godV interest in his people.
Ps. xxxvii. 23, 24. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord ; and he delighteth in his ivay. Though he fall, he shall not he utterly cast doton : for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
THAT Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, should regard one rather than another amongst the sinners of mankind, appears incredible ; and for any one to imagine himself to be amongst those who
565.] god's interest in his people. 299
are pre-eminently favoured by him, would be judged a height of arrogance, to which scarcely any one of a sound mind could be supposed to have attained. But the Holy Scriptures are extremely clear, and full, and definite upon this point. God does condescend to notice with peculiar kindness those who walk uprightly before him ; whilst he beholds with indig- nation and abhorrence those who, whether openly or in secret, rebel against him. To establish this is the great scope of this psalm, wherein the states of the godly and of- the ungodly are contrasted with each other in this respect. From the words which I have just read, we shall necessarily be led to notice,
I. The interest which God takes in his people —
" He orders their steps" — [In the marginal translation it is said that a good man's steps are " established" by the Lord. The fact is, the Lord so orders them, that they may be established. The very first work of the Lord in his people, is, to bring them to Christ, and to " establish them in Christ ^" Till this is done, they never
take any step that can effectually bring them to heaven
When that is done, then they are enabled to " w^alk in Christ''," and, by strength derived from him, to advance in righteous- ness and true holiness ]
" He delights in their ways" — [True, their ways are far from perfect : and, if God were to be " extreme to mark what is done amiss," no man living- could stand before him. But God looks rather at the priti- ciple from whence their actions proceed, and at the end for which they are done, than at the perfection of the actions themselves ; and when he sees that their actions proceed from love, and are done for the glory of his name, he cannot but feel delight, both in the persons themselves, and in the works they perform ; even as a parent delights in the services of a loving and duteous child, not considering so much the excellence of the act as the disposition manifested in the performance of it. On another ground, too, Jehovah delights in the ways of his people, namely, because they are " the fruits of his Spirit" working in them ^. In this view there is not an act that they perform, which is " not pleasing and acceptable in his sight d" ]
" He upholds them with his hand" —
a John vi. 44, 65. and 2 Cor. i. 21. ^ Col. ii. 6.
« Gal. v. 22, 23. <' Heb. xiii. 16. 1 Pet. hi. 4. Phil. i. 11.
300 PSALMS, XXXVIL 23, 2i. [565.
[Notwithstanding the grace given unto them, they are yet weak and frail, so that " still in many things they offend'^ ;" and, if left to themselves, they would eternally perish. " There is not a just man on earth that liveth and sinneth not^." But in this the righteous differ from the wicked, that, notwith- standing they fall, yea, and " fall seven times, they rise again ; whilst the wdcked, in their falls, are left to perish^." The Lord Jesus Christ has engaged for them that " none shall ever pluck them out of his hands '\" And this is fulfilled to every one of them, insomuch, that " of those whom the Father in liis everlasting covenant gave unto his Son, not one ever was, or shall be, lost'." They all, in their respective generations, are " kept by the power of God through faith unto everlasting salvation "^ " ]