If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
A psalmist’s question and answer
I want to cheer some of you who at present hardly dare to pray. Yet you are the very people who may pray; you who think that the Lord will never hear you are the people whom lie is certain to hear and answer. When you are cleaned right out, when even the last rusty counterfeit farthing has been emptied out of your pocket, and you stand before your God as a wretched, starving, and bankrupt beggar, your abject poverty and dire need will commend you to His mercy and love.
I. First, we have a confession,--a confession which it will be well for every one of us to make (verse 3).
1. The psalmist may have felt that, if a human witness had been appointed to mark his sin, he might have been able to stand; but he says, “If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who shall stand?” You have sometimes had a white pocket handkerchief, and you have admired its whiteness; but when the snow has fallen, and you have laid your handkerchief upon the newly-fallen snow, it has looked quite yellow instead of white; and so is it with the holiest life when it is placed by the side of the life of Christ, or looked at in the light of the perfect law of God; then we see how stained and defiled it really is. So, Lord, we might stand up before our fellow-men, and plead “Not guilty,” when they belie and slander us, as they do; but, before Thy holy presence, “if Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?”
2. The psalmist also speaks of a special form of guilt. He does not say, “If Thou shouldest mark open and overt transgression,--the breaking out of bounds, and going astray in the paths of evil”; but he says, “If Thou shouldest mark iniquities.” Pull that word to pieces, and it becomes in-equities”--whatever is not right in the sight of God. If He were to mark those in-equities, who could stand before Him? Not one of us could do so.
3. Notice, next, how the psalmist inquires, “Who shall stand?” If there were any way of getting into heaven by a back door, or of hiding our sins from God’s eye, we might have some ground of hope; but there will come a day when we shall stand before God like prisoners at the bar. David, who probably wrote this psalm, had known many good men in his time, and he was accustomed to associate with the excellent of the earth; yet he says, “O Lord, who shall stand?” And I may repeat his question now, since God has marked our iniquities, “Who among us can stand in His sight upon the footing of our own good works?” Echo answers, “Who?”
II. The psalmist’s confidence (verse 4).
1. We know that there is forgiveness with God, because we have been informed by revelation concerning the character of God; and we find one prominent feature in the character of God is that “lie delighteth in mercy.”
2. Moreover, this impression, conveyed to us by the general tenor of the Scriptures, is deepened by the direct teaching of the Gospel. Why did Jesus come into the world to be a Saviour if God does not delight to save the lost? Why did He offer an atonement if it were not that sin might be put away by that atonement?
3. Further, we are assured that God will forgive sin because we have so many definite promises to that effect. This blessed Book is as full of promises and proclamations of mercy as an egg is full of meat. It abounds in messages of love and grace; it tells us that God willeth not the death of the sinner, that He delighteth not in judgment, for that is His left-handed work, but that His compassion freely moves towards the blackest and vilest of sinners when they repent, and return unto Him.
III. The consequence of forgiveness. “There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.” Thus, you see, the doctrine of free forgiveness actually produces in man’s mind a fear of God. You might have thought the psalmist would have said, “There is no forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared”; but it is not so.
1. The opposite of our text is very manifest. When there is no forgiveness, or when a man thinks there is none, what is the consequence? He is driven to despair, and despair often leads to desperate living. If there is no hope of forgiveness, then there is no proper fear of God.
2. Many are abiding in a state of carelessness, because they really do not know whether there is any pardon to be had. When a man is in doubt as to whether he can be forgiven, he says, “I am afraid it would be a very long process, and I do not know whether I should get it even then. Perhaps, however, there is no pardon to be had, so I might become a religious man, and yet miss the forgiveness of sins.” That is the thought of many, and therefore they become torpid and lethargic, careless and indifferent; but when the Holy Spirit teaches a man that there is forgiveness to be had, he would leap out of his very body rather than miss it.
3. How encouraging, too, is the belief that there is pardon to be had! But, more, how sanctifying is the actual reception of it! Walk carefully, prayerfully, humbly before God and men, putting your trust, not in yourselves, but in Christ alone, and you shall then find, in your experience, the best exposition of the text, “There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared”; for you will prove, by your own fear of God, which is continually before your own eyes, that His free, rich, sovereign grace, manifested in your pardon, did not produce in you indulgence in sin, but gave you the sweet liberty of walking in holiness, and in the fear of the Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The sinner without excuse before God
I. Explain the meaning of the assertion. If Thou, Lord, shouldst execute the decrees of justice, and punish everything that is done amiss, the holiest man on earth would not be able to abide the trial; how much less would such a sinner as I be able to stand?
II. Confirm this truth from scripture and experience.
1. It is the constant doctrine of the Holy Scriptures; it is the uniform language of humility and penitence there (Psalms 143:2; Job 9:2-4; Job 40:4-5; Job 42:5-6; Psalms 19:12; Lamentations 3:22-23).
2. I shall propose three general subjects of examination.
(1) Hew many duties have you omitted which you must be sensible you ought to have performed?
(2) How often have you been guilty of express transgressions of the law of God?
(3) How many blemishes and imperfections cleave to those very duties which you endeavour to perform in obedience to his will?
III. Practical application.
1. How great is the deceitfulness of sin! How astonishing the blindness of sinners!
2. If the holiest cannot stand before God, if no flesh living can be justified in His sight, how fearful must be the state of those who are lying under the guilt of atrocious, aggravated, and repeated crimes!
3. If any Christian desires to keep his ten-science tender and faithful, to have a deep, growing and humbling sense of his own sinfulness; if he would bar the gate against the entrance of pride, or banish it after it has obtained admission; if he desires to walk humbly and watchfully, let him live as in the presence of God, let him often sift himself at His awful tribunal. (J. Witherspoon, D. D.)