Sermon for the Week

God’s Gracious Leading I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee (Psalm 32:8-9). The psalm from which our text is taken reflects the joy of soul enjoyed by one who has been delivered from the power and the guilt of sin. We need to see our text in context to fully understand what the Lord is teaching us. Notice verses 1 and 2: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” This psalm dwells on a man who has struggled over the power of sin and who has experienced salvation and deliverance from sin. It talks about a man who has understood the work of regeneration and the new creation in the heart. When our faith is tried over whether we are delivered from the guilt of sin, we must answer our conscience by asking, am I delivered from the love of sin? If you and I have not been delivered from the love of sin, we must not claim that we have been delivered from the guilt of sin, because the Lord does not grant pardon and seal it to your soul before He delivers you from loving the sin you are asking to be pardoned from. How can you ever say you have remorse over a sin you cherish and love? That soul has been cleansed from the pollution of sin as well as from the guilt of sin if it has been cleansed at all. Sin cannot be covered in a heart that still loves it. The Lord does not impugn iniquity over those who have true remorse over sin. A child who has been severely burned will not play with fire, and a sinner who has been scorched by sin trembles at even a distant approach to the flame. Do you think that David could likely covet a woman after Nathan told him, “Thou art the man.” I want you to picture David, when he said in 2 Samuel 18:33: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee.” David saw that it was for his sin that Absalom died. Do you think that his heart could be attracted to a naked woman any more? I think he would close his eyes and cover them to guard his heart from lusting after the flesh. He had been scorched. He had seen the sinfulness of sin. Then he would fear sin. Isaiah 66:2 says: “For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” This is not a slavish fear, but a holy awe and reverence for His Word. This is what David was speaking about when he talked of those in whose spirit is no guile. The Lord has taken them through that process of cleansing. David had just experienced a great deliverance from sin that crushed his soul as he confessed in Psalm 32:3-5: “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” When we really learn to see the sinfulness of sin, then we can acknowledge our sin before the Lord in true remorse. This is the man whose words we see in our text. As David sings the songs of deliverance, he also expresses his dependence upon God’s preserving care to keep him from the snares of the wicked and from sin. We read in verses 6 and 7: “For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.” For what? For what we read in the previous verse: “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” Then David says, “For this….,” to have our iniquities forgiven in the precious blood of Christ. We have learned to see the sinfulness of it, and we have learned how the guilt of that sin starts to weigh upon our hearts. Yet the heart can be delivered not only from the guilt of sin, but from sin. Then we can sing songs about our deliverance from sin. The Israelites could sing the song of Moses at the Red Sea, but they still had to go through the wilderness, and many times they became as the horse and the mule that needed to be held “with bit and bridle.” This now becomes the emphasis of our text. David understood being delivered from sin, from the power of sin. Not only do we want to walk in the ways of the Lord, but we don’t want to do it begrudgingly so the Lord has to use His chastening hand to keep us in His way. This brings us to the blessed assurance, but also the admonition of our text in Psalm 32:8-9: “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” When the Lord guides us, we must not act as those who have no understanding. Don’t trample on what the Lord has given you in the way of instruction and the understanding He has given you. When you do, you are beckoning for the chastening hand of the Lord. We read in Hebrews 10:26 about sinning willfully after having received knowledge. “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” The Lord tells us that after we have been instructed, don’t rebel against Him. That is what happened to the children of Israel, and many of them perished in the wilderness. For our first point, let’s consider the privilege to be sought. For our second point, let’s consider a character to be avoided. For our third point, let’s consider the blessedness of such freedom from the bit and bridle, that is, the need of God’s chastisements to compel obedience—being guided by the eye of God. First, let’s consider that the privilege of being guided by the Lord is a great privilege we must earnestly seek after. Psalm 32:8 speaks of guidance of three different natures: “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” Our text says, “I will instruct thee,” which implies that intellectually we must obtain a knowledge of God’s ways in our mind to acknowledge the truth. We must go to school and learn. We must have an understanding of God and His Word. We must understand the nature of sin. We must understand the nature and character of God. We gain this through the instruction of God. Intellectually, we must obtain a knowledge of God’s ways in our minds so we are able to acknowledge the truth. He will cause us to understand sin and the sinfulness of sin, and the nature of sin, and what it takes to be delivered from it. We see that there is a need of acknowledging the truth as we read in Titus 1:1: “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.” We must understand with our hearts and our minds the distinction between godliness and ungodliness. God’s ordained way of giving this knowledge is through preaching the gospel as we see in verses 2 and 3: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour.” This