Loading...
294 illustrations — Lessons from history, biography, and world events
Christ is King in Zion—the sole Sovereign of His Church by the Father's appointment and ordination.
SermonWise.ai generates complete sermon outlines for any passage across 17 theological traditions. Try it with Psalms.
First, the great facts of human nature—sin, mortality, the soul's hunger for God—remain substantially unchanged across the ages.
Spurgeon identifies four critical matters that constitute our main concern in prayer.
This passage is prophetic of Christ, to whom "the path of life" was first opened.
His enemies declared, "There is no help for him in God," when Absalom's rebellion consumed his house—the very judgment God had threatened after David's own transgression.
To apprehend God's loving-kindness means to duly perceive it, believe it with persuasion, esteem it above all treasures, and consider it with serious remembrance.
So too the soul suffers from inherent liability to weakness, weariness, mistrust of God, and inability to rest upon His precious promises.
First, observe the *condition*—the small word "So" anchors everything.
Similarly, when a musician strikes an out-of-tune instrument, he produces sound but the instrument's broken strings produce the jarring discord.
Basil observed that these saints possessed such extraordinary courage and confidence amid their sufferings that watching heathens witnessed their heroic zeal and constancy—and turned to Christ themselves.
Rather, He sets him apart for Himself—to converse with him, to communicate Himself to him as a friend and companion, making him His delight.
Yet the psalmist's reply contains crushing power: "Our God is in heaven; all that he pleased he has done." Consider the contrast Martin Geier illuminated with surgical precision.
Many people attribute their deliverance to fortune or their own skill, yielding only scattered praise to God.
This seems counterintuitive until we understand what Spurgeon observed: the subjects of God's people's joy extend far beyond comfort and blessing.
The margin reads, "Set your heart to her bulwarks." This is no passing glance or negligent inspection; it demands wholehearted attention and deliberate investigation.
The abuses of the tongue are manifold, and malignity ranks foremost among them.
This vivid image captures the predicament of our Saviour as He faced His persecutors.
Yet Spurgeon's commentator, John Field, clarifies what this plea was *not*: it was no prayer *to* David, nor did it suggest the dead saints intercede for us.
Yet we must consider the mangled victims left in their wake—those who trafficked in cunning and deception, proving specially obnoxious to the Almighty.
"He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth" (Psalm 50:4).
Consider Pharaoh—his wise men, his armies, his chariots—plunging into the Red Sea like lead, sinking beneath the waters.
When danger surrounds us, our fear knows no bounds—we sense the full weight of our peril.
First, recognize what we desperately need: the King of Glory dwelling within.
When believers emerge from great temptation and trouble—their faith tested and drawn thin—deliverance brings more than relief from that particular circumstance.