_My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?_ THE PROPHETIC IMAGE OF THE PRINCE OF SUFFERERS Who is the sufferer whose wail is the very voice of desolation and despair, and who yet dares to believe that the tale of his sorrow will be a gospel for the world? The usual answers are given. The title asc... [ Continue Reading ]
_O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent._ WHY SO MANY PRAYERS ART UNANSWERED Our prayers often fail of success-- I. Because of want of faith. There are a multitude of prayers offered to God with something like this feeling: “Well, perhaps... [ Continue Reading ]
_But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel._ A HABITATION OF GOD There is ordinarily something like a proportion maintained between the power of a monarch and the splendour of his palace. If you visit countries you will generally find that the mightier the king and the more ex... [ Continue Reading ]
_Our fathers trusted in Thee._ The God of our fathers. A sermon to young men The age in which we live is an enlightened age. And no man is bound to be religious for no better reason than that his father was religious before him. With advancing light and knowledge great changes are coming, or have... [ Continue Reading ]
_He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver him._ FAITH AMONG MOCKERS David experienced “cruel mockings.” The flesh may not be cut, but the heart may be torn. But text tells of the Lord Jesus. David knew reproach but in small measure compared with Him. It is the common heritage of the godly. But... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou art He that took me out of the womb._ DAVID’S ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD’S GOODNESS 1. He takes notice of common mercies. Such mercies as most men are partakers of. To come safe and sound into the world, and to be persuaded and sustained in it, they are such things as most men have allotted and v... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help._ HELP IN TROUBLE In this Psalm “a greater than David is here,” even Christ. You cannot pay a visit to Calvary, while reading this Psalm, without being struck wire the record as giving a history of what subsequently took place in... [ Continue Reading ]
_They pierced my hands and my feet._ OUR LORD’S PASSION The great mystery of the passion of our Lord is one which in all its fulness the human mind cannot comprehend. In what manner His sufferings purchased our redemption, and what was the precise nature of those sufferings, are points which we sh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog._ THE DOG Dogs in the East are not much thought of, and never properly treated. The varieties with which we are familiar they knew nothing of. The dogs they had were but of one kind,--all hungry, half-starved, savage, cowardly,... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee._ JESUS THE EXAMPLE OF HOLY PRAISE I. Our Lord’s example. He renders two-fold praise unto the eternal Father. 1. That of declaration. He did this in His teaching, by His acts, but most of all in His death. And He continued to declare God’s name... [ Continue Reading ]
_The meek shall eat and be satisfied._ FEASTING ON THE SACRIFICE The custom of sacrificial feasts was common to many lands. I. The world’s sacrificial feast. The Jewish ritual, and that of many other nations, provided for a festal meal following on, and consisting of the material of the sacrifice.... [ Continue Reading ]
_All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the Lord._ THE RETURN TO THE FATHER In this Psalm the utterance of the believing heart in trial and in deliverance becomes, at various points, a prophetic anticipation of the experience of Christ. In one verse after another we seem to hear ou... [ Continue Reading ]
_The kingdom is the Lord’s._ AN UNIVERSAL RELIGION The law of Moses was confined, by the terms of its promulgation, to the land of Judaea: and other systems which have been embraced as Divine attempted to ensure their success In some quarters of the globe by an accommodation to local manners which... [ Continue Reading ]
_None can keep alive his own soul._ LIFE’S NEED AND MAINTENANCE Begin by noting the connection; then take text in a spiritual meaning. I. The inner life must be sustained by God. None of us can make his own soul live, nor can we keep it alive. Old Christians cannot, more than young ones. At no ti... [ Continue Reading ]
_A seed shall serve Him._ GOOD MEN AS SEEDS This figurative expression signifies Christ and His people, who yield true obedience to God,--they are called by this name in a spiritual and figurative, but most appropriate sense. The idea is taken from the operations of the husbandman, who carefully re... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall come, and declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done this._ THE DYING THOUGHTS OF CHRIST 1. Jesus complains that God had deserted Him. Bearing our sins caused this intolerable suffering. Yet even whilst thus suffering He adores the uprightness of God.... [ Continue Reading ]