Homilist Psalm 142:7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise your name: the righteous shall compass me about; for you shall deal bountifully with me. : — I. MAN'S MORAL IMPRISONMENT. All sinners are in a state of bondage. They are "spirits in prison." Like fallen angels they are in "chains of darkness." 1. A state of darkness. Justice shuts out the light from the prisoner in the cell. How morally benighted is the unregenerate soul l Having "the understanding darkened." 2. A state of confinement. Materialism — intemperance — avarice — prejudice — unholy associations and habits manacle his faculties. 3. A state of criminality. A prisoner is under sentence of condemnation. So every sinner is a moral criminal, condemned alike by God and by his own conscience. II. MAN'S MORAL LIBERATION. "Bring my soul out of prison." 1. A consciousness of its wretched condition. "O wretched man that I am," etc. How can I become free? Who can level those massive walls, who can break those fetters? 2. A consciousness that God alone can deliver. "Bring my soul." He feels he cannot emancipate himself, nor can his fellow-men effect his deliverance. Hence to Him he looks who came "to preach deliverance to the captive," etc. III. MAN'S MORAL MISSION. "That I may praise Thy name." 1. Deep in the heart of all men is the feeling of obligation to worship God. 2. Moral misery consists in this, the soul feeling its obligation to worship, and yet unable to do so through the enthralling influence of its corruptions. Hence the text may be regarded as the prayer of every sin-convicted soul. (1) I must worship Thee; my conscience urges this as an essential condition of my peace. (2) I cannot worship Thee in my state of moral captivity. (3) Come Thou, therefore, to my deliverance and set me free. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. |
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