Sermon Bible To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Psalm 58:1 In the Prayer-book version this text stands, "Are your minds set upon righteousness, O ye congregation?" This includes the other, and goes deeper. We shall not speak of that upon which our minds are not first set. I. Take these words in their large and general signification, and what do they mean? Are you in earnest? Are you in earnest about your own spiritual concerns? Are your affections "set on things above, not on things on the earth"? Have you concentrated your minds upon religion as upon a focus? II. But the words have evidently a further distinctiveness. The word "righteous" in the Bible—at least, in the New Testament application of it—generally refers to that perfect righteousness which Jesus has both made and purchased for His people. The inquiry therefore in its true force runs thus: Are your minds set on finding pardon and justification through that Saviour who shed His very blood for us, that we, poor, banished, but not expelled, ones, might come back and find a home in our heavenly Father's love? III. He who is, or wishes to be, righteous in his Saviour's righteousness is always the man who is also the most righteous in the discharge of all the duties of this present life. The question therefore takes another easy and necessary transit: In this very place, at this very moment, are you honest—honest to God and to your own souls in the work in which you are engaged? You have received the stewardship of many talents; where is the capital, and where is the interest ready to be given back to the Proprietor when He comes? "Are your minds set upon righteousness, O ye congregation?" J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 1874, p. 123. Psalm 58:4Deaf adders may seem very stupid creatures to be teaching lessons to human beings, but they are certainly able to do it. There is quite a variety of deaf adders in the world. I. Lazy schoolboys and girls are like deaf adders. II. Hard-headed people are like deaf adders. III. Hard-hearted people are like deaf adders. IV. Ungodly people are like deaf adders. J. N. Norton, The King's Ferry Boat, p. 126. Reference: Psalm 58—J. Hammond, Expositor, 1st series, vol. iv., p. 212. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. William Robertson Nicoll's Sermon Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission. Bible Hub |
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