instruction comes through the administering of the gospel, through the searching of His Word. This means to understand intellectually. This knowledge is essential to saving faith. We must have an intellectual knowledge. We see that in Romans 10:13-14: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” See the essential element of having knowledge, of being instructed in the Word of God. We must have knowledge to be able to believe. We must have knowledge of the atonement, we must have knowledge of the saving work, we must have knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and His precious blood to wash us from our sins. We must have knowledge of our sins and how they have separated us from God, to see our need of a Saviour. We need the preaching of the gospel to instruct us in the ways of the Lord. You and I can study the Word of God, but God’s ordained way of coming to a saving knowledge of the gospel is under the administration of the Word. I’m not saying that God does not occasionally make exceptions to His own ordained way, but we must know that we don’t just stay at home and have Bible study and think that on our own we will come to a knowledge of the truth. God bestows honor upon His ordained way by sending those whom He has instructed to instruct. After He has instructed His own servants, He ordains them to go forth and minister His Word to His church. This is the first form of teaching. We read in Acts 9:10-11, 15: “And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth…. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.” The Lord sent an instructor to the apostle Paul. It was a man of the Lord’s choosing, and the Lord sent him to a specific street and a specific man, who was specifically identified. The Lord gave him the message to proclaim. The Lord could have spoken to Paul directly and said, “Paul, I am going to have you do this and this.” Yet, it is the ordained way for God to speak to us through those He ordains. The Lord has ordained the assembling of ourselves together. The Lord has ordained His means whereby He will instruct. I found throughout my life that I could be struggling with something all week long, and I could truly say like Asaph in Psalm 73:17 that when I went into the sanctuary all was made plain. In the house of God, in His ordained way, under the proclamation of the Word by His ordained servants, all was made plain. This is what happened in the case of Paul. The Lord sent Ananias to instruct him of his commission, that he was to go and bear the name of Jesus before the gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. This instruction we may not overlook. The second form of guidance spoken of in our text is “I will ... teach thee.” There is a difference between Him instructing us and teaching us. This teaching is to be taken in a practical sense, for the promise speaks of putting those instructions into practice. “I will ... teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.” I will teach you to practice what I have instructed you. Turn with me to Matthew 7:24: “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” The Lord Jesus is teaching us to do what He has told us. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus taught us by His sayings what we ought to do. We are to love our brother. We should do to others as we would have them do to us. We are to seek first the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us. We are to have faith. He teaches us about prayer. We find all this instruction throughout the Sermon on the Mount. He teaches us to put into practice what He has instructed us. He teaches us what it is to turn from sin and start walking in the footsteps of the Saviour. Building on the rock is building on Christ. We take what He has instructed us, and we start observing His teaching to put it into practice. After we have been instructed by hearing Jesus’ sayings, we are taught to walk in them as apprentices. If you go to school you can get a degree in a trade, but if you go to work for someone who has been trained, you become trained as an apprentice. Your apprenticeship is to work with one who has been trained, and thereby you become a journeyman. You can work with a mechanic who has had all the skills taught to him in school. But by merely working with him you can become a journeyman mechanic. You now have become qualified to work in the trade, but as a journeyman through apprenticeship. This is how the Lord Jesus teaches you and me to walk according to His walk. We walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. As we follow our Master in the way of the cross He teaches us the art and mysteries of holiness. We learn this in the schools of apprenticeship. We learn this by walking with the Lord Jesus Christ, by taking up our cross and following Him. And that is how He teaches us. We read in 1 Peter 1:14-16: “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” See the apprenticeship there. We observe our Master, whom we are walking with, and we become holy because He is holy. We start to understand the Spirit of Christ. You cannot walk with the Lord Jesus Christ in vanity and lust. To walk with Him you must be holy because He is holy. That is how we are being taught, by walking in the way. As we grow in grace and complete our apprenticeship, we become journeymen, that is “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” as we read in 2 Timothy 2:15. Now we become workers. We are no longer walking just for training, not just for teaching. We have been instructed, and we have now been taught. Now we can be witnesses for Christ. We can start instructing by becoming instructors and rightly dividing the word of truth. We have been instructed in the way of God, and we have been taught by experience, and now we become workmen. After we have learned the way of the cross by practical experience we can become teachers for Christ. We read in Psalm 51:10-13: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” This is not talking about an ordained man of the gospel. This is