(Read Psalms 53:1-31<<To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.>> The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. 2God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. 3Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (Psalm 53:1‑3); Psalms 102:17-2117He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. 18This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. 19For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; 20To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; 21To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; (Psalm 102:17‑21); Isaiah 45:21, 2221Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. 22Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:21‑22); Numbers 21:6-96And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 8And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Numbers 21:6‑9).)
IN these Scriptures we have four looks. Two of these looks are on God’s side, and two on man’s part. I will show you presently the two looks that had better come on your side; but first of all we will see the looks on God’s side.
1. THE SEARCH-LOOK.
Psalms 53 opens very remarkably, because it expresses what is in the heart of many a person, viz., this thought—I do not want to have to do with God. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (vs. 1). He was not quite such a fool as to play it with his lips, because his folly would have been too manifest, too patent to the ears of others, and they would have said what he would not have cared to hear. Is that bold but secretive person reading this paper? He is a fool. I do not call him such—God does. God is, and sooner or later you have to meet Him. You say, I hope not soon. I hope to meet Him very soon. You need not be afraid to meet Him, and when you learn what you are, and what He is, and also His attitude towards you, you will not be afraid of Him.
The attitude of man towards God is awfully solemn, indescribably sad; the acme of it is reached when a man’s heart gets so under the power of Satan that he tries to convince himself there is no God. It will not do. The heathen in Paul’s time knew better. Paul went through the town of Athens, and saw scores of altars, and at length was arrested by seeing one with the inscription, “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” That is the God I want you to know, and I will tell you why. The Lord Jesus said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:33And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)).
But the fool said he did not exist. You leave God alone—He will prove His existence, and will also tell you His nature, His character. But first of all He will make your character and nature known to you. Why does a man say in his heart, “There is no God”? Because the heart is corrupt—sin has corrupted it. Man’s daily life is only the outside; God begins with the inside. Reformation will not put you right with God, because the heart is corrupt. The solemn thing is this—man is wrong in his heart, Thence came the thought, “There is no God.” Listen to His reply, “Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity.” These are scathing words. They fit man uncommonly well. You are possibly on too good terms with yourself to think so, but when you see yourself you will find their application.
Look back on your life, and will you deny “abominable iniquity”? Why, you did your own will, took your own way, and never thought of God—left Him out altogether. But God labels things rightly, calls evil “abominable iniquity,” and then adds, “There is none that doeth good” (vs. 1). You say, I have not done all I ought to have done, but I will try and do better. You are too late. When I left school I knew the import and relation of the three words, good—better—best. When people tell me they are doing their best, I say, Yes, doing their best to damn themselves. Let God speak, “There is none that doeth good.”
You say, I cannot allow that. You would not like to admit it, since it cuts the legs from beneath you, robs you of your self-righteousness, and lowers you in your own eyes. You had better get down to the spot where God can meet you— “There is none that doeth good.” With some exceptions, you consider, and you are that exception. Are you? Then God tells lies. You say, Oh, I would not like to say that. No, you would not like to put it down in black and white like that. You may depend upon it God has not written in His book what He does not know all about.
“God looked down” we read in verse 2. He was looking at you when you were not looking at Him. Presently I am going to ask you to look up, but we will see God’s two downward looks first. “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were”— many? No, to see if there were “any that did understand.” Have you never got under the eye of God yet? In the Russo-Japanese war in the East, we are told that the plans of one of the opposing parties have been frequently detected and frustrated by the searchlight of the enemy. It revealed what was going on.
Reader, God has turned His searchlight from heaven on to earth; its beams have taken me in, and they take you in, and what do we read? “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back.” He turned the light all round, on patriarchs, priests, kings, and people, and He turns it on to your heart just now, and what is the discovery? “Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (vs. 3). You say, “I do not like that language.” I dare say not. A prophet said once, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:66But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)). What means that Isaiah? Our very best will not do for God.
