Psalm 118:4
Let those who fear the LORD say, "His loving devotion endures forever."
Sermons
Personal Experience of Divine MerciesR. Tuck Psalm 118:4
Boundless MercyT. De Witt Talmage.Psalm 118:1-4
The Perpetuity of Divine MercyHomilistPsalm 118:1-4














Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever. The term "fear the Lord" suggests personal apprehensions of God, personal dealings with God, and personal relations with him. It is inconceivable that there can have been these close personal associations with God without their having left a deep impression of the abundance, adaptation, and continuance of the Divine mercy. No man can look over his life, and trace God's manner of dealing with him, without being disposed to say, "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses;" "Also unto thee belongeth mercy, for thou renderest to every man according to his works." What impressions of the Divine mercies come to us out of our personal experience?

I. THE MERCY OF GOD HAS TAKEN SHAPE AS A DIVINE PATIENCE. That may well be put first, for, when the heart is tender, it is that comes to us most affectingly. When anything like a fitting sense of our own willfulness and waywardness comes upon our hearts, it is the marvel, over which we never tire of brooding, that God has been so patient with us. Never offended with us, as our fellow-men have easily been; never "dealing with us after our sins, nor rewarding us according to our iniquities." It is not only that he has quietly waited, it is that he has so gently borne with us. Divine patience is never to be thought of as a mere sitting down and waiting. It is best suggested by a mother's ways with a sickly babe; or the doctor's ways with an irritable, fractious patient. There be many to whom God's mercy always appears as his patience and long-suffering, and they praise him for that.

II. THE MERCY OF GOD HAS TAKEN SHAPE AS A DIVINE DISCIPLINE. This is the thought that comes to us as life advances, and the events of the past gain their true perspective. At the time things seemed to be afflictions, calamity, needless strain, and we fretted ourselves weary in trying to find why such hard things were put into our lot. Distance from them increases, and we find they look quite differently. Things are related which we thought had nothing to do with each other. We see how our cultured power came out of our stern experiences; and then we see that God's mercy is the way in which he has made the hard things of life train and discipline characters meet for the heavenly spheres. - R.T.

God is the Lord, which hath showed us light.
I propose to consider how the words of my text may be used in an improper manner, and how, as I think, we may use them aright.

1. If in saying "God is the Lord who hath showed us light" we imply that we in any way have authority to dictate to our follow-men what they should believe, we are making a most pernicious use of them. Men like ourselves found by prayer and by the right exercise of their reason some precious belief which for all practical purposes may be called for them "the truth." It was, we, will say, some great advance on the beliefs prevailing around them; it was the clear detection and straightforward repudiation of palpable error; it was as the lifting of a dark mist which had clouded their souls. In so far it was true; and native piety would make each pioneer and reformer in turn lift up his heart in gratitude and say, "God is the Lord who hath showed us light." But whatever truth was thus discovered we may be very sure was only partial. At its best and brightest it was but a streak of dawn, only one ray of that everlasting sun of the truth of God which no man can look upon and live. This was not all. The truth, whatever it was, had to be proclaimed. It must take shape in words; and from that moment it was liable to be misstated or misunderstood.

2. I turn now to consider in what way we may use the words of my text aright. It is especially good for us to keep ever before our minds the source of any light that shines in our hearts. There is no more wholesome state to be in than in one of perpetual thankfulness, both as a safeguard against conceit and vainglory, and as an incentive to fresh effort in the pursuit of truth. We have to thank God and not ourselves for every step in our victorious march. He it was who gave the first impulse to our search for purer truth, who made us restless under the bondage of tradition and filled us with longings to know more of Himself, He it was who in answer to our cry poured upon us His blessed Spirit, enlightening our understandings, quickening our consciences and warming our hearts by His love. I believe it to be a fact that we cannot ask God for too much light. The more we ask, the more we receive; and although the sanctities of the soul are far too sacred to be exposed to public scrutiny, many a prayerful heart can bear witness to the ever ready hell? of our Father in heaven when His children lift up their cry for His strength and guidance. "Many are the perplexities of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of all." Still we must never forget that all this is between ourselves and God, and must never be used as a means of illegitimate influence, much less as a plea for authority over the souls of others. God has never promised to work a miracle to keep a man from error, must less to give him spiritual authority over his fellow-men It is enough that each uplifted seat is conscious of Divine illumination exactly in proportion to its own needs and for its own use alone. We know it does not render us incapable of error; we know how far it must fall short of all the truth which God has in store. But we, also know that in answer to one cry, God gives quite as much light as He sees fit, as much as He knows our souls can receive, and — most important of all — as much as we can make good use of in our service of our brethren.

