_Bless the Lord, O my soul._ A SONG OF PRAISE Like stately pillars supporting a solemn temple, three noble psalms, placed side by side, exalt the glory of Jehovah: 103 glorifies the God of grace; 104 the God of nature; 105 the God of history. Each springs from a strong pedestal of adoration, and i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Forget not all His benefits._ REMEMBRANCE OF GOD’S BENEFITS I. Some of those things we have to remember. 1. The pardon of sin. 2. The various providential mercies we have received during our lives. 3. The hope of a renewed life beyond the grave. II. Some of the advantages attending this recol... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases._ FORGIVENESS AND HEALING I. Forgiveness and healing are men’s greatest needs. 1. Because without them there can be no upward spiritual progress. Man’s course is downward until he is divinely forgiven and healed. The accumulating p... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who redeemeth thy life from destruction._ REDEEMED FROM DESTRUCTION By destruction here he meaneth, not only the danger of being killed by his enemies, but also and especially the state of condemnation and perishing in God’s wrath, from which the man justified is redeemed by the Mediator. 1. The... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s._ LIKE EAGLES “Like the eagle.” I think it is helpful to contrast this figure with the figures used in the previous psalm. There we have a psalmist upon whom the renewing ministry has not yet been wrought, and he lies prone in the grip of a deep depression. “... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed._ GOD’S CONDUCT TOWARDS MANKIND In the preceding verses the hymnist exhorts himself to praise the Great God on account of the benefits conferred on himself. Here he strikes off into general reasons why he and all men should... [ Continue Reading ]
_He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel._ A TWOFOLD REVELATION, AND A TWOFOLD ATTAINMENT I. A twofold Divine revelation. There is an obvious distinction between ways and acts. Acts are deeds; ways are methods. A man’s acts are the results and representatives of his... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord is merciful and gracious._ THE MERCY OF GOD I. Define the idea of mercy. It is the exercise of a Divine benevolence in respect to a guilty being, and such an exercise, that if it had been wholly wanting, no just judgment could ever have impeached the benevolence of God. Mercy is the inte... [ Continue Reading ]
_He will not always chide: neither will He keep his anger for ever._ THE LORD CHIDING HIS PEOPLE Text refers only, as does the whole psalm, to the children of God. They only can sing it. But though we are forgiven as rebels, He, when needful, chides and chastens us as children. I. He will chide.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath not dealt with us after our sins._ GOD’S MERCY TO SINNERS I. The views which this declaration presents to us of the Divine conduct. 1. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve. 2. He has not dealt with us as He has dealt with others. This especially will be a reflection greatly bene... [ Continue Reading ]
_As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us._ PLENARY ABSOLUTION The doctrine of forgiving love is one of those necessaries of daily life, of which we may say that however frequently it be set before you, you would not tire of it. Therefore, in the simpl... [ Continue Reading ]
_Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him._ THE TENDER PITY OF THE LORD With a text from the Old Testament, I purpose to take you straight away to the New, and the tenderness and pitifulness of the Father shall be illustrated by the meekness and lowliness of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust._ GOD’S PERFECT KNOWLEDGE AND MERCIFUL CONSIDERATION OF OUR FRAME I. The nature of the human frame. 1. The body. (1) Its wants and necessities. (2) Its weakness. (3) Its pains and sicknesses. (4) Its mortality. 2. The soul, as in uni... [ Continue Reading ]
_As for man, his days are as grass._ HUMAN LIFE We have here presented man’s existence in relation to-- I. The material and the moral. 1. His relation to the material. Like the flower-- (1) He springs out of the earth. (2) He is sustained by the earth. (3) He returns to the earth. 2. His rel... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more._ THE AUTUMN WIND: AN EMBLEM OF DEATH I. The autumn wind works gradually. Blade by blade, the herbs wither under its influence; and leaf by leaf, the tree is stripped of its foliage. Thus on gradually until... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him._ MAN AND MERCY Verses 15-19 form a beautiful contrast between man’s life and God’s mercy. I. There is a contrast in their strength. 1. Man’s life is weak. All men in all places and at all times are like grass,... [ Continue Reading ]
_To such as keep His covenant._ KEEPING THE COVENANT Saints are to look upon themselves as wholly the Lord’s, in opposition to all competitors. The Lord will not divide with rivals; if ye take Him these must go. The soul till it comes Within the covenant is in a restless case, like a bee going fro... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens._ GENUINE PIETY I. It recognizes God as the supreme governor of the universe (verse 19). 1. His government is absolute. His authority is not delegated, it is absolute. 2. His government is universal. “It is in the heavens,” over all. As the heave... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bless the Lord, ye His angels._ ON MINISTERING SPIRITS I. The lowest occupation of tutelary beings upon the earth consists in the preservation or deliverance of the servants of God from situations of danger. To be conscious, that whithersoever we may bend our steps;--in the midst of the throng, o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bless the Lord, all His works in all places of His dominion._ THE ILLIMITABLE VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSE How does our conception of the universe differ from that of David? It differs, among other things, mainly because we know, and he did not know, of infinite time, peopled with innumerable existenc... [ Continue Reading ]