《The Sermon Bible Commentary – Psalms (Vol. 3)》(William R. Nicoll)
101 Psalm 101
Verse 1
Psalms 101:1
This resolution indicates a hopeful and happy state of mind. A song is the natural channel for an outflow of gladness. "Is any merry? let him sing psalms."
Consider:—
I. To whom this man sings. "Unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing." He turns to God when he sings; he sings when he turns to God. Conscious nearness to God and exuberant joyfulness of spirit—these two have come together in the Psalmist. Apart from regeneration and reconciling, you may have one of these two in human experience, but not both. To turn to the Lord, and in that attitude to sing for joy, belongs to the children—to those who have been made nigh by the blood of Christ and are accepted in the Beloved.
II. The Psalm that he sings. It is a psalm about mercy and judgment. These are the two sides of the Divine character as it is revealed by God and apprehended by men. They are the two attributes which lie over against each other, for conflict or in harmony, according to the conditions in which they are exercised or the point from which they are viewed. They intimate that God is merciful, and that God is just. On the one hand, both these attributes are ascribed to Him throughout the Scriptures; on the other hand, both are more or less clearly mirrored in the human conscience. The subject of the song is not one or the other, but both united. Their nature, as manifested to men, is essentially determined by their union. Neither mercy nor justice alone and apart could become the theme of praise in the lips of men. We could not sing them separately. Their union takes place in Christ crucified. In Him the promises of God are Yea and Amen. Had Christ not covenanted from the beginning and come in the fulness of time, the justice must have been poured out on the same persons for whom the mercy was needed. In that case, mercy, though it lived in God, could have had no exercise towards the sinful. Justice would have swept all the fallen away; and when Mercy issued forth, she would have soared over the waters like Noah's dove, and finding no rest for the sole of her foot, would have returned on weary wing to the ark again.
In Christ the process is reversed. It is first the ark and then the Flood. You have mercy to sing of first and judgment following. In the Substitute mercy and justice meet. Christ is the unspeakable gift; God is love. The design and effect of the sacrifice of Jesus is that God may be just, and the Justifier of him who believeth on Jesus.
W. Arnot, The Anchor of the Soul, p. 168.
I. Of mercy and judgment. And who among us has not the same mingled strain to utter? Who can say that his mercies have not been tempered with the gentle but solemn remindings of judgment at God's hand? Our very proverbs tell us of this: no day without its cloud; no rose without its thorn. And who can say, on the other hand, that his judgments have not been most tenderly mixed with mercies? Our song may well then be of mercy and judgment: of His dealings towards us who, when He blesses, also chastises, lest we should forget Him; who, when He chastises, also blesses, lest we should distrust Him.
II. The world's song of mercy and judgment is a very different strain from the Christian's song of mercy and judgment. The world, in fact, sees not mercy on the one side nor judgment on the other. The fountain from which all blessings flow is unknown to the ungodly man. It is because such persons abound, and ever will abound, among us that we are exhorted on such occasions as these to sing, not of fair and foul chance, but of mercy and judgment: mercy from One who shows mercy; judgment from One who exercises judgment.
III. Let us endeavour to make use of the present wonderful manifestation of God's mercies combined with His judgments to show our sense of His presence and our humility and thankfulness towards Him. We know of no mercies out of Christ. In Him we have every blessing. It is His satisfaction which has caused the Father to smile on this our world, His blood which has cleansed creation from its defilement.
IV. The joy of the Christian in God's mercies is never a barren joy, never only an inward feeling, a mere paroxysm of selfish exultation; but out of it ever springs from the fountain of his inner life the question, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His mercies to me?"
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. ii., p. 107.
Reference: Psalms 101:1.— Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 258.
Verse 2
Psalms 101:2
David's subject in this Psalm is the ordering and hallowing of family life by bringing it under the influences and sanctions of religion.
I. That which strikes us first of all in this Psalm is that the qualifications for continuing in the household of David are to be moral qualifications. That which shall disqualify men from living with him is not want of ability or want of distinction, but want of loyalty to goodness and to God.
II. The qualifications for membership in David's house are chiefly negative. He is more careful to say who shall not than who shall enjoy the privilege. David hopes that with the coming of the sacred ark to Jerusalem—in other words, that with a nearer contact with the presence of God—he will be able to effect a great change. If people are not to be expelled, they must be improved; they must be converted. The restored sense of a sacred presence among them, the active works of the ministers and the sanctuary, the pervading atmosphere of worship and praise—these things would in time make the reformation which David had at heart easy and natural.
III. In Christendom the family is a different and a more beautiful thing than it was in David's time. Each father of a family can, by God's help, say, with David, that he will walk in his house with a perfect heart. To every head of a household has been committed a great power of influencing those about him for good. Influence them in some way he certainly will: if not for good, then for evil.
Two lessons would seem to be suggested by this Psalm of King David. (1) Observe the order and method of David's proceeding. He began by improving himself. (2) The improvement of the family can only be procured by religious, as distinct from merely moral, influences.
H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 241.
References: Psalms 101:2.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1230. Psalms 101:6.—J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 401. Psalm 101—J. Keble, Sermons from Easter to Ascension Day, p. 323. Psalms 102:13, Psalms 102:14.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 199. Psalms 102:15.—G. S. Barrett, Old Testament Outlines, p. 132. Psalms 102:17.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix., No. 1141. Psalms 102:18.—Bishop Alexander, Bampton Lectures, 1876, p. 105.
