The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before hill eyes.
A sharp contrast of sin and holiness
I. the character of the wicked (Verses 1-4). Depravity is the sinner’s oracle. Its impulses come to him like those responses from superhuman sources which command the reverence and obedience of mankind. He yields to the seductive influence, and presses forward in the delusion that he will Hover be found out. And so, the fear of punishment being dispelled, he becomes thoroughly bad in heart, speech, and behaviour.
II. the divine excellence (Psalms 36:5-9). The psalmist begins with Jehovah’s loving-kindness and His faithfulness, His fulfilment of promises, even to the undeserving. These fill the earth and reach up to heaven. They transcend all human thought and desire (Ephesians 3:18). Jehovah’s righteousness. His rectitude in general is compared to the mountains of God, mountains which, being produced by Almighty power, are a natural emblem of immensity. Judgments, on the other hand--that is, particular acts of righteousness--are likened to the great deep in its vastness and mystery. “How unsearchable are His judgments!” (Romans 11:33). The next clause shows one of the most touching characteristics of Hebrew poetry in the instantaneous transition from the consideration of God’s unapproachable excellence to that of His providential care, which extends to every living thing, rational or irrational (Psalms 104:1-35; Psalms 145:13-16). The thought of these things makes the singer burst forth in devout rapture: “How precious is Thy loving-kindness!” It is valuable beyond all treasures, since it affords such a sure and ample protection for all who take refuge beneath Jehovah’s outstretched wings (Ruth 2:12). God is represented as a gracious Host who provides for all who come to His house and His table (Psalms 23:5; Psalms 34:9). They are sated with the richest food, and drink of the stream of God’s pleasures or “Edens” (Genesis 2:10). To believers, if they enjoy God’s presence and favour, a crust of bread and a glass of water are incomparably better than a royal banquet without such enjoyment. For with Him is the fountain of all life, animal and spiritual. What matters it that all the streams are cut off when one stands near the fountain-head, and has direct access to it? But just as God is the fountain of life, so is He also the fountain of light (Daniel 2:22), and apart from Him all is darkness. The believing soul lives in an element of light which at once quickens and satisfies the spiritual faculty, by which heaven and heavenly things are apprehended.
III. The concluding prayer (Psalms 36:10-12). To his glowing description of the blessedness resident in God and flowing forth to the objects of His favour, the psalmist appends a prayer that it may be extended or prolonged to the class to which he claims to belong. This class is described, first, as those who know God, “and, as a necessary consequence, love Him, since genuine knowledge of the true God is inseparable from right affections toward Him;” secondly, as the upright, not merely in appearance or outward demeanour, but in heart. Great as God’s loving-kindness is, it is not indiscriminate, nor lavished upon those who neither appreciate nor desire it. The last verse is a mighty triumph of faith. It is as if David said, “There! they have fallen already.” The wicked may be swollen with insolence, and the world applaud them, but he descries their destruction from afar as if from a watch-tower, and pronounces it as confidently as if it were an accomplished fact. The defeat is final and irretrievable. “What is the carpenter’s son doing now?” was the scoffing question of a heathen in the days of Julian, when the apostate emperor was off upon an expedition which seemed likely to end in triumph. “He is making a coffin for the emperor,” was the calm reply. Faith that is anchored upon the perfections of the Most High cannot waver, cannot be disappointed. (T. W. Chambers, D. D.)
