By J.C. Philpot
Preached at Zoar Chapel, Great Alie Street, London, on Thursday Evening, July 31, 1845
"He will keep the feet of his saints." 1 Samuel 2:9
The person that uttered these words knew their meaning spiritually and experimentally--the only way whereby divine truth can be known. I need scarcely observe, that they were uttered by that deeply taught and highly favoured child of God, Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel. There is scarcely any saint whose experience is recorded in the Scriptures that I have felt more communion with than this afflicted handmaid of the Lord; for she was led in a peculiar path of trial and temptation; and had to mourn over her natural, as I have had to mourn over my spiritual barrenness. She knew too the only place to which she could go for the removal of this barrenness--the throne of grace, where she could pour out her heart before the Lord. And she knew too by personal experience, what it was for "the poor to be taken out of the dust, and the needy to be lifted out of the dunghill, to be made to sit with princes, and to inherit the throne of glory."
Speaking then by divine inspiration, she utters a promise in the text. This promise, like all other promises dropped from the mouth of Jehovah, is absolute and unconditional; and yet, though absolute and unconditional, is limited--that is, to the children of God. But you will observe, the limitation is not so pointed, nor so particular as in some other promises. For instance; it is not confined to the "poor and needy;" it is not limited to the "hungry and thirsty." In a word, it is not restricted to the various marked and definite characters among the family of God; but it unfolds in its ample bosom, and embraces in its widely opened arms all the living family. It is not, then, a promise limited to any definite experience; but it is one absolute and irrespective of all conditions; and yet manifestly embraces the whole of God's elect people. "He will keep the feet of his saints."
With God's blessing, then, I shall endeavour this evening to unfold the mind of the Holy Ghost in the text by describing first, who the "saints" are, for whom the promise is intended; and secondly, how the Lord fulfils his promise, that "He will keep their feet."
I.--With respect to the sanctification of God's people, each Person of the Trinity has a distinct share in that mighty work. The family of God are sanctified by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. And with respect to this sanctification by the Three Persons of the Triune Jehovah, is the remnant according to the election of grace called in the word of God "saints."
1: First then, they are sanctified by God the Father; that is, they are consecrated, or set apart, which is the original meaning of the word "sanctified." They were set apart in the original decree of election; as Jude speaks, "To them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called." Here, you will observe, sanctification by God the Father precedes preservation in Christ, and calling by the Holy Ghost. In this sense we are to understand the words which God spake to the prophet Jeremiah (1:5): "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet to the nations." Now this is the root and spring of all sanctification. If God the Father has not sanctified us by his own electing choice in Christ Jesus from all eternity, not all the profession in the world can ever make us saints before him.
2. But God the Son has also a part and a share in the sanctification of his own dear people. They were sanctified in him before all worlds, as having a vital union with him. He is their holy covenant head, in whom all the members being united by an eternal union are sanctified; as the apostle speaks, "If the first-fruits be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches." (Rom. 11:16.) If Christ the root be holy, the branches that spring out of the root are holy. If Christ, the first-fruits, is holy, then the whole lump also is holy, being sanctified by the first-fruits. Therefore, the Apostle speaking of Christ, says, "Who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." (1 Cor. 1:30.)
