most precious blood, and saved you from all condemnation of the law: that is done and perfected for ever. He has sanctified, or separated, you in Christ Jesus, to be a purchased possession unto God: that is done likewise, and done for ever. He has begun a good work in you, and made you new creatures in Christ Jesus: that, too, is done, thanks to His mercy! He is now holding you in His hand, guiding you by His counsel, helping you by His power, and giving you the victory even over the indwelling sin which still lives, though He will not let it reign, within your heart. This is going on now: so that now, even now, He is quickening you, and when you are deeply and profoundly humbled for all that you have done and left undone, and when, under the painful conviction of indwelling sin, you are compelled to acknowledge that your ‘soul cleaveth unto the dust,’ you may still in happy, peaceful, loving trust, look up to Him who is even now bearing you in His arm, and say, ‘Lord, I am Thine: save me.’
THE HOLY NAME SANCTIFIED.
‘And He said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.’—Luke, xi. 2.
We are all in the habit of using this prayer every day,—for I hope that there is not one amongst us who presumes to think that he has reached a spiritual life beyond it. We use it with the utmost thankfulness,—for it expresses the deep and unceasing wants of the human heart; and, as far as I myself am concerned, I do not think that it occurs too often in our liturgy. This clause may be called ‘The child’s first prayer.’ It is the first desire of the child of God, poured forth morning by morning into his Father’s ear. But have you ever considered how it bears on the subject of Sanctification, which we have been recently considering? Are you aware that the two words, to ‘hallow’ and to ‘sanctify,’ mean the same thing, and may be interchanged one with another, so that exactly the same idea would have been expressed had the clause been rendered, ‘Sanctified be Thy name?’ But so it is: and therefore in this prayer we pray every day of our lives that God’s own name may be ‘sanctified.’
Now it will be clear in a moment to every one of you, that when the expression is thus applied to God Himself, and to His name, it must mean something very different to what it does when it is applied to ourselves. It cannot mean separation unto God, for it is applied to Him who from all eternity has been essentially separate. Nor can it be used in the sense of ‘making holy,’ for perfect and unblemished holiness is the very essence of His Godhead. What then does it mean? It means that the holiness of His name should be known and honoured; and that whenever His name is named, there should be the recognition and exhibition of His holiness. It is a prayer, in fact, that His holiness may be glorified, and that throughout the world He may be obeyed and revered as a holy God.
This sanctifying, or hallowing, of the name of God Himself shall be our subject for this morning. And may He Himself grant that His name may be sanctified in this very sermon! Let our prayer be, ‘Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.’
The first point to which I would draw your attention is that He is sanctified in His people. His power is manifest in the world: His holiness in His Church. It is by the Church that is to be known, even to principalities and powers in heavenly places, the manifold wisdom of God. The Church of God is gathered from a rebel world in order that God in it may display His holiness, and so make proof of His character. He manifests himself amongst His people, and this manifestation is witnessed by the world. You see this very clearly in such a passage as Ezek. xxxvi. 23: ‘The heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.’ God would be so sanctified in His people that the heathen should be persuaded of His Godhead. So you read in Levit. x. 3: ‘I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ Now mark what a lesson there is in this for ourselves. In one sense we are all come nigh to God, for we have all been baptized into His name. We all meet in His house as His worshippers; and many of us delight in the sacred privilege of drawing near to Him in His sacramental feast. I hope it may be said of many in the reality of their souls’ salvation, as it may certainly be said of all in the externals of their Christianity,—that they are ‘a people nigh unto Him.’ But if so, He is to be sanctified in us. We who draw nigh unto Him, are to be like the glass reflecting His image: it is in us that His character is to be exhibited, and His holiness made manifest before the world. We are to be changed into His image, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, so that in us ought to be seen that image, and in us the holiness of His name should be exalted amongst men.
But now follows the question,—In what way and by whom, must His name be hallowed, or sanctified, in His people? In answer to this we shall find, if we study Scripture, that it will be sanctified by His people, and also by Himself. It will be however sufficient for our present purpose if we confine our attention to its sanctification by His people, as described in these words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘They shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob.’