In the 32nd Psalm, David celebrates the blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is atoningly covered. We have now in the 33rd Psalm that which should always follow the knowledge of redemption, the heart going out to God in worship and adoration. You remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said to the woman at the well, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:24-25). Have you ever thought much of that? The Father is seeking worshippers. …
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.”—Zachariah 4:6
My message to you this morning is as homely in title as it is simple in development. Yet, despite simplicity and homeliness, there is a certain profundity connected with it, since, from beginning to end it presents the subject as God Himself deals with it in His Word.
The text itself is the beginning of this treatment. The angel’s answer to Zachariah’s query is, “This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith …
“Then they said one to another, We do not well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us; now, therefore, come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.”—2 Kings 7:9
It was a dark day in Israel. The king of Syria had encircled the city of Samaria with a huge army, and so rigid was the siege and so severe the famine resulting from it that the head of an ass was a luxury, and sold for eighty pieces of …
“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the highways; who passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well.”—Psalm 84:5-6
The desert usually lacks but one thing to make it a garden. In southern climes it has light, heat and often very fertile soil. Water is the one need. And frequently there is abundance of water a few feet beneath the surface, rivers that flow through their hidden channels. The thirsty traveler has only to dig deep enough and he will find the cool, refreshing stream.
I am a Christian because I am a theist, and I am a theist because I am a thinker. Not necessarily a profound thinker, but my thinking machine is so constructed that if I will let it work it compels me to believe in a God who reigns in His world. A few weeks ago in an Arizona desert I saw the leaves of the greasewood covered with an oily substance designed, evidently, to prevent evaporation of sap during the long drought. I saw the mesquite bush with its large long roots evidently designed to store sap during the brief …
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of …
“And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
“And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh; as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.
“And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time.
“And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing, …
“He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”—Isaiah 53:3
The one title in which Christ delighted more than all others was that of the Son of Man. It occurs eighty times in the Gospel and is always applied by Jesus to Himself. It is a glorious name and brim full of hope for the human family. To be the Son of David or the Son of Abraham would limit Him to one race or one family, but to be the Son of Man is the equivalent of being the second Adam and …
Naboth was struck down with stones and dogs licked up his blood, but God was watching in displeasure. He took a hand in the matter and paid the instigator of the crime and all who were connected with him, in their own coin. 1 Kings 21:19 reads: “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood.” That was God’s promise to pay. Needless to say it was fulfilled to the letter. In a word, Naboth refused to give up his inherited vineyard to Ahab. Jezebel had Naboth stoned on a charge of blasphemy, so …
“And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me.”—Exodus 33:21
What God’s people might be and what they really are are two different things. Our interpretation of the truth, and our unbelief have fixed a great gulf between the two. This is not only true of the “higher critics” but also of multitudes who profess to believe the whole Book and stand for it in theory. They see their privileges and contend that they may be enjoyed, but how very few are they who really practice them.
