Psalms 27

3. We may know God is our God, if he has given us the hearts of children. Have we obedient hearts (Psalm 27:8)? Do we subscribe to God's commands, when his commands cross our will? A true saint is like the flower of the sun, it opens and shuts with the sun: He opens to God and s…

Use 2. If God be a jealous God, let it be a word to such whose friends are popish idolaters, and they are hated by their friends, because they are of a different religion, and perhaps they cut off their maintenance from them. O remember God is a jealous God, better move your par…

God calls himself scutum, a shield: a shield defends the head, guards the vitals; God shields off dangers from his children, (Acts 18:10). I am with you, and none shall set on you to hurt you: God is a hiding place, (Psalm 27:5). God preserved Athanasius strangely; he put it int…

When the wind goes one way, and the tide another, then there is a storm; so it is when God's will goes one way, and ours another: but when our will goes with God's, as the wind with the tide, then there's a sweet calm of peace in the soul. The sanctified will answers to God's wi…

Qu. 8. How many we sanctify the name of God in the use of Gospel institutions? Answ. 1. By a holy reverence of his sovereign authority appointing of them. 2. A holy regard to his special presence in them. 3. Faith in his promises annexed to them. 4. Delight in his will, wisdom,…

Or, more plainly thus: then a man does set his heart on God, when his heart is so affected, that when God commands, he is always ready to obey: So the Lord says, Hosea 2:23, I will say to them that were not my people, You are my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God. And i…

To some God speaketh in thunder, to others in a still voice, but to all he speaketh; therefore did you ever discern God's calling and your answering? Psalm 27:8: 'The Lord said, Seek you my face; my heart said, Your face Lord will I seek.' There is no gracious heart but they are…

Answer: Indeed this manner of applying is false in all hypocrites, heretics, and unrepentant persons: for they apply upon carnal presumption, and not by faith. Nevertheless it is true in all the elect having the spirit of grace, and prayer: for when God in the ministry of the wo…

But my brethren, these things ought not to be so; saints should be of a more elevated spirit. So was David when his heart was kept in a good frame (Psalm 27:1): 'The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afr…

But God suspending his soul in bitterness all that time prepared his heart for the valuation of that mercy. When human help forsakes us God most embraces us (Psalm 27:10). "When my father and mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up."

But yet, at the same time, I hope, God's people, that unite in this agreement, will see some tokens for good, before these seven years are out, that shall give them to see, that God has not said to the seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain; and shall serve greatly to animate and en…

After this true acknowledging of the Lord out of his word, must proceed: first a sure confidence in the Lord, with the fruits of the same (Psalm 100:3); then the other affections of love, reverence, fear of the Lord. Also a sure confidence in the Lord, is from the assurance of h…

Also for the better relieving of the poor, distributors of the Church relief (Acts 6:2; Romans 12:8; 1 Timothy 3:7, etc.). All which we must know, delight in, procure, and every one according to his own calling set forward; as (Psalms 27:4; 42:23; 1 Chronicles 13:1; 29:6, 7, 8,…

Not a point, not a letter of them can be wanting, they are so full and emphatic. 1. My God, my God, the forsaking of angels is nothing, that men, all men, friends, all my inward friends, forsake me, is not much; they do more than forsake, they abhor Job their friend (Job 19:19);…

I conceive it to be, the amenity and loveliness of his nature and all infinite perfections, as this pleasantness offers itself to his own understanding, and the understanding of men and angels, and as bodily beauty satisfies the eyes, and so acts on the heart to win love to beau…

3. Nature and blood went against itself, (Psalm 69:8) I am become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's children. All the saints' idols are broken, to the end God may be one for all; this is a good ground of mortification; men shall be cruel brothers, and redeem…

God hears us, and understands what we say, and observes us well, and offers to be a shelter to us from the storm, when we begin solemnly to abandon such evils, then he hears us, and answers us according to the desire of our hearts; you have many a soul that cries to God, "Take a…

Those that have been acquainted with the secrets of your soul may not only grow strange to you but betray you, therefore do not overvalue any earthly friend: man will be man still, that God may be God, all in all to his people; and when we are deserted of men we must learn to tr…

And this he did, first by propounding to him the commandment of the Gospel, which is to repent and believe in Christ; secondly by offering to him the promise of remission of sins and life everlasting when he believed. The second part of instruction is a real and lively teaching,…

He that climbs up a ladder, or some steep place, the higher he goes, the faster he holds (2 Chronicles 20:12; Job 13:12). Hence is true comfort (Psalm 27:13). 17 And if while we seek to be made righteous by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is Christ the minister of sin?

Thus then more than forty years has God called us in England. And for this cause, it is our part to pray to God for hearing ears to be pierced in our hearts: and we must answer the calling of God (Psalm 27:8) at the least in the desires and groans of our hearts. And lastly, we m…

All the faithful by his example are taught what to do when God for their sakes manifests his power miraculously, or by extraordinary means: it ought not to suffice them that those of their own times should be made acquainted with it, but as much as in them is they are so to prov…

I speak not of the thing in itself; but I say these words prove not that the Saints are altogether careless of us. The most native and pure sense is this; Lord, we acknowledge that in regard you are our Father, it is a thing so firm and sure, that although our fathers after the…

The Desire of our Soul is to thy Name, and to the Remembrance of thee. Psalm 27. 4. One Thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the House of the Lord, all the Days of my Life, to behold the Beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his Templ…

So the proper Evidence of gracious Desires and Longings, and that which distinguishes them from those that are false and vain, is that they are not idle Wishes and Wouldings, like Balaam's; but effectual in Practice, to stir up Persons earnestly and thoroughly to seek the Things…

