A Sermon: If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

BY THE REV. GEORGE HUTCHESON, M.A., of Edinburgh and Irvine.
(Sixth Sermon of Series on Psalm cxxx.)
(Continued from vol. xxii., page 375.)

“If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?”—PSALMS cxxx. 3.

I AM (as ye remember) from this verse, making out a very weighty and sad point of truth, that there is no standing before God, marking iniquities in strict justice, according to the covenant of works; and for finding out what is said in this text, for bottoming and clearing of this point, I proposed to remark six particulars from the text, two of which I have spoken to in the forenoon, to wit, that which is supposed here, that God is a marker of iniquity, and what it imports; and, secondly, that which is proposed on this supposition, that if God should mark iniquity, as was explained, men, even the most godly men, could not stand, where somewhat was said to the importance of that phrase.

Now I proceed in explication of the point from the text (for to that I confine myself) in other four particulars; the first, and third in order shall be this: that this assertion, that men cannot stand before God marking iniquity, is of infallible verity, a most certain and infallible truth; it is not a bug-bear to affright children, but the infallible truth of God. This is hinted at in the text, partly in the psalmist his proposing the matter to God, “If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand?” He proposes it to God, who knows this matter better than any other, and who is supreme Judge in the matter, without whose determination, a decree in our own favour will signify nothing at all. It imports, “O Lord, let men dream what they will of their standing, thou knowest, that none can stand, if thou shalt mark iniquity, to punish it.” And particularly, the infallible verity of this assertion may be gathered from the way of proposing it, and that is, by way of question, “Who shall stand?” Which question is a very peremptory denial of the thing questioned, for so the like question is resolved, Job xiv. 4, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” Yea, the proposing of it by way of question, “Who shall stand?” doth import a defiance to any to attempt it, or to succeed in their attempt, and indignation at the presumption of any, that should dream of standing before God, marking iniquity.

Universal Verity of this Assertion

But in the fourth place, as this assertion is of infallible verity, so it is of universal verity. This is held out in the question, for the question is, “Who shall stand?” That is as the parallel question is answered, Job xiv. 4, “None at all, good or bad. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, none shall stand;” for the psalmist here, a godly man, is taking in himself with others, as a man that could not stand himself without pardon. And so the phrase is, Psalms cxliii. 2, “Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” The best of men that are come of Adam by ordinary generation, shall not be justified, if thou mark iniquity. Hence in Scripture it is clear, that saintship consists not in sinlessness, but in sincerity. As for original guilt, see in that, Job xiv. 4, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” And for a man’s endeavours after he is brought into God, and is wrestling with corruptions to have these purged out, says Solomon, Proverbs xx. 9, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” Eccles. vii. 20, “There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not;” but as it is, James iii. 2, “In many things we offend all.” Thus ye see that saintship doth not consist in sinlessness, but in sincerity. Neither doth saintship consist in the saints’ sins not deserving condemnation, or in their being able to stand, though they have sinned, but in their sins being pardoned. Hence ye will find them sadly exercised in wrestling under the burden of guilt, upon their gross out-breakings, as David, Psalms li. Ye have them praying for the pardon of great iniquity, Psalms xxv. 11, “For thy name’s sake, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” Ye have them pleading for mercy upon the account of innumerable evils compassing them, and their iniquities taking hold of them, and being more than the hairs of their head, Psalms xl. 11, 12. And when they are delivered from gross out-breakings, ye have them with Paul (Romans vii.), groaning under a body of sin and death, till they attain to a song of thanksgiving through Jesus. So that not only doth the text hold out the infallible verity of this truth, but the universal verity of it, that if God mark iniquity, none can stand.

