Sermon Tone Analysis

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Ps.4:1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me /when I was/ in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

2O ye sons of men, how long /will ye turn/ my glory into shame?

/how long/ will ye love vanity, /and/ seek after leasing?

3But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.

8I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

Ps.5:1

Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.

2Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

3My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct /my prayer/ unto thee, and will look up.

8Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

11But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

12For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as /with/ a shield.

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/“O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?”

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/— Psalm 4:2/

 

An instructive writer has made a mournful list of the honours which the blinded people of Israel awarded to their long expected King.

 

1.

They gave him /a procession of honour/, in which Roman legionaries, Jewish priests, men and women, took a part, he himself bearing his cross.

This is the triumph which the world awards to him who comes to overthrow man’s direst foes.

Derisive shouts are his only acclamations, and cruel taunts his only paeans of praise.

2.

They presented him with /the wine of honour/.

Instead of a golden cup of generous wine they offered him the criminal’s stupefying death-draught, which he refused because he would preserve an uninjured taste wherewith to taste of death; and afterwards when he cried, “I thirst,” they gave him vinegar mixed with gall, thrust to his mouth upon a sponge.

Oh! wretched, detestable inhospitality to the King’s Son.

 

3.

He was provided with /a guard of honour/, who showed their esteem of him by gambling over his garments, which they had seized as their booty.

Such was the body-guard of the adored of heaven; a quaternion of brutal gamblers.

4.

/A throne of honour/ was found for him upon the bloody tree; no easier place of rest would rebel men yield to their liege Lord.

The cross was, in fact, the full expression of the world’s feeling towards him; “There,” they seemed to say, “thou Son of God, this is the manner in which God himself should be treated, could we reach him.”

 

5.

/The title of honour/ was nominally “King of the Jews,” but that the blinded nation distinctly repudiated, and really called him “King of thieves,” by preferring Barabbas, and by placing Jesus in the place of highest shame between two thieves.

His glory was thus in all things turned into shame by the sons of men, but it shall yet gladden the eyes of saints and angels, world without end.

/“Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies.”

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/— Psalms 5:8/

 

Very bitter is the enmity of the world against the people of Christ.

Men will forgive a thousand faults in others, but they will magnify the most trivial offence in the followers of Jesus.

Instead of vainly regretting this, let us turn it to account, and since so many are watching for our halting, let this be a special motive for walking very carefully before God.

If we live carelessly, the lynx-eyed world will soon see it, and with its hundred tongues, it will spread the story, exaggerated and emblazoned by the zeal of slander.

They will shout triumphantly.

“Aha!

So would we have it!

See how these Christians act!

They are hypocrites to a man.”

Thus will much damage be done to the cause of Christ, and much insult offered to his name.

The cross of Christ is in itself an offence to the world; let us take heed that we add no offence of our own.

It is “to the Jews a stumblingblock”: let us mind that we put no stumblingblocks where there are enough already.

“To the Greeks it is foolishness”: let us not add our folly to give point to the scorn with which the worldly-wise deride the gospel.

How jealous should we be of ourselves!

How rigid with our consciences!

In the presence of adversaries who will misrepresent our best deeds, and impugn our motives where they cannot censure our actions, how circumspect should we be!

Pilgrims travel as suspected persons through Vanity Fair.

Not only are we under surveillance, but there are more spies than we know of.

The espionage is everywhere, at home and abroad.

If we fall into the enemies’ hands we may sooner expect generosity from a wolf, or mercy from a fiend, than anything like patience with our infirmities from men who spice their infidelity towards God with scandals against his people.

O Lord, lead us ever, lest our enemies trip us up!

 

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