Psalms 51:6

Psalms 51:6

Life is a journey, and the training of the soul by the toils and changes of its pilgrimage is expressed by the law that the character undergoes a gradual preparation, and that thai preparation is subject to an apparently sudden close.

I. What is the hindrance in the human soul to a right application of this fundamental law? The answer broadly is this: The poison of character. Pride and sensuality are the chief evils that poison character.

II. To counteract this, we need to establish the undisputed authority of truth. Jesus Christ is the Truth. The Church is the unfolding of Jesus Christ, and He is the Revealer of the Father. It is by the illumination of grace that the harmony of truth is seen, and only so; it is by the co-operation of will, assisted by the grace of God, that man can see and use what he sees.

III. To direct the soul in the path of preparation, it is needful then that that soul should be struggling to be true. This desire is cramped, is injured, by the Fall. And one of the blessed gifts of the regenerate is a more earnest revival of such desire. There are at least three forms of conspiracy against truth observable in human character: (1) hypocrisy; (2) "cant;" (3) insincerity. Truth of heart is that heavenly principle whereby each soul is guided to a blessed result, under the action of the law of life in subjection to which we prepare to meet our Redeemer and our Judge. God is truth, and God is reigning. They who " will to do His will shall know." Seek, above all, to be true, for truth is like Him; and truth is therefore the first condition of a soul's perfection.

J. Knox-Little, Manchester Sermons, p. 125.

References: Psalms 51:6 . Preacher's Monthly, vol. ii., p. 28; New Manual of Sunday-school Addresses, p. 168; W. Hay Aitken, Newness of Life, p. 50; F. W. Farrar, In the Days of thy Youth, p. 358; F. D. Maurice, Sermons in Country Churches, p. 190. Psalms 51:7 . C. J. Evans, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 357; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1937; E. J. Hardy, Faint yet Pursuing , p. 123.Psalms 51:7-12 . R. S. Candlish, The Gospel of Forgiveness, p. 391.