Aug 26
31
“Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:4,5
There is one feature in true religion perhaps not much insisted upon, but not the less real and genuine; which is this, that all true religion brings the soul into vital and immediate contact with God. False religion on the other hand only sets the soul at a distance from him. We see this peculiar feature of vital godliness very much developed in the Psalms, and in other parts of Holy Scripture, where the saints of God breathe forth their desires after the Lord. The desire of their souls to get near to God, to have special dealings with the Majesty on high, to receive mercy from his gracious hands, to be blessed with manifestations of his favour, watered with the dew of his grace, and nourished as with marrow and fatness by the smiles of his countenance, shines forth very conspicuously in the Word of truth. How all these breathings after God, which you see so clearly traced out in the Psalms and other devotional parts of God’s Word, establish the truth of what I was just saying, that true religion, vital godliness, bring the soul into close and personal contact with God! In opposition to this, there is no mark stamped upon false religion more evidently and plainly than this, that it sets up a false god, an idol god; not perhaps a wood or stone representation, but a god adapted to the carnal mind, and suitable to the natural heart, in a word, such a god as we see in all ages blind, fallen man has worshiped. Thus were you to analyse and examine all false religion, whatever its name or nature, you would find this feature of death stamped upon it, that it sets up a false god for the true God, a false faith for true faith, and a false righteousness for true righteousness; and thus worships an imaginary, an idol god, instead of the true and living God, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we may be well assured, that nothing short of the work and teaching of God in the heart can ever pull down this false god and set up in its place “the only true God, and Jesus Christ” whom he has sent (John 17:3).
J.C.Philpot