Eyeing God Much

The fifth thing I gather from the text is, that the infallible and universal verity of this assertion, that if God mark iniquity, none can stand, might be gathered and closed with, if men were eyeing God much; this I gather from the text, where the psalmist repeats the name of God twice, “If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity?” and then again, “O Lord, who,” etc. Wherefore is this twice repeated in this assertion? Certainly not by way of idle repetition, condemned (Matthew vii. 21) in many that say, “Lord, Lord;” nor merely because the psalmist is affected with that which he is speaking of, for so the expression of affections, or men’s being affected with a thing, is expressed by a doubled exclamation, which may come in in its own place, when I speak of the pardon of sin; but here, it is to make this truth out, that serious and frequent repeated thoughts of God is a mean to give folk a right sense of the desert of sin. And to make out this, consider, partly that when we seriously think of God, we know that He is omniscient, to find out that which is hid from the world; omniscient, to find them guilty that are innocent to others; omniscient, to know more of us than we know of ourselves; a consideration that John would have us marking, 1 John iii. 20, “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” If we know so much naughtiness of ourselves, by ourselves, what must God know, who knoweth all things? And Paul makes use of this consideration, 1 Cor. iv. 4, “I know nothing by myself” (to wit, in the administration of his office); “yet I am not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.” Partly, if we will consider what is imported in the names of God, here made use of by the psalmist, we will find it further clear. The first name Jah, is a diminutive from Jehovah, that imports a supreme independent being. The second name Adonai, signifies his dominion and lordship. Ponder these well, and what a dreadful sight will it afford of the unspeakable desert of sin? A sinner in sinning rebels against a supreme Being, from whom he hath his being. This is made a great aggravation of sin to Belteshazzar, the greatest monarch on earth, Daniel v. 23, “Thou hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven . . . the God in whose hands thy breath is;” “Thou hast renounced thy dependence on Him, from whom thou hast thy being.” Sin is also casting off of the yoke of His dominion and lordship; it says upon the matter, that which ye have asserted of wicked men, Psalms xii. 4, “They say, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is Lord over us?” That’s the language of every sinner in sinning, and not only doth the sinner by sinning cast off the yoke of God’s dominion, but he denies His power and justice to exercise that dominion to do Him skaith; therefore when the Lord would move men to fear Him, He gives an account of His dominion over the creatures, and instanceth it, in His bounding of the sea, Jer. v. 22, “Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it?” etc. A consideration that a sinner in sinning, minds not, or he does defy it. Thus it is not unfitly determined that though sin be not infinitely ill in its kind, for then no distinction should be among sins, nor an infinite ill in its being, for then all sins should be one, or equal, and a finite creature cannot act that which is infinite, yet safely it may be said, that in respect of the Person against whom it is committed, it hath an infinite ill in it objectively, as being against an infinite majesty, in being and dignity; and, consequently, there is no standing if he mark it.

Saints’ Studies of Sinfulness

But sixthly, for further proof of this assertion, and for proof that the saints do so see God as to give them a right sense and sight of the desert of sin, I shall add this in the text, that when the saints are in a right frame, they are great students of the exceeding sinfulness and heinousness of their sin. Therefore a saint sees that none can stand before God, marking iniquity, because, when a saint sees God to be his party, and is in a right frame, he passes no sin, as insignificant or little, but he is an aggravator of his sin; and this I gather from the name that the psalmist gives sin in the text, “If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities.” He calls them not only many iniquities in the plural number (of which I shall not now speak), but iniquities gross in their nature, and “If thou, Lord, saith he, shouldst mark sins, as such, who could stand?” If I thought that I would not be cut short by the time, I would here observe, that the name of iniquity and transgression is frequently given to sins of a grosser nature, not ordinary, that are contradistinguished to the ordinary infirmities of the saints—to these sins, Deut. xxxii. 5, of which it may be said, “They are not the spots of his children;” to these sins, of which David says, Psalms xviii. 21, 23, “I have not wickedly departed from my God, and I have kept myself from mine iniquity;” and to these sins which Daniel (ix. 5) confesseth, “We have sinned, and committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.” But yet I find the saints, even in speaking of their ordinary infirmities, not sparing to give them the name of iniquities and transgressions, as Psalms lxv. 3, “Iniquities prevail against me, O Lord; as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away;” where sins get the name of iniquities, and iniquities prevailing against saints, and the name of transgressions. In Psalms xl. 12, “The sins that were innumerable, and more than the hairs of David’s head,” were his ordinary failings, yet they are said to “compass him about,” and are called iniquities that had taken hold of him, so that he was not able to look up. And if it be enquired, “Upon what account the saints do look on all their sins as iniquities and transgressions?” I might observe from that, Psalms xxxii. 5, “I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin,” that every sin, as well as gross sins, hath an iniquity, a perverseness in it, that must be pardoned. But ye shall particularly take notice of these three: (1) That the tender and sensible frame of saints, leads them not to extenuate, but to aggravate their sin; they dare not minch their sin; their tender frame leads them to lay it out in all the aggravating circumstances thereof; and it’s a fruit of their tenderness so to do. And (2) a sight of God (which is here implied in the psalmist) is a magnifying glass, wherein a saint will be made to see and look upon sin, even the least sin, as most heinous. It made Job (xlii. 6) to abhor himself; and Isaiah (vi. 5) to cry out, “Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.” A sight of God will represent a very ordinary infirmity, as very heinous to him that sees God. But (3), and lastly, every sin, even the meanest infirmity in a man, proves an iniquity, if he think lightly of it, or thinks he may pass it lightly, without running to the remedy of pardoning mercy. The least sin he is guilty of, will on that account be an iniquity.