a calling to every Christian. David never was an ordained preacher, yet think of the instructions he has left us in the Psalms and throughout the Word of God. The third form of guidance spoken of in our text is, “I will guide thee with mine eye.” What does it mean to be guided by the eye of God? In her rebellion, Hagar had run away from her mistress, Sarah, but when “the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands,” in Genesis 16:9, she realized the rebellion of her heart was naked and open before the eye of God. It is precious when the Holy Spirit opens our understanding to realize how transparent we are before the eyes of God. The angel of the Lord did not ask her where she was going or why she was there. He just told her what her problem was and how to correct it. The Lord had His eyes open to her problems. After we have been instructed in the ways of the Lord, and we have been taught by Christ’s practical teaching what it is to walk in the way of the cross, then we understand the words of Hagar in verse 13: “And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?” She understood what it was to be guided by the eye of God. The God of heaven had opened her understanding to realize how transparent she was, how that every wrong thought of her heart was naked before the Lord. As the Lord opens our understanding to see this, it purges our heart because we understand that we cannot even in the deepest, innermost chambers of our hearts, imagine evil without the Lord knowing it. That becomes a guide to us. That becomes restraining grace to us. It keeps us from evil. That word submit is an ugly word to many people. Until we understand the rebellion of our hearts, and until the Lord dissolves that rebellion, that word submit is an ugly word to us. Christ’s journeymen, who have learned what it is to walk with Him in the way of the cross, have learned to realize that they are totally transparent before the eyes of God. That becomes such a directing course. We see this in 2 Chronicles 16:9a: “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” This is those who have gone through the process of sanctification, those who have understood that their hearts are naked and open before God. He shows Himself strong in their behalf. Those who have been enrolled in the schools of Christ, that is, those whose understanding has been opened for the instruction He gives in His Word, and have been taught through practical experience what it is to not only hear, but do His sayings, realize how transparent they are before the eye of God. We read in 1 Peter 3:10-12: “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” The apostle is pointing out what we do because we have the eye of God upon us. This becomes our guide. Our guide becomes the transparency of our heart before the Word of God, where we have received all of this instruction. Our hearts become transparent before that all-seeing eye. The motivation is that the eyes of the Lord are upon us. This is why we have to realize we are to turn away from all evil, do good and pursue peace. When our eyes are open to see as God sees, it becomes a guide. We see speaking evil as evil because we see what it is in the sight of God. God’s Word tells us in 1 Kings 15:5: “David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD,” and in 1 Kings16:25, “But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD.” What is right in the eyes of the Lord? That is how He guides us with His eyes. The eye of the Lord helps us to discern what is right and what is wrong. Is it right in the eyes of the Lord? Is it wrong in the eyes of the Lord? As God’s people advance in the schools of Christ, the eye of God, that is, seeing as God sees, becomes our guide and consolation. We read that David did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. We learn to start seeing right and wrong as God sees right and wrong. We start seeing as God sees. Pride becomes evil in our eyes. Why? Because it is evil in the eyes of the Lord. Lust and covetousness become evil in our eyes because they are evil in the eyes of the Lord. We read in Psalm 33:17-19: “An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” We are told in our text: “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding.” We have been instructed in the Word of God. You have been taught to walk in His ways. You understand what it means to be guided by His eye. You see as evil what God sees as evil. You see as good what God sees as good. It is not good for us to tempt God and deliberately do what we know is wrong. The Lord is open to those who fear Him and hope in His mercy. He hears their cry. For our second point, let’s consider a character to be avoided. Our text says: “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” When the Lord has brought us to this point, we understand the ways of the Lord. We have been taught and we see the guiding eye of the Lord. We must not start acting like horses or mules who have had no instruction or understanding. If you have raised a family you understand that the Lord’s children are something like your own children: for the first, the least sign of disapproval, of a frown, already is a strong rebuke, but the second one is not corrected by anything short of chastening. They must be chastened every time to get their attention before they are able to be instructed again. The Lord is saying: Don’t be this way. Why? Because we are beckoning for the chastening of the Lord. If you have been burnt and scorched with sin and have seen God’s displeasure with sin, and He has brought you through chastening, don’t act like a horse that has no understanding. You have been taught. This portion of our text is an admonition against unbelief, that is, not trusting God enough to obey Him. Unbelief, as it unfolds in scripture, means a person who does not trust Christ enough to obey Him. You cannot separate unbelief from disobedience, neither can you separate faith from obedience. The obedience of faith is the exercise of saving faith. The following is an admonition against unbelief, that is, not trusting God enough to obey Him. We read in Hebrews 4:11-13: “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief [or disobedience as it is in the original]. