One of God’s dearest promises to me is: “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down.” Psalm 37:23-24. Just when in my conscience I think I've finally severed myself from all help and hope, and have by my sin removed myself from the saving hand of my Almighty Savior, the Spirit of God graciously brings His promise before my eyes and ears and to my heart, “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down.” I sin. I fall. I fall by sin and I fall into sin. It is most painful, because when I seek satisfaction from sin, I find no satisfaction in Christ. If sin comforts, then Christ’s comfort is unnecessary. But how quickly do I find my soul impoverished, in despair, in distress, in confusion and in unrest when I sin against light and goodness. It is painful and shameful to admit that sin is still an issue. Without God’s grace, I would sink lower than the grave. Without His grace, I would spiral into endless despair. But He is faithful when I am unfaithful. “But I thought you were saved?!” So did I. But sin has this awful consequence: it deprives me of assurance. Have you ever found it so? Do you wonder if perhaps there is no hope any longer for you? Do you open God’s word and find no relief? Such is the experience of sin and its effects in the soul. But what is the answer of God? Is it not the same answer as when we first believed? Is not Christ the answer to every blood-bought child of God? And does not the Spirit of grace so minister to us over and again so that we would know that in ourselves we are nothing but sin, that we cannot save ourselves, that Christ - by Himself - has saved us by His own work once and for all, and that He who saved us will even now save us by His Spirit, ministering again His Advocacy, His perfect and complete atonement, His perfect righteousness, and this too: That He will ‘keep us from falling, and present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy’ (Jude 24)? And what is it to keep us from falling, but to preserve us in confidence before God with His merits and His blood and His righteousness, and to lift our eyes once again, and again, and again, to look away from ourselves at the Lord Jesus Christ, who became sin before God, who obeyed even unto death, and who did all that He did for His people, so that when we were enemies, 'we were reconciled unto God by the death of His Son (Romans 5:10)'? O, amazing grace! Is grace amazing to you? It is, if you have faced the horror of your sins in the depths of your conscience and have had the Spirit of God whisper His still small voice from the gospel in your ear, saying, “My son, thy sins which are many, are all forgiven thee for His name’s sake.”
Psalms 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Psalms 85:2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
Psalms 130:4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Dear soul, have you ventured on Jesus for safety? Then hear the word of God concerning your falls, and lift up your eyes to Him who is your strength -- Christ and Him crucified. Remember, that the saints “...overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, (Revelation 12:10-11)” and there is no other way to overcome but this. We never grow beyond “Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. (Revelation 1:5)”
1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Psalms 37:23-24 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.
Psalms 116:8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears,and my feet from falling.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Proverbs 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
2 Corinthians 1:9-10 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
O, the blessedness of the promise that the LORD upholds His people, those He has made righteous in His Son (Matthew 5:20; Romans 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Jeremiah 23:6; 33:16; Philippians 3:9). Though a righteous man fall (proof that “righteousness” does not mean his own personal righteousness), he shall not be utterly cast down. When we fall by sin, or fall into sin, we are cast down. But we are not cast off and we are not forsaken. This is the gracious and blessed promise of the LORD to all of His Elect people in Christ! Not forsaken, not cast down, not cast off. No doubt, sin brings trouble. And the most dangerous aspect of sin is that it separates us from communion with God. Until God in grace smites our conscience, our prayers trail off, become weak, and we lose our joy, our confidence and our assurance in Christ. The danger is that sin hardens us so that we do not call upon God. But the LORD sees to it that sin has the reverse effect on His people that it has on the reprobate. For the lost, sin hardens in unbelief. It deadens with insensitivity and leads to more sin. It causes him to hide, and to not come to the light. But for His people, the LORD causes sin to terrify, to trouble, to create unrest in spirit and in mind, and to cause Him to cry, “Oh that I knew where I might find him!" (Job 23:3). And this, in turn, leads to ever greater dependence of trust and nearness of communion with the Savior.
When the pain of a lost sense of Christ’s righteousness as my only righteousness before God is acute, while the pain of the lost sense of comfort from knowing, that all of my sins are forgiven me for His name’s sake is all but gone, then my soul is 'as a pelican in the wilderness, as an owl in the desert, as a sparrow alone on the rooftop.' (Psalm 102:6-7) But when the estrangement that sin causes, causes arrows of pain to enter into my soul, and there is no comfort from God’s word, and only confusion and fear; when then the Word of God comes in it is like a fountain bath to my conscience, for it assures me that Christ only is good, that He only is acceptable to God in Himself, that He only is faithful, that He only is my sin payment. And the faithfulness of God to His covenant, to His Son, and to Himself - His name - is never sweeter. Hear the promise of our God to the wayfaring saint, “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down!” Here we see the gracious workings of grace. Sin casts us down in every way, but a look of faith to Christ, given by the Spirit of all grace from the throne of His grace, the mercyseat of heaven, to my soul, brings the refreshing of God’s word like a fountain, cleansing me from all sin. I am cast down, but not forsaken.
The danger of sin is that it weakens faith by hardening the conscience away from its need of Christ. But the certainty of God’s promise to His people is that though they fall, they will not be utterly cast down, not cast down so as to be unable to see Christ and Him crucified as their everything in salvation, or to leave off calling and trusting and fleeing to Christ for all. And why will they not be cast down? Because “...the LORD upholdeth him by His hand!”
