I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living. Sermons
These well-known words show - I. THAT REST IS ONE OF THE RIGHTFUL POSSESSIONS OF THE SOUL. It was designed for the soul. God would not have created a soul to be the perpetual victim of fret, worry, and distress, as we see many souls now are. It must have belonged to the soul. Hence it is called "thy rest." In the primal paradise, in which our first parents were placed, they enjoyed this rest. Theirs was the repose of the intellect, of the affections, of the will; all were at rest in God. II. BUT THE SOUL HAS GOT AWAY FROM THIS REST. What need to labor any proof of this? 1. You can read the fact in men's very looks - the careworn countenance, the anxious mien, the sad, disappointed air. 2. In their words, whether spoken or written; weariness is written on them all. 3. In the frantic but futile efforts they make to find a substitute for what they have lost. III. THAT IT CAN, IF IT WILL, RETURN UNTO ITS REST. Yes, in forsaking sin, surrender to Christ, and trust in him, rest is still attainable. - S.C. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 1. The matter of the duty in which the psalmist promiseth to engage — "I will walk." It signifies the practice of what is good and lovely, as the words following intimate. 2. The manner in which he purposed to walk before the Lord, that is, in such a manner, that God, the searcher of hearts, would be pleased with it, and approve of it. 3. The place and time: while he continued on earth, and remained among the living. I. CONFIRM THE PROPOSITION, THAT INWARD AFFECTION TO GOD MUST BE DECLARED BY OUR OUTWARD CONVERSATION. 1. The one cannot be without the other. 2. This duty is frequently pressed in Scripture. Abraham; Noah; Zacharias; and Elizabeth. 3. Walking before the Lord has been abundantly rewarded. Enoch. II. SHOW WHY OUR INWARD AFFECTION TO GOD MUST BE DECLARED BY OUR OUTWARD CONVERSATION. 1. In this way God is glorified. 2. Others are benefited. 3. Our own good is promoted. It is by a good conversation, that the security of our hearts, the integrity of our consciences, the soundness of our faith, and, in a word, the truth of all graces are clearly manifested, cherished, and increased. III. CONSIDER THE NECESSITY OF GOOD WORKS. 1. They are commanded and expressly required by God Himself. 2. They are the way to the Kingdom of God. 3. They are an evidence or demonstration of our faith. 4. The not doing of them merits eternal death. 5. They are necessary as expressions of our gratitude. IV. CONCLUSION. 1. This subject teacheth us that those who walk not in God's ways cannot be esteemed His affectionate people. 2. The knowledge, affection and profession of persons who walk not before the Lord are all in vain. 3. Walking with God, in the external duties of religion, will best stop the mouths of the adversaries of the truth. 4. Those who walk not before the Lord in the land of the living are exposed to the most dreadful ruin. () I. TO WALK BEFORE THE LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING INCLUDES RECONCILIATION WITH GOD AS A PARDONED SINNER. II. TO WALK BEFORE GOD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING REQUIRES A REALIZING SENSE OF HIS PRESENCE AND PERFECTIONS. III. TO WALK BEFORE GOD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING COMPREHENDS A SUPREME REGARD TO THE AUTHORITY AND THE REQUIREMENTS OF HIS WORD. IV. THAT WE MAY WALK BEFORE THE LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING, WE MUST HAVE RESPECT UNTO THE RECOMPENSE OF REWARD. () 1. That men live under a lively impression of the presence of God. 2. The exercise of a sincere love to Him, and such friendly intercourse with Him as this imperfect state admits. 3. To live in dutiful and constant subjection to His will. II. THE EXCELLENCE OF SUCH A COURSE OF LIFE. 1. There is joy in it. If you are really desirous to know whether it be so, go and consult the words of Him who cannot lie. They say that "gladness is sown for the upright in heart"; that "the voice of rejoicing is in the tabernacles of the righteous"; that "great peace have they who love God's law"; that "everlasting joy shall be upon them." If you ask, again, how these things are so, they will reply, that the righteous rejoice before God; that their hearts rejoice in Him, because they have trusted in His holy name; that their rejoicing is this, the testimony of their conscience, that, "in simplicity and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God," they have their conversation in the world. 2. There is honour in it. There is a dignity connected with walking before the Lord superior to everything celebrated by that name among men. "I will," says the Almighty, "guide them with Mine eye. I will never leave them nor forsake them. I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people." 3. There is a preparation for heaven in it. Every step they take in walking "before the Lord in the land of the living" is just so much progress in the path of life — every temptation overcome is a new advance to glory — every good disposition acquired will increase their happiness in the paradise of God. ()
People PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Habitually, Lands, WalkOutline 1. The psalmist professes his love and duty to God for his deliverance
12. He studies to be thankful
Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 116:1-19 8609 prayer, as praise and thanksgiving Psalm 116:8-9 8150 revival, personal Library Requiting God
'What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? 13. I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.'--PSALM cxvi. 12, 13. There may possibly be a reference here to a part of the Passover ritual. It seems to have become the custom in later times to lift high the wine cup at that feast and drink it with solemn invocation and glad thanksgiving. So we find our Lord taking the cup--the 'cup of blessing' as Paul calls it--and giving thanks. But as there is no record …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureExperience, Resolve, and Hope
'Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.'--PSALM cxvi. 8, 9. This is a quotation from an earlier psalm, with variations which are interesting, whether we suppose that the Psalmist was quoting from memory and made them unconsciously, or whether, as is more probable, he did so, deliberately and for a purpose. The variations are these. The words in the original psalm (lvi.) according to the Revised …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Precious Deaths
The text informs us that the deaths of God's saints are precious to him. How different, then, is the estimate of human life which God forms from that which has ruled the minds of great warriors and mighty conquerors. Had Napoleon spoken forth his mind about the lives of men in the day of battle, he would have likened them to so much water spilt upon the ground. To win a victory, or subdue a province, it mattered not though he strewed the ground with corpses thick as autumn leaves, nor did it signify …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872 Prayer Answered, Love Nourished
"Oh the transporting, rapturous scene That rises to my sight! Sweet fields arrayed in living green, And rivers of delight. Filled with delight my raptured soul Would here no longer stay, Though Jordan's waves around me roll, Fearless I'd launch away." Yet nevertheless the Christian may do well sometimes to look backward; he may look back to the hole of the pit and the miry clay whence he was digged--the retrospect will help him to be humble, it will urge him to be faithful. He may look back with …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859 Personal Service
THESE SENTENCES SUGGEST a contrast. David's religion was one of perfect liberty;--"Thou hast loosed my bonds." It was one of complete service;--"Truly l am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid." Did I say the text suggested a contrast? Indeed the two things need never be contrasted, for they are found to be but part of one divine experience in the Jives of all God's people. The religion of Jesus is the religion of liberty. The true believer can say, when his soul is in a healthy …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860 Called Up
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."--Ps. cxvi. 15. Mechthild of Hellfde, 1277. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 He laid him down upon the breast of God In measureless delight-- Enfolded in the tenderness untold, The sweetness infinite. …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series) What Shall I Render Ps 116:12,13
What shall I render Ps 116:12,13 [5] For mercies, countless as the sands, Which daily I receive From Jesus, my Redeemer's hands, My soul what canst thou give? Alas! from such a heart as mine, What can I bring him forth? My best is stained and dyed with sin, My all is nothing worth. Yet this acknowledgment I'll make For all he has bestowed; Salvation's sacred cup I'll take And call upon my God. The best returns for one like me, So wretched and so poor; Is from his gifts to draw a plea, And ask …
John Newton—Olney Hymns But this Only Son of God, the Father Almighty...
