The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 3 — Section 196

enemies of God's people, shall not abide upon the land. The trial is- to prove faith, not to endanger it by a too sharp pressure; lest, overcome by t\is, even t.lie faithfui put forth a hand (as in Gen. iii. 22) to forbidden pleasure, or (01 in Exod. xxii. 8) ta contamination; through force of custom gradually persuading to sinful compliance, or through despair of good, as the psalmist (Ps. lxxiii. 13, 14; see, too, Ps. xxxvii. ; Numb. xiii. 30) describes some in his day who witnessed the prosperity of wicked men.n Observe what is the supreme anxiety of the psalmist: "That the righteous put not forth their hands unto iniquity." Israel had been redeemed from the Captivity, that it might be a "righteous nation," and its supreme anxiety ought to be keeping righteous. I. THE PURPOSE OF DIVINE REDEMPTION IS NOT REMOVAL OF PERIL, Not entirely. This is not the main purpose. It is incidental. It is necessary as preparation. The great redemption bas been much misapprehended, because its relation to the removal of penalty has been exaggerated. Save for its moral iafluence upon him, to lie under a penalty is not one of the worst things that can happen to a man. ll. THE PURPOSE OF DIVINE REDEMPTION IS NOT SAFETY. It involves and secures safety, but this again is only incidental. It is not only a mistake, but an enfeebling mistake, to be resting in an assurance that we "are saved, and safe." That, after all, is no more than a comfortable circumstance, which only too readily nourishes self- confidence and pride. III. THE PURPOSE OF DIVINE REDEMPTION IS RIGHTEOUSNESS, That is the absolute purpose, within which all others are embraced. Israel was redeemed from Egypt, to be a people holy unto the Lord. Israel was restored from Babylon, to be a righteous nation. God's thought, in undertaking a redemptive work in any man, is the witness that man will make by his righteousness. No profession, and no works, can ever take the place of this one thing. If called, we are called to be "saints." IV. WHAT Goo's REDEMPTION MAKES us WE" OUGHT TO KEEP, It is the fear of Israel's falling from its high ideal that distresses the psalmist. He dreads " the righteous putting forth his hand unto iniquity." "He that is righteous must be righteous still."-R. T. Ver. 4.-The claim of the upright. "Do good, 0 Lord, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts." The upright man has a right to plead on the ground of his uprightness. But observe that the right to plead is quite different from the right to demand; and that the claim of the upright is based on the Divine meroy, consideration, and promise. The man is what God would have him be. The man may claim God's promises of blessing to those who are what he would have them be. 1. 'l'HE CLAIM OF THE UPRIGHT IB BASED ON HIS RECEPTIVITY. 'l'he man wants God's blessing, is ready for it, and is open to receive it, But this is something new for self- satisfied, self-serving man. It indicates another spirit. '!'his man will be prepared to make the best of God's blessings when they come. 'l'he hindrances of sell:.will, divided interests, nnd insincerity are taken out of the way. It is as if the photographic plate were now made sensitive to the Divine blessing. The real reason for the holding off of Divine blessing is usually our unfitness to receive. 'l'herei'ore is tho cultuJ\ of our inward moods of such first and supreme importance. God is to us as we are. II. THE 0LAIM OF THE UPRIGHT IS BASED ON THE NA'l'URE OF THINGS. Like evet comes to like. Like is kin with like. Just as friends and true lovers come together by a kind of natural affinity, so do things. C!enn things come to clean. Intelligeul things come to intelligent persons. Sincere things come to sincere persons. Truth comes to men of truth. God's goodness comes to men of goodness. 'l'his is embodied in familiar sayings, such as this, "Virtue is its own reward." True, here are disturbances which break into the natural order; but we do well to keep in mind that the worki □ g of the natural order continues, nevertheless. "Righteousness tendeth unto life." III. 'l'm;; OLAIM OF THE UPRIGHT IS BASED ON THE DIVINE PROMISES. Hero we may think of the special, but conditional, promises given to the restored Israelite nation. Dot the special thought, running in the line of the previous suggestions, is (1) that the Divine promises assure to us the continued working of the natural order; and (2) that the Divine promises assure the intervention of Divine wis,lom and love in those things which disturb, end tend to break up, \he natural order. "To the upright thou wilt ■how thyself upright."-R. T.  THE BOOK OF PSALMS. trs. CXXVI, 1-6.