Now, having taken some time to lay open this weighty point, anent the desert of sin, before you, that which I have said in explication of it to you, might easily be made practical by you, if ye were attentive, and applying it to yourselves; yet for your help herein, I shall add somewhat for use.

General Use

The general use is, to intreat you, as ye love the eternal happiness of your souls, to learn to say over this text sensibly, with application to yourselves. “If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, O Lord, I cannot stand.” It were a blessed part of a very lawful liturgy, for a man once a day, to say this over, “Lord, if thou mark iniquity, I cannot stand.” Let me exhort you to mind this more, to make it your daily study to be sensible of the sinfulness of sin, and of the dreadful desert of sin, that ye be lost folk in your own eyes. This is a matter that is but dallied with by the most part, and so is seen on it. Ye are such strangers to the law, and Sinai, that the gospel and Sion have but little employment among you; it doth not relish with you as it ought. There are none that can say, “But forgiveness is with thee, that thou mayest be feared;” but they that can say, “If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, who shall stand?” Pardoning mercy may well get compliments; it will be sweet news to none else, but such as have seen, and are sensible of the dreadful desert of sin; nay, none others have right to the remedy of pardoning mercy.

Five-fold Consideration

And to help both good and bad to be more sensible, I would offer a five-fold consideration, to drive home the truth of this assertion, that if God mark iniquity, none can stand.

1. Wilt thou take a look of God, thy party, in sinning; consider Him in His supreme dominion over thee, to impose what duty He pleases, and that His will is the law of righteousness. Consider Him in His omniscience, to know how thou observest these duties He enjoins, and comest up to that law which is thy rule. Thou mayest cheat the world and thyself, but God thou canst not cheat. Wilt thou consider Him further in His holiness and purity, abhorring sin in all, and in thee? O how loathsome and abominable is the pollution of sin to Him, a holy Lord God! which makes him say, Isaiah i. 13, “Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.” And lastly, consider God in His power and justice, that if He put forth His dominion, to call thee to account, thou being considered in thyself, what will the issue be but that Hebrews x. 31, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” where there is not a cautioner to interpose betwixt justice and thee? Consider God thus, if thou wouldst be sensible of the desert of sin.

2. When thou hast taken a right look of God, in His supreme dominion, omniscience, holiness, purity, power and justice, cast up the sum of thy debt, which thou art owing to this party, and thou wilt be like that man (Matthew xviii. 24) that was owing ten thousand talents. Consider the law in its spiritual sense and meaning, and thou wilt find that Paul found himself guilty upon the account of his concupiscence before it came to the consent of the will, and so art thou. Consider that the law condemns evil thoughts, unripe and indeliberate motions, and how many of these art thou guilty of! Again consider the gospel, what a mass of duties it commands, or recommends, upon the account of gospel-encouragements, and what a vast count or reckoning wilt thou find over thine head! Sins of commission, and sins of omission; sins in the seed and root, and sins in the fruit, against the law, against the gospel, in thy particular station, and in thy general calling. O! what a dreadful count will there be, if a man cast up the rate of his duty, and in how many things he hath offended! There will be such a count, that as Job says (chapter ix. 3), “That if God contend with him, he cannot answer one of a thousand.” There is not one of a thousand challenges that a righteous man can put off, but he must say as David (Psalms xl. 12), “Innumerable evils compass me, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I cannot look up, they are more than the hairs of my head.”

