Mercy and judgment.
The psalmist says he will sing of these; and if it were David who wrote this psalm, he had good reason for such song. And who of us is there that, in looking back over our life, has not reason for the like song? But—
I. THERE WAS A TIME IN MAN'S LIFE WHEN THERE WAS NEITHER MERCY NOR JUDGMENT.
1. In Paradise, before sin had entered, there was no occasion for mercy; for mercy implies unworthiness and guilt. But these there were not. Man received love, bounty, goodness, but not mercy. Only a sinner can receive that. This is why the redeemed sinner will sing more loudly than the angels, who have never known what sin is.
2. And so, too, there was not judgment. No anger darkened the face of God; no need for the chastisements and disciplines of life. But this time will never come again.
II. THERE WILL BE A TIME WHEN MEN WILL KNOW BUT ONE OF THESE.
1. Mercy only will be known in heaven. The time for chastisement and punishment will be gone. God will have wiped away every tear. It will be mercy without judgment.
2. But judgment only will be known in hell. Mercy comes not there; for hell is a state of mind rather than a place, and the mind that has its fit place there must be forsaken ere mercy can come and do its work. The father's welcome was not given to the prodigal until he had come away from the "far country."
3. But here judgment and mercy are blended. They are the warp and woof of life; but yonder they will stand apart; where the one comes, the other cannot.
III. AT PRESENT MEN ARE THE SUBJECTS OF BOTH. This is a certain fact. It was true of David, of Israel, of our Lord Jesus Christ, for because of both mercy and judgment he came into the world. And it is true of God's dealings with humanity generally.
IV. AND BOTH ARE TO BE THE SUBJECT OF OUR SONG.
1. For think what would have been the consequences had man received nothing but mercy. See what prosperity often does now, and always will, unless diligently guarded against by faith and prayer. "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" (and cf. Psalms 17:1-15.). But:
2. Had God dealt with man only in the way of judgment, the results would have been no less disastrous; men would have hated God, broken out into wild rebellion, or laid down in despair.
3. And think of the service both render. The mercy of God brightens all our life, and makes up in us the love of God. "We love him because he first loved us." This is especially true when we behold the mercy of God in Christ. But his judgments also are blessed for us. "Before I was afflicted I went astray" (Psalms 119:1-176.). They bridle and curb the lawless will; they make manifest to our souls the bitter evil of sin. "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest"—so said the saints of old; and it is true still.
4. And of the characteristics of both. Of mercy—so free, so great, so abiding, so seasonable, so undeserved. Of judgment—its purpose, its profitableness, its alleviations, its limit to the present life and never beyond our power to endure.
5. But some sing of neither. Not of mercy, for they regard not God as its giver; not of judgment, for they deem it only ill fortune.
6. Some sing only of one. Of mercy, for that is easy to sing about. Some only of judgment,—they believe only in a God of judgment, not in "our Father."
7. Let us sing of both.—S.C.