6. But this Only Son of God, the Father Almighty, let us see what He did for us, what He suffered for us. "Born of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary." He, so great God, equal with the Father, born of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, born lowly, that thereby He might heal the proud. Man exalted himself and fell; God humbled Himself and raised him up. Christ's lowliness, what is it? God hath stretched out an hand to man laid low. We fell, He descended: we lay low, He stooped. Let us lay hold …
St. Augustine—On the Creeds "O Lord! I Beseech Thee, Deliver My Soul. " --Ps. cxvi. 4
"O Lord! I beseech Thee, deliver my Soul."--Ps. cxvi. 4. O take away this evil heart; This heart of unbelief renew; So prone, so eager to depart From Thee, the living God and true. O crucify this carnal mind, 'Tis enmity, my God, to Thee; I cannot love Thee, till I find The mind that was in Christ in me. O sanctify this sinful soul; Health to the dying leper give; Thou, if Thou wilt, canst make me whole; Speak but the word, and I shall live. O disenthrall this captive will, (Free only when Thou …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns Rest for the Soul --Psalm cxvi. 7
Rest for the Soul--Psalm cxvi. 7. Return, my soul, unto thy rest, From vain pursuits and madd'ning cares, From lonely woes that wring thy breast, The world's allurements,--Satan's snares. Return unto thy rest, my soul, From all the wanderings of thy thought, From sickness unto death made whole, Safe through a thousand perils brought. Then to thy rest, my soul, return From passions every hour at strife; Sin's works, and ways, and wages spurn, Lay hold upon eternal life. God is thy Rest,--with …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns Gratitude for Redemption. --Ps. cxvi.
Gratitude for Redemption.--Ps. cxvi. I love the Lord;--He lent an ear, When I for help implored; He rescued me from all my fear, Therefore I love the Lord. Bound hand and foot with chains of sin, Death dragg'd me for his prey; The pit was moved to take me in, All hope was far away. I cried in agony of mind, "Lord, I beseech Thee, save:" He held me;--Death his prey resign'd, And Mercy shut the grave. Return, my soul, unto thy rest, From God no longer roam: His hand hath bountifally blest, His …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns That we must not Believe Everyone, and that we are Prone to Fall in Our Words
Lord, be thou my help in trouble, for vain is the help of man.(1) How often have I failed to find faithfulness, where I thought I possessed it. How many times I have found it where I least expected. Vain therefore is hope in men, but the salvation of the just, O God, is in Thee. Blessed be thou, O Lord my God, in all things which happen unto us. We are weak and unstable, we are quickly deceived and quite changed. 2. Who is the man who is able to keep himself so warily and circumspectly as not …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ But Some Man Will Say, Would Then those Midwives and Rahab have done Better...
34. But some man will say, Would then those midwives and Rahab have done better if they had shown no mercy, by refusing to lie? Nay verily, those Hebrew women, if they were such as that sort of persons of whom we ask whether they ought ever to tell a lie, would both eschew to say aught false, and would most frankly refuse that foul service of killing the babes. But, thou wilt say, themselves would die. Yea, but see what follows. They would die with an heavenly habitation for their incomparably more …
St. Augustine—Against Lying But Sometimes a Peril to Eternal Salvation Itself is Put Forth against Us...
