A Sermon by Archibald Alexander
Psalm 2:12. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
That this psalm relates to the Messiah is admitted by Jews as well as Christians. Whether it has a primary respect to David and the establishment of his kingdom on Mount Zion, or should be referred entirely to the Messiah, is a point on which expositors are not agreed; and it is not important enough to discuss it here. That it does contain an important prediction of the Lord Jesus Christ is expressly decided by the authority of divine inspiration, it does not rest on the interpretation of fallible men.
The text speaks of Christ. The passage, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed,” is expressly applied to Christ by the whole band of apostles after they had received the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, on the Day of Pentecost. On hearing the report of Peter and John, who had been brought before the Sanhedrim, the apostles all broke out in praise to God, saying, “Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? . . . For of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:24-28.)
The Apostle Paul assures us that such a remarkable declaration as, “This day have I begotten Thee”, was never made to the highest of created angels. There is but one to whom it could with propriety be made; and orthodox commentators have, from time immemorial, supposed it to have referred to the eternal generation of the Son; for the expression “this day” is not to be taken as referring to any particular day but to perpetual duration.
Trusting in Christ. The exhortation to “kiss the Son”, and the blessing pronounced on all who trust in Him – can refer to no one but the Saviour. We are never, in Scripture, exhorted to trust in any mere creature, however exalted. On the contrary, a curse is pronounced on everyone “who trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm”. This portion of the Psalm can therefore have no application to David or Solomon, but must refer solely to the Messiah, who is the eternally begotten Son of God.
The act of trust is so familiar to everyone that it requires no explanation. Even children know what is meant by trust in anyone. Two things are always
1Taken, with editing, from Alexander’s Practical Sermons. The headings have been added.
implied in trusting; the first is a conviction of need and a sense of dependence. He who needs nothing will, of course, not trust someone else for what he has in himself; and he who, though destitute, does not realise his need, will never be induced to trust in someone else. The second thing implied in an act of trust is a persuasion of the good will, ability and fidelity of the person in whom we trust. A child in danger will flee to the arms of its father with confidence, but will not trust another child, however affectionate, because it is not persuaded of its ability to protect it. Neither would a child trust an entire stranger, having no assurance of his good will; nor would it flee to the arms of someone who had often deceived it.
The exercise of saving faith is not more frequently expressed by any term than by trust. Indeed, whenever we believe in anyone’s promise – that is, when we are fully persuaded of the truth of a promise – that act of faith is properly termed trust.
Man is so dependent on providence for the common blessings of this life that trust in God for these is the proper state of mind for us. For, although we procure many temporal blessings by the use of our own faculties, or the labour of our hands; yet these blessings are as really God’s gifts as if we used no means whatever; for without His blessing, all our toil and ingenuity would effect nothing. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” God is the “Father of lights”, from whom every good and every perfect gift” comes down. We should feel this dependence on God in relation to all our efforts to procure common blessings; and not only feel it, but openly acknowledge it, when we receive the common blessings of God’s providence.
But for spiritual and eternal blessings, our dependence is still greater; for man has lost the favour of God and has fallen under His dreadful curse. Man has also sunk deeply into a state of depravity. He has lost all true knowledge of God His Creator; he is not only a miserable but a helpless creature. He is unable, by any sufferings which he can endure, to expiate the smallest of his sins. He is unable to give life to his dead soul, or bring back life into his benumbed faculties. Even if his salvation depended on it, he could not make his heart go forth in love to God, or bring to an end the undue exercise of self-love and of love to the creature. “The carnal mind is . . . not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
Human inability. But this inability of the heart and will is far from providing the sinner with any excuse; it is the chief ground of his criminality. What! A heart so depraved that nothing can induce it to reverence and love its Creator! Will anyone dare plead that such a heart is a reason why he should not be punished when brought before God’s tribunal? In his natural state, man is also blind and ignorant. Some, like the Pharisees of old, will be
ready to ask, “Are we blind also?” Yes, all are blind, however acute their intellect, however much their minds are stored with human learning. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14).