A diagnosis of sin
The earlier verses of the psalm are concerned with an analysis of the method and destructiveness of sin. The first four verses describe the successful ravages which sin makes in human life. They give us a diagnosis of evil, from its earliest appearance in the germ to its complete and final triumph. Now how does sin begin? I must take some little liberty with the wording of the psalm before me. I suppose it is one of the most difficult of all the psalms to translate. You will find, if you will look at the marginal rendering in the R.V., that for almost every clause the translators have given us an alternative reading which greatly differs from the reading placed in the text. I choose the marginal reading of the first clause, which, I think, gives us the germ, the first appearances, the beginnings of sin in human life. “Transgression uttereth its oracle,” speaks within himself in tones of imperious authority, lays down certain assurances, interpolates certain suggestions, and clothes them with imperial authority. The devil begins his ministry by oracular suggestions, by mysterious whispers, subtle enticements to sin. That is the germinal work of the devil; a mystic, secret oracle seeking to entice the life into ways of sin. The secret enticement is followed by equally subtle stratagem. “He” (that is, the oracle) “flattereth him in his eyes that his iniquity shall not be found out and be hated.” Two things the oracle says, and he says them with imperial authority. First, that sin shall not be found out, and secondly, that therefore there is no fear of reprobation. It is only a repetition of a word with which we are very familiar in the earlier portion of the old Book. “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die?. .. Ye shall not surely die!” Now pass to the third step in the great degeneracy. The man has been listening to the secret oracle. He has been flattered by its suggestiveness. He is now persuaded by the enticement, and the moral degradation begins apace. “The words”--the first things to be smitten--“The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit.” The first thing that happens as soon as a man listens to the devil is that the bloom goes off the truthfulness of his life. He now enters the realm of equivocation and deceit, his seduction begins to show its fruit at the lips. “He hath left off to be wise”; then he loseth sense; he does not now exercise common sense; he shuts one eye! His intelligence is narrowed, contracted and curtailed. But still further: “He hath left off to do good.” The loss of brotherhood! He may continue to give money; but he has ceased to give self. The claims of philanthropic service no longer appeal to his spirit, they pass by unheeded and ignored. Arid now see what further happens in the stages of moral decay. “He deviseth iniquity”; his imagination becomes defiled. “He setteth himself in a way that is not good. His will becomes enslaved. “He adhorreth not evil.” He has now reached the plain of moral benumbment; his moral palate has been defiled; the distinction between sweet and bitter is no longer apparent, sweet and bitter taste alike. He has no abhorrence of evil, and he has no sweet pleasure in the good. He has lost his power of moral discernment; he is morally indifferent, and almost morally dead. Such is the diagnosis of sin, beginning in the whispered oracle and proceeding to absolute enslavement, passing through the intermediate stages of deception and delight. That is the moral condition of thousands. It is all round about us, and when we are confronted with its widespread devastation, what can we do? The earlier verses of this psalm, which give what I have called “a diagnosis” of sin, were never more confirmed than they are in the literature of our own Lime. The literature of our time abounds in analysis of sin. If you turn to “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” or “Jude the Obscure,” you will find that Thomas Hardy is just carefully elaborating the first four verses of this psalm. But, then, my trouble is this: that when his mournful psalm comes to an end I close his book in limp and rayless bewilderment. That is where so much of our modern literature leaves me. It gives me a fine diagnosis, but no remedial power. But here is the psalmist contemplating a similar spectacle--the ravages of sin, and he himself is temporarily bewildered; he himself is bowed low in helpless and hopeless mood. What does he do? I am very glad that our Revised Version helps by the very manner in which the psalm is printed. After verse four there is a great space, as though the psalm must be almost cut in two, as though the psalmist had gone away from the contemplation of that spectacle, as indeed he has. And where has he gone? He has gone that he might quietly inquire whether the evil things he has seen are the biggest things he can find. When the psalm opens again after the pause, the psalmist is joyfully proclaiming the bigger things he has found. What are they?” Thy loving-kindness, O Lord, is in the heavens.” Mark the vastness of the figures in which he seeks to enshrine the vastness of his thought. “Thy loving-kindness, O Lord, is in the heavens,” bending like a mother’s arms, the shining, cloudless sky! Most uncertain of all uncertainties, and yet “Thy faithfulness reacheth even unto the clouds!’ Those apparent children of caprice, coming and going no one knows how, are in God’s loving control, and obey the behests of His most sovereign will. “Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.” How majestic the figure! The mountains, the symbols of the Eternal, abiding through the generations; looking down upon the habitations of men, undisturbed, unchanged, unmoved. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains! Not that everything becomes clear when a man talks like that; the mystery remains! “Thy judgments,” Thy ways of doing things, “Thy judgments are a great deep,” as immense and unfathomable as the incalculable sea. But then one may endure the mystery of the deep when one is sure about the mountain. When you know that His faithfulness even ruleth the clouds, you can trust the fickle sea, Where had he been to discover these wonderful things? He is not recounting a bald catalogue of Divine attributes; he is announcing a testimony born of a deep and real experience. Where has he been? He has been the guest of God. “Under the shadow of Thy wings.” The security of it! The absolute perfectness of the shelter! The warmth of it! The untroubled peace of it! He has been in God’s house, sheltering there as a chick under its mother’s wings. And then he tells us what he received in the house, what he had when he was a guest, when he was hiding under the wings: “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house.” “Fatness is the top, it is the cream of all spiritual delicacies.” It is the first, the prime thing! “They shall be abundantly satisfied” with the delicacies of Thy table! “Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.” It is not only what there is upon the table; it is the conversation and the fellowship at the board. Thy speech, Thy fellowship, Thy whispers, Thy promises, they just flow out into their souls like a river, and their joy shall be full. “With Thee is the fountain of life!” He was beginning to feel alive again; he was beginning to feel vitalized and renewed. “I am getting inspired again.” And then he added: “In Thy light,” my living God, “in Thy light shall we see light” to do our work away yonder in the fields of sin I The very two things he wanted: life and light I Inspiration and counsel! Encouragement and hope! As the psalmist turned from the Presence Chamber to confront again the spectacle of depravity, he offered a prayer, and this was his prayer: “O continue Thy loving-kindness unto them that know Thee, and Thy righteousness to the upright in heart!” And then, as though he was afraid that when he got back to the waste again, and to the sin again, he himself might be overcome, caught up in the terrible drift and carried along, he added this prayer: “Let not the foot of pride come against me.” Do not let me get into the general tendency of things, and by the general tendency be carried away! He offered a prayer that these cardinal things, the greatest things, might abide with him, and that when he went away into the world’s waste field he might be able to stand. And so this man came out of the secret chamber a knight of God! He goes back, like all men ought to go hack to their work when they have been in the presence chamber of God. We ought to turn to our work singing, always singing, and the songs ought to be, not songs of strife and warfare, but songs of victory. (J. H. Jowett, M.A.)
The character of the wicked and the prayer of the good
I. The character of the wicked.
1. Practical atheism.
2. Self-flattery.
3. Perverse speech.
4. Mischievous devices.
II. The glory of God. Here the Eternal is adored--
1. For what He is in Himself.
(1) His mercy is not a mere sentiment or passion, subject to change, but a principle settled as truth itself.
(2) His rectitude is as settled as the everlasting hills, and the dispensations of His providence are as a trackless, boundless ocean.
2. For what He is to His creatures.
(1) The Preserver of all.
(2) Their loving Guardian.
(3) Their Soul-satisfier. Man’s happiness is participation in God’s own happiness.
III. The prayer of the good.
1. The subject of the prayer.
(1) The continuance of Divine favour.
(2) Protection from evil.