O, dearly beloved of the LORD. Do you find this to be your experience? Has sin dealt you a blow and have you fallen and do you see that you are at this time cast down? Then lay hold on this promise, “He will not be utterly cast down.” And know this, that the reason we are not cast down, is not that we are righteous in ourselves, but that, “the LORD upholdeth him by His hand!” Nothing is more God-honoring and God-glorying than to ascribe to Him all of our salvation, from first to last, in what God the Father has done in love by choosing, by appointing Christ as our Surety, by providing Christ as our Surety, by accepting Christ as our Surety, and by Christ being our Surety and fulfilling all obligations of obedience and suffering for sin, and that by the grace of the Holy Spirit of God He makes us look away from our sin-bitten and sin-cursed state and nature, to Christ our only hope and healing. We find in Him more than life, more than all the vain promises that sin makes but never fulfills. This look causes us to plead, “Lord! make me, cause me, help me to look to you and to look nowhere else, not to sin and not to any other promises than what I find in your accomplished redemption!”
Psalms 37:37-40 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.
Psalms 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Psalms 85:2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
Psalms 130:4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Dear soul, have you ventured on Jesus for safety? Then hear the word of God concerning your falls, and lift up your eyes to Him who is your strength -- Christ and Him crucified. Remember, that the saints “...overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, (Revelation 12:10-11)” and there is no other way to overcome but this. We never grow beyond “Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. (Revelation 1:5)”
1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Psalms 37:23-24 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.
Psalms 116:8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears,and my feet from falling.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Proverbs 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
2 Corinthians 1:9-10 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
O, the blessedness of the promise that the LORD upholds His people, those He has made righteous in His Son (Matthew 5:20; Romans 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Jeremiah 23:6; 33:16; Philippians 3:9). Though a righteous man fall (proof that “righteousness” does not mean his own personal righteousness), he shall not be utterly cast down. When we fall by sin, or fall into sin, we are cast down. But we are not cast off and we are not forsaken. This is the gracious and blessed promise of the LORD to all of His Elect people in Christ! Not forsaken, not cast down, not cast off. No doubt, sin brings trouble. And the most dangerous aspect of sin is that it separates us from communion with God. Until God in grace smites our conscience, our prayers trail off, become weak, and we lose our joy, our confidence and our assurance in Christ. The danger is that sin hardens us so that we do not call upon God. But the LORD sees to it that sin has the reverse effect on His people that it has on the reprobate. For the lost, sin hardens in unbelief. It deadens with insensitivity and leads to more sin. It causes him to hide, and to not come to the light. But for His people, the LORD causes sin to terrify, to trouble, to create unrest in spirit and in mind, and to cause Him to cry, “Oh that I knew where I might find him!" (Job 23:3). And this, in turn, leads to ever greater dependence of trust and nearness of communion with the Savior.
When the pain of a lost sense of Christ’s righteousness as my only righteousness before God is acute, while the pain of the lost sense of comfort from knowing, that all of my sins are forgiven me for His name’s sake is all but gone, then my soul is 'as a pelican in the wilderness, as an owl in the desert, as a sparrow alone on the rooftop.' (Psalm 102:6-7) But when the estrangement that sin causes, causes arrows of pain to enter into my soul, and there is no comfort from God’s word, and only confusion and fear; when then the Word of God comes in it is like a fountain bath to my conscience, for it assures me that Christ only is good, that He only is acceptable to God in Himself, that He only is faithful, that He only is my sin payment. And the faithfulness of God to His covenant, to His Son, and to Himself - His name - is never sweeter. Hear the promise of our God to the wayfaring saint, “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down!” Here we see the gracious workings of grace. Sin casts us down in every way, but a look of faith to Christ, given by the Spirit of all grace from the throne of His grace, the mercyseat of heaven, to my soul, brings the refreshing of God’s word like a fountain, cleansing me from all sin. I am cast down, but not forsaken.
The danger of sin is that it weakens faith by hardening the conscience away from its need of Christ. But the certainty of God’s promise to His people is that though they fall, they will not be utterly cast down, not cast down so as to be unable to see Christ and Him crucified as their everything in salvation, or to leave off calling and trusting and fleeing to Christ for all. And why will they not be cast down? Because “...the LORD upholdeth him by His hand!”
O, dearly beloved of the LORD. Do you find this to be your experience? Has sin dealt you a blow and have you fallen and do you see that you are at this time cast down? Then lay hold on this promise, “He will not be utterly cast down.” And know this, that the reason we are not cast down, is not that we are righteous in ourselves, but that, “the LORD upholdeth him by His hand!” Nothing is more God-honoring and God-glorying than to ascribe to Him all of our salvation, from first to last, in what God the Father has done in love by choosing, by appointing Christ as our Surety, by providing Christ as our Surety, by accepting Christ as our Surety, and by Christ being our Surety and fulfilling all obligations of obedience and suffering for sin, and that by the grace of the Holy Spirit of God He makes us look away from our sin-bitten and sin-cursed state and nature, to Christ our only hope and healing. We find in Him more than life, more than all the vain promises that sin makes but never fulfills. This look causes us to plead, “Lord! make me, cause me, help me to look to you and to look nowhere else, not to sin and not to any other promises than what I find in your accomplished redemption!”
Psalms 37:37-40 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.
Rick Warta
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