Here then is a threefold misery common to all the children of Adam: blindness, deadness, and guilt. To qualify himself as a physician to cure the threefold malady, Christ as Mediator has assumed the office of a prophet, of a priest and of a king. In these offices, the sinner must trust in Him for salvation. But it may be alleged that this misery of man is merely imaginary, that the majority of men are in a good moral condition and behave as well as could be expected in their circumstances. It is admitted that all are not equally abandoned to iniquity. It is admitted that many maintain a decent outward appearance. It is admitted that many are strict in observing the forms of religion, showing the same spirit as the Pharisees of old. It is evident that few seem to have any particular conviction of the miseries already mentioned.
But this blindness is rather an aggravation of their misery than an alleviation. Indeed, this lack of awareness of spiritual concerns and eternal interests is the very worst symptom of their desperate disease. If they were conscious of their sins, if they lamented their blindness, if they were crying out, What must I do to be delivered from this dreadful curse? there would be some hope of them. But as long as this state of blindness remains, there is no hope, for they never can be induced, in this state, to apply the only remedy, a remedy that must be apprehended and appropriated by the rational mind. “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Christ says, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
If you saw, in a public prison, a number of criminals condemned to suffer capital punishment, and should observe some of them indulging in singing and dancing and every species of mirth and levity, and using all their influence to bring their companions to do likewise, would you call them happy? Would anyone in his senses envy such happiness as this? On the contrary, would not all be shocked at this most unseasonable and reckless levity? And if obliged to choose between this state of mind and that of those who were mourning their unhappy lot, who would not prefer the condition of the latter?
The refuge provided. All need a refuge to which they may flee for safety, and blessed are they who have been made conscious of their danger and misery so that they anxiously seek a place of safety. Their case is urgent; their danger is imminent; the misery that awaits them is inconceivably great. They are utterly helpless in themselves, unable to extricate themselves from
their miserable circumstances, or to ward off the danger which threatens to burst on their guilty heads. As they cannot escape by their own wisdom or power, so no other creature is able to rescue them from ruin. Where then shall they turn? To whom shall they apply for deliverance? The only one who has power to save them is the Person whom they have offended, and whose displeasure they have incurred – the very Person who holds in His upraised hand the sword of justice ready to strike the sinner dead. The Judge of all the earth will do right. It is right to inflict deserved punishment on impenitent sinners, who have long rejected the gracious offers of reconciliation.
Where then is there any hope for the sinner, justly condemned by the law of his God? Nowhere but the gospel of salvation. Here, and here alone, a door of hope is open for the guilty. Sin cannot escape punishment in the just government of a holy God. He says, I will “by no means clear the guilty”. “Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked: O God.” But, blessed be God, sin may be punished in an adequate substitute. It has been punished in the divine Surety, for “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities”. He was made a curse for sinners to redeem them from the curse of the law. Their iniquities were laid upon Him. The satisfaction is complete; it is of infinite value. It is impossible that any sins should be so heinous that the application of the blood of Jesus will not cleanse it. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Is 1:18).
Jesus of Nazareth is revealed as the true Messiah, God’s Anointed, the King of Zion; He is the only true High Priest after the order of Melchisedec, the prophet by whom all God’s people are taught. He is the Saviour of the world; and “there is none other name under heaven . . . whereby we must be saved”. “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”
Trust in the Redeemer supposes that He has manifested, in some way, a willingness to save us. In order that trust have a firm foundation, there must be, not only a general expression of good will, but also explicit promises of relief. Such promises are especially necessary in the case of the sinner; he can with difficulty be convinced that there can be any salvation for one so vile as he now sees himself to be. Therefore we find the gospel full of kind invitations and gracious promises to all who will come to Him and receive salvation as a free gift. These are the glad tidings by which so many wounded spirits have been healed and comforted. The convinced sinner (for no other will trust in the Redeemer) finds every other refuge to be false, and every other arm to be weak. At length, his attention is turned to a crucified Saviour. He hears words of mercy and kindness.
