THE fool hath said in his heart that there is no God; and this is indeed the creed of the natural man who lives according to the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye and the pride of life. As he entertains and cherishes this terrible delusion in his unbelieving heart, then a life of utter disregard to the name of God, His Word and revealed will is his delight and ruin, if sovereign mercy from heaven intervene not. And where there is an outward conformity to moral standards and a hollow profession of the Christian religion, this will not, and cannot, make the fool a godly man. Saul of Tarsus was a moralist for quite a period of his life, but in face of the revelation of Christ Jesus in the gospel, he was also a blasphemer and persecutor. His outward morality in relation to the law was nothing, especially in the light of his blasphemy when confronted with the gospel of God’s way of redemption for sinners.
But the godly man is a ruined sinner of our race whom the great God of eternity has met with and dealt with according to the riches of His sovereign grace. He has been brought by the Spirit of God and under the light of the divine law to know in his conscience that he hath sinned against heaven and in the very sight of God. “I have sinned against heaven and before Thee” (Luke xv, v. 18) is a confession which has come from his heart to God and out of a bitter experience of the shame and reality of his sins. He has learned how useless and futile are man’s deeds, wisdom, merit and endeavours to effect reconciliation between his guilty person and the Holy One of heaven; that in fact “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight” (Rom., chap. iii, v. 20). And so the Pharisee’s religion and prayer in the temple, as recorded in the parable of Jesus, have no place in the religion of the godly man as to his salvation. That salvation is not of works, is a truth which has been stamped upon his soul by the blessed and effectual operation of the Spirit of Truth. He discovered that he had no help of man at all and that he would in justice die the death of the ungodly, unless God as sovereign, gracious and merciful would reveal to his poor, guilty soul the way of salvation.
This revelation has indeed been given to all who may be numbered among the godly. Godliness means absolutely nothing at all apart from the revelation of the divine Lord Jesus Christ in His sufferings and sacrificial death on the Cross of Calvary, unto the sin-laden soul; and the soul’s apprehension of God’s love and mercy in Christ, in the exercise of that living faith upon the suffering Redeemer which the Holy Spirit alone can beget in the heart. Christ has become, and is, all the salvation of the godly man, inasmuch as he has received the forgiveness of sins, peace with God and the hope of the glory of God through Christ Jesus. And the fear of God is in this man’s heart.
Now let us refer to several particulars regarding the godly man as he takes his journey through the world.
He is solemnly affected by the truth that God is acquainted with all his ways.
This he believes as he reads, for example, the 139th Psalm, where David unfolds his belief in the omniscience of God when he writes: “O, Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising . . . and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether” (verses 1-4). The godly man is not alone when separated from all his fellow creatures and beyond their seeing and hearing, as he has still to say, “Thou God seest me” (Genesis xvi, v. 13); and this will be his habitual frame of mind when his soul is in a spiritually healthy state. And what a heavenly influence this is in the war against sin, and what a comforting truth when alone in distress and trouble!
Then, he is frequently a wretched man in his heart and mind.
But surely this cannot be, say many who have a form of godliness but know not the power thereof. Yet it is so in the experience of all who know anything of vital godliness. The godly man has an “old man” to harass him and contend with, that is, “the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Eph. iv, v. 22); and of which Paul writes thus, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing . . . when I would do good, evil is present with me . . . O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord . . .” (Rom., chap. vii, v. 18-25). And so carnal and unholy thoughts, a prayerless frame, unbelief seeking to deprive them of the realities of the very foundation of their hope of eternal glory, a sense of unwillingness to crucify the flesh and such like experiences, do render the godly most wretched in their feelings at times, inasmuch as the life of grace in their souls would have it otherwise. But grace will nevertheless abound and obtain the ultimate victory for the tried and grieved believer.
The godly are not strangers to adverse and afflictive providences.
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments reveal that those who fear the Lord must not think it strange when fiery trials come to try them, although some strange thing hath happened unto them (I Peter, ch. iv, v. 12). Their Covenant God permits them at times to be exposed to afflictions for His own name, for the sake of Christ Jesus and the cause of the Gospel. David and Daniel, Peter and Paul were as eminent as they were in godliness, but what a history of suffering in the divine and all wise providence surrounds their names, persons and activities as faithful servants of the Lord in an evil world. And then on the other hand, “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,” as He sees they have need. For the godly are God’s sons and daughters and He their Father according to His Word, and therefore when occasion requires, He visits their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes (Ps. lxxxix, v. 32). Although it is true also that some of the sore and heavy afflictions which God’s people experience are not specially related to any particular sin of theirs, but allowed or sent in Covenant love and wisdom to sanctify them, to wean them from this world and to make Jesus sweeter than ever to their precious souls. “If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom., ch. viii, v. 17).
Memorials of God’s goodness have been granted to them in seasons of need.
They have been secretly and wonderfully sustained in spirit under the most severe and heavy afflictions and sorrows, so that they have been amazed at the inward composure and strength afforded them in the divine kindness. Now and then they have had reason to say, “Who turned not my prayer from him, nor yet His grace from me” (Ps. lxvi, v. 20). And such answers to prayer as they have received have truly been tokens for good and evidences of God’s gracious care for them, unworthy though they feel themselves to be. And His Word has been made a lamp and a light to them when difficulties, problems and anxieties have confronted them, giving them guidance, instruction and encouragement, as to what to do, how to act and what to hope for—according to the will of God. And the Most High hath intervened time and again to break the power of temptation for them, enabling them to overcome Satan in the strength of the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who is able to succour them that are tempted. And indeed, they find His mercies to be new every morning and His faithfulness to be great.
Many are the desires of the godly,
while they remain here and contemplate Eternity. They desire an open ear to the Word of God, that their eyes would be fixed on Christ, that they would have much of the spirit of secret prayer, that they would be fitted to serve the Lord Jesus in love to His name, and that they would be kept to the end of their journey “by the power of God through faith,” from falling, from hurting the cause of Christ, from giving any occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme, and that they as poor sinners, resting entirely on the blood of the Lamb, will be given an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.