A state of intermingled motion and rest; wherein delight is imperfect, and allayed by the continual mixture of yet-unsatisfied desire. And yet it may be collected what it is that would be sufficient to satisfy; because their desire is still determined to one thing, is not vagran…

They used before to have the stream of their desires after other things, or perhaps had their concern divided between this and them; but when they come to answer the expression in the text, of pressing into the kingdom of God, this concern prevails above all others; it lays othe…

We do not depend and rely upon the word with that full trust and confidence that is due to the infallible word of a faithful and unchangeable God. You may see the ground of this faintness in that Scripture, Psalm 27:13 I had fainted unless I had believed. faith is the only Cordi…

There the Apostle joins called to be saints, with this phrase, to call upon God: to show, that whoever is effectually called to be a saint, that man shall be enabled by the Spirit of Jesus, to call upon God. When you said, Seek my face; my heart said to you, your face, Lord, wil…

My single remonstrance is encountered with a plural adversary that talks in the style of We, and Us: Their names, persons, qualities, numbers, I care not to know; But, could they say, My name is Legion, for we are many; or were they as many Legions as men, my cause, indeed God's…

Then again, Let the day be darkness, he does not say, let the day be misty, or cloudy, or dusky, or dark, he does not wish it like that day described (Zechariah 14:6), It shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark; but he says, Let it be darkness.…

And that is said to set more by temporal goods, than by the fear of God, and to worship them as idols in his stead: whereby we are unworthy to hear or to understand this promise of God, full of comfort, namely: that he exalts the oppressed and of low degree, and puts down the pr…

From where we may observe, 1. That Christ has a way of communicating his love, and the sense of it to a believer, which is not common to others. 2. That this is the great scope and desire of a believer, if they had their choice, it's to have sensible communion with Christ: This…

See Chapter [illegible]:2. 3. Where God's people are in good case, there the public ordinances are most frequented and esteemed; and still the better in case they be, the ordinances are the more prized, and frequented by them; for, this is a special character and property of suc…

Call to mind, my soul, the times when you were borne down the stream of love to every duty; if the Spirit did but whisper to you, saying, Seek my face, how did my spirit echo to his calls? Saying, Your face, Lord, will I seek (Psalm 27:8). If God had any work to be done, how rea…

You may see the footsteps of God in the creatures; but the face of God is only to be seen in his ordinances. Hence (Psalm 27:4) David longed for the Temple, that he might see the beauty of the Lord. Now, what is beauty, but a symmetry and proportion of parts?

And when the churches shall be in their greatest flourish, and purity, then shall there be the fullest and most glorious manifestation of the divine presence among them (Revelation 21:3): And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men,…

Whereas it is a note of atheism to wish and vote out of the world God, his attributes, and all the acting and influences of mercy, justice, truth, grace, sovereignty, and to say, it is not the Lord, the Lord can neither do good, neither can he do evil (Zephaniah 1). So would we…

Beloved, you never have a single heart till now. This singleness of heart David expresses in himself, (Psalm 27:4): One thing have I desired, that I will require, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all my days and behold your beauty — that is, this one thing have I chosen…

And were that which GOD said to Abraham, (I am your exceeding great reward,) were this beheld of any of us, that GOD is so great, and that this greatness is our exceeding great reward, then all other rewards would seem but small things. You shall see what David did upon this gro…

I say, this is true holy magnanimity: there is a false magnanimity; whereas men's minds are great, because they grow great with men, because of their great hopes, and riches, and great learning; this is a false greatness, because it draws men from God; it is such a greatness as…

And if any man lack this wisdom, let him ask it of God, who gives liberally, and upbraids us not with our folly (James 1:5). Pray with David (Psalm 27:11): teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of my enemies (Hebrew: because of my observers). Our enemies…

First, because there God makes himself known, reveals himself there, and makes his beauty to appear. Psalm 27:4 One thing have I desired of the Lord,that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and t…

It is an inheritance promised to those who trust in God, and opposed to all the vanity of the world; Isa. 57:13 Vanity shall take them, but he that puts his trust in me, shall inherit my holy mountain. Thirdly, it has been the only desire of gracious hearts heretofore; and if Go…

But when all these outward props are plucked away from a man, then it will manifest, whether something else upholds him or not — for if there be nothing else then he falls, but if his mind stand firm and unremoved as before, then it is evident he laid not his weight upon these t…

As the Apostle [reconstructed: 1 John 1:5] tells us, God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all; expressing the excellency, and purity of his nature, so he is light relatively to the soul of man. Psalm 27: the Lord is my light, says David. And the soul being made capab…

Seek to have the Lord in your hearts, and sanctify him there — he shall make them strong, and carry them through all dangers. Though I walk, says David, through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no ill, for you are with me (Psalm 23); so also Psalm 27:1. What is it…

There are certain times when God has business with you alone; when he does (as it were) speak to you, as to the prophet in another case (Ezekiel 3:22): "Go forth into the plain, in the desert, and there I will talk with you": so, get you to your closets, I have some business to…

6. God sets a continual guard about his Children, to preserve them from danger. He hides them in his Pavilion, Psalm 27:5. He covers them with the Golden Feathers of his Protection, Psalm 91:4.

And thus far concerning that friendship of Jonathan with David: let us now also consider God's favor and goodwill toward David, who raised up Jonathan as a friend for him, by whom he might be helped and supported in difficult circumstances. For, as we shall hear hereafter, David…