If your best will not do for God, my friend, what about your worst, your sins? Do not make a mock at God, and do not make light of sin. Face the situation, face God, face your state, face the truth about yourself, and you will find you will have to own this— “Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Filthy, what is that? Polluted by sin. You may not be very cognizant of what the sin is; we become stupefied by the presence of sin in our hearts and lives. And we take little note of our sins, but God notes them, and He says, “The thought of foolishness is sin” (Prov. 24:99The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men. (Proverbs 24:9)).
When a man gets a sense of what sin is before God, he does not extenuate it and when God says “filthy,” he replies “Filthy indeed.” The last chapter in the Bible says, “And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still” (Rev. 22:1111He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. (Revelation 22:11)). Fancy going into eternity a sinner in all the filthiness of sin, and abiding therein forever. That verse also says, “He that is holy, let him be holy still.” What is that? There is such a thing as getting rid of the filth, the guilt, the burden of sin, but—solemn reflection—there is such a thing as a man going into eternity in all the filth of the sins of time, and carrying his guilt with him. Forget not, however, that sin and God never meet except for judgment. I want you to ponder God’s words—they are not mine— “There is none that doeth good,” and then He emphatically clinches the statement with “no, not one.”
But what about that nice amiable young lady who reads this, and whose walk has been most decorous, and her behavior without stain? Of her God says, as of every other, “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” The whole family is irretrievably lost, for every member of the family is in this condition. Can no one get out of it? That is another side of the subject altogether. God sees what man is, and while his state is described in the striking language of this Psalm, it is corroborated in many places in Scripture.
We live in a day, however, when men do not believe that they are in this condition, and they are preached to, and taught that this is not their real state, and that it is only the lowest and most degraded sinners that are after this sort. Nay, nay. Adam was a fallen, corrupted, ruined man ere he begat a single child, and all his family are fallen too. What was true of the first child is true of the last. The first was Cain, who slew his brother, and he has many followers. He went in for religious works, and for bringing to God the fruit of a cursed earth, but he was rejected. Many think they can get to God on the ground of diligent work. Abel brought the slain lamb—he owned the truth of the fall. He put between his soul and God the blood of a sinless victim. “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Heb. 11:44By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4)). It stirred up enmity in Cain’s heart, and he slew his brother. There is only one gospel all through Scripture, and it is connected with the blood of Christ.
2. THE LOVE-LOOK.
Now turn to Psalms 102 You say, Psalms 53. has robbed me of everything. All right, if you take the ground of being destitute, here is comfort for you. “He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer” (Psa. 102:1717He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. (Psalm 102:17)). Sin has robbed us of love, goodness, righteousness, holiness, yea of everything that we need to fit us for God’s presence. Now when you are truly “destitute “God steps in, in the fullness of His grace, to show how He can meet that destitution through the gospel, through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. How He loves to meet need and misery! He loves mercy and not sacrifice.
“This shall be written for the generation to come” (vs. 18). Thank God, we are in it. “And the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.” Yes, all Christians can praise the Lord, for He has delivered, pardoned, saved, redeemed us, brought us to Himself, and enriched us with all His love can give us in Christ. A Christian goes through this world praising and blessing God for all he has got in His blessed Son.
What blessed tidings we get in Psalms 102— “For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary.” This is quite another kind of look. This time it is not to find out what man’s state is, but to see how He can meet it. It is not merely heaven here, but the spot of His highest holiness. From thence God looked down— “To hear the groaning of the prisoner.” Have you been groaning as a poor wretched sinner? God has heard your groans, and His desire is “to loose those that are appointed to death.” The state of man is made plain, that he has nothing whatever with which to approach God, when he is in sin, bondage, and corruption, with death hanging over him. You may not think yourself a prisoner, but you are in the prison-house of sin, and are the slave and dupe of Satan right up to the moment Christ sets you free. Have you ever tried to escape your jailor? Any one who has set himself to get free has found out his weakness, his powerlessness. Man is a captive in the chains of sin.