But, at first he cannot believe that they are addressed to him. He thinks this good news is for others less vile than himself. He imagines that Christ might receive him if in some way – by prayers, tears or penances – he could purify his heart, or even get it softened to some degree of tenderness. But he cannot easily be persuaded that he will be welcomed in his present wretched state of mind. He is therefore kept back by his unbelieving fears, and by what has the semblance of humility, and does not see the evil of refusing to believe the words of Christ – and so he virtually makes Christ a liar.
Difficulties. The sinner delays; he strives; he prays and fasts and, finally, almost despairs. These efforts seem to have the effect of driving him further from salvation than before. He therefore concludes that he may as well give over seeking, as he is now conscious of his utter impotence. But in this dark, distressing hour, when he nearly despairs of mercy, he is surprised by a view of the way of reconciliation. Christ appears both able and willing to save him, and he sees how God can be just and yet justify him through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Everything appears so plain that he wonders he never saw it before, so plain that he feels confident that he could cause anyone to understand it.
But the first views of faith are not always so clear; more commonly the first light is like that of the dawn of day, which gradually increases. Often the convinced, discouraged sinner is first made to see the fullness of Christ; whereas previously he feared that his sins were too great to be pardoned, he is now brought to believe that “He is able . . . to save to the uttermost, all who come unto God by Him”. Even this is like life from the dead, to a sinner on the borders of despair. Here is a real exercise of faith, while the believing soul entertains as yet no persuasion of being in the favour of God – and this is an evidence that such a persuasion is not of the essence of faith. But when the view of the way of salvation is at first clear, or whenever it becomes clear, nothing fills the soul with greater wonder and gratitude than that Christ is waiting to receive sinners in all their guilt and vileness – to receive them just as they are, not only without merit but also without preparation, and that He undertakes to do the whole work of their salvation gratuitously.
The experience of trusting. Now he begins to know by experience what it is to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he willingly commits his soul into Christ’s hands, in confidence that He will keep it safely. The sinner trusts in Him for pardon and justification, and this he can do without hesitation, for he sees that He has borne sin and has become “the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth”. He trusts in Christ also for divine teaching, knowing that His people are all taught of God by His Spirit, and led into the knowledge of all necessary truth. He trusts in Him for complete
deliverance from inherent corruption and from the power of the grave. In short, he trusts in Him as his complete and eternal Saviour, who through His love and merit will bring him off conqueror and more than conqueror. He is satisfied with the Redeemer in all His offices and mediatorial work. The language of his heart is, “He hath done all things well”.
When the soul, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is led to view Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life,” it is a very common experience to have precious promises brought successively into view. They come dropping into the soul as honey from the comb, or rather as manna from heaven. Sometimes, however, the soul is absorbed in the contemplation of the truth contained in a single text, for there are incomprehensible riches in the Word of God. Often the whole plan of salvation is suggested by a single passage of Holy Scripture. All we need is to have the illumination of the Spirit accompany the reading or preaching of the Word, to cause us to see wonderful things in texts which had often been heard or read without emotion, and in contemplating them the mind is filled with unspeakable joy.
Now the enlightened soul has no need of arguments to convince it that the Scriptures are indeed the Word of God. This is evident from the excellence which is seen in them. And as the light of day reveals to us the sun shining in its strength as the most conspicuous and glorious object in the visible heavens, so the light of divine truth reveals Christ, “the Sun of righteousness”, as the most glorious object of contemplation, for it is in His face that the glory of God is manifested. Christ is “the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His Person” (Heb 1:3).
The soul which has thus been raised from the horrible pit and miry clay of natural corruption and condemnation, and is established on the rock of ages, has a new song put into his mouth, even praise for salvation. He can now rejoice in God: in His existence; His attributes; His providence; His redeeming love in Christ, in all His glorious work of redemption; in the promise of God; in the means of grace; and in the hope of glory!