3. But when thou hast considered thy party, and the debt which may be charged upon thee, and the number of thy sins, take another look of the nature of them, and their aggravations, from the times wherein thou hast sinned, such as, if they have been times of light, and it may be also thou hast been sinning with Zimri and Cozbi, when the congregation was weeping (Numbers xxv.), what sad affliction hath been lying upon the people of God. It may be thy sin hath been against as clear light, as Absalom’s sin was, “when he committed incest with his father’s concubines, upon the top of his father’s house” (2 Sam. xvi. 22). It may be it was when thou wast under punishment and judgment for former sins, to deter thee from future. It may be it was when thou wast surrounded with mercies, when “God was drawing thee with cords of love, with the bonds of a man, and was to thee as they that take off the yoke from thy jaws, and laid meat unto thee” (Hos. xi. 4). It may be thou hast been a person much obliged to God, who hast often been refreshed with pardoning mercy; He hath spoken peace to thee, upon condition thou wouldst not return to folly, and yet thou hast returned to it. It may be thou art one, whose example hath had influence to harden many others in sin, etc. I cannot enumerate the aggravations of sin, that professors of the gospel have been, or are lying under, but when the account is casten, it will not be found an account of cyphers, or insignificant petty nothings, but an account of iniquities and transgressions, very heinous and dreadful, all circumstances being considered.

4. I shall, in the fourth place, when you have considered your party, the sum of your debt, the number of your sins in their nature, and aggravating circumstances, exhort you to ponder how just God is, the truth of His threatenings against sin, and the curse. Think on that place (Gal. iii. 10), “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them;” and it were to good purpose that these chapters, Deut. xxviii. and Lev. xxvi., were more frequently read and thought upon. It were to good purpose that we heard Moses from Mount Sinai thundering oftener, not to drive us from Christ, but to Him. It’s a woeful trick in our hearts, that leads us to look over threatenings with a light eye. We would consider that the threatenings will be accomplished, as well as the promises, and the least farthing of the sinner’s debt will be exacted off the sinner, or off his cautioner. Thou must either do, or get one to do for thee, and when thou readest the threatenings, think on the posture wherein thou standest.

5. And fifthly, that ye may sensibly say over this assertion, “If thou, Lord, mark iniquity, who shall stand?” I recommend you to consider the sufferings of our blessed Lord. Consider if such things were done to “the green tree,” what will be done to “the dry?” And there a man that hath any sense of sin, will read the dreadful desert of sin, when he considers that wrath for sin made Him cry out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And how His holy nature abhorred that cup, and put Him to pray that it might pass from Him; and how it made Him in His agony sweat drops like blood! When thou judgest of the desert of sin by that, thou wilt stand then, and more sensibly think, that thou wilt not be able to stand before God marking iniquity, for if such things were done to the green tree, when His holy human nature suffered so much, being supported by His divine nature, what will be done to thee, who art a dry tree, out of Him? If God would speak home these things to your hearts, ye would subscribe to that verdict Solomon hath (Proverbs xiv. 9), that they are fools that make a mock at sin, nay, that they are distracted, that are lying under the guilt of sin, and can take rest in themselves till they see if a remedy can be had, till they come to that which follows in the text, “But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.”

There are some particular inferences that I intended to have spoken to from this point, but the time being past, I quit them. Only remember that which I have been upon, what hath been spoken to you of the dreadful desert of sin, a doctrine that is very necessary, but little laid to heart by many of you. Ye have got the gospel-knack among you, and have learned to talk of sin, and of making Christ a refuge against it. But I dare not account all gold that glisters, nor look upon all them as real converts, that can talk in a gospel-dialect in Irvine. I would drive none of you from Christ; if any of you find your need of a Saviour, come away, He waits to receive you; but lay a solid foundation, acquaint yourselves more with the sinfulness of sin, with the desert of sin, and with the impossibility of standing before God marking sin, in strict justice, that ye may close with Christ in earnest. God bless what ye have heard for Christ’s sake!

(To be continued.)