2. The answer (Psalms 36:12). (Homilist)
The remedy for the world’s wickedness
Consider the estimate here made of man’s character and its cause. The language of the text is not that of David only, but of Christ, concerning the world around us. Man’s transgression possessed a language which spoke to his heart, and what it said was this, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Christ knew what the fear of God was, for “He was heard in that he feared”; not, indeed, with the selfish, slavish fear of punishment, which is incompatible with love, and impotent to secure obedience; but that holy, filial fear which is inseparable from love, and which is a comprehensive term for all that constitutes real religion in man. We know the power of this in man’s character, its practical power in giving man victory over the world, and therefore when he saw the transgressions of men he knew that the cause was--“There is no fear of God.” Then he goes to the root of the disease; he puts forward none of the plausible excuses which men make for themselves on the ground of temperament, circumstances, and the like: but he goes to the root, for he knows also the real and only remedy. All others are vain: whether they be secular attempts to improve man’s condition or to enlarge his knowledge, or to improve the institutions of civil government. Men believe in these things, and despise that vital religion which can alone help. What man calls wisdom, and wealth, and science, can do but little good, for they all terminate with creatures; they do not rise up to God. There is nothing in them to alter the real character of man. The reason is, that man, practically considered, is under the dominion, not of his intellect, but of his affections. There is no truth, connected with our composition, that requires and demands from wise men a more accurate and painstaking examination than this; because there is a theory of right in men’s minds, and they deceive themselves into self-complacency by the admiration of the theory, at the moment that practically they are transgressing it. However strengthened the intellect by natural learning, it is still too weak for the conflict. The attracting object, soliciting the affections, gains the man; and he exhibits another specimen of the acknowledgment of the celebrated heathen, who “Knew the best, and yet the worst pursued.” What is to be done for him? “His transgression saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.” There is fear of man; there is a desire to obtain the good opinion of man; but all these are too weak for the conflict. He is still a transgressor, because he is devoid of “the fear of God.” The next verses of the psalm give a remarkable description of his transgression, and show that it is mainly characterized by self-deception. “He flattereth himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful.” It is not perceived to be hateful now, because he does as the world does. There are transgressions in which no man can flatter himself that he is right, but there are others for which he does not condemn himself, because society does not. It is concerning these, particularly, that he goes on flattering himself. And where is the remedy? The language of the psalmist, immediately after this, points out the remedy. “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are a great deep; O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.” Observe the transition. From this contemplation of man’s wickedness, he does not pass to a better class of men, because he was not contemplating that peculiar character of wickedness, in which man differs from man, but he was contemplating the root of man’s malady, in which “there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In immediate contrast, therefore, he refers to the character of God. Here is the only remedy--the character of God as manifested in Jesus Christ. “Mercy,. .. faithfulness,” “righteousness,” “judgment,. .. loving-kindness”--how are these glorious perfections harmonized, but in the Cross of Christ? Here, then, we find the urgency for preaching the Gospel among men. Here we find our stronghold of demand for every effort to promulgate the Gospel amongst our fellow-creatures. They who know the human character best, who have watched most minutely the turning point of man’s feelings and his consequent conduct, know full well that it is the manifestation of God’s love that wins the alienated heart and changes the alienated conduct. (Hugh M’Neils, M. A.)
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity he found to he hateful.--
The deceitfulness of sin
The deceits by which the sinner thus imposes on himself may be very different and various, according to the circumstances and the dispositions of the persons by whom they are admitted, and it is not very easy to discover every one of them. There are, however, some capital and leading ones, pointed out in Scripture, or suggested by history and experience.
I. A studied infidelity, and an affected endeavour to despise the evidence on which the belief of the great and fundamental doctrines of religion stands; such as the existence and perfections of Almighty God, His moral government of this world, and a future judgment.
1. It is the height of folly, either to reject these doctrines of religion, or to treat them with contempt, until we can say we have examined the evidence on which they have been received, with the utmost exactness and candour in our power.
2. Without determining the degree of evidence, which is offered in support of the doctrines of religion, we may venture, nevertheless, to affirm, with strong assurance, that it is at least equal to the evidence upon which men constantly proceed, without the smallest hesitation, in all their other interests.
II. A fond imagination of their own innocence, even in the course of an irregular and sinful life. They artfully persuade themselves that there cannot be such malignity or guilt in what they do as that it should expose them to the displeasure of their Maker, or draw after it any great or lasting punishment: they presume, therefore, God will overlook the irregularities and errors of their lives, or find out some merciful expedient whereby they may escape with safety and success.
1. Notwithstanding the ignorance and corruption of our present state, so much of our original rectitude remains, that without any laboured cultivation, the consciences of men do still perceive a very odious deformity in some instances of wickedness; and lead, not only to a strong indignation against the criminal, but to a strong persuasion that Providence will some time or other interpose, and exert its justice, in his punishment.