They who have once found Christ and trusted in Him, however they may be tossed with temptation, or distressed by doubts of their acceptance, never think of any other refuge but Christ – they never attempt to build on any other foundation. They show themselves to be His by trusting in Him, even when they walk in darkness and have no light. The more violent the storm by which they are assailed, the more tenaciously they adhere to the rock of their salvation. And when oppressed with a painful conviction of unfaithfulness and shortcoming in the service of Christ, no ease or peace is experienced until they come anew to the cross and by faith obtain a fresh sprinkling of the blood of reconciliation. The blood of Christ is the only balm for a soul
wounded with a sense of sin. As to his best works, instead of pleading them as a ground of pardon or a reason for acceptance, he is ashamed of them in the sight of God and continually prays that their imperfection may not be charged upon him.
Still he feels thankful to God that He has given him a heart to delight in His law after the inner man, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and to aim at the glory of God and the advancement of the Redeemer’s kingdom. He is thankful for every evidence of being renewed in the spirit of his mind, for he knows that, if he is a new creature, it is altogether because of grace. Though the believer’s past sins are forgiven, he needs fresh forgiveness every hour. But when he sins, he has an Advocate with the Father, whose propitiation has merit to take away all iniquity. There is no ground of confidence more satisfactory to the soul than the intercession of Christ. Thousands of trembling souls have trusted in that one declaration, and have found peace: “He is able . . . to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them”. They have a great High Priest to appear in the presence of God for them; so they can come with boldness to the throne of grace to “obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of need”.
Future benefits. The believer also trusts in Christ for future help and future good. He relies on Christ for guidance in the way of truth and duty; he depends on Him for strength to encounter all enemies, to endure all afflictions, and to perform the most arduous duties. As he must, in his pilgrimage to heaven, pass the valley of the shadow of death, he relies on the faithful word of the great Shepherd, that he will be present to drive away all fear and distress. And in regard to bodily need, there is no ground for anxiety, because He has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”.
True believers trust in Christ that, when this earthly pilgrimage is finished, He will administer to them an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. On this point, the promises of God are clear and abundant. Christ says, “In My Father’s house are many mansions”. “I go”, He says, “to prepare a place for you.” Again: “Father, I will that they also . . . be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory”. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” And at the last day He will say to every one of them, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” “And these shall go away . . . into life eternal.”
They trust also that these mortal bodies shall be raised from the grave, incorruptible and undying, and fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious body. Christ is the resurrection and the life and, as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all believers be made alive.
Particular blessings. We need not dwell long on the blessedness of those who trust in the Redeemer; this has been in some measure anticipated in what has been said already. Yet it may be useful to mention their blessings:
(1.) They have received forgiveness of sin, and are assured that they shall never again come into condemnation. “There is . . . no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
(2.) They have the indwelling of the Spirit of God, which secures that they will continue in a state of grace. This enables them to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ – to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness. If believers were left to themselves, their conversion would be of little value, for they would soon be overcome by their spiritual enemies, and their last state would be worse than the first.
(3.) They are under the special care of God’s providence. All things work together for their good. The very hairs of their head are numbered. Their afflictions are fatherly chastisements, which shall work for them the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Indeed these light afflictions are but for a moment and work out for them an exceedingly great and eternal weight of glory. Even death itself is reckoned in the catalogue of blessings. Not only are Paul and Apollos and Cephas theirs, and things present and things to come, and life – but death also, the sting of which is extracted, for the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but when the law is satisfied the sting is taken away.
(4.) They enjoy inward peace. They have peace with God, peace of conscience, peace from the jarring elements of corrupt passions. They look forward to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Hope that does not make ashamed is the anchor of their souls in all the storms of life.
(5.) When they leave the world they shall be blessed in the open vision of God’s glory, for they shall see no more darkly as through a glass, but face to face. They shall know as they are known. They shall be perfectly cleansed from the pollutions of sin, and when they shall see the Saviour, they shall be like Him, for they shall see Him as He is. Glorious state of complete happiness! Blessed indeed are all they who have a right to the inheritance of the saints in light.
In religion we can do nothing without faith. The faith demanded is not that of devils, which makes them tremble and leaves them unsanctified; nor the faith of Agrippa, which was without intellectual doubt but brought him to no decision; nor that of the stony ground hearers, who anon with joy received the word but had no root in themselves, but it is that faith which is of the operation of God and transforms the whole soul.
W S Plumer