You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, "I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people. Sermons
1. Wherefore God exalts men. It certainly is not to gratify mere selfish ambition. Those who climb up to high places from such motives are certainly not set there by God, and will soon have to climb down again. All history teaches the short-lived power of mere selfish ambition. But one motive we may regard as moving the Divine mind would be his love for the exalted one. Now, there is no greater joy that ever comes to a good man than that of being the means of great good. to others. It is a pure delight, and of intense kind. The love of God would, therefore, bestow such delight on his chosen ones. His chief motive, however, is the good of others. What would have become of Israel but for David? Saul's rule was but another name for shipwreck of the state. David saved it from such ruin. And the good of others, the people at large, is the motive of all God's exaltations; other ends may be proposed and secured, but this is assuredly the chief. The possession of power is, therefore, a tremendous responsibility, and happy are the peoples whose rulers ever remember and practically recognize this. And it is true of all power whatsoever, whether little or great. "No man liveth to himself." 2. Such exaltation generally means great suffering. He who is the supreme illustration of the truth of our text was "made perfect through suffering." And it is ever so. What a terrible discipline David went through ere he attained the throne! Moses too, and Paul, and God's heroes generally. Let us, then, remember wherefore suffering is sent to any of us - that it is for our uplifting; let us take care not to hinder this purpose. 3. How God exalts - by choosing those whom he exalts not by, but out of, the people. The people can rarely be trusted. Go over the list of mankind's greatest helpers and saviours, right up to our Saviour himself. Would the people have chosen them? They would far more likely have crucified them, as they did the greatest of them all. The vox populi is the vox Dei only when it endorses the previous choice of God. For men have seen that God has chosen for them, and they willingly accept his choice. But the main theme of our text concerns: 4. Whom God chooses - from "out of the people." Now, consider in this statement - I. ITS TRUTH. See this: 1. In the history of David. (Psalm 78:70, 71.) 2. In well nigh all deliverers of the people, from Moses downwards, from Gideon to Garibaldi - they have been ever "chosen out of the people." 3. In Christ our Lord. He was indeed thus chosen. His royal descent from David availed him not, for the glory of that race had utterly disappeared. Hence he was altogether of the people - by birth; associates; social rank; habits; education; by his teaching, which was not at all "as the scribes," but understood and welcomed by "the common people;" by his life of poverty; by his death; all the way along, from "the bare manger to the bitter cross," he was one of the people. It was a slave's death that he died. "He was rich, yet for our sakes," etc. II. THE REASONS OF THIS CHOICE. 1. "The people" were the mass of mankind, who needed to be saved. 2. One from themselves would better understand them. 3. More readily sympathize. 4. God is wont to choose the foolish things of this world (1 Corinthians 1:27). 5. Christ's sharing the people's lot assured them of the love of God, and so led them to turn to him, which is salvation. They learned so that "God is love." III. ITS LESSONS. They are such as these: 1. The approachableness of God. Christ has shown us that he keeps no state to frighten us from his presence. Everybody came to him, and may come to God. 2. The indispensable condition of rendering real help. (See Mark 10:43-45.) We must go down among those whom we would bless. 3. How little worth are the great things of the world! Power, wealth, rank - God chose none of them. 4. Christ knows all about me; for he, too, was one of the people. I need not keep away. 5. Adore him. Does he not deserve it? O thou ever-blessed Lord! 6. Help in the exaltation. For his throne, the throne of his exaltation and which he delights in, is made of human hearts. Enthrone him, then, in your heart. "Take my heart, it is thine own; It shall be thy royal throne." S.C. 1. It tells us that this was not our original state; that God made man upright, but he sought out many inventions. 2. It checks much of the evil now: by its direct influence in many cases, and by its indirect influence in many more; in humanizing war, in abolishing slavery, in taming the human passions; it has been the harbinger of peace, and has done more for man than all human institutions in the aggregate beside. 3. It tells us of a remedy for all this, and this is placed within our reach, if we would avail ourselves of it; and therefore if we perish in this state, the blame will be our own. — II. GOD HAS PROVIDED HELP FOR US. 1. This help includes redemption. "With the Lord there is plenteous redemption." "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Thus the burden too heavy to be borne is rolled off the conscience, and we now "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have received the Atonement." 2. It includes justification. We must have a title to heaven before we can obtain it; and from whence is this to be derived but from the righteousness of Christ by faith, "which is unto all and upon all them that believe"? 3. It takes in renovation. Man is not only guilty but depraved. Therefore he cannot be happy while in his natural state and under the dominion and love of sin. 4. It takes in strength. His duties are arduous; they are numerous and various; and he is inadequate to any one; but says the Saviour, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." "As thy day so shall thy strength be." Here is the blessed spirit of promise also enjoyed, and now the man lives in the Spirit, and walks in the Spirit, and prays in the Holy Ghost, and the Spirit helpeth his infirmities. 5. It takes in persevering grace, for "he only that endureth to the end shall be saved." III. GOD LAYS THIS HELP UPON ANOTHER. We may observe two principles upon which this dispensation is founded, and by which it is justified. 1. It is an honour to Christ, it being a part of the reward for His doings and sufferings. 