The Lord Jesus, the very first time He came out to preach the gospel, said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:1818The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18)). That is what Jesus came to do, that was His mission, He came down to preach deliverance. Perhaps you have not got it yet; I hope you soon will.
Whatever you have before you in this world, there is one thing you cannot get over, Death is before you. You may try to parley about the matter of sin, and argue how it came in, and why God let it come in; but you cannot get over the fact that you are surrounded by graveyards. Why do men die? You say, Disease carries them off, or some sudden judgment of God. And who shall tell whether you may not be the next one to die? You are “appointed to death.” There are two appointments an unsaved sinner has to meet—Death and Judgment—the grave here, and wrath hereafter, for “it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)).
Fellow-Christian, you and I have only one appointment. What is that? “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:99For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Thessalonians 5:9)). That is a fine appointment, and I am sure of this—God will keep us to that appointment: I have no fear of that.
Thank God, there is salvation for any one that would like to have it. God wants you to have it, His grace presents it to you. He looks down to see if there is a prisoner He can loose. If you are an anxious sinner He has His eye upon you. What He wants to give you is life and liberty.
3. THE SAFETY-LOOK.
Now we will consider another look—the sinner’s look for salvation. It is not God looking down to see what He could do, but God telling you what you have to do. He has distinctly said: “There is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, there is none beside me” (Isa. 45:2121Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. (Isaiah 45:21)). I could not be happy unless I knew God was a just God, and would not look over sin. But all His righteous claims have been met. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus God’s grace now comes out. His claims against us have all been satisfied by Jesus, so “that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:2626To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)). You must meet God in one of two ways—either as your Justifier, or as your Judge. You are going to have to say to God, either as the One that justifies you now, or judges you by-and-by.
You say, Already I am convicted of my sin and guilt. Then see how God comes in to meet your case. When you see the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, all becomes perfectly plain and simple. God is a just God, He does not give up His claims. “The wages of sin is death.” Who died on the cross? Jesus. Whose sins were there laid on Him? Not His own. He had none. He bore the sins of many. Observe the as and the so of the Scripture already quoted. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:27, 2827And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:27‑28)). How many? I do not know. Who is among the many? I am, thank God. I groaned in my misery, and He set me free. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” (Isa. 45:2222Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:22)) is God’s blessed call. There is the sinner’s “look”— the anxious soul’s “look.” It is not God looking at you, but you looking to God.
“All the ends of the earth” are called—that is wide enough. Do you inquire, How can I tell whether He died for me? Are you a sinner? Yes, a wretched, guilty, self-condemned sinner. Whom did Christ die for? Sinners. Take the ground of a sinner, and you may have the sinner’s Saviour. “Look unto me” is His word to you. All you have to do is to trust Him, confide in Him, yield your heart to Him, and believe Him. He settled the question of sin when He died on the cross; you look to Him and are saved as you look.
4. THE LIFE-LOOK.
We read in Numbers 21 That the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and many died. But when they confessed their sin, God said unto Moses: “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (vs. 9). How simple was the cure. One look—and life followed. So is it with the believing sinner today. It is not only that your sins are forgiven, but you get life. Do not put off, do not delay to look to Jesus. If you want to be saved, settle the matter this very hour. Turn to the Lord, heed His word— “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” It is not hope to be saved, but be ye saved. How rapid was the cure. “When he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” It is Christ lifted up—Christ dead and risen. You turn to Him, you look to Him, and what is the result of looking? Salvation and life.
Looking is another word for expressing confidence. You trust the Lord, and you may sleep soundly tonight, in the knowledge that you are forgiven, saved, are the possessor of life, and have the Lord as the portion of your heart. He has looked on my state, and has met it by the death of His Son, and now He says, “Look unto me, and be saved,” and I have looked, and am saved, and, as in the case of Israel, he that looked lived, so I can say that I live.
Reader, God has taken His two looks at you Have you taken your two looks at Him? If not, take them just now.
W. T. P. W.