102 Psalm 102
Verse 24
Psalms 102:24
The text is an earnest, impassioned prayer, a prayer against death; and the fact which gives it its earnestness and impassioned energy is that he who offers it is in "the midst of his days." Men in middle life are very apt to look upon death as an improbable event so far as they are concerned, and to make their calculations and shape their course accordingly.
I. The reasons for this fact. (1) The man in middle life has reasons taken from his circumstances and relations which render life to him very important. The ties which bind him to the world are now the strongest. He has taken his place in society, and is now sustaining his most important earthly responsibilities. (2) The spirit of enterprise is now most active. Man is forming plans which will require years to develop; and those plans constitute the objects of his existence, the centre of his heart's warmest feelings. (3) It is a fact that fewer men die at the meridian than at any other point in human life. This fact forms the ground of men's calculations in reference to life.
II. The effects of this state of mind. (1) Of all men, those who are in the "midst of their days" are least prepared to die. (2) The legitimate effects of the Gospel are very rarely seen for the first time in persons who are passing through the meridian of life. This seems to be a period in human existence when the Spirit of God seldom achieves any signal victories. Such thoughts should arouse to feeling, awaken to anxiety, and prompt to inquiry all to whom they have reference.
E. Mason, A Pastor's Legacy, p. 1.
References: Psalms 102:24.—Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 377; J. Ker, Old Testament Outlines, p. 135. Psalms 102:26.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons, 1st series, p. 44. Psalms 102:27.—W. Baird, The Hallowing of our Common Life, p. 1. Psalms 102:28.—J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. x., p. 137. Psalms 103:1.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1078. Psalms 103:1-5.—G. W. McCree, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 8.
103 Psalm 103
Verse 2
Psalms 103:2
This Psalm is: (1) a monologue; (2) a psalm of recollection; (3) a psalm of thanksgiving. David begins by gathering together all the benefits by recollection, and now he has to arrange them, so that they can be sung by any soul exercising itself like his, and remembering the first benefit his soul has got.
I. The first benefit is forgiveness. David arranges all on a business plan; he puts his chief benefit first.
II. "He healeth all thy diseases." He says to his soul, as Aristotle said, "We are working under another category now." A moment ago there was a saint standing like Joshua, clad with filthy garments, an accuser accusing him, a gallows awaiting him, a broken law, a guilty sinner without any one to help him. But He "forgiveth all thine iniquities," though a man feel his sins so great, someone great sin so black, that his heart is sick, and he feels as though he needed another communion table to wash that sin away. But He heals malice, envy, carnal feelings, backbiting, unbelief, "all thy diseases."
III. He "crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." Beyond the seas, out there in the East, they have crowned their singers, their speakers, their wrestlers, with laurel leaves; but I never read in Eastern story that they ever had laurels for the man whose tragedy was never acted, whose oration found no audience, whose song was never sung before the great Greek congregation. Christ came to seek and to comfort those who have uncrowned themselves, to seek out the poor, undistinguishable singer whose song has never been sung, the speaker who has found no suitable audience. He seeketh out the weary and lost, who have been broken by the weight of their load; and He crowneth poor sinners with His lovingkindness and tender mercy.
IV. The result of the crowning is that his mouth is satisfied with good things; his youth is renewed like the eagle's. When David was a child in the sheepfolds of Bethlehem, he had watched many of the ways of the children of nature. He had seen many an eagle come home bloody and bruised; he had seen her, guided by her instinct, retire to the cleft of the rock and gain strength there, shaking off her broken plumes. He knew her times and her seasons. She basked in the sunshine, resting until her strength was renewed. And when he sees himself a poor old broken-winged eagle, to him, the poor old sinner, the memory of the eagle comes back. He flies to the Rock of ages, flies like many a heart since that has been sick with pain and sin.
A. White, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 10.
I. It seems at first a strange thing that we should call upon our souls to bless the Lord. It is a fitting and natural thing that we should call upon the gracious God to bless us. But what can I give to Him? He is all fulness; He needs nothing, surely, that I can present to Him. How can I bless Him? Herein is a great mystery—the mystery of love. Love is a great want; God's love is a great want: love can only be satisfied with love. (1) David in this matter is very careful to stir up his soul; he knows how content we are to think about these things and let the heart sleep. (2) David wants the individuality of the praise. "My soul." No man can give the bit of praise that I can give.
II. Next he begins to number, to look at, the benefits. Here are three things that you and I should do with our benefits. (1) We should weigh them; they are so substantial. The word "benefit" in itself is a grand word. It means "good deed." God's word ever clothes itself in deed; He loveth in truth and indeed. (2) Number God's benefits. If we begin to number them, we must find out that they are numberless. (3) Measure the Lord's benefits. Do not measure your mercies by your desires, for your desires are made for God. Keep your mercies in the right place and the Lord first; that is the only way of satisfaction. Do not measure your mercies by other people's; measure them by the footrule of your deserts. When we measure our mercies by our deserts, then we are lost in wonder, love, and praise.
M. G. Pearse, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 161.
I. Man stands in a continued relation to the past.
II. Man is called upon to reason from the past to the future.
III. This call to reason from the past to the future is an incidental illustration of the unchangeableness of God. What He was, He will be.
Application: (1) The atheism of anticipation should be corrected by the reverent gratitude of retrospection. (2) He who reviews the past thankfully may advance to the future hopefully. (3) Nothing forgotten so soon as "benefits."
Parker, Pulpit Analyst, vol. i., p. 503.
References: Psalms 103:2.—G. S. Barrett, Old Testament Outlines, p. 137; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 191. Psalms 103:2, Psalms 103:3.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. ix., p. 14. Psalms 103:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1492; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 152.