2. The marks which God has already given, in the administration of His providence, of His displeasure with the sins of men. What extreme distress have some brought upon themselves by their intemperance; some by their dishonesty, and others by their immoderate ambition. It adds greatly to the weight of this consideration, that these expressions of Divine displeasure are made against such iniquities as are usually disguised in the thoughts of men, under the appearance of innocence, or weakness; as being only a compliance with the appetites implanted in our nature, and with the custom of the world, in which a man has no deliberate impiety and malice in his heart, no intention either to affront his Maker, or to hurt his fellow-men.
III. A groundless and presumptuous dependence on the mercy of almighty God.
1. Although the mercy of Almighty God be infinite, as all His other perfections are, yet it can extend only to those persons who are the proper objects of compassion, and to those cases to which it would be worthy of Him to extend mercy.
2. Let it be observed, that abstracting from the displeasure of Almighty God, and supposing that there was to be no positive exertion of His justice in the case, yet the future punishment of sinners will very probably proceed from the nature and influence of wickedness itself (Galatians 6:7; Proverbs 1:31; Isaiah 3:10).
IV. The sinner’s hoping, at the end of a guilty life, to be saved, by the merit of the Son of God, and the virtue of that great atonement which he made for the sins of men. If the sinner is not able to convince himself that the mercy of his Maker is sufficient, by itself, to ensure his future safety, he trusts, at least, to the all-sufficient sacrifice and merit of his well-beloved Son. But, according to Scripture, they only can be saved by the sacrifice and intercession of the Son of God, who are persuaded by Him to repent of their iniquities, to believe and obey the Gospel (Acts 5:31; Acts 3:19; Hebrews 5:9; Romans 2:6). Were the matter otherwise, were sinners, continuing in their wickedness, permitted to expect salvation through the merits of our Saviour, Jesus would become the minister of sin, an establisher rather than a destroyer of the works of Satan; than which, a more blasphemous reproach could not be thrown upon His character.
V. A precipitant contempt of religion, on account of the weak and wrong representations which have been made of it by some of its mistaken friends. This instance of deceit unhappily prevails, even among those who pretend to superior discernment. But the weakness of it may appear upon a very small attention. Does a wise man conduct himself in this manner in any corer action of his life? Does he despise the truth and usefulness of real science, because of the impertinence and pedantry of mere pretenders to it? Does he despise the useful schemes of commerce, accompanied with the solidest effects, because of the chimerical and idle schemes of mere projectors.
VI. Their hoping and resolving to repent, and turn to God, at some future and more convenient opportunity; at the farthest, in the last period of their lives, or at the approach of death. It is not proposed, at present, to show the extreme absurdity and folly of this conduct, by arguments drawn from the shortness and uncertainty of human life; the hardening influence of a sinful course, which gradually destroys the sensibility of the human conscience. I would only desire ,your attention to the prodigious presumption of the sinner who defers his repentance and return to God to the last period of his life, hoping then to obtain forgiveness from God by his penitence and prayers. What the Creator can do, or what He may have done, independent of the established laws of providence, no man reckons it of importance to inquire; and any person would be deemed a madman or a fool, who directed the measures of his conduct by a regard to such unusual departures from these laws, as the history of the world may possibly furnish some few examples of. That man seems equally foolish and absurd who seeks admission to eternal life otherwise than according to the measures of His mercy, declared and established by the Gospel. (W. Craig, D.D.)
On the deceitfulness of the heart, with regard to the commission of sin
I. Preliminary observations.
1. That all the proofs of the deceitfulness of the heart, which we mean to offer with regard to sin, may not be found in every person, especially in those who are under its power.
2. Many of those things, which are evidences of the deceitfulness of the heart, may be used as temptations by Satan. The wind of Satan’s temptation commonly blows along with the tide of corruption within, whether by deceit, or by violence. Were not this the case, Satan would be divided against himself, and opposing the interests of his own kingdom.
II. How the deceitfulness of the heart appears.
1. In raising doubts in the mind, with respect to what One is inclined to, whether it really be sin.
2. In trying to persuade him that it is a little sin. If the understanding will not be betrayed into a belief that the matter proposed is no sin at all, the heart will strenuously plead that it scarcely deserves the name.