2. It is for our encouragement and comfort. The grandeur of the Supreme Being so terrified the Jews that they desired Moses to be their mediator, and said, "Speak thou with us; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." So we are encouraged to go to God through Christ, and "we have boldness and access with confidence through the faith of Him." IV. HE ON WHOM HELP IS LAID IS EQUAL TO THE ENGAGEMENT. He is not only human, but Divine — "able to save to the uttermost." He can by His influences, so mighty is He, penetrate and enlighten the darkest understanding; He can subdue the most rebellious will; He can take away the stony heart and give you a heart of flesh. Conclusion: — 1. See the importance of knowing your spiritual state. Without this knowledge it would be impossible for you ever to see the beauty of the Gospel, ever to appreciate the evil of sin, or the excellence of purity, or to relish the privileges of the righteous. 2. See the folly of every other dependence but upon that rock which God has laid in Zion. Christ is the only ark in which you can be preserved; if you enter into this, you may be safe. (W. Jay.) Homilist. This refers to David, whom God had raised as a stripling out of the people, raised to be the leader and the ruler of the Jewish nation.I. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD AMONGST MEN. Why was David selected — a shepherd youth — from the millions of Israel to this high position? Because it was according to the counsel of the Eternal will. The positions of all mankind are determined by His will. Some high and some low, etc. II. THE DIVINE METHOD OF HELPING MAN. The Jewish people wanted help, and David is raised up to help them. God helps man by man. Thus — 1. He honours human nature. 2. He links men together by the bonds of interdependence. III. THE SUPERIORITY OF ONE MAN OVER MANY. David was made the greatest man of his age, greater, perhaps, than any thousand ordinary men. Whilst all men have the same common nature and responsibilities, all men are not alike valuable. There is often one man in a generation, a Plato, a Luther, a Bacon, a Cromwell, of more worth than ten millions of others — one whom God has made "mighty to help," mighty in intellect, in genius, in power, in philanthropy, in force of character, in consecration to truth. (Homilist.) I have exalted one chosen out of the people I. OUR SAVIOUR'S EXTRACTION.1. Christ, by His very birth, was one of the people. True, he was born of a royal ancestry. Mary and Joseph were both of them descendants of a kingly race, but the glory had departed; a stranger sat on the throne of Judah; while the lawful heir grasped the hammer and the adze. 2. His education, too, demands our attention. He was not taken, as Moses was, from his mother's breast, to be educated in the halls of a monarch. He was not brought up as the lordling, to look with disdain on every one; but His father being a carpenter, doubtless He toiled in His father's workshop. 3. When our Lord entered into public life, still He was the same. What was His rank? He was a poor man — "one of the people." II. HIS ELECTION. God chooses sovereignty, but He always chooses wisely. 1. First, we see that justice is thereby fully, satisfied by the choice of one out of the people. 2. Thereby the whole race receives honour. He made us, originally, a little lower than the angels, and now, despite our fall in Adam, He hath crowned us with glory and honour. 3. But let us take a sweeter view than that. Why was He chosen out of the people? Here, Christian: what dost thou think is the sweet reason for the election of thy Lord, He being one of the people? Was it not this — that He might be able to be thy brother, in the blest tie of kindred blood? 4. Christ was chosen out of the people that He might know our wants and sympathize with us. III. HIS EXALTATION. 1. It was exaltation for the body of Christ to be exalted into union with the Divinity. That was honour which none of us can ever receive. Of no other man shall it be said that the Deity tabernacled in him, and that God was manifest in His flesh, seen of angels, justified of the spirit, and carried up to glory. 2. Christ was exalted by His resurrection. Out He came, and the watchmen fled away. Startling with glory, radiant with light, effulgent with divinity, He stood before them. Christ was then exalted in His resurrection. 3. But how exalted was He in His ascension! Up He climbs to that high throne, side by side with the Paternal Deity. "I have exalted one chosen out of the people." 4. The last exaltation of Christ which I shall mention is that which is to come, when He shall sit upon the throne of His Father David, and shall judge all nations. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) People David, Ethan, Psalmist, RahabPlaces JerusalemTopics Bestowed, Chosen, Crown, Exalted, Faithful, Godly, Hast, Holy, Laid, Lifting, Mighty, Ones, Placed, Saint, Saints, Sayest, Saying, Spakest, Speak, Spoke, Spoken, Spokest, Strength, Strong, Vision, Voice, Warrior, YeaOutline 1. The psalmist praises God for his covenant5. For his wonderful power 15. For the care of his church 19. For his favor to the kingdom of David 38. Then complaining of contrary events 46. He expostulates, prays, and blesses God. Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 89:1-37Library Continual Sunshine'Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.'--PSALM lxxxix. 15. The Psalmist has just been setting forth, in sublime language, the glories of the divine character--God's strength, His universal sway, the justice and judgment which are the foundation of His Throne, the mercy and truth which go as heralds before His face. A heathen singing of any of his gods would have gone on to describe the form and features of the god or goddess who … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture December the Ninth National Blessedness September the Sixteenth the Steadfastness of the Lord The People's Christ The Blessing of God. A vision of the King. The City of God. Index of Subjects. Unity of Moral Action. Letter Lv. Replies to Questions of Januarius. The Promised King and Temple-Builder "He is the Rock, his Work is Perfect. For all his Ways are Judgment. A God of Truth, and Without Iniquity, Just and Right is He. Atonement. Second Sunday in Lent The Justice of God Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant. His Future Work Assurance Of the Name of God The Poetical Books (Including Also Ecclesiastes and Canticles). How Shall one Make Use of Christ as the Life, when Wrestling with an Angry God Because of Sin? The Firstborn. The First Commandment The Call of Matthew - the Saviour's Welcome to Sinners - Rabbinic Theology as Regards the Doctrine of Forgiveness in Contrast to the Gospel of Christ The Being of God Links Psalm 89:19 NIVPsalm 89:19 NLT Psalm 89:19 ESV Psalm 89:19 NASB Psalm 89:19 KJV Psalm 89:19 Bible Apps Psalm 89:19 Parallel Psalm 89:19 Biblia Paralela Psalm 89:19 Chinese Bible Psalm 89:19 French Bible Psalm 89:19 German Bible Psalm 89:19 Commentaries Bible Hub |