(C. Voysey, B. A.)

1. Rejoice in this light. Not as children, that come abroad to play in the sunshine, and make no more account of it. Nor as a people that never saw the sun, step out of their doors to gaze upon it, and then turn their backs on it. But rejoice with a solid joy, as they whom God hath "brought out of darkness into His marvellous light."

2. Walk worthy of this light (Ephesians 4:1). Be children of the light. As the light shines on thee, let it. shine in thee. Thou hast. small comfort to be in the light unless the light be in thee. Saith the prophet to the Church (Isaiah 60:1). As God hatch showed His light to you, "so let your light shine before men," etc.

3. Take heed of sore eyes. Pleasures, lusts, and vanities make the eyes sore that are dotingly fastened on them. The usurer with telling his gold; the haughty with contemplating his greatness; the drunkard with looking at the wine laughing in the cup; the lustful with gazing on his painted damnations, make their eyes so sore, that they cannot look up and behold this light.

4. Take benefit of this light while it shines. Either this light may be set to thee, or thou be set to it. That to thee, by removing the candlestick; thou to that, by the hand of death, which shall send thee to the land of forgetful darkness. Our Saviour taught us this, not only in precept, but in practice (John 9:4). Let us not do like some courtiers, that having light allowed them, play it out at cards, and go to bed darkling.

5. Lastly, help to maintain this light, that it go not out. If you would have the lamps of the sanctuary shine, pour in your oil. Grudge not a little cost to keep this light clear. Repine not you then at a little charge for the everlasting lamp of the Gospel.

(T. Adams.)

Bind
Bishop Wordsworth gives the most probable explanation of this difficult passage. "The Hebrew word 'chug,' translated 'sacrifice,' literally means 'a feast-day.' Probably the word is adopted here, because the expression is a figurative one. We do not hear that the sacrifices were literally bound to the horns of the altar, on which the blood was sprinkled (Exodus 29:16; Leviticus 4:7; Leviticus 8:15; Leviticus 9:9). Nor does it appear to have been possible that the immense number of victims offered on the day of dedication (Ezra 6:17) could have been so bound. The Targum, indeed, explains the words as meaning, 'Bring the sacrifice bound until it arrives at the horns of the altar.' But the sense seems to be, bind the festival of dedication to the altar of God — that is, let the joys of all Israelites be concentrated as the joys of one man in a great national act of thankful communion and self-consecration to God. Let the people of God be no more separated from one another by schism, as they were by the severance of Israel from Judah; let them no more be scattered, as they were in the Assyrian and Babylonian captivity; but let them all be bound to one centre of unity — the altar of God." In view of this explanation of the expression as a figurative one, there is no need for inquiries concerning ancient customs of binding sacrifices to altars, or for the assumption that any new practice was enjoined. The passage is best treated as a poetical figure.

People
Aaron, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Age, Endures, Endureth, Everlasting, Fear, Fearing, Forever, Kindness, Love, Loving, Lovingkindness, Loving-kindness, Mercy, Oh, Steadfast, Unchanging, Worshippers
Outline
1. An exhortation to praise God for his mercy
5. The psalmist by his experience shows how good it is to trust in God
19. Under the type of the psalmist the coming of Christ in his kingdom is expressed

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 118:1-4

     8608   prayer, and worship

Psalm 118:2-4

     1085   God, love of

Library
June the Thirtieth God My Strength and Song
"The Lord is my strength and my song." --PSALM cxviii. 14-21. Yes, first of all "my strength" and then "my song"! For what song can there be where there is languor and fainting? What brave music can be born in an organ which is short of breath? There must first be strength if we would have fine harmonies. And so the good Lord comes to the songless, and with holy power He brings the gift of "saving health." "And my song"! For when life is healthy it instinctively breaks into song. The happy, contented
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Gratitude for Deliverance from the Grave
"I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death."--Psalm 118:17, 18. HOW very differently we view things at different times and in differing states of mind! Faith takes a bright and cheerful view of matters, and speaks very confidently, "I shall not die, but live." When we are slack as to our trust in God, and give way to misgivings and doubts and fears, we sing in the minor key, and say, "I shall die. I shall
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

Bound to the Altar
Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.' (Psalm cxviii. 27.) Periodically in our Halls we have had what we call Altar Services. At such times, and more especially during the Self-Denial and Harvest Festival efforts, Soldiers, friends, and others who are interested in God's work are invited to come forward with gifts of money to lay upon the special table which, for that occasion, serves the purpose of an altar. Those who have been present at these Meetings will not need
T. H. Howard—Standards of Life and Service