3. By representing the mortification of sin as affording far less pleasure than the gratification of it. Nay, it will presume to urge, not only the difficulty, but the unreasonableness, the cruelty of attempting totally to subdue sin.
4. Sin is exhibited as far more pleasant than it is really found in the commission. The enjoyments of sin are like the apples of Sodom, which, how fair soever they appear to the eye, when grasped by the hand are said to fall to ashes (Proverbs 22:8; Romans 6:21).
5. It represents a renewed opportunity of sin, as promising far greater satisfaction than was ever found before.
6. It pleads that one may indulge sin a little, without altogether yielding to the sin particularly in view.
7. It throws a veil of forgetfulness over the whole soul, with respect to all the painful consequences of sin, formerly felt. That loathsomeness of sin, hatred of self on account of it, or fear of Wrath, which the person experienced after a former indulgence, are entirely vanished; and he now appears to himself as one who feared where no fear was.
8. It entices the imagination into its service. This is not only Satan’s workhouse in the soul; but it may be viewed as a purveyor, which the heart engages in making provision for its lusts.
9. It engages the senses on its side. These are volunteers to the corrupt heart, which it arms in its service, and by which it accomplishes its wicked purposes, when enticing to outward acts of sin. For the voice of the senses will always overpower that of the understanding; if they be not brought into subjection, or presently restrained by grace.
10. In representing sin as properly one’s own, as something belonging to one’s self.
11. By insinuating that committing such a sin once more cannot greatly increase our guilt.
12. By urging the vanity of attempting to resist the temptation. It will plead for yielding to the present assault, from former instances of insufficiency In opposing one of the came nature.
13. It may sometimes endeavour to persuade a man that the present commission of sin will be an antidote for the future, because he will see more of its hatefulness.
14. The heart sometimes urges the commission of sin, as immediately clearing the way to the performance of some necessary duty (Romans 3:8; Genesis 20:11; Genesis 27:19; 1 Samuel 13:11; 1 Samuel 15:22).
15. By persuading a person to lay the commission of sin to the charge of the flesh, and solacing him with the idea that, although he fall into it, he does not really love it.
16. It dissuades him from prayer. Perhaps it reminds him that he has often tried this exercise before, in like circumstances, when he found an inclination to sin, or was assaulted by a temptation; and that it was attended with no success. Or, it may reason that if God hath determined to permit his fall at this time, prayer will not prevent it.
17. It strives to banish a sense of the presence and omniscience of God.
18. The deceitfulness of the heart about sin eminently appears in its self-hardening influence. Sin is the instrument which it uses in this work (Hebrews 13:8). The strength of every lust is commensurate with the power of deceit.
19. The heart will even urge God’s readiness to pardon as an excitement to the commission of sin. This is indeed a dreadful abuse of pardoning mercy.
20. By endeavouring to drive one to despair, after the commission of sin, as being beyond the reach of mercy.
III. Means for obtaining victory over the deceits of the heart with respect to sin.
1. In a dependence on the Spirit, resist the first motions of sin within you.
2. Beware of entertaining doubts with regard to what Scripture and conscience declare to be sin. To doubt is to begin to fall, for it implies unbelief of God’s testimony.
3. Carefully avoid light notions of any sin. To think lightly of sin is to think lightly of God.
4. Guard against the solicitations of your hearts. If these promise you honour, profit, or pleasure in the service of sin, believe them not.
5. Beware of tampering or dallying with sin. Temptation is, to the corrupt heart, sharper than a two-edged sword, and if the point once enter, you may be pierced through with many sorrows.
6. Try to get all your senses armed against sin, or rather barred against it; for this is the best mode of defence. Like Job, make a covenant with your eyes. Endeavour to stop your ears against it. Strive for the mastery over your taste. Put a knife to thy throat, lest thou be given to appetite.
7. Seek a constant sense of the Majesty and Omniscience of God.
8. Pray without ceasing against the deceitfulness of the heart.
9. Improve the strength of Christ, and the grace of His Spirit, for the mortification of sin. (John Jamieson, D. D.)