God the Portion of Israel.
I. GOD IS PECULIARLY RELATED TO HIS OWN PEOPLE. The previous verses describe the universal supremacy of God and the claims he has over all his creatures. He is not one among many gods, but the only God; he is the Creator of all things, in him all things consist, all men live only through him. He is gracious to all his human family, he is willing to give his richest blessings to all mankind. Still, there are other and special relations which God holds only with those who trust and love and obey him. They who seek God will find him as the negligent will never do. They who choose God for their Portion will be chosen by him for peculiar favors. This is quite consistent with the universality of the being and activity of God.
II. GOD'S PECULIAR RELATION WITH HIS PEOPLE ADMITS OF NO RIVALRY. God must be the Portion of his people or in no sense peculiarly theirs. Israel cannot retain the special privileges of the covenant with Jehovah while breaking the conditions of that covenant which require unwavering fidelity (Deuteronomy 28:14). He who would find his portion in God must not also seek it in the world. He may have many worldly advantages while pursuing higher aims, because these may be "added unto him;" but he must "seek first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33).
III. GOD'S PECULIAR RELATION WITH HIS PEOPLE IS AN UNSPEAKABLE BLESSING TO THEM.
1. He makes them his inheritance, i.e. prizes them as property, values them "as the apple of his eye" (Deuteronomy 32:10), as his "peculiar treasure" (Malachi 3:17). If God showers down upon all his creatures mercies countless as the stars of heaven, what must be the wonder and the glory of their state whom God thus prizes and marks for special favor!
2. They find in him their Portion.
IV. THE BLESSING OF THIS PECULIAR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS OPEN TO ALL MEN. The Jews too often rested their claim on inherent national rights—their birthrights. But the New Testament declares the spiritual Israel to be the true Israel (Galatians 6:15, Galatians 6:16), and this Israel is composed of all who walk "according to the rule" of faith in Christ. Therefore the broad invitation for all to follow Christ opens the door for all to the closest relationship with God. If all are invited to Christ who is the Way, all may become God's peculiar inheritance, and find their Portion in him (1 Peter 2:9).
Confession and correction.
I. GENUINE CONFESSION INVOLVES A CLEAR RECOGNITION OF DUTY AND A WILLINGNESS TO RECEIVE NECESSARY CORRECTION.
1. There must be a recognition of duty. We cannot confess the wrong till we know the right. Conscience awakes only when a standard of right outside ourselves is perceived.
2. There must be a willingness to receive necessary correction. If we make honest confession of sin, we imply that we desire to be free from it. But a right understanding of our own condition in the light of God's requirements makes the necessity of correction apparent.
II. A CLEAR RECOGNITION OF DUTY WILL SHOW THAT THIS CONSISTS IN SELF-ABNEGATION TO A HIGHER WILL. The essence of sin is self-will. The first sin was an act of disobedience. All wickedness is a rebellion against a supreme authority. Man is not free to live to himself, swayed only by his own lawless caprice. He has a vocation to fulfill:
1. He has no right to go his own way. He is a servant. He is lawfully subject to a righteous Lord, before whom duty requires him to say, "Not my will, but thine, be done."
2. He has not light enough to direct his own steps. Future accidents cannot be anticipated. The ultimate effects of the simplest action are not to be traced beforehand. Hence the need of a higher direction.
3. He has not power to succeed in his own way. If he starts by himself, making the awful experiment of a self-sustained pilgrimage through the toils and storms of life, he will assuredly make shipwreck. Our duty is not to live for self, nor even for God in our own way or by our own unaided strength, but to do his will, in his way, by his aid. Thus the Christian, looking for authority, guidance, and strength in Christ, is taught to say, "To me to live is Christ."
III. A WILLINGNESS TO RECEIVE CORRECTION ARISES FROM A PERCEPTION OF ITS JUSTICE AND UTILITY WHEN VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF DUTY.
1. It must be recognized as just, not only merited, but coming in a fair degree. We could not willingly accept a correcting chastisement which was disproportionate to guilt.
2. It must be recognized as given on principles of righteousness, not out of vindictive wrath.
3. It must be recognized as sent for a merciful purpose. It is correction, not simply retribution. This is wholesome, and given, not in anger, which would be fatal (Psalms 2:12), but in love (Proverbs 3:12). Such correction we should not murmur under, but welcome, accept as a blessing, and even pray for. But we shall only do this when we are impressed with a right sense of duty, which makes us acknowledge that we are not to live for ourselves, and must be subdued and trained by all necessary means to submission and obedience and a true feeling of our own helplessness, requiring the help of Divine discipline, Because man's way is not in himself he may naturally ask for wholesome correction.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR