Legalism can also be described as false Christianity because that is essentially what it is. It uses Christian language and biblical terms. It sounds evangelical. It loves to use phrases like 'evangelism,' 'fundamentalism,' 'biblical literalism,' and such. It sounds Christian, and looks Christian, but it is emphatically not true Christianity. It as a spurious fake, an imitation Christianity, an empty, hollow counterfeit of the real thing. It is a burdensome drag upon the spiritual life that creates a sense of bondage and guilt. It is a sickening, nauseating fraud in the eyes of others. God describes it in the Scriptures as a stench in his nostrils. That is what legality really is (Ray Stedman).
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Spurgeon PS042

Spurgeon PS042

EXPOSITION.

In this second division of the Psalm, we are led from the closet of prayer into the field of conflict. Remark the undaunted courage of the man of God. He allows that his enemies are great men (for such is the import of the Hebrew words translated –_sons of men_), but still he believes them to be foolish men, and therefore chides them, as though they were but children. He tells them that they _love vanity, and seek after leasing_, that is, lying, empty fancies, vain conceits, wicked fabrications. He asks them _how long_ they mean to make his honour a jest, and his fame a mockery? A little of such mirth is too much, why need they continue to indulge in it? Had they not been long enough upon the watch for his halting? Had not repeated disappointments convinced them that the Lord’s anointed was not to be overcome by all their calumnies? Did they mean to jest their souls into hell, and go on with their laughter until swift vengeance should turn their merriment into howling? In the contemplation of their perverse continuance in their vain and lying pursuits, the Psalmist solemnly pauses and inserts a _Selah_. Surely we too may stop awhile, and meditate upon the deep-seated folly of the wicked, their continuance in evil, and their sure destruction; and we may learn to admire that grace which has made us to differ, and taught us to _love_ truth, and _seek_ after _righteousness_.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Verse 2.–“_O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah_.” Prayer soars above the violence and impiety of men, and with a swift wing commits itself to heaven, with happy omen, if I may allude to what the learned tell us of the augury of the ancients, which I shall not minutely discuss. Fervent prayers stretch forth a strong, wide-extended wing, and while the birds of night hover beneath, they mount aloft, and point out, as it were, the proper seats to which we should aspire. For certainly there is nothing that cuts the air so swiftly, nothing that takes so sublime, so happy, and so auspicious a night as prayer, which bears the soul on its pinions, and leaves far behind all the dangers, and even the delights of this low world of ours. Behold this holy man, who just before was crying to God in the midst of distress, and with urgent importunity entreating that he might be heard, now, as if he were already possessed of all he had asked, taking upon him boldly to rebuke his enemies, how highly soever they were exalted, and how potent soever they might be even in the royal palace.–^Robert Leighton, D.D.

Verse 2.–“_O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame_?” etc. We might imagine every syllable of this precious Psalm used by our Master some evening, when about to leave the temple for the day, and retiring to his wonted rest at Bethany (verse #8|), after another fruitless expostulation with the men of Israel. And we may read it still as the very utterance of his heart, longing over man, and delighting in God. But further, not only is this the utterance of the Head, it is also the language of one of his members in full sympathy with him in holy feeling. This is a Psalm with which the righteous may make their dwellings resound, morning and evening, as they cast a sad look over a world that rejects God’s grace. They may sing it while they cling more and more every day to Jehovah, as their all-sufficient heritage, now and in the age to come. They may sing it, too, in the happy confidence of faith and hope, when the evening of the world’s day is coming, and may then fall asleep in the certainty of what shall greet their eyes on the resurrection morning– “Sleeping embosomed in his grace, Till morning-shadows flee.”

^Andrew A. Bonar, 1859.

Verse 2.–“_Love Vanity_.” They that love sin, love vanity; they chase a bubble, they lean upon a reed, their hope is as a spider’s web.’

“Leasing.” This is an old Saxon word signifying falsehood.

Verse 2.–“_How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing_?” “Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.” This our first parents found, and therefore named their second son Abel, or vanity. Solomon, that had tried these things, and could best tell the vanity of them, he preacheth this sermon over again and again, “Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.” It is sad to think how many thousands there be that can say with the preacher, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity;” nay, swear it, and yet follow after these things as if there were no other glory, nor felicity, but what is to be found in these things they call vanity. Such men will sell Christ, heaven, and their souls, for a trifle, that call these things vanity, but do not cordially believe them to be vanity, but set their hearts upon them as if they were their crown, the top of all their royalty and glory. Oh! let your souls dwell upon the vanity of all things here below, till your hearts be so thoroughly convinced and persuaded of the vanity of them, as to tremble upon them, and make them a foot-stool for Christ to get up, and ride in a holy triumph in your hearts.

Gilemex, king of Vandals, led in triumph by Belisarius, cried out, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” The fancy of Lucian, who placeth Charon on the top of a high hill, viewing all the affairs of men living, and looking on their greatest cities as little birds’ nests, is very pleasant. Oh, the imperfection, the ingratitude, the levity, the inconstancy, the perfidiousness of those creatures we most servilely affect! Ah, did we but weigh man’s pain with his payment, his crosses with his mercies, his miseries with his pleasures, we should then see that there is nothing got by the bargain, and conclude, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Chrysostom said once, “That if he were the fittest in the world to preach a sermon to the whole world, gathered together in one congregation, and had some high mountain for his pulpit, from whence he might have a prospect of all the world in his view, and were furnished with a voice of brass, a voice as loud as the trumpets of the archangel, that all the world might hear him, he would choose to preach upon no other text than that in the Psalms, O mortal men, ‘_How long will ye love vanity, and follow after leasing_?'”–^Thomas Brooks, 1608-1680.

Verse 2.–“_Love Vanity_.” Men’s affections are according to their principles; and every one loves that most _without him_ which is most suitable to somewhat _within him_: _liking_ is founded in _likeness_, and has therefore that word put upon it. It is so in whatsoever we can imagine; whether in temporals or spirituals, as to the things of this life, or of a better. Men’s love is according to some working and impression upon their own spirits. And so it is here in the point of vanity; those which are vain persons, they delight in vain things; as children, they love such matters as are most agreeable to their childish dispositions, and as do suit them in that particular. Out of the heart comes all kind of evil.–^Thomas Horton, 1675.

HINTS TO PREACHERS.

Verse 2.—_Depravity of man_ as evinced (1) by continuance in despising Christ, (2) loving vanity in his heart, and (3) seeking lies in his daily life.

Verse 2.–The length of the sinner’s sin. “How long?” May be bounded by repentance, shall be by death, and yet shall continue in eternity.