The Entry into Jerusalem.
THE fame of Christ's acts had been diffused among the thousands of Jews [652] that had gathered from all quarters for the Passover. The resurrection of Lazarus, in particular, had created a great sensation. As soon as the Sabbath law allowed, [653] they flocked in crowds to Bethany to see Jesus, and especially to convince themselves of the resurrection of Lazarus by ocular evidence and inquiry on the spot. Perhaps on Sunday morning, too, before Christ went to Jerusalem, many had gone out. [654] The
Augustus Neander—The Life of Jesus Christ in Its Historical Connexion

On the Soul and the Resurrection.
Argument. The mind, in times of bereavement, craves a certainty gained by reasoning as to the existence of the soul after death. First, then: Virtue will be impossible, if deprived of the life of eternity, her only advantage. But this is a moral argument. The case calls for speculative and scientific treatment. How is the objection that the nature of the soul, as of real things, is material, to be met? Thus; the truth of this doctrine would involve the truth of Atheism; whereas Atheism is refuted
Gregory of Nyssa—Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises, Etc

Sabbath Morning Hymn.
"This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."--Psalm 118:24 "Hallelujah! Schoener Morgen." Schmolk. [[66]Jonathan Krause] transl., Jane Borthwick, 1858 Hallelujah! Fairest morning, Fairer than my words can say, Down I lay tbe heavy burden Of life's toil and care to-day; While this morn of joy and love Brings fresh vigor from above. Sunday, full of holy glory! Sweetest rest-day of the soul, Light upon a darkened world From thy blessed moments roll. Holy, happy heavenly
Jane Borthwick—Hymns from the Land of Luther

The Monk Nilus.
Nilus was born at Rossano, in Calabria, in the year 910, of an old Greek family. His pious parents, to whom only one child, a daughter, had been given, besought the Lord that he would give them a son. This prayer was heard, and that son was Nilus. They carried the child to the church, and consecrated him to the service of God. On that account, also, they gave him the name of Nilus, after a venerated monk of the fifth century, distinguished by his spirit of vital Christianity, and to whose example
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

Letter X (In the Same Year) the Same, when Bishop
The Same, When Bishop He exhorts him to adorn the dignity which he had obtained without preceding merits, by a holy life. 1. Charity gives me boldness, my very dear friend, to speak to you with great confidence. The episcopal seat which you have lately obtained requires a man of many merits; and I see with grief none of these in you, or at least not sufficient, to have preceded your elevation. For your mode of life and your past occupations seem in nowise to have been befitting the episcopal office.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

The Evolution of Early Congregationalism the Stone which the Builders Rejected is Become the Head of the Corner. --Psalm cxviii
CHAPTER I THE EVOLUTION OF EARLY CONGREGATIONALISM The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner.--Psalm cxviii, 22. The colonists of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven were grounded in the system which became known as Congregational, and later as Congregationalism. At the outset they differed not at all in creed, and only in some respects in polity, from the great Puritan body in England, out of which they largely came.[a] For more than forty years before
M. Louise Greene, Ph. D.—The Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut

Epistle vii. To Anastasius, Patriarch of Antioch .
To Anastasius, Patriarch of Antioch [1310] . Gregory to Anastasius, &c. I have found what your Blessedness has written to be as rest to the weary, as health to the sick, as a fountain to the thirsty, as shade to the oppressed with heat. For those words of yours did not seem even to be expressed by the tongue of the flesh, inasmuch as you so disclosed the spiritual love which you bear me as if your soul itself were speaking. But very hard was that which followed, in that your love enjoined me to
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Effects of this Fourth State of Prayer. Earnest Exhortations to those who have Attained to it not to Go Back, nor to Cease from Prayer,
1. There remains in the soul, when the prayer of union is over, an exceedingly great tenderness; so much so, that it would undo itself--not from pain, but through tears of joy it finds itself bathed therein, without being aware of it, and it knows not how or when it wept them. But to behold the violence of the fire subdued by the water, which yet makes it burn the more, gives it great delight. It seems as if I were speaking an unknown language. So it is, however. 2. It has happened to me occasionally,
Teresa of Avila—The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus

Letter xx. To Pope Damasus.
Jerome's reply to the foregoing. Exposing the error of Hilary of Poitiers, who supposed the expression to signify "redemption of the house of David," he goes on to show that in the gospels it is a quotation from Psa. cxviii. 25 and that its true meaning is "save now" (so A.V.). "Let us," he writes, "leave the streamlets of conjecture and return to the fountain-head. It is from the Hebrew writings that the truth is to be drawn." Written at Rome a.d. 383.
St. Jerome—The Principal Works of St. Jerome

Of the Conformity of Our Will to that Will of God's which is Signified to us by his Commandments.
The desire which God has to make us observe his commandments is extreme, as the whole Scripture witnesses. And how could he better express it, than by the great rewards which he proposes to the observers of his law, and the awful punishments with which he threatens those who shall violate the same! This made David cry out: O Lord, thou hast commanded thy Commandments to be kept most diligently. [360] Now the love of complacency, beholding this divine desire, wills to please God by observing it; the
St. Francis de Sales—Treatise on the Love of God

'My Strength and Song'
'The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation....' EXODUS xv. 2. These words occur three times in the Bible: here, in Isaiah xii. 2, and in Psalm cxviii. 14. I. The lessons from the various instances of their occurrence. The first and second teach that the Mosaic deliverance is a picture- prophecy of the redemption in Christ. The third (Psalm cxviii. 14), long after, and the utterance of some private person, teaches that each age and each soul has the same mighty Hand working for
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A New Kind of King
'On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. These things understood not His disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Lively Stones. Rev. W. Morley Punshon.
"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."--1 PETER ii. 5. There is a manifest reference in the fourth verse to the personage alluded to in Psalm cxviii. 22, 23: "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." And this passage is applied by Christ to himself in Matthew xxi. 42: "Jesus saith unto them, Did
Knowles King—The Wesleyan Methodist Pulpit in Malvern

To Pastors and Teachers
To Pastors and Teachers If all who laboured for the conversion of others were to introduce them immediately into Prayer and the Interior Life, and make it their main design to gain and win over the heart, numberless as well as permanent conversions would certainly ensue. On the contrary, few and transient fruits must attend that labour which is confined to outward matters; such as burdening the disciple with a thousand precepts for external exercises, instead of leaving the soul to Christ by the
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Lydia, the First European Convert
WE MAY LAUDABLY EXERCISE CURIOSITY with regard to the first proclamation of the gospel in our own quarter of the globe. We are happy that history so accurately tells us, by the pen of Luke, when first the gospel was preached in Europe, and by whom, and who was the first convert brought by that preaching to the Savior's feet. I half envy Lydia that she should be the leader of the European band; yet I feel right glad that a woman led the van, and that her household followed so closely in the rear.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Great Privilege of those that are Born of God
"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." 1 John 3:9. 1. It has been frequently supposed, that the being born of God was all one with the being justified; that the new birth and justification were only different expressions, denoting the same thing: It being certain, on the one hand, that whoever is justified is also born of God; and, on the other, that whoever is born of God is also justified; yea, that both these gifts of God are given to every believer in one and the same moment. In one
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The First Day in Passion-Week - Palm-Sunday - the Royal Entry into Jerusalem
At length the time of the end had come. Jesus was about to make Entry into Jerusalem as King: King of the Jews, as Heir of David's royal line, with all of symbolic, typic, and prophetic import attaching to it. Yet not as Israel after the flesh expected its Messiah was the Son of David to make triumphal entrance, but as deeply and significantly expressive of His Mission and Work, and as of old the rapt seer had beheld afar off the outlined picture of the Messiah-King: not in the proud triumph of war-conquests,
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Fourth Commandment
Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it. Exod 20: 8-11. This
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

In the Last, the Great Day of the Feast'
IT was the last, the great day of the Feast,' and Jesus was once more in the Temple. We can scarcely doubt that it was the concluding day of the Feast, and not, as most modern writers suppose, its Octave, which, in Rabbinic language, was regarded as a festival by itself.' [3987] [3988] But such solemn interest attaches to the Feast, and this occurrence on its last day, that we must try to realise the scene. We have here the only Old Testament type yet unfilfilled; the only Jewish festival which has
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Letter Xlvi (Circa A. D. 1125) to Guigues, the Prior, and to the Other Monks of the Grand Chartreuse
To Guigues, the Prior, And to the Other Monks of the Grand Chartreuse He discourses much and piously of the law of true and sincere charity, of its signs, its degrees, its effects, and of its perfection which is reserved for Heaven (Patria). Brother Bernard, of Clairvaux, wishes health eternal to the most reverend among fathers, and to the dearest among friends, Guigues, Prior of the Grande Chartreuse, and to the holy Monks who are with him. 1. I have received the letter of your Holiness as joyfully
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

A vision of Judgement and Cleansing
'And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel. 4. And He answered and spake unto those that stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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