Identification of the Godly # 1

Identification of the Godly # 1

It is a great mistake to suppose that it is only in the Scriptures of the New Testament that we shall find the features of a Christian described: the same is equally true of the Old Testament. It would indeed be passing strange were it otherwise, for God's work of grace within His people is essentially one in all generations. As human nature and human needs have known no change since our first parents were driven out of Eden, neither has God varied His method or means in ministering unto His children. The supernatural operations of the Holy Spirit in Abel, Enoch, and Noah - did not differ from those which He put forth in Peter, Paul, and Timothy; and the spiritual fruits which He produced through them were one and the same in each instance. Thus, the marks or characteristics of the godly have been uniform in every age and climate. Antediluvian or post-diluvian, Jew or Gentile, first century or twentieth A. D. - the soul experiences of God's elect have been similar.

There has been a like realization of their sinnership and lost condition, a like longing for God's salvation and panting after holiness, a like realization of their own helplessness to improve themselves or do anything to win God's acceptance, a like looking off unto Christ for redemption, and a like peace and joy when assured of their pardon. "As in water face answer to face, so the heart of man to man" (Proverbs 27:19) - true both naturally and spiritually.

A striking and blessed illustration of what has been pointed out above is found in Psalm 119, which was aptly called by a writer of two hundred years ago, "The anatomy of a regenerate soul," for therein we have delineated the most secret dispositions of a godly heart. Its condition and pulsations are there fully opened to our view.  The whole psalm supplies us with a complete portrait of a saint: his aspirations, his meditations, the exercises of his inner man, and his conduct. Though the circumstances through which David passed may be, in their accidental and incidental details, different from God's providential dealings with the reader - yet if he is regenerate, his inward history corresponds closely with that of the sweet Psalmist of Israel. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6), and as Charles Bridges said in the introduction to his excellent  exposition of Psalm 119, "The modern believer, therefore, when employed in tracing the record of Patriarchal or Mosaic experience, will maker in the infirmities of the ancient people of God - a picture of his own heart; and in comparing their gracious exercises with his own, he will be ready to acknowledge, "All these works that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will" (1 Cor. 12:11).

"In this view, it is the object of this work to exhibit as Old Testament believer in a New Testament garb as one walking in the same spirit and in the same steps with ourselves. "Faith which works by love" (Gal. 5:6) - the fundamental distinction of the Gospel - pervading the whole man... In all the variety of Christian feelings and holy conduct, we observe its operations leading the soul into communion with God, and molding every part into a progressive conformity to His image. When we view the "man after God's own heart"...taking God for his portion, assembling with His people, feeding upon His Word, when we mark his zeal for his Master's glory, his devotedness, and self-denial in his Master's work; when we see him ever ready to confess His name, to bear His reproach, and caring only to answer it by a steady adherence to Him - do we not in those lineaments of character recognize the picture of one who in after times could turn to the churches of Christ and say, "Wherefore I beseech you, be followers of Me" (1 Cor. 4:16)? Happy are they who are conformed to this holy man."

We may well use Psalm 119 as a standard for which to determine the state of our souls. Let each reader of this paper bring his inner man to this touchstone, comparing its workings and aspirations with the display there given of David's affections. If your desires correspond with His, if you find your heart has His holy longings, then you may well conclude that God has "renewed a right spirit within you" (Psalm 51:10). On the other hand, if you are unacquainted with such spiritual breathings as are here discovered and are a stranger unto such holy exercises, if its language be in your ears as an unknown tongue - then be assured that you are not a new creature in Christ.

Each lineament of this heaven-born soul should be separately and thoughtfully examined. Here we will confine ourselves unto a single one: "I have longed for your salvation, O Lord; and your law is my delight" (Psalm 119:174).

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 2)