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” This shows us why we must walk in obedience to God—that we not fall into the example of unbelief or disobedience. After the Lord has taught us, after the Lord has instructed us, after the Lord has guided us with His eye, He tells us to be careful. The children of Israel drank from the rock that was Christ, who followed them throughout the wilderness. They had tremendously rich experiences, yet they perished in the wilderness, and this is what we are being cautioned about. When you and I have been instructed in the Word, and see in the Word that it demands of us that we love our brothers as ourselves, that we do to them as we would that they do to us, that we love God above all, that we walk in the ways that Christ has taught, then we must not fall into disobedience. The next verses admonish Christ’s church who have been instructed by that Word of God before whom we are so transparent, to guard against being “as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding,” by lifting our eyes unto our Great High Priest that His righteousness might be imputed and imparted to us. We will never take one step in the way of the cross in our own strength. We read in verses 14 to 16: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” In our own strength we will fall, we will sin, we will do everything against what we have been instructed, even knowing how transparent we are before God. We are such weak vessels of clay and can fall into sin, even after we have been taught. Yet, every time we fall short, every time we allow a sin to pass through our hearts, we must immediately lift our eyes to our blessed High Priest for our hearts to be cleansed, not only from the guilt but from the pollution of that sin, that we do not continue walking in it. You see, David fell in sin, but he did not walk in sin. David’s heart never turned aside from serving the Lord. Our High Priest understands our weaknesses. Every time we find that we have fallen short, we must not despair. We can come boldly to the throne of grace. That is the solution to our problem. For our third point, let’s consider the blessedness of such freedom from the bit and bridle, that is, the need of God's chastisements to compel obedience—being guided by the eye of God. If God has chosen to save you, your stubbornness will not be a hindrance, but it will be a curb on your freedom. It will bring much grief in your life. If you are a child of God, you did not become one by doing His will. We have been brought to birth by the Holy Spirit. I have eight children. Not one of them became a child of mine by walking in obedience to my will. It was through birth that they became my children. David was a child of God even after he fell in sin with Bathsheba and had killed Uriah. On David’s part he would have never returned to the Lord, but the Lord sent Nathan to him. But think of the grief David brought into his life. His children committed adultery with his own sister. His own son murdered his own brother. His son Absalom came to kill him. Absalom went into his father’s concubines before all Israel. The Lord rewarded David according to his sin. We want freedom from this. And how do we gain that freedom? The bit and bridle are not applied unless they are needed. Unless we fall in sin, the Lord does not use the bit and the bridle. He does not use chastening. He does not line His children up every morning and beat them with a strap because they are children. That is not the way a father treats his children. A child is chastened for disobedience, for disrespect, for irreverence. But if a child is walking with tender love with a loving father see what happens here. Mark that word must in Psalm 32:9: “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” The bit and bridle are for those who rebel. They call for correction and they get it. God says: Don’t do that. Walk with a heart that is tender with the Lord and you won’t be chastened. The Lord’s chastening is for those who rebel against being guided with God’s eye. Those who keep Truth, that is, God’s Word, shall have peace. I want you to see this in Isaiah 26:2: “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.” There is a difference between those who walk in rebellion and those who keep Truth. In verse 3 we read: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” There is that blessed deliverance from the bit and the bridle if we don’t compel the Lord to use it. See the contrast between those who are guided by God’s eye through His Word, and those who rebel, in verses 4 through 7: “Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength: For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.” What foot will tread on those who make themselves big and proud? Those who walk in humble dependence on God. Their feet will tread on the proud. The Lord will bring them down. The Lord weighs our actions. The Lord observes our practical application of His teaching. He has instructed us and tells us not to be as a horse or a mule that He must use His chastening hand with. God’s dear children are just like mine. One may need to be held by bit and bridle, but another enjoys what we find in Psalm 37:3-6: “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.” There is such preciousness in God’s Word for those who walk in His favor. When you and I walk in God’s favor, the world will see it. It will be as obvious as the sun. Why? Because they see Christ manifested in you. Our text says, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” We read in 2 Corinthians 3:17b: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” There is liberty from chastisement by walking in the ways of the Lord. The Lord is a loving Father, and the Lord loves His people, and He sent His own Son for His people, but because the Lord loves us, He chastens us. Because He loves us He will not allow us to go out and destroy ourselves.