did, when he was on board the steamer, and could not read the long words, but sucked more sweetness out of the text by spelling it out, than he could have done in any other way.
9. “The Lord.” Well then the Psalmist’s confidence was a divine confidence. He did not say, “I have grace enough to perfect that which concerns me”; “my faith is so strong that I shall not fail”; “my love is so warm that it will never grow cold”; “my resolution is so firmly set that nothing can move it”; — no, his dependence was on the Lord — “The Lord will perfect what concerns me.” And oh Christian, if you have any confidence which is not grounded on the Lord and rooted in the Rock of Ages, your confidence is worse than a dream; it shall deceive you, pierce you, wound you, and cast you down to your own future sorrow and grief. But here, our Psalmist himself builds upon nothing else than upon the Lord’s works. I am sure just as the Lord began the good work in our souls, he has carried it on, and if he does not finish it, it never will be complete. If there is one stitch in the celestial garment of my righteousness, which I am to insert myself, then I am lost. If there is one drachma in the price of my redemption which I am to make up, then I must perish. If there is one contingency — one “if,” or “though,” or “but,” about my soul’s salvation, then I am a lost man. But this is my confidence, the Lord who began will perfect. He has done it all, must do it all, he will do it all. My confidence must not be in what I can do, or in what I have resolved to do, but entirely in what the Lord will do. “The Lord will perfect what concerns me.” “Oh,” says unbelief, “you will never be able to purify yourself from sin. Look at the evil in your heart, you can never sweep that away: look at the evil fashions and temptations of the world that beset you, you will surely be lured aside and led astray.” Ah! yes, I should indeed perish if it depended upon myself. I am only as clay upon the wheel. If I had to fashion myself into a vessel of honour, fit for the Master’s use, I might give up the work in despair. I am only as a little lamb; and if I had to travel through the wilderness by myself, I might indeed lie down and die. Yet if I am clay, he is my potter, and he will not allow me to be marred upon the wheel; and if I am a lamb he is my shepherd, and he carries the lambs in his bosom — he wards off the wolf, he strikes the destroyer, and he brings every sheep into the fold upon the hilltop of glory. The Lord, then, is the Christian’s divine confidence. We can never be too confident when we confide in the Lord. “Jehovah will perfect what concerns me.”
10. Take the next word, “will.” So the Psalmist’s confidence was a confidence for the future; it is not only what the Lord does, but what the Lord will do. I have heard people say that they could only trust a man as far as they could see him; and I have often thought that is about as far as many professors trust God, so far as they can see him, and no farther. They believe God is good when the food is on the table, and the drink is the cup; but would they believe God if the table would be bare, and the cup would be empty? No; they have good faith when they see the ravens coming, that they shall have their bread and meat; but if the ravens did not come, would they believe that even then their bread should be given to them and their water should be certain? They can believe the thing when they receive it, but until they get it they are doubting. The Psalmist’s faith, however, deals with the future, not merely with the present. The “Lord will,” he says, the “Lord will.” He looks on all through his life, and he feels sure that what God has done and is doing he will carry on even to the end. And now you who are afraid about the future, rest with us in this sweet promise. How often do you and I stand stargazing into the future, and trembling, because we think we see various portents, and strange sights, which portend some future trouble. Oh child of God! leave the future to your God. Oh leave everything that is to come in the hand of him to whom the future is already present, and who knows beforehand everything that shall happen to you. Draw from the present living water with which to moisten the arid desert of the future; snatch from the altar fires of today a torch with which to light up the darkness of what is to come. Depend on it, that he who is your sun today, shall be your sun for ever — even in the darkest hour he shall shine upon you; and he who is your shield today shall be your shield for evermore; and even in the thickest part of the battle he shall catch the dart, and you shall stand unharmed.
11. Let us turn to this word “will” once again. There is a little more in it; it does not say the “Lord may,” it does not say, “I hope he will; I trust he will,” but it he says will; “The Lord will perfect what concerns me.” A few months after I first sought and found salvation, I enjoyed the sweet privilege of full assurance, and in talking with a godly Christian I expressed myself very confidently concerning the great truth that God would never forsake his people, nor leave his work undone. I was at once chided; I was told I had no right to speak so confidently, for it was presumptuous. The longer I live, the more I feel persuaded that confidence was proper, and the chiding was not deserved. I believe that the happiest of Christians and the truest of Christians are those who never dare to doubt God, but who take his word simply as it stands, and believe it and ask no questions, just feeling assured that if God has said it — it will be so. The Psalmist in our text had no more doubt about his own ultimate perfection, than he had about his existence. He says, “The Lord will perfect what concerns me.” There are many things that may or may not happen, but this I know shall happen,
He shall present my soul,
Unblemish’d and complete,
Before the glory of his face,
With joys divinely great.
All the purposes of man have been defeated, but not the purposes of God. The promises of man may be broken, many of them are made to be broken, but the purposes of God shall stand, and his promises shall be fulfilled. He is a promise maker, but he never was a promise breaker: he is a promise keeping God, and his people shall prove it to be so. Come then, you who are always hoping amidst trembling, and fear, but are never confident, for once take that doubting note out of your mouth, and say assuredly “the Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” If I am really his child, though full of sin, I shall one day be perfect; if I have really set my heart towards him, I shall one day see his face with joy; and let whatever foes obstruct, I shall conquer through the Lamb’s redeeming blood. He “will perfect what concerns me.” I like to hear God’s people speak diffidently about themselves, but confidently about their God. Doubts are the greatest of sins, and even though Christians have doubts, yet doubts are unchristian things. The spirit of Christ is not a spirit of doubting, but a spirit of believing. Doubts may exist in the hearts of spiritual men, but doubts are unspiritual, carnal, and sinful. Let us strive to get rid of them, and speak confidently where God’s word is confident.
12. Now, take the next word, “The Lord will perfect.” That is a large word. Our Wesleyan brethren have a notion that they are going to be perfect here on earth. I should be very glad to see any of them when they are perfect; and if any of them happen to be in the position of servants and want a job, I would be happy to give them any amount of wages I could spare, for I should feel myself greatly honoured and greatly blessed in having a perfect servant; and what is more, if any of them are masters and want servants, I would undertake to come and serve them without wages at all if I could only find a perfect master. I have had a perfect Master ever since I first knew the Lord, and if I could find that there is another perfect master, I should be greatly pleased in having him as an under-master, while the great Supreme must always be chief of all. Did you ever see a perfect man? I did once. He called upon me, and wanted me to come and see him, for I would get great instruction from him if I did. I said, “I have no doubt of it, but I would not like to come into your house; I think I would be hardly able to get into your room.” How is that? “Well, I suppose your house would be so full of angels that there would be no room for me.” He did not like that; so I broke another joke or two upon his head; whereupon he went into a perfect furore. “Well friend” I said to him, “I think I am as perfect as you after all; do perfect men get angry?” He denied that he was angry, although there was a peculiar redness about his cheeks that is very common to people when they are angry; at any