40. But sometimes a peril to eternal salvation itself is put forth against us; [2466] which peril, they cry out, we by telling a lie, if otherwise it cannot be, must ward off. As, for instance, if a person who is to be baptized be in the power of impious and infidel men, and cannot be got at that he may be washed with the laver of regeneration, but by deceiving his keepers with a lie. From this most invidious cry, by which we are compelled, not for a man's wealth or honors in this world which are …
St. Augustine—Against Lying Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago
Eighteen and a half centuries ago, and the land which now lies desolate--its bare, grey hills looking into ill-tilled or neglected valleys, its timber cut down, its olive- and vine-clad terraces crumbled into dust, its villages stricken with poverty and squalor, its thoroughfares insecure and deserted, its native population well-nigh gone, and with them its industry, wealth, and strength--presented a scene of beauty, richness, and busy life almost unsurpassed in the then known world. The Rabbis never …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Puritan Innovations
The causes which led to the further change. The Revised Prayer-book, after the opposition in Devonshire and Norfolk had subsided, received very general recognition. Of course there were some who, while grateful for the reforms which had been effected, could ill suppress their conviction that the hands of the Reformers had been stayed too soon. These, however, in England at least, were not a numerous body; and if no influence from without had been brought to bear upon them, they would probably have …
Herbert Mortimer Luckock—Studies in the Book of Common Prayer John Bunyan on the Terms of Communion and Fellowship of Christians at the Table of the Lord;
COMPRISING I. HIS CONFESSION OF FAITH, AND REASON OF HIS PRACTICE; II. DIFFERENCES ABOUT WATER BAPTISM NO BAR TO COMMUNION; AND III. PEACEABLE PRINCIPLES AND TRUE[1] ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Reader, these are extraordinary productions that will well repay an attentive perusal. It is the confession of faith of a Christian who had suffered nearly twelve years' imprisonment, under persecution for conscience sake. Shut up with his Bible, you have here the result of a prayerful study of those holy …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 The Dryness of Preachers, and the Various Evils which Arise from their Failing to Teach Heart-Prayer --Exhortation to Pastors to Lead People Towards this Form Of
If all those who are working for the conquest of souls sought to win them by the heart, leading them first of all to prayer and to the inner life, they would see many and lasting conversions. But so long as they only address themselves to the outside, and instead of drawing people to Christ by occupying their hearts with Him, they only give them a thousand precepts for outward observances, they will see but little fruit, and that will not be lasting. When once the heart is won, other defects are …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents Letter Xlix to Romanus, Sub-Deacon of the Roman Curia.
To Romanus, Sub-Deacon of the Roman Curia. He urges upon him the proposal of the religious life, recalling the thought of death. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, to his dear Romanus, as to his friend. MY DEAREST FRIEND, How good you are to me in renewing by a letter the sweet recollection of yourself and in excusing my tiresome delay. It is not possible that any forgetfulness of your affection could ever invade the hearts of those who love you; but, I confess, I thought you had almost forgotten yourself …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux Out of the Deep of Death.
My heart is disquieted within me, and the fear of death has fallen upon me.--Ps. iv. 4. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart.--Ps. lxiii. 25. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.--Ps. xxiii. 4. Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.--Ps. cxvi. 8. What will become of us after we die? What will the next world be like? What is heaven like? Shall I be able …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep Out of the Deep of Loneliness, Failure, and Disappointment.
My heart is smitten down, and withered like grass. I am even as a sparrow that sitteth alone on the housetop--Ps. cii. 4, 6. My lovers and friends hast Thou put away from me, and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight--Ps. lxxviii. 18. I looked on my right hand, and saw there was no man that would know me. I had no place to flee unto, and no man cared for my soul. I cried unto Thee, O Lord, and said, Thou art my Hope. When my spirit was in heaviness, then Thou knewest my path.--Ps. cxlii. 4, 5. …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep "Nunc Dimittis"
We shall note, this morning, first, that every believer may be assured of departing in peace; but that, secondly, some believers feel a special readiness to depart now: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace;" and, thirdly, that there are words of encouragement to produce in us the like readiness: "according to thy word." There are words of Holy Writ which afford richest consolation in prospect of departure. I. First, then, let us start with the great general principle, which is full of comfort; …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871 A Treatise on Good Works
I. We ought first to know that there are no good works except those which God has commanded, even as there is no sin except that which God has forbidden. Therefore whoever wishes to know and to do good works needs nothing else than to know God's commandments. Thus Christ says, Matthew xix, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." And when the young man asks Him, Matthew xix, what he shall do that he may inherit eternal life, Christ sets before him naught else but the Ten Commandments. …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works Links Psalm 116:9 NIV
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