II. JEHOVAH’S ATTENTION TO SUCH AN ONE. (H. Davis.)
Religious affections attended with humility
Those that are destitute of true humility have no true religion. It is the object of the Gospel to produce this effect in the heart.
I. LEGAL HUMILITY. This attends the natural workings of the conscience, and the perception of God’s greatness, power and terrible majesty. It has in it no virtue; but yet it may be useful as a means to produce what is gracious.
II. EVANGELICAL HUMILITY. This arises from a “sense of the transcendent beauty of Divine things in their moral quality, and a sense that a Christian has of his own utter insufficiency, despicableness and odiousness, with an answerable frame of mind.
1. It is the chief part in the doctrine of the Christian duty of self-denial.
2. Many hypocrites profess great humility and are loud in declaring their vileness. Yet, if a minister were to use, as Edwards suggests, the same language to them in private, and should signify that he feared they were very low and weak Christians, they would feel themselves highly injured, and ever after cherish a deep-rooted prejudice against that minister.
3. It is flee from the spirit of pride in one’s own righteousness, goodness and the like. Some think themselves very humble and make a boast of it. This is spiritual pride.
III. SOME APPLICATIONS.
1. True humility is fundamental to the Christian life.
2. It is a bad sign to think we are better Christians than others.
3. If we think “none are so bad as I, ‘ then have a care lest you think yourself better than others on this account.
4. Have a care also of self-conceit, lest you think too highly of your humility.
5. Let us think meanly of our attainments in religion and in humility.
6. Blessed are the poor in spirit. (Homiletic Review.)
The contrite heart
1. Such a spirit is the very essence of the religion of Christ.
2. There is no surer test of the genuineness of one’s religious experience.
3. The exceeding value of this spirit in God’s sight, and the imperative duty of cultivating it, are too much lost sight of in this age of the world. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)
Poor and contrite spirits the objects of Divine favour
I. THE POOR MAN. This does not principally refer to those that are poor in this world: for though it be very common that “the poor of this world are chosen to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom,” yet this is not an universal rule. The “poor” here signifies such as Christ characterizes more fully by “the poor in spirit” (Mat_5:3). And this character implies the following ingredients.
(1) The poor man to whom Jehovah looks is deeply sensible of his own insufficiency, and that nothing but the enjoyment of God can make him Psa_4:6-7; Psa_73:25-26; Psa_18:15).
(2) This spiritual poverty implies deep humility and self-abasement.
(3) He who is poor in spirit is sensible of his need of the influences of Divine grace to sanctify and enrich him.
(4) He is deeply sensible of the absolute necessity of the righteousness of Christ for his justification.
(5) He is an importunate beggar at the throne of grace.
II. CONTRITION OF SPIRIT. The word “contrite” signifies one that is beaten or bruised with hard blows, or a heavy burden. And it belongs to the mourning penitent whose heart is broken and wounded for sin. Sin is an intolerable burden that crushes and bruises him, and he feels himself pained and sore under it.
III. Consider the remaining character of the happy man to whom the Lord will look: “HIM THAT TREMBLETH AT MY WORD.” This character implies a tender sense of the great things of the Word, and a heart easily impressed with them as the most important realities. This was remarkably exemplified in the tender-hearted Josiah (2Ch_34:19-28). The threatenings of the Word do not appear vain terms, nor great swelling words of vanity, but the most tremendous realities. Such an one cannot bear up under them, but would tremble, and fall, and die away, if not relieved by some happy promise of deliverance. (S. Davies, M. A.)
God’s look towards the humble
1. He looks upon you with acceptance.
2. He looks to you so as to take particular notice of you. He sees all the workings of your hearts towards Him.
3. He looks to you so as to look after you, as we do after the sick and Psa_84:11). (S. Davies, M. A.)
Humility essential to success in prayer
The “Times” once, in recording petitions presented to the House of Lords, mentioned one which was rejected on account of an omission--the word “humble” was left out. How many petitions to a higher tribunal must be rejected for lack of humility in the hearts of those presenting them! (Free Methodist.)
The humility of Godliness
In the evening of the morning that Gordon, when in Palestine, received a telegram from England, asking him to undertake a mission which he had all his life longed to undertake, he was found outside the city wall, kneeling in prayer. When remonstrated with on account of the place being dangerous from Arabs, he replied, “The telegrams from England this morning filled me with such elation, I felt I might get into trouble by being proud, and I thought I would just get upon my horse and go away by myself and humble myself before God.” (Sunday School Chronicle.)
And trembleth at My word
Trembling at the word of the Lord
I. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE THAT TREMBLE AT GOD’S WORD.
1. Who they are not.
(1) They are not a proud people: they do not cry, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice? ‘,
(2) They are not a profane people: they neither make a mock at sin nor at God’s word.
(3) They are not indifferent people.
(4) They are not a critical, sceptical people.
(5) They are not presumptuous people, who derive fictitious comfort from it.
2. Who they are.
(1) They are people who do believe that there is a Word of God.
(2) They are acquainted with God’s Word.
II. WHY DO THEY TREMBLE!,
1. Because of His exceeding majesty.
2. Because of the searching power of God’s Word.
3. They tremble at the word when it is in the form of threatening.
4. They tremble with fear lest they should break God’s law.
5. They tremble lest they should miss the promises when they are spread out before them. We hear of some who “could not enter in because of unbelief;” and we are taken with trembling lest we should be like them.
III. WHAT DOES GOD COMPARE THEM TO? To a temple (Isa_66:1-2). He prefers us to the temple; and, further, He prefers us even to the great temple of the universe, not made with human hands, which He Himself sets so much above the house that Solomon built. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Trembling at God’s Word
What meaneth this trembling? It does not mean a slavish fear. They that tremble at God’s Word at the first may do so, because the word threatens them with death. But afterwards as they advance, and become familiar with the God of love, and enter into the secret of His covenant, they tremble for a very different reason. They tremble because they have a holy reverence of God, and consequently of that Word in which resides so much of the power and majesty of the Most High. (Ibid.)
Trembling at God’s Word
It was our privilege once to witness a very curious experiment by a scientific lecturer on the effects of musical sounds. The lecturer showed a disc of thin glass, delicately poised on a suitable apparatus. On this disc was spread a thin layer of very rink dust. A musical note was sounded underneath the disc, and the waves of sound caused the glass to vibrate, which again caused the fine dust on its surface to tremble and form itself into every conceivable shape of exquisite beauty, much after the manner of frost on the window pane. Thus, we presume, it is with the “poor” of the text, the dust of God’s footstool. The musical note of hope will cause them to vibrate and tremble and throb into the various forms of reverence, hope, joy, and gratitude. It implies precisely a similar attitude to that manifested on the memorable day of Pentecost. Here we have the multitude as “the dust of the balance,” and Peter, the Gospel experimentalist, sounding the musical note of Gospel hope, and behold! how the dust trembles and vibrates into such forms of spiritual beauty as faith and hope and gratitude and obedience. (A. J. Parry.)
